Crazy times!

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My last two days of being grateful in November:

November 29^th: I am grateful for all of my family! I have a pretty big family, biological, and not! I love being able to consider people who technically aren’t blood related as family. It is just amazing to be able to turn to all of my family!

November 30^th: I am mostly grateful for my relationship with my Savior!

Taking the month of November to truly look at how blessed I am and truly recognize those things has really opened my eyes. It is so easy to take it for granted, and I am truly glad I am able to acknowledge my blessings (these were truly a small fraction of all of my blessings). I know some of the things I said I am grateful for might have seemed silly (like Mac N Cheese) but it’s true I really am grateful for all things in my life!

Over the weekend, I was able to attend a wedding for one of my dear friends! It was absolutely beautiful! It was crazy, though! I remember freshman year of college when we would all sit in my dorm room looking at wedding magazines and dreaming of what our weddings would be like. We would sit talking about what kind of guy we wanted to marry, and just sit day dreaming together. Pretty much every detail of our weddings we had planned out. It was beautiful to see that everything she said she ever wanted in a wedding (and more importantly) in a man, she got!

It is hard to believe that I am old enough to have my friends getting married. Over the weekend alone, I had 3 different friends get engaged! I have many friends getting engaged and have been for a while, however, this was the one of the first to get married. I guess this just goes to show that we really have grown up! It’s that time, where many of the people my age are going to be getting married. The wedding bells are in full swing for many of my friends! I feel the days of buying wedding presents are upon me! I just hope the baby shower presents are going to wait a couple years, so my bank account has time to recover from the all the wedding presents that are soon to be bought! I’m just glad that I was able to celebrate, and that I will be able to celebrate with all my friends in the future!!

P.S. My wonderful sister and brother-in-law just got a precious puppy…PACO!!! I’m so excited for my baby Bella to get to play with her cousin Paco!

P.S.S- 9 Days until I graduate!!!

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The Newest Adult…Erin

Cake Fail!!

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To start, I figured I should give a fat pants vs. skinny jeans update. I think my solution was brilliant! I wore a pair of stretchy skinny jeans a size too big! It was perfect; I still got the cute look in comfort, while having the ability to eat my weight in turkey!

Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I spent hours on Pinterest trying to find some kind of chocolate cake recipe to take to Thanksgiving dinner. After reading through tons of recipes, I choose the recipe that sounded delicious, yet fairly simple (I had to be realistic to find one I could actually make, knowing I am not going to be on the next season of Top Chef). I settled on a triple chocolate bunt cake…yes I know it sounds completely fabulous! The directions seemed simple, and the pictures were just mouth-watering. I bought all the supplies, made the whole thing from scratch. And how good did it turn out? AWFUL!!! Apparently it needed to cook easily another hour. It seemed like it was done. I did the whole insert a toothpick, and it just lied! I was so devastated. My cake looked like an exploding volcano. It was terrible; I made the whole thing from scratch and had to rush it to the trashcan to avoid having to clean the floor. My dad so desperately wanted to make jokes, however he refrained knowing I could burst into tears at any given second. My heart was broken, not only because it didn’t work out, but mostly because I had to throw away that much chocolate…what a sin!

I know isn’t it a tragedy?!?

Then I had to do the run to the grocery store at 10:00 the night before Thanksgiving to come up with some kind of desert to fix.

Thanksgiving was wonderful! To start I got to see my Houston Texans win in overtime. It was intense, but wonderful! I am lucky enough to have family that welcomes us into their home to celebrate all together. My brother-in-laws family graciously invited us to join them. It is so great to have them as a part of my family. We had so much fun as we watched the stretchy-ness of my pants do its job!

November 21^st: I’m grateful for my 11-day vacation for Thanksgiving!!

November 22^nd: I’m grateful for being able to spend Thanksgiving with family! I was lucky enough to spend it with not only my parents, but also my sister and brother-in-law and all of his family. I’m so grateful I can call them my family as well.

November 23^rd: I’m grateful for the encouragement of friends. Sweet words go a long ways towards spurring me on to continue.

November 24^th: I’m grateful being able to go out and catch up with old friends.  I see old friendships as a true treasure.

November 25^th: I’m grateful that I was able to decorate our Christmas tree. I love the start of the Christmas season!!!

