A Visit

Easter weekend came in went in full force. My parents and sister, Anne, came into town late Thursday night. Anne stayed with me and my parents stayed downtown at the Hotel Indigo. That place is in the words of Miley Cyrus.. "prettycool."

Friday rain had settled in over the Asheville area so hiking was quickly out of the question. Instead we ate a lot and spent most of the day meandering in and out of stores downtown. Started the morning at Early Girl Eatery, a most fantastic place to get some grub. Shopped all over and then ended up at Tingles Cafe for a late lunch. It was fabulous. Then my dad had heard me talk about Discount Shoes so we made a very successful visit there before heading over to the Carolina movie theater on Hendersonville Rd. via the Blue Ridge Parkway (that's right, I use it to actually get places. so great) to pick up our movie tickets to see Jane Eyre. My sister and mother have been dying to see it. We ended up doing dinner at Chai Pani before heading to the 7:30pm showing of Jane Eyre which we followed up with a visit to the always lovely French Broad Chocolate Lounge where you can never have a bad time. And that was all just in day 1!

Day 2 Anne and I made a fantastic breakfast spread at my apartment (including my first ever poached egg success) before heading to Hot Springs and then up to Max Patch. 80 degrees, blue skies, and green grass are the perfect recipe for a picnic at this place. Wanna see?

 just walking at the top of the world. no big deal

 a reflective Stacey

 who are these goobers?

 shot #423

Why not finish a beautiful picnic off with an ice cold cheerwine in a glass bottle!

We finished the afternoon by taking a soak in the Hot Springs themselves watching rafters on the French Broad River. It was almost too perfect. 

Finished up the evening at Tupelo Honey, one of my parents favorite dinner spots in Asheville. It was lovely. 

Sunday we headed to an 8am Easter Service and then parted ways. I was sad to see them go but It was so great to have them come visit. I felt like I was on vacation in my own city! A rare treat indeed. 

Classes are finished and the final finals push has begun! 

May 3. What a happy day that will be. I just have to make it there first..

Parks and Rec

So this one time I met Aziz Ansari. In Atlanta, on my 21st birthday in September. It was AMAZING! (thanks again to Leslie, Betsy, Sarah, and Megan). Oh look, here we are:

He is one of the stars on NBC's tv show called Parks and Recreation. If you have not seen it, you should check it out. Because you will experience lots of Aziz, Amy Poehler, and many more hilarious characters. Here is what Aziz's character Tom Haverford calls everyday items..

Overload

This is how I feel right now. Last full week of class before finals start next wednesday. Finishing a round of papers so that I can actually study. My brain is indeed very full. 

But keeping my eye on the prize! 

MAY 3!!!! 

rescued

"He reached down from on high and took hold of me;

he drew me out of deep waters.

He rescued me from my powerful enemy,

from my foes, who were too strong for me.

They confronted me in the day of my disaster,

but the LORD was my support.

He brought me out into a spacious place;

he rescued me because he delighted in me."

-Psalm 18:16-18

Words To Live By

After my senior year of high school they shut down the school, bulldozed most of the buildings and rebuilt it. Because of this my pre-cal teacher, Coach Fulkerson, who was also my Cross Country, coach let all of his students decorate his walls with whatever they wanted. Yeah, a whole lot of crazy happens when you give a bunch of 16-18yr olds colored sharpies and tell them to have fun. Coach Fulkerson had been at Boerne High School for like 20 years or something. He didn't care.

People wrote and drew all sorts of things. Somebody drew ALL of the ninja turtles on the wall. Other people drew stick figures and wrote song lyrics. Me? I wrote this piece of wise wisdom that I just felt needed to be passed along to the world..

Don't you ever forget it...

Technology Loop

I love technology! I love how easy it is to Google things, map things, stalk people (just kidding). You can find out pretty much anything you want to and even lots of things you never wanted to know.

But I can get a little, or a lot, carried away.

This clip from the TV show Portlandia is basically how I feel sometimes....ok a lot of the time. ESPECIALLY with finals right around the corner. I like to distract myself by checking everything device I possibly can. I honestly don't have that many but what I do have is just as dangerous. Check out Fred..

