New Obsession

I guess I easily fall into obsessions. Way back in the day, it was New Kids on the Block, followed by Hanson. I was (and still am) a huge Harry Potter fan. My obsessions usually involve heavy internet stalking, blog reading, bio reading, etc. It's a full-on obsession.

And I officially have a new one.

Twilight.

Yes, you've probably heard about it. The movie came out a few weeks ago. I for one knew very little about the four-book series until a radio DJ was talking about it on his morning show, saying that he was really into it and was comparing it to Harry Potter (my ears perked up because like I said, HP is one of my obsessions!).

I didn't really think anything else about it until I went to lunch with two of my coworkers. One of them, for some reason (which I understand completely now) was talking about the books and I was asking her questions about it and all she could tell me was that it was incredible! She said that she bought the first one and couldn't put it down. And with that, I asked her if I could borrow the first book, 'Twilight', from her. She brought it to me the next week. And from there... I'm a believer.

I started book one on Tuesday and finished it Thursday, during Thanksgiving at my aunt's. I got into a very deep conversation with my 13 & 14-year-old cousins (don't judge!) about the book and the movie. Abby has the entire series and it took all of her not to give me every detail of the other three books... I had to shush her many times and do earmuffs to myself so I didn't hear of any details that would kill the final books for me!

She asked if I wanted to borrow the second book, 'Eclipse'... and while trying to make sure Matt didn't see (apparently since my new obsession began, I have talked very little to him because I have been doing nothing but reading!), I shook my head yes and ran away with book two!

Well... I started book two on Thursday and finished it early this morning.

I know, I know. You're thinking I'm insane. You can't believe that I would spend so much time reading a silly book series.

But you cannot dog on me until you go and read the first three chapters of 'Twilight'. If after that, you still think I'm insane, it will be fine to let me know! But not until then!

I'm going to the movie tomorrow night and cannot wait... though I'm worried for my husband. I have a huge crush on a certain vampire (yep, the books deal with vampires -- again, hold your tongue!) who is perfect and beautiful... only problem with him is that he likes to drink blood. But really, can I really hold that against him?! :)

SO.... when you get a chance, buy the book. You can get it for $5 in paperback almost anywhere. I personally will reimburse you $5 if you don't like the book and don't fall in love with Edward Cullen (in the movie, the Edward characte also played Cedric in Harry Potter... for those HP fans).

Now go find your nearest bookstore. Happy reading!

(PS. Meg, I know you have a secret passion for teenage love dramas -- Friday Night Lights, Gossip Girl. You must go get this book and read when Stella is napping!)

Pic 1: 'Twilight' poster
Pic 2: I have a crush on a vampire. Do you see why?! :)

I'm so thankful for...

My husband of 3 months, but BF for almost 8 years (WOAH), my wonderful family, Coke products, Wrigley, the Clark's, Internet, antique stores, smart-ass humor, Harry Potter, cold weather, agenda planners, Christmas smells, paychecks (that I was just handed!), babies and two-year-olds, Manhattan, Sex & the City, cute coats, the Doty clan, cheap gasoline, online banking, wedding dress preservation, pilgrims, Fatcatrocks.com, text messages, phone calls from Annie, routines, Christmas music, paid-off credit cards!, Dillon's, work holidays, a clean house, 320 and our little mascot baby, Kappa's young and old (meaning my friends and Lauren's friends!), my little Grand Am that made it through four years of hell, memories, Hanson, snow, Sedan, hot tubs, Facebook, the Muppets, traditions, K-State, lake houses, Bob, Sports Daily, Mac computers, Aunt Sherron's goolash and on time flights.

I didn't even go back and look at my list from last year!

I am very blessed and very thankful for the life that I have... I should probably pinch myself every day! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tis the Season...

Yes, it is still November... I know. And I also know that we still haven't celebrated Thanksgiving. But I decided that today would be the day I dig out all of my Christmas decorations and get to work. Matt and I are leaving on Wednesday to go home and won't be come back to Wichita until Sunday. For that reason, I feel that it was OK to start putting up the Christmas deco's!

It was quite the productive weekend... We cleaned the basement yesterday afternoon (because we decided that we should really start to make an attempt to finish it sometime in the near future!), which entailed LOTS of sweeping and cleaning of all the dust and 'extra stuff' that fell to the floor while the ceiling and walls were worked on in August. We decided we are not the smartest human beings in the world when we came upstairs to see our entire house coated in white dust (we had the shop vac on in the basement and it stirred everything up which traveled upstairs!). I was trying to not have a nervous breakdown (since I'm a CLEAN FREAK and I had just cleaned that morning!). I waited until this morning to get out the wet vac and get to work!

