ABCs of LSP

Emily over at Living in the Life of E! posted this ABCs blog and it looked fun so I filling it out, too!  I have seen many posts recently about how interesting it is what people choose to reveal about themselves in their blogs and what they choose to keep to themselves.  It is true I have not shared a lot of my personal life here, as it was not the original purpose of this blog.  Admittingly, I do author a family blog over on Wordpress to keep our friends and relatives up-to-date with what The Hubs, CB, and I are doing... but I have decided it is time to share some more about myself here, too!  Some of this is silliness but I hope you enjoy learning more about me!

A-Age:  Early 30-something...

Why, how old do I look?!


B-Bed size:  Queen!

The Hubs' legs are too long for a double, ha!


C-Chore you hate:  Um... everything.  I do not mind doing laundry, though!

(Except for the never-being-done part)


D-Dogs:  I like terriers best and large dogs scare me!

We are allergic, though, and will never have any pets... pesky asthma!

E-Essential start to your day:  A shower and drying my hair. 

I am not okay if I have not showered.


F-Favorite Color:  Navy blue!

Also love bright pink, kelly green, and maroon (Gig 'Em, Aggies!)


G-Gold or Silver:  Starting to prefer gold but love some of my silver pieces.

H-Height:  5'9"... and no, I did not play basketball in school.

I-Instruments you play:  None!  So sad.  

Gave up piano as a child but now wish I had not... hindsight is 20/20 right?

J-Job title:  Mom! 

And U.S. History teacher until this year.


K-Kids:  One! 

L-Live:  Texas! 

You probably already knew that, though :  )


M-My mom's name:  You mean it is not Mom?

N-Nickname:  Bri

(For those of you who do not know me "in person" my name is Brianna)

My dad still calls me Breezy


O-Overnight hospital stay:  In the hospital for three days when CB was born!

P-Pet Peeve:  People who smoke while they are driving.

GRRR!

Q-Quote from a movie: "Oh my God, Karen, you can't just ask people why they're white!"

Gretchen from Mean Girls (makes me laugh EVERY time!)


R-Right/Lefty:  Right...!!

S-Sibling:  One older brother

T-Time you wake up:  5 a.m. thanks to CB

Hoping sometime in life I will get to sleep late again... late being, oh, 7 a.m.


U-Underwear:  Not exactly sure what the question is here... but...

I will say never leave home without it...!!

V-Veggies you dislike:  Broccoli... zero fun to cook, gets stuck in your teeth.

Neither are good things.


W-What makes you run late:  Not being able to remember if I locked the door.

Once I went back six times to check.

Really.

Leaving the house is a mess.


X-Xrays you have had:  Hmm... teeth and ankle.

Y-Yummy food you make:  Yeah, I do not really cook... although The Hubs raves about my chicken salad and I do bake a mean chocolate chip cookie!

Z-Zoo animal:  Bears!

I also really enjoy watching the giraffes and penguins.

It would be fun for everyone to complete this one... I love reading y'all's answers!

Oh So Charming!

Charm bracelets can be traced back in history all the way to ancient times when pieces were collected and worn for good luck and to ward off evil spirits (scary!)  Thankfully, these fabulous accessories evolved into a fashion statement as opposed to a surival kit... even Queen Victoria was known to have a charm bracelet and they became the rage with the British aristocracy.  In America, charm bracelets were a jewelry staple in the 50s and 60s and have since made a comeback.

Here in Texas, charm bracelets are quite prevalent among a variety of age groups and style types (although certainly visible among the prep set). 

Thanks to James Avery, a sterling silver jewelry company headquartered in Kerrville, purchasing charms for almost any occassion is easy as pie.  In addition to stores in 20 Texas cities you can also find JA in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Tennessee... and of course there is always the option of purchasing online.  Many of their charm designs have been around for ages, but the company does tend to retire styles so if you there is one you adore it is best to scoop it up.

My charm collection began at the end of 5th grade when my grandmother presented me with a bracelet and three charms to represent achievements during the school year: a megaphone for cheerleading, an A+ for a district reading award, and an artist palette for a school-wide art award (and entry into a district-wide competition).  The bracelet was hers when she was a younger.

