merry christmas 2013

Christmas cards are in my top 5 favorite things about Christmas. How can you not love them? It probably explains why I love Instagram so much, but I just LOVE looking at all the pictures. We displayed them on our stairwell this year and I love looking at them every time I come and go.

Saying all of that, it's no surprise that I could spend HOURS looking for just the right card for us to send out. And I'm also extremely picky. And I also think paying over $2.00 per card is just downright insane. Last year I found a good deal on pre-made cards, but this year I decided to branch out and make my own. I found an amazing deal on Overnightprints.com and got 80 for $30.00 shipped to me in 3 days. Can't beat that!!

I apologize that these pictures still have the print lines on them, but I took fancy pictures with my fancy camera…and then left the memory card at home. Also the back cuts off on the left side, I couldn't get it to show the whole thing. But you get the idea!!

I still want to look at them all the time because I LOVE how they turned out. When I found the tinsel tutorial on Pinterest, it all just fell into place and I knew what I had to do. 

I hope you and your family have an amazing Christmas this year! 

bow socks | blogger christmas swap

When your love language is gift giving, Christmas Swaps make you jump for JOY. So when I saw that Kasey was hosting one, I quickly signed up - after I finished jumping for JOY, that is. 

And you know what made me jump even higher? When she emailed me and told me that I was matched up with Jordan! First off, she lives in Nashville and that alone just makes me insanely jealous. Wellllll, I've never been, but it just LOOKS so amazing. And then, have you seen her hair?! My ugly brown just walked away in shame. Also she's sweet and funny and just had an incredibly gorgeous wedding. So yea, I was excited. 

I totally forgot to take a picture of what I sent her, but you can check out her post for that. Spoiler alert - I sent her a bottle of TJ's Almond Champagne and that is totally illegal but I like to be a rebel. Also, TN doesn't sell wine in the TJ's there - I KNOW - so she needed it. And if you have never tried it, YOU NEED IT. 

Moving on with what she sent me. 

Obviously I loved it. How could I not when the first thing I saw was BOW SOCKS?! She knocked it out of the park with those. And the Kelly Clarkson CD has been in my car since the day this arrived. A even likes it, too!! 

Those adorable sparkly headbands are from Old Navy (they are seriously on point this season!) and I actually grabbed them a few weeks ago but later put them back to "be good." So this was perfect! 

I also have already used all of the OPI colors…I like change…and they are perfect for Christmas. And I needed a new Rapidry bottle so it's even MORE perfect.

Can you tell that she somehow had the ability to read my mind with this gift? Even Bowden loved it!!

Kasey - thank you so much for hosting such a fun swap!

Jordan - thank you so much for all of my goodies! I hope to FINALLY make it to Nashville this year and we will have to drink some champs together :)

year in review | 2013

I'm just going to say what everyone else has said - where has the year gone?? When I sat down to write this post, I got to go through my blog completely and it made me realize what a fantastic year it was. It also made me realize that I used to sit down and WRITE and I enjoyed it. There were some pretty good posts this year!

So, here's a look back at the year. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

January:
This isn't really noteworthy per se, but I posted (in a linkup) the facts of me. I have more readers now than I did then, so if you are just itching to find out more about me, that's a good place to start!

We celebrated my 25th birthday in style at a Mardi Gras ball. And then with a strawberry pie! Fun fun fun.

February:

We went out to eat for Valentine's Day (even though I did not want to!) and ended the night with desserts from Target and puppy cuddles. The best.

March:

I completely embarrassed myself and made a blog with A - maybe we should have learned how to use iMovie prior to posting it. 

I met Ashley for the very first time! It was the most perfect blate that let to the most perfect friendship. Just four short months later we would even take a trip together!

April:
We found out that we were moving to Houston! This also happened on the same weekend of ANOTHER blate with Ashley. Perfection all around.

May:

We bought a house while I was at Jazz Fest! I recommend it highly - you get to celebrate while drinking the yummiest drinks ever. 

June:

I went to Galveston for a weekend of fun with Ashley. But got way too sunburned!

July:

This is my favorite month. Ashley, A and I flew to Charlotte to surprise Alexa for her birthday. It was the greatest ever. 

August:

A and I celebrated our first year of marriage. 

September:

We bought me a new car! I still love my little Ford Edge so much.

October: 

Oh, funny thing, life happened and I did not blog a single time. I spent October in Louisiana a lot and then watching some good football. 

