My beautiful friend Cambre hosted a Christmas swap last night. Everyone brought either new or used decorations they no longer want or need as well as some things they got as gifts that would never work for anyone. Ever.

It looks as thought the “artist” got a little bit distracted while painting on the eyebrows. Of course, with my luck, this disturbed angel is a pricelessly priceless authentic piece of Christmas heirloomness. I still have her, just in case. She fell out of the box in my car before I went into the party. Lucky girl. Still, I took some other stuff I didn’t need and came home with a bag full of these non-freaky ornaments.

And all of this other lovely stuff.

What a fantastic way to get new Christmas stuff without spending a dime. Not to mention the hanging out with friends part. Or the getting rid of stuff you don’t want part. It was just the little inspiration I needed.

Elisabeth poses with her finds.

If you’re interested, my sister wrote a great post on how to host your own swap.

I met her at my sister’s wedding. I was the maid of honor and she was the guest book attendant. I was immediately drawn to her just as my sister said I would be. By nights end, we had agreed to be roommates at Columbia International University the following year. She was a year older than me so she already had a year of college behind her which somehow gave me confidence by association going into my freshman year.

She was fun and funny, playful and vivacious, blond and gorgeous. She was dramatic, jealous, passionate and, by the standards of our small Bible college in South Carolina, she could be downright scandalous.

It was little things that bonded us at first: we wore the same size shoes and could share clothes and both had an unnatural love for our favorite musicals. But we shared a lot more than just a room during those years in college. We shared dreams and drama, heartache and heartbreaks as well as a love for the Lord.

As the years have passed, we have graduated and grown up. I have watched as she remained fiercely loyal to those she loved, even the ones who weren’t so loyal in return. She has taught me to play more, laugh harder and not take myself so seriously. She is beautifully human.

These days we only get to see each other about once a year. Four years ago we went to New York and ate pizza in Brooklyn and saw Wicked on Broadway. The year after that, she came here for a weekend (with me and my 3 kids…not exactly a walk down 5th Avenue, but still). We keep in touch fairly regularly and always pick up where we left off no matter how long it’s been.

She is one of my favorite people and today, she is getting married. In normal life, she is on her end of the country and I am on mine. She has people there, I have people here, and our lives have continued seperately. But this weekend, I am meeting her people. I am meeting her man. And we will celebrate the fact that she has finally found her someone.

This is the week between two weddings. On Saturday, my photo-taking friend, Alisa, was married. She and I did a wedding together last year. In fact, she has taken photos for countless brides. This time it was her turn. She is beautiful.

Not that you can tell that from this photo, but trust me: she is.

This coming Saturday I have the distinct privilege of standing next to my college roommate while she promises forever to the man she loves. I haven’t met him yet, as they live far away, but I have no doubt that he is some kind of man with a capital M.

So I’ve got wedding brain. Sitting there in the church on Saturday, I remembered what a mess I can be at weddings. I remember how the bride is like a princess and how the vows are holy and sacred and how much I love to watch the father of the bride because his baby girl is all grown up. And I always cry because I am a crier. Are you a wedding crier? Is that even how you spell it?

The summer is in full swing round these parts and I feel like Busy has been chasing me around with a whip. I’ve got a little bit of hazy and a touch of crazy but not much lazy in my summer so far. A lot of the chaos is in my head. And on my list. And on the laundry room floor. But it’s summer so I want to talk about June. Not that June, this June.

You read Bye, Bye Pie, right?  You should. She’s the first one listed under funnies in my blogroll. Well now she has been nominated for a Funniest Blog award and seeing as how she is the funniest blogger, I think she oughtta win. And eventhough she says that drawing attention to the funny makes her not funny, I beg to differ. Her un-funny is 100 times more funny than normal people’s really funny. And? It is JUNE, after all. So vote for June in June.

Besides the fact that she is laugh-out-loud funny, she deserves to win in my book based entirely on her willingness to let my girls manhandle her cat, as seen below.

Lucky me that I have June in my town. Lucky you that you can take 10 seconds (once per day per email address!) to make her the funniest blogger around. Of course, she already is the funniest. But now the world will know.