Number 1!!!!!!

My favorite memory from college . . .
Okay, lets just be honest here, again, this is not exclusively one moment. However, it started at one very important, and very pivotal moment in my college career.
My sophomore year, like every other year, I went on our Women's Retreat with CRU.  Saturday night during the retreat, one of the seniors gave an incredible talk and was completely vulnerable and transparent with all of us.  She had such a powerful message, and God totally used her words and her story to stir in our hearts and change so many of our lives.

After her talk, 7 of us piled in the back of a Tahoe and shared our lives. That night triggered the start of our accountability group, and a friendship that will last for the rest of our lives.  I am so thankful for these girls. They mean absolutely the world to me. We've had some incredible times throughout college, and I'm so thankful I've gotten to share it with them. From blizzard nights to the seven dwarfs, from rock painting to secret weekends, I've loved every minute we've spent together. I love you girls!!

Number 2!!

Remember how much I love intramurals? Well its a lot. Flag football is my absolute favorite. The last three years I've played with some amazing girls. We call ourselves the Daughters of Lightning. It started out as a bunch of girls from Crusade. When we started our team the guys had a team called the Sons of Thunder. We thought it was appropriate.
After playing together for three years we have really bonded. We had a rough road the first season, losing the game that would've qualified us for the playoffs in the last 1.4 seconds. We were ahead by 3, on defense, and the ball was at midfield. The other team lined up trips right, snapped the ball and the quarterback threw a bomb. It was really devastating. But, we learned the game is not over until the clock runs out.

Now, number 2 here is really a tie. But it is combinable. If you want to title it, call it Daughter's of Lightning Epic Moments.


The first epic moment was during our second year of playing together, my junior year. Now most of us were still involved in Crusade, and almost all of us went on Crusade's fall retreat. It used to be a tradition at fall retreat that we would have a big football game on Saturday afternoon. That year about 40 people were playing, no joke. It was a pretty relaxed game. Ha, that didn't stop Laura and I from scouting on some of those freshman (yes, this was how we discovered Allix).  Anyway, the game began to disperse; about half of the group was supposed to stay on the upper field and play group games, while the other half was headed to the basketball courts to do the same. Well, we didn't end up playing group games. All of the girls that remained on the field, purely by coincidence, were Daughter's of Lightning. So there were about 10 of us, and then about 20 guys. Well, we had one of the most epic football games of our lives. Yeah, 10 of us girls, huddling before each play, calling our plays, and making them. It was AMAZING!! I mean, not that we were really keeping score, or that we won or anything (I mean we were outnumbered 2 to 1, though I'm convinced we could've won if the numbers had been even), but it was incredible!

Daughter's of Lightning Epic Moment #2
This moment truly is epic. During our third year of playing together we had a change of quarterbacks. The first year we had two. Carrie and Laura. Well the second year Carrie was out of town for an internship, so Laura was the quarterback. The third year, Laura had graduated, so Carrie was the quarterback again. Our first game that season we played the BCM, the Baptist Collegiate Ministry. Lets just be honest here, there definitely is a campus ministry rivalry, whether we'd all admit it or not. So about 3 plays into the game Carrie, our quarterback, tore her ACL and meniscus. Shoot. We ended up tying the game. I hate tying, probably more than losing.
Well we had a great remainder of the season. We qualified for playoffs for the second year in a row and won our first playoff game.  Guess who we were playing for our second game. Yeah, the BCM. Woo! I cannot begin to explain the anticipation heading into that game. We had never played them before that season. They had injured our quarterback. We had tied them. This was our only chance to prove which team was better. And I also played with them my freshman year. Yeah. It was time for a W and for the Daughters of Lightning to put them in their place. Shoot. We played so hard that game. I've never seen us want a win more. We truly played our hearts out, and ended up bloody and bruised. Daniel, our coach, almost knocked out the ref for a bad call. And yes, we won! We got that W! The final score was 14 to 7. And the Daughters of Lightning advanced to the semifinals in the playoffs. The farthest we'd ever gone.

So there you have it. Second favorite college memory. Daughter's of Lightning Epic Moments.

3

Top 3 memories.

