Day 63-Weird Hair Don't Care

Howdy!

 
         Well I'm now reaping the consequences of a jam packed almost sleepless weekend because I am sick with a capital S. Not like terribly sick but I woke up with a lot of pressure in my nose and head plus a sore throat and when I got up to go to the bathroom my ear drums wear ringing soooo that's a thing. Woo oh well no real complaints on my end I had a blast. The only thing I really have to worry about is creating a schedule...woo? It will be interesting not quite sure what I want to take yet besides the obvious ones I have to take...so we shall see.

Memory #63

             I don't know why I started thinking about this particular memory but it randomly crept inside my brain and won't leave. Before high school I had no clue about how to be girly. Like zero, I tried. I played with girlish toys (Sort of) but usually I ended up playing with whatever Sam was into. It was kind of weird. When I was little my mom had most of the control on my outer appearance, obviously, and whatever she thought was good I pretty much went along with because hey what did I know? So as a kid the one thing I did like a lot was my long hair. I loved my long hair. There was just one problem. I refused to let my mom comb it. Like as soon as I saw that brush in her hand you better believe I was running away from her. This apparently happened way too often because next thing I know I'm getting my hair chopped off right up to my ears. Yikes. It was pretty sorry looking, even though everyone claims that it was "so adorable". Nope I still cringe when I kook at old pictures. Though I can understand why my mom cut off my hair. It just kind of makes me laugh thinking of my poor mom chasing me all over the house in an attempt to brush my ratty thin hair every.single.morning. 

Sorry mom!

Love Always,

Erin

                

Day 62-Sharpie Love

Howdy!


       Again I'm a terrible slacker! This will be quick cause I have somewhere I need to be soon (Soooo busy). Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

Memory #62

               Today after church my little friend group decided to mosey on down to Freebirds for a little burrito action. As we walked in I immediately remembered about this sharpie message my lovely best friend and I had written on the bar of this place on February 19th, 2011. Before we were in college, we obviously had to go on a college visit right? So my mom and Bailey's mom decided that we needed to make a trip down to College Station. So on a cool and brisk February morning at 6 am we all piled into the Barton's van and made our trek down to the promise land (Whoop!) What I remember the most is that my mom had recently gotten over cancer and had a new found sense of being more energized. So I remember her being really pumped about walking around campus. I also remember it being stinkin' crowded, so we almost didn't get to do any of the seminars but my mom did keep up with us and that my friends was a big deal. Anyways it eventually became noon and were famished, so that's how we ended up at Freebirds and made our markings on that bar (Still there! I forgot to take a picture :( ) I mean long story short, it was just a generally good day that I can remember and it was on my mind today.

Love Always,
Erin

Day 61- Slacker

Howdy!

 
          So this weekend turned out to be more jam packed then I thought. Which basically means I stayed up too late and got up way to early this whole weekend. I'm POOPED. Yesterday, unfortunately, I was never home for more than 30 minutes, which was used up completely by showering (Sorry a girls gotta be clean!). What was I doing? Well yesterday I got up at 6:30 to go to the big event, which is one of the biggest serving events ever, for real. So I was at this elderly woman's house with some of my church family and we were out in the sun all day working her flower bed and re-tiling her porch. It was exhausting, and then afterwards I had a youth counselor dinner type of thing and we all hung out basically until 11:30 at night. Which is way past my bedtime. So now I'm sunburned and exhausted. Then today I have about a two hour break gap to do things, such as writing this post. I'm not complaining because everything I did was a blast. Weekends like this are really good reminders about the amazing people in your life. So for that I am thankful. Sorry for missing a day!

Memory #61

             Weekends like this always make me think of my mom, not because they remind me of my mom but because she would be the first person I would want to tell all about my adventures to. It's always funny to think that there was a time when my mom would basically come close to tears when someone brought up the inevitable, "Pretty soon she'll [Me] be off to college." Oh my mom did not want to hear for one second that I would be leaving the nest. I know that when it came to our relationship it was not even close to being one sided, she was my best friend and I was hers. So when it came time for my senior year my mom definitely chose to ignore the fact that I would be leaving but of course did a heck of a lot of work to make sure I would get into college. Which is why mom's are awesome. Anyways I think that was one of the reasons that made my mom's passing so hard for me. I had done all of this preparing to leave home and my family but I had not prepared myself for my mom leaving me. There are definitely things currently that I would love to have my mom here for some stellar advice and mom hugs (Duh). Anyways not really a memory but take it as you will.

Love always,

Erin

Day 60-Happy Birdy Hat

Howdy-



            Well today is my most precious mother's birthday. Still weird but how can I not also rejoice? I again have to remind myself that my mom was taken from a world of pain and brought into the loving and wonderful arms of God and that will always be something I can be thankful for. One thing I can laugh about now is that my mom died right before her 50th birthday, let me tell you that woman's biggest fear was becoming 'an old fart'. There were multiple occasions when we were shopping around where she would see an old lady sweater or something and she'd point at it and whisper ever so seriously, "If I ever start to wear something like that, stop me." So happy birthday to the most fantastic woman I was blessed to be able to call my mommy.

Memory #60

                         As of right now I can't really think of any particular memories I have of my mom's birthday. She was the party planner out of the family and also I wasn't around for any of the major birthdays that you're supposed to celebrate in style. In my family birthdays are celebrated by going out to eat to wherever you wanted to go and then my mom's mom would usually invite everyone over and she'd make you a cake. Lots of family fun but nothing really stands out in my memory currently. Maybe one day something will stand out to me but for now the thing that popped into my brain is something that she did for Sambo's Birthday. It was something small and silly and shouldn't be something that is so prevalent in my brain but it's something that both Sam and I still think about sometimes. So we were having a family birthday and my mom had bought some candles, but not just normal candles to indicate how old you are. She bought fancy candles that spelled out Happy Birthday. So my grandmother brought out the cake that Sam had requested and my mom got to work on putting the candles on. I don't have the original picture but basically my mom decided that Happy Birthday was too over done so she rearranged the letters to say Happy Birdy Hat. Why? I will never know but it was hilarious to us and we continued on the tradition. This was for the first birthday Sam had that my mom wasn't there and I guess I felt compelled to bring some normalcy to the day. 

Love Always,
Erin
     

Day 59- Hop Aboard

Howdy!


          As cheesy as this might sound, I have become more and more aware of God's intervention in life. I have always been a believer that everything happens for a reason but for the first time I'm finally becoming more aware of those said reasons. The other day in bible study I had to get up and go to the bathroom and when I walked out into the hall one of the middle school girls was huddled on the hallway floor looking mighty upset. To give you our personal history, we had never been super close our conversations tend to be more casual and surface level. I was a little confused so I asked her what was up and she was very quick to say "nothing". Which in my world tends to mean EVERYTHING. So I stopped and looked at her (even though she was avoiding eye contact) and asked her if she wanted to talk about it and again I got a quick, "no" response. So what do you do in that situation? I just sat my bum down next to her and kind of just sat there until she started talking. And long story short (For privacy reasons) I opened up and she opened up and it was just one of those moments that you sit there and think to yourself, "I see what you did there, God." For reals if I ever had doubts about where I am currently that just about reassured me.

