If Kids Ruled the World

Y'all may or may not know this, but I don't always jive real well with little children.  I'm not sure how to talk to them; I'm not ever clear on what I'm supposed to be doing; I just don't ever feel entirely comfortable.  I don't say that to be harsh or cruel, for it's more a reflection of one of my own shortcomings than anything else.
There are a few selected children, however, that I really love.  I adore being around them, and I just love them.  Although I hope to one day find comfort in a broader range of kiddos, at the moment, most of these selected children belong to my immediate family. 
Allow me to introduce you to three of my favorites:

Banks, Anne Melton, and Worth, who belong to my cousin Courtney and her husband Thomas.
Banks is four and is the cutest little frat boy-in-training I've ever seen.  Look at that plaid button-down shirt and those corduroy pants, complete with his boots, of course (and that crossed leg, too).  Up until a few weeks ago, he had this perfect "frat boy swoop" hair, but he must have grown tired of those locks 'cause he gave himself a new do.  I, personally, love his new look, and I think he sports it awfully well.  Banks will have you in stitches with the hilarious stuff he says, too (and in the greatest drawl you've ever heard!).
Anne Melton is two and, as you can see, is the ballerina princess our family had been missing.  With a tutu like that (and the shoes, too!), I can't imagine there was any little lady who looked prettier.  Anne Melton is seriously one of the sweetest children I've ever encountered.  With those huge blue eyes and to-die-for dimples, she's gonna be a charmer, for sure!
Worth is seven, and his brain knocks my socks off all the time.  He can read so well it boggles my mind, and he can remember pretty much everything you've ever said around him (which, as you can imagine, forces all of us adults to watch our mouths).  Worth is also such a gentleman, and he has some of the best table manners I've ever seen.  Seriously, the boy behaves better at the table than men boys my own age.
I was able to spend a lot of time with these three over Thanksgiving, and I had such a blast bowling, hanging out, scavenger hunting, eating, and travelling with this crew.  True life:  they kept me laughing for five days.
Rachel, I wish you could corral these three and go for a tea party in the woods or go throw the football on the beach or some other equally fabulous seemingly-fantastic activity of your own creation.  You would love them, they would love you, and the world would get some stunning pictures out of the deal, I'm sure of it.
Wow... I love these munchkins.

Have a Nice Weekend

This past weekend was Super Bulldog Weekend, a spring tradition in Starkville/at Mississippi State that I truly adore.  There's baseball games, the spring football game, the Cotton District Arts Festival, great music, tons of crawfish and cold beer, and, best of all, tons of friends in town.  Add in some gorgeous weather like we had this year, and you've got the makings of a truly super weekend.
I started off Friday morning by getting my apartment all cleaned up for my company, who would start arriving that afternoon.  The finishing touch was, of course, some beautiful flowers, for y'all know I always think fresh flowers do wonders for any occasion.  I also watered my flowers I've been taking so much care of outside, for I wanted them to look their best for our company, too.

Megan got into town early afternoon, and we headed for the Cotton District to enjoy the beautiful afternoon.  We hung out for awhile, Becca and Wex came and met up with us, and before long Meg, Wex, and I headed home to get ready for an amazing dinner at Anthony's.  And an amazing dinner, it was.  After dinner we went out downtown, where all the bars were packed with SBW merriment.  I will go ahead and say now that I took no pictures from the weekend.  I know you're disappointed; I'm disappointed in myself, as well.

Saturday dawned bright and beautiful, and Wex and I started off the morning with breakfast at City Bagel.  We met up with Meg after breakfast and headed for the Cotton District Arts Festival, one of my favorite springtime events.

After walking around the festival for awhile, we met up with Becca, Paige and Lauren for lunch at the new Grill, which, aside from the miserable service, was wonderful.  After lunch we headed back to the Cotton District, where the remainder of the afternoon was spent hanging out people-watching at the Bin.  The night was again spent downtown, although this fossil drank ice water at the bar and called it a night relatively early.  I was sooooo exhausted.  As I said, I took no pics, but I managed to steal a couple that Becca snapped Saturday.

Sunday we did something I've been wanting to do since football season, but for some reason never could manage to pull together--brunch at Restaurant Tyler.  It was seriously worth it, and we were all glad we finally got ourselves together.  That afternoon, I went to see Death at a Funeral and spent the rest of the day lounging on my couch watching movies.  Well, honestly, I only made it through about a movie and a half before I was snoozing the day away.  Seriously, I am old and cannot hang like I used to.  How pitiful.

Today it was back to the grind.  Carrot sticks and turkey sandwiches, school work and class.  If you can believe it, the semster will be over this time next week.  Isn't that insane?  April 26 is my last final, and then I'm done for the semester.  Whoop whoop for that!!

Finally, I have to leave you with a few pictures of one the cutest kids on this planet.  My little cousin Frances is the most precious little doll-baby ever.  And J. Caraway is a seriously amazing photographer.  Put the two together and you have these gorgeous pictures.

Are these not seriously beautiful?  I am so jealous of J. Caraway's work.  Seriously, if I had half the talent that she has in her pinky finger, you wouldn't be able to wrench my camera from my hand.

Anyway, hope your week is off to a great start, and I hope you're finding some little way to enjoy this amazing weather.  Seriously, is God unbelievably great, or what?!

