america's hat

This is what Canada is like, eh Emma?

She can ride a moose ya'll. I've seen it.

insert clever title here

After a month at my job, I think I can finally say I am starting to feel comfortable. The biggest challenge for me has been for me to accept correction as instruction and learning to swallow my pride and ask for help.

But here's how I know I'm in the right place:

I can probably tell you the meaning of almost every acronym-ed club or organization in Knoxville and when they installed their latest officers, I edit signs as I pass them, my desk calendar is stained with newsprint and I have finally mastered the art of spotting extra spaces, misplaced semicolons and pretending to be interested when someone calls with a “story I should investigate"...

A little bit of me still sometimes feels like a random kid in the newsroom. Probably because I crack myself up at my desk thinking about stuff like this. Oh, and sometimes this. 

stuff from that time and those places

1. My most commonly used phrase as of late is "I'm just trying to be where I'm at." This grammatically incorrect sentence is brought to you by my cousin Lauren, who is full of other nonsensical knowledge and witty wisdoms.

2. This picture of a popsicle. Yum.

3. The movie Bridesmaids-I have now seen it twice. Bethany and I went for the second time around  this past Saturday and created yet another scene in the theater. At one point I think we were the only two people laughing. There is a scene on an airplane that I think is literally One of the.  Funniest things. I have ever seen.

4. Adele power ballads.  Namely One and Only. Also, this song, that is most definitely NOT a power ballad, but makes me laugh every time I hear it.

5. Rewatching Friday Night Lights season 1- that was just purchased for 10 bucks at Target-will be keeping me busy this week, along with...

6. The Hunger Games' second installment, Catching Fire. Holy distopia these books are so fun!

7. Counting down days until I can eat my weight in hushpuppies Hudson's on the Docks on vacation in a few weeks.


 I think that's enough random items for now.

dreams

Well last night/this morning, I dreamed that I was dressed as R2D2 in some kind of Star Wars re-creation that was taking place at Disney World. Oh and the Super Bowl was also going on. Also, I was not allowed to ride some swing-type ride because of my costume. Clearly.

I had a pretty significant amount of sugar before bed, so I figured something like this would happen. I have been having crazy vivid dreams lately and can remember every detail when I wake up. Flip side? I don't feel like I've rested at all. I was too busy fighting off linebackers and Storm Troopers.

Meaning?

happy dance

It's Thursday! Cut a little rug! No really!

Here, watch this for some inspiration...

sunny days, chasing the clouds away

So before I had a sister, I had Sesame Street. I would like to personally thank Maria, Mr. Hooper, Grover and of course Ernie and Bert for teaching me to love alphabet soup and about the importance of the letter W.

After spending a few days revisiting some of our favorite clips from Sesame Street episodes of years past, Bethany and I have come up with a list of the best.

Put down the duckie
One Banana
The Ladybugs Picnic
Jellyman Kelly
Old MacDonald Cantata

And apparently Sesame Street is on their 40-something season and now have Jimmy Fallon and Paul Rudd on the show. Who knew?

This, however, is probably the classiest bit I have ever seen come from that famous address.

Enjoy.

(and for anyone who is just in a nostalgic 90's mood, click here. Do not judge. It was before he was a creeper, although you probably can't tell from this clip)

frittering away my Friday

I have been noticing a pattern in all of my favorite actors and TV characters:  they are all adorable funnymen. 

Tell me you don't just love...

john krasinski, aka jim halpert

josh radnor, aka ted mosby

adam scott, aka ben wyatt

rob lowe, aka chris

jimmy fallon

joel mchale, aka jeff winger

jason bateman, aka michael bluth

ok, seth and scott aren't  tv characters,
but listen to denouncing november blues and tell me they aren't hilarious

pictures all found by googling actors' names

the year I learned Santa was fake

{spoiler: Santa is fake}

The year was 1995. We had a giant IBM computer and  Windows 95, which basically meant we were SET. Well, until Mom would pick up the phone and disconnect the Internet.

Dad had discovered this website called called SantaClaus.net and it would "track" to see when Santa would pass over our house. AMAZING, right? We would play for hours (only because it took that long to navigate around) typing our names into the Naughty or Nice List and playing Christmas flash games.

After we returned home from Christmas Eve festivities, Bethany and I put on our matching Christmas p-jams, Dad read us 2 versions of Twas the Night Before Christmas (original and Muppet, with voices) and then we scampered off to bed.

Every year prior to this, I would tidy up my room before going to sleep, just in case Santa wanted to come tell me Merry Christmas. I don't know why I thought he would want to do this. Probably saw it on a Hallmark commercial or something.

But this year would be different.

This would be the year I would know if the whole "be good all year if you want presents" and "get to bed so Santa can come" propaganda was for real. You see, this website had sparked a thought in my 9 year old brain. If this new, magic, website could see when Santa would be AT OUR HOUSE, he had to be real...right?

I devised a plan to test the authenticity of Santa Claus.

Mom and Dad were still saying no to my pleas for a dog at this point. Jolly Old Saint Nick, however, had to be merciful and would bring a well-behaved little girl a puppy.

I asked Santa for a dog in a very nicely worded note, which I left next to the customary milk and cookies.  I even left a box next to the fireplace with newspaper in the bottom for Santa to leave he/she in.

The next morning, Bethany came in to wake me up and we ran down the hall into the living room to check out the spread. Santa had been there! He brought me clothes for my American Girl doll, probably some Pet Shops or Polly Pockets and other assorted toys that a 9 year old would play with. This might be the year I got the Quilt Sewing Kit or the Hair Scrunchy Maker. I was pretty big into arts and crafts.

There was a note in my newspaper-lined box. Written on yellow notepaper from my dad's desk. In my mom's handwriting.

"Santa doesn't have puppies on his sled."

Santa Myth: BUSTED

Band Kid: reprise

To any UT alumni out there, this Saturday is Homecoming! It's my first as an actual alumna and I am excited to be spending the day in rather spectacular fashion.

Two things about Homecoming:
a) former members of UT's band are invited to come back and be in the VolWalk and halftime shows as the Alumni Band
b)both of my parents were in UT's band while students. My Dad played tenor saxophone (not the girly Kenny G one) and my Mom was in the color guard.

The Pride of the Southland's Homecoming 2010 theme is Generations of the Pride. And since it just so happens that my Bethany and I are a Band Kid's Kids...we are MARCHING in the VolWalk and halftime shows with Dad!

(We technically did this several times when we were kids, because Mom and Dad had nowhere else to put us while they marched to the stadium from the bandroom. Back then, we were both still pretty short and could hide behind the tall people holding sousaphones)

I'm planning pretending I'm in Drumline the entire time and creating a scene, so if you see me please wave. I'll be wearing orange overalls if it's not too cold. And if you see me fall, please don't laugh.