Memory #59

           In sixth grade I remember my mom decided to become a Sunday School teacher, which is what eventually led her to becoming a teacher. Because my mom was a Sunday School teacher for my grade it meant that I actually went on a regular basis. My mom was quite the hoot when it came to putting together lesson plans. I remember this one Sunday my mom was given the task of teaching Noah's Ark. Instead of giving us a bland lesson about stuff we already knew, my mom came up with an idea that would keep even angsty teenagers engaged. So the Saturday night before I remember walking downstairs and not being able to find my mom at first. Until I heard suspicious and clanging noises from my garage, upon investigation it revealed itself to be my mother trying to build (or cut out?) a giant ship plus props out of cardboard. I mean she was going ALL OUT. The entire garage smelled like spray paint because she was also making blue waves for the ship to float...obviously. Since I walked in on her crafting that also meant I was now part of her work crew. I remember spending like three hours in the garage, giggling and recreating Noah's ark. So the next day at Sunday School my mom broke out the cardboard masterpieces and you better believe we got real excited. 

My mom was super cool.

Love Always,

Erin

                       

Day 58-The Best Time to Wear an Ugly Sweater...

Howdy!


        Not too much to say, I can say that with confidence since I've been staring at the screen for practically an hour and haven't come up with anything of significance to relay. So I hope you're having a most excellent week and maybe tomorrow I can come up with something deep and insightful. (Probably not ha)

Memory #58

                

                  So my dad actually came to town yesterday to pick up some of his client's work in college station and also got to hang out with me (What a treat). He also brought up a package of shirts I bought. Now let it be stated and known that I bought these shirts not because I thought they were super cute but because they were funny and would go over good at camp and with my middle school girls. Basically I bought a shirt that has cats all over it and looks like a 4th grader might wear it, best case scenario. The first thing my dad says is basically how awful they are (Rude) but whatever I enjoy them and think they are pretty lolzy. Anyways it reminded me of this one time my mom and I were eating dinner at Panda Express. (Have you noticed a lot of my memories have food somewhere in them?) I was wearing this giant sweater. I'll admit it was ugly and giant, but I bought it from goodwill for a dollar and it was really comfy. Basically I have a problem. So I'm wearing this ugly sweater and this woman behind our table whispers not so softly to her son, "Do you see that girl? She looks hideous and that sweater is atrocious." WHO SAYS THAT?! WHO?! My mom had gotten up to get a drink during that time so she hadn't heard this woman. When she sat down my mom immediately got the sense that I was a little upset and questioned me. When I relayed my story my mom got real sassy. Not to the lady because you know. That's rude. But my mom might have started saying certain things loud enough for said rude lady to hear that I won't repeat. But you better believe I was close to laughing. When we got up to leave neither the lady or her son would look at us, it was great. 

       When we got into the car my mom stopped to tell me how beautiful I was, in her eyes, in my dad's eyes (Even if he thinks my shirts are ugly), and most importantly in God's eyes. Good reminder. 

Love Always,

Erin 

Day 57-Procrastination

Howdy!


       I don't want to get in the habit of mentioning the weather in every post but can we all just agree on the fact that the weather has been pretty great during the day? Not the mornings...they are still far too cold. But folks it is most definitely hammock weather (I just have to find a place where I can hang mine...hmmm). My roomies and I are getting closer and closer to having a house for next fall!! Everything should be fine as long as the Realtor we're working with doesn't do anything funny...Fingers crossed!

Memory #57

             I'm trying not to procrastinate to long on studying for my test tomorrow soooo I thought I'd just share two videos I remember my mom showing Sam and I when we were younger. After we saw it once I remember that we'd both crawl into her bed next to her and demand to see them again, and even if she was doing something she almost always went to whatever website and let us watch it for like the ten billionth time. Enjoy. (I warn you these are weird. But so was my mom and Sam...and me....) 

and

Yup. You're welcome.

Love Always,

Erin

Day 56-All Caught Up

Howdy!


             Well after being back from an incredibly jam packed weekend it was a little unfortunate to come back and see that none of my blog posts actually posted...boo! Oh well they're up now, so you get a three for one today! How exciting. I should warn you I'm completely exhausted. I drove back from Katy, Tx today at 7 just so I could back to College Station in time for my class woo. It was well worth it though. I got my fill of too many fried sweets, witnessed in person two of my favorite bands performing, and hung out with some of my very favorite people! It was a much needed and exciting weekend for sure but now I need to calm down and take on this week head on. For I have a test this week and I would really like to get an A on that. So fingers crossed!  

Memory #56

              So today in my English class my professor was basically going over everything that would be on the test this Wednesday. We've been covering literacy works such as the Odyssey and The Aeneid which if you're not familiar with happen (a really really really long time ago) and around the north Africa, Italy, and Turkey area. (I'm sorry if that doesn't give you much of a visual) Anyways out of the blue my professor starts talking about Istanbul and he asked to following question, "What was Istanbul called before it was 'captured'" And I knew the answer. Why did I know the answer? Because my mom had a weird choice in music. Still not clear? Watch this video.

         My mom loved this song. As soon as she bought it she put it on a playlist and shared it with me. So I now will always know that Istanbul was once Constantinople.

Love Always,

Erin 

Day 55-Fly

Howdy!

          Again these were supposed to be posted automatically through the website and that is why they are coming to you late. My apologies for being not tech savvy. In honor of Seeing my favorite country bands, here's a music memory.

Memory #55

          

               You know how when you're younger your music tastes and what not are primarily influenced by the music your parents listened too? Then when we get older we're supposed to start getting influenced by our much cooler friends and as a consequence we start to reject and form a distaste towards what our parents like. This was not totally the case in my book. Growing up I was obviously influenced by what music my parents listened to in the car and I will admit that when I first met this older girl on my street who professed her undying love to N*Sync, you better believe I hopped aboard the boy band train. I was still however influenced by my parents music. I remember stealing their CDs all of the time and jamming out to them, and then losing them a lot. (Still guilty of this, sorry dad) I remember my mom had this Dixie chicks CD that I pretty much obsessed over, and one day I took it out of her car and I would play it quietly in my room and jam out to it. My mom found out though (I guess jamming out in your room is not very sneaky) and I thought I was going to be in trouble but instead she took the CD and put it in our CD player in the living room and blasted it. And we had a dance party, Sam even came to. When I'm feeling nostalgic I listen to that album (It's Fly in case you were wondering) and every time I think about that one particular dance party (We had some sick moves). 

Love Always,

Erin

Day 54-Whoops

Howdy!

             Soo...I had these posts written and they were supposed to be posted by the websites timer...but I guess I didn't do it right...since they didn't post. My apologies!

Memory #54

           Since I am spending the day with my cousin it seems only fitting to include another cousin adventure (plus moms), right? So this other time my cousin Sara came over to spend the night at my house. Which my cousin and I decided happened a lot because her parents couldn't deal with her (lolz). For some reason the only thing I remember about this weekend that Sara spent the night, was the next morning. It was probably a Saturday during Tax season, because I remember my dad not being there. I remember my mom giving us my favorite breakfast cereal, and Sam's I believe, Reese's puffs. Which was a pretty big deal, we didn't get that a lot when we younger. After breakfast, I have this very distinct memory of all of us sitting in our pjs and playing Monopoly junior at the table. Now to understand the rest of this story, you should know that my family has a running joke that Sara ruins everything in my life. Why do we have that joke? BECAUSE IT'S TRUE, just kidding but the reason behind that story will probably come to light in this blog at a later time. Anyways this memory is one of the supporting blocks to that theory. So we're playing and I'm winning, because I'm a winner. When Sara gets upset that I bought the roller coaster that she wanted, so she got up and pouted in a corner. So what does my mom make me do? She makes me pretend I don't want the roller coaster anymore and give it to Sara just so that we can continue to play. Ugh. Moms are such peacekeepers.

