Fashion assistance needed

I'm a becoming increasingly intrigued by the "bootie." (NOT the "booty"). I was never a fan of these "wannabe boots" that people wore under their pants (still NOT a fan of them with pants) and I only thought old ladies wore them with skirts/dresses because they didn't know any better.

Now, all of a sudden, trendy models are wearing them and they're lining the front rows at DSW. The big questions now...can I pull it off without looking like A. a dork or B. an old lady.
I get the concept of the miniature cowboy boots...those are kind of cute, and I could pull that off (except I'm a Texan and don't even own REAL cowboy boots, so I shouldn't be going straight for the minis). I really like this bootie--

WHAT in the world do you wear this with? I need help! I think wearing it with pants would defeat the purpose of it being such a great shoe, but would it look stupid with a skirt? How do those J. Crew models do it? If I dressed like a J. Crew model, I would get starred at and laughed at all day. Where do these girls live that they can dress like that?! Have you seen the silver sequence pants?! HAHA, who wears that? Come on! (Sorry...love J. Crew...they just put the most RANDOM stuff on their models...)

Back to the bootie. I tried on this one...So comfy and pretty cute. But I'm serious about needing help! Can any REAL person really wear these in a REAL work setting where people wear normal clothes? Just wondering if this is a bandwagon worth jumping on this season.

The Weepies have a new challenger

I have a new favorite song. When I make it big and can afford A Bryan Photo to make a super cute video of my wedding...this will be the soundtrack. Can you believe this line: "I swear when I grow up, I won't just buy you a rose, I will by the flower shop, and you will never be lonely." That makes me want to smile and cry at the same time! (I'm SUCH a girl!) That's a song worth putting on repeat...and leaving it there for an hour. This is the best quality version I found on YouTube.

The Gambler by Fun
Slow down,
we've got time left to be lazy
All the kids have bloomed from babies into flowers in our eyes.
We've got 50 good years left to spend out in the garden
I don't care to beg your pardon,
We should live until we die.

We were barely 18 when we'd crossed collective hearts.
It was cold, but it got warm when you'd barely crossed my eye.
and then you turned, put out your hand,
and you asked me to dance.
I knew nothing of romance, but it was love at second sight.

I swear when I grow up, I won't just buy you a rose.
I will buy the flower shop, and you will never be lonely.
Even if the sun stops waking up over the fields
I will not leave, I will not leave 'till it's our time.
So just take my hand, you know that I will never leave your side.

It was the winter of '86, and all the fields had frozen over.
So we moved to Arizona to save our only son
and now he's turning to a man, although he thinks just like his mother,
he believes we're all just lovers he sees hope in everyone.

And even though she moved away,
we always get calls from our daughter.
She has eyes just like her father's
they are blue when skies are grey
And just like him, she never stops,
Never takes the day for granted,
works for everything that's handed to her,
Never once complains.

You think that I nearly lost you
When the doctors tried to take you away.
But like the night you took my hand beside the fire
30 years ago to this day
You swore you'd be here 'til we decide that it's our time
Well it's not time, you've never quit in all your life.
So just take my hand, you know that I'll never leave your side.
You're the love of my life, you know that I'll never leave your side.

You come home from work and you kiss me on the eye
You curse the dogs and say that I should never feed them what is ours
and the kids are coming home
I'll set the table
You can make the fire.


LOVE! One of my favorite parts is the French Horns at the end!! :)

Hints of Fall

I have the urge to cook. No....bake. I bought my sister a cookbook for her birthday last year...forgot what it was called, but its like down-home-Southern-baking. There is this blueberry pie in there called "Make You Wanna Slap Yo' Mama Blueberry Pie." It's a mouthful, but boy, would I enjoy a mouthful of that right now!

I've only made this pie myself once, and it was SO good! I want to make it, but I don't want to eat it (at least not all by myself, because I'm sure I would!) Maybe I could pick my favorite co-worker of the week and bake them whatever I'm craving to bake!

