Never Forget

Has it really been 10 years? I can't believe that 10 years ago, I was an awkward 13 year old at the orthodontist checking out listening to the ladies talk about what was happening in New York. I was really confused hearing words like "American Airlines," "planes," World Trade Center," etc. For some reason, I thought there were planes that had hit the brand new American Airlines Center in Dallas. By the time I got to school, Kidd Kraddock was talking about it on the radio, the teachers had been briefed during what was the middle schoolers PE time (while I was at the orthodontist) and my bimbo of an 9th grade English teacher was telling us about the hole in the building with her hands (which of course meant very little to us).

Being at a private school, we had an "upper school" chapel and talked about what had happened and prayed. The rest of the day was spent watching TV. All day. When I got home, I watched more coverage. I saw what was left of one of the towers fall. I also spent a lot of the day wondering if our 8th grade trip to DC would happen in February (it did and I remember seeing the construction on the Pentagon and the giant American Flag flying there).

Two years ago, I went to DC for the 2nd time with my mom (who doesn't have a memory of going but apprently went when she was younger). I remember going to the Newseum in 8th grade and how cool it was so I insisted on going again - only they had moved and it was bigger and better than ever (especially for journalism nerds like me). They had a huge 9/11 exhibit and it was awesome. They had the antenna from the WTC, part of the concrete from the Pentagon, the charred eagle from the top of the flagpole at the Pentagon, among other things from DC, NYC, and even Shanksville, PA, if I'm not mistaken. Around the antenna was a timeline of that morning. What was really powerful to me, we one of the walls - covered with the headlines from September 12, 2001. I think they said there were 136 of them - 50 states plus DC, and major papers from all over the world.

WTC antenna

Today we remember the thousands of lives lost and their families and friends and stand together as a nation. God bless America and God bless her allies and even her enemies.

To Do's...

So, over the past few weeks, I see things and get excited about things and I'm like, "Oh, I should do that!" but then I forget. So, maybe if I blog about a few to do's, I'll be more motivated to them.

My goal to read the first half of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows before seeing the movie didn't work out so well, but I'm still pushing forward and reading it and it's fabulous. There's a lot left, but I'm hoping to finish by this weekend (I'm a slow reader).

I also want to read the Dawn Treader before the next Narnia movie comes out (Dec. 10). The movie looks fantastic. Last Christmas break I read the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian and they are so good! CS Lewis has a way of painting pictures that is truly admirable.

A girl I went to school with for forever, Caroline, does a cute thing on her blog called Three Things Thursday. I love reading it every Thursday and want to do something similar so I blog at least once a week. Maybe something on a Tuesday? I think Tuesdays are always my off-days in this limbo between graduation and employment (which may be on the horizon but I don't want to jinx it by talking too soon). I always wake up moodier than usual and Glee seems to be the only upside, which I forget about until about 5 every week. Any ideas out there readers?

This is definitely not as important by any means, but I need ideas nonetheless. Ever since I was about 5 or 6, my mom has decorated her Christmas tree in 98% Santa ornaments. Since this is (hopefully) my last Christmas at home, I've started wondering what my future Christmas tree's/trees' theme(s) should be. I recently bought a really cute TCU ornament from a vendor at Mistletoe and Magic, the Tyler Junior League's Holiday Market. In addition, my grandmother gave me a cute star shaped Santa several years ago, so I wonder if I should do all stars.
TCU Star Cloissonne Ornament by Kitty Keller Designs
Definitely not as pressing a matter, but it is something to ponder, right?

Much more pressing than all of the above: I need to save my money! It's the holiday season which means shopping for presents for my family and friends. Holiday season also means college football bowl season and TCU looks to be going to the Rose Bowl. My mom and I have pretty much decided we're going and making this our 2011 vacation since I probably won't have vacation time yet next summer. As one of my first acts of grown-up-ness, I'll be paying part of my way to Pasadena. Basically, what this boils down to is that I need to learn to be more frugal with even more expenses soon to be coming my way if this employment opportunity works out (and I really hope it does).

Oh and Fort Worth: where the East end and the West begins, or the opposite for TCU as it jumps the MWC ship and joins the Big East.

Beverly Hills, That's Where I Want to Be

First, I'm never flying Continental again. I've had too many bad experiences with them in one trip, it's ridiculous.