November:

I got a new job! Working in an office again is different, but I love it so much more than working from home. I know, I am insane.

And that brings us to December. December brings lots of time with family and friends. Lots of love and laughter and really good food. 

I was blessed with an amazing 2013 - I can only hope that 2014 will be just as amazing. I have some great plans for it and I'll be sharing some of those tomorrow. 

copy cat

Thanks to an amazing weekend visit with a certain adorable EDB of mine, Ashley, and a phone call with another certain adorable EDB of mine, Alexa, I am re-inspired and ready to get back to writing in this little space. I have lots of great posts lined up (some even started/completed as drafts!) and I am excited to share.

The fun (and content full) things will start tomorrow, so until then I am being a copy cat and doing the Blogmopolitan quiz that has been making the rounds thanks to the ever so creative Erin. Also I know that you can easily insert text onto the document, but I'm having a particularly good handwriting day, so I did it that way. Yes, I am vain about my handwriting. 

a husband win

Two weeks ago I found a Groupon deal (that apparently is ALWAYS a Groupon deal) for $5 tickets to any movie at Studio Movie Grill. Naturally I bought 4 and then bought 4 tickets to Catching Fire on the Friday it opened. One text later to my friend Haylie and we had a double date planned. 

Except when I told A about it, he responded with "sorry, we can't do that. I have a surprise planned." I immediately jumped to thinking that there was NO WAY his surprise would be better than Catching Fire and I begggggggged for him to change it. He repeatedly stated that he could not reschedule the surprise and I repeatedly made a fit about it. He's so lucky.

Friday rolled around and he made reservations to Crisp, a cute pizza/wine bar about 20 feet from our house. Don't get me wrong, I love the place (and their Texas Goat Cheese app - goat cheese mixed with marinara, soft garlic and basil served with drunken garlic bread for dipping…my mouth is watering), but we'd been there twice prior and for such a HUGE surprise, I expected something new. Also he let it slip that he had only made the reservation THAT NIGHT. So naturally I was fuming the entire dinner that the surprise was just a stupid (ok, yummy) dinner that he TOTALLY could have rescheduled! 

We got home and I proceeded to almost fall asleep on our bed but couldn't because I was still SO MAD. 

Then the doorbell rang. Which it never does because our house is gated, meaning that the only doorbell rings we get are from our neighbors and I knew they were out of town. I stomped down the stairs because A magically disappeared and opened the door….then I screamed and shut it only to immediately open it back up with tears in my eyes. 

The little stinker and my best friend planned the best surprise ever. And yes, I HAD NO CLUE. I am very hard to surprise because I do everything in my power to figure it out before hand. Alex lives in Shreveport and I don't get to see her as often as I did when we lived in Lafayette. Plus she had never been to Houston to see our new house and I just missed her dang it! So yes, this was a HUGE husband win.

Right after she arrived we went out in Midtown. I'm pretty sure we were home by midnight…we are definitely NOT in college anymore.

Saturday morning we treated Alex to the best breakfast tacos known to mankind. SERIOUSLY, if you live in or are ever in Houston, go to Chilosos and thank me later. They deep fry the bacon!! I MEAN. Then we lounged (so maybe we had headaches…) and of course I had to take her to 19th street and do a little antiquing. 

I didn't get this but I am already planning on going back tonight to pick it up. It's even real silver! Wouldn't this look so adorable in a little girls room??

The LSU game was an afternoon game (also extremely cold and rainy - SO glad we decided not to go) so Meg (the lone aggie) and Mo-Reese came over to watch it with us. We nibbled on some dip of the Gods (aka Charleston Cheese Dip) but when the game was over we were all starving, so we decided to try out Hickory Hollow, a BBQ place in our neighborhood. The second we walked in it was like we were not in Houston any longer. It was the cutest little place ever, complete with JUMBO mason jars to drink your sweet tea out of. So cute.

So, A, I have to give it to you, you pulled off one heck of a surprise! I'll try and remember how awesome you were this weekend next time you leave the seat up.

some good decisions

I feel like I have been on a roll lately. I was in a slump for a while (hello blogging break) and couldn't get out of it, but when I started my new job it's like a switch was flipped and everything is happy and sunny again. It's amazing what happens when you actually change out of your pajamas in the morning and go somewhere.

