Oh, the Digital Age

This is a modern take on what Jesus' birth would've looked like if it were 2010.

Merry Christmas EVE!!!

Seasons

I love the way that seasons change things. They take something familiar and breathe another quite familiar life into it. We know it gets hot every summer but for some reason the heat that starts to show up around May always comes at such a pleasant surprise. The most simple and common example of this is to look at a tree and see it's change over the course of a year.

The other day I found these pictures of Amsterdam in the winter and quickly rifled through my very similar pictures to find the ones that I took of the same city this summer. Isn't it great how so many things in life that are predictable and routine can be turned into such producers of joy?

O, Hey--

In case you guys didn't know, Christmas is 4 days away. Um....when did that happen? I should've known better. Christmas always seems to creep up on me, but nothing like this year. This is the least Christmasy Christmas feeling week of my life! And not for lack of trying. At home, the house is decked out with every bit of decoration. At work, 103.5 is constantly playing it's holiday tunes. And as a matter of fact, even the weather has cooperated in making this winter actually feel like winter! I think what's throwing me off is the fact that Christmas is on a Saturday. Who does that? Saturday? Really?

I feel like I'm more prepared for New Years than Christmas. Odd. And maybe that's because my New Years has a weird connotation attached to it-- departure. First of all, our over 5 year tradition of spending the evening with the Page family is being broken and Dress Brigade won't be happening on New Years day because I'm leaving! But don't fret, not all hope is lost; Mom, Kaitlin and I will be enjoying popovers and quiche in the warmth of a big fluffy bed as we watch the Rose Parade. Some traditions can't be broken.

Today, I will focus on getting the Christmas juice to flow within me. Correction: Today, I will focus on getting the Egg Nog to flow within me. Better, right? Yeah. That's Christmas.

J.CREW

Nothing makes me happier at Christmas than seeing the J.Crew ads. Their campaigns are always the perfect combination of festive and chic and evoke the holiday cheer that lives inside my fashion self. Pairing my military jacket with a sequin vest? Why didn't I think of that?!

Wish List

I want this so bad. That way, I can finally use this that I already got for Christmas.

Seeester

I can't wait for Kaitlin to get home this weekend. Even though she's been living at school for the last two years and I've been somewhat of an only child here at home for a substantial amount of time, I've been really really missing her since I got home from school. As we've both gotten older, the petty fights have gotten fewer and farther between and we're able to just enjoy each other so much more. It makes being around each other simply more fun. Kaitlin has such a great sense of humor, awesome style and copious amounts of wisdom that I can glean so much from.

So hurry up and get here, you little pipsqueak! Making fun of mom and dad is just not the same without you.

When all else fails...

...cook. Today didn't turn quite out as planned and I found myself starting to crawl into the Self Pity Den. Few things can get me to stop, turn around and crawl out of that deceitfully cozy place and one of those things is to cook. And with the kitchen to myself and no energy/desire to run to the grocery store to go marketing, it's best to stick with what you know. And I know pasta. There's nothing quite like a big bowl of spaghetti and home-made marinara sauce packed full of garlic and herbs to get you thinking positively about the coming week.

Who's up for seconds!?

I Miss My Bike...

Do What You Love

Lately, I have found a lot of extra time on my hands to do things that I normally don't have the means or the time to do at school. Things like baking and sewing and reading. When I first came home from school, the plan for this break was to find a job and work part-time to earn a little extra cash. Well, long story short, that didn't really work out. At first, I felt slightly guilty about being able to lounge around and fill my time with things that I find so fun and fulfilling. I felt like I should be doing more things constructive with my time and having less fun with the time off that I have (funny how I link constructive and "need-to-do" things with the idea of not being fun). But then it hit me that I have been given this time for a reason. And in tandem with that, I have been given these interests and talents for a reason and maybe I should be combining these gifts to produce things that not only are fun for me to do and make in the process, but also challenging me as an artist. I had never realized that I could do things that I enjoyed doing while still being productive. Crazaaayyy.

Then this reminded me of a video that I watched recently about doing things that you love. A web series by The Panic Room called (very obviously) "Do What You Love" follows around women in creative careers and looks at how they live their lives doing things that make them happy. My favorite was this one on Rifle Paper Co. I am super jealous of the things this company can do with stationary. Everything they do is just magical.

