Reality TV infiltrates our lives

Have you ever noticed how TV shows infiltrate your daily life? 

For example: Meredith, Lindsay, and I went to the storage unit last Saturday after we packed up some of our stuff for the summer. Because of the hallway we went down, we were unable to turn on the hallway light. Luckily, Mere had a flashlight app on her iPhone. She held her phone by the lock as I tried to unlock it. In the middle of this situation, I started laughing and said, "I feel like we are the terrorists on '24' right now and are trying to break into this unit before Jack Bauer shows up." 

Another example, I was texting my dad today about some of the stress I'm feeling at the end of the semester. His response: "Sounds like celebrity apprentice." "Yea, my Donald Trump knows about Dennis Rodman's performance." "And does Dennis know you are Ivanka?" And this convo totally made sense to us!! We knew what the other was saying without having to actually say what was going on!! LOL 

Well my to-do list, like the show, must go on. Have a terrific Tuesday! 

-Ivanka (aka E)

Fabulous Formal

Tonight was a fabulous night. We had our sorority formal and what a fun time it was! Had a blast with friends: eating and dancing. And we celebrated the seniors, I'm going to miss them all so much!

Then of course,  the bestie and I had our Photo Booth photo shoot after our formal. 

Oh so much fun. Happy Sunday!

-E

Oldies but goodies...

So, last night old nickelodeon and disney channel shows came up in conversation, and we reminisced about our favorites...

TGIF was such a great night! Some of my favorites from that time were:

Boy Meets World

Sister, Sister

Smart Guy

Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Some of my favorite Classic Nickelodeon shows were:

Doug

Clarissa Explains It All

CatDog (I forgot that I liked this show until I saw a pic and remembered that I DID like it! LOL)

Rugrats

Hey Arnold! (Move it football head! LOL)

The Wild Thornberry's

However, my all time favorite show growing up was... prepare yourself... Arthur! I even watched it once I was "too old" for the show. I owe Arthur all the credit for the fact that I know how to spell Aardvark! He sang a little song, A-A-R-D-VARK :)

What sticks out in your mind or symbolizes your childhood?

Have a great weekend!

-E

I love winning :)

I never win anything!!!!!! However, I've won two blog giveaways in the last month. SO exciting! Lesley over at Homemade Grits created this adorable owl pincushion and offered it as a giveaway on her blog. And I won it by submitting my momma's craisin and white chocolate scone recipe. YUM-O! My sweet little owl came in the mail on Wednesday :)

Thank you Lesley!!

My other lucky giveaway win is courtesy of Christina over at Down and Out Chic! The gift this time? A beautiful IKAT pillow! I love it! And can't wait for it to make its home in our living room! Yay!! :) 

Thanks Christina!

Tomorrow is Friday!! HOORAY!!

-E

Let the countdown begin...

Well after a fabulous birthday spent with friends, it's time to buckle down and finish the semester strong. 

Only 10 more days of classes and 4 finals :) 

I think I can, I think I can... 

Happy Monday!! -E

LEGAL baby!!

I feel a wee-bit narcissistic posting about my own birthday, but I HAD to share my martini cookies with everyone that my fabulous parents sent me for my birthday :) Looks like my Cookies By Design post dropped a big enough hint :)

The "message" cookie read: "Cheers! Happy 21st!" I decided to take a picture with it using photobooth...

It wasn't until AFTER that I realized the writing was backwards... so of course I had to take a "reaction" pic to that realization...

Taking a sip of my martini at 11:00pm CST (when I turned 21, since I was born in EST)

Just being silly...

I hope you're all having a happy Sunday!

-E

I'm Baaaack!

We're back from tour and what a BLAST! I don't think I've ever laughed so hard or so much. Also, I do not think I have ever learned so much in such a short period of time: I helped focus lights from 50 feet above the stage (in the cove), I learned how to work a manual sound board, and I helped in the fastest Load-In/Setup/Strike/Load-Out ever!!! :) Of course, because we worked 18-hour days four days in a row, we didn't take too many pictures, but here are a couple:

  

Katy (who I affectionately nicknamed "Lemur Katy") climbed up the booms in the balcony to focus the lights. I wish I could explain to you how CRAZY that is... No harness or anything! We also had these awesome temporary headsets that made us feel like we were in the Secret Service, and of course we took pictures that reflected this sentiment.

