Day 17: Renee Long

Things that describe Renee:

-Great friend
-Intelligent
-Quirky
-Kind-hearted
-Artistic
-Creative
-Excellent writer
-Funny
-Slightly Clumsy
-Deep Souled
-Dramatic
-Supportive
-Reliable
-Beautiful
-A mean violinist

Renee and I also met as freshman theatre majors. We also lived just down the hall from each other in our freshman dorm. I loved getting to know Renee throughout college. I watched her grow and change into a remarkable woman.

Renee is a great friend. She was there for me when tragedy struck my family. I remember many days when she would sit next to me, stroking my back while I sobbed into a pillow. She was always so thoughtful to ask me how I was doing. One of my favorite memories with her was when we were doing a scene together in Acting 1 and we went to Wal-mart to improv our mother-daughter roles. It was around Christmas time and Renee yelled in her character voice "look ma! It's Sainty Claus!". I immediately broke character and spewed out laughter. I still think of that every Christmas. Cracks me up every time!

Renee also hosted an amazing lingerie shower for me at her family's beach condo. That was probably my favorite memory from college. Almost all of my closest girlfriends were in attendance (minus a few who lived too far away) and we had a BLAST! We had mexican food for dinner, margaritas, cake and sweets for dessert, played lots of fun games, opened presents, laid out by the pool and the beach all day, stayed up way too late, slept 3-4 girls to a bed (slumber party style), slept in, ate a delightful breakfast with mimosas, went to the pool again, then watched a movie. It was the most fun, most relaxing, mini-vacation/shower I have ever had. I am so grateful to Renee for hosting the party. What wonderful memories.

Renee is a gifted violinist. She played in our wedding and did a terrific job. It meant so much to me to have her talent displayed in our ceremony. When we lived together I used to beg her to play the violin for me. I loved listening to her practice!

Renee,

You are a beautiful friend to me. Our relationship is so wonderful. I miss living with you or even close to you for that matter. You are such a kind person and I value you! I have loved watching your faith grow over the past years. The day you were baptized was an incredible day and I was so honored to be there to share it with you. I love our fun memories and even the sad ones we have experienced together. It is a blessing to be your friend. Hope to see you and catch up with you soon!

Love,

Mary Beth

Day 16: Christy Lawler

"Jump on it....jump on it" were the words, or rather the lyrics that reminded me of Miss Lawler today. These were lyrics to a song we used to do the dance square to at Belle Glade, but more on that later.

Christy is by far one of the most interesting people on the face of the planet. No lie. She is all of these things:

Creative
Zaney
Emotional
Funny
Tenderhearted
Caring
Thoughtful
Sweet
Ghetto
Intelligent
Hard worker
Disciple
Selfless

Christy and I got to know each other by being theatre majors in college (or at least that is what we started out majoring in). At first I really did not think I was going to like her. She is a "director" by nature and so am I. In other words, we both tend to be a little bit on the bossy side! :) Hey! I like to think of us as both being extremely passionate and unwilling to settle. That is true and it sounds better than bossy, yes?

Anyway, once we got past our directorial conflicts, we discovered a great friendship. We have had so many wonderful memories together! We had an awesome road trip to Georgia together, lots of late night projects, dancing on the desks to "Pour some sugar on me" while working on scenographic technique work, beach dates, Belle Mondays, Chipmunk/ghetto voices on an old school recorder, ghetto dancing, and several memories surrounding my recent wedding. I love playing with Christy. We like to have these amazingly deep, emotional, heart conversations while still having a blast.

Belle Glade was a life-changing experience that Christy introduced me to. Some of my fondest memories from college come from hanging out with the kids and leaders there. I was incredibly blessed by that experience.

I miss this girl. I miss our ghetto-ness. I miss being goofy. I miss crying on each other's shoulders! I think Christy needs to make a trip out to Carbondale!!! (Yes??)

Christy,

Thank you for your friendship to me all these years. Thank you for your sincere concern for my life and willingness to be there for me when I needed you. I think you have one of the biggest, most selfless hearts around. You are so creative, not only in your artistic ability, but also in you ability to see "world" problems and form solutions for them. I admire your passion for the Lord and your celebration for all of His work in people's lives. I think your beauty surpasses all worldly standards. I hate being so far away from all of my friends! I want to see you so very soon. Thank you for all you have shown to me, taught me, and reminded me. I love you girly!!

-Murry Beth


Oh, and congratulations on being the only person on the face of the planet who can out creep me. Seriously, that's a big deal.

