I know I am HOME when......

1. I am greeted by signs hanging on the wall that say "Gead your home" and "Welcome house"??.. Haley had some trouble, but usually these signs are awesome!

2. An aroma of my mommy's banana bread fills the entire house

3. There is poop camouflaged on the rug in the hallway... (This is Miles's way of saying Welcome Home)

4. There is fake hair scattered on the bathroom counter

5. I spend all day shopping with granny

6. I watch all my weekly shows at midnight with my mom, and five minutes into them we are both fast asleep

7. I get my reeses mix in from Braums with my dad

8. I get caught by the fashion police and have to change my clothes

9. I hear the same song playing over and over throughout the entire house

10. I am ordered to go outside and pick up every leaf... which is impossible!

11. There is a dance off in the middle of the living room

12. I eat entirely too much delicious food

13. My clothes that I wore a hour ago appear in my room folded and washed

14. I can run with my eyes closed, because I have memorized my favorite loop

15. I constantly have a smile on my face

16. I actually sleep in because trundie is the best bed ever

17. There is never a dull moment, and I am constantly doing something

18. I am always two steps behind my mom

19. Brooke laughs at everything I say.... Oh wait this one never happened!!! I missed you Brooke, home wasn't the same without you!

There truly is NO PLACE LIKE HOME! I can't wait to be home again in 17 days :)

Just say Thanks!

     Believe it or not Thanksgiving means more to me than eating really good food or running the turkey trot. Thanksgiving is about saying thanks and spending time with your family.
      Since I have been in college Thanksgiving has hands down become my second favorite holiday, first being Christmas. There is absolutely nothing better than getting a break from school, seeing your family, and of course eating sweet potato bars (my all time favorite dessert.) Even though the break is so short, I look forward to it every year.
      I would argue with anyone, and say that my family is by far the best one out there! When we all gather up for the holidays it is always filled with funny jokes, good food, and then a whole lot of regret after all the desserts are gone! Even after eating a whole pumpkin pie, I seriously think I get an ab workout after spending time with everyone because I laugh so much. I have such good memories from our holiday gatherings, that when I just think about making even more in 3 days it brings a smile to my face. To me that is what Thanksgiving is all about.
      This year will be the first year in my life that I have not spent Thanksgiving with my older sister, Brooke. It kinda upsets me that she is not going to be there to help me cook and then eat it all afterwards... hah just kidding Brooke it upsets me for more reasons than just those! It will be weird not to have one of the main people that I want to say "thanks" to this year not there. So, I am going to go ahead and say it now. Thank you Brooke for being one of the best sisters in the world! You help me each and everyday, sometimes I do not even have to talk to you I can just think of you, and it always motivates me to want to do bigger and better things with my life. You are an inspiration to us all, and we are all proud of you for making so many adjustments half way across the world. I wish you could be with all of us for Thanksgiving, but maybe we can skype with you at the table haha.
       Anyways, I absolutely can not wait to be home with the rest of my family! I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving, and do not forget to say thanks to all the people that make your life special.

P.S The blog might be a little inactive for a few days, but I am home spending time with my family.... way to busy :)