November 26^th: I’m grateful for old Disney movies; they bring back childhood memories.

November 27^th: I’m grateful for modern medicine, even medicine for dogs! I’m glad that Bella’s surgery went well.

November 28^th: I’m grateful for this winter weather. For people that know me, this will sound like a surprise because I hate the cold. I’m grateful that it helps me get into the Christmas spirit.

The Newest Adult…Erin

Skinny Jeans Vs. Fat Pants

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It’s hard to believe this week I will be sitting down with my family digging into delicious turkey! I must admit I’m a white meat fan! Not only the turkey, but the potatoes, and green beans, and who even knows what other Thanksgiving food, I’m ready for them! I have been struggling with an internal conflict, and I can’t figure out what the right solution is. Well here goes my problem: For Thanksgiving dinner do I wear my usual super stretch pants so I can eat all I want, or do I wear pants that are more fit to prevent me from eating ridiculous amounts??? I just don’t know!!!

I keep seeing these Black Friday shopping advertisements. It’s driving me crazy! I just want to go shopping, but I now I need to be responsible and not go. I just can’t believe that some of these stores are opening on Thursday evening to try to get more people in their stores. I even saw an ad for a store opening bright and early on Thanksgiving Thursday. I am just saddened by this. When did thanksgiving become null and void and black Friday become the celebrated holiday? I love a good sale, however, I want to spend the holiday with my family; I want the employees that are forced to work to have the holiday with their family as well. This sadly won’t be happening this year.

This year my Thanksgiving is different, and I’m so excited for it! My family will be having Thanksgiving with my brother-in-laws family (which I count as my family). I will get to see my precious nephew (who is my sister’s sister-in-laws son). He is so precious! I’m looking forward to this, there is never a dull moment with them! I’m scared for the laughing we will do! Luckily, I think it makes sense to eat more than normal because I will be laughing more than normal. And hey, that balances out, right?

If you haven’t read my sister or my sister-in-law’s blog’s…you need to! They are wonderful!! Check out:

http://www.thehazzardoushousewife.blogspot.com/

and

http://jess-trav.blogspot.com/2012/10/nathan-is-here.html

November 12th: I’m grateful that I have a nice apartment in Denton to live in. It makes it easier to feel at home in Denton.

November 13th: I’m grateful for my amazing sister and brother-in-law. I am truly so blessed to have them in my life. My sister is my best friend and such a wonderful role model. I could not have asked for her to find a better husband. He is 100 times better of a man than I ever could have hoped for her to find. I’m so grateful for both of them!

November 14^th: I’m grateful for music. I have been singing my whole life (not well I might add) but that rarely stopped me. I love being able to sing a song that can truly speak to me. Music is so powerful. I am especially thankful for country music!

November 15^th: I’m grateful for having my car that I can trust to drive me everywhere, especially from Dallas to Houston and back.

November 16^th: I’m grateful for my health. I’m so glad that I am able to get up every morning and go about my day healthy.

November 17^th:  I’m grateful for being out of school for 11 days! This is just what I needed before graduation!!

November 18^th: I’m so grateful for the people who have truly taken time out of their lives to mentor me. I have been lucky to have people mentor me in different areas, including career paths, academics, and spiritual. I’m so thankful that people care about me enough to truly long to see me succeed. Their prayers and support have helped me get to where I am now.

November 19^th:  I’m grateful for laughter. It is truly a great medicine. There is nothing better than enjoying laughter with people you love!

November 20^th: I’m grateful for my favorite TV. Shows! There are four shows that I watch over and over again and I never get tired of. Gilmore Girls, What I Like About You, Reba, and Duck Dynasty. These four shows always make me laugh and truly lift my mood.

The Newest Adult…Erin

I just want to finish

T-Minus 34 days until graduation! It’s hard to believe I am about to graduate college and head into the real world. A couple tests and silly assignments stand between me and that expensive piece of paper. I'm ready to be done. If you would have told me in August of 2009, when I started college, that I would be graduating a semester early, I would have laughed in your face. But standing in the football stadium singing my school Alma Mater, it was hard to believe that this was my last football game to see as a student. It brought back so many great memories of the last three years, and made me slightly emotional. Three and a half years of my life are coming to a close, and here comes the new chapter!   