Love Always,
Erin

Day 53-King of the Jungle

Howdy!


        Happy Friday! I am beyond excited for this weekend! My beautiful cousin is coming down to College Station and tomorrow we are going to travel down to Houston (Keep us in your thoughts as we travel in an unfamiliar place, yikes!) and go to Rodeo to see a concert! Then on Sunday I'm going to see my absolute favorite band, Zac Brown, with one of my favorite people, Shannon (My lovely roomie, you should know her by know)! So exciting! But enough of my uber exciting weekend plans I actually have something relevant and really awesome to share that I read today!
 
        Today in my world literature class my professor shared with us this collection of poems written by this Persian poet (translated into English obviously) by the name of Rumi. These quotes from some of his poems in my textbook were oddly very comforting. I've been having sort of poopy week, not because of bad things happening but because I've been doubting myself and my worth. I'm not proud to say that but its true. While I'm not completely sure what Rumi himself was trying to depict, I could see God plastered all over it. So these are a couple of random inserts from my textbook and my thoughts on them- Enjoy.

Listen, if you can stand too.

Union with the friend [God] means not being who've you been,

being instead silence: A place: A view

a place where language is inside seeing

What I most want 

is to spring out of this personality, 

then to sit apart from that leaping.

I've lived to long where can be reached.

Friend [God], our closeness is this.

Anywhere you put your foot

feel me in the firmness under you.

How is it with this love,

I see your world and not you?

           Those last two lines are what get me. How is it with this obviously and true love surrounding me, I can only see the fear and the pain of this world but not God sometimes. Being in union with the lord means that your sins are forgiven and you are given new life to be a better person. We're not perfect, I am far from perfect and yet God knows that. We are bound to mess up a lot and while I would love to just spring instantly out of the temptation around me to where I can't be reached, its not very realistic in this world. The best to do is to not get bogged down with this world and its things and try our best to see the love in it and live the way God intended us too, to the best of our abilities. I don't know if this is what Rumi was thinking when he wrote these stanzas but that is what I'm getting from them and I will leave it at that.

Memory #53

          In honor of my cousin coming up today I thought it would be appropriate to include one of my fabulous memories about my mom that included Sara. So one of the earliest memories I have was when I was about 6 or 7 which meant Sara and Sam were about 3 and 4. We were just wee babies. Anyways the movie Tarzan had just come out and I remember my mom decided to take on the daunting task of not only taking us all to the movies to see it but also take us to McDonald's to eat before hand. Which was a pretty big feat mind you. Anyways since this memory is from an early age I don't remember a lot about that day but I remember my mom taking us to McDonald's and letting us loose onto the indoor playground (After we had eaten obviously). When it was time to go my cousin Sara and I got off the playground and waited for Sam, and waited and waited some more. Sam was not ready to get off the playground and he was at the very top of that sucker. So first I was sent up to get him and then Sara but we all failed to get him down and my mom wasn't really supposed to get in the playground. Eventually though she had no other choice, so my mother climbed in that playground and basically man handled my brother until he finally came down. It was quite a sight. It kind of reminds me of something that would be in a comedic movie now a days. Once my now cranky mother and brother got off the playground we finally made our way to the movies. Lesson of the story: My mom meant business. 

Love Always,

Erin

Day 52-Grease is the Word

Howdy!

           Well folks, it would appear that I woke up on the wrong side of the bed or something. Nothing has really gone right for me today. Ooh dramatic, I should also include that nothing has really gone super bad either but I feel like a bunch of little unfortunate things that happen close together appear to be more traumatic than it should be. The most unfortunate thing to happen today? I accidentally left my favorite plastic cup onto of my car and drove off...when I came back it was shattered...woe is my life. When I have these kind of days its nice to think of good things, so I hope my memory today reflects that.

Memory #52

           So my birthday is pretty early in the school year and by early I mean basically the first day of school (woo) which means that I'm almost always the oldest person in my friend group. Which means that during this memory while I was 18 my friends were 17, this has a point I promise. Anyways it was my senior year and my church had this game night or whatever. So my friends and I were hanging out there and we decided that it getting kind of lame. So our ring leader at the time decided to look for more entertaining things to do, which lead her to see that our local Alamo Draft House was putting on a Grease sing a long. So obviously we bought tickets on the church's computer and waited patiently at the church until it was time to go. One of our friends didn't buy her ticket over the computer though, she got there late and had to wait until we got to the theater to purchase a ticket.

       So we drove down to the theater about an hour before the show started so that my friend could buy a ticket. When we got to the theater we waited as our friend went to purchase a ticket, when we ran into a little bump. You have to be 18 to purchase a ticket and our friend was not only 18 but was so tiny she couldn't even pass for 15 if she tried. The cashier was a real unpleasant guy as well and would not budge at all. We had to have an adult, a real adult, I couldn't even buy her a ticket. With no one else really available, my mom came to the rescue. She had been prepared for a nice night in bed but when I called and relayed to her our misfortunes, she jumped in the car and headed over to us. She not only bought a ticket for my friend but came along and saw the grease sing a long with us. Here's photo evidence. (That's a candy cig by the way...PROMISE)

          I wish I wasn't making such a face, but my mom looks absolutely stunning in this picture. After we finally got in the theater we obviously had a blast (Who wouldn't?) This is one of those memories that really solidify my mom's status as the cool mom. She really was.

Love Always,
Erin

Day 51- Launching Pad

Howdy!

   
          Well it would appear that Texas is attempting to have a spring. You know spring? That season that most places tend to have. I appreciate the effort Texas because it has been really nice. For my roomie's birthday (Shannon), which is today, her mom got us a patio set for our porch and it has been a real treat to use. On a side note HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BEAUTIFUL ROOMMATE (LIKE FOR THE THIRD TIME) And also thanks Shannon's mom for getting a patio set...because for real I love it. Anyway after my carefully planned out spring break posts I've been fairly uninspired as to what memories I want to write about next. Which is lame but hey it happens.

     Well I suppose when I let my brain loose to ponder things, something always tends to just spring up out of nowhere. It's funny how that works. Because my brain seriously just got inspired in less than 15 seconds after writing a paragraph about how uninspired I was. Perhaps my brain got offended that I called it out. (I wish it worked like that all the time)

Memory #51

      I suppose when I refer to memories they're not always going to be one specific moment, I should have probably specified that before I started this blog. I wonder if people expect a story with a thrilling climax and a heartwarming endearing ending. Which is unrealistic. To have 365 unique and individual memories of someone? How incredible that would be if we had a brain that could call up such specifics, but alas we do not. Wow I just got really distracted- Anyways in case you haven't heard I will be working at camp this summer! While I'm really excited I'm also incredibly nervous because out of the 200 something people that work there I know three people. Apparently a big portion of them are from A&M so the other day a girl posted that they were having a Cho-Yeh dinner together, and while I already had plans I know there was no way in heck I was going to go. I'm pretty awkward in those situations, like not even funny awkward just straight up uncomfortable. I can't handle it. 

