What I am Thankful for

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for (in no particular order): 

My family 

delicious food 

music 

my bed 

a warm house 

JD's chippery 

finding out who my true friends are (and reuniting with one of them in particular this break!!) 

Travis Nelson Montie 

my puppy 

hummus 

trees 

coffee 

gummy vitamins 

and, because I just love them so much I can't help but mention them twice...my family 

And now a side story: I participate in this program called HOSTS (Helping One Student to Succeed) and every week I go to a local elementary school and tutor a little boy in first grade for 30 minutes. He is very sweet, calm (for the most part) and has really loosened up around me the past few weeks. He has actually taught me more than I think I have taught him. His home is a broken one, his parents can't even see each other and I can only hope that this doesn't effect him as he grows up because he has a lot of potential. Looking at the differences between his childhood and mine have made me that much more thankful for what I had. So this is my shout-out to my HOSTS kid (who will never read this). Thanks for being so fun and being a better teacher than me! 

HOSTS buddy: My favorite it mashed potatoes with gravy at Thanksgiving. 

Me: I don't like gravy. 

HOSTS buddy: Why?

Me: It is just so runny! 

HOSTS buddy: Well, water is runny, does that mean you don't like water?

See? Such a smarty-pants

Happy Thanksgiving!

My Weekend in San Antonio.

I realized that I never posted anything about my weekend at my Grandmother's house in San Antonio! 

Well, it was really fun, a lot more fun than I expected to be honest. I've had a nagging guilt for the past year or so that I have never been the best granddaughter. Forgetting to call her back, not being very pleasant during Christmas/other visits to her house...petty, silly things like that. 

But my weekend at her house made me realize that a lot of the things that make me who I am are actually very important to her as well. 

First of all, we both love to cook. I could talk about cooking and baking all day long. I love food, I love making it, I love learning about healthy food, the list goes on and on. Just ask Travis, or my parents, I could talk their heads off about food. Turns out, my Grandmother can too! In fact, we talked a lot about food. I got to thumb through her recipes and copy down my favorites, she taught me all about her new special diet she has to follow and I even took a copy of that as well. It was fun to see that my love for food probably came from her (no offense Mom). 

Second, books! Now, I don't read nearly as many books as she does but I do love to read when I have free time. Not only that, but when I brought up to my Grandmother that I don't like kindles/nooks she agreed and said that she likes the whole experience of having a real book in front of you. This sparked a conversation about how we love to turn the pages, see how far we come and after we finish books, we feel too connected to them for it to be an electronic version. 

Lastly, our love for photography. My Grandmother takes a lot...and then some more pictures. It is actually one of the things I sometimes dread about going to her house, "say cheese!" (as I am sitting next to my Christmas stocking early in the morning wearing my pajamas with dried drool on my face) hasn't always been my favorite phrase. I've always loved taking pictures too, I cherish my photos and the memories that I connect to them. She has a huge shelf of all of her photo albums in order by date. One of my favorite things to do at her house is go to that shelf and look through pictures of my Mom when she was my age, when she met brought my Dad home for the first time and when me and my brother were little. Sure, I may get annoyed at all the pictures but the payoff is huge, I can look back and see so many pieces of my families history, I think my family should thank her instead of getting annoyed by it :) 

I know these similarities seem small but in my family I had yet to find the origin of these passions I have. I think I found it in my Grandmother.  

Coincidence's

Last night, I experienced two strange coincidences. 

Travis took me on a date last night and earlier in the day I had been kind of craving Cafe Eccell for dinner. I haven't been there yet this year and I do love their pizza so we decided that we would go there to eat. Yesterday was kind of a weird day in that I began the morning with three hours of Pi Phi initiation (yay baby Pi Phi's!) which was fun but it also marked the one year anniversary of my cousin Alex's passing. Throughout the day I was kind of sad just thinking about how he isn't here anymore. Later that night, Travis picked me up and we headed to Cafe Eccell when suddenly it hit me (coincidence #1). My cousin Shannon had mentioned that Cafe Eccell is where she celebrated her engagement to her now husband. I'm guessing my extended family was there...including her brother, my cousin Alex. CRAZY! We ended up going to eat at a place that was so appropriate for the day. 

