happiness

Sometimes, all it takes to make me happy on a Saturday afternoon is sparkly nail polish, a stack of magazines, a new ring, & mini-red velvet cupcakes.

Last week, we had two big snowstorms, so I only had to go to school one day! We watched movies, drank coffee, trekked through the snow to get takeout & went sledding everyday. Last night, we braved the roads, & I took my love out for his belated birthday dinner. Then we went to see a movie with my family. It was such a wonderful week & weekend!

A little vacation in Louisiana.

{Spanish moss at the St. Francisville Inn}

This past week, I went down to St. Francisville, Louisiana with Richard, which is where he will be working for the next two weeks. I'll be honest; I've never really been a fan of Louisiana. I'm not big on humidity, swamps, alligators, or land so flat that you can see for miles (gotta have my mountains in sight!). But this trip changed my mind a teeny, tiny bit. I'm definitely not considering relocating, but I kind of fell in love with the historical homes, Spanish moss, and soul food (fried chicken, collard greens, cornbread, oh my). Plus, I'm all about a change of scenery from time to time.

{This is what happens on a Friday night in St. Francisville. In a town with 1,500 people, no Walmart, and only three restaurants, you kind of have to make your own fun.}

{We passed by this cute church on an evening walk through downtown Jackson.}

{My love at the Magnolia Cafe. We loved their crawfish salad and Mag special sandwich.}

{And guess what we did on Saturday night! Yep.}

{Beautiful Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge just before dusk.}

{That place is huuuuge.}

{Downtown Baton Rouge is lovely.}

{Byeee, Baton Rouge. Byeee, Richard.}

goals.

I'm not a big fan of making New Year's resolutions. It's just that I can never seem to keep them. There have been so many years that I've said I would get in excellent shape, become more organized, get all A's... and those things just never happened! Although I'm not big on resolutions, I believe in setting realistic, achievable goals; for me, it is the best way to accomplish things that are important to me without being too harsh on myself.

Here are a few things that I hope to accomplish this year and practice throughout my life:

1. Stop worrying so much. I'm a worrier, and I tend to worry about things that a) don't matter or b) are way beyond my control. It is such a self-destructive habit, and this year I'm going to work on not stressing out over insignificant things.

2. Get healthier. I need to exercise more, eat better, drink more water (and less sweet tea), and take my vitamins every day. I want to live a full, long life, and there is no better time than the present to develop healthier habits.

3. Be a better sister, daughter, granddaughter, girlfriend, friend. I think I am a good sister already, but I know that I need to be an even better role model for my little sisters who are 9 and 12. Plus, I want to spend as much time with them as possible before they grow up and realize they are far cooler than I will ever be.

4. Be more giving of myself. I believe our purpose in life is to serve each other, and I don't feel like I have been serving anyone but myself lately. It is time to forget about myself for awhile and focus on the needs of others.

5. Spend more time in prayer and studying scriptures. Everything else will follow.

Give thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving week! This is my second favorite week of the whole year... I'm so happy it's finally here! I'll be visiting my family for the next week- sooo excited to see all of them, eat turkey & dressing, & score some great deals at 4 am on Black Friday (yes, I'm one of those people)!

Here are a few things that I'm incredibly thankful for: my Heavenly Father, my love, my weird family, my even weirder friends, cold weather, Tetris, the blogs I read daily that give me so much inspiration, sweet tea, red lipstick, & all of the silly little things that I take for granted every single day.

What are you thankful for? Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with the ones you love the most!

update.

i have kind of fallen in love with my state this autumn. especially the mountains- the views here are so beautiful. and the trees! i have never seen such beautiful reds, golds, oranges, and yellows on fall trees like the ones we've seen this year.

thanksgiving is so soon. i'm so excited to eat fried turkey (yesss, fried) and sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes and casserole and all of grandmother's cooking and pumpkin desserts.... i make myself so hungry sometimes.

i have exactly 14 classes left until the end of the semester. bring on the winter and snow and christmas (and good grades, please)!

i'm happy that i have friends who will play apples to apples with me all day & night, watch youtube until 3am, and wander around walmart looking at baby clothes & kitchen gadgets. yes.

i love taco john's queso and churros. the end.