Flying out to California went on without a hitch. With the exception of the rude bitch stewardess I dealt with, it wasn't too bad. We got to LAX Wednesday afternoon to absolutely GORGEOUS weather! My mom didn't believe me when I told her the highs and lows before we left until we stepped outside at LAX to catch the shuttle to Enterprise Rent-A-Car. We got our car and headed straight to the hotel, the Tower at Beverly Hills. Such a beautiful hotel. It felt like a boutique in our room, super cute!
Beverly Hills City Limit

That night we had dinner at a place called Nate N' Al's. A cute diner where they serve breakfast all day - my favorite! After dinner, we explored Beverly Drive (the street over from Rodeo, much more affordable shopping). After that we headed back to the hotel and watched So You Think You Can Dance at 8 pm even though it was filmed in LA at 5. Pretty chill evening since we were exhausted from traveling.

Thursday morning we got up and had our first breakfast at the hotel. Can't say I'm a huge fan of "California Egg Whites." As a big fan of breakfast, I was disappointed in our hotel's breakfast. However, the orange juice, although slightly pulpy, was fantastic. I think it was fresh squeezed California oranges! Yum! After breakfast, we looked up directions to Grauman's and headed that way. We got there pretty early so I didn't have to wait long to take a picture with Michael Jackson's star on the Walk of Fame. Later that afternoon there were at least 20 people around it at all times so we got lucky. We explored Grauman's and looked at all the hand/foot prints in the concrete. Added since I was last there: Hugh Grant and Robert Downey, Jr, two very deserving men - not to mention good looking! OH! We saw a guy with a TCU shirt on at Grauman's! It was so weird, but I loved it! While at Grauman's we went to a little info hut looking thing and bought a tour of the movie stars' homes around LA and Beverly Hills. Our tour guide had been doing it for over 25 years, so I'm pretty sure he knew his stuff! I saw all kinds of people's houses! Orlando Bloom, Robert Pattinson, the Fresh Prince house, houses from Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween, etc... Really neat tour, I suggest anyone who has any sort of obsession with celebrities go on one. After we got back from that 2 hour tour in which the tops of my legs go a slight burn (and subsequent shorts tan), we saw Johnny Depp's star along with a few others' and had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen in the outdoor shopping area at the Kodak theater. I don't know what it is about Kodak but I'm really obsessed with it. I guess because it's where all the awards shows and that type of thing are held and I just can't get into the auditorium part, which I'd absolutely love! That night we tried going to Pink's hotdogs, but the line was too long and we were confused about when the SYTYCD results show was coming on. So we headed back to the hotel and ordered in from Factor's Famous Deli.
Grauman's Chinese Theatre

Friday morning we got up and once again had the hotel breakfast and headed out for some shopping at The Grove. Got two really cute dresses from Anthropologie that I'm really excited about. After a short shopping trip, we headed up to UCLA to drive around that beautiful campus in search of the filming for ABC Family's Greek. However, we couldn't find them; I concluded they were in the studio and not on location. UCLA is one of the most gorgeous college campuses I've ever seen - which says a lot because I don't think many rival TCU's beauty. After the driving tour through UCLA's summer classes and freshman orientation, I too my mom to In-N-Out an then Diddy Riese for dessert. Then we headed back to the hotel for nap time. For dinner we headed to The Ivy - celebrity hotspot. However, we were there for an early dinner and didn't see any celebs. Although it was expensive, I highly recommend LA tourists to have dinner here. Seriously, one of the best meals I've had. I ordered the spaghetti and the sauce was so fresh and the meatballs just fell apart - SO GOOD! My mom had chicken enchiladas with some sort of BBQ sauce on top and she said they were phenomenal. For dessert we ordered the cookie plate. Again, SO GOOD. I ate the sugar cookie off the cookie plate and was in Heaven. Really, it's a must go to, just not early if you want to see a celeb. After dinner we went to the Santa Monica Pier. I have to say I'm completely obsessed. If I lived there I'd be there all day everyday, especially during the summer, It was freezing though, thanks to that crazy marine layer and Alaskan current. All I could think about after we walked up to the pier from the beach was Despicable Me - "Look at that fluffy unicorn! It's so fluffy I could die!" Oh, Agnes, I love you and your love of fluffy unicorns. The fact that I saw Despicable Me billboards everywhere during this vacation just added to how much I already loved the movie. But that's not the point. Santa Monica was awesome and I'd love to stay there some day. OH! And we drove past the Hotel California! I don't know if it's the one from the song or if it was named/built after the song, but either way it was cool.
Santa Monica Pier