Once I got the floors cleaned, I decided to rearrange the furniture so we'd have a good spot for our Christmas tree ... after some careful planning, I started moving! Rearranging furniture, decorating and cleaning are my versions of f-u-n!!! :) I spent the majority of the morning and early afternoon doing those three things and in the end, I think it turned out pretty well! I have some things I still want to do to the outside to spice it up - looks a bit drab! But I'm pretty content with the inside. I have a few of the cylinder vases to get from mom's next weekend to bring back and fill with ornaments and after that, I should be done!

Next up, Christmas tree shopping. Matt asked if I'd just like to cut one down. I said, "You mean from a Christmas tree farm? FUN!" He replied with, "Uh... it would be from a farm!" I'm not sure I want to make an attempt at searching for a tree at Hillcrest Farms... that's why God invented Christmas tree farms... or Lowe's (that is now conveniently located about a block from our house).

Happy decorating!

I Know... It's bad...

I do realize that my obsession with reality TV is a bit ridiculous. I have already confessed my love for 'The Bachelor' & 'The Bachelorette' (sidenote: did you all see that Jesse and DeAnna broke up? GO FIGURE!) and I'm an avid 'Hills' watcher (why, I have NO idea, other than that the show is my maiden name!). I have a love for Bravo TV, especially when it comes to 'Project Runway', which unfortunately is moving to Lifetime and I'm just not sure if it will be the same. But I have also been one to flip channels and land on 'The Real Housewives of...'.

I think I'm just intrigued (and envious) of these people who have so much money that they don't really know what to do with it, except brag about it and exploit it on national television. The latest version of 'The Real Housewives' was set in Atlanta, which is why I found the article below so fascinating... seems as if the housewives aren't as friendly or have as much money as they make us believe. I know... lying on reality TV?! :)

http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/how-real-are-the-real-housewives--40

Enjoy, you secret reality TV lovers!

Christmas Memories

Most people know that my two favorite holidays are Christmas and my birthday... celebrating Jesus and celebrating me! :)

Christmas time has always held a special place in my heart, though. Growing up, every year was the same... the Texas crew would roll into town a few days before Christmas. We'd wait at grandma's door all day long until they actually pulled up and from that point on, we only left grandma's to sleep, shower and change clothes. The rest of the time was spent together with the family. We'd do a cousins outing (which meant trying to squeeze 10 bodies into one suburban ... poor Neil was always sent to the trunk!) to Tulsa usually on the 23rd and on the 24th, everyone (Barnes and Hills clans) would come to our house for soup and sandwiches before we went to Christmas Eve mass. Christmas morning we would wake up early, open gifts with the parents and siblings, wait for the Hills side of the family to arrive, eat breakfast and open gifts, then off to grandma's for the rest of the day.

It was a tradition.

That tradition has evolved a bit since those wonderful days. Our Texas crew no longer makes the 11-hour car ride up for Christmas and there is no more waiting at grandma's door. Our Tulsa trip has been downsized to a Bartlesville trip that usually consists of me, Jordan, Lauren, Daniel, Will and Neil (always the trooper!). Christmas day has found us going to a movie in Bartlesville in the afternoon because we don't know what to do with ourselves!

Now, it may sound like I'm complaining about the change. Yes, I do get sad sometimes thinking about the transformation of our tradition, but when I think about why I have enjoyed the tradition so much, it all goes back to family. I am blessed to be apart of such a large, loving and happy family.

I do hate that we are not all able to be together around the holidays like in the past and do get sad thinking that my precious baby cousins - Annie, Luke and Stella - probably won't come to Sedan for a Christmas, but we are still able to carry out most of our traditions such as Christmas Eve dinner and the cousin trip. I will continue to call Seth when we take our Bartlesville trip and whine about how he needs to be there to be the head honcho -- I don't like being in charge and I'm only dealing with about 5 people. Him and Meg had double that and never lost their minds when ordering seven Happy Meals, three quarter pounders - one with cheese, one without onion and ketchup and eight cokes, one orange juice and one Dr. Pepper.

So... whatever your traditions are around the holidays, cherish them. They might not be around forever, but the memories will be!

Merry Christmas... a little early! :)

PS. This all stems from Wichita radio stations beginning their Christmas music playing yesterday! Don't tell Jenna, though -- she is very against Christmas anything pre Thanksgiving!

Check 'er out!

My mom is famous!