Day 15: Leah Kiemel

Leah Kiemel is a snow beast. I have decided this after my first few weeks encountering the cold up here in Illinois. Yesterday when Drew and I got to our car at the airport in St. Louis it had snow and ice on it. This was shocking to me coming from 80 degree weather in Florida. I was freezing my tookus off and it was only 29 degrees. Now, mind you, 29 degrees is really cold. However it is not as cold as Colorado, which is where my dear friend Leah resides. So in thinking about how cold I was yesterday, I began thinking about how cold I bet Leah was...thus led to Leah being today's blog subject.

Leah and I met during our freshman year of college. She lived just down the hall from Megan/Shick and me. She is one of the prettiest girls I have ever met. Seriously, blonde hair, blue eyes, tall---GORGEOUS. (Sometimes it is hard to even be friends with her because of how beautiful she is!).

Leah is not only stunning, but she is a kind, sweet, tender friend with a world of compassion, and she loves to have fun. She is so laid back and is always down for whatever. When we lived together our sophomore year I remember always taking trips to Target and Chick-Fil-A together. We would just chat, listen to music, tell funny stories, etc. That same year she and Shick came home with me for Thanksgiving. I had such a blast with those girls. That was one of my favorite Thanksgivings. "Now go back and tell all your friends that there was ice on the railroad tracks". HA HA HA.

Leah has lots of talents. She takes amazing photographs, she can play the piano, she creates pretty sweet yearbooks, and she is really athletic. She is also incredibly thoughtful and always sends me the cutest postcards or little care packages. I miss her so much!

She was a great, great help at our wedding. Thanks to her (and some other great pals) I was saved from "program misprint" embarrassment. Leah spotted the errors, reported them to someone besides me (thank goodness...I was a bit stressed out), and got them all reprinted before the wedding. Thank you Leah! Seriously. I did not even know any of this had happened until I got back from my honeymoon. It was great!

Leah-

I miss you so, so, so much. Drew and I really want to come to Colorado again soon and attempt skiing (I say attempt because you know how athletic we are)! Hopefully we can do that sooner rather than later. I always have so much fun with you! You are a gem of a friend and have such a kind heart. You are a joy to be around. I miss your presence. It was always so calming. You are beautiful inside and out and I am a better person having known you and I have been eternally blessed by our friendship. I miss you Leah! Come to Carbondale!

This is us in West Palm Beach doing the typical Leah picture request: Jumping in the air! 

Day 14: Spencer Darr

This blog is brought to you by Go-Go In Flight Free Wi-Fi by Airtran. It is pretty cool that I am 37,000 feet in the air writing my blog. Seriously! Spencer you are probably the only one on my blog who will be written about in the air. Just sayin'....maybe you should feel a bit honored??  :)

Spencer Darr is another one of my brother-in-laws. He is 21 and a student at FSU which is pretty awesome. There are so many things to say about Spencer, especially after just spending the past few days with him.

Here are a few of my favorite things about Spencer:

1. He is a nice guy. Plain and simple, he is just super nice. He always offers to help me with my bags, holds open doors, lets women go first, etc. He is a gentleman and I think that is AWESOME.

2. He is a free thinker. He does not believe anything just because someone told him to. He investigates ideas and thinks them over before he jumps on any bandwagon. That is pretty cool.

3. Spencer is surprisingly deep. I don't mean that in a bad way at all. I simply mean that he is athletic and cares about more than just sports. He loves books. That is often a rare combination.

4. He has a great sense of humor. Drew and I love hanging out with him because he is downright funny. He always has an intelligent witty line to say.

5. Spencer is really compassionate. He cares about other people and definitely puts their needs before his own. Not many people truly do that. He does. Spencer will be an incredible father someday. He will be a great uncle to our kids (a long, long, long, long, long time from now. No one get any ideas, k?).

Spencer- I have loved getting to know you over the past few years. I feel like we are just beginning to break the surface of our relationship too. There are so many things Drew and I want to do with you! I so wish we all lived closer. Perhaps a road trip with you and the lovely Racheal is indeed necessary! :) I think you are such a cool guy with a huge calling in life. I can't wait to see that develop more in the future. Please know that Drew and I are incredibly proud of you and are always here for you. Hope to see you very soon!

Love,

MB

P.S. Thanks for being such an amazing best man in our wedding. Seriously, you helped us so much. We could not have done it without you.

Day 13: FIL

FIL is my Father-In-Law Mike Darr. I choose to call him FIL because I feel that it best describes our relationship. It's not too formal, not too cutesy, just fun. FIL.