The decision to get a new job in an actual office was just the start. I decided to make a list (they're all the rage right now, right, Buzzfeed?) of some other good (and silly) decisions I have made lately.

1. Buying this champagne. Kroger (THERE IS NO S AT THE END, A) has a clearance bin when you first walk in, and this just so happened to be in there.

Tell me - how could you pass that up? YOU CAN'T. Especially when it's only $8.99. It was really good, too. Not too sweet and not too bitter, just perfect. An added bonus? The winery just so happens to be south of Houston! I've already made plans to take Ashley and Alexa when they come to Houston in (OMG!!!!) less than 60 days. 

2. Buying the nest. Yep, we gave in. The A/C company allowed us to return the cheap-o one we bought from them, so we upgraded to the nest. I haven't gotten to play with it much, but it's just so fancy and adorable (can an electronic device be called that?) and can be controlled from my phone! Yes, I am nerding out over this and I am not ashamed. 

3. Finding this blog. You are welcome and I apologize personally to your boss because you won't get any work done after clicking over to this gem. Just TRY and stop reading after one post, I dare you.

4. Buying this skirt. 

The pattern is just so Christmassy and I feel like a Catholic school girl every time I wear it. Four for you, J.Crew Factory. You go J.Crew Factory!

5. Spending time with my little Reid man. Okay, so this isn't exactly a recent new decision per say, but I always leave a little happier and with a big smile on my face, so I guess each time I choose to go over (or in last night's case, am asked ever so nicely to come help because my BIL lost his keys at the hospital and my sister was at a work dinner and the nanny had to go home…phew!) is a good decision. I mean, just look at him! So what if right when I walked in he took one look at me and said NO KIKI! GO HOME KIKI!

6. Starting an ISPY membership. 

Oh, and getting the world's cutest coffee mug from Starbuck's. I am no make-up girl. I don't really even know how to put it on…or what products to buy. But I do know that Ipsy is the greatest thing to happen to mail and that I will FOR SURE use every product in the bag, and I actually needed new bronzer so it's pretty perfect I would say.

7. Buying Bowden this "tom brady" sweater. So what if it means he hates me? 

8. Last but not least because it's actually my favorite thing I've done in a while…hiring a maid. It's not that I hate cleaning (ok maybe it is), I hate DEEP cleaning. I would rather do soooo many other things than devote an entire Saturday to cleaning our house. I can keep up day to day, but let's face it…Norma is way better than I am at deep cleaning. I walked in our house Monday and couldn't take the smile off my face for hours. Yes, I know it's a luxury. Yes, I know one day we might need to devote the money we're spending for her to come once a month so something else. But gosh darn, I'm going to enjoy it while we can have this luxury. And it's really not that bad since she's only coming once a month, right?

five on friday

First week at the new job is done! It was a great week, although I still have trouble remembering that I am done with the old job…the stress is oddly still there. I'm hoping that goes away soon!

I have a ton of blog post ideas, but I am still trying to figure out the new schedule, so those will stay as ideas for now. Today we shall celebrate Friday!

1. I am now a full-fledged Scandal ADDICT. Addict may not even be a strong enough word for it. Just looking at this picture gets me excited. If you don't watch it, don't worry, I have a post coming with reasons why you should be. Too far?

2. We have some pretty amazing plans for tonight. They involve a blow up kiddie pool, hot chocolate and pizza. If you read here when I first started the blog, you've seen/know what I am talking about, but in case you didn't, I'll have a full update next week. It also might involve watching Scandal season one again. Last night Andre' said it was stupid and Kerry over-acts, so now I am on a mission to prove him wrong.

3. We found out last week that A's sister is having a boy! This makes nephew number three. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my little nephews and boys are so so so much fun, but come ON, I need a niece! I need a cute little bambino to put bows on. Guess that means I will have to be the one to have the girl. We did realize that all sisters have girl dogs and boy babies. We have a boy dog so that means girl babies. BOOM - science. I know that nephew number three will be adorable and I may have already gone crazy shopping for him - boy clothes are cute too!! - but someone please, give me a baby girl.

4. I'm still mad at my BFF Jen for cutting her hair, but that didn't stop me from buying tickets for Catching Fire. Although I am still mad that I can't go to the double feature on Thursday because it starts at 5 and I get off work at 5. NOT COOL.