Love

     A few days ago my coach came to practice and told us all to tell our loved ones how much we love them. His mom just recently passed away, and he told us that was one thing he never said enough. I think this is one thing we all take advantage of, and we do not really know how important it is until that person is not in our life anymore.
     I want to share my view of death, and maybe it can help everyone who has lost a loved one. "Death" is really just a word to me, I try not to look at it as a terrible thing. It is simply another stage of one's life. First you are born, then you learn how to talk, you go to school, college, get married, have kids, and then go to this magical place where you can look down on all the people's life's that you touched. To me that is what life is all about. We are all here to help each other, and each and every day we try to leave a positive impression on at least one person's life.
      Life is not supposed to be hard or a terrible thing. You are supposed to live your life to the fullest and its supposed to be fun. This can be hard to do at times. I think we all have had those days where we were either stressed or thought that every bad thing that could possibly happen all happened on one day. When that happens you just have to step back and find one positive about the day, this will turn the day around in an instant.
       I noticed lately in my life that there is no point in having a bad day. When I am stressed and angry, nothing ever good happens. But, when my life is filled with happiness and love, I find that good things happen to me when I least expect them. That being said, this is still something I am definitely working on. You do not just wake up one morning and decide to be Ms. Positive ha. But, its a work in progress. In the back of my mind I just tell myself, what's the point in getting stressed? It only makes the day worse, and it just makes the smallest things seem like huge traumatic problems.
     Anyways, the point of this is to remind every one of you that you never want to waste a day. Live you life to the fullest, and try to avoid stress and anger as much as possible. Also, tell the people that you love how much you love them. It sounds so simple, but those three little words can mean the world to someone.

Best Friends

      I would say I have a handful of people that I call my "best" friends, but there is one person in particular who takes the meaning of a best friend to a whole new level. That person is Matt Ross.
      I remember the first night I met him I knew instantly I wanted to get to know him better. I thought he was hilarious and for sure the cutest guy I had ever seen. Of course I thought he was way out of my league, but there was no harm in trying right? ha Matt and I have now known each other for five years, and as cheesy as it may sound he is definitely one of the best gifts I have ever been given.
     Matt knows me better than anyone in the world, besides my mom probably. I think one of the first things my mom said to Matt after we started dating was, "Good Luck." hah It did not take him long to figure out what she meant... I'll be honest I can be a little demanding and quite a handful at times. My mom was used to me, but I don't think she ever thought I would find someone to put up with me. The crazy thing is Matt is really good with me. I needed someone that would put me in my place, but at the same time let me think I was the one in charge.
    One of my favorite things about Matt is that he is always there to make laugh or help me out when I am having a bad day. His newest thing is to have dinner on the table everyday when I get out of class. I have to admit I am becoming a bit spoiled. He cooks all of my favorites from salmon, to nachos, to pumpkin pancakes. He is quite the chef! Everyone makes fun of us because we have a weekly dinner schedule... I think they are just jealous ;)
     It is really crazy how alike we are. We can both be major home bodies some days, but then we also love to go and hang out with our friends on other days. I always say that one of us needs to be a little more social, but really I love the way we are. Some of my favorite memories are when Matt and I are just goofing around at home. Sometimes I wish people could see some of the things he does, he is seriously one of the funniest people you will ever meet.
     Anyways as you can see Matt is pretty amazing! I could go on and on about him, but I won't bore y'all. I just had to have a post about my Best Friend. I am so lucky to have him, and I definitely couldn't make it through the day without him. Everyday is a new adventure with him, and I love how I can be my nerdy self around him. Best Friends seriously make life a whole lot easier and way more fun! :)

I love you matty! :)

Embrace the Good :)

       I definitely learned a life lesson today... When things are going your way you have to embrace the day because good times come and go when you least expect them. I had a pretty exciting thing happen today, but I owe it all to my awesome teammates, family, and friends. Without them I would seriously be lost and never make it through the day.
     We competed in the Regional cross country meet this morning in Waco. Both teams finished in 5th place, and each one of us will have memories of this day forever. My coach used to say, "Whether the outcome was good or bad, I promise you that you will only remember the positive things about this day and not what place or time you ran." This is a great way to look at it because at the end of the day it honestly does not matter what place or time you got, it just comes down to whether it was fun or not.
      I think the thing that people sometimes forget about cross country is that it is so much of a team sport. During the race you recall all the hard work, miles, and pain that happened during the whole season, and every one of those things happened next to a teammate. There is never a point in the race where you feel like you are running alone, you know you have your teammates all around you to back you up if you need it or pick you up and carry you along.
     Throughout my running career I have definitely had some ups and downs. To be honest lately I was thinking there was no such thing as an up. But, today I realized that is what this sport is all about. If every race was easy we would probably get bored with it, or stop working hard. Sometimes it takes a couple bad races to bring a couple of good, and then the cycle will start all over again, but that is what keeps us on our toes. I know one of my teammates in particular did not have her best race, but she has no idea how much she contributed to mine! Sometime I hope to return the favor to her, because that is truly what this sport is all about.
      So, I really wanted to just thank everyone that has been by my side through my running career, y'all are amazing! Also I really don't believe in "signs", but I must say I am taking this day as a "sign" that my decision to run track was a great one! Not just because of running reasons, but there truly is nothing better than having a huge support system, and I got to have all of them with me today at the race! Except for my biggest fan, Brooke and a few others of course. But, Brooke all I have to say is I think I finally lived up to the "Brooke Upshaw's little sister" standard!! :) love ya and miss ya
    