I'm also dying to make guacamole! Never done it. And baked brie would be fun!

My Aunt from Rockwall plays the French Horn (like me!) :) So tonight I'm going to go to my first orchestra rehearsal at First Baptist Rockwall! SO EXCIED to play again...but I feel bad for whoever will hear me! It'll be okay though...I think my Aunt went like 20 years without playing...its just been since April for me!

I'll take orders for Blueberry pies and ship them anywhere nationwide. No- better idea...come visit me and you'll get a FREE blueberry pie! And guacamole (but I won't make you eat them together).

I would not suggest you read/watch/listen to anything unless I thought it was well worth your time and had the potential to encourage you, challenge you, impact you....whatever. And I would have to say this sermon is well worth your time. Listen to it one day while you're getting ready or download it to your iPod and listen to it in the car. If I could summarize it for you, I would but I can't. 

I'm currently listening to it again (the 2nd time today) because there's good stuff in it. 

Warriors and Their Arrows: Caring Both for Children in Our Families and Those with Childlike Faith

Todd Wagner | 08-22-2010 | Psalms 127

Message 1 of 16

Psalm 127 likens children to arrows in a warrior's quiver. Handled correctly, they can be a source of life and joy and bring glory to God. How are we doing as parents - and more importantly as God's kingdom of priests - at investing in this resource? Are we shepherding our children, both those in our homes and those in our community, in a way that will be a blessing to this generation and those to come?

One of my favorite quotes from this sermon: "Abraham Lincoln said, 'The philosophy of school children in one generation will be the philosophy of your government in the next generation.'"

I like this article Dr. Wagner refers to:
  
The following article was in the editorial section of the Dallas Morning 
News on Sunday, May 2, 1999.

Generation NEXT has some Questions

I am a member of the upcoming generation--the one after Generation X that 
has yet to be given a name.   So far, it appears that most people are 
rallying behind the idea of calling us Generation Next.   I believe I know 
why.

The older generations are hoping we will mindlessly assume our place as the
"next" in line.   That way, they won't have to explain why my generation has
had to experience so much pain and heartache.   "What heartache?" you say.
"Don't you know you have grown up in a time of great prosperity?"   Yeah, we
know that. Believe me, it has been drilled into our heads since birth.
Unfortunately, the pain and hurt I speak of can't be reconciled with money.
You have tried for years to buy us happiness, but it is only temporary.
Money isn't the answer, and it is time for people to begin admitting their
guilt for failing my generation.

I will admit that I wasn't planning to write this.   I was going to tuck it
away in some corner of my mind and fall victim to your whole "next"
mentality.   But after the Massacre in Littleton, CO, I realize that as a
member of this generation that kills without remorse, I had a duty to
challenge all of my elders to explain why they have allowed things to become
so bad.

Let me tell you this: These questions don't represent only me but a Whole
generation that is struggling to grow up and make sense of this world.   We
all have questions; we all want explanations.   People may label us
Generation Next, but we are more appropriately Generation "Why?"

* "Why did most of you lie when you made the vow of 'til death do us part'?"

* "Why do you fool yourselves into believing that divorce really is better
for the kids in the long run?"

* "Why do so many of you divorced parents spend more time with your new
boyfriend or girlfriend than with your own children?"

* "Why did you ever fall victim to the notion that kids are just as well off
being raised by a complete stranger at a day care center than by their own
mother or father?"

* "Why do you look down on parents who decide to quit work and stay home to
raise their children?"

* "Why does the television do the most talking at family meals?"

* "Why is work more important than your own family?"

* "Why is money regarded as more important than relationships?"

* "Why is 'quality time' generally no longer than a five-to-10-minute
conversation each day?"

* "Why do you try to make up for the lack of time you spend with us by
giving us more and more material objects that we really don't need?"

* "Why does your work (in the form of a cell Phone, laptop computer, etc.),
always come with us on vacations?"

* "Why have you neglected to teach us values and morals?"