5. The media can try all they want, Famous Jameis did nothing wrong and I still love him with all my heart. Go noles and a big ole screw you to the gator who leaked the story 11 months after the fact. 

brrr, it's cold in here

…there must be some Toro's in the atmosphere! Anyone else get that in there head every time someone says it's cold in here/there? Every. Single. Time.

Growing up it was a well known rule that you do NOT touch the thermostat. There might as well have been a lock box around it. My mom got away with it when we were younger, because we were naive and believed that she was always so cold in the summer but it somehow didn't bother her during the winter…riiiiiight. 

Now we know that it was all in an attempt to save money. In the summer, the house was always 78 degrees and who even knows what it was during the winter, I just became used to bundling up under 3 + blankets. When we lived in Lafayette and visited, we would sneak over to the thermostat and lower it, only to wake up and be afraid to face the wrath of my mother. Hi mom! I still love you.

Now that we have our own house, I carried some of her mentality over with me…I was convinced that our electricity bill was going to be out of CONTROL because she's always told me theirs is when we make the slightest change. Add on the fact that we have a three story house and you get anxiety. Or is that just me? Imagine my surprise when our first electricity bill - which was in the month of June in HOUSTON - was only $90.00. Say wha? It is a new house, and my parents is an older home, so maybe that is the difference? Or maybe my dear sweet mother has just been lying to us this whole time!

You may remember back in August (or was it September?) that our air conditioning broke. It wasn't that big of a deal, I moved my office down to the first floor because that A/C still worked, but we needed it fixed because the kitchen is on the second floor and cooking without an A/C in the heat of Houston sounds like a death wish. It could have been worse - it ended up being only $500 - I was bracing myself for $2000. So we paid it and moved on. 

They came back a few weeks ago to install one more part on it and mentioned something about how the heat wasn't working because it was on gas and it needed to be on electricity. Blah blah, in one ear and out the other. It would be a while until we needed heat, right?

Ehhh…wrong. A cold front came through on Monday and A went to turn the heat on…and nothing. But wait! Lightbulb! What did they say about gas/electricity? Switch that! Still nothing? Oh great. 

I have no problems keeping the house cool during the summer (ok, and spring and fall and most of winter, we do live in Houston), but my inner Barb starts screaming during the winter. I will wait as long as I can until I turn that heat on. I would rather sleep with five blankets than turn the heat on - and anyways, it's extremely comfortable to do that!

A, surprise surprise, disagrees with me. 

I wanted to just pile on the blankets and pretend that nothing was wrong with our heater. A apparently did not, because I got a call yesterday that the technician was about to be at our house to take a look at it. Awesome! Goodbye money!

It turned out to not be that bad again, the thermostat was broken and wasn't registering anything when we switched it to heat. So $179 later, we have heat. For the five days that we need it this winter, we will be all right. But now I'm mad that we had to pay $179 for a crappy ugly thermostat when the Nest is only $100 more. It's just so fancy looking! Does anyone have one and love it? Necessary? I mean really, Kaitlyn, how hard is it to turn it on yourself? But it would be so fun to control it from my phone! Technologyyyyyy!

has it really been a year?

 

On a very boring Wednesday last fall, I wrote this post, and with that, put a bow on it the blog was born.

 

It's funny to look back through at the comments - and my replies because I was such a newbie and didn't know to reply via email. I can pin-point my now friends first comments. I'm looking at you EBD's - such a simple act that led to such an amazing friendship!

 

I honestly thought I missed this day when I took my break for the past month, and had no clue when I started blogging again this week that the "big day" was today. I guess it was just meant to be!

 

In honor of this day, here's a few things that I have learned & what blogging has taught me.

 

1. Blogging is HARD. I did not expect this one. Thinking of something interesting to write about every single day is tough. Creating a blog that people are excited to come back and read is tough. You have to put forth effort to get things out of this.

 

2. For the most part, the blogging community is extremely supportive. Girls come together to help out girls that they haven't ever met. It's pretty amazing.

 

3. FRIENDS! I didn't think when I got into this that I would be able to call a small handful of other bloggers best friends a year later. I am so blessed to have them in my life. To think I never would have met them without this makes me sad & happy. A has even gained friends from this!

 

4. Blogging is also really weird. It's hard to put this one into words, but I think most everyone would agree with me. So I'll just leave it at that.

