the hills are alive.

today, i would like nothing more than to watch The Sound of Music. i'm watching Oprah right now and the entire cast is on and interviewing for the first time since the movie was released. They are all completely charming.

(all images from Google images)

How To: Have A Perfectly Lovely Day

Yesterday, I had a perfectly lovely day. Although the night before wasn't as shiny bright (I tried to dye my hair and it looked like I colored it with a red washable marker), it didn't carry over into my Wednesday. I went to my Spanish class and Non-Verbal Class, as per usual, and afterwards, I decided to skip chapel and my other class. Usually, I would feel guilty about this. But really, you should've seen my hair. Chase and I went to the local donut shop and enjoyed a few delicious donuts. NOM NOM. (sidenote: yesterday, after perusing through the pictures on my phone I realized that I had quite a few pictures of donuts and frozen treats--ice cream and fro yo. OY! more veggies, less junk maybe?)

AND then, i skipped along to good ol' Aledo. Erin, who I haven't seen in centuries, fixed my hair! What a saint. It was so good to sit and catch up with her. I miss her alot! I went to Christopher Moore Salon, where I used to work and she now runs the show. It kind of made me miss washing hair. What a weird thing to say.

They moved to a new location just a few months ago, and it is probably one of the coolest places EVER. The inside is paneled with just natural ply wood (very urban) and the mirrors are framed with old railroad ties that have been stained. For a work station, he uses a toolbox, something like they'd have at an oil-changing place. Oh, those creative people.

I took a picture, but it's kind of blurry and not worth looking at.

THEN, i went home for a little while and got to hang out with my mom and little Branty. My mom fed me oreos and milk and Brant dressed up in his Halloween costume. And then we took pictures, of course.

he was a sniper.

he picked up this dandelion and said, "i'm going to wish that i have good pictures taken." what a QT.

i love this little boy more than i can even describe!

AND i got to hang out with my (not so little) Bella.

she was getting angry with me.

(for Megan)

I said my goodbyes and headed back to Dallas to go to Nathan's parents house to watch the Rangers play the Giants in the WORLD SERIES. His mom fixed us a lovely home-cooked meal, and though the Rangers lost (boo), it was a lovely day.

And I know that the Rangers will win tonight.

 

 

 

 

Day Six: Your Favorite Superhero and Why

maybe not a "real" superhero, per se, but you can't hate anything/one that will provide you with this. waffle fries, fresh lemonade. i am a happy girl.

fall has arrived.

fall has officially arrived, my darlings!

how do i know?

well, today i traveled to a pumpkin patch with my baby brother Brant on his field trip. and we had the most fall-filled pumpkin smashing time.

(asian Brant)

(my sweet dad and Branty with their prized pumpkins)

(Brant's class-- he's the hoodrat in the back)

(roasting SMARSHMALLOWS!)

(sticky smarshmallow fingers)

we love you fall and pumpkin patch!

Continued: BEST TRIP.

So, after spending a few days with the most lovely Green family, we boarded a train at Quantico train station in Virginia..

we thought that we were going to Hogwarts and spent some quality time with Harry.

 

BUT, we ended up in NYC!

And we ate pizza, of course.



went to the Hershey's store..

checked into our JANKY hotel. yes, we slept with all of our suitcases stacked up like that for a night. since that was going to stop whomever wanted to come in.

we lovingly named it 'brothel', for lack of better words,

our first night, we saw the Phantom of the Opera!

and let me be honest, i couldn't enjoy it the whole time because i was thinking about how we had to go back to the world's craziest hotel. we even stopped at a convenient store on the way back to buy blankets to sleep on and covered our pillows with t-shirts. what an experience it was! just to give you a bit more insight, on the :dresser: it had a sign that said if we wanted a smoke detector, that we would have to check one out at the front desk. such a comfort!

but, regardless! we carried on! ate more pizza..


and cupcakes..

rode the subway a trillion times. even once all the way to brooklyn at rush hour. OY!







AND we woke up one morning at the crack of dawn to go to the TODAY SHOW, and Jason Mraz was there that day, though we could not really see him.



they gave us free yellow hats and foam guitars. we were SO happy!



OH! and our very sweet parents booked us a new hotel room. they even had a Bible!

and then on our last night, we saw the show 9 to 5. and it was simply AMAZING! Allison Janney, music by Dolly Parton, and incredible visuals, what more could we ask for?!

and then we flew home..

we had the most amazing time together. our first grown-up trip ever, even though we had a bump along the way that our parents had to work out, we were all very happy to be so independent and running wild in NYC! i love these girls more than i can say. "Solidarity Sister!" "Yeah yeah!"

Day Five: A Picture of Somewhere That You Have Been

My favorite trip EVER is tied with two separate trips that were off-the-chain fun.
The first one, pictured below was two summers ago. My mom's sister, Aunt Tricia, and her family live in Virgina. Every summer for 6 weeks or more, she and her kiddos come to Texas to hang out with all of us. It is the absolute highlight of my whole year. At the end of the summer, instead of the party being over, Britty and I get to ride home with them and stay for as long as we wish. Last summer, we decided to invite our best friends, Natalie and Courtney. Talk about the best week and a half of my life. We rode to Virginia in Aunt Tricia's van that has 7 seats. We fit 7 people, 7 people's luggage (3 that had packed for a summer)

Don't we look alive for 4 o'clock in the morning?!

and one medium sized boxer, Taffy. We love Taffy.

We stopped on the way in Memphis, TN to eat at Gus's Famous Fried Chicken, and THE BEST fried chicken you will ever have in your life. Finger-lickin' good! And baked beans.. YUM! Sometimes I wish that i could drive to Memphis just for that chicken. Yes, it's that good.





After journeying for a solid 21 hours (yes, we drove straight through), we arrived in Virginia! I LOVE road trips. SO much. 21 hours in the car may sound like complete torture to some people, but to me it's so much fun. Sure, there were times when we all got a little whiny, but we also had a ton o' fun. And I got to drive a lot, which I also really enjoy.

For a few days, we stayed with the Greens and had the best time EVER. We visited Carl's ice cream too many times,



We were there during Shark Week, so one night we decided to have a Shark Week marathon/fry night. Yes, fry night. We had fried corn nuggets, french FRIES, and fried cheese stick. It was a heart-attack waiting to happen. But we loved it. We also played Phase 10 every night and had a giant tournament. I'm still bitter that I didn't win.

THEN we went and spent a day on Capitol Hill.



(pictures courtesy of the lovely Brittanie Lane)

and a few from my fisheye:





to be continued..