* "Why haven't you lived moral lives that we could model our own after?"

* "Why isn't religion one of the most important words in our household?"

* "Why do you play God when it comes to abortion?"

* "Why don't you have enough faith in us to teach us abstinence rather than
safe sex?"

* "Why do you allow us to watch violent movies but expect us to maintain
some type of childlike innocence?"

* "Why do you allow us to spend unlimited amounts of time on the Internet,
but still are shocked about our knowledge of how to build bombs?"

* "Why are you so afraid to tell us 'no' sometimes?"

* "Why is it so hard for you to realize that school shootings, and other
violent juvenile behavior, result from a lack of your attention more than
anything else?"

Call us Generation Next if you want to, but I think you will be surprised at
how we will fail to fit into your neat little category.   These questions
should, and will, be asked of the generations that have failed us.

Written by Marcy Musgrave, a junior at Texas A&M University.

Take my word for it!!! The title makes it sound like it's for parents/families. There is definitely a message here for everyone- yes, even singles! I still see us recent grads as the "arrows" or the children who are now flying off on our own (see below article...it seems to be the theme of the day)




***Disclaimer**** This blog entry is not meant to say anything negative about my parents or those who had a hand in raising me. I love my parents, and I am grateful for the Godly example they have set for me. However, the rest of my generation was not as fortunate as I was. Also, the thought of having my own children scare the bee-geezees out of me, and this message is a good reminder of the great responsibility parents and elders in the community have to bringing up the next generations. 

My Generation

The New York Times published "What Is It About 20-Somethings?" last Wednesday...it's a bit more than just an article though. It is 10 pages well worth your valuable time, but I'll pull out my favorite paragraphs for you! :)

"DURING THE PERIOD he calls emerging adulthood, Arnett says that young men and women are more self-focused than at any other time of life, less certain about the future and yet also more optimistic, no matter what their economic background. This is where the “sense of possibilities” comes in, he says; they have not yet tempered their ideal istic visions of what awaits. “The dreary, dead-end jobs, the bitter divorces, the disappointing and disrespectful children . . . none of them imagine that this is what the future holds for them,” he wrote. Ask them if they agree with the statement “I am very sure that someday I will get to where I want to be in life,” and 96 percent of them will say yes. But despite elements that are exciting, even exhilarating, about being this age, there is a downside, too: dread, frustration, uncertainty, a sense of not quite understanding the rules of the game. More than positive or negative feelings, what Arnett heard most often was ambivalence — beginning with his finding that 60 percent of his subjects told him they felt like both grown-ups and not-quite-grown-ups." (page 4) AGREED!


 “It’s somewhat terrifying,” writes a 25-year-old named Jennifer, “to think about all the things I’m supposed to be doing in order to ‘get somewhere’ successful: ‘Follow your passions, live your dreams, take risks, network with the right people, find mentors, be financially responsible, volunteer, work, think about or go to grad school, fall in love and maintain personal well-being, mental health and nutrition.’ When is there time to just be and enjoy?” Adds a 24-year-old from Virginia: “There is pressure to make decisions that will form the foundation for the rest of your life in your 20s. It’s almost as if having a range of limited options would be easier.” (page 6)


"Does that mean it’s a good thing to let 20-somethings meander — or even to encourage them to meander — before they settle down? That’s the question that plagues so many of their parents. It’s easy to see the advantages to the delay. There is time enough for adulthood and its attendant obligations; maybe if kids take longer to choose their mates and their careers, they’ll make fewer mistakes and live happier lives. But it’s just as easy to see the drawbacks. As the settling-down sputters along for the “emerging adults,” things can get precarious for the rest of us. Parents are helping pay bills they never counted on paying, and social institutions are missing out on young people contributing to productivity and growth. Of course, the recession complicates things, and even if every 20-something were ready to skip the “emerging” moratorium and act like a grown-up, there wouldn’t necessarily be jobs for them all. So we’re caught in a weird moment, unsure whether to allow young people to keep exploring and questioning or to cut them off and tell them just to find something, anything, to put food on the table and get on with their lives." (page 10)


