i made it out

hello friends!

i am finished with fall 2014 school semester. i had five exams - two "online", and a social psychology paper, along with countless presentations due (after thanksgiving break) that stood between me and christmas break. but i made it. i am currently sitting on my brother's couch in atlanta waiting for mother to come pick me up so we can head to florida for a few relaxing days at the beach.

i can't wait to watch abc families countdown to christmas, the rest of ellen's 12 days of give aways, and to sleep all the while cuddling with the muffin. i'll see y'all here next week - hope you guys have a relaxing weekend!

to end this post, a picture of how i felt these past few days...

a little busy

happy monday!

i'm just popping in today to let y'all know that these past couple weeks and these next two weeks have been and will be a little busy for me, but after exams next week i will be back to blogging more regularly.

i hope everyone had a great thanksgiving, i know that i have a lot to be thankful for!

hail no

this past weekend my parents were in town for a short visit, my friend came in for a surprise visit, my roommates and i finished decorating for christmas, and alabama defeated the number 1 team for my last game in bryant-denny as a student. wait what

the first of many lasts happened this past weekend and it hit me that i'm graduating (hopefully) in a year. so i decided that i'm just going to fail all my classes so i don't have to become a grown up and stay here forever. just kidding, i'm ready but not. i'll get there, i still have time.

so get ready for the picture overload...

to sum it up, we celebrated my mom's birthday, i froze my tail off, and i go to the best and classiest school in the nation.

roll tide

my first thought is "what's for dinner"

since every post needs a picture, enjoy this one of the beautiful campus i get the privilege of attending (thanks mom & dad!)

i came across this article the other day, 22 thoughts every girl has when walking to class.

i, personally, can relate to just about every thought that they wrote. my favorites being...

7. Okay, this class ends at 9:50 and it takes me 7 minutes to walk home, which would be 9:57, and my next class is at 11:30. But I have to leave for class at 11:19, which means I can nap for exactly 1 hour and 22 minutes.

17. Why do people walk so slow?

2. I'm hungry.

9. How do some girls look so cute at this hour?

21. I'm hungry.

i mean... honestly? it's like i wrote the article! just the other day i was walking to my 9:30, i got out of my 8am early and usually on those days i'll go wait in the longest line of the world to get a peppermint hotchocolate at the unofficially largest starbucks in the nation but i just wasn't feeling the wait that day. so i stopped in at the library snack bar, grabbed myself a nutrigrain bar and a gatorade. i couldn't wait till i got to my next class so i started eating and walking; easy enough, right? WRONG! i got strawberry jelly ALL. OVER. my hands, i casually decide to slip the rest of the bar in my frocket* to finish after i get to my building and i manage to get strawberry jelly all on the inside of my frocket while it was wrapped up in it's wrapper... (i should probably wash that shirt soon...) 

where was i going with this story? OH YEAH, as i'm casually walking with my hands in fists so that i don't get the jelly anywhere else on me, i think to my self, "how many people just witness that fiasco?" probably no one but i have witnessed some funny things walking to class. maybe that should be the odyssey's next article, funny things you see on the way to class.

*frocket: front pocket on the front of the baggy shirts i wear on a daily basis. 10 signs you're obsessed with oversized t-shirts

shake it off

confession: i like taylor swift's new cd.

i can't help it! the more i listen to it the more i CAN. NOT. stop. i'm sure y'all have heard her famous shake it off by now. that one, sucks me in every time. the plus side is that i didn't have to pay for it (sorry taylor) my roommate bought both the itunes version and the bonus cd at target so she burned a copy for me, love ya park.

if you haven't already, just go ahead and watch this video of an 80's workout video that times perfectly with her shake it off. clearly i know what my new morning routine is going to consist of.

and if you want the normal music video, here ya go. taylor swift's: shake it off

pumpkin patchin'

i think that last photo of my dad and me is so funny, we are both looking in opposite directions but have the exact same look on our faces, at least i know where i get it from ;)

i finally made it to a pumpkin patch! i had been wanting to go so badly all october so over fall break my mom and dad took me to one in tennessee. it was the perfect fall day to go, they had a corn maze, pumpkin patch, homemade fudge, funnel cake fries, and much much more! well worth the wait, that's for sure!!

