One time she bought me the doll I wanted for Christmas...but it only spoke Spanish. :D

It's my Grandma's birthday (85? 86? I'm not sure...oops.) today. :) 


She's a wonderful person.  Actually, she's the best person I know, besides my daddy.  She loves her family more than anything except God.  She is talkative but talks quietly.  She is tiny...she was only 5'1" at her tallest, and now she's about 4'11".  I got my height from her, actually...and my tiny feet.  She has the tiniest feet I've ever seen in a grown-up woman, besides me (she wears a size 4 or 5...I wear in between a 2 1/2 and a 5). :) She didn't learn how to drive until she was about 30 and had to because she was worried about getting help for her kids if she needed it.  She married my Papaw when she was pretty young and they were married for 4 years before they had my dad.  She had three children: my dad, my uncle, and my aunt.  She believed in family dinners, she cooked every single night, and they took a vacation every year to Florida.  My papaw worked hard to become an engineer, and she stayed home to be a mom.  My aunt passed away when I was about a year old, and that's why I think my Grandma is incredibly strong.  She trusts God with everything, which is so inspiring.  She inspires me to be a better person.  She is always kind, always gentle, and always concerned about others.  My dad is basically my Grandma in male form.  I remember going over to my grandparent's house to stay for the night, and I'd watch Keeping Up Appearances with them and cut out clothes and people from her Dillard's and J.C.Penney's catalogs to play dolls with them.  I used to eat those vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate wafers there, and ginger ale.  They still always have ginger ale in their fridge. She always has ice cream and cake whenever the family comes over.  She makes dinner every Christmas Eve.  She collects sheep and their entire house has sheep/lambs spread throughout it. I used to spend every spring break down in Florida with them, and we'd go out to eat every night and spend every day out in the sun.  She'd mostly stay inside, she doesn't like the water.  I miss her so much...they're in Florida right now, enjoying their winter where it's not cold.  I don't remember the last time I saw her on her birthday.
I can't wait to see her in a few months. :)  The last time I went over to visit her, she gave me the rest of my Papaw's fudge (from my aunt Lorene, her sister) and some magazines for my mom.  She used to give me her copies of Angels on Earth, because we both love angels and that magazine.  She's so comforting.  
I love you, Grandma.  (She signs any card she gives me with "Love, Papaw and Mamaw" since we used to call her that.  Somewhere along the way, it changed to just Grandma.)

My grandma, my brother Nathan, and me at my kindergarten graduation party.

Valentine's Memories

I love Valentine’s Day.  It really makes no sense because...I am 24 years old, and I’ve never had a real Valentine.  I have been single for 277 months out of the 279 months that I’ve been alive.  I am perpetually single.  It’s just a fact of my life, and I’m learning to deal with it.  But I love the color pink and I love anything sappy and cheesy and I like love.  No really, I have said “I like love.” multiple times in my life.  Because it’s just true, dang it! Love is wonderful.  It’s ridiculous and beautiful and everyone dreams of love and romance and their “soulmate”.  I am girly. I like chocolate, flowers, hearts, stuffed animals, kissing (okay, I haven’t ever really been kissed, but I’m sure I’d like it....).  What’s not to love about Valentine’s Day?

I have had a few pseudo Valentines.  The first Valentine of my life was a boy named Nathan in 2nd grade.  He had a crazy crush on me from kindergarten until he moved away after 5th grade.  Well, in 2nd grade he bought me a pretty white kitten stuffed animal that said “You’re Purr-fect”...hahaha.  So cute! He also set up a picnic in the classroom for us.  Yeah.  I have been spoiled for the rest of my life...I mean really, what other boy is gonna give me a cute kitten with words of encouragement and a picnic? Probably no one, that’s who.  

Second Valentine: my friend Jessica, from Oregon.  :) I think this was about 5 years ago, the year before I started college.  We decided that we would be each other’s Valentines because boys suck and we were single.  She sent me Prince Charming, a white teddy bear that she made at Build-a-Bear.  He is beautiful and he makes a tinkling noise if you push his foot.  She’s the best Valentine I’ve ever had, for sure.  <333 That’s why I always think of her when I hear Valentine by Martina McBride.