FIL is an very unique breed! (In a good way, of course). He is the most technology savvy person I have ever met. This man has essentially every Apple product ever made, Hi-Def this, Blu-Ray that, and a TV that makes most movie theatres shrink away in embarrassment. Seriously, technology is his stuff. I was the only one who knew anything about technology in my house growing up, so it is nice to have someone around who knows what they are doing, and even better, wants to do all the upkeep for you! Love that.

FIL has a great sense of humor. He likes to laugh and crack jokes and play pranks. We always have a great time when he comes into town, or vice-versa.

He loves music and was a music pastor forever pretty much. Now he works for Wycliffe which is an insanely cool company. Don't know what they do??? Look it up! It will be good for you!

He also likes his Starbucks...which is another reason we get along. I share his love for the mega-coffee company.

FIL-

Thank you for making me a part of your family so quickly. Thanks for being a father to me in the past year or so. I appreciate all of your care and defense in my honor. You have been incredibly helpful to me in just dealing with life. Thank you for raising such an amazing husband for me. He exceeds my wildest expectations for a spouse. I am sure that is because of how you and Julie raised him. What a blessing you all are to my life. I am so glad to be a part of the family.

Love,
DIL

Day 12: Cameron Darr

Cameron Darr is my brother-in-law. We have enjoyed getting to hang out with him a bit over the past few days, and hopefully more so in the next few.

Cam works at the Grand Chick-Fil-A. Yes, it is grand, do not question me on this fact. Chick-fil-a is one of our favorite fast food restaurants. It is glorious. We often refer to it as the Christian Chicken (if you have chick-fil-a you understand this concept). Anyway, enough about Chick-Fil-A. Cameron works there and therefore gets a 50% discount for family members. Needless to say, since Carbondale does not have a Chick-fil-a, Drew and I ate breakfast there yesterday and lunch there today.  Yum.  So, thank you Cameron for proving a friggin' sweet discount for your broseph and his wife.

Cameron has an insanely funny sense of humor. This kid is witty. He seems to be able to make even the most uncomfortable situation a laughing matter. It's a gift. For instance, one time, we were all going to a little wedding reception for his grandpa and step-grandmother. Cameron was referring to the tradition of the groom removing the bride's garter and throwing it to the single guys in the crowd. However, instead of saying "garter" he asked if "grandpa was going to take off Gunn's thong and throw it to the crowd." Needless to say, laughter erupted and I have never forgotten this moment, or stopped laughing at it. It was great.

He also has a really big heart and a kind spirit. In general, he is a really good guy. He has his head on straight and is an extremely hard worker. He also plays a mean piano. Seriously. He has pretty crazy skills on the ivory keys. He plays in a few worship bands in the area as well. Not to mention he is really smart. You don't get into the University of Florida for nothin' kids.

Cameron-

Drew and I think you are pretty awesome! We are very proud of the man you are becoming. Never lose your amazing sense of humor. We love hanging out with you and look forward to each trip! Please come see us some time in Carbondale! We will spoil you!

MB

This is a picture of Cameron and his beautiful girlfriend Emily.

Day 11: Kira Parfitt

Howdy gang! Drew and I just got back from a really fun day with Cary and Kira some our dear friends from college (and fellow newlyweds). We had a blast riding ATV's and hanging out with them all day. We miss them so much!

I got to spend a lot of great quality time with Kira today which was sort of a first for us. We have been friends for a while now, but we always did most activities as a couple. Today was great though because we had some great couple togetherness, but also some really needed one-on-one girl time.

We shopped at a mall while the guys hung out for a while. We had a great time looking for great deals, picking out clothes, trying on different lotions, and justifying our purchases, of course!

It was so refreshing to talk to another newlywed woman. We have so many things in common in our relationships and it is very neat to both be at the same stage in life.

Kira is golden. She is a beautiful girl with an enormous heart. Just in the way she talks you can sense her compassion for others. She is extremely kind and caring. We had so many laughs tonight! I just had a great, great time.

Kira-

Thank you for being my friend! It was so nice to see you guys tonight and I can't wait until we can reunite again soon! I really wish we lived closer to you guys so we could get together more often! Maybe someday that will happen! I love that you are a Southern Girl, like myself, and that we have so much in common. Your calm, sweet nature is an inspiration to me. You only speak kind words, which is an obvious connection to your heart. You and Cary have a beautiful relationship and Drew and I are incredibly excited to see what the Lord has in store for you.

This is a picture of all of us from Kira and Cary's wedding this summer: