crafty christmas!

As a couple just starting out, we didn't have a bunch of Christmas decore and didn't really notice our lack of festive favors until the beginning of this month. I had gotten a few adorable ornaments from my friends for Christmas last year and a Christmas villiage that was my Pawpaw's so we had a little bit of a start, but not much!

But now thanks to my sweet mamma, Pinterest, and hours in the craft room I now have all the glitz and glam I need for a happy holiday!

Ps. Lighting in our house is really bad and gives all my pictures a weird yellow-y color. Please ignore that.

My mom and dad got us this tree and most of the sparkly ornaments! The rest were all gifts!

You can't see it very well, but we made that tree skirt! Got the idea from here, but I wasn't willing to spend $65 on something that lays on the floor once a year so we Googled tree skirt patterns and made our own version for $20 (10 for the fabric at Hancock and 10 for the monogram in the mall. I desperately want my own monogramming machine! Did you know Singer makes one that sews and monograms! What a dream!) I'm not exactly at the circle-sewing level yet, so mom did the sewing while Sydney and I cut the fringe. It was a lot of fringe!

I love wrapping with brown paper! It gives you so much room to be creative! I'm getting pretty good at it, if I do say so myself. The picture at the top of this blog is one I did last night.

This is Howard. He lived at Hancock Fabrics, but now he's moved in with us! He probably regrets it though because Jack keeps trying to eat him.

My little Christmas villiage! I put batting down so it would be snowy (even though its still like 75 degrees outside...bummer) and used fancy glitter paper from Michael's to make the banner! I thought they kind of looked like icicles, plus they make my fireplace candles blend in with the other decorations. Mom made those cute little stockings to match the tree skirt!

Our living room holds most of the decorations, but we have some little things set up throughout the house. This snowman and sleigh from my Aunt Becky sit on top of Tommy's protein cabinet below the elf painting I made at Sips n Strokes a few years ago.

It's all coming together and making our little house look so nice and warm! I wish Christmas were further away so I could enjoy it a little longer. But who knows, I might just leave it all up for a while!

grown-up christmas wake up call

I love Christmas! And now that I've nearly finished getting presents I can really start to enjoy it!

This is the first year I've been on my own (with Tommy, of course) to get gifts for everyone. I didn't relize how expensive it is and it's making me feel less and less warm and fuzzy about the ever-growing commercial side of Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I love my friends and family and want to give them gifts they'll enjoy because they certainly deserve it, but buying everything all in one month really adds up! And I didn't even get big gifts! I miss the days that my name was put on whatever my parents bought...

Now that I know what an expensive holiday Christmas is I finally appreciate all the lovely gifts I've gotten over the years. I mean, I had over 150 Barbie dolls, not counting Kens, Skippers, Kellys, and an extremely fit grandma doll! That's a lot of money, people! My parents are teachers so we didn't always have a ton of money to spend on toys, but my brother and I never went without. Now I truly appreciate the sacrifices they made to give us an amazing Christmas every single year. I also feel like a total jerk for the times little kid Bethany pitched a fit about over not getting some rinky-dink toy I thought I needed. What a brat!

I think next year I'll try to make more personal gifts instead of buying a bunch of things because what I wanted to get the person was sold out. Also, it really puts a damper on the season when I have to constantly check out bank account to be sure we haven't overdrawn it while trying to cross everyone off our list. Thanks to Pinterest I now have tons of really adorable gift ideas! But don't peek at my boards because I want you to think my ideas are original!

I still have two more gifts to make, but they're pretty easy to do so I should be able to knock them out in a few hours. Then I will finally, finally be finished! Through all this hussle and bussle I try to keep in mind the true meaning of Christmas and remember that it is a time to spread joy and goodwill to others so that I don't turn into a Grinch. I think Linus says it best:

"And that's what Christmas is all about, Bethany."

tuesday tuneage

So I was listening to the radio today, which I rarely do but Tommy lovingly stole back the iPod cord, and heard a list of music facts that were pretty interesting.

10 Extremely Disappointing Facts About Popular Music

1. Creed has sold more albums in the US than Jimi Hendrix.

2. Led Zeppelin, REM, and Depeche Mode have never had a number one single, Rihanna as 10.

3. Ke$ha's "Tik-Tok" sold more copies than any Beatles single.

4. Flo Rida's "Low" has sold 8 million copies- same as the Beatles' "Hey Jude".

5. The Black Eyed Peas' "I Got A Feeling" is more popular than any Elvis song.

6. Celine Dion's "Falling Into You" sold more copies than any Nirvana, Queen, or Bruce Springsteen record.

7. Katy Perry holds the same record as Michael Jackson for most number one singles from an album.

8. 20 million people bought Billy Ray Cyrus's album "Some Gave All...", more than any Bob Marley album.

9. The cast of Glee has had more song charts than the Beatles.

10. People pay to hear Justin Beiber sing. HAHA!

Buzzfeed.com has a few more than what I've listed, but oh my gosh! Ke$ha can't even spell her own name and she's outselling the Beatles?! THE BEATLES, people! I love a good cover but I can't believe number 9!

I realize a lot of this has to do with how music is produced now and how easily it is to access, after all The Beatles weren't on iTunes until after MJ died. It's probably also the shift in our society. People want party music so that's what they're downloading. Don't get me wrong, I love the new music and I wouldn't know how to dance to "Man in the Mirror", but the older stuff is way better in my opinion!

I hope you're jamming out to something good today, whatever it may be!

Crique Dreams Holidaze

Friday my mom and I were invited to see Crique Dreams Holidaze at the BJCC with our awesome friends Marsha and Leslie! It was AMAZING! There were tight rope walkers, contortionists, clowns (not the creepy kind), dynamic singers, extreame jump ropers, people on flying silks, jugglers, a magician, a mime, dancers, and two ridiculously talented kids that everyone threw around the stage like potato sacks!

Pretty cool, huh? This doesn't really do justice to what it was like to watch everything live. I'm still trying to explain the acts to Tom but I can't!
I spent the entire show in awe of their abilities and terrified that someone was about to die in front of us! My favorite part was watching the contortionists! It's like they had no bones or joints at all! I'm still not over the things they could do! Wow...just wow.

If you ever get the chance to see Crique Dreams or Crique du Soleil, GO! It is fantastic!
We had an amazing time and I love getting an opportunity to hang out with our friends! Thanks Lu and Marsha!

i am thankful

Happy (three days after) Thankgiving, y'all!

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

We spent Thanksgiving break (hallelujah a break!) in Fort Payne with my family and had make-up Thanksgiving lunch today with the Snows. I'm so full of dressing I think I might explode... We loved seeing everyone and celebrating everything God blessed us with!

My aunt Regina came up with a game to play at Mawmaw's. We each came up with something we were thankful for besides the obvious (awesome family, cars with heat and AC, a safe home, jobs, great friends, a loving God, ect.), wrote it on a slip of paper, and had to guess who wrote what. We know each other pretty well because we all guessed right off the bat! Tom and I continued to play our own game of it and here's what we came up with:

- cranberry sauce from the can
- indoor plumbing
- Walking Dead and Call of Duty for teaching us how to survive zombie attacks
-  the A'Chocolypse and Cinnapsis bars hiding in my purse. We love Sweeteeth!
- The Office and New Girl for giving us hours of hilarious entertainment (I've been repeating Zooey's line "I got the last turkey in AMERICA!" all week! So far Tommy hasn't made me stop but I'm sure he's glad the holiday is over!)
- spell check for helping us look smarter than we are
- Jack the Dog
- a vacation from the schools we are both so blessed to attend
- fried rice, sushi, and shrimp sauce
- hard times that teach us to be strong
- love. For exsisting and making everything worth it.

Even with the silly stuff, we are truly blessed. I love the crazy family I was born into as well as the great big one I've recently become a part of. I love having true friends I can count on for anything. I adore having a my sweet, goofy husband and fluffy puppy to come home to every day. Thank you God for these blessings and many more!

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! What are some things you are most thankful for?

how very unlike me...

It seems I have taken a liking to things that I normally don't care for at all!

For instance, one of my favorite new songs is Easy by Rascal Flatts ft. Natasha Beddingfield. I don't understand why?! I hate Rascal Flatts! He's nasally and has a terrible haircut. I mean, in all seriousness, if he has all that famous people money, why is he still walking around with 1993 frosted spikes?

But I do love harmony and duets. It's a love-should hate-love relationship I have with this song.

If you know me at all you, you know that I don't do scary movies and I don't do gore. No exceptions. If I watch something scary I will dwell on it for month and terrify myself. I didn't make it through Signs or Zombieland! I much prefer to think on good things and put happy images in my head!

However, last week Bradon came over to watch Walking Dead with Tommy and now I'm hooked!