 

There's plenty more where that came from, but I'm not in the rambling mood this morning. I'm way too excited for 5pm when I get to find out if our newest family addition is a boy or a girl! NO, I'm not pregnant (although it's not shocking I guess if you think that, most bloggers who take a month off come back with a baby bump), A's sister is! This little bundle makes niece/nephew number three for us...and although I love little boys (seriously! I do!), I am really hoping for a little girl. Think of how many cute bows I could buy her!!!

my hips don't lie

No, I'm not Shakira. I'm just a normal girl trying to find some pant for work.

Even when I worked in an office, I never had to wear them. It was a really casual environment and I wore jeans or a dress every day. Now that I need some, the only pair in my closet is from when I was 17 years old. They miraculously (HOW??) still fit, but I need some nicer pairs if people are going to take me seriously.

So yesterday I set off during lunch on a mission: a mission to find two nice pairs of pants. The old pair I have is from Gap, so I went there first. Maybe the Gap here is just a bad one, but they had THREE pairs in the whole store. They do have TONS more online, but I believe pants are things you need to try on first. Off to Banana I went. They had more styles than Gap, so I grabbed a few and went to try them on.

THAT WAS A MISTAKE.

Apparently Banana pants are made for people who don't have an ounce of hip on their body. You've got a little junk in the trunk? Fagetaboutit. How is it possible for one pair of pants to ruin a day? I found out - said pair of pants will add so much weight to your hip area that you run out of the dressing room and run to a gym.

This is where I need your help! Where do you buy pants? But not only that, where do you buy pants that ACTUALLY LOOK GOOD? Because if I can't find any, I've already decided that I'm destined to wear a skirt or a dress every day. And I do not have that many skirts! Please, help a friend out.

the bow is back

The good thing about taking forever and a day off from blogging is that you are stock FULL of interesting things to write about. The bad thing is that you feel super disconnected and like you lost a lot of friends all at once. So with that, I'm back!

Lots has gone on since I last appeared in your blog roll - which is a good thing because MAN, my life would be really boring if nothing happened while I took my hiatus.

The top news has to be that this Friday is my last day with my current job. Yes, my whole family thinks I am insane for giving up the working from home gig...but I say, until you do it, you don't know how much it is NOT FUN. Especially when you have a job where you have to be behind the computer from 8-5. So no, mom, I am not going to miss doing my laundry during the day because I never once had time to do that.

And honestly, I really miss dressing nice. Victoria's secret boyfriend sweat pants that make your butt look 5 times it's size? Those aren't nice. So I have taken these last two weeks and made them "re-stock your wardrobe" weeks. It's been really fun, to me, not to my bank account. But it's necessary...right? Right.

new booties. it only took me a year to gain the courage to buy a pair and rock them...

new fall maxi. RUN to your local Old Navy and buy this...as long as you are no taller than 5'3"

I might have worn this every day since I got it. GIVE ME ALL THE VESTS.

 

There's more, but we'll leave it at that for now...only because I have an excuse now to throw in a few OOTD pics every so often. Good thing I bought that full length mirror when we moved!

weekend finds

If I told you that Ashley and I hadn't seen each other since the Charlotte trip over 2 months ago, would you think I was crazy? Well I AM, because that is what happened. It wasn't planned, we certainly want to see each other more often than that, but life is crazy and insane and we just had to wait it out.

Wait no longer! Ashley drove up to see me on Sunday and we set out to have a day of shopping and relaxation.

She arrived and I was FINALLY able to give her the latest ever birthday present and then we set out for Target. Because she SOMEHOW survives without one and I SOMEHOW hadn't been since the Charlotte trip. (Though my wallet probably thanks me for that one.)

After target we came back home and I surprised Ashley by having MEG over! First off, I'm constantly amazed by how well I get along in real life with my blogging friends - so much so that I don't really consider girls like Alexa, Ashley and Meg blogging friends, I just consider them friends. And secondly, we had such an amazing day together. No awkward moments (Meg and Ashley hadn't "met" yet.) or anything, and just FUN. They need to come back ASAP for a girls night with lots of wine. And candy.

We then set out to 19th street - the cutest street ever filled with local businesses in The Heights. We antiqued and went to the store we bought out amazing china hutch at and just had so much fun. (YOU GET IT, WE HAD FUN.)

Meg had never met Reid, so we went and made a pit-stop at my sister's for a bit and played with him some. He slept in a bit late that morning and hadn't napped yet, so he was all OVER the place. Ok, the candy I brought him probably didn't help much!

