Guess what I had for dinner?

And they were delicious. (Well, as delicious as frozen waffles can be.)

I really wanted to blog about my trip to Disney World last May, but I can't find the pictures on my computer!! So this post will be a hodge-podge of pictures that I've taken on my phone - which tend to document the awesome randomness of my life the most accurately. :)


I threw a little tea party on Valentine's Day. It was so cute and we had a great time! Caspian wanted to join, but I told him no.


This is my sister getting a total make-over on her hair! Look how long it was! It's been like that for YEARS.


I got to make the initial cut for Locks of Love!


All chopped off, and three excited girls in the mirror!


New 'do! From left to right: myself, Josey (best friend and hair stylist extraordinairé), my smokin' hot sister Mary, and her best friend Tracey! I'm so glad I got to be there for this. I don't get to see my family very often anymore so it's awesome to be there for at least the milestones :)

Hope you enjoyed!

I was doing my reading one day and on my phone, I can click on a certain verse to see what people have said about it. This comes from Genesis 3:1-13. (I had been trying to get to the part where God tells Satan that because he tempted Eve, he will from now on crawl on his belly - thus proving my point that snakes are the spawn of Satan. I think snakes are the most terrifying creatures on the planet - but I digress.) Anyway, I was directed to this quote and I found it extremely fascinating and true:

"The modern secular world—the world which tries to remove God from his all-creating, all-sustaining, all-defining, all-governing place—has no choice but to make itself god and to create its own morality. In other words, when man abandons God and his self-revelation as the source of what is objectively true and right and beautiful, the next highest court of appeal is man himself.

If God is not the measure of what is true and right and beautiful, then I am and you are. And since we—the god called “you,” and the god called “me”—may not agree, the result will be: Might makes right. And everything in education, and media, and politics in this God-evicting world becomes a battle for power. Not a quest for objective truth and right and beauty, since there isn't any, but a power-struggle. Because the one who has the power, in a world without God, defines reality. Defines what is true. Defines what is right. Defines what is beautiful. And there is no court of appeal in heaven for the weak. Man is god. And the powerful man is god-Almighty—the maker of the truth, the inventor of what is right, and the definer of what is beautiful."

I wish I could think things like that up, let alone put them into eloquent words. It is so true. In this world, God is offensive and therefore we "can't" talk about him - yet we were created by him in his image, with an inborn desire to seek truth, goodness, and beauty. People look for these things everywhere and settle for whatever they find, not realizing that what they seek can only be found in what they're avoiding.

I am so blessed to be a child of God. I pray you are too!

It's MARCH!

Hallelujah, February is over!

No offense to anyone who has a birthday or other special occasion in February, but it is my LEAST favorite month. Here is the breakdown:

Around September, it still FEELS like summer, at least in Tulsa, but all the stores are starting to put out their fall clothes/decorations, etc. and the beloved Pumpkin Spice latte reappears at Starbucks. (Last fall, Josey - my best friend since seventh grade - and I screamed, "Pumpkin Spice lattes!" and jumped up and down when we walked outside and it was cold.)

October, of course, is the best month ever (in my opinion) - fall starts, there are a lot of birthdays among my family/friends, and HALLOWEEN! The weather starts to get colder - so refreshing. I love it!

November - fall is in full swing, amazing recipes for pumpkiny and cranberry-y things are taken out, Thanksgiving is in the air...

December - CHRISTMAS! A cozy, familyish, reflective, joyous month (especially if you're crazy like me and ENJOY the shopping crowds!)

January - the start of a new year. My birthday. Ryan's and my dating anniversary.

February - umm, is it June yet?? By this time, the cold weather and the harsh winds have REALLY gotten old, and with stores starting to sell summer clothes and swimsuits, any weather below 60 degrees just seems cruel.

This is why I love March! It saves me from February!

To really put me in the mood for summer, next week I leave for vaca in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. My in-laws have a gorgeous condo down there and have graciously invited Ryan and me to join them for a few days. I've been there once before and it's just wonderful. There are SO MANY beautiful flowers and a zoo on the property! Peacocks and ostriches walk around like they own the place. 'Tis awesome, to say the least. Hopefully Tulsa weather will be ready for me when I get back :)

Oh, and happy birthday to Ron Weasley! ;)

Sweet

When Ryan and I started dating, there was another girl who wasn't too thrilled. Last night over dinner, she somehow came up in conversation and I playfully said, "It's not MY fault you picked me!" Ryan replied, "Yes it is." Awwwwwww!

Tinted Windows

If you know me at all, you know that I love me some Hanson. If you know me VERY well, you're a little scared of how much I used to love them. Obviously, those "scary" days are long gone, but there's definitely still Hanson love. Recently I was informed (by my best friend's brother, of all people) that Taylor is involved in a side project called Tinted Windows. Josey and I quite literally screamed at the dinner table when we heard this news. The twelve-year-olds in us will take Taylor Hanson's voice with just about anyone playing the other instruments (or, you know, with no instruments at all). This was such a welcome surprise!