         This has not been a new thing that has evolved over the years, oh no I've been this way since like 5th grade or whenever parents stopped arranging you to hang out with friends. I remember that whenever my mom would drop me off somewhere for the first time (Or even like the 10th time) I would just be a ball of anxiety. I mean school, church, anywhere. I would just be super anxious. So sometimes I would sit in the car, after we had arrived, and make my mom sit there with me watching the door until I saw someone I knew and liked to leave the car. It was kind of ridiculous. (I know I'm not the only one who did this) but my mom would just shake her head, put the car into park, and just chill with me until I was ready to launch myself into the sociable world. (Which took way longer than it should have) 

Love Always,

Awkward Erin

           

Day 50-Home Sweet Home

Howdy!


        Exciting news! My friends and I are getting real close to officially having a house next year! Yay! Gosh I'm excited! Other than that I don't really have anything else going on. Which is nice, especially since I just came off a week of doing absolutely nothing. So I'm fortunate enough to have a fairly easy week ahead of me. So hurrah for that!

 

Memory #50

            With the whole house searching business I've been dwelling on memories of all of the times we moved when I was younger. I know I've mentioned before, but just to reiterate in just elementary school alone I have lived in four different houses. That's a lot of moving for just 5 years. As a kid you don't necessarily see the faults that adults see, like not having enough bathrooms or rooms and so forth. I say that because when my parents first told me we were moving from our first home I was confused, I had a room, Sam had a room, my parents had a room, and I had  a playscape in my backyard...why did we need to move? And on top of that all of my friends lived near me. But alas we moved from one school district to another, where I knew nobody. 

       After our first house, we lived in two different rent houses in a span of two years. I remember that both times my mom set off to make sure Sam and I had nice rooms. Before she would do anything else, she painted my room and Sam's room and gave it all of these little touches before continuing on to deal with the rest of the house. She always went out of her way to make sure everything was just right so that Sam and I would have a better time adjusting to all of the new changes happening. The only problem was that my mom (three houses in a row) painted my room light pink. Every time. I know, I'm a brat. At this time though I was a self proclaimed tom boy and pink was a no-no. I remember when we moved to our current house when my mom asked me if I wanted to paint my room and I proclaimed, "Yes but no pink!" Which of course my mom laughed, "Why didn't you tell me that before?" Apparently since I never said anything my mom just assumed I liked pink. So we painted my room light blue and all was well. 

Love Always,

Erin

Day 49-Mastermind

Howdy!


         As you probably know I'm back in College Station, yay! (For the most part) You would think a week off wouldn't do that much harm to your sleep schedule and your motivation to do things...but it can really take a toll. I can not even relay to you how exhausted I am but its not because I did a lot over my break. Oh no its because I would stay up late and then consequently sleep in real late and then on top of that I literally did nothing but sit on the couch and catch up on my shows (College kid probs). So I basically been a lazy bum as well. That's what breaks do to me folks. On a completely random but exciting side note, my uncle has officially been cleared of cancer and no longer has to do chemo! God is good.

Memory #49

            As of right now my brother Sambo is 16 but he has not acquired a driver's license. He's taken the classes already and he has his permit but he has yet to complete all of his drive times. In fact he has only done one so far and let me tell you scheduling drive times is the biggest pain in the arse ever. Its even more complicated for my brother and dad because its still tax season, which pretty much means my dad is swamped at work. Which is real unfortunate. It also reminds me of my driver's ed experience. I was in a similar boat to Sam at the time, I had already taken the class and acquired my permit but had absolutely no drive times and it was summer. Summer, in case you were wondering, was the most popular time to get your drive times done and the driver's ed people had the most terrible and unorganized system ever, so it was nearly impossible to get a single drive time per week. (I should also mention that when you signed up you were only allowed one slot)

      Unless your name was Melinda Langford. When my mom got into a mindset of accomplishing something she went at it with her whole being (and she was real crafty). So one Wednesday, which is when you could sign up for the following week, my mom and I strolled up to the driver's ed where there was already a huge line forming; but that didn't sway my mom. She was bound and determined and she had a plan. My mom told me to get into line while she waited in the car with her phone. Once I got through the line and somehow managed to get a drive time and escape the mad house in one piece, I got into my mom's car confused as to why she hadn't gone in with me. My mom though had been fulfilling her master plan, we were told you could only get one drive time per week, but my mom figured that if we went in two separate ways they would have no idea that I got my name on their list twice. So my mom called and called until she finally got in and got me a slot. We did this every week for three weeks. And that is how my mom and I beat the driver's ed system. 

Love Always,

Erin

Day 48- All Good Things Must Come to an End

Howdy!


    Well boo...its the last official day of Spring Break...lame! It has flown by ever so quickly. So quickly that I forgot to finish my reading assignment for school...oops! Looks like I will be last second cramming yikes! Oh well I'm not too worried about it. But enough of my complaints! I present to you my last spring break memory- (For now if I somehow remember something of worth it will definitely be posted here)

Memory #48

                So this spring break memory is going to be a tad different than the others I have mentioned so far. I have no idea why but sometime during and before this wonderful little trip both Sam and I (primarily Sam) became obsessed with eating at Cracker Barrel...It was a very short obsession meaning that it fizzled out real quick but its worth mentioning because just on the spring break trip alone we ate there four times. Take that in. The trip itself was four-five days. We ate there almost once a day. Whenever we were traveling on the big boy streets, Sam would eventually pipe up with the usual "Mom, I'm hungry." And almost magically a sign would appear relaying the good news, "Cracker Barrel Next Exit". You best believe my mom was going to take that exit. (Mainly because hungry Sam is a cranky Sam)

            The thing I remember most about going to Cracker Barrel was how my mom and I ordered food. We almost always got a similar thing, usually breakfast items. The food item that is my absolute most favorite is the potato casserole thing. Oh my lawd, that thing is to die for! Slightly obsessed, not even embarrassed to admit that. Though whatever I got on that trip did not come with that and either did my mom's meal. So we always ordered a side of it to share. No matter what we got. Even if we ordered a hamburger and we would still have ordered it. Obsessed people. My mom and I did that a lot. A lot of the times our taste buds were fairly the same and somehow there would always be two different plates that we couldn't decide on. So we'd get both and just share. That's one of the things I miss the most on a daily.

In case you were wondering- Sam got the chicken fried steak every single time we went there. Without gravy obviously.

Love Always,

Erin

Day 47-Time to Fiesta...Texas...

Howdy!

   
          Second to last day of my spring break extravaganza..boo! Oh well I miss my roomies and my middle school girls...like crazy!! So I guess I'm ok with going back to school! (Even though I will miss snuggling with my puppy and kitty cat ): and I guess I'll miss being around my dad and brother...lolz) Not much else to report on, as of now, I'll be leaving soon for one last hoorah with my grandparents and aunt/uncle (on my mommy's side) and that will be it for my spring break! So I guess its time to stop blabbering and get on with the day's memory.

Memory #47

       

        So we left off yesterday with finally beholding and meeting baby Troy! (Which was pretty much the highlight of our trip to Mansfield) My mom then got the idea to go to the Six Flags (that I think is in Arlington?) with everyone. But obviously its not really thrilling to take a baby to six flags, so my cousin Chris stayed home with the baby, and Julie and her daughter/my cousin Lainey accompanied us to the six flags. The nice thing about going to theme parks with my mom, is that we had similar taste in rides and more importantly the same dislike of roller coasters. Yup, I'll admit it. I'm pretty much a wuss when it comes to roller coasters. I've gotten to the point where I can do indoor roller coasters or coasters in the dark (Because apparently I'm ok with not seeing where I'm going) but those crazy roller coasters like Superman? You could count me and my mother out. 

