happy birthday mother!

Last night my parents came down to Tuscaloosa to celebrate my Mother's 50th Birthday! Wow, she doesn't seem that old. We went to Chucks and it was delicious as always. They changed up my "usual" dish on the menu- the parmesean crusted grouper is now served over penne pasta instead of with a serving grilled veggies on the side. Hey, who's complaining? I was one happy customer high on carbs last night!

Then we came back to my apartment and my mother opened her presents!


She asked for this tool to aid in her crafting projects. No telling what I will come home to next :).


Me and Pops.

Tomorrow we are going to the Weed Patch (my grandparent's farm) to have a celebration with my mom's side of the fam..all 6 of us!

4 out of the 6. Fingers crossed I marry into a big family, and by big I mean anything over 7 members total!

Happy birthday to my wonderful mother, and Happy Weekend folks!

welcome fall.

Today is the day! This first official day of the Fall season and I welcome it with open arms. I love most everything about Fall- the weather, the colors, football, the leaves changing, Thanksgiving, etc.

I just hung up the fall wreath I painted last year in our kitchen! I got the wreath at the hob lob, and it looks fairly unprofessionl because I sharpied "Happy Fall" in the center. Like most thng at the time I'm sure I had a bee in my bonnet to finish the project right then and if a sharpie was all I had, the sharpie was what I went with.


And, I found these gems at the Dollar Tree...hollllarrr. I thought they were so cute for only being a dollar each. I'm thinking of a creative way to display them, but I'm thinking given the right setting they could totally pass for Pottery Barn accessories, minus the extreme PB price tag!


Happy Fall Yall!

a whole lot of nothing.

Here are some random thoughts that I have just deemed blog worthy, which really means..I have nothing major going on in my life but I still want to post.

1. Lately I have been laughing at inappropriate times. I used to be able to suppress my laughter over someones clumsy tumble down the stairs, a stupid question asked in class, etc. but no longer. It's like my giggle box is turned on no matter what the circumstance. Ex: While studying in the library with a friend last week, we saw a guy drop all of his belongings...loudly. She said bless his heart and I was trying not to disrupt the quiet floor with my cackling.

2. I like chicken salad now. Like many things, I had never tried it before this year and now I am in love! My favorites so far are O'Carrs and Zoes. They always say you experiment with new things in college, and I am so glad I have. I was missing out on salsa, chicken fried rice, chicken salad, sushi, and chicken quesadillas. I'm the only freshman that gained the freshman 15 sans alcohol, and you can see why..I fell in love with all sorts of foods I had been missing out on for the past 20 years.

3. I turn 21 in a little over a month and I started writing out a birthday list today. So far I have a pair of Toms, a new sportswatch- my current one's light is broken, ipod speakers for my bathroom, a duster- the one I bought at the dollar tree is not up to par, the book Eat, Pray, Love, and a cute purse I saw on a blog today.



4. School sucks.

5. I spent this past weekend on the plains. I went to visit Rach, Jamie, and Jamie which is always fun! Friday night Rachel had a pool party in which she prepared a food spread that would put Paula Deen to shame. Rach- if you are reading this I am still craving that dip, and want the recipe! Saturday we went to the game and I felt like everyone could tell I wasn't a student there. It was a weird feeling, anyway it was an intense game and definitely fun to watch. Sunday morning I came home to visit some with my parents before making the trek back to Tuscaloosa.



6. Icebreakers. And no, I don't mean the mints. Last week I was at the first meeting of a club I joined on campus and of course the first thing we do is play icebreaker name games. "Everyone stand and say your name and an interesting fact about yourself". What the heck? I get nervous enough saying my name, major, and where I'm from and now I have to get interesting with these strangers? No thanks! Regardless, it was fun and I am glad I have finally gotten involved in an organization that does something!

7. It's September but the high today was what, 97 degrees? I spotted 4 Patagonia pullovers today. Count 'em..FOUR. Come on, is that necessary? If I had on one more article of clothing I'm convinced I would have just turned into a puddle on the quad.

8. I have to go get coffee now.

Have a good week, bloggers!

traveling is like falling in love, the world is made new. -jan myrdal

I skipped an in-depth post about Switzerland because I didn't know how to best articulate the trip and all that I learned from it. I hate it when people ask me how the trip went and I reply it was "awesome". No, it wasn't awesome. Awesome is too trite a word to pay the trip any sort of justice. The ten days I spent in that country was a once in a lifetime experience that openend my eyes to new places, new people, and new ideas.

Before leaving for the trip I had no idea of what to expect besides amazing views (which in reality were tenfold what I was expecting). I was nervous (as were much of my family and friends..ahemm...nay-sayers) because Jamie and I were traveling alone, staying in hostels, and being thrown into a country where the only phrase I could communicate was "guten Tag"..meaning Good day.

Switzerland far surpassed my expectations. Everything about it was beautiful. The alps, flowers, the larger cities and quaint towns, and people were all beautiful. By staying in hostels we had the opportunity to meet people from all over the world, including people from various un-visitied regions of the US. The best way I can summarize my feelings of this wonderful meshing of culture and people is through our night in Lucerne. Lucerne was the second city we visited, a fairly large city with the capacity to hold all of Switezerland's citizens plus thousands of tourists. Jamie and I speculated there was a major event going down in Lucerne when we visited the train station in searh of an ATM and were bombarded with a mass of people charging in our direction. A nice lady who directed us to a machine (only one of the EXTREMELY nice people we met) confirmed our assumptions and informed us of the firework show that night. JACKPOT. Firework show over the Swiss Alps? I think so! So after we finished up our seventh cheese pizza for dinner we ventured out amongst the crowd and watched the show. The firework show was beautiful and long (the Swiss really out did themselves) and featured a variety of music (and I mean VARIETY). The song that gave me goosebumps when it was played then and still does now was "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong.

So we stood, being two of maybe a handful of Americans in that massive crowd of thousands sharing in a firework show. The only commonality of our languages was the ooohs and ahhhs over the fireworks illuminating the sky. A perfect mix of different people from different places, listening to Mr. Armstrong sing about what a wonderful world we all share. I so often am consumed with my section of the world, confined to my "bubble", but hearing that song and singing along with people from literally all over opened my eyes to a world larger than the one I consume my self with daily. And if the Alps hadn't made me feel small enough, how was this for gaining some perspective on my life? Not saying I now view my self as insignificant, just maybe I view others not like myself as more signficant than before.

Now for what you really care about:

un titled.

HELLO BlOGSPHERE.

Well obviously (said in the best Antoine Dodson voice possible) the 30 Day Challenge was an epic fail. I know you held your breath that I would update this blog for thirty days..

here's the skinny on me..
-Junior year has started and I love it..everything but the classes. There are only two classes I enjoy. One being Human Development which I just decided is my minor, YAY! The other being Abnormal Psych, because of course I wanna diagnose all the crazies.

-First Football game was this weekend.


-I came home this weekend after the game and spent some quality time with the famjam. My mother and I went shopping for some "interview clothes" for my interview on Wednesday. I don't know what is worse, professional clothes or the interview process. I should have picked a different major, one where my profession requires scrubs as a uniform. These form fitting blouses and pants are a recipe for work misery. No worries though, my dad consoled me tonight at dinner with his comment, "Don't worry you only have to work for about 40 years then you can retire and wear what you want". GOODY.

-I have developed a new love for Coldplay. My 3 favorites are The Scientist, Yellow, and Sparks.

-The weather this weekend was beautiful. I LOVE FALL WEATHER, and this weekend was a tease for it. Who wants to go to a pumpkin patch?

This is all for now, I'll try to update again before Christmas!