a house divided

so that whole blogtober thing lasted a whole... day... oops. i decided i didn't really like any of their prompts so i just didn't do it and then you know, that whole life thing happened and all of a sudden it was november. how did that happen?? this whole time change thing has got me like 

am i right? but moving on to more important things, let me catch you up on my life. first things first 4 weeks until i am done with classes for the semester. and only 7 saturdays till christmas. now that we have that out of the way...

a couple weeks ago my family met up in knoxville for the ut/bama game, obviously the pros won but the vols did play a good game. i even said at the end of the game how fast it went by because i actually paid attention since it was interesting (besides the first quarter).

sorry for the picture overload, i am too lazy right now to combine and down size but the most important thing is that we got our christmas card photo and i ordered them for mother this past weekend.

roll tide and see y'all here real soon!

day 1 & day 2 of blogtober

i thought that since i have issues blogging every day i would blog along with taylor and helene for their blogtober challenge. the challenge is to blog EVERY day in october with the prompts they provide. obviously it's hard to blog every day and obviously i'm not going to like all of their prompts but i will try to do the ones i do like!

so for day 1:

what would you do it you won the lottery?

i would save some, donate some, spend some on my family and close friends, and then hire a driver for the rest of my life. i hate driving, i'm not a good parker, and i get major anxiety in parking garages. so i have always said i would hire a driver for life if i ever won the lottery.

day 2:

what was your dream job as a kid? 

i'm pretty sure 4th grade teacher, pharmacist, nicu nurse, and then back to 4th grade teacher. i don't think i ever really had big dreams like astronaut or ballerina. i'm pretty sure i have always wanted to work with kids in a way and have always wanted to be a teacher. i'm glad to see i'm making my dream come true :) (with the help of my parents of course)


what would you do if you won the lottery and what was your dream job when you were a kid? hopefully these prompts will help me blog more often, happy weekend eve!

hot butter & oil

the fab fastfoodie and i are in the works of a new vlog series on her blog called "hot butter & oil", go check her blog out and get ready for some yummy recipes!

fast foodie facebook page

ellen: here & now

as i was scrolling down my dvr on sunday, i ran across ellen's here and now. i obviously pressed play and procrastinated my studying a little longer and remember the whole video explains my whole life perfectly.



a few of my favorite quotes:

We stock up on popcorn and candy like we're crossing the Sierras, don't we? "I'll have a couple of soft pretzels, a hot dog, Milk Duds, Snowcaps. Is that the largest popcorn you've got there, that bucket? You don't have a barrel or anything like that? Do you have a donkey or a pack mule or anything? - Oh, and a Diet Coke."

When there's time for whistling, there's a lot of time on a show.

Our attention span is shot. We've all got Attention Deficit Disorder or ADD or OCD or one of these disorders with three letters because we don't have the time or patience to pronounce the entire disorder. That should be a disorder right there, TBD - Too Busy Disorder.

They do these teases to get you to watch late on. They're so incredibly cruel: 'It could be the most deadly thing in the world and you may be having it for dinner. We'll tell you what it is tonight at 11:00.' IS IT PEAS?!

Procrastination is not the problem. It is the solution. It is the universe's way of saying stop, slow down, you move too fast. Listen to the music. Whoa whoa, listen to the music. Because music makes the people come together, it makes the bourgeois and the rebel. So come on people now, smile on your brother, everybody try to love one another. Because what the world needs now is love, sweet love. And I know that love is a battlefield, but boogie on reggae woman because you're gonna make it after all. So celebrate good times, come on. I've gotta stop I've gotta come to my senses, I've been out riding fences for so long... oops I did it again... um... What I'm trying to say is, if you leave tonight and you don't remember anything else that I've said, leave here and remember this: Procrastinate now, don't put it off.

just basically the whole hour is my favorite, the cell phone bit, the elevator talk, the claws, the tripping, the pickle and chip comparisons... i just love it and in case you just need to watch it for yourself, here's the link to it on youtube. ellen's here and now

weekend recap

my brother and i have bricks all over the campus thanks to the wonderful donations of our parents, so taylor and i found our ones on by the ferg.

