Oh me, oh my..

Well. I officially only have one weekend left of summer. My last first day of school is next Monday. Craziness!!
Unfortunately, my summer was not spent executing those desired things from my bucket list. Hopefully this will not cause you to think I am one to not follow through with goals and things. I believe that I didn't have as much of an opportunity to cross them off my list solely because of work, summer classes, and trying to fit in everything else in between! I have only read one full book and started another. (Well, I read one for class but we won't allow that to count) I really am disappointed in myself that I couldn't at least do that one. Didn't make it to the Drive-In, didn't get to fish...didn't get to do a meal in my crockpot once a week (think that one might have been a little over zealous, no?).
But just because I didn't complete the things on my bucket list, doesn't mean I didn't enjoy my summer!! Went on an awesome vacation, got to watch my best friend marry her soulmate and had the honor of standing right next to her while she did it, enjoyed many dates with my man, celebrated another year of birth, hung out and caught up with friends, and had many days of relaxation. At times, there was boredom too and that never happens while in school!! It was actually pretty nice.
I also got to complete a few pinterest inspired crafts! I hope to complete a few more and make a whole post dedicated to them, though. :)

But I can't say that I'm sad to see the summer weather go. It was another hot Oklahoma one. And if you know me, you know that I am a fall and winter lover. The cooler temps, the colors, football, holidays...ahh. Bliss. And now that I am in my own house, I have been stalking the aisles of Hobby Lobby already, making a list of all my fall decor must-haves. Some roll their eyes at the fact that in June Hobby Lobby was starting to slowly put out fall and Christmas stuff...but I LOVE it! In fact, September 1st I am planning on putting up some of my fall decor. Gotta soak it all up and use every day to rock it that I can!! ;)

Stay tuned for that pinterest post and hopefully one regarding a little furry friend that we may be getting....!!

OBX 2012

Well, the long anticipated trip to Outer Banks, North Carolina has come and gone. And like I told myself I should do, I'm currently on the drive home with Cameron (he's driving of course) completing this blog.
(Just drove into Oklahoma...yay!)

As it was last time, OBX was a good time and still beautiful. But I think that that our group is "unseasonable." (lol) The first trip Cameron's family went on, they got run off by a hurricane. The next trip 2 years ago, my first trip to go on, we got run out by a hurricane. This time we went during the peak season to ensure that wouldn't happen again...instead we had a day of off and on rain, and 2 days of high winds and the "No Swimming" red flags flying high. But did any of these unplanned occurrences keep us from having a blast?? Absolutely not!! We made the most of it and still had a nice time simply hanging out and spending time with each other. One of the main goals of a family vacation, no? And many big and great memories were made!! For example:
The guys chartered a deep sea fishing boat for half a day and they all LOVED it! Came back with loads of fish for us all to enjoy and many funny stories. Some of them also did some kayaking which they enjoyed as well! Cameron's nephew, Henry, took some of his first steps, niece Mattie turned 10, Cameron caught a small shark...his mom and him cooked us all some chicken and fresh seafood paella that was delish....and a lot of us gathered to cheer on and watch OKC Thunder play the first two games of the finals. (Thunder Up!) We also found an awesome boutique called Plum Crazy where they had some really cool and funky local art. There is a picture of a pink wood heart- we bought that one and a longer, deeper colored one, along with two prints of paintings! Oh, and on our night to cook for everyone we did Breakfast for dinner- "Brinner," if you would. We made egg and bacon toaster cups that I saw on pinterest along with gravy to go with biscuits and sausage. I think everyone enjoyed it! There are many more, but as home in Oklahoma City is getting closer, my brain is being distracted by thoughts of taking a nice hot shower (we've been driving for 20+ hrs!) and collapsing onto my bed! 😉

One thing I personally enjoyed was getting to know and spending more time with Cameron's nieces and nephews. Shopping trips with Scout, looking for shells with Leif, Sam and Gunner, playing pretend games with Lilly, Blake and Bailey, loving on baby Henry and making him smile, playing "Where's My Water?" on the iPad with Rhoane, hanging out with and doing Mattie's hair, and playing with sweet Adeline and putting some makeup on her. They are all such great kids. My own niece and nephew are my life. I love the close relationship I have with them, and I hope to have a similar relationship, or just a good relationship in general, with his nieces and nephews.

Alright, on to pictures!! :) (I've never posted from my phone before so I'm not sure what order the pictures are going to come out in!)

Summer Bucket List

Randomly thinking about bucket lists and the idea of them, and decided I wanted to create one specifically for this summer. One of the first ones I thought about was blogging at least twice over the summer, so why not make a blog post about my bucket list?? (But I'm going to try not to count this as one of my two ;))

Summer of 2012 Bucket List:

- Finish 3 books (any suggestions appreciated!)

- Write my old daycare teacher, Miss Susan, a letter. Need to keep in communication with that wonderful person more- she had a huge impact on my life!

- Go fishing.

- Cook a meal in my crock pot once a week.

- Visit the Drive-In theater a few times...Take Grace to see one!

- Go to the zoo and (finally) see the new elephant exhibit.