I think that Laura and I were Valentine’s one year, but I can’t really remember.  We should have been, because we were always the Single Girls in high school.  Laura is now in a serious relationship with her first boyfriend, and it is so cute.  I am so happy for her! If anyone deserves a wonderful Valentine, it is Laura.  I hope she finds true love and it lasts forever.  <333

My daddy always buys me flowers and chocolate.  He usually brings something else...something silly and childish, to help me realize you’re never to old to have fun and play.  I love him so much.  He’s the best daddy a girl could ask for!  

What did I do this Valentine’s Day? I exercised a little (danced to MJ, haha), babysat a cute little boy, ate Subway, and now I think I will watch the Dawson’s Creek Valentine’s Day episode and possibly Tristan and Isolde or Legends of the Fall.  I have the most depressing taste in romantic movies, lol.  The more angst, the better-seriously.  I have my dog to cuddle with (Bixby...Marley will cuddle with her stuffed puppy boyfriend) and chocolate.  I will be okay.  

"There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends." John 15:13

This verse is my favorite, and shows that Jesus is Love.  He is the ultimate definition of Love.  He gives the word love meaning.  He gave up his sinless, perfect life for me (and everyone who ever lived) so that I could be saved from my sin and go to Heaven to be with God forever.  He is amazing and I am blessed to call him my Savior.  

New Job and Good Times

I am employed! This is an answered prayer, without a doubt.  My good friends Kelly and Elliott need someone to watch their baby, Alice (she's been mentioned before and I've posted her picture, I think).  They live in Louisville so I will be moving there next weekend before Elliott starts his new internship.  :)  I am pretty excited about it.  I'm sure I'll be updating more often with stories and things about that later.


I went out to eat with Whitley Thursday night.  We went to Old Chicago Pizza and split Italian nachos and an individual pepperoni pizza.  :) It was about the same price and we got two kinds of food! Good plan, Whitley. She's a smartie.  We talked about boys (of course, we're girls) and life in general.  Then we went to Target so she could return a couple of things and we wandered around the store.  I squealed at all the Valentine's things scattered around the store...I love hearts and pink, so Valentine's is pretty much my perfect holiday, minus the boyfriend.  I found the cutest "slippers" that I've wanted for a while on clearance for $7! I also freaked out when Whitley told me she thought Robert Pattinson was married to KStewart. EWWW.  I didn't know I cared that much about him? Hahaha.


Friday I went over to Savannah's and we met up with Whitley and George at BD's.  George loves BD's, haha.  We had a good time...George ate ridiculous amounts of food, we talked about who he should date, I freaked out when Jesse McCartney came on the radio, Whitley and I shared a Big Brownie (mmmm) and I spilled chocolate all over myself.  We went over to George's afterward, and he had to leave to help out a friend.  So I turned on Sex and the City and told Savannah and Whitley everything going on in the show, lol.  He came back and we watched the first episode of Quantum Leap.  It was pretty good, but VERY long.  We decided the main character (Scott Bakula) looks like Savannah's boyfriend,  Ryan.  HAHAHA.  Savannah drove us back to her place and I came home.  I had a great time! Plus Savannah gave me a Beaker silly band :)  We're so cool.


Today I exercised and Whitley ended up coming over to hang out.  We watched Freaks and Geeks (I love James Franco so much! Sam is so little and awkward and adorable! Jason Segel was so SKINNY!) and then did some MJ dances on the Wii, ahahaha.  It was funny.  I made her play American Idol too.  I rocked Heart of Glass, Lips of an Angel, and My Heart Will Go On. I should be on American Idol for real.  ;)


Well, that's all to update on, I guess.  Tomorrow I should start packing.  Monday I'm babysitting...good times.


I'm so glad I have wonderful friends.  I can't believe I'm moving away from Lexington...scary and also exciting!

Bucket List

I finally finished my bucket list :)
I only picked 50 things...I might add more later.

