Watcha Gonna Do?

Well blog world, it's Tuesday again, so that means it's time for another post! *insert applause here* Currently, I'm watching Disney Medley by the Doo Wop Shop Acapella Group, so that's my plug for the week - go look it up on YouTube! So, I'm definitely going to start blogging every Tuesday...I'll think of some clever blog name later, so for now it shall remain "Megan's Blog." I'm also going to "feature" one YouTube video a week, so this week's is the one I mentioned above. Check it out :)

Now for the weekly highlights/updates of my life. Last Wednesday was our first UGA Pencils of Promise meeting, and it went really well. We gained some great insight as to the direction we really want the club to go, and the people we came seemed genuinely interested and passionate about the cause. If you haven't heard of PoP, it is an amazing organisation that provides sustainable education to specific areas of developing countries. I got to ID some bugs in my lab - somebody told me I need to start a journal of all the interesting and diverse things I do in my life. One week I told her I was going to a chicken house and the next I was heading to a field to collect samples. It's fun. But anywho, Saturday I went to the game vs N Texas with some of my friends. It was great; we managed to stay dry during the game, but the walk back to our car was another story. Here's some picture proof:

Before the Game

After the Walk Back to the Car

So yeah, we got quite wet. I spent my time Sunday divided between Athens Church, the Botans, volleyball, and some other random little things like laundry. Yesterday consisted of class, studying, updating my resume from freshmen year (that required a lot of changing...), DT, and a club meeting. This morning I got coffee with a friend and then walked through N campus (something I rarely get to do since I have no reason to, really) to class only to discover that it had been cancelled. I took that as an opportunity to chill out and do absolutely nothing for an hour before I headed to work. I had another meeting after work, and then I ran into my house afterwards to turn on the TV and watch the season premier of NCIS! I can't even deal with this season...So yeah, that leads me to now - me sitting here writing this post.

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And now moving on to the topic I want to talk about this week: "Watcha Gonna Do?" This was a question I got asked more times than I can count as I was growing up. I still get it now - it's the one question that never goes away. It mostly pertains to talking about the future and my career plans. But it was always a question I struggled to find an answer to. I would look at the person who asked me and maybe even around to other people in the room as if looking for cues as to what I was supposed to say. In offering up an answer to this question, I wanted to personally be happy with my choice, but more importantly, I wanted to offer an answer that would make the people around me happy and proud of me. 

You see, I was so focused on what other people would think. And that's a thing that I feel like has hindered a lot of us - whether that be in the pursuing of our dreams or maybe in just expressing our opinion. Either way though, it's something that needs to be met head on and dealt with. Don't let the opinions of others be a barrier in your life that keeps you from pursuing what you truly want out of life.

Now I don't at all mean to say that you should ignore advice from everyone. No. That's in fact not at all what I'm saying. The people who love you tend to want what is best for you. Take their advice seriously. Often times they're usually feeding back to you what you offer up to them. 

Take your parents for example. I heard a story about a girl who told her parents she wanted to be a lawyer, and her parents were very supportive in urging her to keep up and pursue a law school. Well, somewhere along the way, that girl changed her mind and decided that she wanted to work with non-profits. Afraid of disappointing her parents, she didn't mention it at first. However, after a year, she was talking to her mom on the phone and they began to talk about her future. The girl started crying and explained to her mom her new plans, apologizing the whole time. She was so afraid of letting her parents down because she was sure they wanted her to go to law school. When she voiced that to her mom, her mom responded by saying that the only reason they had been pushing her so hard in the direction of law school was because they thought that was her dream and because she had expressed that to them several years ago.

Take what you will from that story. But know this - dreams can change. That answer to "Whatcha gonna do?" can also change. And (I'm preaching to the choir here) that's ok. 

I'm going to finish off this very scatter-brained blog post with a quote picture I made a few weeks ago. (Fun Fact: this was my senior quote in the yearbook.) The background photo was taken by me in Akaroa, NZ in case anyone was wondering. I hope this post made sense...it kind of ended up going in a different direction than I had initially intended, but that's ok. That's what you get with a stream of consciousness blog posting I guess. Maybe I'll do another post later actually putting this post into my own life and talking about how my dreams for the future have changed over my lifetime.

Until next time,

Megan

Useless Fun Fact: (I'm going to start putting one of these at the very end of my Tuesday blogs too.) Peanut Butter is one of the foods that has the highest insect inclusion allowance.

Chicken Alfredo Classico

I said when I first started this blog that I was going to try and change it up a bit from week to week (and, yes, the goal is to post weekly now...not necessarily on any particular day though, maybe Tuesday? idk...). So this week, I'm going to post a recipe. It's fairly simple, but it's one that I love and is cheaper to make - convenient for me being on a college budget.