The whole show is about a super creepy zombie apocalypse and the few people who haven't been effected, trying to escape death and infection (a lot like I Am Legend). The zombies freakin eat people alive! It's horrifying! But the plot is so intense and every second is filled with this crazy suspense that I can't stop watching! At least until that scummy Shane gets killed off.

Never fear though, nothing about me has changed. I'm also very much in love with Once Upon A Time! It makes me want to be a princess even more because Snow White and Cinderella kick some major villan butt!

Are you ever oddly fascinated by something sooo not you?
What was it?

the most magical place on earth!

That's right! We went to Disney World!

Tommy's parents had to go to a food show in Orlando and we were lucky enough to escape from school and revert back to our childhood for a few days. IT WAS SOOOOO FFFUUUNNNNN!!!

Thursday we went to Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios with Dave and Melodi

Friday we ate Moroccan and chased down characters in Epcot with Holli and Matt

We spent all Saturday in Magic Kingdom! It was Christmas there!

Sadly, my camera broke before we did anything so I don't really have any pictures, but Tommy took a bunch with his phone so hopefully I can put them on Facebook soon! For now, check out these!

cone of shame

Poor Jack has had a rough weekend.

Friday we dropped him off at the vet for a bath, all his rabies shots, and the Big Snip. I've never had a male that had to be fixed so I didn't realize how pitiful he would look when he came back! It breaks my heart! But since he his puppy puberty he's been humping everything! So really we had no chioce.

The vet caught him pulling at his stitches and they put him in the Cone of Shame. He hates it and he looks ridiculous! It's so sad but I can't help laughing when he knocks things over or gets caught on corners! Sometimes when he plays he drops his toys in it and can't get them out! We had to put duct tape around the edge because he kept ramming into our legs a scraping us up!

Tom has no compassion and has been making super cheesy jokes such as,
"How many channels do you get on that dish?"    and
"I hope he knows not to look up during a rainstorm!"

Jack has to wear the cone for eight more days. God help us all!

i love me some Dwight K. Schrute!

Tom and I love The Office. Actually, love isn't a strong enough word. Let me put it this way: this year alone we have gone through all seven season three times. Yeah. Some might call that sad, but I like to refer to it as ultimate fan-dom.
Anyway I almost fell out of my chair today when I got this email from Tommy:

 Just wanted to let you know you are awesome :) 
    
    Love, your hubby
   Ps. watch the video!

birthdays make me feel awesome!

I'm Officially Nineteen!
as of last wednesday.

Thanks to Facebook you probably already know that my birthday has come and gone. And it was great! We've been so busy with school that I didn't really expect much in the way of celebration, which was fine because I feel like I've been way over blessed this year. But Wednesday when I got home from work Tommy said "Get dressed because I'm taking the birthday girl out!" Yay! Every girl likes a big fuss over her birthday, even if she says she doesn't. He took me to Bentos for dinner and I got to wear one of the super cute Forever 21 skirts that Sydney got me! When we got home he surprised me with a handmade card (made my heart melt!), chocolate covered strawberries and almonds, and a turquiose Patagonia pullover! How sweet is he?!? I have the best hubby ever!

Thursday night we ate a special dinner at my parent's house! Mom made all my favorites: garlic brussel sprouts, yellow rice, and asiago lemon chicken. Mmmmmmmmm... now my mouth is watering again! For dessert we had something new from Pintrest called the Hefty Hubby and lemme just tell you, too much of that and you will be hefty! Its a layer of cookie dough, a layer of Oreos, and a layer of brownie batter. Baked to perfection and served with ice cream. It. Was. So. Good!

Mom also made cute party decorations! A cutesy bunting banner and my totally awesome princess birthday hat! It made me feel like I was in a Disney movie! I love my family :) I know that's the most obvious statement ever, but I really do! I think they're the greatest!

Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday! It was so special!


**above: I'm not purposely smiling like a goober, I was in the middle of the Tangled song when mom snapped my picture!

jewelry and cupcakes

 

Sunday Sydney and I co-hosted a Stella&Dot trunk show! Our stylist, Jesse Sartain, made everything worry-free and super fun! All I had to do was clean my house (which needed to be done anyway) and prepare snacks!

