Bucket List

I FINALLY FINISHED! I feel such a great sense of accomplishment for creating this list. I am still working on the 101 in 1001 list but knowing I have put the bucket list out in the world makes me want to work on the other one a little harder. So here is what I came up with as the big dreams in my little life. I wonder what others think about it and what other peoples' dreams are...hmmm.

Meet a genuine celebrity

Win a contest/sweepstakes

Visit all 50 states--upon visiting each state put a pin in a map of the US

Visit Australia, South America, Asia, North America, Europe, Central America, and Africa--upon visiting each place put a pin in a map of the world

Buy a pair of Manolo Blahniks and Christian Louboutions

Cultivate a vegetable garden and keep it alive for a year!

Buy a car because I want a new one, not because I totaled one

Own my own home by age 30

Actually help another person

Adopt a piglet

Learn to drive a stick shift

Receive a post graduate degree

Adopt a shelter dog as often as I can

Take part in an electoral campaign

Grow enough sunflowers one summer that I can give some to others!

Keep a list of all the books (serious and fun) I have ever read

Plant a tree and watch it grow!

Go to the Final Four games for March Maddness

Take my Daddy to the MAC football Championship

Bring my child to watch Alabama win another football national championship

Do yoga on the beach in Bali

Take a cruise through the Mediterranean

Take my Momma and Mark to the US Open in New York, the French Open in Paris, Wimbledon in London and the Austrian Open in Sydney (not all in the same year)

Do something out of my comfort zone

Fire William's pistol, just once in a shooting range

As I grow and as I change, update this list with new adventures and new challenges

It feels really fitting I put this up on Easter Sunday. Easter marks the beginning of Spring and the coming of Summer. Easter means new life and a world filled with love. I hope everyone feels the same calm that I felt during Holy Week, especially Holy Thursday. Hoppy Easter!

Still alive...barely.

So I'm still alive. But barely. Not only am I drowning in school work (being an English major is a lot of reading and writing--I didn't see that one coming!!) work work, bow making, cleaning/laundry/upkeep of my home, and clinical experiences in the high schools....BUT I hurt myself. And when I say hurt myself I mean, seriously injured myself. I have what the doctor ESTIMATES is a slipped disc in my lower back. What it really means is for the last 10 days I have not been able to stand, sit or lay down for any amount of time. I'm pumping myself full of all sorts of chemcial wonders to get through the day but they make me sleepy and I just have no energy. The downer about my back is they have no idea when it will be getting better. Two to three weeks it should heal itself with the aide of painkillers, anti-inflammatory and a muscle relaxer. Yippee!

With my back, I have had zero time to do most things. Like blog about my super wonderful and relaxing Spring Break with William to Watercolor, FL. We did not really get any pictures(read: we took one picture of William and one of his best friends Lane). We did however, have fun. Saint Patrick's Day was the day we got wild. Green beer is SO fun. Especially when you're 21! We spent most of our time either in Watercolor or Seaside and really enjoyed running into one of my pledge sisters and her mother in Seaside! I wish I had more to say, but the vacation was really just quiet (with the exception of St Pattys when I got a little TOO drunk) and beachy--my two favorite things. I do recommend both Seaside and Watercolor as amazing beaches in Florida, with Destin about 30 minutes away, the areas are the perfect blend of quiet and fun.

So with all that: I'm BACK! Hopefully, I will have time to finish something I'm very excited to have started. By laying on the floor most of the day I spend a lot of time procrastinating on my homework and working on a bucket list. I've seen a ton of them on blogs, and I have to say my favorite is my sweet friend Paige's. By composing my bucket list I really have seen my fears (I'll NEVER skydive!!) and how truly blessed my life has been thus far (there aren't many places in Europe I haven't been to!). I'm also working on a 101 in 1001 list, but that seems a little more difficult. Basically a condensed bucket list, the 101 in 1001 list is REALLY giving me trouble! I promise it won't be two weeks until y'all hear from me again!

