Happy Birthday, Nanny!

For those of you that knew her, you called her "Nanny." She was never "Mrs. Walden" or "Jean." To everyone she met she'd say, "Hi, I'm Nanny." Let me tell you a little story... everyone called her "Granny." But, in 1985 her favorite grandchild was born. I couldn't say "Granny" so I called her "Nanny" and her title was forever changed. I say I was her favorite, but she would only admit that to me. That's because her heart was made of solid gold. She didn't meet anyone that she didn't love immediately. I will take a second to say that I absolutely inherited that trait from her. I also inherited from her the desire to see the good in everyone. Nanny would have been 85 years old today. I very rarely have a day that I don't think about her. They say time heals all pain, but being without her never gets easier. I hope that the pieces of her that are part me never fade. Sometimes I worry that I'll forget what she was like, but the truth is...I'm so much like her that that may be impossible. So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NANNY! We love you and we miss you!

How do you translate a childhood obsession in to an adult one?

As previously stated, I am not a "collector" of "things." I hate to dust. (I love to vacuum, but that's neither here nor there...) When I was a little girl (so, like, last week...) I did , however, collect glass seals and sea lions. Yep, you read it right, no need to re-read...seals and sea lions. They sat on a brown bunny shaped shelf that my grandfather made me and each time I got an opportunity to add one to my collection, I would. I have always had a love of all things "sea." As a matter of fact, my all-time favorite Disney movie to this day is The Little Mermaid. L-O-V-E it. My dream as a child was to own an aquarium with a little seahorse I could call my own. My idol was Jacques Cousteau. Weirded out yet? It gets better...    

Now that I am an "adult" I have to find other ways to fill my obsession. I am only a teensy bit embarrassed to admit that I own about 3 shirts with some form of seahorse on them. (My coworkers are convinced that instead of screen-printed cats on my old lady sweatshirts, I will have seahorses...) Recently I purchased a pillow from Anthropologie that has a beautiful nautical theme and an even more perfect seahorse print. It sits proudly on my bed now and it was totally worth the ridiculous price I paid for it...

Anyway, I'm rambling. The point of this post is this: I ordered new stationery yesterday.

I  cannot wait to use it. It is being custom printed by http://www.katlemdesigns.com/. I highly recommend them. They do all sorts of custom printing and invitations and they are wonderful to work with! You can go to their website or you can find them on etsy.com. (Which is where I discovered them.)

Life on the "A" List

Have you been on Austin360.com today? Did you happen to peruse though the Bobby Bones Show 2nd Chance Prom pictures? Well, I guess I should say--Did you look at the FIRST picture that comes up? I had no idea that this would ever been seen. I only knew about its existence because my friend Nick (far left) is an Intern for the Bobby Bones Show. He sent me a text this morning and told me to go to this link: http://galleries.austin360.com/gallery/bobby-bones-show-2nd-chance-prom/.

That half-naked man there is the "celebrity" Lunchbox from the Bobby Bones Show. I owe Stefanie big time for coming to the event with me, but now I owe her double since everyone we know is telling us that they saw our picture online!

In college Jordan and I always joked about me being an "A-Lister" and those of you who were part of that know what I'm talking about...looks like I finally (officially) made the list!

The W's take Denver

I love airports. I think there isn't anything sweeter than a tearful goodbye or a tearful "welcome home!"

I love to fly. I would love to spend some time doing George Clooney's job in Up in the Air just simply so that I could fly more often.

I am dying to travel. I would give my right arm to go to Costa Rica. Seriously. But, I have decided that dream has to be postponed until I finish my SCUBA certification. (Which I am currently working on.) I am also obsessed with the idea of traveling to Baltimore, MD and Boston, MA. Anywhere in the Northeast, really. Just let me go! I wish it were safer for a 5'2", 20-something female to travel alone. If that were the case, I would already be out of here.

My mom called me with excellent news two nights ago. We are taking a family trip to DENVER in two weeks! I have been to Colorado once many, many moons ago, and I am so excited to go back! We booked our flights last night so it is official! We have dinner reservations at the Aquarium (another obsession of mine) on Friday night and we are going to the Rockies/Cubs game on Saturday. This will be the second time we have gotten to fly as a family, minus one. Landon will not be joining us. He already had plans that conflicted, so we will be sad to be without him. BUT, I get to travel! I get to fly! I cannot wait!

Beauty Advice from a Non-Expert (Take it, you'll thank me later...)

I don't collect gadgets.
I don't like trinkets.
They collect dust and cause clutter.