What do you want to be when you grow up?

      How do people know what they want to be when they grow up? I know in the 19 years of my life I have changed my mind multiple times. My future profession ranged from crime scene investigator, FBI agent, to teacher. I can remember the question, "What do you want to be when you grow up," came up a lot in elementary school. Obviously no kid actually knew what they would be doing in 20 years, but we always picked what we thought the coolest job was, like President or a movie star. I never thought I would actually have to answer that question honestly. But, guess what I am now in college studying to be a teacher, and still wondering how I knew to choose this profession and hoping that it is my honest answer.

        Ever since I was little the job that interested me the most was a teacher. My favorite game to play growing up was school, and of course I was always the teacher. You would think that after a long day of being at school I would be tired of it, and never want to come home and pretend to play even more school. But, you have to remember school back then consisted of finger painting, snacks, and dress up, who could get tired of that? I absolutely loved all my elementary school teachers, you could say I was for sure "teachers pet". However, I will never forget in the first grade when I had to move my clip down. This was the only time I got in trouble, and I thought I was going to be traumatized for life. I remember the story like it was yesterday, I wont bore you by telling it, but let me just say it was NOT my fault at all!! hah School was amazing, and if I had to pick my favorite year it would for sure be second grade. 

       A lot of things happened in the second grade. I had my favorite teacher, lost all my teeth, and developed my fear of public speaking. The last one definitely does not make my list of top 10 best experiences, but it sure makes for a good story. It all started when the classroom was filled with all my classmates and their parents. We were doing a play or reciting poems I cant really remember, the day is kind of a fog filled with lots of tears. Anyways, it was my turn to get up and talk in front of everyone, and I started balling!! It was so embarrassing, and to this day I can't tell you what made it happen. All I know is it STILL happens, and like I said before this issue of mine is going to be a post later because I have some funny stories.. 

       So, even though my biggest fear formed during the second grade, it is still my absolute favorite year which is why I want it to be the grade that I teach! Lucky for them they are still young enough that I won't pass down my horrible writing skills; that will be left for the lucky third grade teacher.... Anyways I am kind of getting off topic, but I guess I just chose to be a teacher because it felt right. As I mentioned before no one really knows all the answers, but I think you just have to go with your gut sometimes. Life is crazy, and no one can predict where they will be years from now. If you just follow your heart you will always end up in the right place!

      Maybe it will take some little girl in my second grade class to freak out during her presentation to teach me to overcome my fears. It is amazing what we can all teach each other, no matter what age you are. To me that is what is so rewarding about being a teacher. The students teach the teacher just as much as the teacher teaches them. I can not wait until the day that I can help influence and shape little kids life's.  I will have great stories, memories, and students just like me that I can ask, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

    

Back on TRACK!

Break 5 minutes for the mile: This is another thing on my bucket list. Sounds pretty simple huh? Well apparently not since I have been right at 5:00-5:03 since my sophomore year in high school! I bet your thinking, "How are you going to do this if you quit track?" Well I have news for everyone...... I officially decided today that I AM running track!

