Answers

My legs hesitated to stretch to their full height as I stepped out of my car, the humid heat embracing me tightly, after six hours in my stale car air conditioning on Saturday.

During my drive.

Potty Break

I saw this sign on the bathroom door in a gas station in Oklahoma...best bathroom sign ever.

Can't say I've ever seen a stick figure do the potty dance.

Always,

Job Possibilities

I'm in the middle of the interview process for a job I seriously want. The first part of the interview was just a test -- typing, grammar, writing and editing -- and other than the 98 words per minute I typed, I have no idea how I did. Part of me feels like I won't get the job because I must be competing with my most brilliant peers. I'm sure they performed excellently on the test (okay, maybe not 98 wpm, let's admit it -- I'm awesome). The other part of me is pretty convinced I was the only one taking the test, and the joke is on me. But hey, I guess we'll see what happens!

Since I've been stuck in limbo, hoping to land my first big job, I've been considering what other career paths I could take up if journalism falls through.

The summer I turned 19 I worked two different jobs. One as a food sample lady, and the other as a receptionist for a nail salon. Between a strange woman laying her hands on my belly and "praying over me" while I stood in my apron and hair net, to having Vietnamese women shove delicious egg rolls down my throat at 10 a.m., it's not much of a stretch to say I'd love to re-live my 19th summer every year.

Simple Memories

Sometimes life's moments can't be properly described with words. And I love words, so that's saying a lot. Today's sentimentality called for a trip down memory lane -- in a way that only photographs can properly describe.

My love, the first summer we started dating.

Crowning Glory

When I was born, I was the typical blonde hair, blue eyed baby. And although my mom was disappointed that my eyes shifted to a mossy green color, my hair remained blonde for a good long time. Up until my junior year of high school, I took pride in defining myself as the spunky, short-haired blondie. The ladies in the front office even knew me as "the girl with cute hair" and I loved it. Then I went through my first break up, and it didn't take long for me to dye my hair a deep, moody brown to reflect my roller-coaster, hormonal, adolescent emotions.

During my brown-hair episode I went through a series of dysfunctional relationships (I even refer to one of my ex's fondly as my ex-douche bag), and then when I began to "find myself" again my hair gradually lightened. By the time I went off for college I was a full-blown, spunky blonde. And then -- a break up -- and my alter-ego brunette made another appearance.

My point isn't to tell you all about my hair history, but to analyze what in the world would make me crave such drastic changes in my hair color? Why did I love being defined as the girl with "the" hair? And on top of that, why to this day, does my hair color and style affect my mood, attitude and how sexy I feel?

Well, apparently the answer is a little complicated, but it's okay, Chris Rock found us the answer. Yes, seriously. Check it out:

If you haven't seen this movie, it's a must -- hilarious, thought-provoking and informative.

Potatoes, Peas and All Things Green

At the end of our groceries and the end of our paycheck, I made us some dinner the other day that was both cheap and simple: mashed potatoes, frozen peas and chicken nuggets. This is a typical meal for us. Half because it's what we can afford and half because it's what's easiest. As I swirled my lemon-pepper potatoes in with my sweet peas, I thought about how someday I would be able to afford to cook us more elaborate meals.

Dinner.

A House or a Home

I wrapped our books and DVDs with saran wrap to save on boxes. Plus a box full of books justs gets so darn heavy. Thank you, Mom, for the brilliant idea!

On Weight and Self-Esteem

Between confident, beautiful but larger women who rock their curves, to countless weight loss gimmicks attempting to sell instant results and self-esteem, I think it's easy to say that the media is sending us a seriously mixed up message about body image and health.

I am all for loving your own body type -- be it naturally skinny or extra voluptuous -- and I love that there are successful celebrities of every body type, showing young girls that they can love themselves for exactly what they are. But what does concern me, is part of the consequences of "accepting yourself."

The round-faced 7 year old version of me. And yes, I'm drawing Ursula.

Fresh Strawberry Frosting

Mmmmm-mmmmm!

For those who were less-ice-cream-inclined at Kourt's shower, I made a batch of chocolate cupcakes with homemade strawberry frosting. I used Connie's recipe from about him + her as my inspiration (she made blackberry frosting...sounds delicious, no?).

For the cupcakes:

I used Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake Mix and followed the instructions on the box. These cupcakes turn out extra moist and sticky. So yummy. Make sure the cupcakes are cooled completely before frosting.

For the frosting:

Bird Cage Silhouettes

Kourt's reception will be all about birds -- love birds, bird cages, bird houses, bird baths, bird seed, nature-y things, etc. The only problem is some of those things (like metal bird cages) can be a tiny bit pricey. So for her shower, I came up with the cheaper version: paper silhouettes.