Let's start with a little background information. All through college I went on spring break with a group from Campus Crusade for Christ. The guys stayed in one house and the girls in another. The houses were about a block apart. My sophomore year was when this madness all began. One of the days during the week the guys all left to go play basketball. And while we tried to stay occupied painting nails, etc, us girls got bored and decided to prank them. Well we did some pretty hilarious things to that house (putting all of their shoes on the roof, shorts in the bottom of the freezing cold pool, switched all of their stuff into different rooms, put their towels in the freezer, stole all their food, and changed the passwords on their video games).
Well the boys retaliated and put 18 crabs and 2 lobsters in our house at 6 am. While we were all still sleeping. Awful. Definitely NOT my favorite memory.

All that to say there is a very high pranking expectation on these spring break trips.

The following year the four of us girls who are the pranking instigators all stayed in the same room. Carrie, Lauren, Olivia, and myself. Now there were 2 twin beds and then a set of bunk beds.  There had been rumors all week of the guys breaking into our house in the middle of the night and doing some crazy things to us in our sleep. And with the four of us in a room all feeding off of each others paranoia, we were ready for anything. After a few nights of failed attempts from the guys at pranking us, and one of the guys running into our house dressed up in a gorilla suit, we had pretty much assumed the pranking for the week was over. So as we called it a night around 2 am, we shuffled the boys out the door and made sure everything was locked up.  And then we went soundly to sleep, relying on the promises the older guys had made us that they were done pranking.

CRASH! SMACK! BANG!
I look at my watch, delirious, reading 4:10.
CRASH! CRASH! static (ok there was like a static tv sound, I don't know how to express that).
I sit straight up in bed. "Carrie. Carrie"
"What?"
" . . . there are boys here!"
"what?"
"there are boys IN our house."
"shh, go back to sleep."
"okay",  I say, and I lay back down. 5 seconds later, "No, Carrie, the guys are in our house! Listen!"
"Oh my gosh what are they doing!" She jumps up and locks the bedroom door.
I sit straight up in the top bunk as Lauren and Olivia shake their delusion. Carrie and Olivia then look out the window and see several figures running away from the house and down the street toward the guy's house. We assumed it was a couple of the sophomore guys, and they were carrying what looked like a laundry basket.
Lauren starts running around frantically. She grabs her blanket off her bed, goes into the bathroom and gets a water bottle, gets her phone, and starts throwing them to me on the top bunk. "Lauren, what are you doing?" I ask. "I'm coming up there!"
Carrie starts flipping out again. " . . . and guys I think I heard them say something about rats! I think they're going to put rats in our house! what if they put rats in our house!!" The light is now on, and Carrie attempting to pull the dresser in front of the bedroom door. "Someone HELP me!" Olivia, who is the only one left on the ground goes and helps her, while Lauren and I flip out on the top bunk.  Olivia then runs into the bathroom to get cups of water. At this point the girls in the other room connected to our bathroom have poked their heads in, and want to know what is going on.
"Someone threw something on our balcony" they tell us. Another major eruption of paranoia occurs. "Ahh they are trying to get into the balcony! Lock the door!!!" We then proceed to shove them back through the bathroom into their bedroom. The bathroom doors could be locked, but from inside the bathroom. We lock the other girls out of their bathroom, and then close our bathroom door. Lauren is back off the top bunk now, and Olivia has come up with cups of water. Yes, we were going to pour water on them if they tried to come into our bedroom. Awesome defensive tactics, I know. Meanwhile, Carrie is stuffing towels under the bedroom door and under the dresser to keep the rats out. Lauren is propping the ladder from the bunk bed up against the bathroom door, so that if the guys come in that way, we will hear them. And yes, I have yet to get down off of my bed! After successfully booby trapping and rat proofing our room, all four of us end up on the top bunk. Its a wonder that thing didn't break.

We then proceeded to call the guys. All of them answered their phones and pretended to be sleeping. They told us it was probably the younger guys, and they would come check it out. Oh yeah, thanks. They come scope out the house and find nothing.  No sign of any of the younger boys, and no sign of rats. So eventually, we put our water cups down, climbed off the top bunk, and went back to sleep.  The room was still booby-trapped, of course. We weren't taking any chances.

It actually was the older guys who had come into our house. The were throwing solo cups up the stairs and had put the t.v. on a static channel. Then pretended to have just woken up when we called them. Thanks guys.

The reason this night was so great, was how hilarious the four of us reacted in that room. We were freaking out. There really weren't any rats. And they weren't climbing on the other girls balcony, they had thrown a football up there.  But it made for a hilarious night. We were all so delusional. And honestly, my favorite moment of the night was Lauren, after frantically running around the room for 5 minutes collecting random items, looking at me with petrified eyes and a face that said "I can't believe you're asking me that question at a time like this", yelling "I'M COMING UP THERE!!"