      So there was one ride in particular that my mom, Julie and I didn't want to go on. I don't remember if it was because it was a roller coaster or if it was because the line was terribly long and unappealing so Sam and Lainey waited in line while we sat on a bench waiting for them to come out. An hour and a half went by and still there was no sight of them. Mother instinct kicked in and both my mom and Julie got really super nervous. So we looked up and down the line, no sight of them. We looked around the exit, no sign of them. Panic was becoming more apparent. It took about 30 minutes but we finally found them, and that panic turned into anger. And let me just say I'm glad I wasn't the one who wandered off. Other than that it was quite an enjoyable day.  Moral of the story: Let your mother know where you are at all times...you don't know fury until your mother thinks shes lost you. 

Love Always,

Erin

Day 46-Babies

Howdy!

 
         Yikes, this break has really slipped away from me. I can't believe its already Friday (Bleck!). Oh well it was nice while it lasted I suppose but its time to get back to reality and responsibility. Since this week is coming to a close, so is my nicely planned out memory train. Boo. I guess this laid back spring break is a real contrast to the spring break I've been describing, its funny how things work out like that.

Memory #46

          After our crazy fun shenanigans in San Antonio, we bid both the Alamo and the river walk a sad adieu and loaded up in my mom's super awesome white expedition (The classic mom mobile but not as stereotypical as a minivan). Our next destination? Mansfield, Texas. You're probably asking, "Why Mansfield,Texas?" Well because my cousins lived there and they just so happened to have a new adorable baby that none of us had seen yet. And both me and my mother were dying to see this babe. So we drove all day from San Antonio to Mansfield (Which is outside Fort Worth, if you need a visual) and we finally arrived at my cousin Chris and Julie's house at like 1 am or something. Since there wasn't too much activity going on and we were tired beyond belief, we obviously went to bed. The next morning was like Christmas, because we got to see a baby. What more can you ask for? My mom was beyond excited about being a great aunt and looking back on it now, I'm really glad we got the chance to go down and see him (Baby Troy). Even though this picture was not taken on this particular trip I thought I'd share it because I don't know when else I'll be able to and I really like it. (Whew just got a little teary eyed)

Some other fun things happened on this day buuuuut I want to share them another time. Because those memories themselves are worth their own post and I think a cute picture of my mommy and baby Troy can suffice for today's memory. Don't you think?

Love Always,

Erin

Day 45-Believe it

Howdy!


         Well today has been quite long but fairly productive I suppose. I finally went to the dentists and it reminded me of when I was young enough to still be taken by my mom. My mom always scheduled dentists appointments around or a little before noon. That way when we were done we could go out to eat before she dropped me off back at school. I remember always getting flustered when the dentist told me I'd have to wait 30 minutes before I could eat (because of what ever cleaning stuff they used), but my mom always had it laid out that by the time we got to wherever we were going to eat I would be able to. Anyways onwards-

Memory #45

          Day four of the spring break extravaganza! So the Alamo was probably the big highlight of the trip (especially for Sambo) but we stayed a couple of days in San Antonio and did some other note worthy things. Such as walking up and down the river walk, where I had never been before. I remember eating out in this Mexican restaurant on the river walk where you could sit outside and watch the boats float along on the river walk and it being absolutely beautiful. And of course my mother and I squeezed in our favorite thing, shopping (duh!) along the river walk. While we were walking around we stumbled upon both Ripley's believe it or not world record museum and the wax museum. There was also a sign that claimed if you bought a ticket for one of the museums you got tickets to both of them. So naturally we had to both. 

           So we wandered around the wax museum (Probably my favorite out of the two) and took a lot of bad quality but fun pictures. Including this one, which is the only picture my mom is in from this glorious spring break. Of course its posing with the king of pop...hah. As strange as this picture is I'm still grateful to have it. Its nice to have tangible evidence of memories especially when they're particularly enjoyable ones.

Looking through all of the pictures that we took from the wax museum its evident that my mom gave us the room and encouragement to be weird and most of importantly be ourselves. As evident in the below picture. (Sorry for the bad quality)

I also said we went to Ripley's believe it or not, but I don't have any funny pictures or comments that happened there so much. I remember, like always, being silly but nothing too note worthy. Never a dull moment when you were cruisin with Melinda Langford. Huh I hope that someday I have children that can say that about me. 

Love Always,

Erin 

Day 44-Remembering

Howdy!


        Just got back from a long day of driving from the grandparents ranch! Let me tell you, I'm pooped! I shouldn't complain because its only about a three hour drive to my house...but its about six hours for my poor auntie (sorry!). I'm not a great traveler I suppose, but I did enjoy spending some time with my family! Now lets continue on to my spring break adventure!

Memory #44

               So something that Sam had been obsessing over was seeing the Alamo. He had never seen it before and he had really gotten into Texas history. So my mom decided to squeeze in San Antonio for a couple of days just so that Sam could see the Alamo. So after we left Madisonville we drove straight to San Antonio to our hotel on the river walk, which was a really awesome experience. The next day we got to fulfill Sam's dream and went to the Alamo.

   I feel like so far on this blog I only talk about how awesome my mom was to me, but Sam was my mom's baby. My mom loved doing things that put a smile on either of our faces and this was definitely one of  those moments. Sam was like a kid in a candy store at the Alamo and its one of the few memories I remember vividly. 

Love Always,

Erin

Day 43-Still Standing

Howdy!

   
          I always thought I was a fairly early riser but that thought is always dethroned when I stay at my grandparents. Apparently sleeping in till 9:30 is sleeping your life away, ha which is pretty funny since Sam can sleep until 3 if he really tries. Oh my, big news here! First though, back story. My grandparents, on my dads side, live out in the country on property that has been in my family forever and the country is prime dumping grounds for kitties and puppies (I know it is incredibly depressing). Sometimes these cats come up from their dumping ground and make it to someones front door. So far about 4 have made it to my grandparents door. All of them have been super skittish around people and run for the hills as soon as they even hear someone new coming...For the first time in 20 years though, I FINALLY HELD AND PET TWO OF THEM. MY LIFE IS COMPLETE! Here is a photo evidence, in case you don't believe me.

Anyways about to go have a girls day I suppose with mi abuela y tia! Woo anyways...I present to you part 2 of this spring break epic!

Memory #43

     

             So to give you some background knowledge on where we went next in our journey, to Madisonville, I should tell you that my mom had recently gotten really into ancestry tree.com. Which if you don't know what that is, its basically a website in where you can go through government records and newspapers and what not to trace back your family ancestry. It's pretty neat, my mom had started to do some digging onto her own side of the family and got really excited about all sort of things. Anyways my mom started talking about when she was a little girl, her and her sister Susan would come visit their grandparents out in Madisonville. The house, their grandparents lived in, was not a stereotypical house. Apparently it could have been a bar that got added onto? I don't quite remember. Anyways I remember driving into Madisonville and feeling my moms enthusiasm for looking at this house I hadn't even been to. 

       I also remember driving in and she would point out buildings to us, like the church she went to when she visited, the courthouse that burned down and the ugly one they built after it, and the newspaper publisher where they would announce your arrival in time. Everything. Then I remember driving to the edge of town, where there was this barricaded plot of grass and an old worn down, falling apart house. 

