SPEAKING OF BOOKS

This weekend, we went to Barnes and Noble to try and get some studying done and Sara just wanted to look around. While she was probably off in the cooking section, I spent FOREVER in the bargain book (my favorite section). I love how they have hardback books there for $5! And they aren't books that no one has heard of or that don't sound interesting, they have a ton of them that I was so tempted to buy. Although I just carry them around, contemplating whether I should buy them or not, and then eventually put them back, this time I actually bought a book! I bought The Condition by Jennifer Haigh for only $6! On the way out, I saw that there were even more books that had been marked down 70% on the end of one of the shelves. Of course, I had to explore and I found one that seemed mildly interesting: The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan. I absolutely had to buy this one because it was under $4. That's less than what you spend for shipping on a book from Amazon! (im a sucker for sales)


Anyway, here's a very cute picture of Max just laying around on the Barnes and Noble bag :)

BOOK CHOICES

So back in the day (like 4 months ago) Sara and I made a deal: I would read all of the Harry Potter books and she would read a Jodi Picoult and Nicholas Sparks book. That list then grew to her reading a Jodi Picoult, Nicholas Sparks, and Stephen King book. After watching me struggle through all 7 HUGE books and having to deal with me asking her to tell me what happened at the end of each one, she then decided to expand her list and she gave me the power to pick 7 books that she will read over the summer. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HARD OF A TASK THIS IS. There is rarely a book that I don't like or that I don't recommend to anyone so I have to pick 7 out of the thousands (really like 20) that I'm trying to dwindle down to such a small number. Here are the ones that I have on a growing list that I will eventually have to narrow down:

The Shining
The Green Mile

Dear John (she already said this one was definitely on the list)
Message in a Bottle
A Bend in the Road
The Lucky One
The Pact
Plain Truth
The Last Summer of You and Me
Barefoot
PS I Love You
The Memory Keeper's Daughter

decisions, decisions

TAKIN' IT BACK

I completely forgot to mention the awesome 80's Bash we had this weekend! Most of the people dressed up and I have to say, the outfits were outrageous. I'm sure the GoodWill was wondering why so many people were coming in to buy out-dated clothing.

the roomies

kayla and sara (in two of the best costumes of the night)

another awesome costume

other fellow 80's peeps

Our next party is probably going to be Greek themed (sororities and fraternities, not togas). I'm pretty excited about to see everyone's outfits for that one!

*the Greek theme is not to make fun of anyone in sororities or fraternities, we will dress up to exaggerate the outfits the majority of them wear :)

P.S.

This week on the agenda, I have:

*an interview
*3 1 test
*group meeting for a case study presentation
*group meeting for Forgotten Friends
*nanny's doctor appointment
*a lab report

Needless to say, there won't be much posting going on :)

EXCITEMENT

I am sooo excited that we're going to see Mary Poppins at the Fox Theatre in May!! I can't wait!

UMM...

Hello, Chris Pine. I love you.



I came across this picture today and needless to say, it made my day.
That is all.

I LIKE TO RAMBLE...

Of course, like always, I should be studying right now, but I don't think that's in my best interest. Today, I was thinking about how much I would love for it to be summer right now. Yes, I love winter and I really love the cold, but this bipolar weather we're having is getting on my nerves. One weekend, it snows, the next it's warm, and the next, it's snowing again. Plus, I'm ready for the rain to go away. I feel like it rains a good 3 or 4 days out of the week, which would be fine if I didn't have to go anywhere, but walking to class in the rain is not my idea of fun. I'm ready to be able to lay out by the pool, for all of my tests/presentations to be over, and most of all to spend the majority of the summer on my own for the first time (it's not that I don't like home, Mom, it's just that I'm excited to be in Athens for most of the summer). So now that I'm done with complaining about the weather, I'll move on to more uplifting stuff.

I'M DONE WITH HARRY POTTER!

I've been waiting to say that for 4 months and now I can! After the seventh one, I have to say it is in my top 2 favorite from the series (I can't decide if I like that one or the third better). It was action packed from the beginning and it made me feel so nervous toward the end. I CANNOT wait for the movies to come out! I hope they live up to the book. One thing about this book that I wasn't too fond of though was the long, drawn out conversations Harry had with Dumbledore and with Voldemort. I guess they were important for the story, but I basically skimmed them because they were kinda boring. What I did LOVE though is the Molly Weasley moment when Ginny is dueling (Sara told me there's a Facebook page dedicated to her line...I might have to join it). Mostly though, I'm just happy to say that I've read all of the books and now, I have seen all of the movies also.

On another positive note, I made Lemon-Banana bread today! I made some last week, but I used lime instead of lemon (you really couldn't taste it though). This time, I used lemon yogurt in place of buttermilk, so hopefully it will turn out tasty! If it doesn't this is the last you will hear about it, if it does, then I'll make another post about it.