THIS IS MY FAVORITE PART (because I feel like so many of us 20-somethings are already doing this for ourselves...finding programs that give back to the community but provide us with living stipends or scholarships):
"The Network on Transitions to Adulthood has been issuing reports about young people since it was formed in 1999 and often ends up recommending more support for 20-somethings. But more of what, exactly? There aren’t institutions set up to serve people in this specific age range; social services from a developmental perspective tend to disappear after adolescence. But it’s possible to envision some that might address the restlessness and mobility that Arnett says are typical at this stage and that might make the experimentation of “emerging adulthood” available to more young people. How about expanding programs like City Year, in which 17- to 24-year-olds from diverse backgrounds spend a year mentoring inner-city children in exchange for a stipend, health insurance, child care, cellphone service and a $5,350 education award? Or a federal program in which a government-sponsored savings account is created for every newborn, to be cashed in at age 21 to support a year’s worth of travel, education or volunteer work — a version of the “baby bonds” program that Hillary Clinton mentioned during her 2008 primary campaign? Maybe we can encourage a kind of socially sanctioned “ rumspringa,” the temporary moratorium from social responsibilities some Amish offer their young people to allow them to experiment before settling down. It requires only a bit of ingenuity — as well as some societal forbearance and financial commitment — to think of ways to expand some of the programs that now work so well for the elite, like the Fulbright fellowship or the Peace Corps, to make the chance for temporary service and self-examination available to a wider range of young people.




Just thought I'd share. This gives GREAT insight into where my generation is right now... I'll probably always be a social science nerd. I suppressed the urge to forward the article to my college department chair. Hopefully she'll see it on my Facebook though! 

QUE DIA

I realize that "Que dia" is more of an end-of-the-day thing and it is currently 9:51 AM, but the past 24-hours have definitely been "que dia" worthy.

First....I went to the gym after work yesterday and I think I broke every rule of gym etiquette. Let me start off by saying that I got tendonitis in my right knee in April. I was told not to run for 2 weeks. Well...after 2 weeks it wasn't better. Two weeks turned into 6 weeks. After x-rays and an MRI they basically just told me to go easy on it. I guess that's better than having surgery. Anyway, all that to say I haven't been running since April because for a time there I would rather have sawed off my leg at the knee than walked anywhere! I tried running again once in July and it killed. Yesterday I felt like my knee had been doing better, so I was going to give the running thing another try.

At the gym, all the treadmills are lined up in 4 rows, probably 8-10 to a row. I like the back row. Sometimes when you run, your shorts ride up and I don't like knowing people are on the treadmill behind me....it's bad enough they have mirrors everywhere. So, on this back row, there were 2 treadmills open. I don't know if there is some known rule about having to skip every other treadmill like guys skip every other urinal. There was one open between 2 guys and one open on the end by a girl. I picked the one by the girl. I didn't want it to seem like "I'm going to get on the treadmill next to you and outrun you" but I really didn't want to run between the 2 guys (YES I know I over think everything in life.)

My first post-tendonitis-diagnosis run was nothing to brag about (except I DID outrun the skinny girl next to me). I'm just glad I ran without my knee giving out and I'm still able to walk today. haha. It's kind of sore, but it doesn't hurt nearly as bad as it did in April. I think I'll start easing back into the running deal.

Since I didn't run much, I decided to swim laps too. I didn't get the memo that everyone swims after work on Fridays. The right 2 lanes (that don't have a rope separating them) are for old people who walk back and forth pretending to exercise. Then there are 3 other lanes for swimmers. Two of these lanes had 2 guys in each of them and the last lane only had 1 man. I decided to join him. I was going to wait at the end of the lane and ask him if he minded first, so I sat on the edge of the pool, but when he got to me, he did a flip turn and never saw me! Knowing I was probably breaking a MAJOR gym etiquette rule, I joined his lane, but made sure to stay on the side of the lane he wasn't. I swam 1 lap, and he was back where I started just standing there.  I fully expected him to yell at me, maybe even cuss me out for rudely invading his lane. I said "Hey, do you mind if we share?" He said "No, that's fine, you just startled me, I saw you out of the corner of my eye!"

