Friday Favorites {Homecoming}

It's one of my favorite weekends of the entire year. Like. The. Entire. Year!!! 
1. Baylor Homecoming is tomorrow!!!! Last year I blogged about Baylor Homecoming for an entire week and when I look back and re-read those posts it puts a smile on my face! 
2. My lil bit was nominated for Queen this year and I am so proud of all of her accomplishments! It's her senior year and I cannot wait to watch her lifelong best friend drive her car in the parade! It is so exciting!! I've been told I'm not allowed to post pictures.... hopefully she will let me on Monday! :)
3. Where will we be? On the curb. In our spot. Where we always are. And always have been. I've gotten a little better at hiding my fright from the costumes that walk by. At this age... the noise was too loud and the costumes were scary. 

4. And cousins! Homecoming time is cousin time too. Ever since we were little we've supported our Baylor Bears! The day of we talk, laugh, and share memories..... when I am able to reflect a little later in the week, it makes my heart so happy I want to cry. My family is awesome. 

5. And of course, it's my least favorite day of the year. I hate Halloween. So much. I've also blogged about that. But today hasn't been bad so far. Here's a little flashback and then my adult Mary-Kate juxtaposition from yesterday! Here's to making the best out of my least favorite day!

Happy Friday!

Mary-Kate Olsen

It's red ribbon week.. and every day is a theme day. I love participating, because participating is just so much more fun!The kids love when you dress up.. and I love to entertain. So presenting myself as Mary Kate Olsen.... and a tacky tourist searching for an elephant. Tomorrow, I'm thinking about being adult Mary Kate with dark red lips, an oversized sweater, and huge sunglasses. Yay for being drug free!!! :)

In other news, I'm totally side-tracked today because I'm only getting ready for my volleyball tournament! Wish me luck!! Y'all are always good at that!

We Are Not Living Together

There's a question that people have been asking me for a while now. It's relatively simple to answer, but a sensitive issue at the same time. What's that question?

"Why don't you and Travis live together?"

Now, before we begin.. please know, these are only our opinions. I'm not saying it is the hands down, correct way to do things. I also want to say that I will not and have not passed judgement on people who choose to do things differently.. that's just not my place. We are not perfect and know we will never be. These are simply my thoughts when people ask me this question.

Ready for my answer? Yeah, this is no string-a-long post.. we are diving in. 

We do not live together out of respect for each other. 

I am going to have the privilege of spending my life with this man, and as excited as I am to be able to do that... I need to prepare for it. Some might say, "Well isn't that what you've been doing while you've been dating?" Yes and no. Throughout the year and a half we have dated (depending on who's starting point you use), we have been getting to know each other and have grown to love each other. BUT it was not until we got engaged that we really started discussing how we would like to live our lives, together, down to the nitty gritty details. For example, it was not until we were engaged that I told him the exact dollar amount of student loans I had remaining. It was a scary conversation for me and not one I was willing to have until I knew for 100% sure I was going to be doing forever with Duck Dude. 

But Mollie,  you are wasting $850 dollars a month on rent, not to speak of other bills when you know exactly where you will be living in 129 days. To this I say, I am not disagreeing with you. There are definitely days where I feel like my apartment is just where I sleep and change clothes; however, in our opinion, a financial advantage does not outweigh the respect aspect. We are choosing to not fully combine our lives together until we are married, so it doesn't make sense to jump right into living with him. 

It is also out of respect for our families. We both love, admire, and respect the ever lovin' crap out of our families. (sorry Mom for saying crap) We appreciate the support that they have given to us for our entire lives, from the last year and a half as a couple to loving the crap out of our diapers as babies. (I just had to) We value their opinion and because of that we are choosing not to live together until we are married.

It is also out of respect for our beliefs. All my life I prayed for a spiritual leader who would not be afraid to lead my family. I got one and he's a good one and I am so thankful. Our beliefs are the same. We simply believe that our relationship would be unsustainable without Christ at the center. For us, in order to do so, we are not living together until March 8th.

Tweets I Thought Were Funny, But No One Else Did

Today, I am bringing you a special segment. The thought occured to me as I scrolled through my twitter.... like waaay back... to prove someone wrong, because that's how much I love winning. As I was scrolling I thought to myself, "Wow, that was a really funny tweet and no one favorited it!" and, "Oh my gosh, there's another one that no one favorited!" and, "AHA! I'm a hilarious genius... why did no one favorite that!!" So today's concept is simple. 

