6 reasons i love traveling with whitney - part 6

this blog is a day late because mexico decided it didn't like blogspot. :) anyway...

whitney is home.

i've lived with whitney for the past going on 5 years and home is not home without her. going on trips, etc. with her is easy as anything because i don't have a whole lot to miss when we're together. i'm now home from mexico and it's very very good to be here. rocket and paisley have made up a week's worth of kisses in about 10 minutes and whitney and i are spending some good quality best friend time together!

speaking of home. this has nothing to do with traveling, but it is our little "welcome" snowman who is part of our decorations for christmas...which is what i came home to last night! :)

6 reasons i love traveling with whitney - part 5

we both know when it's time to go home.

whitney and i always have a blast on our little trips. but it seems like we are both always ready to go home when the time comes. maybe that has to do with us being on the same page.

it's my last full day in cancun today and i'm glad the trip is coming to a close. it's been a blast but i really do want to be home to give my best friend a big giant hug. that's another thing about traveling with whit...we're always there for each other. and as much as i'm really really looking forward to relaxing on the beach today, i can't wait to get home and be there for whit.

so i'll be home soon (although i would bet whitney would debate "soon") and hopefully i will bring a little sunshine with me! i do hear it's supposed to be warm...er tomorrow!!!

one exception to this rule may have been our cruise. i'm pretty sure we were ready to stay an extra week if they had let us!

6 reasons i love traveling with whitney - part 4

whitney is my other half.

this is probably no surprise to most of you reading this. whitney and i work well together. we're usually always on the same page and, like i said yesterday, we like the same things. whitney and i just work. we can plan together, pack together, wiggle through big crowds to get ahead of everybody together, we can fly together, we can drive together, we can eat together. you name it. we're professional roommates so sharing a hotel room is nothing out of the ordinary. and we know each other well enough to know when it's time to rest, eat or take a break. and we also make great memories together!!

i talked to her last night after i had written the last blog and she found our disney picture, so i'm making it the picture to go with this blog instead. :)

6 reasons i love traveling with whitney - part 3

we like the same things.

when whit and i go on vacation, we are almost always on the same page. we like to rush to some thing and when one of us wants to take it easy, the other one usually does too. this makes for a very easy trip because there's usually no discussion about what to do or not do because we both think the same thing (maybe a side effect from being roomies for 4 years). :)

here's an example of a trip we took because it centered around something both of us happen to like...a lot. :)yes. those are the spice girls. yes. we scheduled an entire trip to vegas around this show. yes. it was one of the most amazing shows ever. and no. you may not judge us. :)

something else we both liked (that i'm pretty sure not just anybody would) was going to disney world for spring break my senior year of college and running round to every single character when the park opened to get pictures with them! i'd show you a picture, but if you've been reading this little series, you know that whitney took the picture and i have no clue where it is. :)

6 reasons i love traveling with whitney - part 2

whitney takes pictures.

for some reason, i never really think to take pictures. if you've ever seen pictures from any of our trips (the only way you would have seen them is whitney's facebook. i never post them either), you've seen what the room looks like, what our flight looked like, at least one posed picture in every different outfit we wore and definitely several more very random and candid shots..almost ALL taken by whitney! this is great because i love having the pictures to look back on.

one reason i don't take pictures is because i have a big ole' camera that i sometimes hate lugging around. and also, i just don't think like whitney the scrapbooker. :) so my goal on this mexico trip is to take pictures that whitney normally would. so plan on seeing my room, my view, the cool little slippers they gave us, random candid shots, etc. that reminds me i need to charge my camera batteries. whitney also got me a flipcam for my birthday so i'm trying to remember to use that one too!

well, i'm writing this around midnight and i woke up at 5 something and i have to wake up early early. so i'll leave you with one of my favorite pictures whitney took on one of our vacations in vegas!

6 reasons i love traveling with whitney - part 1

so i'm sitting in the airport at the moment waiting on my flight to cancun for a work retreat. i know...it's a tough job but somebody's gotta do it. this trip is much to the dismay of my dear best friend because i'm leaving her behind in the stupid icy cold cold weather.

so. in an effort to let her know that i do, indeed, love her even though i'm "abandoning her," i decided to countdown all the ways i like traveling with her while i'm gone! so here's number 1...

she's organized.

seriously, whenever we go on vacation, she has a list of what to pack at least 3 days in ahead. i tend to skip the list and go for off-the-cuff packing at the last minute :) whitney also usually has a folder full of all the necessary paperwork like flight confirmations etc...yeah...i didn't have that this morning either :)

these organizational skills always pay off for me! whatever i end up forgetting (even though i always overpack!) whitney has. even for this trip, i'm carrying her suitcase and backpack. what would i do without her? :) and i never really have to worry about where we're going, what we're doing or how that's going to happen...whitney's already got it all planned out. everytime. usually the only reason i end up on vacation anyway is because whitney plans it!

i was going to post a picture, but my wireless internet buddy (justin) closed his computer. off to cancun!

celebrate good times

so this post is about a month delayed so now i'm even older. :) i turned 26 on october 17 and whitney helped plan some fun times with friends to celebrate! we also went to see taylor headline a show in chattanooga and it was great! it was fun to see all the little girls (and boys) singing along to all of her songs.

the week before whitney couldn't keep her secret gift for me a secret anymore and surprised me with a flipcam! i had been looking at them a little before and i told her NOT to get me one but she's the best and did anyway. so i put the flipcam to use on my birthday weekend and put my film editing skills to the test! so here's my video of my birthday dinner, lunch and taylor road trip. i included my favorite part of taylor's show...the trash can bit with her fiddle player caitlin (who's wearing the coolest sneakers ever!). :)


26th Birthday from Lindsey Jackson on Vimeo.

i've been tagged...again

apparently i'm an easy target for blog survey tags. shai got me this time. so here we go...