                As a law abiding citizen I saw the barricades and thought, "Ok I'll just admire it from back here." Not my mother. As soon as we were out of the car she went straight under the fence and right up to the house, pointing out the room she stayed in and where the kitchen was and all sorts of random memories about her child hood. (Sister, cousin and my mom shown below at said house)

       After reminiscing at the old house, we stopped by the old hotel that owned the land and ate lunch there and my mom rattled out various questions to the owners who only disappointed us in not knowing very much. We then strolled over to the Madisonville muesum, that was run by two nice elderly ladies, who were one excited to meet a Brimberry (My mom) and were brimming with all sorts of knowledge and fun facts. After our fun filled afternoon at Madisonville, we sadly had to load up in the car and make our way to San Antonio.

TO BE CONTINUED

Love always,

Erin

Day 42-The Beginning of an Epic

Howdy!


            I am currently writing this while I stare out into the country, (I'm basically Laura Ingalls Wilder) and boy its even gloomy out here too. Such a shame. The good news? It should be a couple of nice, relaxing and enjoyable days (for the most part, ha!) and I have the rest of the weeks blog posts planned out! That is a pretty big deal. I don't know if I've already conveyed this thought, but most of the time when I sit down to write a post is coincidentally the same time I decide what I'm going to write about for the day...so yay! I was talking to Sambo the other day and asking him about what Spring Break memories he had and the only one he could come up with was this trip that I'm about to break down for ya'll this week!

         My junior year of high school (After my mom was done with cancer for the first time I believe) my mom decided to celebrate her renewed energy and designed this week long trip for us to on (without poor daddyo sorry!). This was a new concept for the two of us since before we had only ever gone on day trips. So I won't talk about it too much here in the intro, but for the rest of the week I'll give you a break down from day to day about the best Spring Break Sam and I ever had.

Memory #42

          The first part of the trip was to watch a baseball game, but not just any baseball game. Obviously the first part of our spring break spectacular had to be a visit to College Station, TX to watch our fightin' Texas Aggies! I actually have no recollection of whether we won or not or even who we played but I remember being silly and goofy and having the time of our lives. Whenever my mom and I went to a baseball game, she always got tickets on the third base line because for one that was the Aggie side and two you get a nice view of the baseball players...I'm not even embarrassed to say that. I will, however, exclude what we remarked on about the players since I know who my audience is (Hello grandparents and father unit) but lets just say we had a code word for it and it was our favorite part about baseball games. (It went something like, "The weather sure is nice."- We're classy like that)

        Sam's favorite part, of course, was going to catch foul balls and being embarrassed by us (He is a cutie pie) The thing he got most embarrassed by was when my mom and I decided to get really involved in the 7th inning stretch. To show you why he was embarrassed I've included a picture my mom took of me participating in our way of the 7th inning stretch-

       I don't know why he was so embarrassed of us...I tell ya my mom and I were goofs. Anyways after a night of being silly, of catching foul balls, and oogling the players, remarking about the 'weather' we went and stayed at a hotel and went straight away to sleep to prepare for the next day.

TO BE CONTINUED

Love Always,

Erin

Day 41-Newbie Spring Breakers

Howdy!

     And the gloomy weather continues! Today we will be traveling down to see my grandparents down in the cowboy capital of the world, Bandera, Tx. Its nice to get away from things and just relax and of course, be around family. (Though I will miss the constant and stead fast wifi, ha!)

Memory #41

           Throughout my entire life my family rarely ever did anything during spring break, because both of my parents were CPAs and spring break happens to be right smack dab in the middle of Tax Season. So I don't really have any distinct memories of doing anything thrilling during spring break. It was mainly just Sam and I hanging around, unless someone else's mom picked us up, and doing nothing. Until my mom became a teacher. When my mom became a teacher I remember her getting really excited, about being able to finally have the same breaks off as us. Summers, spring breaks and what ever other holidays we got off. Which meant we could do fun and exciting things.

       The first spring break memory I have was when we decided to go to New Braunfels to go to Schlitterbahn. Before then Sam and I had never been to Sclitterbahn so it was real exciting. I don't really have any memory of what we did that day (and apparently Sam doesn't either) but the fact that we finally got to do something for Spring Break and that we had fun in the sun (Because it wasn't gloomy and depressing like it is today) with our mom, is enough to bring a smile to my face. 

Love Always,

Erin

Day 40-Genius

Howdy!!

           Well now that I have had sufficient sleep I should be able to write more eloquently (Or so we can hope). Well this is one of the first spring breaks I've had where the weather is super gloomy, ick! I'm glad I didn't have any plans to go tubing or anything that included being outside in this gray weather. I suppose we had tentative plans to go to a baseball game in College Station buuut my dad cancelled that when he saw the forecast and I'm glad he did because now we get to have dinner with my grandparents and some of our distant cousins (I think?). Whenever I think about this family I always remember when they offered to cook us dinner, when my mom was on chemo, and how excited my mom and I would get because she is one heck of a cook! And she always included a homemade dessert...yum. When tragedy strikes I really enjoy watching how a community comes together to support each other. It is truly awesome and really gives me hope, even on a gloomy day. Such as today. 

Memory #40

                So I got a couple of test grades back recently and they weren't as good as I thought they would be and it kind of bummed me out. I've never been a really super good test taker anyway but its kind of bummy when you think you did real awesome but find out you were just of kind of adequate. Ugh! (This is my being super whiny, sorry) My mom was incredibly smart, she would do all of these different puzzles and brain teasers just for funsies and they were almost never to much of a hassle for my mom to complete. Even a couple of days before her arrival in heaven I remember her watching Wheel of Fortune (or something similar) and being able to solve the word puzzle in almost not time flat. She was a real smart lady. I found myself always comparing myself to the kind of student I envisioned my mom being and I couldn't live up to that standard. 

           One of the first classes I took at college was Political Science 207 and I did not do so hot. The moment I got my grade back I started to doubt myself. I remember getting in this mindset of thinking, "Why am I even in college? I can't even do well in a basic required course." It was real disappointing. Then one day I was rummaging around in my mom's office and found an old report card from Texas A&M (You know from when they actually sent out report cards) and I noticed something that I find to be particularly awesome.

If the print is too small for you to read, the last class is Political Science 207 and wouldn't you know? We got the same exact grade. I suppose its a good reminder that a grade from a class doesn't measure how smart you actually are. That's a real comforting thought. I feel like my mom still finds way to comfort me even when she can't do it physically. Even if its through something as simple as a similar report card. I suppose its true when they say a mother's work is never done. 

Love Always,

Erin

 

Day 39-Short and Sweet

Howdy!!

       
           Just drove back from College Station! Woo yay spring break! As I write this I'm snuggled up next to my puppy and all is good in the world. I pulled an all nighter last night to write a paper sooo this is going to be real short today! Have a good day!

Memory #39

                So the boyfriend break saga continues! So after I got dumped I was feeling pretty sorry for myself but my mom was not going to let that be a thing. So first she made me a playlist for my usual before school morning routine, which included songs like "I Will Survive", "Love Stinks", and other angsty man hating songs to uplift any broken-hearted girl. This is going to sound lame but it really rallied me up to get all dolled up and go to school. So the next step was to obviously get a killer outfit for the next time I would have to be around my now ex-boyfriend, so my mom took me to the round rock outlets and we spent hours shopping for a new wardrobe to knock the socks off any boy. (Haha not really) But anyways point is my mom really help boost my self esteem after a couple of weeks of some silly boy beating it down and I could still use that every now and then.

Love always,

Erin

Day 38- Love Stinks

Howdy!