So...I had to share this lane with this man. I can't really tell if this pool is smaller than Samford's. It's probably the same size, but the ceiling is half as low so the whole room is smaller...making the pool look smaller. I'm pretty sure the lanes are thinner though. In my swimming classes at school, we'd have 3-4 people to a lane, and I didn't feel too bad when I accidentally kicked my 'lane-mates' because we were friends and everyone at Samford has to be nice (it's a requirement to even get accepted). The only style you can do without kicking a 'lane-mate' when you pass them is free-style. No breast-stroke, no back-stroke, and DEFINITELY no butterfly! It was miserable sharing a lane because I was more focused on NOT kicking him when I passed him than I was about swimming. Actually, I don't think about swimming when I swim. I like to just clear my head and swim back and forth...it's therapeutic. I don't think I swam more than 10 minutes....it was pretty bad. All the other swimmers were probably thinking "wuss" when I got out, but I don't enjoy swimming up against the wall, sorry.

One of my coworkers got promoted, so I went out to dinner with a group from work. It was a blast until one of the older guys tried to start setting me up with the young guys from work. Yeah...when one of them was right beside me. Can you say awkward? I just laughed it off.

I woke up this morning at 5 AM....It's Saturday. I just couldn't sleep! I stayed in bed till 6, but I volunteered at the United Cerebral Palsy Run, Walk, Roll this morning and Volunteers had to check in by 7. This is my big "que dia" moment! I was supposed to help with the fruit/granola bar table, but they already had 7 people at the table when they could've used 2. They pulled me to go stand along the trail and direct people where to go. There was a sign that showed the 5k runners went straight ahead and the 1k walkers/rollers turned right. The other woman I was with asked the police who were stopping traffic for the race where we were supposed to tell the 1k-ers to go. He said "oh, you see that dirt lot up there? They go up that hill to the trail"....ok.....This hill he was talking about was 1. Dirt and 2. really steep. I knew this was going to be a problem because the "rollers" the race are in electric wheelchairs. Do y'all see where this is going? No where good, that's where!

The race started, the 5k-ers were off. Then the 1k-ers came and they missed their turn...they started on the 5k trail, so they back tracked and headed my way. I was at the bottom of the hill and I was supposed to tell them the go up it. It was AWFUL! The people pushing the wheelchairs were looking at me like I was crazy and I just had to say, "Look, I don't know. I haven't seen a map of the course. The police said to go up the hill, but I wouldn't recommend it." They were having to pick up the wheelchairs just to get them over the curb! I don't know how they would make it up the hill! People were getting mad at me saying "This is the United Cerebral Palsy organization, don't they know they'll have wheelchairs. We can't go up that hill. Why don't they have a ramp? Why isn't it paved?" I can't tell you enough how awkward this was. I'm just a volunteer! They didn't tell me anything!

We finally realized where the sign said the 1k-ers were supposed to turn right, it was really more like a U-turn and there was a paved trail they could go down. We realized this in enough time to tell about half the 1k-ers, but the other half had already struggled up the hill. Poor guys. Some of the participants were like "well, yeah, this is how we did it last year. We went down the paved trail, not up the hill." The participants knew more about the course than the volunteers did....that's bad.

It was just a big miscommunication and the trail was NOT marked and the police didn't know what was going on. No one yelled at me, but I feel bad for the the UCP Development team that has to deal with all those calls they're going to get on Monday morning!

What a day! I think I'll take a nap and try to start it all over again. Redo button please!

