mr. sandman, bring me a dream.

This week has been hellacious {and it's only Tuesday...}. So, in the spirit of perking myself up, I'm posting my current dream bag. {Look, I have a lot of dream bags, but I was in Cayman's recently, and saw this beaut and she stopped me right in my tracks.}

The quilting! The chain detail! The shape! Oh, Mr. Jacobs, you shouldn't have.

What's your dream bag?

Another week ...

Tomorrow marks the start of my third full week back to school. If you haven't been a diligent reader, and you don't know what I'm talking about, then just follow along, it should be mildly amusing.

Some of the highlights of last week were as follows:

•On Wednesday or Thursday we had a fire drill. Yep, a real life fire drill. We all filed out of the building and stood at an accepted distance and then, when told that "everything was ok," we all filed back in. Oh, and the teacher had to call role while we were out there.

•We took a pop quiz on Monday. Of course, we were allowed a few minutes of study time before, but then it was quiz time. I felt pretty good about it, but I knew I missed one question completely. When the quizzes were returned, I got an 88. I guess that was one of the better grades, because about half the class got below 60. Our teacher said that he was very disappointed and after a couple days of contemplation, we were allowed to retake the quiz, directly after the teacher had gone over every.single.answer. Seriously, if anyone gets below a 95, I'm worried for the youth of America.

•Twice now we've been given a list of terms that we must define and turn in. It brings me back to the days of thumbing through the glossary in the back of a book to get all of the correct definitions.

•Every single morning, no matter what day of the week, at least 5 other students tell someone/me that they're tired. I mean, come on. If you're tired, go to bed earlier. Or eat a better breakfast. Or, better yet, stop telling me, because I'm probably tired too, I'm just not announcing it.

•The teacher has to tell the students that he's going to be lecturing, and even when he lectures, it's completely disjointed. I'm used to a full class period of lectures, and having to figure out what to write down. After two weeks, I have only used one page, front and back, of my notebook for lecture notes.

Unfortunately last week wasn't as good for blog material as the first week, but hopefully I'll have more soon.

Oh, and sorry for the complete hiatus, but life is really busy {isn't it always??} and blogging has been the last thing I've really wanted to do. And, I know I've said it before, but I have some post ideas. Here's hoping I'll have a little more passion for blogging this week!

Have a good one!

energizer bunny.

We've been going and going and going since Thursday, and I haven't had the time {or the want} to sit in front of the computer and put together a coherent thought about everything we did. But, we had a great time, and I think Mia put together a fabulous memorial for my grandfather, Popi. And, I got some great pics of the church, the people and some of the pictures that my family brought! Don't you love old photos??

In the meantime, please enjoy this pic. J's parents were in NYC from last Tuesday until today. And, even though I was beyond jealous that they were in that fabulous city, I'm glad we were able to celebrate Popi. Plus, there's no doubt that J and I will make it back to NYC as soon as we can!

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Now, here's hoping I'll have a spare moment when I'll actually want to spend some downtime on the computer to post about this past weekend.

Have a good week, friends!

oldie but a goodie.

This song was popular when I was in high school, and it's still one of my favorites {although I don't condone violence against women.} Enjoy!

back, back, back to school.

I mentioned that I started school again. 

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Here's the back story: I decided sometime last summer that I wanted to go back to school and learn more about graphic design. {I have a Bachelors in Advertising and had some prior knowledge of Photoshop. Now I work for a magazine and have more working knowledge of Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator, but I know there's more to learn, especially about typograghy, layout, etc.}

My first thought was to go back to OU for another Bachelor's degree. But, after finding out that it's a full 4 year degree {even though I've got my Gen-Eds behind me and there might be some other credits that would transfer}, I decided that at 26 going back to school for four years wasn't really an option. 

So, J had a great idea. Apparently Oklahoma has great technical schools. I applied, and after a year of waiting {ridiculous, if you ask me}, I've finally started. My first day was last Thursday, and let me tell ya ... I had butterflies. Let me just give you the picture I had before I started: a class full of high schoolers, me sticking out like a sore thumb and the potential to not learn anything new. 

I showed up on Thursday and only one of those things was true -- I was the only true adult in the class. {There is one girl that graduated in May, but I don't really consider her to be an adult. Sorry!}

I got asked several times what school I went to or what grade I was in, and I always gave the same cryptic answer, "I'm not in high school." I wasn't about to reveal my true age. Not yet. They've since found out, and every single one of them has said I don't look that old, more like 18 or 19.