1. What time did you get up this morning?
7:50...it was a hat day

2. Diamonds or pearls?
diamonds

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
umm....the house bunny! i even blogged about it.

4. What is your favorite TV show?
that's a very tough question for me. i'll have to go with grey's. i said today it was like being home again when it came back on. i got a pitiful look. oh well!

5. What do you usually have for breakfast?
whatever i can find at work. lately it's been peanut butter crackers that don't last nearly long enough.

6. What is your middle name?
ruth

7. What food do you dislike?
chinese. yuck.

8. What is your favorite CD at moment?
good question. i'm loving what i've heard of taylor's new album. 11.11.08 (hint hint)

9. What kind of car do you drive?
honda accord. the first car i bought on my own (well, with a little help from dad)

10. Favorite Sandwich?
it's been chicken salad lately

11. What characteristic do you despise?
when they refuse to put themselves in other people's shoes

12. Favorite item of clothing?
my seven jeans and pretty much any hoodie

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
back to australia i think

14. Favorite brand of clothing?
forever 21 i think. they've done me well the past couple of trips there

15. Where would you retire to?
i don't think i'll ever be able to retire :)

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday?
i certainly remember 25.

17. Favorite sport to watch?
football!

18. When is your birthday?
october 17th

19. Are you a morning person or night?
why is middle-of-the-day person never an option?

20. What is your shoe size?
7ish

21. Pets?
my little man

22. Any new and exciting news you would like to share with us???
i turn 26 in 10 days. ah!

23. What did you want to be when you were little?
a teacher i think. or a graphic animator (is that what you call it?)

24. How are you today?
worn out for no reason

25. What is your favorite candy?
mmm...i think skittles - anything sour. and reeces pieces

26. What is your favorite flower?
those bright colored gerber daisies (is that what they are?)

27. What is a day on your calendar you are looking forward to?
my birthday i reckon. and 11.11.08 (hint hint) ;)

28. What is your full name?
lindsey ruth jackson

29. What are you listening to right now?
obama...blahbity blah blah...but we just saw todd!

30. What was the last thing you ate?
rice for dinner...i think it was broccoli cheese or something

31. Do you wish on stars?
not seriously

32. If you were a crayon what color would you be?
orange!

33. How is the weather right now?
wonderful. we've have the windows open for 2 weeks i think.

34. The first person you spoke to on the phone today?
hmm. i have no clue. i do most of my interacting online or in person.

35. Favorite soft drink?
coca-cola classic please. don't bother messing with that diet mess!

36. Favorite Restaurant?
i have no clue. i've been trying to decide that today. i can always eat at o'charleys!

37. Real Hair Color?
buh-rown.

38. What was your favorite toy as a child?
according to a video of 1985 christmas, i really liked cabbage patch dolls and the muppets

39. Summer or winter?
summer please

40. Hugs or kisses?
that's a tough one. hugs.

41. Chocolate or vanilla?
i think vanilla.

42. Coffee or tea?
tea...sweet only please.

43. When was the last time you cried?
last monday at bible study. i had a moment. :)

44. What is under your bed?
boxes of random stuff, sweaters, shorts and pj's

45. What did you do last night?
went to crossroads with taylor swift and def leppard!

46. What are you afraid of?
i haven't always been but heights give me the willies sometimes

47. Salty or sweet?
i'd say salty. who am i to judge though? :)

48. How many keys on your key ring?
my house, my screen door, my parent's house, my office, my car...5?

49. How many years at your current job?
half today!

50. Favorite day of the week?
i like tuesdays. and saturdays too of course.

51. How many places have you lived in?
not many...murfreesboro (2 houses, dorm, another house, an apt and a townhome) and nashville

52. Do you make friends easy?
i think so.

i got tagged.

whit posted me on this "blog forward" so i'm following the rules. :)

Here are the rules..
1. Post the rules on your blog.
2. Write 6 random things about yourself.
3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post.
4. If you’re tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag.

1. i can cross my pinky toe over my other toe (ring toe?) without touching it.

2. i have a brown streak in my right eye...and my mom does too!

3. i won the "best actress" award my senior year in high school for a comedy monologue i did. it was the same year julia roberts won her best actress oscar.

4. i have been a huge gigantic fan of julia roberts for years! i saw runaway bride in theaters 4 times and i think i own every magazine she's ever been on the cover of. :)

5. my room is BRIGHT orange, and my room before that was horizontal stripes. i love stripes.