- Have a house warming party for mi new casa!

And that about sums it up! Might as well do a quick recap on life lately- finished another semester (only one year left of school!), been doing a lot of fun wedding stuff for my best friend, Addie's, upcoming wedding, moved to OKC in a super cute house that I love, and anxiously awaiting vacation with Cameron's family to OBX, North Carolina! Also, thanks to his sister Coty, I've recently discovered the blogger iPhone app! So, I know that will help ensure I make my goal of two blog posts this summer, and a blog post about vacation is something I could do on the drive back!

Little Reminders

Last week while at work, a woman came up to my register ready to check out. She mentions that she is splurging on herself to celebrate. I asked her what she was celebrating and on that day, just hours before, she had found out she was cancer free for the first time in 10 years. As we were talking, she also shared with me that her husband and her were celebrating their 10 year anniversary soon. She found out 2 weeks before her wedding that she had cancer. If that wasn't heart grabbing enough, she later shared with me that she was convinced for a while that she wouldn't make it to her 30th birthday, which is at the end of this year. So to celebrate, they are going on a cruise. She said, "I didn't think I would make it to 30, but I am going to be there healthy and strong!" with a big smile on her face. While the impact of just reading this text may not be the same as experiencing it in the moment, believe me when I say it was a moment I will not soon forget. I was so overcome by her story that I had to keep the tears building up in my eyes from spilling over.

A couple of months back, while at work again, a couple came in with their little 2 year old boy. What made them different than the rest, was that this little boy was in a tiny wheelchair. His mom told me that every day of his life up until that very day, he had been carried or pushed around in a stroller. They had just got his new chair that morning. Didn't press for details, but it was apparent that his legs were paralyzed. His wheelchair was all decked out- light up wheels, his name across the back of the chair and on each wheel, the works. But the thing that made him stand out the most was the pure joy on his face. He was zipping and zooming throughout the entire store- you could tell that this new freedom was exhilarating. And that little boy's joy became our joy...Every one in the store couldn't help but have a smile on their face when seeing him ride around.

I feel so honored to have been apart of these two people's extremely special days. To them I highly doubt they will remember the person who rang their purchase up while shopping that day, but they left quite an impression on me. These two occasions along with others have made me check myself and my attitude on my life, and really be thankful for my health. I am also reminded of how blessed I am to have the people in my life that I do. My family, my boyfriend, my boyfriend's family, my friends, classmates, coworkers...I am also extremely thankful to have a Father who loves me unconditionally though I fall short of His glory.

I challenge you, dear reader, to think of at least one thing and one person you are thankful for. And to challenge you even further, tell that one person you thought of that you are thankful for them and why...or just give them a simple "I really appreciate you." I am going to hold myself accountable to this and try to do this daily. Thank you for reading, I hope this woman's and little boy's story may impact you like they did me!

Texas Sucks, Cake Pops, Halloween Party...

'Ello folks! Well, here I am to blog about what was promised last post! OU-Texas was a blast. Had such a great time and most definitely hope to go back next ye-ar! And it helped quite a bit that the Sooners stomped those Longhorns ;) (I'm gonna reminisce on that rather than this last weekend's game......:'( ) Here are a couple of pics from that weekend! Had so much fun with these people Friday night!Game day attire! Lovin' my new boots ;) Big smiles after we won!

About those cake balls I tried making.....Well, the first batch I made for my coworkers tasted great, but was a very frustrating process. My first mistake was making the actual cake balls too big, therefore making them too heavy to stay on the lollipop sticks. And the coating on the outside was very thick as well and it was difficult making it look nice and smooth. To improvise for them not being on the sticks, I had to end up just putting them in cupcake holders:Solution for my problems the first time? Make smaller cake balls and use vegetable shortening (like crisco) to mix in with the candy melts. It thins it out therefore making it much easier to coat and they end up looking a lot better. My plan was to make cute jack-o-lantern pumpkin cake pops for Cameron's family's Halloween party last weekend. That unfortunately did not happen. Why? Well for one I couldn't find an edible black food coloring pen anywhere to draw on the faces. And finding small green tic-tacs for the stems? Forget about it. I searched everywhere for them. No luck. (Of course now that I don't need them anymore I will probably see them everywhere.) So my solution? Buy black sparkly decorating gel, and have a couple of Cam's nieces decorate them! It ended up working out really well and I think everyone like them. :)Scout and Mattie decoratingIf you're interested on where I got my tutorial on how to make them, click here (The cute jack-o-lanterns I wanted to make are on there :( ) and watch this!

The Halloween party was so much fun. I'll post a few pictures here but if you want to see more and better quality pictures, visit Cameron's sister Coty's page!Creepy Couple alert! I was a Dia De Los Muertos Senorita and Cameron was a super creep ring leader guy.Cameron and his mom, Shelli. Every year they keep their costumes a secret from everyone and compete to see who can look the creepiest/scariest. Who do you think won??Coty and I..her and her family were pilgrims and indians...they looked SO cute.Cameron's other sister, Candice and her half cowboy, half cowgirl costume that she put together herself. LOVED it. So good!