My charm bracelet

Over the years I collected more charms to commemorate events, never realizing this bracelet would really become a visual timeline of my life.  Now, 20 years later, it contains more than 50 charms, representing everything from my first car to graduation years, from my confirmation to our wedding day.  Some charms have a deeper significance and some are more frivolous, but they each have a meaning.

While I truly love every charm (and would love to share all their meanings), here are a few with their story:

Heart Finial... this charm has just always been my favorite.  I think it is so adorable!

The first date my husband and I went on was the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show in December 2001... here is my sailboat to remember the occassion!

In first grade I was a giant Hershey Kiss for Halloween and won first prize in my school's costume contest.  My grandmother purchased this Kiss charm for me : )

Texas A&M charm purchased from the MSC in College Station. 

I am an Aggie, this is really all I need to say about this one!

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the opening of my old school, Saint Gregory's Catholic in San Antonio, Medlar's of San Antonio created this charm and it was sold through the school to students, parents, and former students.  Love this one!

My wedding gift from The Hubs... aww!

My mother has two amazing charm bracelets, one from her teenage years with charms given to her by my dad, and a newer one with family-related charms for her roles as mom and grandmother.  I hope to inherit both one day (although not anytime soon, of course!)



Several of my friends collect charms, too, and one is the proud owner of this wonderful bracelet, also thanks to more than than 20 years of collecting.

Do you have a charm bracelet or another piece you wear for luck?  Post a photo... it would be fun to see everyone's bracelets!

LSP: MIA

In case anyone was wondering... I am still here!  The past week has been nutty with gatherings, errands, a short Texas road trip, reading for my book challenge and cleaning... oh, wait... disregard the last one : )  I am very behind on my blog reading and posting (and cleaning) but plan to catch up a bit this evening (well, probably not on the cleaning)... cannot wait to see what everyone has been up to recently!

In a Texas State of Mind

Loving TEXAS tonight...!!

Amarillo By Morning -- George Strait

Cross the Brazos at Waco -- Billy Walker

Yellow Rose of Texas -- Johnny Lee

Houston -- Dean Martin

El Paso -- Marty Robbins

Luckenbach, Texas -- Waylon Jennings

San Antonio Rose -- Patsy Cline

Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind -- George Strait

Aggie War Hymn -- Fightin' Texas Aggie Band

(Could not have this post without this one!)

What are you loving on this fabulous (longer!) spring evening?

Deleted Memories

Okay... so I am not going to lie... technology is not my favorite thing in the world (gasp!)  Call me old-fashioned, but this Child of the 80s remembers enough life before today's much-coveted gadgets to know survival is not dependent on them.  In fact, while most innovations make life easier, I have to question if some are making our life less fun.  (Before you continue reading... please note I adore my email, my blogs, and my GoodReads account... along with hair dryers and washing machines, ha!)

Example: Snail Mail Letters... who writes letters anymore?  I used to love getting letters during the summer!  OH the thrill of opening the mailbox and seeing an envelope waiting for you with the latest news (ha!)  Handwriting is a dying art form (and spelling, thanks to text messaging, is on its way out the door, too.  Do you know I actually read an article claiming we no longer needed "there", "their", and "they're"... and these should be condensed to one... really?  They are three different words!)  Do not even get me started on digital yearbooks.  Anyway... I could rant about this for hours... from which I will spare you... but I do have to say technology made me very, very sad last night.

In anticipation of CB's arrival last year, The Hubs and I cleaned everything out of our extra room (well, I cleaned out my things since his are all still in England!)  The closet was overflowing with high school memorabilia, including my homecoming mums.  Trying not to end up on the TLC hit show Hoarders, I decided it was time for the mums to go away... they were tangled, wrinkled, discolored, and the sparkly letters were falling off several of the ribbons.  There was really no need to continue housing them.  Taking advice from Real Simple magazine, I opted to take photos of the mums and toss the actual item... at least I would always have the photos, right?

