feast it all...(just go with it)

This Thanksgiving was a landmark....my fam was not physically in the same place for this holiday...which was a first. Somehow every year up until now, we've managed to celebrate Thanksgiving together (even if it meant transporting an entire feast from my parent's house to my one-bedroom apartment in Dallas)...but this year, it just wasn't possible.  My younger bro was stuck working in Florida, and my older bro and sister-in-law got to spend the holiday with him.

Which left me and my folks at home.  For the most part, it wasn't super different.  We spent Thanksgiving lunch with my grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousin...and ate way too much food (which is definitely not out of the norm).  But I honestly missed having the other 3 around.

Overall, my dad and I watched way too much football...while my mom read (a lot)....and somewhere in the low-key mix we squeezed in a listen.read.love.repeat. event (and raised over $600 for the American Cancer Society) for the hometown crew.   :)

Speaking of football...college football teams beware...literally every team I was pulling for this past weekend lost! Oklahoma State, Alabama, LSU and (most of all) my Longhorns...they ALL lost. Plus I was kinda anti-Oregon as well, but not really pro-Arizona (#1 just can't really support a team coached by anyone that has the last name Stoops, #2 we won't go there)....so add that to the list however you see fit.  [I mainly wanted to see what the rankings would look like if Oregon and Auburn both lost.]  Maybe I need to use some reverse-psychology and start supporting the team I actually want to lose.

Funny side note, I finished reading this month's book club book ("Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?") during my time at home....and I'd been told before I started reading that the movie "Blade Runner" was based off this book. As I got into the book I was highly confused, because I didn't see how the book and movie were connected...turns out tonight that the movie reference I had in my head was "Blade"....not "Blade Runner"....apparently very different!

PS - It's kinda become a tradition from me to make a Thanksgiving Mix for the long drive home...this year's mix was entitled "feast it all...(just go with it)"...thought I would share:





A few fun facts...
1. The mix not only includes a Cee Lo Green cover of the Band of Horses song "No One's Gonna Love You"....but I also threw in "Georgia" which Band of Horses covered from Cee Lo Green's album (apparently they liked the cover he did of their song so much that they returned the favor).

2. I literally thought that the chorus to "Pyro" (by Kings of Leon) said "I won't ever be a porno star" when what he really says is "I won't ever be your cornerstone"....don't judge...listen to the song, and just tell me what you think he's saying!

3. The song "How He Loves" by David Crowder Band pretty much brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it...simply beautiful.

blegh

Ever had one of those days where you just should've stayed in bed....well, it's been one of those weeks for me.

After an already long week, which has included my car being towed from our work lot while I was working overtime, a water moccasin situation during our event set-up and all other kinds of fun...today has been no exception.

First let me just note that currently all is not right in my head...
a. I'm sick...like for real (this is what I get for joking about calling in sick during tournament season)
b. After the past couple of weeks, I honestly have no concept of what weekday it may or may not be

This morning I went into the office to assist in putting together our Volleyball program. When things started to slow down a little, I got the bright idea that I would run downstairs and unload the office suburban (which was fully loaded with Cross Country supplies). This would have been an excellent move if I had not:

a. left my key to the office on my desk on the 3rd floor
b. left my phone in my purse beside my desk on the 3rd floor
c. forgotten that our office doors automatically lock on the weekends (of course, I remembered this just as the door shut behind me)

Which left me outside, in the cold and sick. After yelling, beating on the doors until my hand was too bruised to continue, honking the league car no less than 18 times and waking up every dog in the neighborhood, I gave up and laid down in front of our back door. After a generous amount of time passed (and thoughts of going door-to-door in our eastside neighborhood to beg to use a phone, running down Manor to track down a cop on patrol, or pushing a UT emergency phone button, etc), a coworker finally came down to check on me.

Being the angel that she is, she promptly sent me home.

After I thaw out a little, take some meds and sleep some more...I think I'll feel like a brand new person...or at least regain a little common sense.

happy wizarding-world-of-disney halloween!

This past weekend, I got to fly over to Orlando to see my younger bro and catch up with a friend...this of course was only made better by a trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Islands of Adventures, Epcot's 15th annual Food & Wine Fest, a little time in the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween and a truly awesome gospel brunch with Apostle J.L. Cash at the House of Blues. 