The first two days were very tedious, but I could tell from the teacher's experience that I really would learn all the stuff I wanted, I'd just have to wade through the boring stuff at first, and be patient. 

Here are a few of the funniest tidbits so far:

• After finding out I'd been to college, during our break {yep, 15 minute break from 9:30 to 9:45}, another student said to me, "So, you've actually been to college??"

• The other "adult" student spelled quiz with two Zs

• I learned that once the flag is put in the classroom, we'll be saying the Pledge of Allegiance

• We got the school handbook and syllabus and read through it line by line, page by page and the syllabus had to be signed by a parent

• After reading through the handbook, the teacher announced that we'd have a quiz{z} on it.

• When one student found out that I was 27, she asked if J and I were going to start a family

• We played the name game {That's Jamie, she likes Hello Kitty. That's Grace, she likes photography. I'm Emily, I like shopping. Btw, those are all actual "likes" from our name game}

• I have to wear a name badge

• If you're caught with your cell phone, they'll take it up and you can get it at the end of the class. And, if it happens more than once, it goes in the Principal's desk {yep, a principal too} and your parent has to come get it.

Those are the highlights. If I think of any other funny ones {and if more come up, because I know they will...}, I'll definitely post them.

It's so weird to be back around high schoolers. They seem so dependent and always tired. Was I like that? Pshhh, no way.

do-over?

I'm already married, but if I could do it all over again ...

If this doesn't scream personality, I don't know what does! But, my our top would probably be zebra print.

If this were J's Groom's "cake," those would be Yankees caps.

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Such a great idea -- who doesn't love to tell the story of how you and your guy met?

{found this on Emily's blog, who found it here.}

And, if I weren't set on wearing some kind of outrageous {read: fun} shoe, I'd wear these. I've kind of been lusting after them for a while. 

(Badgley Mischka Heels on Piperlime}

Any thoughts on your wedding day and what you would or wouldn't do? And, if you're already married, is there anything you would do/wear differently?

what have YOU been doing?

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You guys, this week has been B.U.S.Y. {photoshoots, starting school again, work, work and more work -- it's crazy up in here} Ugh. Wednesday is the only night I've been home before 6:30 and most mornings I've been up in the 6 am hour. But the good news is that it's almost the weekend.

I'm looking at my Google reader {which I actually don't really use -- I prefer to look at people's actual blogs } and I'm so behind, you have no idea.

I have a list going of blog posts that I want to put together, but those are going to have to wait. I'm taking the evening to relax soak in some bad TV {Big Brother, Bethenny Getting Married -- which is actually not bad at all, I not-so-secretly love it, and maybe Tuesday's Young and the Restless. I don't know. I don't know if we'll have time.}

Have a fabulous Thursday night!

week in review

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Wow, this week has been super busy.

• I finished up another issue of our magazine and took it to the press on Tuesday. Even with a few setbacks {ahem, someone completely flaking on us...}, we got it turned in and approved.

• We had a setback with Dish Network, but then got it all worked out and got our new tv set up in our bedroom. {One of my favorite things is to watch tv in bed. I know, it's not the best, but I love it.}

• I'm joining Junior League, and last night was my first JL activity. We did a scavenger hunt {I know...but it's really a good way to get to know people with minimal awkwardness} and then everyone had dinner together. I couldn't stay for dinner.

• I couldn't stay for dinner because the restaurant I did design work for was having a soft opening {that's what it's called right?} and I had to see everything in person! If you're in OKC, you have to go to the new Texadelphia in Lower Bricktown. If not to eat the food, at least to see all the cool stuff I did for the inside!

• Nothing is planned for tonight, but a couple friends of ours are having a birthday BBQ tomorrow. So fun!

Have a good weekend lovelies!

soapbox.

Remember that awesome new tv we won more than a month ago? Yeah, it's been sitting in the box, all cozy, until yesterday.

We were supposed to have Dish Network out today to add another box to our house and get that baby up and running. And, Dish is so nice, they gave me a four hour window to be at my house waiting on the technician.

Cut to 12 p.m. {the end of my four-hour window}. No technician, no call. Imagine my frustration.