6. if i had any ounce of singing talent whatsoever, i would want to be on broadway.

k. i'm supposed to post links to 6 people but i think most of my blogging friends have been tagged. so i'll just say grab it and post it if you want!!

last night, whit, jo and i had a silly movie night and went to see the house bunny. i know...it sounds (and looks) pretty goofy and maybe like a waste of money. or at least that's definitely what whitney thought! :) anyway, we decided to go anyway because we all needed some "no-brainer fun." 

let me tell you, it was DEFINITELY worth the money! this movie went far beyond my expectations as a comedy (not that they were that high in the first place). i can't remember the last time i've laughed so hard in a movie theater! yes, this movie comes with your typical "happy madison productions" stunts that i could have done without but it was really really funny!

so i wanted to include a clip of my favorite part of the movie. normally when they show a funny part in the trailer, it's way less funny in the actual movie. that was not the case this time! about 45 seconds into this trailer comes the part where shelly (the house bunny) does her little "trick" to remember names. i had seen this part a ton of times in trailers but i laughed so hard i cried during this scene in the movie! (and whitney does a wicked impression of it, i might add! i can't do it to save my life. i sound like a frog trying to whisper when i do it. ha!)

anna faris did an great job too. i hope she doesn't get typecast as this type of character her whole career but she sure knows how to play it! and while this movie may not be the most family-friendly of all, it's definitely a perfect addition to a fun girl's night out! hi-freaking-larious!

wordle wordle

inspired by anne, i decided to paste what i've written in my blog so far into wordle.net and see what came up.

i love these things. graphically, they really appeal to me for some reason but i also like making sentences out of the random placement of the words! you know, like those little magnets with words on them that you put together to make sentences?

see..like "now good video makes well house night machine since stuff" haha. or "share much lady heart" i know. i'm a nerd! :)

i also think this says a couple of things about how i write too. i say "little" more than anything. hmm. didn't realize that. and i say "whitney" more than "whit" and apparently i talk about paisley more than rocket. :) anyway, just thought i'd do something for fun!

a quick recommendation

so i just finished reading the shack. i don't think i've processed exactly what i think about it yet. the best way to explain it is that it's a lot to take in. it completely challenges everything about how you picture God and his role in our lives. i've heard that it's been a little controversial but i haven't really read much into that. obviously, it's not meant to be taken as solid fact but it's thought-provoking nonetheless. i almost want to go back and read it and take it more slowly...maybe find a study or commentary on it!

anyway...i highly recommend it and if anything, hope you finish it knowing somebody is "especially fond of you."

sarah's virtual birthday card

so after my very touching virtual birthday card to whitney, (she reminded me tonight that she has yet to get an actual card!), my friend sarah reminded me that her birthday was coming up soon and considering she's one of like 6 people who read my blog, i decided to give her a virtual card as well!

sarah sarah sarah...where do i begin? :) sarah and i moved next door to each other in 4th grade and soon became best of friends while we swam in the creek, started a new school, built countless "projects," and founded even more "businesses" and "clubs!" soon enough, there were 4 of us that became a little group...me, sarah, jenni and rachel. i've known jenni and rachel since we were itty bitty babies in church and sarah fit right in! i call them my "grown up friends" because i've always known we'd be friends forever even if we didn't get to see each other very much (we actually all live in the same state now - first time since we graduated high school). we've always made plans to see each other when everyone was home for holidays and our shopping trips to the mall (when our parents dropped us off) have now turned into christmas dinners in each of our own homes.

here we all are at sarah's wedding...she was the first of us to get married! (rachel's on the left...jenni's on the right)

and here's a very very typical picture of sarah and me. we always have a habit of reverting back to 4th grade when we get together!

sarah has always been a wonderful friend and i know we will be friends forever. even if for some reason i don't see her...i have a nice little scar on my wrist i got at her house so i really will remember her forever!!! she's come a long way from her pink sweatpants and yellow sweatshirt days of 6th grade and is now a wonderful advisor at mtsu and grows a mighty fine little garden in her backyard! that's something i'm very impressed by because i can barely keep a fake plant alive! so...to sarah...happy happy birthday! don't forget you'll always be the oldest too!!!!! :) 

my virtual birthday card

so my very best friend in the whole wide world's birthday is TODAY! i've been a terrible friend this week and have yet to make it out to get her a birthday card or present...so i decided i would at least wish her a happy birthday on my little blog. :)

i already wrote about why i love whit so i'm not real sure what to say. whitney's mom wrote about the day they met (when she was born, of course) so i think i'll write about when i met whit!

the first thing i remember about whitney is when i was in charge of the pledges of my sorority. at our pledge meeting i remember a cute little bubbly pledge coming to tell me she was driving home after pledge retreat to celebrate her year anniversary with her boyfriend. then at actual pledge retreat, i remember we just clicked and sat and talked about nothing for a while. at the time i had no idea i had met my best friend or what kinds of ups and downs we would go through together for the next 5 years.

