So. Drum roll, please…….

I GOT A JOB IN A LAW FIRM DOWNTOWN!!!

I interviewed for the job a few days ago and they offered it to me today! I’m really excited! The office is in the Hurt Building, one of the oldest (and antique chic) in Atlanta. It’s gorgeous. I get free parking and a lot of other great stuff, but it’s a bitter sweet ending to my time at Bulloch Hall. They’ve been like family to me–to us–here. They’ve shown so much love, have mama’d me when I’ve been sick, have bought extra desert for me to take home for grant, basically been the arms and legs, hearts and hands of family for us here in this new place. It’s sad to have to say goodbye–or at least, see you sooner or later–to them. To Bulloch. To my first real job. To the job that spoiled me rotten. To Pam, Gwen, and Janice.

Deadlines

Bittersweet or not, I now have deadlines to meet before my start date: Feb 17th.

I need to buy work clothes (they wear suits all the time… omg 😉 we’re semi looking for a house to rent (so Ga can have a yard) etc, but here’s my schedule between now and then:

1. I’m doing some work and house cleaning and washing clothes and packing tmrw (thurs) and friday am
2. Friday at 2:00pm I’m leaving on a women’s retreat with my new bible study; get back at 6 in time for couples bible study at our apt at 6:30 sunday night
3. Wash and repack because Monday we leave for Charlotte! grant has work and i want to see hannah, aswan, and little man Nile; we’ll be there monday night through wednesday.
4. Thursday is my last hurrah at Bulloch Hall and lunch with my three wise ladies (they’re like family) soooooo sad to be leaving bulloch, but like sands through the hour glass, so are the days of our lives 😉
5. Friday I wash again (are you seeing a pattern) and hopefully buy some work clothes… we’ll see
6. We’ll leave friday after work for the lake (grant has that monday off for presidents day, so it’s a three-day weekend for us! yay!)
7. We get back Monday at a somewhat decent hour because I start my job on Tuesday!!
8. Tuesday morning I get up and head downtown for my new job starting at 9:00 am.

not sure how i’m going to get everything done, but am so so thankful i have a job. the Lord provides. and I love it.

So, last weekend was crazy.

Grant planned a guys night for Saturday:concert tickets to see Pat Green at Wild Bill’s for ten bucks! (and that included a new cd). awesome.

So I get this call at about 8:00: “Hey, the guys are being lame and inviting girls… so … do you wanna come?” After being sick last week with what felt like the plague, I wasn’t sure, but after quick deliberation I decided to go.

One girl brought another who brought two more and suddenly the 8 guys going to the concert with ten tickets turned into 14 people going… with ten tickets. No one wanted to drive (grant and I were the only ones sober) so what did they decided to do? RENT A STRETCH HUMMER LIMO… who does that??? So, of course we went along! It was fabulous! Several guys pitched in and paid for the whole thing… our friends are ballers. what can we say?

We pull up to the door with lines of people going out and around the building… ridiculous. We almost decided to leave when we heard that it may take another hour in line before getting inside to the show. But then, someone says they know a guy, and we all get out, cut the lines, walk right up to the front and straight in (I think someone slipped the door man some serious cash… anyway). The concert was awesome and the night was random. Pat Green’s new cd rocks. Check it out.

Oh, and ps. One of the guys in this crazy group was Colter Bean. You might know him from the Big Leagues (literally): he was a pitcher for the Yankees. How did he end up in our mix? Who knows? He knows a guy…

We returned home hours later in the limo, still not believing the ridiculousness of the night. I just had to show and tell.

PS: grant and I are going to Charlotte next week and we get to see Hannah!! yay!! Can’t wait

I feel like the past few months have been awesome. I have asked for and received wisdom, and it has been a milestone in my faith journey. Things have changed in my heart, mind, and life–somethings that only God and I will ever fully know. Incredible.

But I feel like the next season of life will be one of obedience. I have learned over the past few months that we spell “love” t-i-m-e and God spells “love” o-b-e-d-i-e-n-c-e, so I am moving into a new season. This will be a season of discipline and structure: in work, in play, in mind, in body, and in soul.

In work: I hope to have structure when I have a job. If God wills something else, I feel quite certain that my time will still involve much structure and self-discipline.

In play: I will make more intentional time to hangout and play with friends.

In body: I am working hard to lose a few pounds and continue an overall healthy lifestyle in working out and choosing wisely what I put into this temple of mine–I only have one 😉 . I want to honor God in my choices.