Countdown

Back in January I downloaded one of those countdown calendars to keep on my Dashboard for Graduation....100 + days when it started out. Then graduation came and went and I needed something NEW to countdown to (Does it sound like I'm countdown-ing my life away yet?). I now know that it is exactly 16 days until my birthday (Not that I couldn't do the easy math.... 27-11= 16). 

My birthday wish-list consists of Anthropologie. Yes, the entire store. I realize we live in a less-than-ideal world, so I narrowed my wish-list down to mostly Sale items and select regular line clothes. I check the "Sale" section weekly (ok, more often than that) because I'm really pulling for a couple of my favs to switch over to the Sale. These are a few of my loves:

Adorable! There is a photographer in Dallas a friend of mine introduced me to. Okay, she didn't introduce me to her, she showed me her blog. We know where she edits her pictures (a very hip uptown coffee shop that I went to last week....lots of cuties hanging out....), so our master plan is to hang out at this coffee shop, become besties with the photographer, and get some AWESOME pictures for our weddings (in 15 years) at a fantastic price. Check out Lauren Larsen's photography. If you know her tell her my friends and I admire her work and we'd love to be her friend! :)

A friend also found a videographer we're using for our weddings (NOTE: We're not obsessed with getting married, just with weddings. It has NOTHING to do with wanting to get married...it's all about having an excuse to spend too much on a dress you'll wear once and blow 15 years worth of savings on a really great photographer so you can show the great-great-grandkids how fabulous you used to look!)
Anyway, back to the videographer.... Ironically, my Texas friend found this Birmingham videographer that went to MY tiny college (that means I automatically have an IN, right?!) I know a lot of the people in the videos, or I at least recognize them....Its kinda cool, but I feel funny creeping on their weddings. WARNING: You will spend HOURS on this site. A Bryan Photo is awesome! They shoot with 8mm film and make it look really old timey and then they set it to really fun music. This is my neighbor from Texas, but she went to Samford too. This is my favorite because I love the dress. Ok....last one. I absolutely love this one because I love the Birmingham coffee shop it opens in- Urban Standard. If you're ever in B'ham go to 2nd Avenue North and go visit my friends (who don't really know me, but would probably recognize me) at Urband Standard! You have to eat the Grilled Cheese and have a cupcake! AH....I miss it! I also love the little baseball scene in that video...adorable. And the song. Fantastic.

Ok, I already warned you that you'd spend hours on looking at all those photos and videos!

On a DIFFERENT topic....I have SUCH a hard time NOT falling asleep after work! I have a "Nap" button on my alarm clock, and I can set it for 10, 20, 30, 60, 90 or 120 minutes. Yes, it is the PERFECT alarm clock! I set it for an hour today but I ended up sleeping for like an hour and 45 minutes. Whoops. It was just a really long day. But now I won't be able to sleep until 1 and then I'll get 5 hours of sleep and be tired tomorrow after work and its just this never ending cycle. It's awful. I need to break it.

A couple of nights ago I was trying, unsuccessfully, to fall asleep, because, again, I had taken a nap earlier. At about 12:40ish I had started to drift off to sleep but I heard knocking. At my door? I don't know. The knocking became quite a bit louder....near banging. My heart skipped...it was at my door?! I reached for my phone to call....my parents? Who in the world am I supposed to call when some creeper is banging on my door at odd hours of the night?

Sorry to leave you hanging. After the banging, I heard some yelling. Well, I think it was friendly yelling like "Hey man...I'm over here". I'm guessing if they were knocking on my door, whoever they were looking for found them and told them to leave me alone. I'm not 100% sure it was my door. It was too loud to be the person next door. Maybe above or below me? Hm...nope, pretty sure it was my door. If you get a call from me at 2 AM, just coach me through my some form of self defense or call 911.

P.S.- I got a second shot at working the teleprompter today (for the CTO...Chief Technology Officer...yeah, I'm totally name-dropping right now). I didn't screw it up this time! Granted...the script was hardly bigger than the screen, so I didn't really have to to scroll any, but that's besides the point. My teleprompter skills are improving! :)