since that first day, not much has changed. whitney is still one of the most cute, bubbly people i know and she's still, if not more, completely committed to her friends and family. my two favorite things about whit is that she loves me unconditionally (and i put her to that test alot!) and is really a disney princess at heart! seriously...ask her. she'll tell you that one herself :) she's the easiest person to buy for EVER. if it's pink or sparkly or a dress, she's happy! so why i haven't gotten around to getting her a present is beyond me but hopefully this blog will tie her over until i get her something pink and sparkly :)

i love you best friend and HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!

can't get enough...

so i'm sitting here watching america's best dance crew on dvr and it makes me wish so you think you can dance came on soon. i freaking love this show and there have been some awesome dances this season. i blogged about my absolute favorite dance a couple posts ago. here is another one i went crazy over. the couple is twitch and kherington (already dubbed "twitchington").



mia michaels choreographed it. i think mia may be certifiably crazy but she's also a genius when it comes to choreography. she's also responsible for this mega-huge hit/tear jerker last season...



and one of my personal favorites from two seasons ago...



in my intermittent blogging...i've noticed videos are my thing. i hope i don't slow the page down with all the videos i post! :)

new kicks!

i love sneakers. period. end of story. i have i think about 6 or 7 pair that i've collected over the last year or so. i'm so sad i discovered them so late in life. i can imagine how many i would have collected if i had started earlier.

my favorite pair are a pair of rocket dogs (how cool right! i didn't even know of the brand when i got rocket...my dog!) they are black with little bitty white skull & crossbones and colored hearts. i've about worn them out.

tonight i may have replaced them with a new favorite pair because i got red high tops converses!!!!!! i absolutely love high top sneakers and whitney always rolls her eyes at me when i mentioned them. but tonight...completely randomly, i bought some despite the rolling of eyes :) (she also rolls her eyes when i mention i want a fedora hat. i'll get myself one of those someday too!)

Must See TV (and vlog)

there are two videos i haven't been able to get enough of this weekend so i just had to share!
the first one is from my pastor's blog and it's his little 4 year old teaching us how to do the "bow chicka wow wow" dance! it's just precious. and how many pastors do you know who do the "bow chicka wow wow" for all the internet to see!

Gage does the "Bow Chica Wow Wow" dance. from Pete Wilson on Vimeo.

the second is from my favorite summer show, so you think you can dance. i absolutely love watching all the different dances and it always gives me the dancing bug again. this dance gave me chills and i've watched it a ton of times since thursday. the girl, chelsie, is mine and whitney's favorite in the competition so far!

"the dance is pretty s-i-c-k if you will...that means sick" love it!

edit...fox is lame-o and took down the entire video i had up earlier. so here's just the dance. it's still s-i-c-k though. :)


and i know whitney already posted this but it's definitely watching again if you ask me!

my sweet baby boy

since i posted about my dad last week, i thought i'd post about the other most important man in my life...my rocketman! :)
there are so many things to be said about rocket! he's handful for sure but precious as can be when he wants to be (or when he's sleepy)! since i guess blogs are supposed to be short and i tend to ramble, i will just name a few of my favorite things about rocketman.

this is the first pictue rocket and i had together. i bought him from a lady in trenton and drove about 2 hours to pick him up. we brought paisley with us and it was love at first sight for rocket. his little tail went crazy when he first saw paisley and he's been crazy about her ever since! rocket has always ridden in the car like this until i decided it was probably a safety hazard. haha!

this is rocket and his bear. this bear is super special to rocketman...kind of like a little baby is with a blankie. so special, in fact, that his momma k (my mom) sewed the head back on so it would last longer :) rocket drags bear around the house by the ear just so he will be in the same room as us. and at night, if the bear isn't in my room, rocket cries at the door until i open it and we go find bear. it's THE most precious thing ever! seriously, it breaks my heart everytime, it's so adorable!

so the last thing i will share with you for now is rocket's talking ability. i swear he's trying to form real words when he cries or whines or whatever you want to call it! even though it's usually annoying, i still think it's super cute! if you'll notice in the video, him and paisley each have a bone but rocket only wants the one paisley has...and paisley wants both! that's how it works in our house every time!

it's my daddy's day!

yesterday was, of course, father's day and i think my dad had a pretty good one if i do say so myself! he started his a little early with his annual golf trip with a group of kappa sigs. he got home sunday morning, just in time to go have lunch with mom and me! during which, he watched golf. :)

now that i write this, it seems like it would have been logical to get him something golf-related for father's day. but...we didn't! my dad is pretty much one of the hardest people to shop for because, if he wants something, he usually goes ahead and gets it for himself. another thing about my dad is that he LUH-UH-OVES their houseboat on center hill lake. he works from home unless he's traveling so it's not out of the ordinary for him to spend 4 of the 7 days of the week on the houseboat working.

so when i heard from a friend that she was getting her dad a sno cone machine, i thought "what better way for daddy to entertain on the dock than with a sno cone machine!!" and i was pretty sure he hadn't thought to buy himself one. so i got the sno cone machine, will and beth got the cute little cups and flavored syrup stuff! hopefully it will be a big hit this summer at the lake. they might even come up with a sno cone cocktail!!!

and here's my dad. i love you dad! hope you had a good father's day!!!

testing out flickr

while i'm testing out the flickr slideshows, i might as well leave these up. here are some pics from cma music fest (fan fair). our friend robin works for lady antebellum and invited us to their fan party this year. it was a blast! and we also saw them at the lp field show friday night.

if you haven't been yet, visit without wax and see the highlight of music fest for my pastor's son!



here's another test...just hillary this time.

you shouldn't be surprised...

i don't know why i'm surprised at myself for not blogging very often. at least it's only been 3 weeks this time instead of a month! thing is...a lot has happened in those 3 weeks. so let's go to the bullets again...

