22

On Monday the 11th, I turned 22 years old. Oh, my i’m getting up there 😉

How did I spend my 22nd birthday you ask? Well, guess what? You’re about to find out!

I woke up and hit the gym for an 8:30a.m. BodyCombat class. If you haven’t tried one of these classes before i’d totally recommend it. It’s a mixture of boxing, kickboxing, and muay thai, teakwondo, and other forms of martial arts. It’s so fun and I totally leave feeling like a bad a**.

Once my class was over I met my pops for a Starbucks because #duh. We sat there for an hour and talked about life, and money, and the future and other kinds of daddy/daughter topics. I love going to Starbucks with my pops.

Once I got home, I showered, and grabbed some breakfast. This is my go-to breakfast people. A slice of toast with avocado and 2 egg whites on top with some salsa. SO GOOD and I crave it all the time!

My mom and I facetimed grandpa after I was done eating to chat with him and let him know my mom was going up there soon. We just had to remind him it was my birthday, but then he wished me a good day 😉

It was then that I decided the birthday present I would ask for was an hour of quality time with each of my family members. Because that’s just me. Everyone responded naturally. And wanna know something? Still never got my hour with the brothers.

Mom is in mattress shopping mode so we went and tested out a bunch of different ones for a couple hours.

And then had to test out some new outdoor furniture!

When we got home, I was hungry so Morgan and I went to pie five for some personal pizzas. THEY HAVE AMAZING GLUTEN FREE CRUST!!! And they only look at me a little funny when I don’t get cheese but it’s fine because I was craving pizza and it was amazing.

I mean, obviously. Thanks for the mid-chew photo Morg!

I ate 22 slices, 1 for each year I was born. Or did I??? If you’re not familiar with Pie Five, I seriously recommend you try it if there’s one near you. I thought this was just a normal pizza place, you put in your order and then wait for them to bring it to your table in about 15 minutes. Nope, you go in and create your own pizza and then it takes FIVE MINUTES to cook. Hence the name Pie Five. Amen to only waiting 5 minutes for your pizza to cook, am I right?! Go there!

When we got home I decided I would just go ahead and make my own cake. I didn’t have a cake and I would feel bad someone having to make a gluten and lactose free cake (and icing), so I did it myself. It was Danielle Walker’s recipe and it took me about 2.5 hours. Yes….from 3:15-5:45 I was in the kitchen making a cake.

But honestly, look how cute it turned out?? I’m not quite sure why we have a power puff girl, but it worked! I always wanted to be the yellow one and Morgan always wanted to be the green one because those were out favorite colors. Haha!

I had to head up to school for something from 8:00-10:00 so we didn’t go to a birthday dinner Monday night, so we each ate a slice of cake instead. I made my brothers since it took me so much time and then mid-slice when they found out it was gluten and lactose free they no longer liked it. #annoying

I mean y’all I don’t want to toot my own horn, but toot toot. This layer cake was AMAZING!  I want another slice now that i’m writing this post.

After we ate and talked for a bit I went up for my thing at school and then when I got home around 10 we opened my “presents”. AKA gifts that were re-gifted because #myfamrocks and then we all hung out and finished watching the Clemson/Alabama game

Even though Clemson beat us, I was still rooting for them because ANYONE but Alabama please!!!! #sorryalabamafans

Mom and I watched Monday’s episode of the Bachelor and I read some blogs before bed. And get this??? I couldn’t fall asleep Monday night. I got 3 hours of sleep. And it was the first day of classes yesterday.

SO TIRED.

So what did I get?

My mom gave me a camera (that I still have to go pick out) so I can take pictures of my brothers playing baseball this year and then we’ll also have some good quality Christmas card pictures. I’m excited about this!

Morgan gave me a necklace that she said she had picked out way before Christmas too.

Ryan gave me his old iPad because he didn’t use it anymore. He got it from Santa so that made for a couple mouths to drop when I opened the gift (including mine) but that’s just like a 14 year old boy.

Rick gave me nothing…well, technically a month worth of being nice to me because when he asked what I want that’s what I said, but that won’t happen.

And my dad said he hasn’t decided yet but I have a feeling that it will be a trip to San Francisco since i’ve never been to Cali and the Red Sox are playing there this June. It will be another tradition of a trip 🙂

Birthdays are exciting but it seems like as we get older they’re just even more anti-climatic. It’s just downhill from here right? 😉 22 will bring me college graduation, (hopefully) a job, a couple vacations, time spent with family and friends, hours at Church and volunteering in different ministries, and of course probably some tough times. But i’m ready for it all! I’m truly just thankful to be alive and well.

Here’s to 22 and all that’s in store this year!

Christmas 2015

Oh boy, I can’t believe another Christmas has come and gone.

Christmas break started out with some good ol’ Christmas pictures.

In between that time and December 22, life was pretty normal. I worked both of my jobs, Morgan started working with me at one of my jobs, the brothers played their video games, and my aunt came into town.

On December 22 my dad’s brothers and my aunt’s husband came into town. On the 23rd, we all went to visit the George W. Bush Presidential Library in Dallas. My parents had gone before, but my mom loved it so much that she wanted to go back again so we took the family!

Who’s ready to learn?!?! My siblings are!! 😉

The first exhibit that we went into was the Home for the Holidays one, it mimicked what The White House is like during the Holidays. It showed how it was decorated and all the work that goes into making it Christmasy over there in DC. My favorite part was Curious George, he’s definitely the best cartoon. They have the White House decorated with all sorts of different cartoons. Alice in Wonderland too. I mean, you name it!

This is the replica of one of the many Christmas trees that decorate the White House. Each of the little characters on the tree are hand-made and signed by the maker.

I personally think they are super creepy…but hey it’s not my house 😉 Here’s a close-up of Cinderella for ya!

Rick LOVES The Polar Express so when we saw the train mom wanted him to take a picture. If you know Rick you know he hates allllllll things picture related. This was the best I could do.

One we rounded that corner we got to The Lamb of God. Every year, George Bush hand paints a canvas. They then have the painting put into an ornament and sell it in the gift shop. He’s seriously talented. It was cool looking at it from the side to see where the raises were from the paint. In the top corner you can also see a cross.

We walked to the other side of the library and the first thing you see is all this information about his life. Where George and Laura both grew up, what home was like, raising their girls, etc. There are narratives where he starts talking as well. I took a picture of this quote, because I just really liked it.

After seeing a mock oval office, we went to this theater. Every player had the opportunity to get information from congress, the united nations, and others about a situation we all voted on. Everyone in the room picked Saddam Hussein and so we’d get the information and vote on it. At the end it showed us what George Bush chose to do and what the room chose to do about the situation. Our room chose the same thing Bush did. That was really cool to see!

After we went through the gift shop on our way out, purchased little mementos, and walked out, I of course requested a picture.

The fam minus my dad and the uncle my aunt is married to! And me of course.

Then we got a picture of everyone in besides my aunt this time. Ahhhh, what a fine looking group of Middletons.

Goodbye George Bush Museum!

Christmas Eve consisted of wrapping, eating clam chowder for dinner, going to Church, and volunteering at Church. But Christmas morning came and everyone was all kinds of excited…especially Rick. He couldn’t sleep!

The Christmas morning family room!

After we opened stockings, my dad needed eye drops. Rick being the oh-so-kind son that he is decided dad needed moral support so he held his hand. Weird family…

We finished presents around 2:00p.m. and all layed around with our gifts and played with our presents for a couple hours. Around 5:00 my dad, uncle, and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. We got back, ate dinner, and then by 8:00 we were playing Bean Boozled that I had my mom get my brother!

