I Heart New Girl!

I've been pretty obsessed with the show New Girl for a while now. It's one of the only shows on TV right now that make me crack up laughing pretty much every two seconds. If you don't watch it, you should! This week there was a particularly funny scene that I wanted to share. I had a few friends texting me afterward after saying it reminded them of me.

Here's a brake down of the episode. Jess got a traffic ticket because she was braking for a bird. One of her guy roommates started dating a lawyer, who she thought could help her get out of the ticket. It turns out that the lawyer girl doesn't like her much. She tried to be nice by making her cupcakes and talking to her, but they just didn't mesh. And here's my favorite quote from the episode.

Jess: “I got something to say to you, ma’am. I brake for birds. I rock a lot of polka dots. I HAVE touched glitter in the last 24 hours. I spent my entire day talking to children. And I find it fundamentally strange that you’re not a dessert person. That’s just weird! And it freaks me out! And I’m sorry I don’t talk like Murphy Brown, and I hate your pantsuit. I wish it had ribbons on it. Or something to make it just slightly cuter. And that doesn’t mean I’m not smart and tough and strong!"

Lawyer girl: "Are you done?"

Jess: "No, I'm not done! I'm about to go pay this fine, and my checks have baby farm animals on them, bitch!”

Although my checks don't have baby farm animals on them, this quote is pretty accurate. Is mike the tiger close enough? I vote yes. :-)

Lauren Conrad and my current boot obsession

Fall only brings one thing to my mind...boots. I've been on the search for the perfect tan boots for almost a year now. It all started when Lauren Conrad came into town. She was signing books at Sam's (yes, random I know). I've always loved her, so I went to get a bunch of her books signed and ended up picking up her newest book, Style. While I was browsing the pages, I fell in love with a pair of Chloe riding boots (clearly out of my price range considering there's almost $1000).

I have seriously spent the past year searching for an affordable pair similar to these. My hubby can attest to this...he's seen at least 4 pairs of boots that weren't quite right come and go (I hate ordering things online sometimes!) My quest has finally ended. I bought Chinese Laundry boots from Piperlime and I'm absolutely in love! PS: Piperlime was AMAZING to order from! Free shipping, free returns, AND they have a policy that if something goes on sale 14 days after you buy it they will credit you the amount. They credited me $20 after I ordered them :-)

 
We've had a total of 2 "fall-like" days so far this year in terms of temperature, but I keep wearing the boots and pretending it's cooler outside. haha I've also had to shop for things to go with my new boots...of course. Here are some of my favorite recent fall fashion finds.

LC Lauren Conrad

LC Lauren Conrad

Target - I might have this in three colors because it's so comfortable

Target

That's enough for now! Next up: my pumpkin glittering party!

I love you, Taylor Swift (and my 5 year olds that think I look like you)

As I’ve said before, I absolutely adore Taylor Swift. I think she’s such a good roll model for young girls, she writes truthful and wonderful songs, and she seems to be a genuinely nice person. I had the opportunity to go to her concert a few weeks ago, and I fell in love all over again. It was such a fantastic concert...and we kind of had the best seats in the arena (if I do say so myself).

Club level, 9th row :-)

Aren't they amazing seats? I'm not sure I can go to a concert and not be that close again...we got way too spoiled. Also, funny story about the video. I was playing it in the classroom to show my assistant how close our seats were. One of the little kindergarten boys in my class comes up and says "Hey everyone...look! Ms. Stephanie is in a video the computer!" For a few minutes a bunch of the boys were gathered around talking about how great of a singer I am. All of a sudden one of them yells out "Wait, that's not Ms. Stephanie! She has shorter hair..."

I still think it's so funny that they thought all the rest of the video was completly plausible, but it was my hair that gave it away. Yes, children. I sing and perform every night while you're not in school on a glittery stage with ballerinas...oh and I look so much like Taylor Swift. You gotta love 5 year olds!

Maybe one day I'll stick to posting regularly...

Evidently I ignore my blog every other month. Sorry! School has been pretty crazy, and my little family takes up a lot of my time (in a good way).

I love my boys!

Ok, let's start catching you up on the past two months. For my birthday, my hubby surprised me by throwing a fondue party at our house. It's a long story, but he absolutely hates The Melting Pot...so I was really surprised by his idea. We also don't own a fondue pot, so we had to borrow a bunch from friends, family, and neighbors. It turned out to be a really good time! It's definitely something I'd be interested in doing again.

Sangria, meat, chocolate, and jumbo marshmallows...what more could you want?

Later on that weekend, my mom had us over for a birthday dinner. My mom is an amazing cook so the meal was to die for (as usual). She bought a few bottles of my favorite napa wine, cooked an Italian inspired meal, and made chocolate covered strawberries filled with cheesecake for dessert. YUM! And of course the company was perfect. I love getting time to spend with my family, especially my grandma. She's one of my best friends and I love her so much!

Cakebread wine, strawberry dessert, my amazing family, and a birthday painting by my mom!

Judge all you want, but I still love Hanson. I've loved them since I was in grammar school, and my love for them hasn't changed. They still make good music and their concerts are so much fun. For this concert they let fans vote on which album they wanted to be played in its entirety at the concert...and luckily it was Middle of Nowhere, their very first album. Man did it take me back to when I was 12 (sidenote: did you know that they came out almost 15 years ago? Makes you feel old, huh?).

Woohoo!

Before you completely judge me, watch this video. It's my favorite song from their most recent album. Ignore Taylor's beard.