• first of all...we went on our cruise!!!! it was fabulous...perfect...amazing. i'm not sure it was the BEST vacation i've ever been on because disney & islands of adventure my senior year was pretty amazing but the cruise was definitely the most relaxing vacation i've ever been on. whitney wrote 3 blogs about it like the day we got home. so i suggest just going there to read all about it and see pictures! she'll be thrilled with all the hits. :)
• alot has been happening at work too. jewel's country debut cd, perfectly clear, goes on sale this tuesday, so there's been alot to do with that. i got to go to her video shoot for her second single, "i do." i'm not sure when it will be done but i will let you know. speaking of which...i mentioned i got to go to jimmy wayne's video shoot in my last blog and it's done! here it is. i think it turned out great! it's really cool to see the final product after being at the shoot.
  
  
• also, cma music fest (fan fair) starts this week and i will be working the big machine and valory booth. almost all of our artists are signing during the week. taylor is signing ALL DAY saturday! it's very cool to be a part of such an exciting event. i'm bracing myself already for the crowd...i hear it's CUH-RAZY and i can't imagine what it will be like for taylor.
• also, crosspoint started a new series today called "sync." it's going to be pretty deep i think. this morning's message had so much packed into it, they provided us all with a cd with message on it so we could listen to it again this week. and we have a new worship team member who is an amazing singer! i have no clue what her name is but she sang "something's got to change" by josh wilson. you can preview it here. and here's the intro video for the series. i'm excited (and scared) to hear the rest.
  
  
  Sync Series Promo - Full Length from Matthew Singleton on Vimeo.

it's been a month? oops!

i've officially been ragged to death by a certain someone about blogging. so here's a super quick update on the things i should have blogged about over the past month (if i can remember them all!). most of them are job related for sure...

• my second week at work, i got to go to a viewing party for the cmt awards. it was fun getting to know everybody and taylor won her two awards. yay! justin and i did a last minute social networking crusade to get people to text in their votes so i feel like i had a little part in her winning. :) taylor stopped by the party after the show and i got to meet her for a half second. she's as adorable as you would imagine!!
• my third week at work, i got to go to photo shoot and video shoot for jimmy wayne. i had a blast taking behind-the-scenes pictures at both of those and can't wait for the video! it's for his single "do you believe me now" and it's a great song. whitney picked it for her music monday a couple of weeks ago! :)
• this past weekend i got to go on a bus to atlanta with some of the valory staff to see justin moore open for the rowdy frynds tour. i had a great time, again, getting to know everybody on the ride there and back. also, justin (mcintosh) had to back out at the last minute to work on jewel's presale so i took the video camera and filmed some behind-the-scenes stuff there. later, i remembered once watching a kelly clarkson "update" video and thought "how cool would it be to do that for a living?" and now i'm doing it! yay! i know it's silly but it made me smile.

• the past couple of weeks, we have also been getting ready for our CRUISE!!!! we leave saturday and i can't believe it's here!!
• sunday wrapped up an awesome series at church. plan b: what to do when your dreams are shattered. my favorite line pete used in every message was "what do you do when God doesn't show up like you expected God to show up?" that hits home with me. i also like how he didn't try to wrap the answers up in a pretty little package. he gave the truth.
  
• one sunday was very special because this video was shared. whitney stumbled across angie's blog the week before, not knowing the plan for the service. this video is about 25 minutes long but worth the time to watch it.
  

• i think i'm going to end there for now. i'm sure other blogworthy things happened. maybe they will be in my next recap!

Jewel's presale!

It's not working for Firefox so if you are using Firefox and desperately wanting to buy Jewel's cd, use Internet Explorer! (gag) Happy listening :)

right on target

i've been to target 4 times in the past 3 days and somehow i've managed to make it out of those trips with only a few things (the fancy deluxe version of the juno dvd, the brand spankin' new lady antebellum cd and a birthday present). 

and this took every. single. ounce. of self control i had. so as i was leaving from my 4th target trip of the day, i (being proud of myself for not buying impulsively) wondered what it is about target that makes me want to throw my money away! i already knew that other people suffer from this same condition but some people take it way more seriously than others. haha!

whitney, justin and i had this conversation on our first trip to target on tuesday. (it took 3 different targets to find the lady antebellum cd because the rest were sold out. i went to one today and they were fully stocked. go figure.) i have a theory or two about why it's so easy to buy stuff at target that i've decided to share...