I love you Carrie, Lauren and Olivia. You make my life.

Number 4

Well folks you are about to experience my 4th favorite memory from college. If you're just tuning in, you may want to read the previous favorite 6 memories.

Ok enough stalling. 

Freshman year we were a little mischievous.  One night we decided to go on a little adventure. And it resulted in one of the most epic memories of my college career. 

We parked our cars in a back, side parking lot. Hoped out, and walked up this hidden path up a hill.  There is a  train bridge that goes over the river. And not the most reliable bridge either.  Still active, so it wasn't like it was about to fall under our feet, but not made for walking across. Well we shuffled across that bridge pretty quickly. We'd only planned on getting to the other side, quickly walking back, and then leaving the premise asap.  Being completely honest here, my ears saved our lives. I thought I heard a train whistle, but I was written of, everyone saying that it was just the city. I was right. Well about 39 seconds later we get a phone call from one of the guys that had not crossed. He said a train was coming. Oh boy. So we quickly ducked down on the side of the tracks and waited for the train to pass. Probably the scariest 3 minutes of my life. After that train passed we practically RAN back across that bridge. 

Now let me just mention, we learned our lesson. We knew it was stupid, and won't be crossing anymore bridges like that again. But it makes for a great story. And it was totally epic!!  It was one of those things you just have to do in college. Risky and unpredictable. But you're college career is not complete until you do it. Thats why this is number 4.

We made it to the top 5!!!

Number 5 . . . 
The most recent memory to make it to the top 10.


I don't know how to start this without giving away the end. So don't read ahead. 


Well my friends and I love our intramural sports. We never miss a flag football or a soccer season. And sophomore year we even played inner-tube water polo. We have championship t-shirts from that! For those of you who are not familiar with the University of Tennessee Intramural program, let me fill you in. Its a big deal. There are always several weeks of regular season play, then about 2 weeks of single elimination playoffs. And the champions get t-shirts. Not the greatest t-shirts ever by any means, but they say INTRAMURAL CHAMPIONS. Yeah, its a big deal.  


Lets take the road back a couple years. 
Sophomore year was the first year we played together. We weren't expecting much starting that year when we signed up to play co-ed. But after a few games we were starting to realize the potential we had. That fall we lost in the second round of playoffs. 
Junior year. Our team looked a little different, but the same core of us played. We had about the same situation. Making it to playoffs but getting out in the quarter finals. 


And then Senior year comes along.  We played outdoor and only made it to the first round of playoffs. Darn. But our guys team made it to the finals. But they didn't get that last W.
Indoor season. During the regular season we were 3-1. And then playoffs. Oh what a road!!
We were ranked 6th going into the playoffs. Now that doesn't mean a whole lot, and it really depends on the other teams in your time slot, which is totally random. 
Our first playoff game. We start out with a point because the other team didn't have enough girls there to start the game. And the other team scores once. 1 to 1. Final buzzer. Overtime is five minutes of sudden death. Nope. No goals then either. And so we have to go to penalty kicks. And fhew, by the skin of our teeth we made it to the next round. Survive and advance.


Round 2. Quarterfinals. We played really hard. And we lost. All sad and bummed that our awesome run of intramural soccer was over.


Two days later our captain gets an email. The team we played that night had been disqualified because they had a Lady Vols soccer player on their team. The rule is that varsity athletes can play intramural sports, but not in the sport they are a varsity athlete in. HOLLA!! Back in the running!! 


Semifinals. We were playing very well. Passing, making good runs and good plays. Half time we were 3-0. Well we stepped back on the field and played like a different team. Awful. The other team also came out like a different team. Awesome. So about a minute before the final buzzer goes off they score their third goal. Overtime again. And then penalty kicks. I was about to throw up. I hate PK's. Well then our keeper does some amazing fake out, and we pull through!!! On to the finals!!!!!


The very next night. Walking into that bubble we knew that if we played like we did the second half the night before, we were going to get destroyed. This was probably the most physical intramural soccer game I had ever played. At one point a girl on the other team and I were both going for the ball. We were on defense and after a quick struggle I cleared it.  As we are both walking up the field she puts her hand on my face and attempts to snap my neck towards the floor. If you've ever seen me play an intramural sport, you know what happened next was very uncharacteristic of Missy. I kept walking. Jim, one of the guys on my team, said he didn't know what surprised him more, the fact that she almost snapped my neck or the fact that I didn't do anything back. 


