Insightful Accessories...

I was perusing some blogs the other day and found this website with unique styles of necklaces. I have included some of my favorites here that I feel describe me a bit too well :)

"Susie Homemaker: It ain't over 'til the ironing is done." 

Ok, well this is more my Momma than me, but how presh is the little girl!!

"She had her cake and ate it too."

I love this one! I am that girl that starts eating dessert even before it's been baked :)

"Home is where the heart is..." 

Enough said.

"Mail Art" 

In my opinion, there is nothing more meaningful than the written word.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMA!!

Happy Birthday Momma!

Today’s blog is dedicated to the most beautiful, amazing, 50-years young woman in the world! My Momma is the best a girl could hope for! She amazes me with her determination and strength. I am constantly learning new things by watching her example: she puts others first, has the ability to laugh at herself, and empathizes with others. Momma is there to make me laugh when nothing seems funny and sits with me when I cry.

I would never assert that a few pictures could “sum her up,” but these are a view of the things that come to mind when I think of my momma.

   

She loves to travel... and LOVES Dale and Thomas Carmel-Chocolate Drizzle Popcorn... 

    

She's passionate about World Vision... and the BEST math tutor :)

    

She's a food connoisseur: Key Lime EXPERT, Froooozen Hot Chocolate Lover, and Honey Nut Chex Fan- our new favorite snack

   

Loves Glenn Close (even though she is SCARY!)... Thinks Ina and Jeffrey are just precious... and Miss Brenda Lee Johnson...

"Lipstick Jungle" is our show... Although this isn't the exact pic... this is Momma's favorite episode because of the cupcake Joe sends Victory!!!

  

We will be here SO soon! A trip to Italy is Momma's 50th birthday present from Daddy and Me. Gelato... Yum-o!

  

She is the Ironing QUEEN!!

My momma... My best-friend... My everything…

One Hour and Forty-Two Minutes

Depending on who you ask, "TIME" can mean a smorgasbord of things... Time is memories; time is valuable; time is fleeting; time drags on; time is money... Well tonight, I lost money, but I gained time...

My 8 p.m.-2 a.m. shift at J.Crew became my 8 p.m.-12:18 a.m. shift at J.Crew. I was released from work 1 hour and 42 minutes early! That's $12.75 I lost, but tonight, I'd rather have the time. It's amazing how your outlook can change when someone gives you the gift of time. 

For instance, I was pondering "How in the world will I be prepared for my Principles of Management and Organization midterm tomorrow?! I get off work at 2 a.m. and need to be up by 8 a.m. to get to class... When will I study?!" With my gift of time, I am home 1 hour and 42 minutes earlier than expected... I now have time to study. 

So you may ask, "If you are so excited about studying, why are you wasting your precious hour and forty-two minutes updating your blog?" My answer is this, "My extra time tonight was a gift that I wanted to share with you." However... I am a conscientious student (whose parents read this blog, LOL). So, it's time to sign off and study for that midterm and hopefully get a few extra winks of sleep. 

How will you spend your gifts of time?

-E 

Brilliant Ideas...

Well I was doing the usual afternoon blog-surfing, and I stumbled upon Elements of Style. Can I please be a "grown up" now so that I can have an office like this one?! How presh!!

Also, this is such a great way to display books. I have become quite the collector of "beautiful books," and I am always looking for a great way to display them!

Well it's been a long week already, and it's only TUESDAY!! Hopefully the rest of the week will speed on by :)

-E

Is it spring break yet?!

The winter woes... Am I the only one with this particular affliction at the moment? The weather has been playing tricks on Oklahomans lately. There is nothing better than waking up on a Saturday morning with the sun shining and the warmth of its rays on your skin. What is tragic, however, is the startling reality of a windy Monday morning. The sun took a day off. 

It's days like today that cause me to ache for home. In the brilliant words of Mr. James Taylor, "In my mind I'm gone to Carolina..." Today, I am pretending that I have stepped outside to be greeted by a perfect North Carolina day. I see the squirrels chasing each other up the trees, hear the cardinals singing their tune, and peer towards the clear, Carolina blue sky. Ahh... how nice... I'm almost relaxed...

Back to reality, yuck... But all hope is not lost... the 10-day forecast on weather.com promises warmer days ahead... but if its promise is not kept, just remember... SPRING BREAK IS 19 DAYS AWAY!