• i've always been very interested in color and the impact it has on people. i did a project on it in college and learned that red and yellow make people hungry. that's why all fast food restaurant signs (except for taco bell) are red and yellow (think about it. they are!). so going along with this theory, i think that red makes people spend more. i'm pretty sure it raises your blood pressure too and maybe that makes you want to buy something? (yeah, these are not very scientific theories. ha. i used to know more actual facts about how color affects people.)
• i also think that pesky little target has something to do with it! it's programmed in our minds that you're supposed to aim for the target right? so you walk in and see all these little targets and you're brain starts to go "do it! go for it!" and when speculating on whether or not to buy your 6th pair of converse sneakers...your brain is already telling you to do it. stupid little targets everywhere.
• target has really nice presentation. their design is really clean and trendy and the fact that i shop there makes me feel clean and trendy...well trendy at least. not that target is dirty...sheesh. but for some reason the same cd or movie looks blah and boring at any other store but looks so nice and shiny at target. i think it's all in the presentation.
• whitney doesn't necessarily disagree with any of these theories. but as usual she thinks i way overthink it. she just thinks target has cuter stuff and that's why we spend all of our money there.

so regardless of why, target still takes most of my money. except for this week. i prevailed! you think it's a problem when your fool-proof plan to save money is just to not go to target? ah well. and in case you missed it...check out the blog dedicated to people like you and me...slaves to target unite!

my first week...

so i've been asked several several times this week how my week is going at my new job so i'm finally posting about it! for those of you who might not know, i started as marketing coordinator at big machine records (home to taylor swift, trisha yearwood, jack ingram, danielle peck, sunny sweeney and fisher stevenson) and the valory music company (home to jewel, jimmy wayne and justin moore) on monday. 

my first week was awesome! there is a whole...WHOLE...lot to take in but i am doing the best i can to jump in, ask questions and take it one step at a time. as marketing coordinator i will pretty much be assisting the web manager, justin, and the vp of sales & marketing, kelly. so i will be doing anything from ad design, myspace and online stuff, working up reports, etc. to help get those things off of their desks so they can focus on other things.

everyone at big machine and valory work really really hard but they also have fun perks! thursday night jojamie (a really good friend who works at valory) had to work a jewel show at the stage in nashville so whitney and i got to go. it was my first show as a big machine/valory employee so that was neat! justin also went to record the show and some behind-the-scene stuff so i got to see how he did that too. here we are before the show.

jewel did an A-MAZING show! it was just acoustic and for about 100 people and that is the perfect setting for her. we had a great time. then on friday, jewel came by the office and i got to meet her! it was really cool. she was as nice as can be and really really funny. here is the behind-the-scenes video that justin shot. you can see jewel's personality and quick wit in it for sure. :)  oh and that "el patron" guy (jon) worked with whitney and jo at broken bow. 

so it was a great first week and it's going to get more and more busy i'm sure and i am really looking forward to learning more about this business! :)

new addition to our house

last saturday my very dear friend justin and his parents helped us move my grandmother's (nannee) piano to our house! it was my job to get it from my parents house to us and it only took 11 months. ha. don't act so surprised. :) once we played "musical furniture" in the dining room for a while, we finally got the piano in the perfect spot! doesn't it look nice?

having the piano in the house brings back lots of memories. my brother will and i took lessons on this when we were little and almost always played a little christmas carol recital for the family on christmas eve. neither of us were that great from what i remember (our teacher quit teaching because he got a b in college. sheesh!) but i do remember my favorite christmas song to play was "jolly old saint nicholas." haha.

once we got the piano in place i played what i know (which is like 5 notes) of "lean on me" and resisted the temptation to play that song everybody knows on the piano ("heart & soul") cus whitney hates it when people play that song and think they know how to play. haha. i kind of agree with her on that one. then whit sat down and rocket promptly jumped up with us and played a little tune. he loved it! paisley was scared to put her paws on the keys. silly paisley. she must be more of a percussion kind of girl...maybe we should get a drum set and find out!

"D-U-triple N"

i dont think it's quite hit me yet but today was my LAST DAY at the dnj. it's been a pretty decent ride there. it was my first job out of college and i was there almost 3 years. it was definitely a bittersweet day because i was leaving people i've spent the majority of my days with for the past couple of years. but at the same time, the excitement of my new job pretty much outweighs any sadness. and like i said, i don't think it's quite hit me yet that i will take a left onto old hickory instead of a right on monday morning!

i learned a ton at the dnj and the friendships i made there will be hard to forget. looking ahead, i can't wait to see what comes next! anyway...whitney fusses at me for not blogging enough :) so just wanted to post real quick!

oh...and just in case you were wondering, the title of this blog comes from natalie on big brother 9. :)

my weekend (delayed)

i think i said in my last post that i would comment more on my weekend. well, now that this weekend is almost here i guess i will comment on the last one!

friday night after work i headed to louisville to spend the weekend with my brother will and his wife beth (3 years later and it's still weird to say my brother has a wife. ha!). will goes to seminary there and beth is teaching. it's always fun to go hang out with them because even though they are on a seminary-esque budget, they always have something fun planned even if it is just hanging out and consoling will after his blue devils lose. (sorry will. had to throw it out there.)


saturday morning we were lazy and made star wars easter eggs! here is the finished product. beth says it was the best $2.68 she's ever spent. i agree!