The first half one of our girls scored. I don't think I mentioned this earlier, but with co-rec play the scoring is a little different. If a girl scores it is two points, where guy goals are still one point. So we were up by two at the half. 2-0 is about the worst place you can be in a soccer game. You're just ahead enough to get a little cocky, but not enough to have a safe margin. Second half. Remember how physical this game was? Well they get their first yellow card. Let me also mention that for an intramural ref to even blow their whistle, its a big deal. About 80% of them do not want to be there and do not pay attention to the game. So for this kid to pull out a yellow card. I mean stop the presses! Shortly after we score another goal. Another girl-goal for that matter. Now it is 4-0 with about five minutes left. And they get ANOTHER yellow card!!!  And then about a minute before the game is over they get a third yellow. 


The final whistle. 4-0. INTRAMURAL CHAMPIONS!!!!! FINALLY!!! Yeah, its kind of a big deal.

So we got our t-shirts!!! We spent the night at the Hill retelling stories and sharing sweaty hugs. Whew, college life is complete!


Number 4 tomorrow!

Number 6 . . . Let's Go Noise!

Back to the Top 10 Memories from college. Number 6, here we go.


We're back to sophomore year, and heading to the UT Homecoming football game. You should note, I LOVE my Tennessee Football! I mean . . . LOVE. And this was the 2007 season. The season we went 10-4 and went to the SEC Championship. So go back 2 years, when we were hopeful and optimistic about our wonderful Tennessee football team. And just for the record, I feel the same way today.


First of all, this was my brother's first Tennessee football game. Dan was a jr. in high school, and now he's a freshman here. But this was officially his first UT game. 
Second, we didn't have the greatest seats in the world. Nothing terrible, the bottom section, but about 20-25 rows up, and right next to the band. 
Third, it was the homecoming game. Meaning lots of people leave at half time and the game is supposed to be an easy win (it was). 


Okay. Why is this so great? Get ready.
Half time. We're up by about 28 points. Everyone, I mean EVERYONE leaves. So we gradually start moving down rows, until we eventually made it to the first row! It didn't take too long, and a spot big enough for our growing group opened up! We are right next to the band. They are loud and fun and we are just loving it! And yes, we kept scoring. A total of 59 points. To 7. So lots of scoring means lots of cheering, and lots of singing Rocky Top! 
And then we were getting way excited and a little crazy. When we are on defense the cheerleaders held up signs that say "Noise", "Louder", "Cheer", "Defense". So we start reading out the signs "NOISE, LOUDER, NOISE NOISE, CHEER, CLAP."

Then the cheerleaders, meaning to hold up "LETS GO DEFENSE," held up "LETS GO NOISE."  


The remaining 10 football minutes were spent going crazy and yelling "LETS GO NOISE" from the front row. Best football game ever. Sixth favorite college memory.

Number 7!!!!

The day we all became friends . . .

One saturday afternoon during freshman year we set out to play some sand volleyball. Great idea, except for the fact that it started pouring on us after about 5 minutes of playing. So we retreated into TRECS and stood by the door soaking wet. Then Weezie's brilliant idea! Go to his house and have a slip-n-slide!!!!
And what else can I say? We put it on a hill, sprayed water on it and a little bit of soap, and let the rain do the rest! It was an awesome time!!

Number 8!

Number 8. Freshman year. My first race. Trideltathon.

Nervousness, excitement, anticipation. Having no idea what this race would hold, yet wanting to find out more than anything. The night before I tried to go to bed early. I actually woke up five minutes after my alarm was set for. I thought I had heard my text message tone, but I didn't have a message. Weird. Well about two minutes later my dad calls me. He was in the breezeway of South Carrick with my bike and helmet. So I quickly finish getting ready and getting my stuff together in a dark dorm room while my roommate continues to sleep.

Getting down to the transition area was super exciting, and super intimidating. I put my bike on the rack and organized my stuff in what I thought would be the most efficient way for transitioning.

Off to the starting line. This race is a 400 meter swim, a 6 mile bike, and a 3 mile run. And it's a pool swim, so everyone jumps in one by one. So, I stood in line, for 45 minutes, freezing cold, waiting to jump in the pool. When I finally did, I jumped in without my goggles on my eyes. After a few strokes I realized that my eyes were burning. Oh, right. No goggles, just chlorine pouring into them. So I stopped and put them on my face real quick.