We took a pic of our whole crew (Amanda, Amanda, Me, Steve, Michelle, Jenn, Brianna, and Katy) after our wayyyyyy late meal after strike at Denny's. We were all SO proud of our badges and had to show them off :)

Okay... so this one needs a teeny tiny bit of explanation: On the drive up to branson we started to get slap happy and the statement was made (probably by me, I can't remember) "I wonder how many twizzlers you can stuff in your mouth" Well, on the drive back we decided to have a competition of how many bluebird peeps we could stuff in our mouth. Amanda and I decided we'd take on this task. This pic is the very start of the competition. Let's put it this way, there was a lot of laughing and stuffing. Because of my laugher I only achieved 3 bluebirds... Amanda got FIVE!! However, this was one competition I was more than willing to lose. CONGRATS Amanda!!

So now I'm back at school and it's time to face reality (aka schoolwork, YUCK) Happy Friday! -E

I'm Ready for Tour!

What a day, what a day... 

To start, "Happy Easter!!" Today's a day to put on your spring dress, a cardigan, and your white sandals (well, the little girls wear white sandals) as you head to church. Unless of course, you're in Oklahoma City today. 

It's chilly and rainy...NOT appropriate Easter Sunday weather! And what am I doing on my Easter Sunday? I had to take Momma to the airport at 6am (sad), and as I pulled into the parking garage after dropping her off, all of the electricity went out in my car. Ummm.... ok? The car will not start, the dashboard lights will not turn on, and the doors will not lock/unlock. ARG!!! So what do I do? Call Daddy for help! After a brief meltdown on the phone (I have no time to take it to the dealership; I leave for Tour tomorrow morning at 8am!!), he reassured me that the worst thing that could happen is the car will sit in the parking deck until I return on Friday (no biggie!). I climbed back into bed at 7:15 and woke up at 11. It was a nice slumber, sleeping while it's raining is the BEST! 

So, now I'm sitting here watching the Food Network and waiting for the gym to open at 1pm. I think I need to work off some of this stress (which I'm trying NOT to think about). After the gym, it'll be time to pack for Branson! Can't wait! Thank goodness I already have all the stuff I need; No car would make shopping difficult :( 

Here are the Essentials:

  

I've got my flashlight and crescent wrench for the Load-In of all of the production equipment.

My new large LLBean tote bag to pack my stuff :)

And of course, snacks for the ride: Pretzels and DDP are a MUST!!

Happy Easter! I'll check back in with you all on Friday!!

-E

Olden TYmes...

Did you participate in the TY Beanie Baby craze? Oh I did... It was B-A-D, bad. But I had fabulous parents that indulged my desire to collect these plush pals. My very first beanie baby was Daisy the cow. Unfortunately, I ripped the tag off her ear before I knew you were supposed to keep them on the beanie baby. We frequented the Hallmark stores and auctions to find all of the newest, and retired, beanie babies. I was a lucky kid. 

But why bring this up SOOO many years later? Well, funny store. I was sitting in my World Civilizations class on Tuesday and a friend was talking about an animal found in the northeast. I misunderstood the name of the animal... Me: "Jeff, what is that?" Jeff: "Gosh, how do you describe a puffin?" Me: "Oh wait! A puffin?! I know what that is, there was a beanie baby of a puffin." The uproarious laughter that broke out cannot be described. My laughter was fueled by the fact that I just attributed my knowledge to that of a beanie baby, and Jeff's laughter... well who knows... he was probably just laughing at me, as usual...

In case you didn't know... this is a puffin...

 But anyway, this situation caused me to reminisce about my Beanie Baby days... As I sat down to post this blog I had to ask the roomie what her favorite Beanie Baby was... drum roll please... it was the hippo :)

This little guy was a gift from her sister Caroline. He went everywhere with Linds until one day he met his fate, in the form of a puddle...

And in honor of the upcoming Easter holiday, I must include one of my favorites, which happens to be incredibly appropriate. 