saturday night we went to see the movie vantage point. i thought it was pretty great! i'd say it's a mix of crash, 24 and either memento or groundhog's day. if you see it, you would understand. it's definitely a rentable movie but it was fun to see it in the theater because you heard everybody's reaction to everything. i think that makes a movie better sometimes.


then sunday we went to will and beth's church for easter. will and beth lead a young singles sunday school class so i fit right in there. :) it was great and at least 6 different people came up to will and i and said "that HAS to be your sister. you guys look EXACTLY alike!" that jackson gene runs deep :)

then after a very tasty lunch and a little more hanging out, i head back to nashville in time to meet whitney and reed and head to our church's last easter service. it was awesome! i'm hoping that pete will post the video they played at some point and if he does, i will definitely post it!

ok, sorry for the long post. it was a good weekend. :)

it's been a while

so whitney's cousin lori said she was tired of seeing "free at last" but i have a good explanation for my absence!

i got a job!!! yay!!!! beginning april 7th, i will be the sales and marketing creative assistant at big machine records and valory music company. i'm really really excited and who ever knew i would end up in the music business! it's amazing where God takes you when you focus.

perks of the job:
• working for amazing artists like taylor swift, jewel, trisha yearwood, jimmy wayne, and several more!
• working right next door to whitney! (this means no more lunches alone in the dnj "cafe" and saving a ton of gas money!)
• working with jojamie!
• learning a big fat ton and dealing with new media
• still being able to be creative...probably with less boundaries as newsprint design
• working for a really cool company like big machine!
• and there's more for sure, but that's the quick list.

so there was more to my weekend than getting my job but the hills is coming on soon and for the time being, that takes precedence over blogging! :)

free at freakin' last

they've been doing renovations at work now for the past 3 months at least. this was our new publisher's solution to our desperately needing a new building. when they began work on the advertising department, they sent us designers (there are 9 of us) up to a conference room all at one table like the klumps. at first it was fun and new because we could all talk and carry on conversations while we worked. [random note: i just noticed i started all 3 of these first sentences with a capital letter. you can tell i'm still in work mode. i fixed it though!] oh and the room we were in was about 60-70 steps (as in walking steps...not actual steps...but it does include a ramp though) away from the printer, the ad reps, the water, the bathroom, the break room and the time-in/out clock.

anyway, as you can imagine with 9 creative people (who have kind of lost our minds anyway) in a small room with no windows in a stressful work environment, we all started to get stir crazy and decided that maybe they weren't doing renovations at all...rather some sort of twisted social experiment!
but finally...we can all regain a little sanity at our own very spacious desks tomorrow. yay! in honor of leaving the "cage" i took some pictures today and thought i would share.

here is our happy little family with 8 desks around it. my manager had his own "desk" in the corner. you can almost see todd's fake happy face at the head of the table.

here is my little space. that's justin's computer to the left, emily's hand behind my computer and chris's copy board to the right. close quarters for sure!

i forgot to post this picture originally. how i could forget...i have no idea. it's really the icing on the cake if you ask me. it was really cold in our little cage because it's pretty much completely separate from everybody and one of the walls was an exterior wall. anyway, being the most cold-natured one in the office, i usually asked for our heater to be turned on. and here it is...the chromalox circa 1906 in all it's glory...

daylight saving time

did you know it's not daylight savingS time? i've been saying it wrong for 25 years. well...minus the years i didn't know what it was. anyway...since we've been going to the 6:00 service on sunday nights, springing ahead didn't quite affect me until this morning and boy did it. it was ridiculously hard to wake up this morning and rocket didn't help. apparently his internal clock was off too. normally he wakes me up with kisses on the face or crying at the door because paisley and whitney are already up. silly morning girls. but today he snuggled up which makes it really hard to get out of bed.

but the drive home in complete sunlight today definitely made it worth it. it's amazing what a good mood i'm in when i see the sun 3 whole times in one day. ha! of course my mood was shot down a little when i got home and found a membership letter from the AARP. what? no offense to those wonderful AARP-members but i'm just now adjusting to 25...let's not rush things how 'bout it?

other than being declared twice my age by junk mail, my day was good. and my weekend was even better. i'll spare you all of the details and just send you to whitney's blog because she's proving to be far more consistent in this blogging deal. and that doesn't surprise me very much. and really if you know the both of us (or either of us for that matter), that shouldn't surprise you either. haha. in a quick nutshell though, i got to tag along to the big machine records and valory music company show on thursday to see jimmy wayne, jack ingram and jewel (who yodeled and it was the coolest thing!) and friday i got to tag along to the new faces show with luke bryan, bucky covington, jake owen, jason michael carroll and the superfantastic taylor swift. then we went to the disco party where gloria gaynor (as in "i will survive" gloria gaynor), taylor (again), and lady antebellum (among others) performed fun disco songs all night. we had a blast!!!

gone baby gone and stuff like that there

it's unusually quiet at home tonight because there are 2 bodies missing. little baby dasher went to his big momma's house (in selmer) saturday. that makes it way more quiet because that means rocket doesn't make his veloca raptor noise (apparently he only reserves that one for puppies smaller than him) and no little bitty barks from dasher as he runs down the stairs. (and normally i would include a picture here, but my camera has been out of commission since dash was born. anybody seen my battery charger???)

