My life in pictures.

Little brother Pedro was captain on homecoming! 

My great-grandmothers method of organizing has been passed down. 

Birds at Sexton City. 

Letter from little sister Hayley. 

Breakfast with Michael complete with comical napkins. 

Most incredible man ever. 

Inspiration is everywhere-- even biology lab. 

Family trip to Shreveport for Dad's birthday. 

Little outlaws :) 

Addiction.  

Childhood memories. 

Lazy mornings. 

Lots of love.  

Favorite scarf. 

Cutest boy. (Love seeing pictures from my family in Canada!) 

Delicious food. 

Silly cat. 

Newest Table. 

Dreamy cat. 

My life is dictated by the food I eat.  Luckily, it's delicious food. 

I worship the rain.  

Take a few pictures this week. 

xo_vw

Danna's Happy Five.

Danna pitched in and told me her happy five! (See how easy it is to get on a busy college kid's blog? Just tell me what you want me to say :)  Danna is my aunt who is currently living in Prince Edward Island, Canada with her husband and three precious boys.  I miss them very much! The picture below is from yesterday when they were picking apples and celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving.  

1. Trix cereal
2. Talking to family!!!
3. Thanksgiving dinner
4. Sleet in October
5. 3 days till Nana and Papa are here!

enjoy :) 

xo_vw

Random Acts of Kindness.

It's amazing how God provides when you need it most, whether you need the actual product you've been given, or you need the feeling you get when someone sacrifices for you.  

Today, He provided for both me and my parents.  First, my parents went to lunch today where they saw some friends we have had for years.  The friends left before my parents and when Mom and Dad went to pay, it had been paid for.  Mom called me and told me how very sweet it was and we discussed how much she needed that little reminder of the love of her friends.  

A couple of hours later, I went to Chick-fil-A while on the phone with Mom again.  When I pulled up to the window, the boy working said my food had been paid for by the car in front of me.  I was shocked! First to Mom, then to me! How much love is there in this world and how great is our Father that He would do the same thing twice in one day for us personally! 

Do a random act of kindness today for someone special.  

xo_vw

Happy Five.

This week has been full of sad, stressful, and sleepless things.  I picked five things that helped me through it.

1. rain.
2. video chats.
3. giant blank canvases.
4. inspirational friends.
5. change.


tell me your happy five... I may post them this week ;)

xo_vw

Inspiration 2.

I told you I have a lot.  So here's more.  enjoy.

None of the images are mine.  I can try to find links if you want/need them! 

xo_vw

another. but different.

ANOTHER total TV obsession.  This time, though, I have good reasoning.

Growing up, the only place I could watch VH1 and MTV was at Danna and Jason's house (my aunt and uncle.)  The only time it was on, though, was when the Top 100 songs of the 80s or 90s came on- then they along with my parents and whoever else who graduated in the glory days of over-permed hair, deep voiced cheerleaders, and panty hose with shorts went on and on about U2, Michael Jackson, Duran Duran, Digital Underground (am I allowed to say that Jason still knows every word of 'The Humpty Dance?!',) Vanilla Ice, and how NKOTB soooo should have been on the list... I agree.

Well guess what, I finally have my decade!! VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 00s has officially come out! ...Oh look... it's coming on now... as I sit in my bed... at 10 am... PRODUCTIVE THURSDAY.

Michael and I couldn't stop watching last night during the 60-41 show... starting with Michael's favorite Ke$ha.  I think he would like me more if I didn't bathe for a week and rolled in glitter every half hour instead, but that's beside the point.  It went all the way down to R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet.

EMBARRASSING STORY TIME.  But first, if you don't know what this is, aka you are younger than me by about 3 years or older than me by about 10, don't look up Trapped in the Closet.  Your life will be much more fulfilling.  Promise.  I moved from a very small private school to public school when I was a freshman.  So of course, I get lumped into the stereotype of being totally sheltered and not knowing anything about what was going on in media.  Granted, the sheltered part was completely true.  But I knew music.  My XM radio was my life.... and I had turned on MTV without Mom's permission and watched the premiere of part one of Trapped in the Closet.  Mom, seeing as this was the most rebellious thing I did, I think its okay to admit this.  Anyways, part one was the only part I had seen.  So I had no idea the absolute craziness and mental issues that came out in parts 2-22.. WHAT?! yeah.  Conveniently, we were talking about poems that week in Mrs. Moore's freshman english class.  Epics, specifically.  Of course, we have to provide examples.  I blurt out "Like R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet!?" Twenty faces that were previously the back of heads looked at me questioning if I had really said that. It traumatized me and I haven't admitted to watching it until this moment.

Here's the list from 100-41.  You have to watch tonight to see 40-21.