But, I do have a thing for collections, i.e. my shoe collection, my undergarments collection (if you're confused, read this...), my clothing collection...you get the point. One thing that few people know about me is my tendency to collect beauty products, namely shampoo & conditioner and mascara. In college, Jordan rarely (if ever) had to purchase shampoo or conditioner because I would buy one, use it until I got bored (yes, bored) with it, and then she'd have a new one. I still do this, only now the half-used bottles accumulate in my shower. Someday I plan to ship them all to Jo in California. (I'm thinking Christmas present...) And, as for mascara, I used to hate the stuff. Using it would make my eyelashes too long. They would bump my sun glasses, graze my upper eyelid, and mostly just annoy me. But, now that I am older, I love my long lashes. More importantly, I love buying mascara. I am a sucker for marketing tactics and promotional materials. Let's just say that I have at least 4 or 5 perfectly usable mascaras in my makeup bag as we speak, or rather, as I type. (Ladies, please remember that you should replace your mascara every 3 to 6 months. Mine obviously doesn't last that long...)I rarely wear make up these days, but I almost never leave the house without mascara on. Recently I have discovered one that I must share with my female readers out there: Maybelline Volume Express "The Falsies" Mascara. Buy it. You'll thank me later.

Also, I must share my newest beauty secret. About 3 weeks ago I had an Aveda facial. It changed my life. Again, since I have ceased to wear make up, my skin was in desperate need of some TLC. I treated myself to the facial and listened when my esthetician suggested I use the all-natural Aveda line. It took a few days for my skin to adjust to using a more natural product, but now I love it. I use the Botanical Kinetics skin care product line by Aveda. It's expenive, but buy it. You'll thank me later. Seriously.

Grad School Characters

Every class has a few characters. I am a few weeks in to my first class in pursuit of my Masters and I have tagged the characters of my class.

Let's begin...
First, there's "that girl." You know, the one that is obnoxious, comes in late, has an excuse, knows everything. She is also the one where when her hand goes up, the whole class rolls their eyes in anticipation of what is coming out of her mouth next. Yep, I have "that girl" in my class. She wears too red lipstick and constantly refers to her husband, or being married, or planning a wedding. She found a way to compare writing a thesis (or in our case an APR) to planning a wedding. Really? Get over yourself. Last night, after walking in late and causing a disturbance, she proceeded to tell the teacher (and the entire class) that she was late due to a doctor's appointment. No one needs to know that. Seriously. We don't care and now we're annoyed that you've even opened your mouth.

Next, there's "sleeper dude." He snuggled up on the first night of class, front row, and passed out. He just finished his Undergrad last semester, so I assume his parents said, "Why don't you stay and have some more fun?" Since his performance on the first night, he has remained awake for each class thereafter; however, now he finds the need to over compensate by using words that are too big for him. Some of them he makes up and some are words but are used incorrectly.

And finally, there's "Carlton." Please tell me you remember the Fresh Prince of Belaire? Well, Carlton is in my class. Seriously. The best part is that "that girl" and "Carlton" are furthest along in the program yet they seem to ask the most ridiculous questions and have the most difficulty with the smallest of tasks. For example, we had a homework assignment out of our workbook. It was very simple. Read it and follow the instructions. "That girl" proceeded to ask, "which pages do I need to be reading?" To which I replied, "all of them..." It was not a hard task. Really. Just read your syllabus and it'll explain the assignment. Last night was even better. "Carlton" asked a question to which our professor responded, "well, like I said last week..." Then, much to my surprise (not) "that girl" raised her hand and asked for clarification. Again. Our professor responded, "again, like I said last week..." Really? REALLY? I am beginning to lose faith in the program. Do they let just about anyone in?

I was pleased to see my first paper received a 93 and my first assignment received a 100. I can do this!

Toy Story 3: A tearful review

Toy Story 3 is a MUST SEE! We had so much fun at the midnight showing last thursday night. The theatre was full of parents and TEENS, all in the 15-18 age range. My mom commented that they all grew up with Woody and Buzz. In the movie Andy is 17 and leaving for college...just like Landon will be at this time next year. Here are a few photos from the night...

I am sort of ashamed/embarrassed to admit it...but I cried at the end of the movie. Bawled, really. Like a child. But I couldn't help it. The end is just so touching and it made me think of my baby brother that is growing up so fast right before my eyes. What can I say? I'm a sucker...

I would like to say this: When I do themes. I DO them. Landon was all about having a Toy Story birthday, so I prepared for it by getting a TS cake, party favor bags, napkins/plates, etc. I brought it ALL in to the movie. I didn't even sneak it in. I clearly walked past the ticket guys holding a huge bag and a sheet cake. About 30 minutes before show time (11:30PM) the entire theatre broke in to the "Happy Birthday" song and sang to Landon. I lit all17 candles, against my brother's wishes. I cut up cake and served our party of 8 and then proceeded to pass it out to our fellow movie-goers. Let's recap: I brought in party favors, a cake, candles, a lighter, and a knife. I am a champ.