Weekend Wrap-Up

This weekend... whew... enough said... but don't worry, I'll say more :)

I drove down to the Skirvin for our banquet menu tasting Friday afternoon, and it was AMAZING! I could not believe the beauty of the plates before me; I was amazed by what I saw and tasted (yum-o!). The salad was simply divine (and I am not that big of a dinner salad person), and the chicken was superb! We did not try the vegetarian option, but look at how beautiful the presentation is! Dessert will be a connoli coupled with chocolate covered fruit and the evening will start off with a colorful, fruity "mocktail." WOW! It's going to be a great night! 

Craft night received its own post below, but it was such a great night! I don't know what I would do without my weekly dose of those girls. We have such a blast together and the six-and-a-half hours we spent together FLEW by! Now we just have to figure out what we will do next weekend :)

I babysat on Saturday night. The kids were precious! Abby made me a "hamburger" and Levi smiled and laughed all night :) What great kids. Funny story though, Abby and I were drawing and she asked me my favorite colors. I told her that I really liked pink and brown. She then reached into her bag of markers and held up the brown one. With a look of utter confusion she said, "You like THIS color?!" Nothing makes you feel old like the way a 4-year-old looks at you when you say that brown is one of your favorite colors. To make her feel better I said, "Well I LOVE pink and purple." It was like I said the magic words, her face lit up and she went back to coloring her picture. What a great night! 

-E

In Plain Sight Returns to USA!

What a great birthday surprise!! 

USA's hit show "In Plain Sight" returns on my 21st birthday!!! 

Tune in Sunday, April 19th at 10/9c for Mary and Marshall's return!!

Craft Night Success!!!

Tonight was a great time of crafts and laughs with friends!! Here are a few pics... We dabbled with modge podge, bag decoration, and t-shirt design :) Love these girls! What a FAB Friday night!!

 

All of the finished products!!

Olive Merchandise!!!

I was surfing the internet for some pictures for our "girl's night" craft party tomorrow, and I found a few cute "olive" pics! We know I'm obsessed with olives (as long as I don't have to eat them, LOL), but I had no idea there was so much out there!! Here are just a few of the adorable things I found :)

-E

 

Who would have thought??

Check out this cupcake recipe from Ultimate Recipe Showdown on the Food Network. This is the winning recipe that now has a spot on the T.G.I. Fridays menu. Lisa Roman uses jars of baby food!! Upon hearing this for the first time my immediate thought was "YUCK!" But, lucky for me, the judges explained that baby food is simply pureed vegetables/fruits/etc. It takes all the work out of pureeing your own ingredients!! How great?! I'm still a little leery of trying this myself, but it's received RAVE reviews :) Happy Thursday! 

-E

P.S. Burn Notice is on tonight on USA! I love me some Mikey!

What a Wonderful Wednesday...

Facebook is no longer for college students. This is nothing new, but I have to say that one of the best things about this fact is that you are able to keep up with people that you might lose touch with otherwise.

For instance, my favorite babysitter, Casey... A lot has changed since those babysitting days of cooking crescent chicken squares and watching "Emma"; I'm in college and she has two beautiful girls!!!!!! (pictured below). We became "friends" on Facebook today, and I was able to view updated pictures of her beautiful family.

Isn't it amazing how much our lives change?! Some people have an aversion to change,  I used to be one of them. But now, I have learned to appreciate change for the surprises and joys that come with it. Well that's all for today. 

I hope your Wednesday has been a wonderful one!

-E

What's Your Style?

Do you look at pictures in magazines and think, "I love this room!" or "I HATE that couch!" Do you ever wonder what your personal decorating style is? Kelsey posted this on her blog today and I thought I'd give it a try... It's a quiz to discover your personal design style... SO FUN!!! Here are the results of mine...

41% French Eclectic 

41% Hollywood Couture

18% Wine Country Style

I think the quiz got it right... Seems like ME :) What's your style?! 

Give the quiz a try!

-E

Taking a Look at the Week Ahead...