I think the time that I took off last year got me "back on track". I absolutely love running, and I think when I was off the team as much as I hate to admit it, I really did miss things! The feeling you get after doing a hard workout with your team is indescribable. Your team begins to become your family, and something about going through pain together makes everyone extremely close. When you run with people everyday for a hour you find yourself talking about every single detail of your life. Katherine "my person" has heard me spill my heart out one to many times to leave her running on those boring dirt roads alone.

Speaking of Katherine, I know later in life I will be thanking her for kinda talking me into running again. I know I would miss my roommate, running statue, oatmeal patty stories, and spilling our life's to each other every morning at 6 AM. So, thank you in advance Dude ha, I will be telling you again when you are my flower girl in my wedding ;)

Anyways, I am excited for track season. To be honest I can not wait to run on a flat surface with no hills!! I hope maybe this will be the season where I break that 5 minute barrier. I would not feel like a true runner if I never accomplished this goal of mine. 

Our Life's are filled of germs....

Have you ever been in the bathroom when someone walks out of a stall and completely skips washing their hands? This just happened to me yesterday, and I definitely gave them the death stare. I was thinking geez why do I even wash my hands if some girl is just going to spread her germs all over the door handle when she walks out. I do not know why, but I am for sure a germaphobe as you can see.

This fear of germs is nothing new I have been like this ever since I can remember. The real problem is when I really stop and think about it, I start to become a little insane. I feel like Dakota Fanning in Uptown Girls, I just want to carry a bottle of lysol around with me every where and spray everything.

Before you start thinking I am crazy, think about this: When you see bake sales around campus, do you actually stop and buy something?... I didn't think so! I mean who would honestly buy a cookie made from dough that probably fell on the ground?? So, I think we are all germaphobes deep inside, right? ha Don't answer that.

I also remember when I was little my granny would hold my cousins and I's wrist instead of our hands ... I remember wondering why does she not just hold my hand? Welp now I know how she feels. So far from writing these blogs I have noticed a lot of my issues are from you people reading this, look what you have done!!! Jk

Anyways, point is just wash your hands... it takes like 10 seconds!

Ice Cream!

Enter an ice cream eating contest! This is another thing on my bucket list. I absolutely love ice cream... and it is for sure one of my favorite foods so why not enter a contest. It is probably a bad thing that I can't even count on two hands the amount of times that I have ate half a gallon of ice cream in one night. That being said I think I could totally win :)

I have some great memories that come to mind when I think of ice cream:

1. When I was in high school every monday I would go to Outback and Braum's with my dad! We joked that the guy that worked there was my boyfriend because he knew me very well, too well... it was creepy ha. However he never gave me free ice cream.... :(

2. Matt always knows that when I am mad there is always a quick fix... get me ice cream! Sometimes I am really just pretending, but he doesn't know... shhh

3. A lot of my Friday nights consisted of going to some kind of ice cream place, usually Braum's, with my Granny! I can always count on her to cater to my dessert needs :)

4. When I was little I remember my dad having a bowl of ice cream a lot at night, so naturally I picked up on his habits and we would smother it with Hershey's chocolate syrup! (thanks a lot daddy now I am addicted haha)

5. When I go to an ice cream place with Mitch I can almost guarantee every time he will get the grossest and weirdest looking flavor there. I think he likes to pretend he is five or maybe he just feels bad for the other flavors??

6. After every race I run I almost always get ice cream-- for one it is the only thing that ever sounds good and two I think it may be one of the main reasons I run... I like to chant in my head ice cream, ice cream, ice cream (Don't worry I am joking.. kinda)

7. My papa on my mom's side used to always make my mom chocolate milkshakes every night, and I mean EVERY night when she lived at home. When we came along he started making them for us too, maybe he contributed to this addiction too?? hah He was the best milkshake maker in the world!

8. Well I will have a number 8 in a little over a month when I go to Qatar! They have the world's biggest Dairy Queen, do you know how cool that is to an ice cream lover?? Lets just say I can't wait to get the world's biggest Chocolate Extreme blizzard there, I hope they do that!