100. Sisqó / Thong Song
99. Carrie Underwood / Before He Cheats
98. 3 Doors Down / Kryptonite
97. Shaggy / It Wasn’t Me
96. Pussycat Dolls ft Busta Rhymes / Don’t Cha
95. James Blunt / You’re Beautiful
94. Daughtry / It’s Not Over
93. OK Go / Here It Goes Again
92. Flo Rida ft T-Pain / Low
91. Creed / With Arms Wide Open



90. Mystikal / Shake Ya Ass
89. M.I.A. / Paper Planes
88. Fountains of Wayne / Stacy’s Mom
87. The Darkness / I Believe in a Thing Called Love
86. Aerosmith / Jaded
85. Macy Gray / I Try
84. Linkin Park / In the End
83. D’Angelo / Untitled (How Does It Feel)
82. Matchbox Twenty / Unwell
81. Bruce Springsteen / The Rising

80. Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz ft Ying Yang Twins / Get Low
79. Enrique Iglesias / Hero
78. Plain White T’s / Hey There Delilah
77. Nickelback / How You Remind Me
76. T.I. ft Rihanna / Live Your Life
75. Gavin DeGraw / I Don’t Want to Be
74. Chamillionaire ft Krayzie Bone / Ridin’
73. Nelly Furtado ft Timbaland / Promiscuous
72. Jet / Are You Gonna Be My Girl
71. Colbie Caillat / Bubbly

70. Chris Brown ft Juelz Santana / Run It!
69. Evanescence / Bring Me to Life
68. Ludacris ft Shawnna / Stand Up
67. Leona Lewis / Bleeding Love
66. Snoop Dogg ft Pharrell / Drop It Like It’s Hot
65. Aaliyah / Try Again
64. Jennifer Lopez ft Ja Rule / I’m Real (Murder Remix)
63. Andrew W.K. / Party Hard
62. Avril Lavigne / Complicated
61. Kelis / Milkshake

60. Ke$ha / Tik Tok
59. Justin Timberlake / Cry Me a River
58. Jason Mraz / I’m Yours
57. Mary J. Blige / Family Affair
56. DMX / Party Up (Up In Here)
55. The Killers / Mr. Brightside
54. Norah Jones / Don’t Know Why
53. Blink-182 / All the Small Things
52. Shakira ft Wyclef / Hips Don’t Lie
51. Natasha Bedingfield / Pocketful of Sunshine

50. Taylor Swift / You Belong With Me
49. Lady Gaga / Bad Romance
48. Kings Of Leon / Sex On Fire
47. Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mya, Pink / Lady Marmalade
46. Kid Rock & Sheryl Crow / Picture
45. Eve ft Gwen Stefani / Let Me Blow Ya Mind
44. Red Hot Chili Peppers / Californication
43. Katy Perry / I Kissed A Girl
42. Train / Drops Of Jupiter (Tell Me)
41. R. Kelly / Trapped In The Closet




now go listen to Luda while you wait.




xo_vw

Latest Obsession: Scanning.

yep. I'm only, what, 10 years behind? But yeah, I'm in love with scanning everything.  It's probably because I just got my first scanner that actually works for my birthday this year (Thanks Michael!)

Here's a taste of my love.

I'm totally obsessed with Henry David Thoreau.  He was my first philosopher crush.  (Steven Tyler was my first celebrity crush, FYI.) 

When I took a printmaking class, we had to do an Etching.  I sought inspiration from traditional Indian designs and this was one of my many practice runs! 

This is my great-grandmother who my whole family has decided I got my looks from.  She aged gorgeously, I couldn't wish to look like anyone else. 

My favorite notepad, from Old Navy somewhere around 2001.  Seriously.  

Never apologize is something that I struggle with, I love knowing the first part of the quote.  Thanks, John Arbuthnot Fisher.  

Both of these images are from SARK, whom I have idolized for about seven years now.  She helps me get through bad days with her inspiring cards, emails, and tweets. 

enjoy the rest of your week, tell me what's inspiring you! 

xo_vw

as free as my hair.

So I'm having a hair crisis.  Let's go through my hair history.  There was the whole bob with the big bow stage, the straight stringy stage, the lazy curls stage, the okay I've figured out my hair stage, and now my hair is in it's rebellious stage and I can't figure it out.  It looks greasy no matter what and I already wash it every day.  Even after I use super clarifying shampoo like Matrix Biolage it looks pitiful by the end of the day.  HELP! I need hair therapy.  Tell me what you use, how you think I should cut it, style it, part it, ANYTHING!! I feel so helpless because of the fact that I basically hate styling hair.  I'm super low maintenance in that area.

EXAMPLE. My hair now takes literally three minutes to do in the morning.  I wash it, condition the ends,  comb it out, put in mousse (have used Got 2 Be kinky for ever!)  and pull it up in a messy bun on my head every night.  In the morning, I pull it down and spray it with either Chi or Big Sexy hair spray.  Yeah, that lazy.

I'm trying my beach hair approach tonight. This involves doing the exact same thing without putting it in a bun and sleeping with it down.  This could be a disaster.

It's also been getting on my nerves on the back of my neck during class.  I'm pretty sure I'm smarter with my hair pulled up.  I blame it on Violet from the Series of Unfortunate Events books.

Anyways, here's a few hair pictures that have inspired me tonight.  All images from my Pinterest.

xo_vw