I went and listened to the song on their website, "Kind of a Girl." Honestly, my first thought was "...Well, this is okay." It's a cute and very fun song, but it's got enough "Oh woah woah"s to put an episode of Hannah Montana to shame. The style doesn't surprise me concerning the beloved lead vocalist, but part of me feels the need to humbly thank the drummer from Cheap Trick and the guitarist from Smashing Pumpkins for playing with Taylor. The song is more juvenile (which is NOT a bad word in my vocabulary!) than a lot of Hanson's most recent work. Just an observation.

I'm definitely excited to hear more. The band is releasing an album (!!!) on April 21st and they're also playing at SXSW in Austin next month. The lunatic in me wants to drive down there for it. I doubt that'll happen, but it's fun to dream about.

Out of nowhere

I prefer Double-Stuffed Oreos to the regular kind. Is it because I love the cream filling so much? NO. I HATE IT. It is, in fact, because the cream is much easier to remove when it is in a thicker sheet. Then I am free to dunk the chocolate wafers in milk or spread peanut butter on them and stick them back together again.

That's all.

So....it's been awhile....

One year and one day, to be exact. THAT'S embarrassing. All the blame goes to me, though - my self-doubt got the better of me. Well, it won't anymore! Sorry for the ridiculously long absence!

Since so much has happened in the last year, I think I'll just document some of the things I remember the most and, of course, include some pics. Please excuse the random jumping around until I catch up to where I am now!

For one thing, since my last post, I've been to New York City two more times - and it has done absolutely NOTHING to help my obsession. Get ready for a VERY long post - these are only SOME of the pictures that I "whittled down" from my second trip to the Big Apple.

I got a flight from Tulsa into LaGuardia that happened to land fifteen minutes after my best friend, her mom and her sister got there from St. Louis. Perfect timing! They were there to visit their brother, who was living in NYC for the summer to audition for shows. (He ended up on Broadway in Spring Awakening! Congrats Gabe!!) I was there to see my sister, who landed the Dolce & Gabbana internship for which she interviewed in January (!!!) and was living in lower Manhattan (a.k.a. Knockturn Alley, if you ask me).

Let the pics begin....


Shortly after we arrived, we realized we needed some NYC Pizza. This definitely didn't disappoint.


We went on a Circle Cruise of Manhattan. I don't understand how ANYONE could have stayed in their seats - I chose to stay on the bow!


Take a look at those clouds! They don't make 'em like that anywhere else. Okay, that's a lie, but they look more beautiful in New York somehow.


We went walking around Central Park one day. I chose my "Giselle dress" - I got it in Disney World (a post on that later!) because the print kind of reminded me of the dress Giselle wears in "Enchanted." Excuse the boots - I hadn't brought any comfy shoes and these were on clearance at Journey's on 5th Avenue.


And guess who else was in Central Park that day?


Yes, that is Anne Hathaway! She was filming a scene for "Bride Wars" with....


Kate Hudson! I was too shy to ask for a picture, especially since I kind of have a tiny, miniature understanding of the need to focus while shooting a movie...more on that later....but I saw some other girls posing with her so I figured, why not?!

I learned the hard way NOT to call my mom first when I have exciting news to share - by the time I called anyone else to tell them, she'd gotten there first! After watching them film for about an hour and a half, we moved on. This is The Dakota, where John Lennon quite literally lived and died.



This is the "Giselle!" Bridge. I know that's not its real name, but I immediately recognized it as the bridge off of which Prince Edward jumps after hearing her sing and yelling her name, sticking his fist into his mouth. (Prince Edward must have had AMAZING hearing....this bridge is by The Reservoir, which is significantly north of where Giselle was singing if we're talking about human hearing range....) Anyway, we tried to cornily recreate the moment, albeit from a different angle.


Best friends in Central Park! One of my favorite pictures ever. (Yes, I'm wearing a different outfit...because this was taken on a different day. I tried to lump pictures together as best I could because if I posted about each individual day, this post would be longer than it is already.)


One of my friends told me I had to go to Magnolia Bakery. The original location is somewhere in lower Manhattan, but they have a relatively new location on the Upper West Side, so we ventured there after the first Central Park trip.


I was told I had to have a cupcake, but the cupcakes didn't LOOK like anything to go crazy over (oh, how I learned my lesson....but that was the NEXT trip with my husband, which you will see later....). Besides, I saw this and couldn't resist.


Key lime cheesecake. It was soooo delicious. If I'm being completely honest, The Cheesecake Factory's is better, but that's only because it's more tart, the way I like it. This was so much cuter though!

Other NY sights/happenings:

This was the only way I could think of to get my sister, my best friend and myself all in the same picture. Can you find all three of us? (My sister is easy to find, since she's the one in the glasses ;)


This Barbie was in the Toys 'R' Us in Times Square. Um, can I please be her?


This is B&H Photo, an AMAZING store for all of your photography/videography/looking at adorable Jewish people needs. It's on 34th and 9th. The website is where we get a lot of our photography equipment. And yes, it is run by Orthodox Jewish people. They don't accept web orders on Saturdays because of the Sabbath.


This is a "nurse" at FAO Schwarz. She helps little girls pick out the perfect baby doll and teaches them how to care for their babies when they bring them home. I think I know what I want my next nursing job to be....


And this, my friends, is (in my opinion) the most beautiful building in New York. Taken from the top of the Empire State Building.


That's all for now! Was it enough? ;) It's good to be back.