Playtime was over and we headed to Marshall's/Home Goods and hit the jackpot. Fall clothes everywhere! Now we just need it to get cold out so we can wear said clothes.

Overall, it was exactly what the doctor ordered. (I woke up feeling not so hot and today I feel fantastic, so DUH, they healed me.) I am so so so lucky that this little blog connects me to so many amazing girls. Women? Whatever, I just love them so much and am so blessed to have made so many great friendships.

Also, I got some pretty great things.

Target:

only the best fall candies ever.

every gal needs some animal print shoes.

 

Marshall's:

the most perfect ballet pink fall sweater.

this is the back view, and it is the most comfortable thing EVER.

distressed blue mirror for the living room.

 

I got some socks, too...but who wants to see a picture of socks on a blog? Yawn.

 

 

twofer tuesday

I'm back! I have been writing a meaningful post for a while, or trying to I guess, but for today that is going to stay in my drafts. Today I'm updating you on my life and telling you about a great book. Ok so I'm really just combo-ing two of the prompts from Blogtember, but they fit because I do need to give you guys (who even reads this anymore? my mom? hi mom!) a life update AND I'm a total book nerd, so it works.

One. Life Lately

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...I feel like I sing this song to myself every day. I keep waiting for life to slow down a bit, but I think I just need to accept the fact that it never will. Well, it will for those five blissful days on the beach in two weeks. I struggle with this - I get really stressed out and overwhelmed when I think about the future. I keep seeing it get busier and busier and I just need a BREAK. Before this gets too heavy and stressful and makes me panicky, here's the life update of sorts.

We bought a new car! I'll do a full post on her whenever I am proactive enough to take pictures with my DSLR, but here's a quick shot for now. She's a Kodiak Brown (looks black until the sun hits it and then there are copper tones) Ford Edge and I'm smitten. We decided to go the Ford route because the technology was the best and easiest to use. I still get dreamy feelings when I see the new Volvo XC60s driving around, but then I remember my cheaper maintenance costs and get happy. I was leaning towards the Explorer, but we finally decided that it will be mannnny years until we have enough kids + their friends riding around in our car and we don't need the third row right now. (I know if we had it, it would likely stay down the entire time we owned it so the trunk space could be larger.) The Edge is more than enough room right now, so it's a good fit for us. And so fancy I just don't want to touch it sometimes. Geeze calm down Kaitlyn, it's just a car.

Last night I went with my sister to CFA for a "big truck" night - they had a firetruck, police motorcycle and mounted patrol. Reid is OBSESSED with firetrucks, so he had a blast. The whole ride home he kept talking about the firetruck and making siren noises and talking about how they had to leave to "help the peoples." Easily entertained! A is in Louisiana for work, so it was nice to get out of the house for a bit. I'm sure I'll be spending lots of time with them over these next two weeks!

I went to Marshall's to look for a rug and found this costume for Bowden. I KNOW, it's girly, but I couldn't resist. He's just the cutest little strawberry you've ever seen, right? And no rug was found. Womp womp.

Friday it was monsooning in Houston (a good thing! we are in a very bad drought) and all I wanted to do was stay at home and watch movies. Since that is basically what we do every night of the week, A wanted to go out with friends. I was a good wife and went along (without complaining much) but I wasn't happy about it. I WAS happy that I got to pull out my boots, though. OK ok, they aren't my fall boots, they're my rain boots, but it's good enough for me. Also, do you spot a cute little puppy in this pic?

Sunday was the prettiest day ever, so we opened the patio door to enjoy it while watching the Saints game. A found this website where you can stream any live TV event thing, so were able to catch the game here. Bad thing about being in Houston - they show the Dallas games over the Saints games. NO ONE HERE LIKES YOU, DALLAS! 

Two. Review a book, place or product.

Sidenote, to any English majors out there, I spent the majority of my college education being taught (forced) to use AP Styling, hence my seemingly weird placement of commas. No oxford comma here! 

I am a total and complete book nerd. Or lover, that works too. I would probably rather stay in and read a good book then go out most nights. Introvert, party of one. This drives A insane. I like beach vacations because it's acceptable to sit on a lounge chair all day long and drink a yummy cocktail while reading a good book. There is not much in the world better than that. I somehow developed super speedy fast reading ability - as in, I would camp out for the Harry Potter books, go to bed, spend the next morning at church and then get home and start reading...and I would be done by around midnight that Sunday night. Although I did TRY and be a little slower on these because I never wanted them to end. So for any other book nerds out there, here's a two of my recent favorites. Enjoy!

