Meeting The Pioneer Woman (Again!)

Monday night The Pioneer Woman was in town doing a book signing. She was here close to three years ago, and I got to meet her then, which was before her show had even started on Food Network. I've just been reading her blog for years, and she is just as sweet in person as she is on her blog and on TV.

I met some of my family at the bookstore, and I got lucky because they were already in line close to the front (I was late), so I didn't have to wait hardly at all!

So fun!

Even Savannah had fun!

After we met Ree, we went over to the kids section, and I thought it was so cute how the girls were sitting around listening to my mom read them a story.

Then my mom and I grabbed Piada for dinner (which is basically one of my favorite restaurants!).

Overall, Monday was a pretty awesome day!

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving! It's hard to believe it's already here, isn't it?

This day always makes me take a step back and think about the things I'm thankful for.

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A lot of things come to mind. I'm thankful for my house, my car.......

But those are just material things, and although I am thankful for them, I'm even more thankful for the irreplaceable things.

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This year, I'm thankful for the relationships in my life.

For my family.

For my old friends.

For the new friends I've met since starting college.

I'm just so thankful for all of the blessings God has given me!

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Sweets, Shopping, and Initiations

This post is just a little bit of everything as I work to catch up.....

The mere fact that we live in a world where things like Red Velvet Dark Chocolate Covered Santas exist is a reason alone to be happy and believe there is a God ;)

Last weekend I made cake pops for my friend's sister since it was her 13th birthday. I then proceeded to feel extremely old thinking about my 13th birthday and how long ago it was.....

My mom made the Pioneer Woman's homemade French Toast for dinner last weekend. It was absolutely delicious.

This is what I like to call a diva dog. I wish I could say that this photo was staged, but it wasn't. She really just laid her head on the pillow herself.

This is my schedule for the Monday after Thanksgiving. I cringe just thinking about it.

These are wonderful. If you haven't had them, you must try them!

I was officially initiated into Kappa Delta Sorority on Thursday (11/21). I'm so happy to be a real member and to know some of the secrets of KD :)

When I came home, I found a bouquet of white roses sitting on my kitchen table from my parents, since our flower is the white rose. Loved that!

One of my cousins was also a KD in college (at UC too!), and she dropped off a surprise little gift at the KD house that I got the night of initiation. It was this sweet picture of her girls!

After class on Friday I headed out to the mall just for fun. Why not? I had some time to kill and what better way to spend my time than walking around my favorite mall?

I basically want all of the new Formula X for Sephora nail polishes for Christmas. All of the colors are so pretty and unique.

I couldn't stop smiling as I walked around the mall since it was decorated for Christmas and Christmas music was playing.

I even spotted Santa ;)

I went in Nordstrom to try on this cardigan (aka the blardigan). If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you're not reading Pinterest Told Me To, and you really should be! This piece of clothing was super soft and comfortable. It was also really cute (just ignore the fact that my legs are awkwardly crossed - ha!).

 Macy's all decorated for Christmas. What could be better?

I only had about an hour at the mall before I had to grab dinner, so I went across the street to Noodles & Co. - one of my favorite places!

I also picked up Yagoot on my way to a holiday fair/event thing at a local salon. Basically they had a bunch of vendors selling different gifts, which was fun to look around at.

My mom and I also started putting out our Christmas decorations Friday night too. Wahooo! We usually wait until after Thanksgiving, but with Thanksgiving being so late this year and the fact that it is already super cold out and snowing as I actually type this sentence, we decided to decorate early.

On Saturday I was initiated into Alpha Kappa Psi (my business fraternity) in the morning, and then I went back out to the mall with my parents in the afternoon. It was another short trip, but we did get shakes at Chick-fil-a.

I also went to Hobby Lobby that night, which is one of my favorite stores for Christmas items. I loved this huge display of nutcrackers!

Sunday was actually the first Sunday in THREE months that I didn't have anywhere I needed to be (besides church). So after I got home from church and visiting my grandpa, I put on my pajamas and spent the rest of the day finishing homework, watching a Christmas movie, cleaning my room, and just getting a lot of stuff done overall.

I'm so excited this has been a short week. I only have a 0.25 day of school today (3/4 of my classes were cancelled), and then it will finally be Thanksgiving break!

Holiday Spirit

Christmas is finally {almost} here, and I couldn't be more excited!

Last weekend I had a fun holiday themed Saturday that got me in the Christmas mood.

My mom and I met my dad downtown for lunch at Potbelly on Fountain Square since he was working, and then my mom and I hit the Holiday Market.

Every year my city hosts a Holiday Market at the convention center downtown and basically a bunch of different vendors come and sell things you can either buy as gifts or Christmas decorations. We've gone in the past, but it was so much more fun this year, especially because they had a lot of food vendors too.

The only downside is that it's crazy crowded.....

One of my favorite booths!

BonBonerie doesn't have their Christmas cookies out yet, but the fall ones were just as good.