       One day moreeee until Spring Break! It's easy to let that be a distraction...especially when you have a test soon and a paper due tomorrow...yikes! Oh well as soon as they're over I don't have to worry about them at all during Spring Break! Hopefully I can fulfill my lent promise (or whatever its called) since I will be separated from my tempting distractions...A girl can dream, right? On the topic of my 'tempting distractions' (Great word choice, ha!) I guess I should say one of them is most definitely boys. Who da thunk? As a single twenty something year old you can't help but wonder, "When will I get a boyfriend?", "Why am I still single?" and lastly "Will I get married?". That is a whole heck of a lot of pressure to be under in college but those thoughts almost always creep in. Every girl I have ever spoken to has had a similar if not the same thoughts. Something I've come to terms with recently is that God has never promised us a spouse (or a boyfriend), he promises us something so much more fantastic than love from an earthly being. He promises us eternal happiness with a heaping side of unending love. Who can complain about that? That is some pretty fantastic news, if you ask me. Besides...you can buy a cat...or three.

Memory #38

                In honor of dumb stinky boys I decided to share with ya'll today the story of my first 'heart break'. Unless you count the time in kindergarten when Robert totally wouldn't sign my cast...jerk. My first 'boyfriend' was when I was in my sophomore year of high school (So I had just turned 16) and I was SMITTEN. I mean it was like the stereotypical first boyfriend reaction, I might not have been so much as smitten with said boy but smitten by the idea that someone actually wanted to date me.  So we dated for all about a month and a half (I know it was like totally serious and stuff) and since neither of us could drive and we attended two different high schools our relationship consisted of texting each other all day and hanging out at church (Romantic, right?).  I remember when the 'relationship' started to go down hill and I was too embarrassed to say anything to my mom or friends, especially since I'm known for over thinking and analyzing other people's actions. Around Christmas time I started to get anxious. "What do I get for my boyfriend for Christmas?" "Does he even still like me?" Really dramatic things like that.

         My mom was like, "Girl, just make him some cookies." So I did, because that was a fairly normal and noncommittal gift. So I spent ALL day making my moms famous and complicated butter cookie recipe, wrapped them up in a real cute package including a real adorable note (Because that's how I roll) and showed up at church. Where he dumped me. Cue worlds smallest violin playing sad song. Yup. Of course at the time I was devastated. I hadn't cried when I arrived home but I suppose the look on my face gave it away, because I remember my dad (upon looking at me) saying, "Honey, -insert boy name here- is gay." (and I mean that in the sense indicating that he is a homosexual) and I remember my mom hugging me and snuggling me as I just laid there and cried. Then my mom found the cookie box and we ate half of the cookies. Cause that's how we roll.  

Moral of the story: Boys suck, moms rule. 

Love Always,

Erin

P.S.

Tomorrow I'll give part 2 to this story. Its a doozy 

P.P.S

Boys stink

Day 37- The Von Crappe Family

Howdy!

        Its getting dangerously close to spring break, which means my brain is completely and utterly checked out. Yikes, its true though. This is probably going to sound super lame but I'm excited for spring break. You might be saying, "Wait. You're a college student. Of course you're excited for spring break. You obviously have plans to go tanning on a beach somewhere surrounded by gorgeous male specimens...Right?" Haha oh you! Of course I'm not doing any of that! No I'm excited for two reasons. One I get to see some family, which is always joyous and two because I have the whole weeks blog posts planned out. Yup. I never plan ahead but since day one I knew what I'd write about for spring break. So get excited! It ought to be pretty awesome!

       Enough with spring break plans, because it is only Wednesday and I still have to function for the next couple of days. Woo. It shouldn't be too bad...But before I start rambling on about whatever trivial papers or tests I might have I should probably talk about what today is. Did you forget? It's Ash Wednesday! I have personally never gone to an Ash Wednesday service so I'm kind of excited to go. This might be the first year that I actively participate in Lent but by that I don't mean, "I'm going to give up chocolate, you know because I want to lose three pounds." No. That is not what Lent is about, it is not about depriving yourself of something for your own benefit. Lent is giving up something to bring you closer to Christ and hopefully bring you closer to God. Is Facebook a temptation in your life? Give it up and replace it with bible time. Are you an avid abuser of the word 'Retarded' or 'Gay'? Give it up and find non-hurtful words to replace them with so you're not hurting your brother and sisters of Christ. For me, I'm embarrassed to just come out and say it but basically I have been obsessively thinking about something a lot when I should be focused on Christ. So my goal is to well obviously stop thinking about it over more important things like I don't know the man who died on the cross for my sins? And I will focus myself on what is really important. Christ.
Sorry for my ramblings but something to think about today.

Memory #37

                    I just heard recently that the original Maria Von Trapp passed away, well actually I'm not sure who exactly died from the Von Trapp family because all of the articles are a little eccentrically worded...BUT! It made me think about two things. One my mom and I used to love watching Sound of Music together all of the time, its a classic. The other thought is a tad strange so bear with me. When I was a sophomore or junior in high school Sambo got the latest edition of Rock Band. For those of you are not familiar with this concept. It is basically a video game where in order to beat the game you have to learn how to play their versions of instruments and play whatever song well enough to pass the level. My brother was obsessed with this game and acquired all of the instruments, including a microphone so up to three players could play at a time. He had drums, a guitar and a microphone so naturally my mom and I wanted in. 

               So first Sam (Very patiently) taught us how to use everything. He claimed the guitar, my mom claimed the drums and I guess I was the singer. Next, you had to create your character and Sam (Once again) very patiently let us fulfill our girly rock star dreams and make a perfect character. Then obviously you have to come up with a perfect band name. So my mom almost immediately exclaimed, "The Von Crapp Family!" and it was settled. We got really into the whole band thing and played  A LOT. My dad would come home for work and we would all be upstairs living that rock star life. I just remember a lot of laughs until my stomach hurt and of course a lot of angst, since we could never get past this one Pearl Jam song.  My mom was definitely a 'cool' mom. 

Love Always,

Erin

P.S.

Whenever I hear a song that was on Rock Band I think of my mom every single time. 

Day 36-Do You Want to Build a Snow Man?

Howdy!

        This post is coming to you early, why? BECAUSE CLASS IS CANCELLED BECAUSE OF THE ICE! Woo! I still have class at 2...but I can handle that! So I was filling out my calendar for the month and I didn't realize how jam packed this month is going to be!! Between spring break and the Houston Rodeo and The Big Event (It's an A&M thing, you should look it up and find out more!) I do not have an open weekend!! Which is great! It beats doing nothing and being bored all weekend! Super exciting stuff!

Memory #36

                  In my lifetime I have only got to leave school early once. When I was a sophomore in high school it started to 'Texas Snow' and then someone pulled the fire alarm so the administrators decided to cut us, hooligans, loose to our parents. My mom couldn't pick Sam and I up because at this time she was an elementary teacher and had to run parent pick up (or whatever it is teachers do at the end of the day). So our neighbor picked us up and dropped us off at our house. I remember as soon as we got home we ran out into the backyard and built a 'snowman' or whatever you want to call this blob of ice. (Look how cute Sammy is!)

          Then after we built our glorious creation, we went inside and made chocolate chip cookies and eagerly waited for our mom to come home so we could show her 'Paco' (I think that's what we ended up naming him). Even though I was in high school and Sam was in middle school we were still the type of kids to get really excited about showing things to our mom. When she did finally get home I remember basically dragging her outside so that she could witness our most beautiful statue (We were also afraid he was about to melt...Yay Texas) I remember her laughing and telling us how wonderful it was. Then we all went back inside, Sam and I finished the cookies and mom made hot chocolate. Then we all gathered onto her bed, snuggled under a blanket and watched movies for the rest of the day. It was perfect.