If you’ve never played before it’s pretty simple. When it’s your turn you spin the spinner and eat the jellybean that it lands on. The spinner will show you two options that the jellybean might be…for example “Chocolate Pudding or Canned Dog Food”. This game was SO FUNNY! We were all cracking up at each other, but not when it was our turn. You should play at least once! But I will warn you: I got canned dog food and I seriously felt like I could taste it the next morning still. Awful.

My dad’s brothers left the next morning and I went into work while Morgan, my mom and aunt went to run errands. I went with them later in the afternoon and then we hung out the rest of the day. My aunt and uncle left Sunday and we’ve been unpacking gifts and cleaning up the house since everyone has been gone. Christmas was awesome this year.

I love this Holiday. And I hope you enjoyed yours too!

Momma’s Birthday 2015

Well, on December 7th mom turned another year older.

Mom doesn’t like her birthday. She said after you turn 50 it’s no fun. Even though I don’t really like my birthday, I don’t feel like anyone should not look forward to it. I knew I wanted to do something to make it at least a little special. I texted her the night before saying “Working a half day tomorrow…pick you up at 12 for lunch and shopping? You in??”

She agreed and we went to Lunch at Mama Pita mediterranean, shopped around a little bit, then I surprised her with a trip to a cupcake shop that I heard good things about and saw they had gluten free cupcakes. If there’s one thing to know about my mom it’s that she hates eating, like wants to create a pill that you can get nutrition without having to eat kind of thing. It’s just her. So I was like, “oh she won’t get excited over lunch and cupcakes”.

 

I got the only gluten free one they had, the “Triple Chocolate Torte” and mom got the “Peppermint Mocha”. They didn’t have seating at the cupcake shop, so we took them to the mall close by where we were going to shop.

Mine was suuuuuuuper sweet with the icing and she had a lot on hers as you can see, so I used her icing on my cupcake. She told me “this is some good sh**” and it about made my day. You see, my mom is very hard to please. Doing something that she gets excited about is a challenge, so this was a huge win!

While we were shopping, dad called and wanted to get Chinese for dinner. He made reservations at this new restaurant and when we got there at 6:30 (prime eating time) NOBODY was there. It became a joke and I enjoyed laughing about it. We ended up just staying for appetizers and then leaving.

We got dinner at a Hibachi grill nearby. The same one my surprise 13th birthday party was at 😉

Mom on her birthday with her boys.

The boys taught her to “dab”…what that means, I don’t know. But they wanted a picture. #teenagers

Mom and 3/4 of her kids. Ahhh, I live for nights spent with family celebrating each other 🙂

And just so you know, we did bring dad along…someone had to pay AM I RIGHT?!

So on her birthday night she came back, opened her present from her best friend, and went to sleep. She’d already had her birthday sweet and Morgan told us we weren’t allowed to open presents without her. So we had to wait until Thursday night.

Morgan and I were talking back and forth for a while about what to get mom because she’s so hard to shop for…revert to the hard to please comment! I’m a person who would rather spend the money doing something than getting something so I came up with the idea of going to Painting with a Twist. This word document is all we gave her as her gift.

Our first idea was to go bowling, but when we got to the alley it was closed. We ended up driving to some shops kind of nearby and looking around stores until our next event. But we had to get a picture by the big tree.

Pictures in the dark are the worst – ugh!

But we made mom get a picture with both of us 🙂

Afterwards we went for appetizers. Mom and I have a thing for grilled artichokes. Give me all of them! We were outside so the lighting is awful. But just know these babies were devoured!

Morgan and mom shared a pizza while I had spicy garlic noodles. Rice noodles with chicken, spices, and arugula on top! I took a bite of something hard…mom said it was the gristle and I about threw it up so I sent it back and they gave me a free dessert. They obviously didn’t catch on to the fact that I was g-free after I asked for that menu because it was full of gluten…

Third and final stop of the night was at Painting with a Twist. We arrived at our class time to our name place set up, aprons, paint, and canvas ready and I wanted to take a selfie #duh, but Morgan had other ideas. She thinks she’s a model 😉

It’s girl’s night!!

You sign up and pay online, walk in the studio at your class time, pop open your wine, and you’re taught how to paint the painting you sign up for. They allow you to bring your own wine, snacks, etc while providing bottle openers and cups.

The class is two hours and the people in our class were joking around, gossiping, laughing, and having a good time. The instructor was bantering back and forth with the class too. There were 2 couples in our group, so while it was a fun girl’s night, it’s a perfect date night!

She said that night that she really enjoyed it, but she was exhausted so we couldn’t really tell. The next morning I woke up to her texting us different options of paintings because she wanted to go back again. #ANOTHERWIN

The three of us personally loved it because it was something different that we don’t normally do. Obviously, I wouldn’t say take younger guys (like my little brothers). My dad probably wouldn’t have liked it either. You’ve got to know your people, but I will say that it’s perfect for my mom’s age group. I think especially because they appreciate art/painting/that kind of thing more than my generation.

It’s super fun because they all come back looking different, but the same. I’m asking mom where in the house we’re going to hang them 😉

Who did the best?????

I’d have to say this birthday was a good one. Momma liked what she did and got things she wanted. PLUS we got to spend time with her, which I think she’d prefer over anything.

I’d highly recommend Painting with a Twist. See if they have one in your area. And because you might ask, we went to Gigi’s Cupcakes…they’re all over too!

Thanksgiving 2015

Thanksgiving has come and gone. Boo! Why am i’m just now recapping this holiday a week later? Because lots of fun stuff has been happening on the blog this week!!

Monday was all things stocking stuffers related.
Tuesday was the ULTIMATE giveaway.
Wednesday had us talking about great reads for the month.

And today is all about Thanksgiving. I love this Holiday.

You know, when you’re old and grown and have grey hair (ha, kidding) Thanksgiving break just doesn’t hold the same meaning. In grade school we got the week off to literally sit around and do nothing at all. That’s not so much the case when you have to be an adult and still make money. Therefore, I got Tuesday and Thursday off…where I did absolutely nothing productive.

This girl came home late Friday so I met up with her for dinner on Saturday night. We went back to her house afterwards to watch One Tree Hill and eat our popcorn with butter because #traditions.

Morgan came home the Thursday before Emily. She did a lot playing Mario with Rick…but I joined in too. I didn’t really know what I was doing so I kept dying at all the levels and they wouldn’t save me anymore so I wasn’t allowed to play. RUDE.

One day (I began to lose track of my days) my mom was wrapping presents in the guest room, so I took my laptop in there to work on my school stuff while Santa’s workshop was producing. We had Christmas music playing and the sun shining in on us. Life was good.

There were a couple (heated) games of Monopoly. Someone might have quit…not to name names *cough rick cough*. But it was still fun.

We usually do our Christmas cards during Thanksgiving break when everyone is home to give enough time to have them out by Christmas…we got lucky last year and used this one from our vacation last July.

But we didn’t take them last week. By the time we started planning outfits, it just got too late. So that might be happening next week when Morgan comes home again. Maybe.

 Finally it was the long anticipated time of the week. Mom always plans to eat around 4, but everyone was starving at 3….alas we waited until 4:00 and…

…Potatoes, Yams, Green Bean, Corn, Cranberry, Turkey, Ham (WHAT?! Yes, only my family…), jello (Morgan really wanted jello, so she made our family. You can kind of see them), and pumpkin pie for dessert. Oh my!

Here’s a totally unflattering picture of me. The 4 siblings went to see Mockingjay part 2 Thanksgiving night (Ryan’s hiding). I had never seen any of the series before, but Morgan briefed me a little beforehand. We got there super early and the guy that ended up sitting closest to me smelled, was chomping on his popcorn loudly, sniffling, and just about everything else that annoyed me enough to have my mom pick me up. I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle it for 2 hours, so her and I popped popcorn and watched Hallmark movies. And yes the siblings laughed at me when they got home, but I actually thought i’d go crazy…tell me you’ve had an experience like that before too.