Ok, that's all I have for now. Stay tuned for a series of my catching you posts that will include our anual LSU tailgate, my love of Taylor Swift, and fall clothing. Man, I'm just so interesting! haha

Curling up with a good book

I'm not a huge reader, but recently I've been getting into books written by celebrities I like. Yes, as my hubby will probably point out, the title of this post is very debatable. BUT when I read I tend to gravitate toward light and fun books that are easy reads...and are usually found in the "young adult" section of the store. I guess that kind of makes the "good" status diminish a bit, but I like them anyway!

It all started with the Lauren Conrad series (LA Candy), which was actually pretty good. Even though it wasn't a big stretch since it's about a group of girls getting their own reality show, it was interesting to read about what happens behind the scenes to make reality shows happen. It also made me really happy when she came to New Orleans for a book signing...and yes, those are peanuts behind her. It was in the middle of a Sam's Club and not a book store. I've always really loved LC.
PS: I was also very excited to find a Khol's on our trip so I could finally own something from her clothing line!

Anyway, a few months ago I heard that Hilary Duff was writing a novel as well. Seeing as I've loved her since her Lizzie McGuire days, I was very interested to see if this book would be good. I bought it right before our trip to California, and in record time for me, I was able to finish the book in just a day while we were traveling. I couldn't put it down! I'll leave it to you to see what it's about if you're interested...I don't want to give anything away. It was very good - and I can't wait for the next part to come out!

Next up, a post about our amazing one year anniversary trip to San Francisco and Napa Valley!

I have a confession to make...

...I have a girl crush on Taylor Swift.

There, I said it. I know a lot of people think she “couldn’t hit a note with a bus.” While that might be true, I just absolutely love her music. She makes music that is so relatable and about subjects that could really apply to most age groups. She speaks to the kids actually going through these things, while also managing to make everyone else remember how it felt.

I think what I enjoy the most is that her songs are honest. They are about her real life situations. I saw an interview where she said she will never change herself as a song writer. She said she always wrote about the real things happening in her life, and it doesn’t bother her that people are just more interested in the subject matter now than when she was 12. 

I wish she had been around when I was in middle and high school. It almost makes me jealous that kids today can listen to her lyrics and have someone to help them get through situations in their lives. Not many artists do that. The Backstreet Boys and Brittany Spears were definitely not singing about things like how to make it through a broken heart, the feeling of running into an ex, or having to tell someone you made a mistake. And pretty much every other artist on pop stations right now are not doing that either. It's so cool that country music crossed over to main stream stations.

No matter what anyone says about it, her music makes me so happy. She makes me remember what it was like to believe in fairy tales. Turning my ipod to Taylor Swift will instantly make my day better. I’ve been having a lot of Taylor Swift marathons lately!

NKOTBSB

New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys performed at AMAs yesterday, and it was AMAZING! I remember hearing them on the radio the other day saying that the idea of coming together was something so simple, but none of them had thought of it until recently. Definitely a good idea! It's basically a mash-up of my favorite songs from childhood! If you missed it, here it is.



That was supposedly the kick off to their tour together, although as of now they are coming NOWHERE near here. Hopefully they'll air one of the concerts as a tv special or something? That would be awesome!

(Ok, I lied. They just announced more tour dates and they will be in Houston and Lafayette over the summer. Hmmmm I hope I can make that work out!)

I'm BAAAACK!

I’m sorry I’ve been on hiatus for a while. The last REAL post I made was around a month ago...and a lot has happened since then. There is oh so much to catch you up on (and I apologize in advance because this will be long). Here is a random recap of happenings from the past month:

1. School is going well, although sometimes it seems as if parents need to be reminded to get a hobby (that is, one that isn’t bugging your child’s teacher). A few of them got that memo and decided to have a silent competition for the cutest kindergarten snack. Here are a few examples:

Bat Cookies

Snack-o-lantern -- SO CUTE!

This wasn't my class, but I just love it!

2. I finished reading Lauren Conrad’s book series called LA Candy. If you were a fan of The Hills (or just interested to hear about the other side of reality TV), I would definitely recommend them. There are three books in the series and they are very easy reads…relatively mindless books are my favorite ones. Here is a picture from the book signing where I got to meet her! (If you’re wondering why there are peanuts behind her, it’s because instead of the book signing being in a BOOK store it was at Sams)

Lauren Conrad book signing

3. I learned that going to a Saints game for Halloween is way more fun than going to a party. People watching was a lot of fun, the game was great (minus the fact that Stealers fans SUCK), and we both loved dressing up for a black and gold Halloween.

Black and gold costumes!

4. I love all of my rent-a-babies. Thank goodness my friends and family have adorable kids we can borrow every now and then!

My hubby and our niece

My best friend Molly's cute baby

5. Being a homeowner reminds me of this quote from the Notebook.

6. I went to Nashville to visit my great friend Victoria for her birthday. It was a much needed, amazing, relaxing, girly weekend. She seriously is the best hostess in the world. Visiting her is always so much fun! Here are a few highlights from my trip.

I've always wanted to go to a vineyard!!

The cute cupcake place that made Carrie Underwood's wedding cupcakes

The Nashtrash tour...SO FUNNY!

Who died and made you king of anything?

I might be obsessed with the new Sara Bareilles album. Here is my new favorite song.

Sara Bareilles - King of Anything



"Who cares if you disagree?
You are not me.
Who made you king of anything?
So you dare tell me who to be?
Who died and made you king of anything?"