I haven't known about Stella&Dot for very long, but since I have I've been in love! They have everything from flashy and fun to sweet and danity! Everyone who came found something just right for their own personal syle and we had a great time! It was so nice to see everyone and have time to chat! Jesse showed us funky and sophisticated ways to combine the pieces and get the most out of them. Syd and I ended up with a lot of hostess rewards and we cannot wait to cash them in! I'm using mine on the Ever After necklace and Petra Braided bracelet for sure and I'm still toying with a few other things. There's just so much to choose from!

I've become obsessed with everything pumkpin spice since it dropped below 80 degrees so for our party we decided to break out the fall refreshments! We had decious apple cider and easy pumpkin spice cupcakes with cheese cheese icing. Yummmmmmmy!

All you do is combine one box of Duncan Hines spice cake mix with half a 15 ounce can of pumpkin
Add five minutes to the DH suggested baking time
Top with cream cheese icing an enjoy!

Mom keeps telling me this is a Weight Watchers recipe but they're sooooooo good! I don't think I believe her.

i love festivals!

Last weekend Tommy and I went to the Kentuck Arts Festival with Syd and Lynda!
I love going to Kentuck every year and seeing all the cool art, but Tom had never been so I had to take him!

Let me say, I have always been a volunteer at the festival and got in free so I had no idea what everything cost. It was $10 a ticket to get in (not so bad), but they wanted $15 for a 3-piece chicken finger basket! What?!? And because there were no prices listed, we ordered two! We thought they would be about $5. Nope! Now we know to eat before we come!

Despite unintentionally spending a huge chunk of our money right off the bat, we had a really great day browsing through all the booths and checking out each artists unique style with good friends. I bought a cute little ring made from an old silver teaspoon! We got another cool something I can't tell you about because it's my dad's Christmas present! He is going to love it! Before we left we even got to see Kara's baby sister Anabelle at Justin's tent! I love his mixed media paintings! I'm determined to have them in my grown-up house.

See that stick in Tom's bag? Well he and Lynda decided that some of the "art" looked like something that could be done by a child or picked out of the backyard yet it was priced extreamly high. So they got a stick and Lynda bet Tom $10 that couldn't get someone to ask him where he'd bought such a beautiful "gnarled branch" before we left. We caught several people admiring it but no one said anything! But as were getting off the shuttle at our car I heard a woman whisper to her husband, "He bought himself a little tree! How nice! I wish I'd seen that!"
Score!

camping with my famjam!

Hey there long-lost blog friends! I've missed you!
School has been comsuming my life so I had to leave the blogsphere for a little while. But now I don't have anything due until Tuesday! Yay! Time to catch you up on everything going on in The Land of Snow! I have pictures!

Two weeks ago-- October 7-10-- we went on our annual Boatwright family camping trip! This time was extra special because Tom and I got to bring Puppy Jack annnnd the three of us got our own tiny tent!

so pretty!

 homework stops for nothing. thank goodness I didn't need wifi!

"studying" but I don't know what. maybe the inside of his eyelids!

Jack loved playing outside all day with everyone! He also enjoyed eating countless acorns, rocks, and what was left of a dead squirrel. Ewe!

And of course no camping trip is complete without banjo music!

Kind of felt like we were in Deliverence..I kept checking behind me for crazy backwoods people creeping up.

Sydney, Tom's family, and the Calhouns all came to visit and cook out! It was so much fun that I forgot to get any pictures!

Ps. Oct. 7th was Sydney's 19th birthday! We went to Bento's for birthday lunch and it was delish! I love my bff!

what a crappy morning

Ugh!

This morning has been crappy!
I know, I know. It could be worse. It can always be worse, but I'm just going to take some time a complain anyway.

In English this week we are having 20 minute individual conferences to go over our papers. My appointment was at 8:40 this morning. If we miss our appointment it is the equivalent of being absent twice.

This morning I tried printing my paper off from my Netbook (side note: I will never ever buy another netbook. They do not work like other computers, espcially when you need them to.) and it decides to take to take half an hour to start up! Because I have thirty minutes to waste in the mornings! When It finally does open and let me get the file, the printer starts printing five copies of the wrong paper then freezes before I can get to the right one!

I am suuuupppper mad at this point so I jerk my computer up and drive off to school late. Because I'm late there are no parking spots left in my entire lot and I ended up being the perfectly capable jerk who parked in the handicap space. I justified it by telling myself I would only be parked there for a little while and I never seen any cars in those spaces. Why are they putting handicap spots out that far anyway?!