also, if you read whitney's blog, you know it's crs week. i kind of equate it to the spotlight magazine for me at work - the biggest event of the year. so she's off doing very important things and i'm just hanging out with rocketman and paisley. so i'm going to head to bed early since i didn't sleep well last night.

so i've had to do some self-analyzing recently and i all the sudden discovered that i'm not near as confident in myself as i should be. i'm very thankful for the people very close to me who genuinely care about me and have all the confidence in me in the world. it means alot when you discover how highly people think of you. and i hope those people know i think the same of them.

a double-coke kind of day

i was practically raised on coke (coca-cola classic, people). and at the risk of sounding like a commercial, i still to this day love the first sip of a nice cold refreshing coke! :) anyway, i've limited myself to one per day for the past year or so but yesterday on my way out the door, i grabbed two because i knew it was going to be a rough day.

i couldn't have been more right. and i won't bore you with details of eps deadlines and print windows and last-minute changes, but basically i had a section that was supposed to be in nashville at 5 and i left work at 8. everything just seemed like it took forever to get done and extra stuff kept popping up and i was just treading water and doing all i could to keep it together to get this section out the door (it actually didn't get completely done until this morning. yikes!).

so as i was leaving work i turned on one republic's dreaming out loud cd and it helped me chill out on the way home. even though i didn't get home until almost 9, last night was one of those days i was kind of thankful for the 35 minute ride home so i could clear my head.

although it was a sucky day, there were several bright spots that i thought of as i went to bed and i thought i'd share...

• whitney, in all her best friend glory, sent me a "flower plant" that totally made my day!
• i got a very encouraging text message from jo
• the other designers pitched in majorly to help me out
• i saw a little furry face looking out the window at me when i pulled up to the house
• i saw two more little furry faces when i walked in and i got several puppy kisses and greetings at the top of the stairs
• whitney saved me leftovers
• jon & kate plus 8 was on. LOVE that show!

i'm popping open my one coke of the day right now.....aaaaaaaaaaah :)

reasons why...

...i love my church - cross point community church

let's start with the easy ones...

as a designer, i absolutely love the design of cross point. i know that kind of sounds weird but i've never seen a church with a more complete "brand." the staff is completely in tune with what attracts people and is incredibly well-marketed without sacrificing any of its integity and i think that's a really tricky thing to do. check out the website and you will understand what i mean...it's pretty :)

my church lives in the now. it doesn't pretend that it's sheltered to what is happening in the world and it keeps up. our paster, pete, delivers the messages in ways i understand and keep me interested and inspire me. here's a video that was used actually before we started going but shows another reason why i love this church...


also, i love our music director, jared. in fact, i love the entire worship team. one benefit of going to church in "music city" is that there are incredibly talented people who understand what it is to use their God-given talent in worship. and i also love the music because they don't constrict themselves to christian music. when they know a song can be used for the glory or God, they do. this video is a perfect example of the talent, boldness in worship and creativity of cross point. you can't really see the video playing on the screens very well, but it gave me chills it was so good.


ok...last reason although there are plenty more. over the course of the past several years i have had a hardened heart toward church because of different things that had happened and different people that had hurt me. anyway, i was using these things as an excuse to be complacent and quite honestly, i had gotten pretty good at it. i can't count the number of church services that have come and gone without even a thought. i don't think this is the fault of any church i've been to in the past but there's something about cross point that makes it impossible to avoid the impact of the Holy Spirit on my heart. the minute you walk in, you know God is present and although they care nothing about actual numbers (their aim is a healthy church body, be it 200 or 2,000 people), the growth at this church is evidence of God's work there.

anyway, i don't say any of this to brag or say my church is better than yours. just my thoughts on why i love my church. i truly believe i have found the place God wants me to be so we can reconnect and he can catch me up on what i've missed.

and now i leave you with a quote from fashionista diaries...

"Well my mother tells me you have to dress yourself for the Lord. Would a hat and gloves be appropriate? It's my first time reconnecting with God, so it's gotta be a good outfit!"

meet my best friend

so one thing you should know about me going in is that i have the best, most loyal best friend in all the world. you know how sometimes you meet someone and the next thing you know, it feels like you've known them your whole life? well, if you have, you know you are very lucky. pardon the cheese, but that's exactly how it is with me and whit. we met and clicked and really haven't been apart much since then. we laugh, cry and fight together but mostly we laugh. she laughs at the most ridiculous and corny jokes i make (which i happen to find hilarious!)

anyway, i'm starting this blog off with whit because, once again, we are blogging together :) well, not really together...but it was her idea that we each do one and i must say, i've kind of been thinking of starting one too. thats another thing about whit, she's way more driven than i could ever dream to be so she pushes me to do things that i would normally procrasinate on - like starting a blog for instance. or calling to make a haircut appointment. or calling the phone company (which i still need to do...oops).

i tend to ramble, so i'm going to attempt to keep this short. i hope i end up having some things worth saying that are also worth reading and hopefully we can keep in touch...i'll read yours if you read mine! :)
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