The bird cage silhouettes hanging above the dessert table.

Strawberry Goodness (ice cream & sorbet)

In our family, parties and get-together's aren't the same without the sweets. And our entire family's favorite sweet is ice cream (even Grandad's). Naturally, when I started talking bridal shower details with my cousin Kourtney for the shower I was hosting her...homemade ice cream was on the menu.

I started out with the idea of making popsicles, but couldn't find any molds. I still loved the idea of simple, self-serve style ice cream though. So when I stumbled upon these 8-ounce plastic freezer jars, I knew I had found exactly what I needed. These jars are cheap, 5 for $3.99, and you can get them at Wal Mart. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

The dark one is sorbet, the light one ice cream.

Trip to Outerspace

I babysat some boys a few days ago who have some of the most brilliant imaginations.

The Monkey jumping off the "spaceship." Mr. Baseball telling me about the spaceship. And Little Bruiser busy being a space alien.

Believe it or not, we actually took a trip to the moon on Friday night. It was magical.

The boys building a spaceship to take us to the moon.

Dumb.

When my mom was six-years-old she got left on the side of a mountain. Her family was on vacation with another family, and everyone loaded up in the car and took off without her. I guess everyone assumed the others were keeping track of her. Mom did everything wrong, including walking down the road and getting in the car with some strange trucker-man, but that's another story for another day. And just so you know, she's still on good terms with the parental-units that left her behind.

So yesterday me and Nathaniel stranded ourselves on the side of a mountain -- er, I mean, on our driveway in the middle of a heat-wave and drought without keys to get into our house or cars.

These are the texts I sent back and forth with my mom:

Me:

We locked ourselves outside...it's real hot.

A Word to the Wise on Steak and Strangers

The other day, while my husband was away to Boy Scouts camp and I sat around in his shirt and pajamas with dirty hair piled on top of my head, a man knocked on my door.

After peeping through the peep hole and seeing a disheveled looking man slowly walking away, I cracked open the door and slipped my head out to ask if he needed anything.

His question: Do you like steak?

Of course, I thought to myself, I love steak.

Me: Yes...

Him: Would you like to buy some?

Being the naively-too-nice person I am, I asked him what kind of steak.

Him: Let me show you.

The disheveled man, complete with sun-leathered skin and holes in his grungy off-white polo shirt, proceeded to enter my house with boxes of frozen steaks. And then, he shut the door behind him.

A box of said steak.

So there I stood in my pajamas in my tiny little house, in my tiny little entry way and kitchen, alone with a grungy, strange man and piles of frozen steak.

...where the wind comes sweepin' down the plains!

Our fridge with Nathaniel's acceptance letters from OU and Tech...OU's was way cooler.

Nathaniel was accepted to the University of Oklahoma for the fall to study sociology. And even though we've known for a good long while, we've been taking our time on making a decision. Even though we both could have been Red Raiders, we'll be a split house now! We'll be makin' the move at the end of July, and though we are a little nervous...we're mostly excited and ready for a new adventure.

Goodbye Texas, hello Oklahoma!

Always,

P.S.

If you've never seen the musical Oklahoma! the titles of this post and the last probably don't make much sense. You should watch the following video. Plus, this one has Hugh Jackman as the main character. Did you just go, "Wha?!" Yeah, I did, too:

Ooooklahoma!...

A few weeks ago Nathaniel and I took a trip up to Oklahoma. We got to Norman on a Saturday night, and woke up Sunday morning to visit church. Everyone was more than friendly, but I can't say I'm surprised -- that's one of my favorite things about the gospel, it's the same everywhere and new faces are always welcomed with opened arms. A family invited us to dinner, and we spent the evening visiting and playing with their two kids.

I'm well aware that we are on the wrong side of the sign. We were in a hurry running away from tornadoes...but seriously, we were.

We packed Monday as clear full as we could starting with a tour of the University of Oklahoma. The campus was beautiful, and even though it was hot and muggy, we enjoyed wandering the campus.

Mr. Bitter

I frequently blog about my own work experiences, but today it's Nathaniel's. He works at a hotel, and as you can imagine he meets a lot of colorful individuals. Today's encounter was one of my favorites:

Nathaniel: Hello sir, how are you today?

Man: Bitter.

Nathaniel: Oh, I am so sorry to hear that, I --

Man: That's my last name.

Nathaniel: Oh...*pause*...sorry about that...

For some weird reason, people frequently walk up to the front desk and announce their last name without stating if they are checking in or looking for a room...some people's communication skills seriously concern me.

Always,