I loved this UC American Girl outfit. I needed this when I was younger :)

My purchase of the day was this Christmas canvas that I am obsessed with. I think the postcard look is so cute, plus you can turn it on and it lights up (which is why the church looks like it's glowing in the background). I already put it out in my room, and I think it is just such a unique decoration.

They also had a cake decorating competition, and I loved seeing all of the pretty cakes.

My mom and I then grabbed Starbucks (they were having a promotion - buy 1 get 1 free on their holiday drinks!) and then did some shopping at Macy's.

We stopped at Target on the way home too - my favorite!

I am SO ready for Christmas to be here!

College is Better Than High School

When you are about to start college, everyone you see pretty much asks you if you're ready and excited.

My response was always that I was excited, but also a little nervous.

About 99% of the time, that response was followed with a statement similar to: "You'll be fine. College is better than high school anyway".

I never believed them.

I didn't think college could possibly be better than high school because my high school experience was pretty darn good.

I had great teachers and some amazing classmates.

I thought that something that good couldn't possibly happen again.

I mean, I couldn't be that lucky, could I?

Apparently I could because Friday night the realization hit me:

College really is better than high school.

Don't get me wrong - I would kill to have one more day with my high school friends that I don't see that often anymore. I'm dying to visit some of my old high school teachers.

But college is pretty awesome too.

For the first few months, I kept thinking to myself that college and high school were just so different that I couldn't see how one was necessarily better than the other.

And then I had a day like last Friday.

In my communications class, my professor knows me by name (which I think is impressive for attending a school that 40,000 other students do), and she knows how much I love to bake since I gave that presentation on it. So she had been at an event the previous day where BonBonerie cookies had been served, and she grabbed me one for "inspiration for future baking projects". Nothing will kick-start my day off great better than a free BonBonerie cookie!

After class my friend Courtney and I had to hang up signs in the engineering building. It was actually kind of fun wandering around and exploring some buildings I had never been to before!

Normally I eat lunch by myself (since most of my new friends have meal plans and eat in the dining halls and it is crazy expensive to eat in there with them), but on Friday I ended up running into one of my old friends, so I got to have lunch with her!

My afternoon class was cancelled, so after work I got to head straight home and get ready for my first Kappa Delta semi-formal.

It was so funny because the dance was held at a hall about 10 minutes from my house. I was actually closer to home than UC!

The dance was seriously SO fun though. Definitely better than some of my high school dances.

At the end of the dance, all of the seniors went into the middle of the dance floor while everyone else formed a circle around them. The DJ played a couple songs, including one that apparently they always end dances with. I can't remember what the song was, but they had changed the words to fit Kappa Delta, and it was just so neat for me to see all of the seniors singing this song and getting a little sad about how it was their last semi-formal. It made me realize how fast time goes and how much Kappa Delta really becomes a part of your life.

So in short, Friday was a pretty fantastic day that I won't be forgetting any time soon.

I just feel so blessed to be a part of the UC and Kappa Delta communities!

Absolutely Nothing.

Last Monday I was off school for Veteran's Day and I didn't have any plans until my sorority meeting in the evening.

So what was I to do with a totally free day all to myself?

.......absolutely nothing.

I worked hard Sunday night to get all of my homework done so I wouldn't even have to think about school.

It. Was. Glorious.

I slept in and then started a Christmas movie marathon.

I ended up snuggling with Coco.....

....eating way too many Christmas Oreos (my favorite!)....

....painting my nails (this is one of my new favorite colors - it's called Underneath the Mistletoe)....

....watching FOUR Christmas movies....

....and not changing out of my pajamas until I had to leave the house.

And that is what I call a successful day :)

A Sales Pitch

A few weeks ago I had to give a persuasive presentation for my communications on any topic I wanted.

I knew right away what I wanted to give my presentation on.....

Why you should buy cake pops from me!

The class I was presenting to is my KBS class, so I know all the people pretty well and many of them have become friends of mine. Most of them didn't know about my love of cake pops though.

I figured, what better way to tell them about cake pops than by giving an entire presentation on it.

I even made them a batch of cake pops so they could try them out for themselves.

The presentation was a real success!

I even think I may have persuaded a few people to buy cake pops from me in the future, which I'm especially excited about.

I ended up getting a 100% on the presentation and was voted second best presentation by the class.

My professor emailed me asking for the presentation, and she ended up showing it to one of her other classes. How fun!

She also got me a chocolate muffin for coming in second place.

I have found that pretty much everyone loves cake pops.

I mean, what's not to love?

It was a little bittersweet though. I loved bringing them in for my new friends, but it made me a little sad that I won't be bringing them in for my high school friends anymore.

I was overwhelmed though with how my new college friends loved the cake pops.

I was also flattered because my professor emailed my presentation to another business professor (who I do not know), and I received an email from this other professor asking for my contact information because she was impressed and puts on a lot of luncheons and would interested in possibly buying cake pops from me in the future. How neat is that?

I am just so blessed :)