So now off to attempt to study, start a new book (Dear John), and wait for the bread to cool before tasting it. I'll leave you with another random song that pops into my head (other than Mulan) when I'm getting ready in the morning. Enjoy :)

PS. I'm super excited for our 80's party tomorrow night! We went to GoodWill today and I got a turquoise blazer and coral shorts. I'll be sure to take a TON of pictures and post them sometime this weekend :)

THIS POST IS DEDICATED TO...

FUNNY YOUTUBE VIDEOS!!

I was watching FRIENDS today (big shock!) and my favorite scene came on! I love that show, but there are some scenes that make it so funny. Since it is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE SCENE EVER, I decided to share it :)



I also got a little sidetracked while I was searching for it...here are some of the other videos that I love. They are all hilarious (at least in my mind)!

another great friends moment

best part of the movie

funny but sad...

guaranteed to make you smile

both are too cute

Well, I hope you enjoy the videos and I hope that they made your day even better...I know they did mine!

MULAN

So for some random reason, I have been waking up with this song stuck in my head. I don't even know any of the words after "Let's get down to business." No joke. It's so catchy though, I find myself humming along throughout the day (no it doesnt go away...it stays with me the whole day). To be honest, I don't mind it because it's peppy and it makes me smile, but I would really like to know why it pops into my head!

FAMILY PICTURES

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

My mom's parents :)

This holiday was never passed over in my family, seeing as my mom's dad came from Ireland to Alabama. She mentioned earlier that she knew exactly where he would be later on, at Knights of Columbus (a Catholic men organization...he was a past "grand knight") in Anniston celebrating with some buddies. Every time we make a trip to Alabama to see my mom's family, we pass through Anniston so Mom can show us different places she remembers from growing up there. I enjoy hearing the stories about her and my uncle, her walking with her dad when he went in to work, and seeing all of the houses she grew up in. I wish I would have had a chance to meet her dad, but he passed away when Mom was 19. I would have loved to hear his Irish accent and be able to know what it was like to grow up in another country and then come to the US. Since I'm not able to though, Mom is always telling me and Cade stories about him and showing us things that she kept that remind her of him or things that he wrote in. Needless to say, my whole family is EXTREMELY proud of our Irish heritage :)

not to mention my mom, brother, and i all have names that relate to him, mom = ellen mary = his sister, patrick = both his and cade's first names, shelley = his last name...just thought i'd share that little part!

Now to change subjects to something completely unrelated...

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned that for Weyman's (stepdad) birthday, we were taking family pictures. His oldest daughter came down with her family so there were quite a few of us. The lady who took the pictures was patient with us and she was pretty nice, so we were lucky! Here are some of the pictures...

Everyone: Jackson, Adam, Cade, Weyman, Mom, Eric, Katie, Laurel, Christy, Erin, and me

Weyman and Mom

Christy (Weyman's oldest daughter), Eric, Erin, and Laurel

Erin and Laurel

Weyman's kids (Katie, Adam, Jackson, and Christy)

Mom's kids (me and Cade)

All of the kids together

Weyman, Mom, and the kids

Everyone again!

I hope everyone enjoys their holiday!

SLUMBER PARTY

I know it's a week late, but I just realized that I forgot to post what me and my friends did for my birthday. We had an old-fashioned, elementary school, 7-years old SLUMBER PARTY! (minus the freezing of underwear, trying to stay up late, ghost stories, etc.)

We did, however, have pizza and movies. The first movie we watched, Swimfan, was one that (surprisingly) no one had ever seen the whole way through. To me, it wasn't that great of a movie. The entire idea was odd, the acting wasn't that great, and at some points it was ridiculously funny when it should have been suspenseful. The second movie though was AMAZING. To go with the idea of a "slumber party from 2nd grade" we watched....ALADDIN! That is one of my favorite Disney movies. It was still as magical as when I first watched it although, I think this time was better because we knew most of the words to the songs so of course we sang along!

Between the movies, I opened my present and cards :) I got....(drum roll please)...

A HOLGA CAMERA!

While trying to load the film in the camera and take my first picture, I did have quite a bit of trouble because I had never used one before. I think that I did it right, although I did miss the "1" to show me that the camera was ready so the first picture will be blank. I've also thought of a cool project to do with my new camera! I think I'm going to take pictures of road signs that are significant to me and make some kind of collage with them. (I really hope it turns out like it looks in my head...)

I also got Water for Elephants and Mommy by Mistake. I'm a nerd and made a list of all of the books that I wanted so Kayla snuck into my room and picked two of them to give me. (I have such wonderful friends :) )

After the pizza, cookie cake, movies, and presents, we watched a little Will & Grace (one of the best shows ever). Although the season we watched is not one of my favorites, it was a good way to end the night.

WARNING: THIS POST MAY CAUSE SADNESS.

Papa

So I haven't posted anything this week because my grandpa passed away. The funeral was today and it was very beautiful. My aunt sang and then spoke about Papa and then the choir director from their church read the letters some of the neighbors wrote. I wrote one from me and Cade, but there was no way that I was going to be able to get up in front of everyone and read it without breaking down. It was hard enough to hear someone else read it. I thought I would post what I wrote so you might be able to get a small sense of what Papa was like.