Do What You Love- Anna from The Panic Room Videos on Vimeo.

So, here's to not feeling guilty about loving the gifts God gave you!

Lazy Daisy

I know what I want to blog about, but my fingers just can seem to make their way across the keyboard to type all...those...words.

Later.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Anyone who has ever ridden in my car knows that I love country music. My iPod is stocked with everything from Shania to Strait, Reba to Rascal and Cash to Carrie. Don't be fooled by my California childhood. I know all the words to all the songs and am totally OK with all the heat I've taken from friends over the years who might call this music "cheesy." Pish posh, people. Say what you want, but when Whiskey Lullaby comes on the shuffle, I am not above shedding a single tear to it's sweet, sweet melodies.

Besides loving the music, I love the culture of country music and the way it's so different from every other genre. Things like it's support of other artist's successes, it's blatant religious themes and it's conservative patriotism are all reasons why country is my favorite! And one of the only times that all these amazing ingredients come together as one to create the world's most perfect storms are country music awards shows.

I look forward to the CMA's, the ACM's, the CMT's and everything in between all year long because no other awards shows have so much glitter, good music and legitimately funny jokes.

A brand spankin' new award show this year was the CMT's Artist of the Year Special where CMT (the Country equivalent of MTV) honored this years biggest acts including The Zac Brown Band, Jason Aldean, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift and Lady Antebellum. They got awards presented by country legends and mentors. But the best part of the show was the preformances. Carrie and Jason (I refer to them on first name basis because in my delusional world, I know that we'd all be such good friends) each preformed some of their biggest hits themselves. Obviously awesome, but nothing to write home about (you can watch those here and here). Meanwhile, the rest of the honorees had other artist either cover their songs or play with them.

Maroon 5 covered Taylor Swift's "Mine" and love her or hate her (I happen to love her, she can do no wrong in my eyes) she's what's hot right now in country music. It was fine. I like the original better, but their rendition was a completely different take on it. PS- how cute are Swifty and Gyllenhaal together?

Zac Brown Band played their new single "Colder Weather" which is a song that I already love just on it's own, but with a special guest, Amos Lee it got about 87 times better. ZBB is one of my favorite new artists and every time I hear them perform, I am more and more convinced that they will be around for a long time.

The final great performance was Lady Antebellum's huge hit of the year "Need You Now" covered by the amazing Adele and Darius Rucker (Darius, you will always be Hootie to me). When they first said that they'd be singing together, I didn't quite know how well I would like their voices together, but I ended up really liking it! The embedding code isn't quite working, so if you want to watch it (and I highly recommend you do) click..........here.

All of this to say, after watching the show, I had warm fuzzy feelings in my belly and I wanted to eat a little bit of Chicken Fried on my Big Green Tractor and have Jesus Take the Wheel as I Run to You. Ahhh, yes. Today was the Best Day.

(PS- While I was watching, I saw a commercial for "Letters for Lyrics" which is an awesome program being put on by Ram Trucks and The Zac Brown Band to support our troops. If you click here and write a letter to a soldier, not only do they get great Christmas support from us at home, but they also get a free copy of ZBB's new CD. It takes literally 1 minute just to write up to 700 characters. It's a pretty win win deal, if you ask me.)

UM.

I want to make and wear this. Every day.

12

It honestly baffles me that it is already December. I say this every year, but I feel like it become more and more true: The year has flown by.

Too, it never ceases to amaze me how much of a difference a year can make. At any given point, I sometimes like to think about where I was or what I would be doing on that exact day a year ago from then and more often than not, huge strides and changes have happened since.

Take last year for example. Alright. December 1, 2009. Let's think...I was a student at OCMC, in the middle of college applications, and starting to delve into the wonders of my senior project. I would have just gotten back from a very successful trip to SCAD with my mama and college anxiety had taken ahold of my life more than ever. Our house was for sale...but not really for sale and I got up at 6:30 EVERY. DAY. Eeek. On top of all of this, I was a blonde! O how times have changed.

I had no idea of all of the great/challenging/memorable things in store for me. When I think about life that way, it makes everyday so much more exciting. I cannot even imagine what God has planned for in this coming year.