In soul: I have joined a new women’s bible study on Friday mornings and am loving it. Furthermore, I’m joining Beth Moore on her blog (with 3500 other women) in committing to memorizing 2 scriptures per month–24 total in 2009. I can’t wait. I haven’t been this intentional in my disciple time in a while; the time that I’ve had has been awesome, but different each day, lacking basic structure but abounding in creativity and wisdom. This will be a new time of structured quiet time and quiet self-discipline. I’m incredibly hopeful and excited about this next season of life and obedience to God–exploring what that means and how to live it out.

What new seasons are you all encountering?

Facebook group turned book venture and blawg ranked nationally. This girl has got it going on.

Check this out:

Law Student’s New Book Showcases the Lighter Side of Bad Grammar
Sharon Eliza Nichols, a second-year law student at Alabama, recently parlayed her Facebook group titled, “I judge you when you use poor grammar,” into a book deal with St. Martin’s Press. Her book, I Judge You When You Use Poor Grammar: A Collection of Egregious Errors, Inadvertent Bloopers, and Other Linguistic Slip-Ups, is set for release later this year.

For those of us interested in blogs outside our typical web surfing, there are blawgs–law blogs–that comment on some pertinent–and some entertaining–issues that our country faces in the midst of economic and political turmoil, how they will effect daily lives and the law. One such blawg is above the law, and another, thank you ma’am

Nichols guest blogs at AboveTheLaw.com and maintains her own blog, “Thank You Ma’am,” which was voted recently as the top law student blog in the “2008 ABA Journal Blawg 100.”

2008

the most fun times you can remember: umm… getting married!! then of course the honeymoon!

your greatest flashes of creativity: scrap-booking, blogging… well kinda ;), and reading the twilight series–picturing the passion, love, and devotion, and creating a world where vampires and werewolves exist. it makes me want to write.

memorable things you heard people say: “God is sovereign to judge, the Holy Spirit convicts, and I am called to love”; “i do”

people you came to appreciate in a new way: Janice–i’ve decided to love her without expectation or want of anything in return. it’s incredibly freeing. if i approach her with nothing but love and place no expectation on her head to perform, it makes for an amazingly giving and compassionate relationship.

times that music touched you deeply: when visiting ashley in fla, we heard a praise choir sing. my favorite verse was from a song that emphasizes how much we all need each other. “i pray for you, you pray for me, i love you, i need you to survive, stand with me, agree with me, i need you to survive, it is His will that every need be supplied, you are important to me, i need you to survive.” amazing moment–ash, nida, you know what i’m talking about. oh, and this is really stupid, but taylor swift’s love story. grant text me a really sweet section of it and every time i hear it i think of him–lame, i know, but it gets me every time.

in what ways did you change? i learned a lot. a lot about me. a lot about grant. a lot about being married. and a whole lot about God.

things that books taught you: i’ve read more this year than ever before, but a few stand out: for women only, God wants to save christians, the twilight series, a voice in the wind, along with re-reading a few faves. each one has taught me more about myself and who i want to become. and ever single one has had something to say about love, being more conscious about loving grant the way HE needs to be loved. representing and describing bonds that last a life time and then some.

terms you would use to describe yourself in 2008: happy. content. satisfied. joyful.

your most significant accomplishments: graduating from graduate school with a 4.0! woohoo! glad to be done with that!

people who came through for you: God. grant. family. georgia (she loves me and she’s soft 😉 and my besties

ways you messed up: i wish i’d given Janice a better chance sooner. but it’s all in God’s time and purpose.

times that God took you by surprise: wedding day bliss and every day since. finding this incredible apartment that we’ve made into a home. mending my heart when i didn’t know i needed it.

if you were to give a title to 2008: “love and change”

2009

what apprehensions do you have about the coming year? getting a j.o.b.–yeah… hope that works out…!

what journeys would you like to take? visit greece, scotland, ireland, back to new zealand for grant’s sake (it’s his fave), a mission trip abroad with grant, i also want to do a beth moore video study series, which should be quite a journey i’m looking forward to.

what daring and potentially thrilling things would you like to do? skydive. that’s gotta happen this year. and the whole mission trip to … hopefully africa… should be an adventure in so many ways

what would you like to change about yourself? i want to be more involved in this shelter we’ve discovered; the mission and outreach is intoxicating. they go out weekly. and i want to serve more. i want us to serve more.

who do you want to get to know better this year? God. grant. zach and steph. Nile. our small group. my future boss….

if 2009 is to have a title, what do you want it to be? “go. do. seek adventure”

what major things do you want to accomplish this coming year? better discipline in my quiet time, more love, more compassion.