Happy List

Lauren tagged me to do a happy list.

Very difficult to condense my choices but here goes.

Things that make me
totally, completely, undeniably happy

1. Talking in British accents
I don' t claim to be the best impersonator but I love speaking in my desired accent anytime, anywhere. Especially in the most inappropriate places

2. Surprising people
I love making people feel like a million dollars. Birthdays especially- more than likely I have yours memorized and you don't even know it :)

3. Live music
Which is why I live in the "live music capital of the world". Austin, Texas. love. it. I especially enjoy good covers and discovering new artists.

4. A good eraser
Nothing feels better than erasing pencil (preferably mechanical) with a giant pink eraser. It gets the job done and it feels so good not to have any gross old eraser streaks.

5. New mascara
I cant wait to buy new mascara. The freshness makes my eyelashes go from flop to pop and makes me feel beautiful! ...which of course is a necessity. I think I have 7 different mascara tubes in my possession at the moment. shhhhhhh

6. Hot chocolate while wearing a scarf
I just have an obsession

7. Sundays
Church + Pandora Radio + Anthropologie candles + Cleaning + Cowboys game+ friend updates+ NOT doing any work
= a VERY happy Taylor

8. Musicals
Secretly I pretend that I am in one...everyday

9. Not having to wake up to an alarm.
Simple as that. I also love my bed. It is dreamy.

10. My students
....Without sounding too cliche. My students can drive me nuts but they also make me completely undeniably happy. They are so funny, thoughtful and loving. I don't deserve them one bit but I absolutely adore them and their creative minds. Unexpected hugs are my favorite.

11. Traveling
Can I add one more? Traveling has yet to wear on me. Checking in at the airport makes me happy. Airport crowds make me happy. Walking down the breezeway to the airplane makes me happy. Taking off and landing in the airplane makes me happy. Seeing things I have never seen before makes me happy. Spending money on life long memories, makes me happy.


That was a little tough deciding. Maybe Ill do a weekly post adding to my happy list.

But for now the thing making me MOST happy is that at 3:30 tomorrow my Thanksgiving Break begins. My favorite holiday and first up on the list is back to Dallas for dinner with "la Gentleman" whom I haven't seen in months. Horray!

BLOG URL change

Monday I will be changing my URL to "serengetitales.blogspot.com" I am changing it for security reasons slash so it wont come up when my students google my name. I haven't had any reports of it yet but I don't want to...better to be safe then sorry.


So change your BOOKMARKS

Happy 1/2 Birthday to me!

Yesterday was the worst day of school this far. I wont get into details..but I wanted to cry. The BEST thing about yesterday was of course my 3rd period ("la fish n chips class"). They asked me a while ago when my birthday was and secretly planned my 1/2 birthday party yesterday. They made me 1/2 of a birthday card and sang me 1/2 of a birthday song. Get excited because the card was of 1/2 of Ed Westwicks face. And just incase you dont know who he is...here is a full Ed Westwick face......mmmmmmmmm.... dreamy

Have I mentioned lately how fantastic my kids are?!?!

Smith Wedding Preview

Rough edit.
Sorry for the poor quality.

Also...for all of you Serengeti followers, I am in the process of changing the URL to my blog.  I will give you fair warning so you can change your bookmarks. Just fyi- it will be in the near future.

Thanks for reading! :)

Krickie

Reeeeeeeeeeeallly missing this kid right now. My college roommate and bestie. Its wierd not having her around eating corn or Ritz crackers for every meal. This girl is the funniest person I know and doesnt even have to try. (thats supposed to be a compliment...doesnt sound like one though)

No words can express how much I love her.

Dearest Natalie Joy, 
I miss our dance parties and your obsession with ice cream and the weird way you ate it. I miss your hilarious fantasies, esp about Matt Wertz.  I miss teaching you how to give a backrub (thanks to Billzzz) because secretly (well... maybe not too secretly) I just wanted you to practice on my shoulders. I miss how we could sit at our desks in separate rooms but it felt like we were sitting right next to each other (TANCD house). I miss our creaky loft where we slept in a row at the sorority house. I miss singing in the shower at the top of my lungs and you finishing my verses from the other room.

GAHHHHHHHH i miss you!


Oh and that lovely picture of us was taken before our sorority's Nerd Date Partyin 2007.
Werent we HOT?!?!