I have to say, starting this blog during November has made the writing of the entries much easier because of doing the thirty days of thankfulness!

November 4^th: I am thankful for hot dogs and Mac N Cheese! Why? Because these are two of the best foods in the world and sadly they make up way too high of a percentage of my diet. My wonderful sister reminded me of this the other day and told me I need to be grateful for them! I agree, these two things are very important to America!!!

November 5^th: I am thankful for having cable and Internet again! I know it might sound silly, but being without both of them really makes things boring! I am very grateful for the cable guy that came to fix it. When they say between 9:00-1:00, and there is a knock on the door at 9:01…it made me a happy camper!

November 6^th: I am thankful freedom. I am so glad I am able to be able to live in a country where I have the right to vote, speak freely, and worship my God openly.

November 7^th: I am thankful for the men and women fighting for the same freedom I was grateful for yesterday. I hope no one take for granted the sacrifice that the men and women in the armed forces make, as well as the sacrifice that their family and friends make. Thank you to all men and women in the armed forces, and their family!

November 8^th: I am thankful for being able to spend time with friends. I do feel like I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends! Being able to spend time with them, laugh, and be myself is a true gift.

November 9^th: I am grateful for having the best parents in the world. I have parents that aren’t afraid to show me how much they love me, or how proud of me they are. They have been there in absolutely every way I could ever need. They have taught me everything I know, and my prayer is to be half as good of a parent that they are. I am grateful that my parents love me and were willing to drive up to Denton to see me this weekend!

November 10^th:  I am grateful for getting to see my last home football game as a college kid, and it being a win!! Go Mean Green! (That’s my school mascot). On top of that, it was the first UNT win my parents have been able to see since they started coming up for parents weekend, and it made it even more of a sweeter victory to share it with my parents!

November 11^th: I am grateful for the Houston Texans!!! I love my football team! I have been a fan since year one, and I am excited to see them do so well this year! I am especially grateful to be able to watch JJ Watt!! He is just wonderful, and if anyone knows him, PLEASE INTRODUCE ME!!!! I’m dying to meet him!!!!!  Let’s go Texans!!!

The Newest Adult…Erin

My first time...

Well hello! Hmm... What were you thinking I was going to talk about? I have many first times coming my way, as I graduate from college; find a big girl job, and so many more. I felt that these firsts are the same firsts that many other girls (or guys) are facing. If I can help, offer ways not to do things (because realistically I won't do things completely correct), or maybe just provide some laughs, I want to do so. 

 I have been feeling the need to start blogging lately. I feel I always have these great thoughts or funny stories, but I am sure when I actually sit down to write them, they will disappear. Finally, I decided it'd be a good idea for me to start. I want to introduce myself, my name is Erin and I am 21 years old. I am a senior at the University of North Texas in Denton. (But I'm only a student for 42 more days!!!!!) I am about to graduate with a degree in Hospitality Management.

I am blessed so much more than I deserve. I come form a family that loves me regardless! I have the best Mom and Dad ever. I know that people say that all the time, but I know it's completely true. I also have the best sister and brother-in-law in the world. The four of them are my best friends, and my rocks. I also have the most precious Shih Tzu Yorkie, Bella-no, she is not named Bella after Twilight!! Bella just turned 5 months old! 

I have decided to fully embrace November, and like many others, come up with different things to be grateful for each day of the month. So, I'm not fully crazy!  I know today is the third day of the month, but these are the things I’ve be focused on:

November 1st: I am thankful for the amazing opportunities that have come my way! I was lucky enough to get to experience coming to college, taking a great internship, and preparing to graduate.

November 2^nd: I am thankful for certain doors slamming shut. I am glad that I am now able to see different reasons that those doors closed, and that I know more doors will open soon!

November 3^rd: I am thankful for my sweet puppy, Bella. She is such a sweet puppy, and she brings so much joy to my life. I love when she cuddles with me, and the way she plays with other dogs always puts a smile on my face! 

I’m hoping you give my blog a chance; I’m not an English major, nor am I known writing well. My hope is that through my blogging people can learn, or maybe just laugh. Enjoyment is what I’m striving to bring you! Hope you like it!

P.S. I’m always up and open to suggestions!

The Newest Adult…Erin