1. Silver Girl

Ok, anything by Elin Hilderbrand, really. All of her books are set in Nantucket and after reading three, I have added that to the vacation list. Sort of like how Nicholas Sparks make North Carolina sound so dreamy! But not as cheesy and predictable. 

2. 99 Problems and a Baby Ain't One

Prepare to cry a lot because this is seriously HILARIOUS. It's a cancer memoir, so I bet you are wondering how in the WORLD it can be funny, but just trust me, IT IS. Also, Megan is a blogger and I went to the book signing and she's just as hilarious in person and basically go read her blog. And buy the book here.

And now I'm depressed because I can't sit on my bed and read all day long. 

football friday | college

Linking up with Erin and friends on this beautiful (it's only a high of 96 today!!) Friday for some football fun.

Thinking about college football sends me on a rollercoaster of emotions. First I get REALLY excited - I mention in my about-me (that I just re-did!) that in my other life I operator as the prettier and much better at life Erin Andrews - because I just love it all so much. Anything that can get me to wake up at eight on a Saturday morning must be a BIG DEAL.

But then I get really sad, because it's just not the same outside of college. Sure, we still have plenty of fun when we go tailgate, but in college we would go out Thursday night, go out Friday night, wake up early and tailgate all day and then go out after the game. Now I just want to fall asleep at halftime. And then add on the fact that we now live FOUR hours away from Baton Rouge and three from Lafayette...so it's even harder to make all of our games now. Unless your name is A and you randomly buy season tickets after you realize that you don't have to go to Iraq. Looks like we'll be in Lafayette a lot this fall!

So today I'm just going to depress myself and take you all on a stroll through memory lane. 

Here's just a very small handful of some of my favorite football memories. 

For Christmas my Sophomore year in college, my gift from my sister was to go to Tallahassee for the UF game with them. While the game was less than memorable, Friday night at Kens with her will always be a favorite memory. The last time I was at Kens with her, my parents had rented it out for their graduation party and I was 15...so this time was way more fun :)

Backstory - the year above at Kens (as pictured above) I ran into these two guys...the guy on the left just so happened to be the brother of one of A's groomsmen. Now. I didn't know A at this point (ok, I knew him as the creepy guy) but I had just met Bubba (the groomsman) and had creeeeeepily seen a picture of his brother on FB. So what does a slightly inebriated girl do? She marches up to him and says "hey! I know your brother!" I think he responded with something along the lines of "every girl seems to." Anyways, my parents have season tickets to FSU games, so I invited said guys (chill out, I became friends with them first!) to the game. It's one of my favorite weekends ever - we drove to Auburn, AL on Friday night, went to the Auburn/LA Tech game on Saturday, then drove to Tallahassee Sunday for the Monday night (Labor Day) game. Only bad thing was losing to Miami - but I am choosing to remember meeting Graham Gano. 

Mr. Fred's jello shots at all LSU tailgates. And apparently pig tails. Because...WHY kaitlyn?!

Tailgating with A's sister and our brother-in-law. Even though it was so hot outside that A looks like he just took a shower. 

I dedicated a blog post to this before, but that one time I decided it was a good idea to leave for Atlanta at 3am to go to a game. I think I need to make more spontaneous decisions like this. 

Drinking champagne at ten in the morning. And A's tailgate outfits. Hello, handsome. 

This game we started tailgating at 1pm on a Friday afternoon with my best friend's dad. I left to go get advised and then came back. COLLEGE.

Another random road trip! Two years ago we decided on a Thursday night to drive to Tuscaloosa on Friday to go to the LSU bama game. We had to stay in Birmingham, but it was worth it. We were being corndogs. Anyone familiar with LSU will understand. This was for the apparent "game of the century" and it turned out to be us trying not to fall asleep while watching. So for anyone pumped up about tomorrow's bama game, just prepare yourselves that it might be REALLY BORING. ESPN just likes to make money off these things. But seriously, people are paying EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS a ticket. WHAT.

And now I've come to the conclusion that A and I need to be more spontaneous. We don't have kids yet, we could totally decide on a random Thursday to go to an away game that weekend. I just need to start going to bed at 8 every night to prepare myself.