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. 

why I'll always be a seminole | blogtember

First things first - I have turned into someone I said I never would turn into. I curse my PC everyday, and I think that officially makes me addicted to my iMac. Whenever everyone and their mom started getting iPhones, I decided that I would never be that person who bought into the Apple hype. While I may still hate my iPhone (if you know the issue is YOUR FAULT, why would I have to pay $200 to fix it?!?), I can't go five minutes on my PC without wishing I was on the iMac. Alllll this to say - I would rather eat dirt than attempt to blog/read blogs/comment on blogs on my PC. So I moved the iMac out of the office (aka dungeon) and into the living room so I could do said activities at night while lounging with A. This combined with #blogtember should help... _____________________
Describe a distinct moment when your life took a turn.
Funny...I actually had this post in my drafts. It was (is?) long and I feel weird sometimes about getting serious and putting so many feeeeeels out there, but posts like that are the ones I enjoy reading so much on other's blogs, so I am going for it. 

My parents met while attending Florida State University, go noles!, and thus raised us kiddos as die hard Seminole fans. A majority of my memories as a kid involve FSU in some way or another. My first AOL screen name was something along the lines of "nolegal" or "nolechick." (And yes, people did confuse that for mole. Happened more often than you'd think.) And I'm just now seeing that the first one reads more as no-legal. Seems very wrong. 

Not only did my parents attend FSU, but the summer after my fifth grade year, my brother and sister left to attend FSU. (Yep, they're twins!) As you can imagine, I idolized everything they did, so this just enforced the idea that one day I would too attend FSU. While most kids in Texas were arguing about being aggies and longhorns, I was busy dreaming about Saturdays spent in Doak doing the chop. (Uh, I had a very vivid imagination as a child...) 

Fast forward 6 years to my junior year of college. My school let juniors and seniors have a certain amount of excuses absences each semester to be used to tour college campuses. Which just worked perfectly with going to FSU for the Wake Forest game. Hey, I DID take a tour, for what it's worth. Some students let their other days go to waste, and some just skipped a day and had the papers signed at a quick 10 minute trip to the community college right next to the school. 

And then some, like me, took all three other days (second semester junior year and two my senior year) visiting Baylor University. I'm not really sure why I had such a fascination with Baylor- ok that is a complete lie, my biggest crush ever was a year older and that's where he went- but whatever the reason, I sure did seem to visit a lot! 

So when the time came to apply to colleges, I early applied to FSU and Baylor. Except I never sent in my $20 along with the Baylor application, so yes, I only applied to ONE college. 

I will probably always remember this day. December 15, 2005. I woke up late (it was finals week and seniors with good grades could exempt from nearly all finals) and checked the online database to see that I was accepted into the greatest school there is, Florida State University. I remember first calling my boyfriend and then driving to my moms office to show her my "letter." She hugged me and then jokingly asked if I was SURE I didn't want to think about staying in state. UM, duh, NO. 

And then I did what every senior who got early acceptance did, I stopped caring! I still feel kind of bad that I graduated in the top 10%. In Texas, the state schools had to (at that time) automatically accept anyone in the top 10%, making it extremely hard for anyone outside of that to get accepted- mainly at the big 2 schools, UT and Texas A&M. I feel like I took someone's spot that wanted to go to either of those schools and didn't get in. Because for me, being in that top 10% didn't matter one bit! 

And then things for funky. It's a really long story and this post is already on the lengthy side, so it all boils down to the fact that April of my senior year, my dad unexpectedly had to retire from the police force. 

We never wanted for anything growing up, and we are all extremely lucky that our parents put us through college with no loans to them or us, but when faced with the loss of an income and a child about to head off to a school with an out-of-state tuition (not to mention another daughter two years behind who would also be a tuition soon), that tuition becomes hard to picture without loans. 

I'm not proud of the way I reacted to the news that I couldn't go to FSU. There were lots of tears, mine and my parents, and yelling. For a week I was dead set on taking out loans and putting myself through four years of out of state tuition. My parents, thankfully, talked me out of this option. It was very me, me, me...I was being a brat. I was also embarrassed. So for another month I continued to act like I was going to FSU still. I told two friends, but my best friends didn't know. I needed someone to talk to, but I didn't want everyone finding out. Looking back on all of this now, I wish I could slap myself silly. I clearly thought that not being able to attend my dream school was the worst thing that would ever happen to me. Dramatic, much? Now it seems like such a small, silly almost, bump in the road. But I was 18 and dramatic and sad. 

After a month of lying, I couldn't take it anymore, so I decided to tell my boyfriend while dancing at prom. Good timing, Kaitlyn! I remember telling him that I'd been crying myself to sleep every night...and he responded with "I could tell." Gee, thanks buddy! 

So it was May, and a few weeks before graduation...and I had no school to go to. Panic attack city! I had missed the application deadlines to the big schools, UT and aTm, and there was NO way I was going to go to school in Lubbock, Texas. (Sorry tech friends!) My mom did some research and if I applied that week, I could still get in before the scholarship deadline at Stephen F. Austin State University. Oh, and Sam Houston, but the state prison is there and so no, thanks but no. (Sorry EDB, had to say it!) That seemed okay, I could go to school in Austin. 

Oh wait, you mean it's not in Austin? It's in a dry county in East Texas in the Bible Belt? And how does one even pronounce Nacogdoches? (It's Nac-uhh-doe-chess for those wondering.)

Come August I was SFA bound. I spent a year and a half at SFA, and while, at the time, I could not wait to get out, those three semesters brought a lot of joy. I pledged an amazing sorority, met great sisters and friends, and got my first glimpse at fraternity parties. (Albeit on a small, small scale.)

obviously I wasn't quite ready to give up the garnet and gold. or the trashcan punch, apparently.

When I wasn't spending time at socials or mixers, I was usually spending time at a different college dreaming of transferring there. I went from wanting to transfer to UT, to dead set on going to A&M (whyyyyyy) to Oklahoma State to Arkansas. 

so many things are wrong with this picture.

One of my pledge sisters was from Bossier City, LA and 99% of her friends from high school went to LSU. We went to visit them freshman year and twice sophomore year and both of us got a crazy idea that maybe WE would like to go to LSU.

It also helped that my BIL got us on the field for the 2007 LSU vs. Florida game - second most amazing game I've ever been to. First most amazing was the 2010 FSU vs. Florida game when the Noles FINALLY beat Florida. Basically any game where Florida loses is amazing in my book.

So January of 2008, I was officially an LSU Tiger. Again, extremely lucky to have parents who sacrificed a lot to allow me to go to college and not worry about paying for it on my own. 

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE LSU and always will, but I know deep down that I will always be a Seminole at heart. God had a plan for me and if that distinct moment when my dad had to retire never happened, I never would have ended up at LSU and I never would have met A. I probably would have also fell victim to some unfortunate fashion trends that are in Tallahassee. Anyone who's been to Potbelly's on a Friday night knows what I am talking about. 

I no longer wonder "what if" about FSU, but I will always, always be a Seminole. And I wouldn't mind one bit if our future kids followed in my parents and siblings footsteps and decided to be Seminoles. Although, if so, I should probably start saving for that right now. Yikes.