I didn’t take as many pictures as usual this Thanksgiving. A lot of the time I was working, doing schoolwork, or online shopping so it was nothing glamorous. Along with looking like ^^^ most of the “break” because why wear make-up when you don’t have to, right???

We still had a good time. And a great Thanksgiving. And now as we go into the rest of the year and begin a new one, i’m really focusing on this quote…

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours!

Don’t forget this today!

Have a blessed day filled with lots of family, food, football, friends, and laughs! Let’s enjoy today for what it is as we remember to be thankful in all circumstances. – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

A yoga studio near me is holding a free hot yoga class so i’m dragging Morgan with me this morning…and then we will be ready to eat up!!!! I know I definitely will because I found gluten-free french fried onions for my green bean casserole!! AHH!!!!! 🙂

Veteran’s Day

It’s November 11th…November 11th means it’s Veteran’s Day. Every year!

Veteran’s Day is such a special holiday to me. Mainly because it’s a holiday not centered around gifts, or food, or bunnies, or groundhogs, or candy. It’s a holiday centered around something honorable; a different kind of honorable. Today we are to remember, honor, and respect all of those who served in the armed forces. These people have sacrificed so much for our country.

Today is the anniversary of the end of WW1…a war in which neither of these guys were part of. However, my grandpas were both in WW2. And my dad went to Afghanistan. I mean, these are some honorable guys right here. And i’m sure you all know some as well.

 

This memorial sits in a town close to grandpa’s. His name is on the back of it. I just love visiting this memorial when we go to Iowa.

This is Morgan, dad, and I in front of his dad’s grave when we buried my grandma. See that WW2 written on the front!

You might remember it here…

…when dad and I went to Boston in May. Here he is with his parents. Awwww 🙂

And just for fun, here’s my grandpa and me over the years.

I love asking questions, I’m always asking questions, and sometimes people get annoyed by it. But i’m kind of like #ohwell #getoverit.

I couldn’t ask my grandpa (dad’s dad) any stories about serving in a war because he passed away when I was just months old. This was our last picture that sits on my dad’s desk. My grandpa and me 🙂

I asked my dad what it was like being in war and he didn’t really say much. I don’t know if it’s because he can’t or because he didn’t want to. He said it’s miserable and not something you want to experience, but that’s about the most I got. I believe it. I feel like there’s a certain amount of secrecy military personnel keep. Probably for the better.

I gave this picture to my dad after my graduation because it’s so true. Love that guy. (And usually he smiles in pictures, but because he’s always got to be saying something he was in the middle of talking here…go figure!). To be honest, sometimes it’s difficult being a military child, but it’s the only way I grew up. It’s a totally different lifestyle than a “normal” childhood with two 9-5 parents. And i’m not saying it’s anything i’d want to change, it’s just different. I talked about it here.

And then my mom’s dad. This guy. I asked him what it was like serving in a war and all I can remember him talking about is a story in which he was shot in the butt. He was the sniper on the airplane and so he just remembers getting shot in the butt once. It’s a pretty funny story! 🙂

To these three…and to all the others, THANK YOU. You will never be appreciated enough. Happy Veteran’s Day!

Grandpa is 95

Every year for my grandpa’s birthday my mom usually goes up to spend time with him for a week. However, every 5 years all of us get to go up and party with grandpa.

September 11, 2010

September 11, 2015 came this past weekend. And it went quickly. We had a 7:40AM flight and were all up and at ’em (Starbucks in hand) Friday morning.

We got to Iowa around 9:45AM, but had to drive 2 1/2 hours to get to my grandpa’s so we didn’t get to see him until 1. We hung around at his house all day until it was time to leave for his “party” (really, birthday dinner). I caught him primping for the big night 🙂

By 5, my cousin Ean and I hit the road with my mom and our uncle to get some balloons for grandpa!

Everyone arrived near the same time and we started with our wine. I never get pictures with my mom, so I made her take one with me. My mom is the best woman alive no question.

My grandpa is the oldest of 6 kids and these 3 are the only ones still living. They’re the cutest siblings ever!

While we waited on dinner we decided to take some pics with grandpa. I’m sure he was getting so tired of it, but he was definitely a trooper.

Grandpa and his 6 kids. This right here is the reason I love big families and want a big family of my own. Because it is oh so fun, especially when everyone gets together.

There were about 30 people there and we toasted our favorite guy, because without him none of us would be there.

Morgan was one of the 3 grandchildren that couldn’t make it, so while we had her game playing during dinner we held her up near grandpa so she could be there as well.

And just like grandpa’s 90th birthday party he let his balloons go after we sang happy birthday to him. He is just a go-with-the-flow guy and that makes him so much more fun!

We all had a great night and sang some karaoke after dinner while dancing along. Ean and I totally bombed the karaoke part. I was not meant to sing. AT ALL. I feel bad for everyone who was there.

The next day we all sat around talking, laughing about the night before, and watching the Iowa/Iowa State game. I’m still upset that Iowa won the game, but I was busy sleeping during the entire thing that I couldn’t even focus on it.

Every Sunday morning grandpa goes to his favorite Chinese restaurant for a buffet and we all joined him this week. Afterwards, we took some pictures with grandpa (because Reese came to surprise him after the football game he coached on Saturday.)

Reese and I have been best friends since the day his mom brought him home from Romania. I love having cousins who are best friends.

I’m totally a grandpa’s girl.

Our flight was later that night, so we came back to hang out at grandpa’s and it wasn’t long before we got home that he was passed out in his chair. We wore the poor guy out this weekend!! I’ll always remember him and his chair.

We were all sad to be leaving, but we LOVE our Gramps and can’t wait until September 11, 2020 when he turns 100!!! And i’ll be 26. Oh, boy. I have a feeling it will go faster than I think.

Rick is 16

Yesterday my oldest younger brother turned the big 1-6. I feel like time is flying in my eyes, I can only imagine what my parents feel like. Like I said, big things are happening around this household this year.

The oldest turned 21 and starting her last year of college
The second turned 18 and then went to college
The third turns 16 and can officially drive
The youngest turned 14 and is headed to high school

When I got my license the state of Texas hadn’t issued the law where anyone trying to get a license has to ride in the car with a sheriff or police or whatever. But now they have to (starting the year after me…win!). Appointments are required and if you tried to schedule one now you would have to wait until October. It’s plain crazy.

Dad, the brothers, and I had to come home early from moving Morg in while mom stayed so Rick could make his appointment for 10:40 yesterday morning. I didn’t think I was going to be awake, so I set out his favorite croissants to rise overnight and gave him the directions on how to cook them when he got up. Look at these things! His favorite breakfast on his birthday 🙂

They got home a lot sooner than anticipated and we had a ceremonial “put the key on the key ring” moment. Him, not me. I’m just the photographer here. And i’m lucky I got a picture of him.

Then afterwards I was sure the world was ending because he decided to spend some time with me. I KNOW. So we watched Tuesday’s Pretty Little Liars episode.

And then I worked on some school work, picked up a box of cake mix to bake, and got a little work-out in before our dinner reservations. I got home from the gym to the birthday boy doing what he does….

…nothing. The boys had gone to get Ry‘s present to Rick earlier (side note: I missed the first drive by himself picture and i’m still kicking myself about it!!!) and then finished throwing the baseball outside before they came in to lay on the couch. Because when all you do is play video games all day, you will be exhausted when you get up for a few minutes to walk around.

We went to our family’s usual birthday dinner place for Rick’s birthday dinner. PF Changs.

