Consider this the 'change of address' postcard

As most of you know, I am getting ready to head out on an amazing new journey... But I have some more big news !!! Don't waste another second...

Head straight to www.simply-amber.com. It's my new personal site, and the home of A Life Extraordinary. Please be patient while we work out the kinks. (Oh how I have dreamed of this day over the past few months!!)

I'm thrilled and hope you are too!!

times change, but some things stay the same

I guess it's because I'm getting older, but I finally understand what 'they' mean by how fast life seems to go.

I've spent a significant time on the phone the past couple of days catching up with some of my oldest and dearest friends... Mainly, the roommates from my first year out in Tulsa. All of our lives have taken such different courses, and gone through so many stages. Between the 4 of us, 3 are married (I made 4, but we all know about how THAT went), one is in Nashville, and has twin girls, another lives about 40 minutes outside of Nashville and has 2 girls under the age of 4, and the last has one little guy and a daughter on the way, living her life in Pennsylvania. When we talk we spend a brief stint in the conversation discussing the struggles, and magic that WAS Tulsa. We used to take our lives so seriously back then, wondering who we would become and hoping beyond our fears that we would some day fall in love with good, God-loving men.

I am so proud of the women we have become. Granted, they've lived through some stages that I haven't yet (the diaper stage, the potty training stage, the role reversal of daughter-becoming-mother), but when we talk, we go back to being those silly girls that played cards on the apartment floor and bawled our eyes out listening to the Titanic soundtrack. (We literally spent about 4 days as a huddled mess, comforting each other through our tears, reliving the devastation we had seen on the big screen, and yearning for love that 'strong').

There IS something better about this stage though. Our memories are memorialized and frozen in time as something unique and special that we shared, but it was just a stepping stone in who we were to become. Our friendship wouldn't have gone as deep as it has if we hadn't weathered some tough stuff since... One's husband still over in Iraq, another living with a high-risk pregnancy having to give herself shots in the belly every night, one finding out she was having a multiple birth just 4 months into married life, and one having gone through a painful marriage and divorce.

It's great to reminisce, but it's even better to look ahead. Even though we'll never all live in the same town again, it's comforting to know that we'll always be in each others' lives. We are part of one another, and our journey together didn't end just because our lives veered from each other. We are all better women for having had the influence of the others.

I know I'll always have them.

And they'll always have me.

It's all me...

I have had a busy couple of days... That's my excuse for not writing this time.

Wednesday afternoon my mom, sisters and I headed to Grand Rapids for Olivia's flight back out to California.

(We took this picture in the car. Lacey's in the front seat taking the picture, and we're in the back... Pretty talented dontcha think? Notice my 'pretty' cold sore scab... I mean, try not to. Also, I had a hair appointment the other night... New highlights and BANGS! Who knew!?).

Olivia was here about 3 weeks, so it was time for her to get back to her life out there, even though it didn't feel quite long enough for me. I guess that's to be expected when you're seeing a loved one after many months... Nothing is long enough.
We drove down, had a nice dinner and went back to the hotel to prepare for the next morning. Olivia got up around 4 am to get ready, and I rolled out of bed at 5, to throw clothes on and my hair into a ponytail to leave at 5:15. Classy. (Warning: Grossly honest and honestly gross admission coming... I didn't even brush my teeth, I just chewed gum instead).

She got checked in and her flight left at 6:30 am. We went back to the hotel, slept for a couple more hours and then got ready in time to check-out. We spent the next 8 hours exchanging Christmas gifts for things we actually wanted and blowing more cash than we planned on. It was delightful.

Tired and happy we got home around 9 pm.

Today I lunched with everyone from work (I haven't seen them in a couple of days and seem to be having withdrawals...), hung out with my sister and Ella (who is pictured here after eating a blue sucker), and then headed home. (Side note about Ella's sucker... Her daddy prefers that she have sugar-free, but she's figured out how to get one when she wants it. The other day they went to the store and he had already told her they weren't going to have one. As he was getting her out of the car seat she said 'I love you Daddy...' Let's just say the kid got some sugar that day... Now WHO'S the sucker?!)

I got some interesting tour info today. The manager that I've been talking to in Nashville has been sending info my way as he gets it... Which isn't often. Because ZOEgirl is a guest on another group's tour, they aren't in the planning, so details are few and far between. What I DID find out today is that the ZOE staff consists of the 3 girls in the group, and ME. That's all. Guess who's going to be VERY busy come next week!? I can feel the nerves tightening... All prayers for strength and the ability to quickly learn-while-doing are appreciated!

4 days and counting...

find me there

I used to be very anti-Myspace.

I was one of those people who joined the service just so I could communicate with the friends I knew who already had it... pretty much like I did with Xanga as well. In short, I just got sucked in.

But now that has all changed.

It's actually a pretty cool program. An average person can register and start searching for old friends. I am continually amazed at the people I find, and those who have found me. Just this week I got friend invitations from 2 different people I knew from Tulsa who I haven't spoken to in years. One now lives in California, and the other is in Atlanta. This is perfect timing because the Cali-girl connected me with an old acquaintance who is now working in Christian music in Nashville and plans to help me get socially connected there, and our first show is in Atlanta, so it just may work out to see the other friend then!

If you haven't joined, you should... and if you're on there, send me a friend request!