Love Always,

Erin

Day 35-Warning: Beauty Overload

Howdy!

       
         WHY WAS THERE ICE ON MY CAR THIS MORNING!? If Texas could just decide on what season it wants to be in that'd be super! (Especially if its not the bitter cold) It was so cold I got a headache from walking in the cold wind. Ugh I was wearing shorts like a week ago...Whatever. So my mind has been dwelling on certain things and I thought I'd share my thoughts with you in place of a memory today. Since my mom's arrival in heaven I have started to notice neat little coincidences that I hadn't seen before. I've said before that my mom was my best friend, and that is very true, but we still had a mother daughter relationship. While I got to know her as a teenager I will never truly get to know her as an adult or hear stories about her adult hood from her own perspective.

      Since being in college, though I've noticed that my mom and I had a lot more similarities than previously noted. For instance I decided to cut my hair differently a couple of months after my mom passed away and a week later I found a picture of my mom on her honey moon with the same exact haircut I had just got. In this picture we look so alike (including clothing choices) that all of my college friends thought the picture was of me. Which is incredibly awesome, growing up no one ever said that I looked like my mom and now that she's gone I can see parts of her in me. The best thing I have discovered to date though is this beaut.

Wait. Just let this sink in. Why am I so excited about this picture of my mom? Because it is a really good reminder on how similar we are. (Especially when it comes to how photogenic we are) I showed a friend this picture of my mom and all she had to say was, "It all makes sense now." Which cracks me up, because it is so true! I had the exact same reaction upon finding this picture. To better explain I've included a picture of my photogenic self. Take it all in. You're welcome. We're the same person and I'm beyond ecstatic. 

As my roommate, Amy, so wonderfully put, "The apple doesn't fall to far from the tree." 

Like mother like daughter. 

Love Always,

Erin

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Day 34-Seasons of Love

Howdy!


          This post is coming to you late because I have been traveling and away from technology! Including my phone since I accidentally left it in College Station..oops! Oh well it was kind of nice to be free from that little distraction in my pocket. I had a pretty good day, except for the random freeze today, I had the opportunity to spend some time with my family and had a relatively easy and safe drive back to college station. Today I had a youth counselor meeting at the church I work at and we had a long conversation concerning bullying. There is only one time I remember being bullied and it was of course in middle school (Bleh), long story short my 'best friend' decided to get my other friends to ditch me and call me a mean name. Those were some real awful days, I remember coming home absolutely defeated and not wanting to go back to school ever but my mom was always there to welcome me with a warm hug, an eager ear and advice. I still have days when I feel defeated and I long to call my mom.

Memory #34

              

               This will be kind of short but I'm going to just continue on with the Seasons Choir memories. I originally tried out for this choir my sophomore year and because of some really unfortunate circumstances I missed the audition. Then the choir director let me re-audition but it was between me or this girl that had already been in seasons and was a senior...not much chance there, so I did not make it and the following day I watched as all of the other girls who did make it flaunting their initiation shirts. That was fairly disappointing and I remember coming home and just crying. My mom would have none of that. She made me get up, adjust myself and she took me out. I remember we got our nails done, watched a movie and ended at our restaurant. I remember laughing the whole time and enjoying myself. 

             My mom then gave me the courage to try again the following year. So when I got the audition music, I immediately started to practice it. I remember freaking out because one of the notes on the audition piece was broken on our piano making it a little more difficult to practice so my mom went out and bought a keyboard...that was how my mom operated, folks. Then the day of the audition came and my mom did everything in her power to make sure that my day would go smoothly. She made sure that I had a good lunch (including an encouragement note) and that I had all of my homework done, literally she did everything. After my audition we went and celebrated and kept our fingers crossed. It took two agonizing weeks for the director to finally post the results. I remember my mom had already picked me up from school when we found out the auditions were posted but as soon as my mom knew she got up and we drove back to the school. We had to walk all over the school to find an unlocked door and then we had to go through a maze of janitors and what not until we finally got to the audition list. When we located my name I remember just losing it. There I was, with my mom, screaming and dancing in the dimly lit band and choir hallway and it was absolutely perfect.

Love Always,

Erin

               

Day 33- Princesses

Howdy!

       So you might recall that in high school I was not only in choir but I was also (basically) in a show choir that put on a yearly 'Princess Tea'. What is princess tea, you ask? It is the most awesome thing a person can experience. Yup that's right, I went there. Its where a group of high school girls become Disney princesses, sing Disney songs, and interact with little girls AS A PRINCESS. Wait what. Seriously there is nothing better than talking to a little girl who thinks you're the legit Sleeping Beauty. IT IS AWESOME! Anyways today I tagged along with my second family (The Bartons) to see the show as an alumni. It pretty broke much broke my heart. I could barely contain myself, I wanted so badly to jump up on stage and be a princess again! The best part was of course seeing some other alumni!! Seriously these girls were my rock  when my mom passed away. They were the ones that held my hand and gave me the courage to sing at my mom's funeral, these were the girls that let me vent about people treating me weird and most importantly they were the ones that loved me through it. I just about cried from joy. I flippin love you people. Period. End of story.

          Being there also reminded me of my senior year as a princess. This is the type of show where the moms step up and help. Whether its doing hair and makeup for their 'Princess', moral support or whatever labor our choir dictator director tried to force onto the poor unfortunate souls that asked "Do you need help?". My Princess Tea senior year my mom had recently passed away, and it was seriously the hardest thing to not cry. Between shows everyone had their mom to adjust them or they were they smiling at you in the audience or whatever. Point was, their moms were there and my mom wasn't (Physically). Then of course this show always brings all of these adorable little girls and their moms and I remember almost breaking down on stage when I was supposed to be a smiling princess! As bratty as it might sound, it was difficult to be 'mom-less', especially for my senior year (I'm definitely tearing up right now thinking about it). The first year I was in seasons my mom was dubbed 'The Seasons Mama' and she definitely lived up to that title. (She was even included in the seasons huddle! Show below)

(This was my junior year princess tea! Please disregard my face lolz)

Memory #33

                 In honor of princess tea, here is a princess tea memory! When I first got the roll of Sleeping Beauty my mom immediately got excited and instantly started to research costumes, wigs, accessories, even facts about sleeping beauty! Which was probably my favorite thing about my mom, how excited and passionate she could get about something. Even when it wasn't about her. So one day she got really excited because she found the perfect dress. This dress was a hand made beautiful Sleeping Beauty Dress and it seemed as if it were made for me. The measurements were exactly mine but it was a little pricey. I remember my mom just shrugging and saying, "Don't tell dad." and she just bought it. No second thoughts or anything she just bought it. Because she wanted me to look perfect and to be confident when I sang my first ever solo. 

                The next part of the costume was obviously the hair. Because as we can tell...I am not a blonde. So we had to acquire a blond wig.  One of the other moms had a blonde wig from a previous show and told us we could borrow it. So when my mom got it, we eagerly secured it on my head. When I looked at myself in the mirror I was HORRIFIED. The wig looked awful on me! I tried my hardest to put on a brave face and I guess my mom could sense the fall in my enthusiasm because she yanked the wig off put in the box and said, "We're going shopping." So we went to the wig shop right then and there and spent hours looking for the perfect wig. My mom did everything to make sure that my moment in the spotlight would be perfect. And because of her, it was.

Love Always,

Erin