This is me attempting a picture because I knew I wasn’t going to get anything else. Oh yeah, let it be known that the outfit he’s wearing – that he probably wears in every picture I take of him – is his favorite outfit. Which means that I was up at midnight on Tuesday night washing his clothes so he could wear these for his driver’s test. #bestbigsisteraward

We got our usual lettuce wraps and wonton soup.

Instead of edamame we got the cucumber slices. Yummy.

Dad got a dirty martini. And ew i’m not a martini fan.

And dad and I shared a new dish: Chang’s Lobster Rice.

While Ry got his normal Honey Glazed chicken and Rick got the beef and broccoli. So good.

We got a complimentary dessert.

And he made his wish and blew out his candle so dad could chow down on the dessert. It was a banana egg roll with fruit. Yeah, not a 16 year old’s dessert.

As we were walking out I mentioned something about taking pictures and THEY OBLIGED. Let this day go down in history….Middleton boys didn’t argue about getting their picture taken.

After we got home, I lit a piece of the cake I baked him and we sang some happy birthday tunes for him to enjoy.

And he opened my gift of a new cross necklace with his baseball number engraved since he wore my other one out. Then went to his room to play video games or something as equally teenager boring. But, I now have another person that can chauffeur me around. #halfglassfull

I love birthdays.

Pop’s Day 2015

Yesterday was Father’s Day (in case you didn’t know!) and our Father’s Day looked pretty much like any of our other days. Dad and I have gone on many Starbucks dates in the past…including this one from Boston. He woke me up to go with him yesterday morning and I thought I was awake until he came back in and woke me up for the second time telling me he was going to leave. I ended up falling asleep and sleeping through Starbucks with him and my yoga class.

But I did wake up in time for Church. We went out to the car and realized that the sunroof was open in my mom’s car…and it rained all night. So now i’ve slept through Starbucks and we have a wet car. Therefore, 4/6 of us were at Church on time while the other 2 were drying out a car.

We came back home after Church and all grabbed a little something to eat. I went to make an omelette and realized that I cooked mushrooms that were rotten. Everyone else got to enjoy pizza. Sigh. We all laid around for an hour or so and dad wanted to go see the movie “Aloha” so we traveled on over to the theater in our mall. And walked up to these lines…

…40 minutes later we were in the theater taking dark selfies…

…Rick fell asleep snoring, my dad leaned down to mom and I saying “I don’t like this”, I was hungry….and everyone did not like the movie. There was no point to it, so we all decided next time we planned on going to a movie we aren’t going to let dad choose no matter what holiday it might be!

We got home about 5:00 and decided to have dad open his presents.

….and Ryan helped unwrap the shoes, belts, shirts, and food he got. I mean what else could a guy want?

After presents, I decided we should order Chinese food and that it should be a new place. My dad is not one for trying new places. When he finds what he likes, he sticks with it. I googled places around us and this one had four stars. I placed an order and we waited on our food! He awarded the wonton soup and beef with broccoli his new favorite, so #daughterwin, but Morgan’s honey glazed chicken was soggy…so we definitely wouldn’t recommend that as we threw most of it away. And the rest of the night we just hung out. It was a great day.

We may have slept through Starbucks, walked out to a soaking wet car, cooked with rotten mushrooms, stood in lines at the movie theater, seen a horrible movie, and ended up with soggy chicken…but we did it as a family and with our dad. And that’s all Father’s Day is about after all 🙂

I love you, dad. Life without you would be…well, less interesting…xoxox

Memorial Day Weekend

I said I wasn’t going to post today, yet here I am. Lucky you 😉

Let’s recap the great three-day weekend we just had! Friday I left work about an hour early because pretty much everyone was gone for the holiday weekend. I came home and did my work-out. Our family didn’t really have plans, so my dad and brothers decided to go to our high school’s baseball team playoff game. And I tagged along. Our high school’s team went pretty far, but ended up losing this game. I. Miss. High School. Baseball. My brother played on the JV team this year. Can’t wait to watch him at the Varsity level next season!

Ry wouldn’t take a selfie with me, so I had to take this. Just 3 Middletons watching our favorite sport.

Saturday morning I woke up and was craving pancakes. Stop it, I know what you’re thinking! They’re not burned they’re just gluten free, okay?!

And then sat at the kitchen table drinking coffee and blogging the rest of the morning while it was raining because….so relaxing!

And then I went to Em‘s house Saturday night to watch a movie with her, Tyler, and her dad for his birthday. He made us watch Something About Mary (I think that’s what it’s called) and it was aaaawwwfffuuuullllllllll. Haha! Tyler, Emily, and I hated it!

So after the movie was over, Tyler and I went home and crashed. Sunday morning brought the normal Yoga and Church. Plus I added a lunch date with Reeana at Dickey’s – aka our restaurant. In high school we went here every single Sunday pretty much after Church with her parents. I was basically her adopted sister. (Sorry about the mid-talking pic of you, Ree!)

I came home to see mom made the siblings homemade cheesey pizza, LIKE WHAT?! This looks straight out of a restaurant, I was so impressed with her. Not to mention it smelled delicious and was full of gluten and lactose so I couldn’t have a bite.

At lunch Reeana asked if I wanted to go hiking. I was just thinking the other day how I wanted to go hiking, so I said for sure let’s go! She came and picked me up and we went about 45 minutes away to what was suppose to be a beautiful trail to hike.

As soon as we got there they told us everything was closed off because of flooding. Seriously, Texas, seriously? We were super upset we drove out there to not be able to see anything, so we went driving around near that site and saw a bunch of cars parked on the side of the road. Naturally we stopped and got out to see that there were a lot of people lined up fishing. We decided it would be brilliant to make our own trail and hike up the hill next to where all these people were.

And it was…until I started taking on water with soaking wet shoes and socks. Thank you, flooding! And even after putting on bug spray I ended up with a ton of bug bites all over my legs! But it was fun getting to talk to and spend time with this girl. We live so close to each other, but still don’t get to see each other that much thanks to big kid jobs and her studying for the LSAT.

The view was still pretty despite the long grass we went trekking through. Could you imagine what life would be like had God not given us trails, and greenery, and rain, and friends, and on and on an on? Sometimes I have those moments where i’m sitting there thinking “Wow how awesome of a Creator we have to give us all of this!”.

She throws up this sign and I still am friends with her. I don’t know – I ask myself why all the time 😉 #hornsdown

I love being outdoors. We have plans to come again and go on the normal trail when it opens. IF IT EVER STOPS RAINING IN TEXAS!

I got home Sunday night and showered and we had dinner as a family. Morgan said she was going with JP somewhere (Emily’s brother) so I said okay i’m coming and tagged along with them because #whatelseisagirltodo and we ended up going back to Emily’s house with them and watching another awful movie. Haha!

That they picked out. Never again.

Yesterday was Emily and JP’s dad’s birthday so we planned to go to Top Golf, but it was super busy. So we drove to Dallas, got lunch, Morgan and I went shopping, the two of us worked out together, had dinner, and now i’m here blogging. And that was my weekend. And now you’re caught up. Aren’t you glad??? Me too!

Now it’s back to work today. Sigh. Long weekends with good friends and family are too fun 😦

Momma’s Day 2015

My mom is “blessed” every year on Mother’s Day because she’s out on the baseball field with one brother or the other for a tournament. This year was no exception as she was waking up at 4:45 to get her and brother out the door by 6:00. She asked if I was going to go with her and when she told me she was leaving before the rooster cockadoodledoos I said sorry Ma, love you. But not that much! 😉

Saturday after I went with dad to thing 2‘s baseball games, we got home, rested, and then he and I went Mother’s Day shopping. We tried to talk dad into getting mom this card, but it didn’t happen. I’m not sure why. It’s as big as Ryan. So cool.

So where were we? Ah yes, back to 4:45 waking up that was NOT going to happen. I set my alarm for 9:20 to get up and go to yoga. It was great. I’d get my 9 hours of sleep and all that good stuff.