Next week I'm planning on making the (hopefully) yummy chicken tortilla soup. Fingers crossed it's just as delish as McAlister's! ;) I'll try to remember taking pics of the process and posting about the final result. Until then, blogworld...

Slackin'...but not surprised.

Here we are, another 2 months later. Nothin' blog worthy has gone on I suppose. Had a birthday, got a job, another semester started. But blog worthy things are coming up, yes siree! For example, Cameron and I are going to OU - TX for the first time ever this year. So. Excited. And of course the holidays are approaching, and if you know me then you know that I am super pumped for that....and that I've had a Christmas countdown on my phone since around the "250 days to go" mark. (Don't hate my Christmas love.) I am going to make it a goal to blog more about the little stuff, too. Not just the big things. ;) Like during this fall (which has officially started today!), I plan on trying to make/cook/bake new seasonal things. And hopefully I'll be good about taking pictures and posting about it. My first adventure will be making Halloween cake pops! Inspired by this. Another one to follow shortly is to make chicken tortilla soup. This soup I have no doubt will become my staple during the cold weather. :)

Must get some sleep now, have to wake up and coat and decorate the trial run of cake pops I made tonight. Hope my co-workers enjoy them this weekend! I leave you with a picture I took today of the bright sun, blue sky and white clouds after a rainy morning.

Spa Night and July 4th..

So, let's start with Spa Night.

The night before we went to celebrate 4th of July in Stilly with their dad, I stayed the night with Cameron's sister Candice to do a spa night with her and her daughters, Scout (10), Mattie (9), and Lilly(3). Let's just say, I learned something very important from this experience...and I have a temporary hate for bananas. But we'll get to that later...
So, the night started with the hair mask!
Ingredients:
-2 tablespoons of olive oil
-1 banana
-1 tablespoon of honey
-1 egg
-2 teaspoons of plain organic yogurt (be sure to skip the flavored stuff!)

The directions we were given:
1. Mix all ingredients together
2. Apply on hair and cover with shower cap
3. Leave on for one hour
4. Shampoo and style as usual

Here are a few pictures of us looking pre-tty fancy in our shower caps.

Next were the facial masks!
Ingredients:
-1 tablespoon of oatmeal, finely grounded
-1 tablespoon of plain, organic yogurt
-A few drops of honey

Directions:
1. Mix the oatmeal and the yogurt together in a small bowl
2. Add the honey, mix again
3. Apply mask to face, leave on for 10 minutes, wash off with warm water

Top left: Scout; Top right: Lilly;
Bottom left: Mattie; Bottom right: Lilly and Scout relaxingTop left: Candice; Top right: Me
Bottom left: Lilly and Scout; Bottom right: Lilly

Alright, time for the lessons learned:
When doing the facial mask, be sure to warm it up first. Or else you feel like you are putting on a slimy, grimy, cold slather on your face! Not very relaxing at all. If you'll notice, Lilly doesn't have that much on her face because she could barely stand the feeling! Poor girl was shaking like a leaf lol
Aaand now for the hair mask lesson. *sigh* Okay, remember where it mentioned the bananas? Yeah, be sure to REALLY make sure they are completely liquidfied. As in, be sure to purée. Otherwise, you'll run into the problem we did: Small banana chunks stuck in your hair. One would think they would come out fairly easily, but oh no. Poor Scout has this beautiful naturally curly hair and I spent about an hour on her head alone trying to get it all out. And myself, I probably ripped out about half of my hair trying to get it out! Its funny now- not so hilarious then. But, now we have a good memory to go along with it. :)Left: Scout's hair with the banana; Middle: The tub with only half of the banana pieces from my hair alone; Right: My hair with the banana

4th of July!
For the fourth, I spent the evening with Cameron and his family at his dad's house in Stillwater. It was a bittersweet occasion, because his dad, step-mom, and younger brother and sister are moving to Wisconsin at the end of the month. But it was such a great time, everyone had a ball! There was delish smoked chicken, a major water fight followed by a silly string fight, watermelon, then later time for talking and simply enjoying the evening with family. In total, I believe there were about 19 people there in all...so a full house! But it was completely comfortable...and I love that they already make me feel like part of the family. (If any of you are reading, thank you for that!! <3)Two of Cameron's beautiful nieces, Scout and AdelineLet the water fight begin!!Smiles everywhere!
Catherine and Mattie attacking Cameron!CHARGE!
Grandpa Brent getting in on the water fight action!My favorite picture from the evening...water crashing as it meets in the middle from opposing sides. What makes it even cooler is its girl vs boy, sister(Scout) vs brother(Gunner)!The water fight gang! Love how Samuel (far right) is shooting off his gun...makes me wish now that I would've taken a picture with everyone shooting off their guns at the same time!
Adeline looooved the watermelon...Lilly liked it too! Double fisting it!Grandma Sue showing some of the kids old pictures of their parents
Cameron and his sweet little sister, Catherine
Some good-bye hugs...
(Grandpa Brent and Mattie)

Like previously stated, it was a seriously great night. Hoping the next large get together is sooner rather than later!!