Anyways, as you can see I love ice cream. I have many more memories than this, but you get the point! Thanks to everyone who has shared some ice cream with me :) I can't wait to make more memories, and enter that contest some day.....

These are from my "prom" at Dairy Queen. I was running at the State track meet the day of prom, so I celebrated Prom with my favorite people at Dairy Queen after the meet instead!

Little Sisters always cheat!

Today when I was in the shower I told myself that I needed to come up with something to blog about before I could get out. So, after my hands turned to raisins I finally decided I am thinking entirely to hard about this. If I blog everyday some posts are probably going to be a bit boring, but I promise majority of them will make ya laugh, cry, think, or all the above so stick with me here.

I hope Haley still has a good grip on her hair, because she is up ready or not! For those of you who don't know, Haley is my younger sister. I have a totally different relationship with her than I do with my older sister, Brooke. However both of my sisters are my best friends, even though they are as different as night and day.

I don't know if Haley knows it or not, but even though she is younger than me I look up to her in a weird way. Yes, she is one of the prettiest girls in the world, athletic, smart, and I wish I was her a lot of times, but oddly enough it is not any of those qualities that make her special to me. She has this laid back personality, and a totally different way of living her life than I did when I was her age. As you all know I am a pretty follow by the rules, never late, schedule kinda person, and sometimes I wonder what a day would be like in Haley's shoes. I think she has a sense of adventure and her love of trying new things will get her far in life, those are the things that I look up to.

If I could predict where Haley would be in ten years, I would tell you she is going to be the next "Brooke Davis". If you don't watch One Tree Hill, Brooke Davis has her own clothes line, and her life is filled with drama and definitely laughter! Haley looks like a million bucks everyday at school. How do I know this you ask? Well she used to send me pictures of her outfits everyday.... now she is just slacking on the job. But seriously I will never forget what she said to me one day, "You are really gonna wear that?' and I looked at her and said "Yes Haley we are going to walmart it does not matter." hah this is how serious Haley is about her fashion! She even goes as far as wearing fake hair... sorry Haley I had to say something mean.

Anyways Haley really is great, and I have some great memories with her when we were little from playing baby dolls, pretending she was a doll, reading her christmas stories, and bringing her gingerbread men. I love her to death, and for anyone that hasn't met her you are definitely missing out!

-- Cinnamon Roll

P.S I am trying to make my titles go with "The Game of Life" but this was just perfect for Haley because she used to cheat at every game possible.... Little did she know she was not very sneaky!!

The Rules

Well, obviously I switched blog sites... I think this one will be better for what I am doing. You can now leave comments under each post!! :) That being said, please leave comments and let me know what ya think! Don't be a stalker... ha. In my little fantasy world tons of people are reading this and anxiously awaiting my next post... (that was a joke). But seriously this really is kinda fun, so I hope at least someone is enjoying it as much as me! Chances are if you are reading it you will probably have your own entry at some point.... yes haley you should be concerned I am coming after you so hold on to your hair!! hah

Am I going the right way?

I think having this blog is making me think about a lot of things, and wonder how does anyone know if the choices that they make each day are actually the right ones or the best ones. What exactly is considered right anyways? Doing something you absolutely do not want to do, but you know deep inside it’s the “right” thing to do or doing only the things you want to do. I guess the second option is considered a selfish decision in many peoples eyes.

Let me let you in on a little secret, selfish is a word I am very familiar with. In my family that is like the worst name you can be called, so lets just say it was not a good thing I heard the word selfish directed at me so many times hah. I think I always thought things would turn out better for everyone if everyone just did what they wanted to do all the time. To me it made perfect sense, if everyone just made themselves happy then our world would be one happy place…. WRONG! Coming to college has made me realize relationships and friends are what get you through the hard times, it is impossible to make it through the day without the help from anyone. A support system is key to making it through this “Game of Life”.