VACATION WIN (times 3)

1. Captain EO!  I don't know who was able to pull together the genius of Michael Jackson, George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola with a cameo of Anjelica Huston thrown in the mix...but someone at Disney in the 1980's must have been a smooth talker, because they accomplished just that.  I vaguely remember seeing Captain EO back in the 80's, but it was a real treat to watch it again as an adult. It is completely over the top for a short Disney 3-D experience film...but that's what makes it so great. Think Star Wars meets The Dark Crystal merged with the Michael Jackson Thriller video. Check out the clips below, and you'll see what I'm talking about:



I can pull off the open-jacket-fling, but my moon walk needs a little work...



2. Free candy...that's right I said FREE CANDY! Ok, maybe that's not technically true since there was an entry ticket involved...but Disney has "free" candy for those who come trick-or-treating in the park during "Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween" Party.  Some of my favorite costumes were a family dressed up as crayons (I really wish the dad had come as the crayon box...or that the parents had been primary colors, with the kid as a secondary color...), a guy wearing a shirt that said "i'm scarier without the costume"...which is my personal choice of costume, but my favorite was a dad with his little girl...she was a tiny toddler-size cinderella and he was dressed as prince charming...completely adorable as they walked hand in hand through the park.

 3. I was on vacation....duh!

VACATION FAIL

I was put on camera duty by my mom. So I brought two cameras...only to have a complete stranger (kindly attempting to take my photo) point out that I didn't have any memory remaining in my nicer camera. Oh no, the memory card wasn't full...I just didn't have one in the camera period. My "doh!" [hand slap to the forehead] moment of the trip. Which left me with the point-and-shoot. Thought I got a few pretty nice pics despite my limitations. :)

Plus I also committed a major faux pas....at least in the world of all things sci-fi.

I cross-referenced Star Trek and Star Wars unintentionally.  Basically I made the "live long and prosper" sign,  yet said "may the force be with you"..... my bro in turn gave me a look of utter disgust. I don't know what the problem is....like Miley Cyrus would say, it's the best of both worlds!

[a comment I'm sure that will even further disgust my brother....even though he secretly loves Miss Hannah Montana] ;)

I'm back with an attack!

My mom seems like a quiet, unassuming person....which for the most part she is....until you get to know her, and then she's a little cheekier than expected. Kinda like me I guess....must be in the genes.

Anyways....my parents are coming to move all my listen.read.love.repeat. inventory back to my hometown soon, and it made me think of a pretty funny story from the evening prior to my Austin event.

My mom and I left my crew of faithful friends/fam back at the apartment to run an errand. We parked at the HEB, took care of our mission, and started back to the car.  My mom managed to make it inside the car, but as I was walking to the driver's side...things went a little awry.

Looking back on the situation, I would have noted that the couple hurriedly rushing past me trying to shield their baby acted in this manner for a specific reason. Instead I continued on...it wasn't until I opened the driver's side door that I realized I had just walked into in swarm of bees. Not wanting to draw the bees into my car, I started running around the car like a crazy woman. Worst part of this all was that I initially ran straight towards the couple with the baby...serious no-no!  So then I had to retreat and jump in the car as fast as possible. My mom was laughing so hard that she was crying, and the only words she could manage to get out were: " hahahaha....bees....haha.....coming out [gasp] of your....purse!"

[Apparently from her angle, it looked like the multitude of bees apparated out of my purse...and yes I casually just used a Harry Potter reference.]

When we got back to my apartment, she couldn't even make it through the story without cracking up.  My mom had a lot of fun reliving this story for the rest of the weekend...especially since she said that watching the whole scenario was pretty much like watching an old school cartoon.  I can admit now that it was pretty hysterical....especially when I think about the parents of the baby running from me as I ran towards them.
oops.

Notes to take from this:
1. When I encounter creatures from the wild (in this case bees...past experiences give insight into encounters with snakes, possums, armadillos, etc), logic leaves the picture and insanity enters. Catch a video of my response and you may have a viral hit on your hands!
2. My mom has a 'mean girl' sense of humor (ie. she finds my panic-driven-knee-jerk response to "danger" extremely funny)! ;)

blogging hiatus

Hi Friends!

At the moment, my creativity is zapped, my thoughts are completely jumbled and I'm feeling a little emotionally over-exposed....so instead of writing some "filler" posts, I think I'm gonna take a short(ish) blogging hiatus.

I hope to be back in a month or so with a refreshed point of view and interesting stories to relay.

With hugs and awkward dancing,
B