Well... when I went to take a photo last night the card on my camera was full.  I went to the start of the card and began deleting photos I knew had been downloaded on to one of our laptops... including photos of my mums.  Long story short (too late), it turns out the photos of my mums had not been downloaded onto either of our computers (foolishly, I assumed because they were taken more than a year ago they would have been) but I did not find this out until long after the photos were gone.  Forever.  I was so angry I cried.  Really.

I am not exactly sure where my anger lies... with my husband and me for not communicating about whether the photos had been saved, myself alone for not checking first, or for the ease of the technology allowing me to simply erase photos with the mere tap of a button... should it really be so easy?  Upon second look this morning, I still have the photos of my mums from my junior year and senior year... but the pictures of my freshman and sophmore year mums have been deleted, never to be retrieved.  Plus the mums were sent away with the garbage way back in December 2009.  So sad.

Do not get me wrong... I am not this emotional over a high school token from 1994.  It is not really the abscence of the Mum Pics which bothered me.  It was the simplicity at which I could delete them.  Developed photographs are never this easy to get rid of... even those terrible ones taken during middle school you wish your family would lose!  (Does it seem to anyone else those actually multiply?)  I was thinking this morning about how, thanks to digital photography, we actually alter what is remembered.  Did the pic turn out ok?  No?  Ok, well hit delete and take another one.  Interesting.  I wonder what types of things would be documented if they were not so easy to erase.

Was The Mum Situation a severe case of Operator Error?  Of course.  It irks me how I did not bother to check to see if the photos had already been saved.  Totally my fault... but it also irks me how we can just delete.  In memory of my mum photos, here are some of the ones which survived.

Booking Through Thursday: Multi-Tasking

My mother and cousin participate in Booking Through Thursday, a Wordpress blog asking questions about your books and reading-related things.  Each Thursday there is a new question... I have decided to give this a whirl so here is my first answer!


My current stack of books to read!

Do you multi-task when you read?

I am the world's WORST multi-tasker... terrible.  I thought ladies were supposed to be experts but I must have been absent when God handed out this fantastic ability.  I have to focus 100% to accomplish anything... and I am very easily distracted...!! 

Needless to say, this includes reading... especially reading!  Especially reading when I was in college.  Especially graduate school.  I had a whole routine of how to read my textbooks to make sure I was prepared for class... it involved a highly sophisticated system of color-coded highlighting, lots of post-its, and a variety of pen colors for note taking.  I *might* suffer a teeny tiny bit from OCD.

As far as reading for enjoyment I prefer to be either on my couch or in my bed alone... ha!  I am able to read with the TV on but the channel must be on a show to which I have zero interest in paying attention... otherwise I read but am actually listening to the television, too, which can result in muddled story lines.  Have you ever had those pesky moments where you read and re-read the same paragraph multiple times?  Yep, always happens when the TV is on!

ALSO... thank you so much to everyone who sent well wishes over the past couple of days... I am feeling much better today... which comes in handy because I have to teach tomorrow!  Hope y'all have a fabulous evening!

Preppy Giveaways

Hey Everyone!  This has been a miserable two days! 

Somehow I have managed to contract a super unnecessary stomach bug paired with a severe allergy and asthma attack... I am one very unhappy camper!  Thankfully, my sweet mom came over today and took care of CB all the way until her bedtime... while I slept...!!  Hoping to get a good night's rest and wake up tomorrow feeling better... I would say "refreshed" but I am staying realistic!

Making my day better are two fabulous giveaways out there in the preppy blog world... first up is ROS over at Cincinnati Prep... he is offering either a Lilly Pulitzer or Vineyard Vines drink koozie... check out the giveway here!  While you are there check out the rest of his blog... very fun!

Second... Town and Country Prep is hosting a notepad and monogram stamp giveaway... items we all need...!!  I feel terrible because I thought I had already blogged about this giveway and it ends TONIGHT... so if you are interested, head over there quickly!

Hopefully I will be back tomorrow, no longer under the control of Claritin and Extra Strength Tylenol... have an amazing evening!