Saturday we slept in and after breakfast went to Calasbasas/Tarzana to look for some E! celebrities. Sadly we didn't see any - the Kardashians were at a wedding and Kendra was traveling to Malibu. But we did go to Dash which was cute and not as outrageously priced as I thought it would be. The Dash girl working is one of the girls whose on the show a lot when they show them in the store. I got to smell Kim's perfume - woooooh. Really strong, but very familiar - nothing special, really. We thought about eating lunch there but didn't explore a whole lot and couldn't find anywhere other than my beloved Menchie's froyo. So we went back into LA and had Factor's in the hotel room again. That afternoon we went to see The Kids Are All Right in Century City. Really good movie, kind of weird, but really good and funny. After the movie we shopped a little in Century City because there was a Madewell (thanks Emily for introducing me in Austin). Then we went to the new Menchie's in Beverly Hills, just one building over from Sprinkles. We never made it to Sprinkles, but at least there's one in Dallas, and although my order's been messed up any time Brig got me a cupcake, the bites I've had were delish! After Menchie's, we went back to the hotel and started packing up for the trip home.
Dash Calabasas

Now we come to the pat of the trip that I'd like to call: I Hate Continental.
We got to LAX and went through security two hours before our flight was scheduled to take off, just like the major airports suggest. Original departure time: 11:40 am. Delayed. 2:00 pm. Cool. Delayed. 3:30 pm. Airport lunch. Read lots of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Flight Canceled. We sat in LAX for SEVEN hours. Seven hours is more time than I'd ever like to spend at one time in an airport. Food vouchers and hotel night stay voucher at the Westin LAX. Nice hotel, but not my bed in Tyler. Do we need to get our checked bag? "Oh no, it'll be fine here over night. It'll be on your flight tomorrow morning." Wake up Monday morning at 4:30 am. Airport breakfast. Original flight: 8 am. Earlier flight with seats available!!! 6:50 am. YAY! Oh wait, our flight from Houston to Tyler is delayed? Are you kidding? Wait, it's not delayed? In Tyler on time... Where's our bag? Longest 2 days ever. Can't say I'm a huge fan of Continental after that. I don't fly a ton, but I've flown the major airlines and I've never had major issues with them and I know that there's that one flight every so often that goes wrong but literally on this trip if it could go wrong it did.

Other than the nightmare trip back, LA was really fun even if we didn't see any celebs. Pictures on Facebook later and probably a few on here too! Up next in my Summer of Fun: Lady Gaga in Dallas on Thursday. Entertainment Weekly gave her Madison Square Garden performance an A- and published her set list which looks awesome. I can't wait!!!

Vacations, Vacations!

For the past few summers I've had the pleasure of going on several vacations with my family! As I'm getting geared up for this summer's vacation con mi madre to Los Angeles, I thought I'd recount a few of the highlights of past summer vacays.

Summer 2006 - Branson, MO, with my dad - We road tripped (the 5 of us, not just me and my dad) up to MO to visit my step-mom's parents. We went to Silver Dollar City (awesome water park), rode the Branson Belle around the lake for dinner and a show, and other fun Branson-y things. Obviously, this was four years ago and I can't remember many of the details, but what I do remember is wanting to go back!

Summer 2007 - Galveston, TX, with my dad - Not as fun a vacation as the previous or following vacations as it ended with some serious eye issues for your's truly. But definitely a relaxing week after my second year as a counselor at Mystic.

Summer 2008 - Hilton Head, SC, with my mom - Flew out to visit my mom's aunt, uncle, and cousin. Went to the beach, great shopping, and straight up relaxation. Would love to visit again - it was gorgeous! Read New Moon while flying - definitely contributed to it being my favorite book (not to mention the only one I actually bought).

Summer 2009 - Carnival Cruise to Jamaica and Grand Cayman Islands with my dad - super relaxing, did a TON of reading, bonded with Sarah, missed Camp a TON. The day we were on Grand Cayman I decided that's where I'd like to honeymoon when I get married.
Washington, DC, with my mom - She hadn't been since a time when she couldn't remember and I hadn't been in 7 years. DC is awesome. Honestly, if it weren't so far away from Texas I'd probably job search there, but it's too far away and I love Texas too much, haha. We did the typical tourist stuff and rode double decker tour buses round the city! It was a really cool way to sight see.

Summer 2010 - Los Angeles/Beverly Hills with my mom - so far we've found out that we're missing Kendra Wilkinson's book signing at the Grove by less than 24 hours and I'm way bummed about it. We're also looking into double decker tours around LA. We signed up for a lottery for tickets to SYTYCD, but we're thinking getting them is lookin' pretty bleak. Either way it's going to be an awesome trip. My mom's never been to the west coast and I've only been once (Spring Break 2009), so we're doing everying tourist-y there is to do, except maybe a studio tour, but maybe we'll end up doing one?