1. Read a book in a day. (Completed: 2/2/11)
2. Keep a “My Day in Six Words” for 2 months.
3. Jump in a pile of leaves.
4. Make a wedding playlist.
5. Plant a tree on Earth Day.
6. Write a note to my favorite teacher.
7. Volunteer at a pregnancy crisis center.
8. Go swimming in the ocean at night.
9. Go to Prince Edward Island.
10. Visit Wilmington.
11. Write a children’s book.
12. Write a novel.
13. Write 50 things I like about myself.
14. Learn to ballroom dance.
15. Take a tapdancing class.
16. Do Zumba.
17. Go on a cruise.
18. Ride a mechanical bull.
19. Drink an entire beer.
20. Go on a roadtrip on Rt. 66.
21. Adopt a dog from the Humane Society.
22. Ride an elephant.
23. See the Grand Canyon.
24. Go to Israel.
25. See a play on Broadway.
26. Visit all 50 states in the US.
27. Finish a scrapbook.
28. Find a new church home.
29. Get my Masters in Education.
30. Find a great job that I love.
31. Teach in the church preschool.
32. Go on a mission trip to a 3rd world country.
33. Get out of debt.
34. Buy a new car.
35. Find the love of my life.
36. Get married.
37. Have babies.
38. Adopt a child.
39. Own a cottage.
40. Learn to cook.
41. Volunteer at the hospital.
42. Donate blood.
43. Cook an entire Thanksgiving dinner, by myself.
44. Make homemade cookies from scratch.
45. Ice skate at Rockefeller Center in December.
46. Go on a roadtrip by myself (ala Elizabethtown)
47. Get backstage at a concert.
48. Visit a movie set.
49. Be an extra in a movie.
50. Go to California with Savannah.

Did anyone else ever watch the BSC tv show...or own the BSC movie?

Because I did.  Newsflash: I AM A GIANT DORK.


There isn't enough Babysitter's Club in my blog so here's a snippet of a convo I had with Savannah last Friday night at Half Price Books.


Me:  I liked Mary Anne too.  She was similar to me.
Savannah: I could relate to her too, I just didn't want to.
Me: Stacey was the coolest one.  


Obviously my favorite BSC-er was Claudia, though.  Savannah liked Stacey.
Speaking of Stacey, I hate that there's an E in her name.  WHY?!? Why is it there? DUMB.


I have actual things I could update about, but that's going to have to happen later.  I'm tired and whatever I write is going to be unintelligent (I mean, even less intelligent than it usually is) soooo I'll be back later with an update.  I know all my (non-existant) readers will be waiting impatiently.

My ideal day in 5 years...

I have a cold.  The funny thing is that I don't even know where I picked up this cold...I am unemployed, I only watch one child once a week, and no one I know is sick.  I hung out with my friend Whitley last Thursday who has had a cold off and on for a few weeks, but I didn't get sick until Tuesday.  No one that I was around on Saturday evening is sick.  
I just do not get how I worked in a school for 4 months and only had one cold (it was an awful cold that lasted 5 days, but still).  Now that I'm rarely working with kids and am not dealing with money or awful sick people who do not wash their hands (Dollar Zone, I'm looking at you), I am sick once a month.  
Anyway.  I'm on the tail end of this random illness, I'm hoping.  FYI: Mucinex did almost nothing beneficial for me. I've been taking some other expectorant, and I'm finally feeling a bit better.  My throat constantly hurts on the left side, and my nose is now running non-stop.  Good times.


SO.  I decided I'd create a bucket list for myself...I am still working on it.  I guess I'll try to think of 100 things...I have 49 right now.  
I found this wonderful website that helped me (http://www.squidoo.com/100things/140063251-Page-6) and it told me to close my eyes and imagine my life in 5 years. Where I want to be.  I wrote about 3 pages of how I wanted my life to be in 5 years-it's not shocking or surprising at all, but it is slightly different than I thought I'd want to live.  
(I am so used to Livejournal that I looked for a cut tool so that I won't annoy everyone and make this super long...sadly, there is not one that I know of.  So I'm sorry...)