Papa meant more to us then he will ever know. Knowing that we were going to go to Grammy and Papa’s not only meant pizza, coke, and ice cream, it meant spending time with our wonderful grandparents. Knowing that we will never go down in the basement and see Papa sitting there watching TV with a bag of candy beside him is hard to cope with, but we all know that he is in a better place. Being around Papa would brighten anyone’s day. It never failed that we were offered a drink or something to eat, that’s just the way he was, always trying to make sure that everyone had what they wanted. He was all you could ask for in a grandparent. We never left Grammy and Papa’s without realizing how blessed we were. We had a grandpa that was caring, funny, and always there willing to help us any way that he could. We will miss seeing his smiling face when we walked into the house, we will miss someone always stealing our macaroni and cheese, we will miss knowing that Papa is always there to help us with things we could never figure out, but mostly we’ll miss not being able to speak to him again or tell him, “I love you,” and hear his simple response, “Love you, too.” Having Papa as a part of our lives was a simple way of letting us know that we were blessed and I know that some day we will all be reunited and we will then again be able to experience the loving grandpa we miss so much.

It was really good to see all of the family again, but I wish it wasn't under those circumstances. Here are some pictures that I took today of the flowers that were on the casket and the pallbearers and preacher.

the flowers

pallbearers and others involved in the service

the program

I know this is a depressing subject, but I thought it deserved a post :)

Tomorrow thought will hopefully be fun! For Weyman's birthday, we're getting the family together and taking pictures. It doesn't sound too fun, but I'm hoping that the outcome will be AWESOME!

BIRTHDAY WEEKEND

SPRING BREAK BABY!! WAHOOOOO

I'm so excited that Spring Break is here! I was really burned out from school (5 tests in 2 weeks...I think they were trying to kill me to be quite honest). But this weekend already has been pretty good! Although I didn't really do anything for my birthday yesterday, I will tomorrow with an old-fashioned slumber party! YE-AH! Plus today, I was able to go over to my grandparents house to see them. My grandma and I share the same birthday (pretty exciting!), so we gave her her card and I was able to see my grandpa and aunt :) After that though was awesome because I always love spending time with family. Although, I do have to admit that I get stressed out when 1. I have to make a decision about where to go out to eat and 2. when I think about how much money my parents have to spend to take all 7 of us out (thanks Mom! Love you :) ) AND thanks Mom for my delicious cookie cake!

the best kind of cake ever made.

This weekend was also productive because I finished two things I've been working on for a while. First off, I finished the fifth Harry Potter! YAY! I really really liked it, but I don't quite know if it beats the third. PLUS, Sara informed me that in addition to her reading a Jodi Picoult and Nicholas Sparks book because I'm reading all of the Harry Potters, I could also add a Stephen King book to the list. Now, I have to decide on The Green Mile or The Shining (I'm currently leaning toward The Shining). Second, I finally finished my painting. I did the background a couple of months ago, so I'm glad that I can hang it up now and not look at the canvases sitting on my floor. The painting though, is very plain, which for some reason is what I think most of my paintings are.

the background

the flowerish thing i added (i dont quite know what you would call it)

how it will hang on the wall (when i pick a place)

Today, I received my first blog award :D It was the Happy 101 award from Chelsea Rebecca at TRIUMPHS and Blunders of a KOOKY Gal! Thanks :) I, too, am happy when you update! All of your posts are hilarious and always cheerful!

TASTY DINNER

FIRST DAY OF SPRING IN 20 DAYS!! YAY!
Spring = best season (hands down)

So for dinner tonight, I decided to make chicken pot pie. YUM. I love this stuff. It's not just the kind that you pop into the oven from the box, it's the kind you actually mix with your hands (fun).

This is also my first recipe that I'm posting on here!

Here's what you need:

> 2 deep dish pie shells
> 1 can of Veg-All (I use the original, salted kind)
> 1 can of green beans (kitchen cut work best)
> 1 can of corn
> 2 cans of shredded chicken
> 1 can of cream of potato soup
> an egg, beaten

You can probably make this in a ton of different ways, but I'll just write my method.

First, I mix the cream of potato soup with milk (probably about 1/4 cup, but I don't measure it).

Then, mix in salt, pepper, thyme, and poultry seasoning (we don't have poultry seasoning at the apartments so I use basil and oregano which works fine).

Drain the chicken. Squeeze it to get all of the liquid out of it and break it apart when you put it into the mixture with the cream of potato soup.

Drain all of the vegetables. Mix them into the mixture (I like to mix it with my hands, this way you don't smash any of the vegetables).

Dump the mixture into one of the pie shells. VERY CAREFULLY take the other pie shell out of the pan (an easy way is to get the sides off first, then flip it on top of the filled crust, and the bottom should come off pretty easily).

Now, brush the beaten egg on the shell (it will make it shiny and brown while it's cooking).

Last, but not least, pop it in the oven at 350° for about 40 minutes. You'll know when it's done because it will look at pretty and brown :)

plus equals

ENJOY!

PS: During midterms, this pie serves as very good comfort food :)