Then I ran as fast as I could -- I'm not all that fast --  all the way from the Aquatics Center to Gorgus Library. I'm a pretty awkward runner, my arms flail and a makes weird faces, but add a boucing backpack and I look a lot like Captain Jack. When I finally make it to the downstairs Gorgus Cafe at 8:45 I'm sweaty, I'm late, and my shoes are soaked through from the damp grass but I haven't missed the appointment!

There's another girl sitting with my teach so I assume it's the last appointment running long and wait patiently. When nine o'clock comes around and the girl leaves, my teacher looks at me an says
"Oh, I'm sorry. You missed your appointment."
WHAT?! I was HERE! I was a few minutes late, but I was RIGHT HERE! That's what I'm thinking, but all I can say is sorry, over and over again. So I lost half my points and had to reschedule for 12:20 tomorrow when I really should be at work.

Sorry for the long post, but today sucks.
How's your day going? Better I hope!

*Captain Jack from here

i'm a wantoholic

My name is Bethany and I am a wanna-be shopoholic.

It's true. I spend a lot of time "window" shopping online and, while I've been known to impulse buy when I find a good deal, most of the time I'm just making mental notes of what my closet would look like if I had an abundence of Benjamins. Or just like...two Benjamins!

My dream closet would be full of Anthropologie clothes! But since I can't afford to shop there, I've discovered an alternative. (confession- I'm tempted not to share this with you so that you won't go buy up all the cute clothes in my size, but I haven't actually bought anything - it's still a little out of my price range - so someone might as well be wearing it!)

Behind The Dressing Room Door: The Antro Exchange

It's basically like eBay but with Anthropologie clothes! Users sell their gently used Anthro clothes at a discounted price so that poor college girls with tiny budgets like me can still look fabulous! Here are a few of my recently posted favs--

 I looooooove these skirts! They're so feminine and flowy! Plus A-line is flattering on everyone! They would be great for pretty much any occasion and could be worn with tights when it gets cold! I want them.

That's the sweetest little dress I've ever seen. I need it.

How cute is this? Very! I love the skirty detail at the bottom and the happy little flowers! I want that too.

I could probably show you 30+ things but I won't waste you time. I'm such a wantoholic! I need to stop looking now so that I don't spend all our money right this second! BYE!

Ps. On a completely unrealted note, my birthday is October 12th. That's in two weeks.
Pps. Yeah, that information isn't completely unrelated. It was placed there on purpose.

does that make me bad?

I love taking pictures of Lucy while she's having a fit! At the time it's just really loud, but the fit is over soon and the pictures crack me up! She gets upset over the silliest things (ex. not being allowed to eat plant dirt/dog food/cat litter) and that makes the pictures even funnier! She's just so mad!

And she turns beet red every. single. time! Oh it's just so funny! But if you think I'm a total jerk for snaping pictures while Lucy is so obviously distraught, take a peek of her hamming it up for the camera

(taken seconds after her meltdown above)

Princess Lucy! Sweet girl wore that crown for the rest of the afternoon!..that is until she remembered it was up there and thought it would be put to better use as a chew toy.

attack of the clumsies

Yup, that's me! I am in a world of awkward pain right now because I got mugged by my clumsiness Friday!

If you've known me for any length of time you know that I am not the most graceful person God ever made. Far from it actually. I can fall of anything almost anywhere, even if it seems impossible. Have you ever fallen out of a passenger seat while buckled? Exactly. Klutzy Bethany started to disappear after I had been cheering for a few years. The new muscle was doing some serious good to my coordination! I wasn't exactly normal, but it was pretty close!

Now that I haven't been cheering--I can't believe it's been three years!--my clumsiness has started slowly creeping back up. I drop more, I stumble more, but no big deal. Until Friday, when I had two of the most epic falls of my life!

Epic Spill Number 1

Syd and I had walked all the way to Hooligan's and back for lunch so I was running a little behind to pick the kids up and I decided to rush to the Crimson Ride to make it to my car faster. As I jumped, or tried to jump, over the barrier my foot caught on the chain and my body slammed face-first into the sidewalk! SMACK! I fell with a lot of momentum so my feet came over my head behind me, causing my backpack to go over my head and trap me! I had to roll out from under it! I would've busted my face but I happened to be wearing a hat and the bill hit first! Hooray for hats! 

The bus drove off without me, I scraped my knee (it bled all down my leg), crushed my to-go cup, and of course there were a TON of people around! Nothing was really but my pride and Sydney was laughing so hard, I couldn't even be embarrassed! Instead, I was that weird kid giggling to myself on the walk back to my car.