WRONG. JUST WRONG. I woke up at 7:00am to tornado sirens and loud winds hitting the trees up against my bedroom window. I woke up once and went back to sleep not really thinking anything of it. When I woke up again I looked at my phone and saw two missed calls from my mom. I walked downstairs to her calling the house phone to tell me a tornado was headed to my town. Swell. See…if you look hard enough you can see 7:0something in the corner of the tv. And the color red, which i’m not actually sure what that color means but i’m guessing it’s not good!

So i’m half asleep, dad walks out, and we’ve got the news on trying to figure out what’s happening. ‘Cause it sure doesn’t look too bad out the window. AND IT’S 7:00AM AND I’M AWAKE. JUST LET ME REMIND YOU AGAIN.

Meanwhile my dad’s just casually walking around in the front to get the paper, opening up the garage doors, and standing outside watching the rain as the tornado sirens were going off. Like, hello, are you still asleep too?!?!

Nothing ended up hitting our town but there was flash flooding all around and pouring rain, obviously. My brother’s game got cancelled so Ry and mom were stranded an hour away trying to figure out if they could make it home without getting sucked up in a tornado or stuck in water on the highway. #happymothersdaymom

They got home finally and we all fell back asleep. I woke up to my alarm I originally set for yoga and it was just raining at that point so I still went. And afterwards grabbed some Momma’s Day Starbucks for the win!

I think part of my health issues lately have to do with me drinking soy milk and almond milk versus my normal, plain, boring lactose free milk. It seems like all my stomach can handle is lactose free milk. Fine stomach. SO at Starbucks I ordered my iced coffee without milk and the barista was so confused. She kept looking back at the guy who took my order and I just had to explain to her that I had to add my own milk when I got home. #foodallergyprobs

When I got home I made some eggs and went to Church…upstairs…on my laptop. I missed last week being in Boston and this week I didn’t go. I’m so thankful we have the ability to watch online.

Mom slept pretty much the entire day. I kid you not. Tired momma! So after laying around and reading for a bit I randomly decided I wanted a candle. I don’t know why you’re thinking that’s not normal. Naturally, I got up and went to Bath and Body Works and walked out with nothing because i’m not paying $10 for a candle smaller than the palm of my hand?!?!?!?! WUT. But I went to Target next door and walked out with a new swimsuit, eyeliner, marinara sauce, a new drink concoction i’m deeming my favorite, and cookie dough because #necessities.

When I got home it was already 5:00 so I started prepping dinner. It takes FOREVER to chop. We didn’t end up eating until about 6:30. But the finished product was magnifique if I do say so myself. We had mango, cucumber, and black bean salsa on top of grilled cod, green beans, and rice on the side. This meal is up.my.alley.

For dessert (this is where the cookie dough comes in) I made Giada’s banana chocolate chip ice-cream sandwiches.

I couldn’t have one, so I can’t tease you by talking about how decadent it was. Instead I shall tease you with this picture. Do you hate me yet???

 

While mom was enjoying her dessert I took some of my funfetti cake out of the fridge, put some icing and lactose free ice-cream on the side and was happy. Sidenote: People use eating gluten free as a diet, but it’s definitely not…it’s just a way for them to say they cut out bread and carbs. Eating gluten and lactose free really doesn’t cut out anything for me, I just have different mixes I have to use. And ones that are a lot more expensive at that. Don’t do the whole gluten-free thing. It’s not as yummy and a lot more expensive. Okay, rambling over.

Soooo you want to hear the most funny part of the day? My other brother and sister were at my cousin’s graduation party this weekend and were suppose to come back yesterday morning. We got a call that their flight was cancelled and they can’t come back until Tuesday morning. On a 5:30am flight HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH so yeah, we couldn’t technically celebrate Mother’s Day because half the reason mom gets to celebrate the holiday was on the other side of the country. She proceeded to tell us that she gets two Mother’s Days this year. Oh….guess I need more cookie dough and fish. She opened dad and I’s present and Ryan’s present (of which we got the wrong thing yesterday at the store. total children fail.) and we called it a night.

I think she had 1/2 a good mother’s day yesterday. I love my momma and any chance I get to celebrate her. I hope everyone else had better luck on their mother’s day! 🙂

Happy Easter!

I love Holidays. I really do. No matter which one it is. It’s festive, it’s family time, it’s just a happy day. And yesterday was no exception.

I’m not going to recap my entire weekend today, however I want to show you how thoughtful my sweet co-worker is. I walked into my office on Good Friday and saw this coffee cup on my desk. I had to feel it to see if it was warm or not and she said she got me it because she knew I was probably going down there anyways and she was already down at the coffee shop. PLUS it was pay day. So, GOOD FRIDAY. My day was made early in the morning.

Anyways, back to yesterday. I woke up super early and hopped out of bed because I knew the Easter bunny came!! And this little guy was sitting outside my door, but wouldn’t sit up for a picture.

The Easter bunny left some of his paw prints in our house with candy leading to our baskets. Our Easter bunny sure knows us as Morgan and Rick went fighting for who was going to get more Reese’s. Children…

We went to our Church’s 9:30 service, so the majority of us were crabby and therefore when we got home I didn’t even attempt to ask for an Easter picture. Besides the fact my brothers don’t know how to dress.

Then the brothers, sister and dad went to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch (seriously, who does that on Easter?!) and mom I held down the fort, while we started prepping dinner. I requested a coffee and they brought it home for me 🙂

Mainly because I helped this kid set up his new “gaming chair” that he ripped open and threw everywhere.

After we got our meal prepped, I took out my computer and worked for a little bit with my warm coffee in hand 🙂

And I took a 3 hour nap while mom put the finishing touches on our Easter table. Love all the brightness and happiness this holiday brings!

We each had our own little chocolate nest with jelly beans and peeps.

And a SMORGASBORD of food. Ham, fruit salad, deviled eggs, broccoli casserole, rolls, honey glazed carrots, au gratin potatoes, and broiled tomatoes. It was GOOD GOOD GOOD!

I ate my food up!

See how cute that dessert was?!?!

We didn’t do anything spectacular yesterday, but it was still a good day. I’m so thankful God sent his one and only son to die for our sins. And i’m so glad He is risen!! So that we will be risen! Praise Jesus!

Today is extra special because:

It’s the RED SOX OPENING DAY!!!!!!!!! At 2:05 while i’m at work, but i’m going to be watching my phone for updates.

It’s also my parent’s 24th anniversary. And my Aunt’s birthday. And my Grandma’s birthday. So many good things going on today to celebrate! Praise Jesus! And a happy Monday!

All Green Everything

We love holidays around here. I personally think St. Patrick’s day is a weird holiday though. I don’t get it, but nonetheless it is an excuse for a theme. I’m all in for a good theme. So, in honor of St. Patrick’s day tomorrow, i’m sharing my favorite green things.

Pants.

It’s no secret that I love colored pants. I’ve got multiple colors. Just see below 🙂

But I realized my closet does not have green. And I have no idea why, so I think I need to remedy that with this pair of jeans because why not have a pair of green pants?! They aren’t the ones shown above, however I think the next time i’m at Target i’m stopping for these eyelet pants.

ICE.

Ice is fantaaaaaastic. I’ve probably already mentioned it before, but this drink it flavorful with 0 sugar, 0 calories, 0 sodium, 0 everything. This isn’t my absolute favorite flavor, but all green everything remember?

Serenity Stone Drops & Studs & Rings, Oh my!

I’m not going to be your friend anymore unless you buy  me these because i’m dyyyyying to have them. And I don’t know why I haven’t just bought them myself. Probably because I have the memory of a goldfish and forget to every time I think about it.

or any of these. I love the color and the “pop” it would put to any outfit.
Earrings/Bracelet (No longer in stock)/Ring

The green cup.