Photo Finish

Hi, friends... Just wanted to share a few of my favorite pics from Dallas.  I wish I was still there, and I really wish it was still spring break!  Hope y'all are having a great week!

Becca jamming to My Humps

Welcome to Dallas!

Out at The Quarter

Black Eyed Peas!

Becca and I at the Peas

The big finish... Fergie Ferg + confetti = AWESOME

The whole crew at the Peas

Snow in Dallas

One Week of Life

This past week has been a really great one.  I was planning to write this post over the weekend (yes, I sometimes often plan my posts...), but I was too busy doing fun stuff to stop and compose my thoughts.

I'll start with last Tuesday, when Lindsey and I headed to Birmingham to see John Mayer.  We started off with an amazing sushi dinner at Sekisuri Pacific Rim in 5 Points.  I love that neighborhood, and our sushi was delicious.

After dinner, we headed to the concert, which was so, so good--just as I expected.  I saw John Mayer in Memphis my freshman year, and he was just as fabulous as I remember him being.  Yes, he makes a lot of weird faces while he sings, and, yes, he has lots of tats, but I don't care.  I think he's gorgeous and super sexy.  I think he has mad, mad guitar skills.  I think his concert is the perfect chill concert.  In addition, he was super sweet to this couldn't-have-been-more-than-twelve-year-old girl who was front row center.  He kept talking about how cute she was and how she was singing along with all the songs; he gave her his pick, and he edited one song a little bit, saying, "I'm not gonna curse in front of you, cutie."  Although he didn't sing a few of my favorites, I found a fell in love with a few new favorites, namely Half of My Heart.

At the concert, however, I saw some funny stuff.  High school girls are funny to me.  First off, they were everywhere.  They practically ran over Lindsey and I walking into the coliseum, and I truly thought they were going to push us down getting inside.  Also, they were wearing the most fantastic clothes and taking millions of pictures with their Nikon/Canon super-nice cameras.  Seriously, when did this happen?  When did high school girls turn into sophisticated, self-assured, polished grown-up women?  My inner high school girl, complete with frizzy hair, ill-applied make-up, uncoordinated outfits, and nonexistent self-esteem, still cowers at the sight of them.
After the concert we had a little snafu finding the way home, for Bernice--my GPS--was determined to send us awry.  We outsmarted her, however, and finally got started in the right direction.  After stopping at a super scary, super ghetto gas station, we finally arrived home about 2:30 in the morning.
Wednesday morning I was blasted out of bed by the upstairs neighbor playing Pretty Fly for a White Guy at earsplitting decibels.  He becomes the bane of my existence more and more everyday.  The day was quickly saved, however, when I watched the most amazing episode of Criminal Minds, where Hotch pretends to beat the snot out of Reid so that they can distract an un-sub and Reid can shoot him between the eyes.  Wednesday night I finished the most amazing book, Garlic and Sapphires, and finally watched a true classic of American cinema, Rear Window.  Both were seriously awesome.
Thursday the talk was all about the weather.  Snow was expected for Friday, possibly ice, as well.  Of course, Friday morning dawned with no snow, which further solidifies my belief that meteorology is more a game of chance than a profession.  There was a little bit of snow midmorning Friday, but hardly even enough to make a proper dusting.  I did, however, manage to snap a few quick snow pics, just to document that we got anything at all.

Friday afternoon, I went to see Valentine's Day, which, for the most part, I really enjoyed.  After the movie, I was pretty much glued to the opening ceremony of the Olympics, which I simply couldn't get enough of.  I am not too proud to admit that I might have sobbed cried a little while watching it...

Saturday morning I headed to Columbus for the night.  I started off my visit with a manicure at Eden, which I thoroughly enjoyed because it was almost completely silent.  I am not one of those people who wants to chat with their manicurist, I just want to relax in silence.  Is that weird?  I followed that up with a fun lunch with some of my favorite hometown ladies, solving all the worlds problems and causing a scene in the restaurant, of course.  Saturday night Lindsey, Hope, and I went to an unbelievably fun engagement party for Florence and Mark.  The food and drinks were fabulous; the house and flowers were gorgeous; the company was spectacular.  I had an absolute blast.

Sunday mom and I went to a very nice shower for Florence, and I enjoyed a quiet Valentine's Day glued to the Olympics--my newest obsession.  I don't really understand myself, for I hate sports and have never really been immersed in the Olympics like this.  I just can't turn it off, though.  I have major crushes on Apolo Ohno and Graham Watanabe, and I'm sure I'll find a few more Olympians that catch me eye, as well.  I don't really understand why there are so many soul patches, though?  In addition, I wonder if there could be a more unflattering, unattractive costume outfit uniform for a woman to wear than thecomplete-with-hood unitard worn by speed skaters?  It is truly unfortunate.

Dude, what a random post.  

Happy Monday; hope you all have a great week!

Beauty of the Sea

Bdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdb.........(drumroll. duh.)

Here they are...

Beach pictures.

If you can't tell by the week-long hype, I'm pretty proud of these.  To tell the truth, I'm just glad to have concrete proof of how beatiful my time at the beach was.  I've been to the beach more times than I can count in my life, this same beach, in fact.

Never have I ever seen it look like this.

While this is a chunk of pictures, the majority are on Facebook, so please check them out there.  In the meantime, sit back and relax... smell the salt in the breeze and hear the waves crash on the sand.

It's gooby, I know... but just go with it.