just call us wacoans...

An organization that will always hold a piece of my heart is Sigma Phi Lambda.  Main reason being that this is where I was pulled into a community of girls that loved God and desired to follow hard after him... right at a time where I needed it most.  I will be forever grateful for the Lord placing Phi Lamb in my life and for all of the girls that loved on me and taught me so much.  I had the honor of serving as an officer for this fantastic organization my senior year of college, along with four other amazing girls.  Our officer core had a bond that year that has outlasted our years at college and stands strong even through the distance.  

(circa 2007)

Three of us live in different towns in the metroplex and one of us lives in Temple.  We decided it was only appropriate to have a long overdue day of fun together.  (If you've done the math already, that means that one of us was not present and of course GREATLY missed.  Love you Hannah!)  We looked at the map and decided that Waco was going to be our location of fun.  And with that, this Saturday because a full-fledged day of us living it up in Waco to see all it has to offer.

When Andrea and Chelsea arrived to my apartment, we all piled in Solara and headed west.  Christine had done her Waco research and found out that Buzzard Billy's was the place to meet for lunch.  Located on a river that shall remain nameless here (because I never took the time to find out the name), Buzzard Billy's was a cajun restaurant that required you to cross the bridge over the swamp to walk in.  Authentic atmosphere... gotta love it.  We all ordered our cajun meals (besides Chelsea of course since her go-to meal is always chicken tenders) and immediately caught up on each other's lives.  And caught Christine up on all chat that occurred in the car ride over... funny how quick little inside jokes can be started in just a one-hour car ride.  We completed our time at Buzzard Billy's with a must-needed picture with the buzzard itself.  Against all wishes of Andrea.

We still had an hour before our movie so we contemplated where in Waco we should tackle next.  Driving through downtown and heading towards Baylor campus, a particular girl got it in her head that we should take random silly senior pictures somewhere.  Between intense searching of visitor parking on campus, major complaints about the heat from the rest of us, and the beginning of an apparent allergic reaction from another of us... this girl got her wish.

After this detour, we headed on to our movie at the Galaxy.  We decided to go see what we thought was a chick flick about a couple being long-distance.  Didn't quite expect the Rated R-ness of it.  Whoops... so much for keeping it classy.  Made it all worth it just to hear Chelsea's ridiculous gasps throughout the entire thing anytime something less than wholesome occurred.  And Justin Long is still adorable in my book.

(They are less than enthused about this picture.  But I don't care.)

We ended our day at the most amazing place in all of Waco.  It is a little bit of paradise that has been planted right next to Baylor campus which can also be known as Common Grounds coffee shop.  To say that I am obsessed with this place is putting it mildly.  It is an absolutely adorable coffee shop that has tons of cute seating inside and cute seating outside in their huge backyard complete with a stage.  The even more fantastic thing about Common Grounds?  Their cowboy coffee.  Pure amazingness.  Best iced coffee I've ever had in my life.  Why is it so amazing, you ask?  This coffee is created with their secret sauce.  As Andrea put it perfectly, it's got to be crack.  Which of course reminded me about why I was so glad that she got to share the Common Grounds experience with me.  She truly understands the addiction.  And luckily everyone else seemed to love the place as much as me.  We even made our way from sitting in the backyard... to enjoying the a/c in one of the rooms... to sitting on the swing on the front porch.  We obviously enjoyed our time there.  And will hopefuly return very soon.

(Look at the pure joy on our faces holding that coffee.  Pure joy.)

(Bands play here.  Cute and fun.  I love it.)

(We much welcomed the air conditioner on the not-so-cool fall day.)

(We not so much welcomed the odd stranger that insisted on sitting and staring... while eating his Taco Bell.)

(I feel the need to explain that she's drinking hot chocolate.. in a sweater.. in 100 degree weather.  She's cool(?) like that.)

(They also have a swing.  It's like they know me there.)

(It maybe could make the move to Waco worthwhile... just maybe.)

(I'm obviously in love.. and a little ridiculous.)

After getting the second cowboy coffee to go (yes it is that good and yes I am that addicted), Christine returned us to Solara and we headed our separate ways.  It was very sad indeed but we will always have Waco.  Oh, and Huntsville.  Whoops.. that cowboy coffee has got me all confused on where my loyalties lie...