Momma will be here in less than 12 hours!! Yay!! She told me that she has the Easter eggs packed in her bag!! Easter Egg hunts get so much better as you get older :) Candy has been replaced by CASH!! :) 

Have a great rest of the week!

-E

Sweet little ones...

This is not the first time that I have posted pictures of sweet little ones in my life. Little Imogen (not so little anymore!!) has been in presentations that I have done for classes, and today she makes her debut on Olive My Live (with her mommy Kristin). The Newton family loves the Santo family. Momma and Kristin are friends and taught together at CCS, and I consider Kristin to be a friend as well. She is the one we go to for opinions on movies (she has seen them all), and she is the reason we are hooked on "24." What a great friend to let us borrow her box-sets of the seasons a few years ago :)

I have said it so many times: "I can't believe how fast they are growing! I still think of them as babies." And then it hits me... I sound like EVERY adult that ever said that to/about me! Am I at that point in my life?! An adult?! Oh no!! Time to face it... I turn 21 in 12 days! Eek!! 

Happy Monday! I'm so excited for EASTER this weekend :) Will the Easter bunny be visiting you?

-E

I've been BORING!!!

I feel like this post MUST be written... I have been in a lack of creativity rut... no bueno... I have been so overwhelmed with school and all of the creativity has been sucked out of me... my blog has been, well, boring... I apologize...

Tonight at work I had the sudden urge to be crafty. Instead, when I got home from work, I finished my World Civilizations paper (sidenote: Roomie, thank you for letter me use your computer while you are in N.C. My data transfer was not complete for my MacBook Pro yet :( Boo...) After I finished, I decided to do some online window shopping. I ended up on the SHARPIE website and I found something incredible! Did you know you can personalize your sharpies?! OMG so cute!!

I feel that I have done nothing but work at J.Crew and work on homework for the past week. Although, I did give myself the night off on Thursday and watched "Slumdog Millionaire." It was so good, but I think "Australia" is still my favorite movie that I have seen recently. I can't wait for "Doubt" to come out; I think it is released on Tuesday. 

I've made the following decision: Sunday is going to be my day. I'm going to relax in the morning, cook breakfast, and watch the "Giada at Home" morning marathon. I am them going to go to my heavenly spot, Target, to do some grocery and "school supply" shopping. Well, "school supply" may be an exaggeration. I need (well... want) to pick up some stuff to make my Sound Crew notebook for tour. I love getting organized, and I'm excited to work on it :) 

Are you in a lack-of-creativity rut? Snap out of it and find something to do today that makes you smile and gets those creative juices flowing again! Make today YOUR day :)

-E

Quick update...

Whoo hoo!! Victory!! Found and booked a hotel for our last night in Italy... such a relief to have all of the hotels taken care of! :)

It's going to be a crazy weekend: tour meeting tonight, getting a new MacBookPro in the morning :) Yay for birthday present from the parents!! I'm working from 12-8 tomorrow (money, money, money!!), working to get my World Civ paper done, and working to get the homework done that I'll miss because of tour. Luckily, it's only like 2 assignments... whew... But good news, after Thursday morning I'm home free!!

The roomie is gone this weekend :( She is in N.C. and I'm so jealous!!! Miss ya Linds! It's weird having the place to myself. And it's going to be that way for the next two weekends as well. She's a traveler, that one. LOL.

Have a FAB weekend!

-E

Calling all Italy Travelers...

Momma and I leave for Italy in EXACTLY two months!! Hooray!! However, I still feel anxious about all of the planning. This is my first time planning a "big girl" trip. Momma had no idea about the trip until a couple of months ago (her 50th birthday present), and Daddy gave his approval to my destination, hotel, and cooking class choices... and of course, his credit card number :)

Now, I'm looking to any of you that have been to Italy for advice... Well, first of all, we still need to book a hotel for our last night there before we fly out of Rome. Any suggestions for hotels close to the airport with a shuttle preferably?

Ok, for the FUN STUFF: We are going to Rome, Florence, Venice... and then to Milan and Pisa for day trips. Where should we go? What should we do? Where should we eat? And of course, where should we shop?! If you have friends that have visited Italy, encourage them to pop on over to my blog and comment on this post. I really appreciate all of the help!! :)

-E