Then, as Travis and I drove past Cafe Eccell and into the parking lot, we say these two cars with security personnel standing beside them. We thought "Really? You're going to block half of the road because you're so important?"We proceeded to walk to the front door when we saw some people getting their picture taken...surrounded by four guys in black suits. 

It was George and Barbara Bush.

I tried to just walk behind them so we could slip into the restaurant and let them leave without a scene. However, I was snapped at by one of the secret service men, "Could you hold on a second?" Well, ok I guess I can. We waited for them to finish taking their picture with some other restaurant go-ers and George Bush turned to us and waved. Travis said, "Howdy" which is hilarious to me because he never says "howdy" (I think he was starstruck). Then Barbara Bush leaned down to ask George Bush what the Rangers score was. We liked seeing that little glimpse of normalcy between them. 

But here is coincidence #2. Barbara Bush was initiated into my Pi Phi Chapter in 2002, she is a Texas Eta Pi Phi. She is a big supporter of our chapter and to see her on the same day we initiated our new members was a huge coincidence. Just that morning we were talking about how her! Our whole philanthropy is influenced by her so it was pretty cool to see her last night. Now, if only I had put all of this together in that small moment when I saw her. I could've talked Pi Phi with her!! They were leaving though, so I think my brain picked the right choice by not bothering her on her way out. 

It was a funny night. Those back to back coincidences, they were so right! And in case you were wondering, we split a margherita pizza and it was deelish. 

Little Things

I have been completely consumed with tests this week and I still have two more to take next week before I can really breathe. Even though my test week has been a little stressful, I have many little things that have made my week more bearable...

(no blog post is complete without little Zoe)

-A late night chat with Travis on Tuesday. We talked about life, things/people that stress us out, dreams etc. all while dangling our feet in the pool-

-A sweet text from my little asking me how my week was going-

-Tomato basil soup and chicken salad sandwiches for lunch at the house on Wednesday-

-Spending practically an entire day at Starbucks on Wednesday to prepare for my two tests on Thursday- 

-Checking my phone on Thursday and seeing three texts from each member of my family wishing me a happy jewish new year, all sent at the same time (dads idea)-

-Talking with my Mom on the phone and deciding that when I come home, we are making Peach Noodle Kugel and Honey Cake- 

-My group text conversation with Ashley and Lauren, we texted during my entire Oceanography class and I loved every minute of it. I even had a moment in class where I was trying so hard not to laugh out-loud that my body was shaking and I had to hold my breath for fear that letting it out would release my laughter. I love them!! Sometimes, I miss them so much my heart aches a little (note to self: they deserve their own post) 

Don't You Love Grandmothers?

In a little over a month, I'll be going to San Antonio to visit my Grandmother by myself. In my whole life, I've never gone to my Grandmother's house alone because she lives in San Antonio but, this time, it's just me and her! 

I haven't been down to San Antonio since Christmas and I barely remember being there because of that "pesky" abscess tooth I was suffering from. We have already planned to go to the Symphony on the Friday I get in town and then needlepoint while watching the UT vs. Tech game on Saturday. You can only do these things with your Grandmother. 

Don't ya just love it?

* Here's to hoping that pimento cheese and brunch at "the club" will be on the agenda too*

(my Grandmother and my Mom on Christmas Eve...pre-abscess) 

Fall 2011 Wish List

Any nail color from Butter London



Coco Mademoiselle Perfume 

Tiramisu Blue Bell Ice Cream (Coffee Ice Cream loaded with cake pieces, dark chocolate flakes, creamy caramel sauce and whipped topping swirled throughout) 

An Internship ;) 

This navy trench coat and red cashmere scarf donned by "The Duchess" 

A little sweetie like this 

Ahh...A girl can dream, right?

Bid Day!(Like...OH-EM-JEE!)