Today, get yourself a white cup with a green mermaid on it and think of me, my soy milk, and all my Starbucks selfies 🙂

Bath and Body Works.

Apparently I love everything green at BBW. I’m still using this Vanilla Bean Noel, with spares under my sink. And I always have the Eucalyptus Spearmint in my possession because everyone needs it. Do you hear me? You need it! I promise I won’t disappoint you. And if I do then you don’t have to buy me those earrings I just talked about. 😉

Nail polish.

Duh right? These look like the same color but they are actually different.
The left is “Sew psyched” by Essie and the right is “Posh” by Revlon.

Green food.

I know i’m one of those weird people that likes green food. Seriously – give me broccoli, peas, asparagus, lettuce, brussels sprouts, green beans, I don’t care. I’ll eat it all. And you won’t be able to have any because I. Love. Veggies.

Gardening season.

It’s officially gardening season, y’all. And we’ve been planting. This is my tomato plant from last year, and this year we’re trying different things but also keeping our same tomatoes, basil, thyme, and all sorts of other herbs. Because fresh out of the garden is soooooo good.

I hope I got you in the green spirit today 🙂 Happy almost (weirdest holiday ever) day!

But one more thing,

Yesterday I went on a run for the first time in months. And this is the face of someone who just ran three miles and wants to shoot herself in the foot for being stupid and choosing to do that. Yes, I realize my eye make-up smearing looks fantastic. But…..

Then I got home and was trying to look down and noticed my right eye wouldn’t really do it, so I looked at it on my phone and noticed…my eye started swelling! I was going to take a Benadryl but it was 6pm and I knew it would put me to sleep so I decided to put eye drops in and take Claritin. While I was waiting for a couple hours to pass to take my Benadryl I fell asleep on the couch. Now it’s 10:15pm and I just woke up and i’m about to go take that Benadryl to knock me out because it’s still swollen and i’m grumpy. What on earth. So this is the face of someone who probably has really bad allergies and is even more so an idiot. 😦

Tomorrow i’m sharing my most embarrassing moment…and I don’t even think I know what that’s going to be yet. Haha! See you then with my swollen eye and all!

Izzy girl turns 4!!!

Yesterday, my favorite favorite little four year old had a birthday!!! You guys remember me talking about Jonathan right? We’ve been pals ever since 6th grade or 7th grade. I don’t even know how long now, forever! Well this is his niece, Isabella and she is my girl. She’s funny, she’s cute, she’s sassy, and she’s so easy going. Seriously the happiest person ever! And i’ve known her ever since she was born. See? Here we are at Jonathan’s prom, Jonathan’s graduation, and my senior homecoming.

AND NOW LOOK AT HER?!!??! She’s such a big girl, but still a little squirt 🙂 Last night for her actual birthday I went bowling with Izzy, her momma, her dad, her little brother, Jonathan, and her grandparents. We took this picture at the beginning but I felt like my head looked bigger than her entire body so I vetoed it from Instagram. But she’s darn cute and so stylish with all that pink on her!

And she’s happy dancing because she KICKED OUR BUTTS!

That’s her dad in the back helping her bowl at her turn. Chris has been around ever since i’ve known Jonathan. I haven’t known his sister Justine without Chris. And he’s the best dad to his little girl (and boy). And quite possibly one of the most extroverted people I know.

And I had to document Jon bowling, so here he is. And apparently he’s somehow good at bowling because he came in second???

“Uncle Bubba” with his niece and nephew. When I introduced Jonathan on MMP I said we both love our families, and it’s a major similarity between us. Well this picture just says it all and I wish Isaiah was looking because this picture would have been perfect! 😦

Birthday girl and I took a shot at it again. She had pink extentions with a tutu and purple eye shadow. She was fab.u.lous on her fourth birthday.

I turned four today!!!

And the place we went bowling at brought her a cake pop and little brownie thing. And she wanted a photo shoot with her cake pop, so of course I obliged.

I failed at taking pictures of her opening presents, but I gave her an easy bake oven, her grandma and grandpa gave her Connect 4 and Operation and then there were some kisses for Uncle Bubba for getting her first pair of Roshe’s!

I left after presents to study for my midterm and they played some games at the arcade and went back to her grandparent’s house for some cake and Jon sent me this picture so let’s all take a minute to oooh and ahhh over this family because I don’t know how much more perfect it can get!! 🙂

I love all four of them.They always make me feel welcome and like i’m part of the family myself (even when I was in my awkward middle school days!). And they can always find a reason to have a party so they’re inviting me somewhere all the time!! 🙂

Happy Birthday to my bestie!! Can’t wait to be part of many many more of her birthdays in the future! Pretty soon she’ll be going to Kindergarten and i’ll probably shed a tear because growing up is not allowed!!!!

p.s. Jonathan and I had an argument calm discussion over text about what grade we were in when Iz was born and I was right…..we were in our second semester of junior year. He thought we were seniors, so HA! But anyways. We were juniors in high school then and now we’re juniors in college. Time. Flies.

1st Snow Day of 2015

Down here in Texas, this is what we call a snow day. Yes….you can see the ground but you’re suppose to be looking at the white!!! That’s snow!

Actually, it was really icy out today, so even if everything wasn’t cancelled I doubt I would have gone out to work. I should’ve spent the day studying and while I did a little bit there was a lot of this in my day…

I made momma’s french toast for breakfast (i’m putting the recipe up tomorrow!)

And then spent the rest of what little morning I had left sleeping/cuddling with my giant bear, magazine reading, and coffee/tea drinking.

Sometimes we all deserve a day off of life to do nothing. By 2:00pm Ryan and I went out to walk around because we started getting tired of being cooped up all day. And this is what it looked like haha. We Texans look like a bunch of amateurs to you northerners, don’t we?

But we still  had to watch where we were stepping. That criminal in my picture is just a 13 year old that wanted to stay warm in this weather 🙂

And because it really wasn’t snow, it was just ice, we couldn’t make snowballs to throw at each other, so we had to use sticks. I know….what we do to keep ourselves entertained when stuck inside all day.

And then we came back inside and decided to eat while watching Air Bud because #bestmovieever

Later that night, momma and I watched The Bachelor and The Voice.

(minus Gwen 😦 )

And then around 8:00 last night the four of us went walking in the streets. Morgan in her boot and all. The roads are super icy and Ryan actually fell….I didn’t laugh at all….lies. But, school is cancelled tomorrow too! SO HALLELUJAH I DON’T HAVE TO SIT IN CLASS!!!!!

So, that is what a snow day looks like. Nothing exciting, nothing to write home about, but a day off work/school…so I guess you can’t complain! But I might be having to write home about not having to be in classes from 8:30am-7:00pm 🙂 Whoop!

…when you don’t know what to ask for.

Go here first if you missed the beginning of my title’s sentence because then you will be lost. And I don’t want you to be lost, okay???

When you’re 21 it’s hard to know what you actually want for your birthday. You have pretty much anything you could want. Except for your tuition paid for. And those of you that do, can you send me money? Haha I’ll take it in any form. Let’s get to the other 10 things from Emily’s magical list.

12. The summer scarf

Y’all know if it’s anything scarf related, i’m all in. ALL IN! So, this summer i’m probably going to be wearing scarves in my pictures. As for spring and summer I want something light-weight and colorful to bring out an outfit. I thought this would be a perfect one because it’s full of color and everybody loves them some chevron.

However, this one below is all me. Yellow, stripes, and that crinkle is faaaantaaasstic. Be right back, headed to Target.