I picked up the phone and call them at 12 on the dot. My first phone call was about 15 minutes long. After those 15 minutes, nothing had been resolved, so I hung up and called again.

Another call and 45 minutes later, I'm off the phone with a new service appointment and some of my previous frustration alleviated, but after hearing the reason for the no-show, another new-found frustration.

Here's the back story.

You already know that we won a tv. So, we were really torn as to where to put it. We have a tv in our living room, and there wasn't really any way that we could move it from it's current location {space issues and also, it's a DLP -- read: not exactly paper thin}, so the new tv was to find it's home in our bedroom. {I know, kind of a monstrous tv for a small bedroom like ours, but what were we to do?}

So, I called Dish asking about adding a second box to our house. I thought we could just tether the two HD tvs to the one HD box, and then add a second standard definition box to the 13" tv I got when I was 13 our small tv in the guest bedroom.

After somewhat of a run around, and people quoting me differnent prices, we settled on what we thought we needed for a reasonable price and set up the service appointment.

Now, here's where it gets tricky. Everytime I call Dish, I'm told that I'm a "top customer" {oooo!}, which, I found out, afforded us free HD For Life! Suhweet! All I had to do was sign up for paperless billing. Fine, no problem. So, I set up the service appointment and now we have free HD. The only issue is that I didn't sign up for it that day.

About a week later, I realized that our original service appointment wasn't going to work. I called and got it reschedule for today, between 8 and noon {so convenient...}. Then, when I hung up with Dish, I got online and signed up for HD for Life and paperless billing. Apparently {with no heads up from Dish}, this signaled to them that I no longer wanted a second box and therefore wouldn't be needing that service appointment I just rescheduled.

Cut to this morning. I get up and get ready early so that just in case they happen to come on the early end of the four-hour window {yeah...right}, I'm dressed and ready to go. Then, I waited. And waited. Aaaaaand waited.

At noon I picked up the phone and called Dish. Surprisingly, they had no service appointment scheduled for us today. Hmm. After a bit of the run around, I was transferred to Michelle in the Executive Service Department {that's right...executive}. Michelle got everything figured out and we are now set up again for a service appointment between 8 and noon tomorrow.

I realize it all worked out in the end, and the people at Dish were very understanding and apologetic. But. Yes, but, I think that I should have been either prompted or notified that by signing up for HD for Life/paperless billing that that was in effect cancelling my appointment.

{Oh, and I tried to get the technician fee waived because of the "headache I was put through" but they couldn't do it. Never hurts to ask!}

And, I'm off my soapbox. Sorry for the long, wordy post.

Has anything like this ever happened to you? Did they give you any discounts or perks because of it?

i. can't. wait.

The brother-in-law has taken to counting down the days until the official start of college football {which starts on a Thursday night}.

OU opens the season on Saturday, September 4 against Utah State. 32 days from today.

Who's excited?

Here's last year's video. Considering how injury-prone the Sooners were, let's hope they can find enough good snippets to put together a decent intro video for 2010!



Did you get goosebumps?? I did ...

you can call me master.

I tried the curl down this morning, and I think I mastered it. Thanks Blue Eyed Bride for teaching me the ways of a curling iron!

{And, again, I'm not the best at iphone self-portraits. I always have that surprised look on my face...}

it all started with the eyeliner.

Ever since I saw that first is-it-or-isn't-it-reality-tv episode of Laguna Beach I've had a girl-crush {ya know, the equivalent of a man-crush} on Lauren Conrad. To me, she's so effortlessly gorgeous and chic. I've always been Team Lauren, even when it seemed like she really was trying to steal Stephen from Kristin.

If she's on the cover of a magazine, I usually want to get it -- but I have to refrain sometimes.

I love her braids.

She started out on reality tv and has parlayed that into a clothing line {or two}, an endorsement deal with Mark cosmetics, best-selling books and some lasting friendships.

And, now she has a real relationship {yep, she confided in me...}. At least she had the foresight to leave The Hills and not bring her relationship on to the show. {ahem, Speidi...}

Remember that house she lived in with Audrina and Lo? Gorg.

And, I really think her make up always looks awesome. I strive to achieve eyeliner like hers. It's true.

I bought the eyeliner she uses {used?} from mark, and it was really good, but I just couldn't perfect the Lauren.

So, do you guys have a girl cush on anyone?