this past weekend one of my besties [of 16 years, how can i be old enough to have a friend that long?! ;)] came to visit me while my roommates were out of town. we walked around campus on game day, then watched both the tide and the vols saturday night. sunday morning we woke up a little early and went to my favorite brunch spot, five, before she headed back home. it was a great and fun weekend! i attemped my first dutch braid on my bangs and sent a picture to my hairstylist, she told me i did a good job so i wore it our in public... i'm going to keep practicing though.

also, yes, all the photos at my apartment were taken on my camera with a tripod and self timer. if only i could train the cat to take pictures...

the greatest place on earth

a few snapshots of my "usual" at the greatest place on earth, or as others might call it, ichiban. i usually get this (kylie roll) or i get a bento box with chicken. their crab rangoons are to.die.for. and the best part of the whole place, is that they know us and love us and become concerned if we don't come in every week. if you're ever in tuscaloosa, this is a MUST visit place!

road to 16

happy wednesday!

hopefully this week will fly by since we had monday off and in only 2 wake ups it will be friday! my parents are coming this weekend for family weekend and my mom said she is planning on cooking for me on saturday so that will be yummy!

this past weekend i went to atlanta to kick off football season with my brother and a few of our friends. it was a great weekend and so fun to get to see everyone! we went bowling friday night at the painted pin and i came in third! then saturday we watched to tide beat the mountaineers with a 33-23 win!

and i want to wish my little muffin a very happy birthday who turned 13 this week!!

favorites: vegetarian meals

every time someone finds out that i am a vegetarian they immediately ask me "what do you eat?". i sort of want to respond with "how much meat are you eating that you can't think of one meal that you eat without meat?" but i don't. usually i can't remember anything i eat and i always just answer hummus and guac but of course i eat more than that. i mentioned in my last high five for friday that i fell in love with veggie burgers, so yummy!

so five meatless meals that i love

1. veggie burgers.
i get the morning star brand and i LOVE them. i either eat them like normal with ketchup and a bun or i eat them with guac and salsa. both ways are delish and filling!

2. mexican
making mexican at home is really easy, for lunch this summer i almost always had a cheese quesadilla - not super healthy but quick and simple. moes and taco bell are also great for quick or on the go, the art vandaley at moes is so filling i have to get the jr. size and most of the time i can't even finish that.

3. spaghetti
i always have and always will love spaghetti

4. veggie stew
this is perfect for the colder months, my roommate makes it so i'm not for sure the specifics but i'm pretty sure that it's just vegetable broth with what ever veggies you have on hand and make some cornbread with it and it's so good!

5. sushi
i'm still not much of a "sushier" but i am getting better at it, the people i babysit for told me how to make veggie sushi so maybe if the wholefoods here hurrys up and opens i will be able to make it and try it out on my own!

my mom sent me back to school with a crock pot vegetarian cookbook so i am looking forward to trying some of those recipes out! i'm not a 100% vegetarian, one of my friends calls me a liberal vegetarian because i will eat meat if i have to or at ichiban because their chicken box is to die for but if i have the choice i would rather stick to non-meat meals so it's been fun finding new and east meals to eat!

do you have any favorite non-meat meals? i would love to hear - comment below with your favorites!!

it's a party in the usa

so i went to the miley concert about two weeks ago and it was one of the best concerts i've been to in my life, the other best concert being last time i saw miley on tour. i took my favorite kristin with me and we went for "round 2" birthday celebration. i call this "round 2" because these tickets were a 21st birthday present from my wonderful parents and we were supposed to go in april, however, we were the first of her many cancelled tour dates so it was a kinda really bad plane ride back to tuscaloosa but besides that part, the rest of that weekend was fun!

but back to this visit, it was for sure worth the wait! she even fessed up and admitted that she wasn't sick when she cancelled on us last time and i think that it was just mature of her in general to admit she messed up. her opening act was lily allen, kristin and i listened to some of her songs the night before the concert and we didn't really care for her - but after that night i am obsessed. she was so cute and performed so well live, like she sounds better live than on her tracks.

miley, of course, is one of the best performers i know, people question why i like her and all i say to them is that yeah she's a little crazy and a wack job but you can't say she's not a good performer, she really knows how to entertain; and entertain she did that night. so enough with the blabbing... here's some pictures from one of the bests nights of my life.

thanks mom and dad!!

and shout out to kristin for making me try salmon for the first time!