13. Anything mint or pink color.

Now this spring…the new thing is bold colors. I’ve still seen a lot of black around…but I like bold colors for spring and summer! It makes everything more happy 🙂 Besides, wearing bold colors makes you look more tan 😉 But especially mint and bright pink. It’s everywhere! Look around next time and i’m sure you’ll see it somewhere. I went to the homepage for women’s fashion on Pinterest…and all of these pictures came from there. But seriously, these girls look AMAZING. And now I officially wish it was Spring/Summer.

14. Nail Polish

Nooooowwww i’m speaking girlfriend’s love language. Emily is all things nail polish. When we were in high school i’d go over to her house and for some reason can remember her always painting her nails. And the good thing is that you can never have too many colors!!!

15. Duh

16. Vests

We’re total vest people around here.

White (sweater vest option for $8!) – Pink (can’t find it) – Grey

This moto vest is going to be really popular. I’m feeling it.

17. Slippers

Other than the sheer fact that slippers are the bomb. I take some to work with me and throw them on when my heels are hurting my feet. At Oklahoma I always wore them everywhere. Outside. I didn’t care.

First option  $7.48 – Second option $13.99  – Third option $13.99

18. Something personal to you.

For my birthday, I told my dad that on my bucket list was going to all of the MLB stadiums. (I thought of it after I wrote my list) So….he got me Red Sox tickets for a weekend in Boston with him this coming Spring. Loved that gift!

19. Expensive things!

I know I always tell you this, but I always ask for expensive things for gifts that I don’t want to spend my own money on. Maybe it’s a concert? Hello Sam Hunt. Maybe it’s a new laptop? A new phone? A new bed? Haha whatever you want, you know you wouldn’t get on a normal occasion and you can’t figure out what else you need. Hey, and it could be just a trip for you and a friend somewhere…I don’t know?

20. A new watch

Maybe you’re finally wanting to splurge on a Michael Kors watch? Nows the time to get it 🙂 ‘Cause then you can get your arm party going with me!!! Because pracelets of any kind…send my way immediately. Also, some of Kate Spade’s watches are super cute and I think you should go to her site and check them out as well.

21. Gingham

Aren’t you sad we’re at our last one? I thought about saving the best one for last, but let’s be honest all of mine were the best ones….;)

I’m just telling you now…gingham is coming in. I’m about to order something as we speak because I love it so. Probably something like this shirt. If you don’t like this one or the other colors offered, be sure to check the next time you’re out and you’ll come back and want this one 🙂

Whew! Does everyone have an idea of what they want now??? Haha
If Emily doesn’t ask/get at least 3 of these things i’ll probably disown her. Kidding 🙂

What to ask for…

Mornin’! We have a winner, y’all!!!

Erica Gammon

Congrats, Erica! E-mail me at colorsoflifeblog@gmail.com to claim your gift card to Taralynn’s!

As for today’s post…do you ever have those moments when you don’t know what to ask for for your birthday? Well, Emily did the other day. Her 21st is coming up and she has no idea what she wants to ask for…girlfriend needed some help!  I love my friends. But I especially love when my friends ask me to do blog posts for them about fashion choices and things like that 🙂

As for me, I usually always ask for practical things. Home decor, home appliances, gas gift cards, the things I don’t necessarily want to spend my own money on. For example, Christmas 2013 was the month before I moved into my own apartment at OU and I knew I would need some appliances and dishes. And that’s all I got, it was great!

Today i’m bringing you: 21 things to ask for for your 21st birthday. 21 things is a lot so i’m going to break it up into 2 posts. Hopefully I can give someone ideas!

1. Jewelry

If you would have asked me this list a couple years ago, jewelry would never have made the cut. I was never into jewelry. In fact, I didn’t get my ears pierced until I was a junior in high school. But now this is going to be a lot of my list. I love bracelets. I love necklaces. And I love earrings. It adds an instant “pop” to any ol’ outfit.

Pink crystal – Indian Turquoise – Pink tassel

2. Rainboots

I love rainboots. Love ’em. You really only need one pair, but you want to make sure they are a good pair. Did you know you’re technically suppose to wear rain boots with shoes? But who does that? So I always want to make sure that the pair of rain boots I have are comfortable because I usually have them for a long time. This particular pair I got for Christmas from Santa, but i’ve found you a super close second. They are stripes and I have a feeling you’re going to be seeing a lot of stripes on me in the near future. It’s becoming my thang.

3. Coffee Giftcards

Most people don’t like giving gift cards. My aunt hates it, she just thinks it’s thoughtless. I understand that, but I LOVE GIFTCARDS. I like not having to spend money on the little things like groceries or coffee or food, you know. I’d rather use that money to splurge on something else every once in a while.

4. Work Clothes

For those of you working in corporate America where you’ve got to dress business casual on a day to day basis, this is ALWAYS something to ask for. Sometimes a good pair of pants can end up costing quite a bit.

5. Books

Emily is going to be upset when she sees this on my list haha she does not read. But it’s such a good gift in my opinion, especially when there’s something you want to read and you don’t have anything else to ask for. These are currently on my list to read.

6. Purses

This tote I think is super practical and super cute. Turn it one way for Spring and the other way for Winter. Some people aren’t all for yellow…but that is my color. There’s purple also.

7. Stella and Dot Bracelets

Stella and Dot has always been on my radar. The girls in my sorority would buy their arrow necklaces (Pi Phi) but when i’ve looked through the different products they had I saw this new one. If you’re more into bracelets this is a good option. I just really like the personalization option a lot. It makes it seem a lot more thoughtful.

 

This is a new part of Stella and Dot’s spring collection. I love, love this string on the bangle. Plus, I love bangles and layering bracelets. They have this bracelet in another color as well.

8. Stella and Dot Necklaces

Honestly, i’ve been dying to have this necklace for months now. I’m not quite sure why I haven’t just bought it yet…

I thought this would be a cute idea too. I definitely was skeptical about this idea at first of having your name on a necklace, but I see so many of these necklaces on people and decided I liked them. I think your anniversary date or just about anything else would be cute too. That’s the best part is you can personalize it however you want. With the matching bracelet from above! 😉

9. Stella and Dot Earrings

Sometimes I don’t feel like wearing dangle earrings, but I still want some color. And I thought these studs would be the perfect solution to that problem….like Candace Cameron Bure. Girl, rock that Stella and Dot!!

This pair of earrings is fab.u.lous. i’ve been dying to get these too, wow. I need to pick up my stella and dot shopping. These come in a espresso, turquoise, and aqua as well and I think any of the colors look amazing on.

10. Anything organization…

If you’re like me anything organization is the best thing to ask for. This Erin Condren notebook has not left my side all semester. I’m thinking of getting myself her planner next year.

11. Samoas

On a little bit more of the silly side…if I allowed myself, I could eat an entire box in one sitting. This is the best thing you will ever eat. And probably the best thing you could ever ask for 😉

I should have the other 10 up here tomorrow. So if you didn’t like today’s, hopefully I can do something for ya tomorrow 😉 Happy Wednesday!

*This post contains affiliate links, which just means clicking on links may result in small compensation for the blog author. Thanks for reading and supporting my blog. Love y’all*

Friday Favorites: Fri-YAY edition

I’m not even going to act like I wasn’t excited for this Fri-YAY to come. Also, it’s casual day at work—do pjs count? Let me know. Now I do remember one of my New Years Resolutions went along with this…

But this was a long week. Starting school, working the other three days of the week, homework already, lack of sleep, cold weather, ugh. That’s not Fri-YAY material. That’s more like MON-DANE material. Was that clever?? Really, I would like to go hide back under my covers for a couple hours. But I won’t. I need to be adult-like and go make money. One day i’ll thank myself.

Join in with me as I link up with Andrea, Erika, and Narci for Friday Favorites!