'Faith at a Crossroads'

http://www.ksn.com/news/extra/34463879.html

One Great Night...

When I heard they were coming to town, the first person I alerted was Jenna, since her birthday was on Monday and I thought this would be a great way to celebrate! Unfortunately, Jenna was unable to attend. But then Lauren stepped in and decided to come down so I'd have someone to go with. She was also a big fan back in the day so it wasn't like she was being forced. Yes folks... we saw Hanson last night!

First, I must say this: I definitely reverted back to my 14-15 year old days when they actually came on stage last night. I've been to many concerts in my lifetime and have never been one to have a freakout moment... but when it is your favorite boy band from a time in your life when your heart would melt whenever you heard them, you are allowed a freakout moment (mine involved high knee kicks and prancing around Lauren while screaming!).

BUT... I also must say that there are people in this world that are MORE freakish than I when it comes to Hanson. Some girls decked their car out in Hanson symbol drawings, others wore very little clothing on their overweight bods and jumped up and down, while pumping their fists in the air and jumping on Lauren's feet the entire night! I can officially say I was not one of those girls! But I do appreciate their love for them and am happy that Hanson still has a following ... might be strange girls, but hey, it's a following!

Lauren and I got there a little early and listened to the opening acts. One band was a bunch of major tools that actually brought up the election and asked who voted for Obama (seriously, do they not know where they are?!!!) and the next group was pretty fantastic! His name is Matt Wertz ( in case you want to check him out) and he played acoustic with a buddy... seriously had goose bumps through every song he played, which to me always signals 'good singer'!

Finally, Lauren and I finished our drinks (very strange to be able to drink at a Hanson concert -- the last time I saw them, I was about 6 years away from the legal drinking age and now I'm about 6 years past the legal drinking age)! We moved to the side so I could try and get picture of them when they walked from their dressing room to the stage. Once they walked out, I was jumping up and down too much to get a shot of them walking on! :)

In the end, we had an awesome time! They played alot of their new stuff, but also alot of their oldies -- Mmmbop, Where's the Love, I Will Come to You, Penny and Me, If Only ... such a good time! Taylor (who officially does NOT look like a 14-year-old girl anymore ... PS. I NEVER thought he looked like a girl!) thanked everyone for sticking with them for 10 years ... Almost made me shed a tear for a few reasons: I can't believe it was that long ago that I was carrying my discman all around Hawaii listening to only Hanson all day every day , I can't believe that I'm married to Matt and not Taylor Hanson and I hope that 10 years from now, I'm still jumping up and down for them (and trying not to break a hip!).

Another Update

Update 1: I have a job! :) I accepted the communications manager position with Wichita Festivals and start on Monday. I'm really excited to a) have a job b) return to the working world c) still only have to be at work by 9! d) be working towards a project I actually care about! I think it will be a great place to be!

Update 2: I successfully helped out with the Clark family cattle sale! I can honestly tell you I had no idea what was going on, but was proud to be apart of it. Though I'm not sure if I was cut out to be a farmer's wife, I do know that Matt and I were ready to go back to the farm once we got back home. Life is not fast-paced there. It's a nice break from the real world!

Update 3: Apparently as of 45 minutes ago, K-State's head football coach announced that he is resigning from his position. I'm not quite sure my thoughts on this. On one hand, he has been here for only three years and is losing only three seniors from this year's team so next year could be a breakout season. On the other hand, I have not seen anything that shows improvement week to week. I'm not a big fan of change, but I am atleast big enough to say when something isn't working and try to improve, switch up or adjust to become better. I haven't felt that coach Prince has really done that ... he just says, "We played badly and it's my fault." It will be hard to find anyone to replace Bill Snyder and I feel badly that Prince had to be the man to try and follow in his footsteps. Hopefully, we can finish the season on a high note for his sake and look to the future to find the best fit to bring K-State football back!

Update 4: I did cast my ballot for the second time in my life yesterday afternoon. Luckily, I went after the lunch crowd and did not wait in line. I had sent in for an advance voting ballot and it arrived in my mail yesterday, which was not helpful! So, I voted ... and though the election of the president did not go as I had hoped, listening to Obama's speech last night gave me hope. It also just reminded me of what an amazing speech writer he must have --- that was me being a pessimist I suppose, but anyone can talk the talk (especially him since he is such a wonderful speaker). I just hope he can walk the walk! I will say this though ... I do believe in the power of the vote. I don't think I would have said it ever before, but I get it now. It was very cool to be apart of that election yesterday!

That is all for now! Everyone enjoy the rest of their week!