What if Cartoons Got Saved?

I thought today would be a good day to take a break and listen to a song!

I have been listening to a Christian music station for the last several months on my way to and from work.  It has been super therapeutic for me.   Isn't it funny how there are times when just the right song comes on and it can completely change your mood?  I'd had a particularly stressful week a while back and this song came on.  It turned me from a stressed out mess, to a happy carefree girl - even if it was only temporary. 

I hope you enjoy this as much as I do... turn up your speakers!

I especially like the end:
"...Now there's a point to this Looney-Tune,
I'm not an Animaniac, But there's a lot of praisin' to do,
But cartoons wern't made for that, It's our job!
Yeah, so let's sing hallelujah!"

You cannot help but smile when you listen to this song - and what a wonderful blessing a smile can be!

New Appliance and Green Eggs & Ham

We recently bought a 1/2 a pig from Ashley's dad, so we've been eating a lot of pork lately. I can't believe how much I like it!  I've never been a big pork eater, but this is GOOD.

To accommodate the pork and the beef we have coming in a couple of months, we needed a new freezer for the garage.  So, out with the old....

In with the new...

We have about 125 pounds of pork in here! 

With all the extra pork, I've been trying to get creative with ways to cook it.  I like Dr. Seuss. So... a few mornings ago, I decided green eggs and ham were appropriate.

The eggs turned out REALLY green, so it made them a little hard to eat. They bright yellow plate didn't help.  It tasted just like regular scrambled eggs, but putting eggs that color in your mouth seemed strange.

Maybe this will be something I do for my kids one day...

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Of course I'm talking about Christmas time!


This is absolutely my favorite time of the year.  I love all things Christmas - the lights, the shopping, the Salvation Army bell ringers, the presents, the decorations, the music.  Oh, the music.  I wake up every morning and take a shower to Pandora's Christmas songs on my iPhone.  A perfect way to start the day.


I haven't completely decorated my house yet - that will later today. But I did help my sister with her decorations and Christmas tree.

My sister, Christine, and her Christmas tree

Christine loved this close up of her ornaments - so pretty!

Have you put up your decorations yet?

Birthday Fun!

I'm a little behind on posting this...last Sunday, 11/18 was Ashley's birthday.

To celebrate the special occasion, on Saturday we went to Eischen's in Okarche, OK. This is the oldest bar in Oklahoma and it truly is a hole in the wall.  They are a no frills establishment, but boy is their chicken good.. check this out.

Notice that there are no plates, we are eating off of wax paper.  They serve their soda in a can (of course I drank beer), and if you want a condiment outside of ketchup - forget it.  

Me and the birthday girl

I picked up specialty cupcakes from the Cupcake Lounge.  They didn't last long enough for me to get a good picture of all of them. This one is a cherry limeade cupcake.

Eischen's has become a favorite for us - and even caught the attention of Guy Fieri from the Food Network. Attached is footage from his visit.

After we left Eischen's, the girls headed to the movie theater for the long awaited finale of the Twilight series - Breaking Dawn Part 2.

This is Ashley and her mom - they are pointing at their Breaking Dawn t-shirts.  

It was a really great movie - I liked this one even better than the others.  Another great weekend, Happy Birthday, Ashley!

Food, Black Friday and Family

Food, Black Friday and Family..

We usually do a traditional Thanksgiving with James's family - but this year we agreed to go to a local restaurant, Chequers.  They had a Thanksgiving special - it covered most of the traditional Thanksgiving items and was apparently all you can eat.

                    

Luckily they accepted reservations, so we only had a to wait about 15 minutes as opposed to the 2.5 hr wait people had at Golden Coral. The best part of eating out.. we didn't have to clean a single dish!   

After a big lunch, I went home to take a nap in preparation for Black Friday (or gray Thursday, whichever) shopping!! I was so excited I don't think I got even 5 minutes of sleep.  Before I knew it, it was time to go!

We started at Walmart at 7pm... here's a glimpse of what it looked like. Pallets of product down the aisles.  Since Ashley and I are Olympian Black Friday goers, of course we knew where everything would be... movies next to produce, toys next to electronics, cookware next cards, etc.

People were lined up by their favorite products.  Walmart workers
 were everywhere protecting items in the plastic wrap until 8pm.

We had this in our cart well before 8pm. We felt like
 rebels for loading it up early. 

Next stop, Target.  Oh man... I think everyone had the same game plan as us.  Seems like the same people we stood in line with at Walmart, we were standing with at Target.  This is not a 24x7 Target, so we had to wait outside for the doors to open.  We couldn't have asked for better weather though. Last year it was SO cold - below 32 degrees cold.  It's been unnaturally warm for November so far.

The line outside lasted: 45 minutes.  
The line inside to check out: 1.5 hrs!