Epic Spill Number 2

At work later I'd cleaned up my knee and put the babies down for a nap before 2:45 when I meet Rylee at the bus stop at the end of the street. Since I didn't have to push stroller, I decided to be an awesome babysitter and bring Ry her scooter to ride home. About halfway to the stop I think,

"Hey! It would be faster and way more fun if I rode her scooter down there!"

Bad, bad idea. (1) I haven't ridden I scooter in about 8 years and (2) this is a child's toy. It's itty-bitty! But that doesn't cross my mind as I hop on and go speeding down the street because I am way too cool to worry. I forgot how much hill effect scooter speed and started going too fast. The wheels started wobbling and I knew I was going to crash, but I'm too awesome to crash so, forgetting about the break, I casually jump off the speeding death-trap and run beside it. Scooter is going too fast, I run slow, my legs lose it, scooter falls and I good sliding across the pavement and roll to the sidewalk!

I don't know how many of you have ever slid across hot asphalt with your bear skin, but I DO NOT recommend it! Oh it hurt so bad! It's like a crazy painful carpet burn. There is now no skin on my left elbow, a huge scab on my left knee, and a fierce burn on my hip. I can't wear bandages because it sticks to the skin. If I bend too far they all rip open and I can't breathe. It is super hard to wash my hair and wear anything on my lower half but undies. 

I'm just sooo glad I had that hat on.

How's your week going?

Are you clumsy like me?

If so, please please please tell me about your biggest wipe out! 

the mysterious case of the stank

With my car, Eunice, there is never a dull moment. This year alone she been hit by a trailer hitch (it wasn't my fault this time believe it or not!), been rear-ended, popped a tire, annnnd bent an axel! But that's all before the arctic downpour! 

Tuesday morning I get in my car and a rancid, sicky-sweet smell nearly knocks me down! It's grossing me out just thinking about it! I couldn't figure out what it was! The girls have spilt ice cream in the car before and Lucy has gotten sick on the seats and there's always milk dripping from someone's cup, but I had cleaned all that up! My headliner leaked and water had gotten in the car, maybe the dampness caused all the old smells to stink back up? 

So I'm driving around with ALL my windows down and my head out to breathe for about four days and the smell still won't go away! UGH! It was awful!! I get in Thursday morning after class and can't see out of my rearview because the liner on the sunroof has come off and is hanging down the middle of the car like a big, nasty divider! The foamy stuff is flying out everywhere! It got all in my Pumpkin Spice latte...ewe. I took Eunice to my parents so that maybe they could figure it out. 

Mom, Tom, and I dug all through the car cleaning everything when mom pulled down the back seats... and there they were. All wet and smelly and sticky. BLUH! A ton of mini marshmallows in the very back of my trunk soaked from the rain and spoiling! I don't know how they even got back there?!? I don't eat marshmallows unless we're camping and then I eat them all. Who know marshmallows could go bad? Or that they let off such a terrible, terrible smell?!

We scraped the mallows out of my trunk and Resolved and Fabreezed it until it smelled like a happy hillside! It still stinks a little but nothing like before. Thank Jesus! 

Have you ever smelt a smelly smell in your house or car and didn't know where it came from?

Did you figure it out or did it just go away?

Labor Day Lazies

Happy Tuesday after Labor Day everyone!

How was your long weekend?
Did you make it through Noah's rainstorm?

Tom and I had a great, busy labor day! Friday night we went to Workplay theatre with Sydney, Mary Ann, and Rachel to see Dave Barnes!!! For those of you who don't know, he's the genius and original artist of God Gave Me You. Blake Shelton is ight but Dave is the stuff!

See what I mean? Can't be touched!

Saturday we all went to the Alabama v. Kent State game! Funny story: After I've paid $55 to get a student guest ticket for Tom so he can go with me, we get up early, dress in our game day attire, park a million miles away, and walk to the stadium only to discover that the Kent State game was not in my package and we had to buy a second ticket to a game that we probably wouldn't have gone to had we known. Roll tide.

But it's okay because we had a really good time with our friends! The excitement of game day was totally worth it! And I have to say I was very pleased with the courtesy our fans showed to the Kent State players! Roll tide!

Sunday we went to church, made tacos (my first time ever! thought they were purdy good) until I had to go babysit. As I was on my way there I got a message telling me not to worry about it! YAY! So we had an Office marathon! We love the Office! Hardcore Parkour!