But before I get into the recipe, I'll give you a little insight into what's been going on in my life since my last post. First of all, I'm addicted to this song I heard on the radio the other day called "Say Something" by A Great Big World. Love it! I think it may have been on Dancing with the Stars or something like that. But anywho, I started my new job last week, and I actually do enjoy it. I like getting to talk to the people who come in and just ask them simple questions like "How's your day going?" or "What are you doing this weekend?" It's amazing some of the responses I've already gotten; like, one dude went skydiving over the weekend. I also have enjoyed getting to know some of the people I work with. It's refreshing to see and talk to some new faces in a new environment. Also, I got a ticket for the game this weekend! It's vs N. Texas, but it's the only game I think I'm going to be able to go to this year... My other highlight was probably playing IM volleyball on Sunday night. Man, I've missed that SO much! It felt great to play on a team again and scream out "MINE," "FREE," "SHORT," "AAAAAH-ACE," etc. You fellow vball players out there will get it :) So I think that pretty much sums up my end-of-last-week and weekend highlights. Exciting, right? Oh, and I had my first pumpkin spice latte of the season this morning!

On to the recipe --

INGREDIENTS:
- Sauce:
   - 1/2 cup butter
   - 1 package (8oz) cream cheese
   - 1 cup half-and-half
   - 1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
   - 1/4 tbs garlic powder (optional)
   - 2 pinches of pepper
- 1 Chicken Breast
- 1 Box of (Rigatoni) Pasta
- 1 Pinch of Parsley

WHAT TO DO:
(1) Sauce it Up
     1. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan (on a medium stove-top burner setting). 
     2. Once the butter is almost completely melted, add the 8oz of cream cheese.
     3. Mix the butter and cream cheese well together. Add the cup of half-and-half, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder (optional), and pepper. Stir all of the ingredients until they are mixed well together.
     4. After mixing, turn the burner down to low and allow the pan to sit for about a minute or until the mixture has slightly thickened. Stir approximately every 20-30 seconds. 
     5. Then, remove the pan from the burner and set it aside so it can finish thickening. 

(2) Cooking the Chicken
     1. Fully de-thaw and cook 1 chicken breast.
     2. Cut the breast into slivers/slices.
     3. Finish browning the chicken on a stove-top pan. (Grilling is another option here.)

(3) Prepping the Pasta (al dente)
     1. Cook the desired amount of pasta on the stove top.
     2. Follow the cooking directions on the box for complete cooking of pasta. (usually ~10min)

(4) After each section of the meal has been cooked, put the pasta onto a plate or in a bowl and pour the desired amount of sauce over the pasta. Then, add the chicken to the mix. Sprinkle a pinch of parsley over the plate for color and a little extra flavor. 

(5) ENJOY!

The Final Product

Ciao & Happy Cooking!
Megan

Ain't Nobody Got

How many of you reading this saw the title and immediately though "Ain't Nobody Got Time For That?" Yeah, well, me too...but that's not at all what I'm writing about. The full title for this post should technically be "Ain't Nobody Got it All Together." But let's take care of an important, pressing current issue first: (hint: not Miley Cyrus) the Dawgs beat Carolina! Yay! A little update on my life - this week has been going great. I'm trying to be more intentional with my friendships and invest more time in the lives of the people around me that I really do care about (even though sometimes I may not directly tell people that). Also, I started work this week - fun stuff. But for real, it's not too bad. The shifts definitely aren't as long for this job as my other. I also went to this place downtown called The Globe on Monday night for the Italian conversation table, so that was both very rewarding and challenging (the goal is to only speak in Italian, and mine is very broken compared to some of the professors...as you can probably imagine). 

But back to the topic I wanted to talk about for this post - Ain't Nobody Got It All Together. I was mulling over this idea this past Sunday at church. I know when I was growing up, I would hear stories about (and this would even happen in my family) the family who would be in the midst of a fight or going through a tough time, but when they go to church, they act like they've got it all together, like it's all good. My question - WHY?

Shouldn't (out of all places we go) the church at least be the ONE place we can be ourselves, where we can be REAL with other people. I mean, come on, at some level we're all struggling or going through something, so why can't we be open with other believers and maybe find some healing or receive words of wisdom in the midst of that struggle.

Are we too afraid of being judged? 

Are we more content in fooling ourselves?

Are we afraid our problem is too big for God?

Is it one of those things or is it something else entirely? Are we simply just afraid of being real in front of other people?

Well, I've got news. We're fooling ourselves if we think we're fooling others, and surely if we think we're fooling God. I've heard the phrase that the church is a hospital for the broken. That word "broken" isn't just for those who haven't received the gift of Jesus; it's for all of us: believers and nonbelievers alike.

I wonder what the church would look like if we began to just be real with each other?

My Life...So Much!