Aggie Bonfire

Remembering the Aggie Bonfire. 10 years later.

Read about it here or watch a video about it here

just a teeny tiny bit sad faced lately

So Ive been feeling a little (understatement) sad faced lately. Last week my external hard drive (my back-up) broke and I lost everything.

All my pictures, all my video clips, and some the wedding footage of the wedding I was working on. There IS a SLIGHT chance of recovery but not with out the hefty fee that is waaaaay too much to admit. I have even been working overtime to save money for my trip back to England this summer.

De.pressed.

It also didn't help that the lady I talked to on the phone was from ENGLAND  convincing me, unknowingly, with every word she spoke that I have to get my unseen England footage back.

So as you know, British accents make me happy and today my kids played right along. We were playing an interactive computer game that I made prior and had to record audio for. Of course I recorded it in my British accent so it did make my day better to hear British computer recordings of "abiotic" and "biotic" and then my sweet little 12 year olds trying to mimic it. I love them.

i want you

Remember this?

 yeah me too!

Im not kidding when I say I dream of this cup of hot chocolate. I found this liquid heaven, this time last year when I was in Wales. This picture is still the background of my iphone. Nothing has come even close to replacing it.

Just thought Id make your mouth water as well ;)

I also think this song is flirty. Jason Castro! Gig EM!

Happy Birthday Shannon!

This weekend I will be home in Dallas celebrating her special day with this young lady. 

Happy Birthday Shannon! looooooove you!

Get excited cause...I am replacing my 1st generation iphone this weekend after 2 years of service. I am also trying not to think about all of my electronic memories that have been erased off of my external hard drive. That includes every picture I have ever taken, video footage (both trips abroad and wedding footage especially of the one I am working on now) and all important work information. 
(which is why I am not thrilled about the picture choice on this post but its the only pic I could find of the both of us.

Happy WEEKEND!

Aggie Ring...bling bling!

Today was the day college students at Texas A&M University long for. The day they spend 4 years "studying" countless hours for. The tradition known as Ring Day. (Read about the tradition here)

Only three times a year is there an opportunity for you to squeeze your way into tiny overcrowded rooms with way too many cameras and wait patiently for a chunk of gold which, depending on how you order it (Natalie), may or may not actually fit your finger. I didn't know I would fall in love with my ring the first time I put it on my finger. No other ring before me had ever shined so brightly and no ring after me ever will. 

Following Aggie Traditions it is expected that a "dunk" will follow. That a group of friends getting their rings will each "dunk" their brand new pieces of gold into a pitcher of beer, chugging all of it leaving only the solid, precious metal as a prize in their grinning smile. A timed competition of course. 

Well today is Megan and Ashley's Ring Dunk and due to unfortunate circumstances I was not able to drive the beautiful 2 hrs to College Station to surprise them!  So alas, a blog post must suffice.

{Photo kindly stolen from their facebook}

Ashley and Megan are twins and are the most genuinely beautiful people I have ever met. I mean that. Not only are they stunning (hello- check out those smiles) they are generous, kind, hilarious and giving. I absolutely adore these two ladies and they don't know this but I secretly want to be them :)

God was right to make two of these inspirational people in this world. I only wish I could be around them more. 

GOOD LUCK you two, my DG sisters and CONGRATULATIONS on a successful college career!

I love you two very much.

Below are pictures of my Aggie Ring day September 21 2007

Christmas came early

Just hear those sleigh bells ringing

 and 

jing

 ting

 tingaling.....also

{click here for photo credit}

I must have been a good girl because Christmas came early!

I have begun my countdown until Thanksgiving break and this morning it felt like a hundred years away.

I have mentioned before my current exhaustion level but today I was rejuvenated when my Christmas present came early.

No, it wasn't a golden retriever puppy in my stocking with a big red bow, it wasn't even a two seater go-cart either. What presented itself during the early moments of third period surpasses them all. 

I was lounging in my red, comfy desk chair, nose in my planner as the students silently came in the dimmed classroom and began their daily routine.  I was lost in my lessons for next week when I heard an angelic little voice whispering softly, calling my attention. I look up to a seraphic smile complimented by his charming faint freckles. 

"Pardon me Miss, but I am a new student and am not quite sure where to sit". 

His voice was so soft, that I didn't even notice it at first....the way he was talking. It was different.