That is Tom favorite Office moment and hearing him laugh so hard at it cracks me up!

Monday we had originally planned to go to Six Flags, but we had to cancel because of the rain and the heart  meds Tom is on right now. Instead, we caught a bad case of the Labor Day Lazies, so it made for a great day to sleep in, eat spaghetti, clean, and do mountains of homework! Personally, I'd have rather read Jane Eyre, but UA is funny about homework; they actually want you to learn something. Go figure! We lazed around in sweats all day and never even left the house. It was a good day :)

Oh and a funny tweet I read about today's weather:

"If I'm not breaking a sweat on the way to class, I'm trudging through an artic downpour...#alabama"    -Sam Light

So true! Thanks for the laughs Sam! I was not aware that it was cold when I left my house in shorts and a tank. Did anybody else have this predicament? Or were you a smarty who dressed appropriately?

Happy Short Week!

college thus far...

I have been at UA for two weeks now and I really like college! I love that I only have to go to a class three times a week at the most. I love that I'm done before noon every day, some days before 10! I love walking to class! Even though my walk is loooooooong it's nice to be outside!

I've learned that, for the most part, high school prepared me for college, but there are a few things no one mentioned like...

1. There is a big black cat that hides in the bushes outside of Morgan and it will attack you.

2. There is no rule against massive amounts of cleavage, even if there should be!

3. You will spend almost $200 worth of sixteen-digit access codes.

4. You actually have to read your text books. Totally never did that...probably why I sucked it up in AP Economics

5. Get On Board day is so much fun and gives you a ton of free stuff! Even if you don't actually sign up! I have three Taco Casa free taco coupons now! Go me!

and finally...

6. there is the occasional Medieval duel (I can't figure out why it's so blurry!)

I'm having a lot of fun and I can't wait until kick-off Saturday! RTR!

a kinder rivalry

I'm sure a lot of you have already heard, but the Kent State football team has spent their week before kick-off rebuilding our broken city. How kind of them! They could be practicing, resting up, studying plays; but instead these guys are out in the hot sun hamering away!

I have so much respect for all the people who have gone over and above to help out all those still struggling from the April tornados. I'm overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness of others. I pray that God truly, richly bless every one of them!

Although I'll be rooting for Bama on Saturday, I will whole-heartedly appauld Kent Start for their selfless commitment to help a rival.

Roll Tide!

*photo from here. click link for whole story

magnolia ep

If you've been reading for any amout of time, you've heard me mention Drew and Ellie Holcomb.

They. are. AWESOME! and guess what happened on Wednesday... 

Ellie released her very own EP!

 I'm so happy!!

It's called Magnolia and it's based on the Psalms, so you know right away that the melodies are going to be beautiful and the lyrics poetic. I was so excited that I bought it Wednesday night! Since school has started and this week has been so busy I haven't been able to really listen to the whole thing like I'd like to, but as of now my favorite is "Don't Forget His Love (Psalms 108)". It's really, really great and I highly recomend it! Magnolia isn't on Grooveshark yet or I'd give you a snipit to listen to, but you should go buy it now off iTunes anyway!

Any new music you're excited about?

Have any good suggestions for me?

Do you sometimes feel like a super-stalker-fan for talking about celebs like you know them personally?

tuesday tuneage

hello everyone!

To me, Tuesday feels like that chill day of the week.

You've just finished the dreaded Money, Friday is too far away to think about

So here we are, chillaxin on Tuesday.

I'd like to share some calm Tuesday Tuneage with you!

Here's my current favorite by the Honey Trees:

Holy harmony! I love her voice. And her super-cute dress!

And of course a classic:

Happy Tuesday :)

Ps. Dont forget to check out the new music on the player on your right -->
Pps. What do you think of the new layout?!

arg! a pirate party for me matey

My pretty friend Kara has moved to Pensacola for college...

We're all really sad and we miss her so much cause she's the shizzle and it's depressing when the shizzel leaves! BUT it did give me a chance to throw my first surprise party! Since she's going to Pensacola State the theme was...drumroll please...PIRATES!!!

(because apparently you couldn't figure that out from the title)

I had a very small budget for this party and did it all for under $20!

Pensacola Pirate pennant cupcakes

Of course there had to be a photobooth!
Wonderful Meghan let me borrow her set up and it was so much fun!
Here are a few of my faves:

**speech bubble chalkboard by Playing Grown Up