I have way too much stuff that I just want to vomit up on this page right now, but I'm going to try to take it slow and move from one thing to the next in a somewhat orderly fashion...we'll see how that goes. I'm not making any promises :)

Ok, so first off, I'll address one of the major points I mentioned in my last blog post. So I've been struggling with comparison for quite a while. Part of that's due to the fact that I thrive in competition and have a desire to be the best at whatever I'm doing. That in itself isn't the issue - the real issue comes when I start looking around at where other people are and comparing myself to them and their current state (or what seems to be their current state). So that series ("The Comparison Trap") couldn't have come at a better point for me. I was talking with my discipler last week, and I mentioned that this was something that I really wanted God to break down in my life. She prayed for me, and a couple of nights later, I had this really weird image during a time of worship. Essentially, there were 2 balls - one was clearly larger than the other. I knew that the smaller ball represented the view of the world and the big ball was God's view. Then there was this little action figure man who jumped on top of the little ball and squished it before quickly jumping on top of the God sphere. I was expecting it to be over at this point, but the larger sphere turned into this waterfall-like thing and completely engulfed the little man. I knew exactly what this meant. I've heard people constantly saying that what the world thinks of you isn't what matters, but what God thinks does matter. It's not until He revealed that to me that it actually made sense though. Also, a really cool thing that I have realized about God is that no matter how much I think I want to now/love/pursue Him, He only wants to know/love/pursue me more. So that was a really incredible experience, but it doesn't end there.

Later on in the week, I had another kind of image vision while I was praying. I don't yet really understand it or know what it means to the full extent, so I'm not going to put it on the blog right now.

Then we had the glorious Labor Day weekend (thank you Canada!) to have some hamburgers and celebrate labor by enjoying a day off. Perfetto. I got to spend my day chilling at the mall and going for a nice bike ride with the madre. Also, our family got to celebrate 3 b-days that have all happened this week, so that was fun and exciting!

I can't even begin to describe how busy this week has been, but it's been so great. I'm pretty sure Bert (my car, for those of you who haven't had the pleasure of meeting) is determined to smell like pizza for a record number of days. I picked up some pizza on Wednesday for Italian club, and he still has a faint sauce and bread smell. It just makes me seem Italian, right? :) No judgment. And my sister decided to introduce me to this show called "Whodunnit?" I have to say that it's probably not one of the best shows I've watched since I'm not really into reality TV stuff, but y'all, I'm addicted. It's a problem. GILES - the butler. He has the driest sense of humor ever, and I love it!!! Oh, it's so great, all the puns! You just have to watch it - all the episodes are on Youtube currently, so run over there and start up some season one. (You actually don't have to run...just click a new tab and type.) I got to have dinner Wednesday night with Rachel, one of my good friends, and then we went to Wesley. And that's just always great.

My paragraphs are so not proportional...my speech teacher would be so disappointed. Oh, well. I'll start yesterday (Thursday) in this new paragraph since the other one was getting kind of long. Anywho, yesterday: So one of the things I do is have my "quiet time" during my 30 min morning walk. And I put "quiet time" in quotes because sometimes it's not so quiet. Yesterday morning was one of those not-so-quiet mornings. Somehow, I got on the topic of friendships. For those of you who don't personally know me, I'm the kind of person who has a couple of close friends and then I struggle to have those friends that I can just hang out with. And I'm definitely not good with the whole small talk thing. And I don't think silence in the middle of a conversation is awkward - that was another thing my discipler and I talked about. But anyway, two concepts from yesterday morning really stood out to me, so I'm going to list them here.
(1) A friendship is one of the most beautiful things in this world.
(2) There will be some relationships that end in heartbreak. That's not how it was originally intended. But those friendships that may end in heartbreak or betrayal are far outweighed by those that don't. (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
I later looked up some verses on friendship and came to a quick realization that the Bible, particularly Proverbs, is littered with them. I guess this might be my next area to work in.

Even though I am starting yet another paragraph does not mean I'm done with Thursday. The day itself was quite interesting. I took a quiz, but the professor was short a couple of copies so I had to look up at the overhead at the makeshift quiz to take it along with two of my other classmates. It was kind of annoying, but I felt sorry for the professor since he seemed genuinely upset that he was sort a few copies. Actually, it was kind of funny...that's totally the kind of thing that would happen to me! Then I went to the GA Wildlife Meeting for my wildlife lab. I had to rush out of my class that ended at 12:15, catch a bus across campus, and drive to Whitehall by supposedly 12:30. All the time I was driving there, I was sure I was going to be late, but they hadn't even finished the lunch break by the time I got there. After that, I got baptized! Technically, it was a celebration of my baptism since I was christened as a baby. I know that's controversial waters or whatever (dude, I made an unintentional pun!), but I feel like I wanted to personally be the one to reaffirm that decision in my life to dedicate myself to God and the work He's doing in my life. That's the basic gist if that makes sense. (Note: I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've ever written the word "gist." Somebody bake me a cookie. But really.) It was amazing. I'm so thankful for all my sisters who came to support me! It's not like anything I've ever experienced, and I would try to explain what happened here but I know it's just not going to happen. 

Today was pretty chill - class, DT, and a test review. This post is getting long now, and there's no pictures. So I think it's time for a wrap-up. Here's the wrap-up: GOOOO DAWGS. 

Labor Day Bike Ride

Until next time,
Megan