After I got off work last Fri-YAY two of my FAVORITE girls and I went with my family to the Texas Legends basketball game and treated ourselves to a nice, healthy dinner afterwards.

Saturday night was my FAVORITE kind of night. My parents and I went to the local bar (yes, I hang out with my parents on the weekend, and yes I have fun doing it!) to hear a band play, I posted a little about this earlier in the week. Are you not caught up on your Colors of Life reading???!!!!

Sunday I turned everyone’s FAVORITE birthday….21!!!! Read about that here.

Mon-DANE was so Monday-like that I didn’t take a picture. But how about I leave you with this one today:

That could turn your Mon-DANE right around. In fact, they’re getting even lower!! Oh, happy day!

Tuesday is every college student’s LEAST FAVORITE day of the semester. The very first day. I did a heavy sigh as I woke up early Tuesday morning, with my bag packed up, my shoes tied tight, hope I don’t get in a fight. Ohhh, back to school, back to school…..if you didn’t see my post on Instagram, you would have understood my Adam Sandler reference.

So I was shopping the other day and I saw one of my FAVORITE sights. These two cute little ol’ ladies were shopping accessories, purses, wallets, belts, bags, you name it. I stalked overheard their conversation and one said “I don’t want to take too long, but i’d like to go look at that purse.” The other one replied, “Oh no don’t worry, you go right ahead and look at that.” Couldn’t you just DIE????? Cannot wait to own my retirement home one day.

I’m starting to get the hang of this new school thing. The days get a little long while i’m on campus, but I know my outcome will far surpass the boredom that I have while sitting around look at funky pieces of architecture between classes.

PEACE OUT & HAPPY FRI-YAY!!!!!!

21 part two

(update: part one is here)

So as I was sitting by the fire blogging, mom made us Chili’s frozen margaritas…they were nasty. But I liked the thought and the little umbrella.

My dad remembered they had plans to go to the local bar for a little bit on Saturday night to see a band that was playing. I was almost 21 so I decided to start it off right with some 50 year olds!

I was the youngest one there, so my dad begged me to request his favorite song. He bought one of their CD’s and everyone there signed it….including the lead singer of the band.

 

“I’ve got gross hair, but I don’t care because it’s midnight and I just turned 21!!!” “I’ll shower in the morning.”

I woke up to my dad begging me to tell him what to get me at Starbucks that morning, haha. So finally after me being half asleep at 9:00 I agreed. And when I got out of the shower I had my coffee and gluten-free muffin my mom bought me from the Unrefined Bakery sitting there waiting for me.

“It’s Molly’s birthday, so we bought ourselves donuts”………WHAT?!

My birthday fell not only on a Sunday, but on the Sunday everyone goes back to college from being here for Christmas break. So I celebrated with my friends while having mimosas and breakfast tacos:)

 

I don’t want to brag or anything, but I’ve got the best friends out there. Thanks for coming Emily, Emily, Reeana, Morgan and Jonathan.

  

The Emilys both had to leave early, but we cracked out the gluten-free cake (That everyone loved) hahah not! I mean, I thought it was good. But when it’s the only thing you an have, of course it’s good! Did my mom not do an AMAZING job ordering a leopard print cake for me. If this doesn’t prove to you that I love leopard print, I don’t know what will.

As Morgan and I walked back to the car we noticed someone (or some bird) left her a pretty little surprise. It’s two days later and this is still on there…i’m just saying.

I got home to the house decorated like this 🙂

And we watched the Cowboys game until it ended.

I opened presents and Ry gave me this coat and scarf. Everyone was so distracted by the Cowboys game that I didn’t get pictures with anyone else. It was all cowboys>Molly that’s just rude.

Rick wanted me to have gluten free beer. Haha!

Then around 5:00 we got in the car and went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant in downtown. Ry was so excited!

Margaritas and fish tacos. Be still my heart.

My birthday was fun. I’m grateful for the people in my life now and I can only imagine what 21 has in store for me. I’m hoping next year will be even better than 20 and filled with plenty of family, fun, friends, and lots of love. That’s all you can ask for, right?

I already know 21 is going to bring me:

-One year closer to graduating college
-My sister graduating high school and going off to college
-My friends 21st birthdays
-Lots of traveling
-Probably some tears
-Probably some laughs
-Probably some obstacles
-Most definitely some good times

But isn’t that LIFE? At least i’ll be getting one more year’s worth of experience. I know i’m not guaranteed tomorrow, so today i’m thankful I made it this far. And i’m hoping for many, many more birthdays to come! Bring it on 21!!

21 part one

Yes, the infamous 21st birthday weekend has come and gone. I feel like I took a jillion and a half pictures this weekend, so i’m going to split it up into two different days.

“EEP, I’m almost 21”

Just kidding, the Emily’s both texted me and asked what I was wearing to the basketball game we were going to later that night and when I said probably what I wore to work they MADE ME stop what I was doing, take a selfie, and send it to them. How needy….am I right? But let’s not act like it was that big of a problem for me 🙂

Through my work, the employees got to request tickets for the Texas Legends basketball game because it was Miracle League night and we sponsor The Miracle League. I requested the max (10) and brought along Emily #1 and Emily #2 and then told my siblings there was 2 tickets left, so I let them argue who got it. Morg and Ryan won.

I had to take pictures of us. You know, to document that we are in fact friends. It worked out perfectly because they both knew of each other from the restaurant we all worked at.

And that picture above was apparently “too awkward” (thank you Morgan) so we had to take another.

And then strike a pose (we got to the game a little early, can you tell?)

And I didn’t like any of them so Morgan had to get it at a different angle.

And then after still not liking any, I gave up. Here’s a quick snap of the boys! All photos by MorgMiddPhotog because i’m sure you’ll be asking 😉

And this is our motley crew!!!! Nice selfie taking skills Morg, you do a sister proud!

We were serenaded by an elementary school choir singing God Bless America (so cute!) before the game.

     

And then we moved seats because ours sucked. And we watched the game from there.

The Emily’s had a little one crushing on them and making faces at them. He obviously did not want to be there but he was seriously giving us a good laugh! At one point I winked at him to see what he would do and he just stared at me and turned around. Too bad I creep little kids out 😉

Hey girl, you single?

This game was suuuuuuuuuuuuper boring and I would have been disappointed had we paid for these tickets. There was too much going on, it was loud, kids were playing games on the sidelines, people were talking on the mic during the game, someone smelled like illegal substance. It was just all around bad. Nobody said they wanted to leave because they wanted to stay there for me, which is super sweet!!! Finally I was the one that said we should go because everyone was pretty much hating themselves at this point! Haha. So we left at half.

We went to Chili’s because Jowers was starving, the other girls wanted a milkshake, and I didn’t want to go home. We attempted another picture, but I again didn’t like it. Ugh!

There were fries involved…’nuff said. Plenty of grease. Plenty of smiles around the table.

We drove through steak ‘n shake so everyone could get a shake because chili’s doesn’t make them anymore. And then we all went to our separate places and fell asleep.

Saturday morning I slept until 11:00, so yes I wasted the entire morning. But no worries I ran some errands for my momma, including a run by the grocery store for her.

Then we took some furniture to dad’s office. So here I am in the back with lamps, pictures, and a table.

I swear my mom has been there every day for the last I don’t know how long trying to get his office set up for him, everything in it’s place, pictures hung, etc. It sounds hard being a wife 😉

When we got home it was late in the afternoon so I made some food and caught up on Parenthood.

And after that I decided to go to the Saturday night service at my Church because I knew I wasn’t going to get up early to go Sunday if I was heading out to brunch at 10:30.

The message was good and challenged me a little for this upcoming year, so i’m glad I made it. I came home and sat by the fire and blogged a little for part of the night.

UPDATE: Check out part 2 here