Have a wonderful rest of the week! And of course I hope as Holy Week begins, may we each have a blessed rest of the week!

Wordless Wednesday: Spring Break Fever

Full Speed Ahead.

Life seems to be going just a bit to fast these days. Between tutoring, clinicals, actual class, work and my hobbies, I basically have ZERO time. My life looks like it isn't going to be slowing down anytime soon. I'm just hoping to make it to Saturday, and the official start of Spring Break. Last night's Oscars were a highlight to the weekend. I am so proud that Sandra won. It was so well deserved! However, Kathy Ireland, Miley Cyrus and Zoe Saldana needed to have stern talks with their stylists, makeup artists and hair stylists. Miley, my personal vendetta against you aside, you look like a Linebacker with helmet fuzz hair. (Picture thanks to Jared over at CelebBuzz)

Wordless Wednesday: Lucky to have my Momma

on days like today I'm lucky to have pictures like this. Count your blessings. Remember what's important, that's what I try to do. I hope y'all do too.

Tips Tuesday--Cleaning Up

So I was almost about 30,000% sure I was not going to participate in this week's hop thing, since I am not a domestic cleaning diva. But a few ideas popped into my head that works AWESOME for a college home:

• Make friends with Lysol. I am a firm believer in air freshener and candles and anything that will make my home not smell like people (and furbabies) live here. But Lysol, if you buy it in a perfume type smell, not only freshens up the house but kills germs and bacteria. Germs and bacteria, my wonderful future science teacher friend Haley has told me, are the real cause of odor. So not only are you smelling an immediate better smell but stopping the smell from coming back. How awesome is that?
  
• Okay, I know I spent another posting rambling on about my charming clutter so I am basically no authority. BUT I do live and die by Clorox Clean Up Wipes. Quick and Easy and Effective. I wish more things in life could be like that! I make a point after I bake or cook to wipe down the stove and all counter space. It takes about 3 seconds and gets rid of nastiness.
• If you are going to make the choice to have a furbaby, BUY a vacuum. I just recently got a brand new Bissel Pet Hair Eraser with the Power Paw and folks it was worth every penny. I used to borrow a neighbor's vacuum instead of having my own. That was just terrible. Then I was "gifted" by my very intuitive Momma an old school Dirt Devil. That was just terrible. I was vacuuming on my hands and knees. So again I say, if you are going to make the wonderful choice of bringing a furbaby into your home, you'll need a nice vacuum. It will up the cleaniness quality by like 25 atleast.
  

I hope these ideas help someone else! I know I am in a constant battle to figure how to balance life, love, school, work, more school and more work. I wish I had a butler/housekeeper but for now I have a nice vacuum, Lysol and Clorox Wipes. It works for us on a daily basis. I always clean the house top to bottom on weekends. Since its so small and cluttered around here it doesn't take long just time and effort. College is a giant learning experience and I just hope mine is helping someone else.

Happy Cleaning!

Gods in Alabama

There are many kinds of gods in Alabama. These gods are special--they basically shut the state down. And last Friday, we Alabamaians were lucky enough to have one grace us with its presence. I'm talking about the SNOW, of course. I don't have classes on Fridays (I know lucky me, right?) so the canceled class wasn't exactly awesome, but I do my clinical placements on Fridays so I was lucky enough to sleep in and work a full day. Sadly, the snow melted by the time I came home! Grace enjoyed her first snow day William, the stay at home Daddy, informed me. He took her on a long walk and being the Princess she is, hated every moment of being wet. Since it was just the two of them there are hardly any pictures, and sadly no pictures of her! I've got one of his car, one of our building, and then the view of the Strip with the Stadium in the background--the shot that I think basically sums up the basic gods of Alabama. Bryant Denny stadium, the year we brought home number 13, blanketed in snow.

With that I say, Roll Tide Roll!