"Only love can make it rain. @MsMarili #puregenius" Y'all. That's my mom. And she said 'make it rain' and 'love' in. the. same. sentence. FUNNY!!!!
"Hi. My name is Mollie. I'm an adult and I have pink eye." This was in 2012... I was 24 years old and had pink eye. Wear my glasses, put a warm washcloth on my eyes, miss school, pink eye. It was terrible.... but terribly funny as well!!!

This is my blonde sister for ya! The only thing I can chalk this up to is it was at the very beginning of my tweeting life... so maybe I didn't have enough followers when I tweeted it. That's the only reason.. because this is FUNNY.
"My biggest issue with tonight's #wta.... Tierra and I wear the same perfume. #samesparklesmell" Like, Tierra, from the Bachelor who was a total nutcase!!! And talked about people taking her 'sparkle'... #samesparklesmell.... that's funny!!!
"Mollie, when your hair is that big, you look like a gypsy. #advicefromgrandma #bighurrr" My own grandmother called me a gypsy!!!!

A baby!! In a bar!!! That was barefoot!!! I about died.... but apparently no one else did!!!
"I love runts. The candy kind and the small puppy kind. #staarweekbrain #happyfriday" Ahhh. See what I did there!! That's genius!! Because I was really talking about the candy... but I didn't want to leave the little things out! They need a chance in life too, I declare!!!
"'Ms. Lindstrom isn't a crazy cat lady.... She's a crazy horse lady!!' ....at least my kids know me? #proudtohaveatitle" hahaha crazy horse lady... back from when I was a single gal.... with only my horses to listen to my conversation. Maybe when I marry Duck Dude I can be the crazy duck lady!!

Guys... for real. He had a microwave.. on the curb.. for his lunch!!! I lol'd. Literally. Laughed Out Loud!!!
"I like this song... But I sing it 'black wittle baby'.. every. time. #wittlebabytalk" C'mon!!! Please tell me someone else hears this every time they hear the song!! I can't help it! 
"The best thing about bachelor in paradise is all the flash tats. #shinebright" If you don't know what flash tats are, you're missing out. Because they're amazing... and that's funny.

Like, the duck face that I see all over my teacher twitter/throughout my school day? Where the girls stick their lips out like ducks? It's Koal's duck face because it's a toy duck.... by her face. Duck. Face. Get it?? That's funny. 

I'm sure there will eventually be a second edition. Because I'm going to continue to think I am funny. Happy Monday!!!

Pumpkin Friday

It's Friday!! Friday!! 
1. My Duck Dude is here at school with me!! He's talking to the AVID program about how he needed his college degree to obtain his job! And my Koal baby's here! So it is definitely a good Friday. 

Hi pumpkin!!!
(Get it?)

2. This weekend is filled with volleyball. A lot of volleyball. But that does mean free hospitality room food? Which is sometimes good, sometimes not... but I'm feelin good vibes today.
3. But after volleyball is over.... then I get to carve pumpkins!!!! And I am really excited about carving pumpkins. Except I am not artistic and my hand always hurts about 36 seconds into carving. Some ideas and not so much ideas I would love to do. 

 

A Harry Potter pumpkin!!! Or a spiderman pumpkin!!! Both would be super cool but require far much more patience than I will be willing to give. #honestyisthebestpolicy

This seems way more up my alleyway. Batman. 

4. But then after the carving comes my favorite part. Cooking the seeds!!! It's my favorite part! Last year we did woresthire seeds and cinnamon/sugar seeds, see here. Earlier this week I was looking at some garlic parmesean seeds and some pumpkin pie seeds... but who knows what we will actually end up making!! (Hint: stay tuned..)
5. Last night in between the volleyball game as we were switching sides, one of the opponents said to me, "Wow! Your hair is so silky and beautiful!!" And so, I'm feeling like this today.

Invitations {Round Two}

The one thing I didn't think I would have trouble picking out? Invitations. Eh, it's a piece of paper that people are going to throw away... except for my mom. But, it's turning out to be a difficult decision. I just can't find one that seems to "speak" to me. I need the paper to talk!!!
So, on Sunday, I went to a new website and ordered some new samples. My favorites from this post are still in the running... but I am excited about this new batch coming in.. maybe one of these will say, "Hey Mollie! It's me! Order me since according to your checklist you were supposed to already have them and be 'checking for accuracy'."
Except this one. It's not in the running. I just wanted to see it in person. And Duck Dude told me it was his least favorite, which I already knew before even asking him. 