As someone with such a scheduled routine, I am always amazed when things calm down or turn into complete chaos. This week is looking like it could be quite chaotic, but in a FABULOUS way :)

I only work one night this week so I won't be rushing back to my room after class to quickly cook dinner and speed off to the mall... what a relief :) 

Instead, my week includes: the occasional homework assignment or project, taking the Gamma Phi Beta CLC out for cupcakes, slipping downtown to the Skirvin Hilton to do a tasting of the menu for our dance and arts management banquet, followed by a fabulous evening of arts and crafts with the girls. This weekend's "to do" list includes: breakfast with my fabulous friend Julie, possibly work on Saturday, and then get my tires rotated. WHOO HOO!! Party!!

-E

My Latest Discover... Four Letters... IKEA

OMG... Well, I have heard people talk about Ikea COUNTLESS times, but after browsing the website today I can definitely see why! Momma brought me the "Style" section (my favorite) from the Charlotte Observer this weekend and on the cover was an article about an Ikea location opening up in Charlotte. I had just been thinking I wanted to visit one of their locations!! 

Let's face it, I'm going to have to furnish a "big girl apartment" pretty soon (well a year and a half is kinda soon) upon graduation. So, I've been browsing and no longer do I think I'll have to sleep on an air matress and keep my clothes packed in suitcases. The furniture is surprisingly affordable and looks like great "first furniture." Let's face it, I'm not going to be able to start out with pottery barn :)

-E

Love this chair!

Last full day with momma... tear

Well, today was the last full day with Momma... and what did we do? What we do best!! We shopped, we lunched, and we saw a double-feature. We had lunch at Saturn Grill (yummy) then headed off to Bricktown to see "Confessions of a Shopaholic" and "He's Just Not That Into You." 

Isla Fisher was ADORABLE and HILARIOUS in Shopaholic, and I just have to say that Ben Affleck's character in "He's Just Not That Into You" stole our hearts :) Definitely not one of his larger roles, but what a guy... 

We then grabbed dinner (and cookies) at City Bites... whoa! I know! Crazy romantic Valentines dinner :) and we watched the latest episode of Top Chef... Warning: Spoiler Alert if you haven't watched this week's episode... Thank goodness Leah was finally eliminated! Can't wait for next week's finale!!

We are now about to watch Burn Notice and then it'll be time for bed. So sad Momma leaves tomorrow :( Back to reality, school work awaits...

-E

My First Art Gallery Opening

Tonight was so great! Momma and I drove downtown to Istvan Gallery for the opening. It was AMAZING. The talent was overwhelming. 

Without a doubt, the best part was watching the artists blow glass. Who knew that so much was involved?!?! The guys were great! Andy took the time to explain every step to us as they worked on the piece that would become a platter. We sat there, utterly absorbed, for well over an hour. No photo or words can even come close to adequately describing the elements of glass blowing, but I've posted some amazing pictures anyway. It's incredible to think that a small bubble of glass can become an amazing platter (22 inches in diameter!!). 

Momma and I are even more excited about our trip to Italy now! We have experienced glass blowing first-hand and have some education about the process. We can't wait to compare the Oklahoma glass blowers to the Italian artists :) ENJOY!

-E

Weekend with Momma!

Well, Momma is here this weekend and that means one thing... a BLISSFUL time is guaranteed :)

Today we had lunch at Quiznos (exciting I know) then headed off to CUPPIES AND JOE (yum-o!). Momma had the "Vanilla Sky" and I had "The Don." Sadly, Momma does not share my passion, love, and obsession for cupcakes. Oh well! We then went to one of our heavenly places... the Mall... Plenty of shopping, and maybe a laugh too many, ensued :) After the shopping was complete, for today at least, we headed off to The Wedge to grab a salad and some pizza to-go and watched "Nights in Rodanthe." How perfect to watch a movie about N.C. when in O.K. 

Sadly, Momma is worn out and has fallen asleep... I am still awake... wishing I could watch last night's episode of "Damages" but "Grey's Anatomy" is taping... ugh, the life of a college student... no DVR.

-E

Summer Employment

I got an internship for the summer!!!! 

I will be moving to Los Angeles at the end of the spring semester!!

The internship is with HOBY (a non-profit youth leadership organization). Some of you may remember that I attended their N.C. conference and World Leadership Conference back in 2004. Without a doubt, one of the best summers of my life!

I will be working with the director of development. YAY! :) It's an amazing opportunity to gain so much hands-on experience. I will have the opportunity to work one-on-one with her and be a part of the daily activities of her job. I can't even wait to get started!!!

-E