Before I said a word I look behind my new gift from God at all of my other lovelies who were silently staring at me..on the edge of their seat... awaiting my reaction. They had already met my new Christmas present, "la fish n chips", in all their other classes and had made bets on how I would respond to his greatness. 

With the biggest grin on my face I look back at him and ask the rhetorical question

"I'm sorry, but is that a BRITISH accent I hear?"

"Yes ma'am, my name is "la fish n chips" and today is my first day. Where can I sit?"

Right next to me. always. and you can follow me around and repeat everything I say in a British accent if you'd like.

"Yes, This is Tom. Tom, will you take "la fish n chips" to the empty seat next to you and get him caught up on the warm up?"

He turns around and I stand in shock that out of all the teachers in the school... I get him! I will wake up in the morning excited to hear a real live British accent that does NOT include Kat Deely on So You Think You Can Dance on Tuesdays and Wednesdays

Just when I was at the lowest of my exhaustion Santa brought me something to cheer me up, to make my day, to get me even more excited about going to work. 

Like I said, I must have been a good girl

And I must include how much fun my roommate and I have coming up with the nicknames for the blog. "la fish n chips" won by a close margin with "la Brit" and "la beefeater" coming in at a close second and third. "la gross teeth" was a thought but didn't win because he infact does not have gross teeth.

I want to make this

{photo by Marc Brubaker}

A Poloroid Calendar.

How Genius.

Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, teacher

I have a confession. I have been a

terrible. horrible. no good. VERY bad. teacher lately.

(picture taken for brothers project, post about that soon to follow)

I am exhausted.

I have been coming in early, staying late, and chasing down kids during lunch for tutoring.

I teach math after school on Tues and Thurs,

and math at a different school on Saturday.

**I am not trying to complain about the amount of work I have been doing. I truly love spending time with 11 year olds.**

BUT I have been doing SO MUCH for the kids, that today I noticed I have begun to resent them.

BAD TAYLOR.

Today I was snappy, and short with them. I caught myself tuning out their stories. Who am I? I love their stories! That is where I get all my entertainment.

but it got worse....today I cut them off while they were asking questions.

I was so annoyed with just the act of being questioned every 4.5 seconds that I not only cut them off....I severed their creativity. They were asking wonderful questions and were engaged and I dampered their eager minds.

Horrible.

3rd period is incredible. Even after I had blamed them for my problems, they cheered me up.

Dont worry. They know me so well that they VOLUNTARILY started to talk to me in British accents just because they knew I would bounce with glee.

Did I train them right or what?

Then after my math tutoring ended at 5pm I came back to my room to find this note taped to my door.

And then I remembered why I do so much for them. I cant give up even though I'm too tired to breathe. I do it for her. I do it for wolf. I do it for all of my 130 lovelies.

I also went and bought myself a cheeseburger for lunch. That also helped :)

Glad I have a student that thinks they are a wolf.
The. End.

Brother + Florida + Aladdin winking at me = a fantastic weekend

Last weekend I met mom and dad in Florida to visit brother. We played on the beach, tackled Disney World and even ate cheeseburgers seaside! It was a relaxing MUCH needed weekend with the family. Very pleasant.

We were also involved in one of brother's artsy projects while we were there. More to come on that later! I can't wait to share it with you!

Note**I'm blogging because I don't want to do what I am supposed to be doing...working or editing a long overdue wedding video. I'm burnt out. So I will blog :)

:::Happy November:::

My favorite month is finally here!

Halloween (my least favorite holiday) is over.....except...wait a minute... New Years wins for least favorite holiday.  Here's why. New Years Eve is always a let down. Everyone talks like it will be so much fun and then nothing happens. I also get really anxious during the countdown and it makes me feel like I need to do something great. something grand. something important to make 2009 stand out.

Im too sentimental- I cant handle the countdown.

My issue with halloween is....im not a ho. Im not a ho. Thats right, I like to keep my clothes on and not prance around mindlessly trying to win over male attention with my outfit or lack thereof. Sue me. You will never see me in a kitty cat or bunny outfit. Or a sexy cop or cat women outfit. The closest I came was when I was "Pokahotass" junior year and only because I thought I was hilarious. And I STILL made sure I was covered.

Halloween is over. YIPPEE. and November is here YIPPEE.

So Happy November.

Football games, crisp weather and Thanksgiving is near.

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)