Alright, on to the other ones. These are ones I am actually considering. Duck Dude's favorite is at the end. I'm not sure if I have a favorite. They all look different in person. I don't really make my decision until I can hold them and see the details of each.

   

 

And his favorite out of the group... which did surprise me a little.

I think I'd like it more if I changed some of the colors to match ours (navy, gold, a touch of blush pink) a little better. Or that's what I've been thinking about... Help!! Why are invitations so hard??

Avocado Egg Rolls

I got a whim on Saturday. As I was looking for a certain recipe on pinterest that I had made before and Duck Dude had requested... I ran across a pic of egg rolls. I remembered seeing egg roll wraps at my grocery store for the first time and I thought self... we can do this. 
It's basically guacamole... which I could live on... in an egg roll. How hard could it be? ..... I have a whole new respect for egg roll makers. I will never eat an egg roll again without thinking of the person who made them. That might be a tad over-dramatic. I made them and they looked like egg rolls.... just not beautiful egg rolls. They looked like a person attempting to make egg rolls for the first time. 
Buuuut. They tasted good!! And that's reallllly all that matters, right? P.s. I used three avocados and made 8 egg rolls. 

I ate them with ranch. I'm sure there are plenty of other dressings you could make to go with them as well. I also think they would be perfectly fine all by themselves. Enjoy!

Oh Happy Day!

Last weekend when we were watching the Aggie football "game" at Kyle Field.. they played a nice little package on the screen for us to watch. They asked the players, "Who is the best singer on the team?" The majority of them answered two of the players. Then at the end of the video they asked the players to sing! And one of them busted out in a beautiful rendition of "Oh Happy Day!"
With bridesmaid Kristen in the stadium as well, she texted me immediately and said something along the lines of "our song!!!" Because, what you might not know about me, is I am a platinum selling record artist..... and I have the plaque to prove it. 

You see that correctly. The world-renown group of KMSquared made up of bridesmaid Kristen, bridesmaid Melanie, and yours truly. We only had one hit... but it was a big one! We had our own version of "Oh Happy Day!" and it was very..... happy! We had our own parts, our own hairbrush microphones, and.. eventually, our own record. 
Top all of that with the beautiful picture. I am trying to figure out when they picture was from based on my hair color. I want to say it was somewhere around junior or senior year of highschool.. maybe in between because I'm pretty sure we're at church camp in that picture. The days of ruling camp. I got stories for days on that subject that I will save for a later time. 

And just in case anyone thought we'd break up like Destiny's Child or NSYNC, we just wanted everyone to know we were/still are "friends." 
Maybe I'll open up a poll later if we might have a "reunion" at the wedding... but until then, enjoy our music video the real music video. Thank goodness iphones did not exist back then or we would definitely have a video. 

Peace, love, and Oh Happy Monday!

Game Day: From a Different Perspective

There have been plenty of Fridays where I talk about how excited I am for football! Like here, here, and here. This weekend is no different! Baylor plays West Virginia at 11... my red head and bro in law are making the 6 hour trip from NC to watch because my blonde got them free tickets!! Then right after that, the Aggies play! Duck Dude and I plan to watch, while addressing Save the Dates!!! It's a pretty exciting game day plan. 
But game days look a little different for one of my family members. My dad! Most of you know my dad is a videographer. Technically he is free lance (meaning he's not tied down to a network), but he's been around long enough that he does most of the Dallas sports. See, here we are while he was working a Mavericks game!

So, game days to him are not about tailgating and cornhole-ing... game days to him are a totally different experience. Here's another little secret, I am not actually the "writer" in the family. While I have this little corner of the interwebz, my dad is a journalism major. My little sister is a journalism major. I'm a math major who writes for fun. So there is no way I could try and explain the experience a camera man has on game day. So, I'm gonna let him explain it himself. 
Game Day: From a Different Perspective Written by: My dad.

Game Day.

It’s Fall………It’s Saturday………and it’s early………But I don’t really mind getting up. It’s a routine that I’ve gone through dozens of times. I get dressed and walk outside. There’s a cool crispness in the air that has replaced the hot stale air of summer. I take in a deep breath……smells like football.