I remember my first week at college, and let me tell ya it was rough! I think on my daily phone calls to my mom I did more crying than talking. I think I took advantage of exactly how much my mom did for me when I lived at home, so when I got to college there was entirely to much to do and it became very stressful. There was no more walking in the door after school and having my mom’s delicious meals sitting on the table for me at 5 o’clock sharp ha. I also quickly figured out that clothes just don’t magically get clean…. jk but my first load of laundry that I ever did alone was at college.. so you get the point I was lost without my mommy! But it wasn’t just the cooking, cleaning, and running errands part that I missed, I missed having her with me everyday.

My mom is one of the most amazing people you will every meet, she always puts others before herself and I think that is why she drilled the selfish thing into my head so much. They always say, “mothers know best!”. I think that is one of the most accurate sayings ever. In my eyes my mom is the smartest person in the world, even though she might not necessarily know the “right way” or “right choice” she always tells me what she thinks is right.

So, I think I found my answer, no one knows what the “right” way is. What’s important is to do things for others, but at the same time enjoy what your doing. Living a life filled of sadness and anger is not good for anyone. I think if you go to sleep happy every night and thankful for something then you chose the “right way”.

This post is a bit random, but I just have been wondering lately if I am doing the right thing and how I know if my life is headed in the right direction. I think this is something many of us wonder everyday, but we all just have to know that the real answer is there is no WRONG way. So, I am challenging myself to throw away the nickname “Selfish” hah, and start thinking W.W.M.D (what would mommy do)… If i do this I know for sure I will always choose the right path!

Told ya I wasn't lying...

I decided I am also going to post some things that are on my “bucket list”. Maybe if my ideas are out for the public to see, it will motivate me to actually follow through with all of them! So here is the first in no particular order… I want to be on Survivor! I have wanted to do this since I was like 10, and now I am finally old enough! I mean I got my first survivor buff for Christmas years ago, its about time I get a real one. I know what your thinking “she seriously has a survivor buff”, the answer is yes! I am not ashamed of my love for survivor ha. I also want to prove to people that I can do it, I think my personality is perfect for the game. The only downfall is I don’t think they have any peanut butter or ice cream out there…. ;)

Perfect… Another thing to distract me from studying

Hey Guys,

I don’t know why, but it seems kind of fun to document my life through a journal? I used to write in a diary when I was little, so why not join the 21st century through yet another technology device and write it on here. Too bad for the few that will actually take time to read this, I will leave out a lot of interesting details in my life that are only meant to be told to a select few. As most of you know my sister got married this summer to one of the funniest and smartest guys you will ever meet. Their wedding was one of the best days of my life, maybe just because they had a really amazing cake?? haha Jk. But, in all seriousness, It was a blast and so pretty… except for my maid of honor toast ;) My fear of public speaking will be a post in itself saved for a later time. Anyways back to the point, Brooke’s wedding was amazing and sad all at the same time. I knew in the back of my mind, Brooke and Mitch would be leaving me to go across the country to Qatar in a matter of months. I am sure if you are reading this you already know, Brooke is seriously my role model, best friend, and hero all rolled up in one human being. She is amazing, and I don’t think she even knows what a gift she is to me. I miss her and Mitch everyday, and I try my hardest to keep her updated on my life, but it will be amazing when she finally comes back! So with that being said I am mainly making this thing for her to read, but I hope I pick up some other followers along the way. I really do have a passion for writing, only problem is my spelling and writing in general stinks! Someday I want to write a book about my life, So far it has been an amazing life and I feel like this book would be filled with love, laughter, and of course drama. What can I say my family is crazy, but I love all of them so much! :) Once this book is written I am going to hire a really good editor and then I am golden and will make millions… haha I can dream right? So if you are one of those people who can’t stand reading run on sentences, miss spelled words, and something that makes no sense at all, DO NOT READ THIS! Well I really do have to study, so later I will actually figure this site out and entertain yall with more of my life! Peace