Is it really only Monday? It must be at least Thursday, right?

Today I am:

*thankful for hot tea with lemon and honey, Nyquil/Dayquil, Robitussin, Vick's Vapor Rub Patches (have you seen those? brilliant!), warm blankets. It's my third time being sick in a month, and I've got a serious smoker's cough (and I don't smoke).
*thankful for my love. This has been one bad month, and I'm not certain that I would still be sane without his love, support, and kind words.
*thankful that my love doesn't make fun of me for saying funny things in my sleep.
*thankful for soup, sweet tea (always), Wendy's Frosties, Momma's Mexican cornbread.
*thankful for the new Taylor Swift cd. Yes, I'm one of those people.
*thankful for the movie Elf. Sophomore year, I watched it every single day for about a month. While getting ready for school in the morning, after school, late at night, middle of the night...- oh yeah!
*thankful for my family. All of them. Momma, David, sisters, brothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. They are hilarious, supportive, honest, wise, caring, selfless, beautiful, and I love them very much.
*thankful for health insurance and Obamacare (on my parents' insurance until I'm 26? Thank you, sir).
*thankful for answered prayers. Nothing is more important or more amazing than that.

On the Road to L.A.: Route 66

And the road trip posts begin! On the night of July 12th, Kristal, Jaime and I loaded up Jaime's brand new Honda Pilot (and I do mean we loaded it up... pack rats, we are) and rolled out of town just before midnight. Before we even made it 60 miles to the state line, Kristal had a new nickname, and clothes started coming off (I promise, this is not as risque as it sounds). We drove all night, thanks to Red Bull, gas station coffee doctored up with just about fifty packs of sugar and ten ounces of half and half, and good music. We drove all the way through Oklahoma, stopping at sketchy gas stations throughout the night, and made it toAmarillo, Texas just after the sun came up. And we made sure to sing "Amarillo By Morning."

After a little nap and a shower, we slipped on our sundresses, grabbed ourselves some Starbucks (Starbucks will be a common theme in this road trip story) and hit the road. Oh, and Kristal made sure to sing "On the Road Again" every single time we hit the road! Before getting out of Amarillo, we stopped at the Cadillac Ranch, which is a sad, rundown, muddy place, but we loved it.

We only drove 400 miles that day, because we took Route 66 for much of the way and stopped in lots of cute nearly abandoned towns to photograph old motels and restaurants. Route 66 is magical! It's such a unique part of history, and I'm so happy that I was able to experience it. We drove through the rest of Texas and made it to Tucumcari, New Mexico before dusk. Tucumcari is such an intoxicating Route 66 town. The motels and restaurants there are classic, picture perfect little places.

We continued to drive through New Mexico. We ate the best burgers and fries of our lives at a gas station in New Mexico. We also met a mean old man at a gas station and saw a crumbly, broken old church in New Mexico. We saw the lowest clouds ever in New Mexico! We stopped at Dunkin' Donuts for some necessary iced coffee and treats in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We really just loved New Mexico.

We stopped at a hotel in Gallup, New Mexico very late that night for some much needed sleep and a shower. Ohh, that's right, our shower DID NOT WORK. Insignificant things like broken hotel showers are what make life interesting, eh? I do believe so.

The Cadillac Ranch

Pssst. Don't let them fool you. They're not Caddies!

The Vega Motel in Texas

There was all kinds of pretty antique furniture outside of the Vega Motel. I wanted to take it all home with me!

The halfway point between Chicago and Los Angeles on Route 66.

Ugly Crust Pies!

This place was not so fabulous anymore. :(

"And this, dear friends, is how you do a cartwheel." Kristal, myself & Jaime in Texas.

Cutest motel I ever did see. Tucumcari, New Mexico.

Another abandoned Tucumcari motel. The beds were still made... very eerie. And the pool was full of grass.

Feetsies.

Busted church. Creeeeeps me out, still.

Oh, New Mexico.

(Sorry this is so long and detailed. I just love experiencing every moment of this wonderful trip all over again, and I feel like it's one of those stories where you NEED to know all the details to understand just how perfect it really was!)