On to the bike. So I transition, and I definitely put my helmet on backwards. Seriously? How do I do things like that? And then right after I get out of transition and on my bike, I stop, right in front of a crowd of fans, and put on my gloves. I just didn't care about my time that year. As I'm biking along, I decide to eat a power bar. I had heard that was a good idea. After about a little over half of my bike ride I start eating it. Then I decide it tastes like peanut flavored paste, and I throw it off the side of the road. I know, bad idea to litter. Well, my bike is from 6th grade and is from Toys R' Us. Just keep in mind that it is not a high quality racing bike. So I change my gears and start to stand up and petal hard. As I'm standing up, I'm leaning really hard to one side, and my gear jumps. SWOOSH, CRASH. Yes. I fell. Down. On the road, and I'm pretty sure I slid a little bit. My bike was on top of me and I was completely in shock. People are whizzing by going "are you ok?" Right, like they would stop anyway. But I was ok. Purely because of adrenalin. I get back on my bike, knowing I really wanted to finish. As I'm finishing the bike route I realize that I have a MASSIVE abrasion on my right elbow, and a pool of blood was starting to form. Thankfully I still couldn't really feel it. Well, I finished biking. And seriously debated not running. But only for about 1.5 seconds.

On to the run. My wonderful friend Keli Petty (who is now Keli Brand) was standing on the sidewalk and says "Hey! I'm going to run with you!" We had trained together and planned on racing together, but registration complications kept that from happening. And thank you Keli!! There was no way in the world I would've finished that run! Then, coming up the last huge hill, I hear Carrie SCREAMING at the top of her lungs. I seriously heard her a quarter mile away. It was awesome! And after that hill I was home free! I crossed that finish line so excited that I had actually done a triathlon. And not realizing the addiction I had started.

So there you have it! Number 8! Check back tomorrow for Number 7!

number 9!!

My ninth favorite memory from college. This is a fun one.

Sophomore year I had 2 amazing roommates. Carrie Fuller and Emily Stephenson. We were the Three Musketeers. We did absolutely everything together. Halloween rolled around and we had tons of ideas of what to be. So many that we actually decided to be 2 different things for 2 different parties; one the weekend before and one the night of.

And we are crazy. So this was just incredibly appropriate. Carrie was an Indian named Running Stream. Emily was a cowgirl named Brooke. And I was a horse, Named Strong River. Emily jumped on my back, and Carrie goes running into the party with Emily and I running behind. Oh and yes, we were screaming. Carrie like and Indian, and Emily trying to lasso her. Needless to say it was pretty amazing.
,
Oh but the night was not over. Some of us at the party were feeling a little mischievous. So we went to Wal-Mart, bought a huge ol' bucket of soap. Campus has some great fountains :)

And THEN Ashley, Cate and I (Ok I guess it was just Cate and I, haha) get kidnapped by Philip Glen. Yes. Thats right. And we go galavanting ALL over the country side looking for boxes. I have no idea why. Actually I do, but I didn't then. Anyway, we were driving all over Knoxville going through dumpsters getting big boxes. Philip and Hunter wanted to make a robot. Awesome.

By the time we got back to campus it was 3 in the morning. It was an amazing night. Hilarious, and a little out of control.

The next day, after the football game, it looked like it had snowed in the fountain :).

Number 10!

And the countdown begins!
Number 10!

Well once upon a time there were some friends who lived in an on campus apartment. The girls lived on the 3rd floor and the boys lived 10 floors above. Well, one night those very creative girls decided it would be a perfect opportunity to play an awesome prank on those boys.
So Carrie, Cate, Ashley, Emily, Becca, her sister, and myself purchased 1200 dixie cups, filled them with water and covered the floor with all of those cups. It was epic. And so epic because the night before we had nonchalantly gone to hang out at their apartment. You see Mikey had gone out of town and left his keys on his desk. So we discretely swiped the keys and went on our way. The night of our prank the guys were waiting for us to meet them at the basketball game. Well thankfully Timmy was giving us minute by minute updates of what was going on, and enlightened us to the fact that Jim was about to come back to the apartment. So when we heard that we finished as fast as we could and ran out of that room. Flawless.

It didn't take long for them to find out, since Jim was on his way back. But it has since been one of the most epic pranking nights. And there you have it. Number 10. Come back tomorrow for Number 9!

And please enjoy the video!

Top 10

I know I have been talking about this for awhile, but I finally finalized the top 10 memories from college!
So starting tomorrow I'll show one every day. To make a disclaimer this does not include any summers. That would be a top 10 all its own.
I hope you enjoy! I know I'm excited!