IDEAL DAY:

• I wake up smelling fruit (canaloupe) and waffles (with syrup).   
• I hear birds outside the window, and the baby whimpering in the nursery.
• I’m sleeping on soft sheets, cotton sheets.  They are bright and cheerful.  I have a blanket over the bed, even though it’s spring.
• I wake up, my husband is downstairs making my breakfast.  I wake up smiling, because I had  great dreams.  The room is bright with sunshine, there are flowers on the dresser that my husband bought me.  The pictures in the room are over our bed (wedding pictures), and on the dresser and night table there are pictures of our baby girl.  The pictures are in silver frames.  We have antique furniture.  My laptop is on my tiny desk in the corner, closed.  
• I look out the window and there are trees in our yard.  There are birds everywhere, and the sun is just lovely.  The road is just in front of our property, and it’s a little two-lane road.  We live in the country, about 5 minutes from town.
• I leave the room, after stretching, and head to the kitchen.  I pass our daughter’s room, the door is cracked, and I hear that she’s gone back to sleep.  It’s still early so she probably will sleep for another hour.  I go down the stairs, see my husband by the toaster, taking out my waffle. I stand behind him, put my arms around his waist, and give him a kiss on the cheek.  He turns, smiles, and we kiss.  I say thanks for the lovely waffles and fruit.  He gets his breakfast, we sit at the breakfast nook by a window, and he tells me about his plans for the day.  He sips his coffee as he eats.  Our kitchen is simple, classic, and yellow.  It’s airy and open and very comfortable.  I put my water in my favorite polka dot mug and drink it between bites. 
• I kiss him goodbye, after he’s gone upstairs to kiss the baby quietly and tell her he loves her.  I wave continuously as he drives down the road, until he can’t see me anymore.  The dog waits patiently at the door as I close it, already missing his dad.
• I decide to shower before the baby wakes up.  I take the monitor into the bathroom upstairs.  The bathroom is light as well.  It’s blue and has a tub.  I decide to take a shower, though.  I jump in, after turning on some soft music (John Mayer), and quickly wash my hair and wash my body.  There’s not a lot of time to relax, I know the baby could wake up any minute.  I brush my teeth with the purple toothbrush in the toothbrush holder by the sink.  I throw on my pjs, brush my hair, and go back to my bedroom.  I decide to read my Bible while I have a chance.
• Even though my hair is still damp, I decide to get dressed.  I walk to the antique dresser, pull out a tshirt and a pair of jeans.  My closet is full of casual clothes, older professional clothes from my teaching days, and shoes.  I mostly wear jeans and a simple shirt, but on days when I want to dress up I love sweaters, cardigans, and slimming tops.  
• I have 2 pairs of tennis shoes, lots of flats, a few pairs of heels that I rarely wear, and lots of house shoes.  I also have some clogs, a pair of Uggs, and some boots (black and brown).  I usually wear flats.
• I don’t work right now, instead I take care of my daughter.  I used to work at a school as a resource teacher.  I have given that job up until our daughter is in school.  I decide to head downstairs and wash the dishes.  Then I turn on the tv and listen to the morning news.  The baby starts to cry, so I head upstairs to her nursery to soothe her.
• Cars? We have two.  My car is a white SUV.  I love it.  It is perfect for children and can hold lots of stuff.  My husband’s car is a Toyota Camry.  
• While I’m not working fulltime, I spend my time when I’m not with my daughter writing a children’s book.  I also write a blog and do a little scrapbooking.  
• I pick the baby up from her crib.  Her room is decorated in light green and yellow, since I didn’t want her to growing up thinking she had to love pink.  Her crib and the other furniture is white, and she has lots of stuffed animals and books on the bookshelves.  I change her diaper and put her in a cute spring dress and put a bow in her hair.
• We go downstairs to the kitchen and I feed her some yogurt, whole milk, and a banana.  She is all smiles and giggles the whole time.  We spend some time doing tummy time, and she gets to watch Sesame Street.  My mom comes over around lunchtime so that I can get some grocery shopping done and go to the dance class that I like.  
• After dancing and going shopping, I come home and have a quick chat with my mom while the baby naps upstairs.  I start getting dinner ready around 4:30, so my husband won’t have to wait to eat after he gets home.  I make a quick dinner, and it’s still cooking when my hubby gets home.  The baby is awake and happily playing with her toys.  We put her in her high chair to eat, we sit down at the table to eat our dinner and talk about things that amused us during the day.  After dinner, since it’s warm, we take the baby outside to swing in the backyard and we blow bubbles.  She loves this.  Then we take her upstairs to get her bath and we read her a few books.
• After the baby is in bed, we go downstairs to the living room to watch some tv.  We make some popcorn and the dog jumps up on the couch between us.  The living room is very large, and it’s my favorite room in the house.  I fall asleep before the show is over, and he wakes me up so we can go upstairs to sleep.