We went to Sears, Kohls and Ulta too!  Since Black Friday started so early on Thanksgiving day, we were home by 1:30am, but I was beat. Despite being so worn out from shopping, I didn't sleep well. So I laid around until nearly noon before getting ready for Thanksgiving, round 2.

We went to my aunt's house in Norman for dinner with my family - I didn't get a picture of the food, but it was delicious!  My mom brought the egg noodles we'd made the weekend before.  That's right, homemade egg noodles, YUM!

Me with my cousin Megan

I swung by Bass Pro Shop on my way home to pick up a couple of items. That place was packed! They had a really cool set up for pictures with Santa.  I too old for pictures with Santa? I hope not.

I'm not sure what the occasion was, but on my way back to my car, there were fireworks - and I. LOVE. FIREWORKS!

I can't ever seem to get a good picture of fireworks..
must be a lighting issue.

Hope everyone has enjoyed the last couple of days - I love this time of year!

Thanksgiving is Here!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Today started early for me because my cell phone's alarm is set to go off every week day at 6am.  Thursday is a weekday, but it is also a holiday... shouldn't my iPhone know this!  Oh well, if that's the worst thing that happens, it's a pretty darn good day.

Following suit with some of my blogging friends, I think it's appropriate to reflect on some things I am  thankful for.

• Oklahoma will have pretty nice weather today - high of 75! The 4-day weekend is really great too!
• BLACK FRIDAY! Ashley and I start our adventure tonight :)
• Awesome friends - I've been blessed with the best friends that I've had for YEARS.  It's a pretty rare thing for people to remain so connected after high school and college. Even if we don't talk for a while or live hundreds of miles away from each other, we pick back up right where we left off without skipping a beat.
• Necessities.  The holidays always bring awareness to me that not everyone has the things that they need.  I'm very thankful to have a home and job. 
• Family - just like other families, we have some disfunction - but we own it and stick together. I love them so much!

What are some things you're thankful for?

A Weekend Away

The last couple of weekends, I've been really busy being everywhere but home.

I caught up on some time with Adriana (college roommate). This was a well thought out trip because our schedules always conflict. We seriously planned this 2 months out.  Anticipating my arrival, Adriana found a painting class for us to go to on Friday.  Friday's are pretty tricky for me because it is a 50/50 chance whether or not I can make it out of work on time.  Naturally, because I'd tried so hard to leave on time, everything that could have gone wrong at work - did.  I left 2 hours later than scheduled and then ran into this...

I was so behind that Adriana had to get started on my painting without me while I drove to Tulsa.  It ended up working out and being so much fun! We drank beer and painted.  The room was filled with about 50 painters - it was a really cool atmosphere, mostly 20 and 30 somethings, super laid back.  Right up my alley to wind down a stressful week.

We found that we don't take direction too well, but our pictures turned out okay.

The next day we relaxed, went to the movies, then shopping, then to this awesome new bar called Valkarie.  They had the coolest setup - it had a sophisticated look and they made drinks with beakers and eyedroppers. What more could you ask for?! Adriana and I indulged in a hot mulled wine. So good.

You can't really tell here, but this is piping hot and has a cinnamon stick in it. Perfection.

I was trying to take this picture without looking like a tourist.

Check out the size of their ice cubes!

We will be going back there next time I'm in Tulsa.   We had such a great time - I really miss being roommates with Adriana.  I could not have asked for a better weekend!

Pumpkins

I've gotten some feedback that if I don't start posting soon - my readers are going to stop coming by... so, I'll be posting some updates.

Let's go back to preparations for Halloween.   The weekend before, my niece Olivia came over - we had a lot of fun!

We started with a pumpkin shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's (take-and-bake).  If you look closely, you can see the pumpkin stem on top. I thought it was super festive.

Then, we moved on to pumpkin decorating! We opted out of the messier carving routine and stuck with paint and glitter.  The kids loved it!

Serious concentration from Kaylynn (Ashley's daughter)

Glitter too!

Olivia's final masterpiece

For Halloween night, I went to my moms.  Halloween is her favorite holiday and she loves to shower the kids with candy and toys.  Here is the "2nd string" bags.  Her 1st string bags had more toys in it.

Full size candy bar, fruit snacks, various smaller candies, and toys.
Jackpot in our town!

Hope everyone enjoyed Halloween!

Grad School

Remember how I told you I'm considering going back to get my Master's degree?  A couple of weeks ago, I went to see the academic advisor at Oklahoma Baptist University.  One of the things I requested was to be able to observe a class - and she got me set right up. I went to a Corporate Law session and it was so interesting. I felt like I was right back in college! Although, it wasn't completely like it because I had to get up and go to work the next day - Lame.

I was able to get up and leave at any time, but I stayed to whole class.  Until 10pm!  It was good for me to experience what it would be like to go straight from work to class, then bed.  Makes for a long day.

First things first, I've got to get started on studying for the GMAT. Wish me luck!