Years ago my brother introduced me to the spectacle that is college football. The teams, the bands, the stadiums, the fans and the traditions all combine to make a Saturday afternoon football game somewhat of a religious experience. I consider it a privilege to have attended games in college towns all over America working as a cameraman for live television broadcasts.

It’s a unique experience to walk out on the field early in the morning when the stadium is empty. It’s quiet but there’s a sense of anticipation of what is only few hours away. As the sun rises, it begins to warm the stadium and the activity inside and out begins to accelerate.

Cables run up and down the field and all around the stadium stretching the length of the field many times over. Cameras, tripods, monitors, microphones and all the trappings needed for a broadcast have been laid out and checked the day before. A team of men and women from around the country have converged to cover this gridiron grandeur. I have oftenthought about how our team of broadcast professionals issimilar to the teams participating on the field. We all have our positions we play like camera operators, video techs,audio techs, graphics, videotape operators, utilities among others. The producer and director are like our coaches. We all have our responsibilities and yet we must work together in harmony to be successful.

After checking the equipment again to make sure it’s all still in working order, it’s time for our camera meeting. We discuss the teams, their strengths and weaknesses, players to watch and any other items the director feels are important to the broadcast. Meanwhile, graphics, promos and stats are being loaded, videotape packages are being built and the producer and on-camera talent are going over the rundown. All the final details are put in place as the kickoff nears. Then at the appointed time, we all gather for the pregame meal. A little nourishment and more coffee before a long afternoon of work.

After the meal is a time to relax for awhile and get ready for the game. All the camera guys have their own way to prepare for a game. Some sleep, some read the newspaper and others are on the phone. As the time to be on headsets draws near,last minute rituals are performed. Just like the players have their routine, so do we. As we head out to our positions, you will hear “Have a good game,” or “Have a good one,” or “We’re all counting on you,” or maybe “Don’t suck today!”

Pregame shots of players are done, the open is rehearsed, the tease is built, transmission is checked and all systems are go! Three, two, one….We’re on the air!

And definitely happy Friday!

District Champs!!!

We have clinched district champs... and I would be lying if I said it didn't feel good, like, real good. 

This post kept getting pushed back, but it's finally appearing on our next game day. Last Thrusday, we beat an undefeated team. My new athletic director was in the gym watching, and it was some insane 8th grade volleyball. 

The first games my girls came out strong. They were hitting their spots, killing the ball, and taking the team out of their game. Until they kicked it back into gear. They tied the 1st game at 20-20. Then my girls got down 21-23. I called a time out and we talked about winning NOW. My game note to them talked about winning NOW except NOW means Never Out Worked. And all of a sudden it was 23-23, 24-24 and my girls kept fighting. And then they pulled it out!! We won 27-25!! And I jumped up and down like I was an 8th grade girl myself. 

While we switched sides, I heard the other team say, "Let's tear their necks apart." Hmm.. interesting. I pondered it for about 0.4 seconds before telling my girls what I heard them say. And WOW that fired my girls up. They came out like angry beasts and put a beating on the top team. 25-14. 

We won and we clinched district champs. It was a really good night. 

I got home, checked all of my social medias and found this. And I was reminded why I do this crazy job of coaching hormonal 8th grade girls. Because every now and then they leave the drama behind, and you can see into the effect you have on their lives. 

We Have a Honeymoon!!

And not just any honeymoon... a really, really amazing honeymoon!!! 
In 145 days, we will be headed to St. Lucia!!!!
And we couldn't be more excited, in my best Chandler Bing impersonation. 
uhh.. I have no idea where St. Lucia is..... Neither did I. It's right about here. 

But Mollie... what does it look like??
I'm so glad you asked. 

Holy beaches. I am so spoiled to have in-laws who want us to have the best experience ever!!

Why yes, I wold like to sit on this swing and sway in the sea breeze all day long. Only leaving to frolic in the ocean for a little bit. Yes, frolic. 

Or maybe leave for a little bit to hang out in the pool and the swim up bar. Bring on the bahama mamas, the miami vices, the kiwi martini, AND the strawberry daiquiris. 
Did I mention we can swim up to our room? Uh huh. Swim. Our own little lagoon. And then just casually walk into our room... like. it's. nothing. But it's going to be everything.  

 

And eat and eat and eat and eat. And make friends, and reassess our friends. And hang out with the friends. 

I believe I can say I will not miss any of you too terribly. Don't take too much offense to that.. it's only because I will be in paradise. With my husband. In 145 days!!!