Guess it is time to start putting my Netflix account on hold, and put parental controls on my own computer. Geez, I never thought it would come to this. The funny thing is I, too, like Fred would only have to look at a picture of myself from high school. Cause I didn't enter the technology world until my second semester of senior year. And yes, that would be January of 2008. I was a lucky one. I mean, it gave me more time to do stuff like this:

you know, kissing camels in downtown Boerne, TX and whatnot, just the usual stuff.

So thanks Mom and Dad! Seriously, I owe you one...

Go Spurs Go!!

As we all know I am a San Antonio Spurs fan. Have been as long as I can remember. I always get made fun of here for being one because no one really likes the NBA so I try not to be too overly obnoxious. I don't like the NBA too much, I mostly just like the Spurs. All growing up I went to game after game after game. Some of my best memories. The announcers are so fun and the Coyote (official mascot) is super entertaining. The music is fun and there are so many cheers to keep the fans involved Also, the Spurs are San Antonio's only major sports team. Literally the entire city loves the Spurs. The team spirit is unbelievable and the AT&T center is pretty much full every game. It is hard to describe the pride I have for them to people who have never been to a home Spurs game. Too me it is even different than loving a college team or having a favorite team in general. It runs deeper than that. Call me crazy but it literally is the team that I have cheered for through thick and thin.

This week I had a different Spurs experience. My friend, Megan, lives in Atlanta, Georgia and is also a huge Spurs fan. We have bonded tremendously over this and other things. In February she asked me if I would like to come to see them play the Hawks in April. I said yes. She then told me I didn't have to buy my ticket. Unbelievable this girl. For two months we had a countdown going, it was hilarious and probably annoying to everyone else.

This week was the big day. I left class on Tuesday and drove from Asheville to Atlanta. Megan and I went to Taco Cabana for dinner. Yep! there is one lone TC in Atlanta that somehow continues to survive. Sometimes I think it is there just for me. Then we headed to the Arena. The whole time I had no idea where our seats were going to be. Megan wanted it to be a surprise and so I let it be one. We walked around for a few minutes before descending towards the floor. I still had no idea where we were going. All of the sudden I heard the words "floor seats" and and I was super pumped. THEN I looked up and realized not only did we have floor seats but they were front row, directly behind the Spurs bench!! I cannot lie. I was literally in shock. Even Megan who had purchased the tickets, was in shock. There is no way to describe it except to say, it was awesome. We were so close.

Close enough to reach out and touch every player (if not for the security guards).

Close enough to read all of their tattoos and to see Manu's bald spot up close and personal.

Close enough to literally be standing up and part of the huddle every time a full timeout was called.

Close enough to rest drinks on their team water cooler (before we were caught).

Close enough to get Tim Duncan to smile at us and George Hill to turn around and stare deep into our souls.

Close enough to see hear Tony's accent and coach Greg Popovich get very angry.

Close enough to personally encourage each player. Especially Tiago..

Need proof? (all photos courtesy of Megan herself)..my camera is still broken

We even had better seats than Danny Ferry! he used to play

for the Spurs.

The night was unbelievable! and one I am sure never to forget. Megan and I had so much fun cheering and laughing and yelling. I apparently was on TV a alot in San Antonio. Several friends told me as much. There were two younger guys sitting next to us who provided just as much entertainment as the game itself.

I have never felt so involved in a game before. I can't even count the number of Spurs games I have been in attendance at but this one pretty much topped almost every single one of them in respect to closeness to the players.

At the end of the game we ran over for high fives. George Hill was the only one who stopped to give us one but honestly, he was the only one we were really hoping for. Perfection.

It was so fun to be there and it to feel like a quasi-night in Texas. Megan is super fun and awesome. I have been to Atlanta twice in the past year and have yet to be disappointed!

It was also very fun to talk about afterwards. I have replayed the whole game and looked at the pictures (all of which were taken my Megan) so many times just to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

So far, it might have been the overall best night of 2011.

Here's to you Megan Hafer!!!