Speak Now! Q&As

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Hey y’all! I’ve been struggling these last couple of weeks with what to blog about. I think having guest posters spoiled me a little! To try to help me get rid of this blogger’s block, I’m asking for your help!

I’ve seen quite a few bloggers lately doing questions and answer posts, so I’ve decided to do one too! I’ll take questions for about a week and post the answers in a vlog sometime next week.

So, is there anything you want to know about me? Anything you’re curious about? Now’s your chance to ask!

Speak Now!

What I’m Loving Wednesday

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WILW

Happy Wednesday, y’all!

Here’s what I’m loving this week!

I’m loving time off work! Last week was crazy busy, and my boss is giving me time off this week since I worked a lot of overtime. It’s nice to be able to get some rest this week.

I’m loving that Dallas Blogger Meet-up is coming up soon!
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4 weeks! It’s gonna be great!

I’m loving that LTC convention is in 3 weeks!
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I’m REALLY loving that Neely is going to come play on Saturday of that weekend! We get to hang out two weekends in a row!

I’m loving the book Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers.
redeeming love
I’ve had several people recommend this book to me, and I’m loving it so far. It is a retelling of the book of Hosea that is set in the 1850s. It’s really good.

I’m loving Sara Ramirez’s EP on iTunes!
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This girl can sing! I can’t wait for the Grey’s Anatomy musical episode this week!

I’m loving this song!

Sara Ramirez’s version of Brandi Carlisle’s “The Story” that she will be singing on the Grey’s musical episode. She’s awesome!

And, the biggest thing I’m loving this week:

I’M GONNA BE AN AUNT AGAIN!
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I got a phone call last week from my sweet little K saying “My momma’s having a baby! You’re gonna be an Aunt Ashley again! To three of us!” I’m so excited! Please keep Jessica in your prayers for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.

What are you loving this week? Link up your loves with Jamie.

Top 2 Tuesday: Celeb Hairstyles

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It’s been awhile since I did a Top 2 Tuesday post!
Today’s topic is celebrity hairstyles. Here’s who I’m loving!
1. Carrie Underwood
I love Carrie’s loose curls! I totally wish my hair would cooperate and look like this!

 2. Jessica Simpson

Jessica has always had the cutest hair! I love this look!
Which celeb hairstyle is your favorite? Link up with Taylor!

Hello?

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Anyone there? It’s me, Ashley! I’m back from my bloggy break. I’ve missed y’all!
Thanks for all of your sweet comments for my guest posters last week! It was really cool for me to have some of my favorite ladies posting for me. It was definitely a weight lifted off of my shoulders to know y’all were taking care of the blog for me!
I am hoping to be able to start catching up on everyone’s blogs. I feel so out of the loop, and I have no idea what’s going on with anyone! I am off work tomorrow morning and on Friday, so hopefully I can start reading.
I hope you have all had a great Monday!
Also, Neely and Amber are having awesome giveaway! But please don’t go enter, because I want to win both of them! :)

Elvis Friday: Mom-Mom

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Up next is my Mom-Mom. She grew up during the 50’s when Elvis was super popular, and he was her favorite. When I decided I wanted to do an Elvis day, I knew she had the perfect story that needed to be shared. She’s a little nervous about posting so be sure to leave her some love in the comments!

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Hello everyone! This is my first attempt at blogging and I am SO nervous! I wouldn’t do this for anyone but my sweet granddaughter, Ashley. Ashley, you owe me big time for this!!

I grew up in the 50s. I graduated from high school in 1957, and was a HUGE fan of Elvis. I still am! I bought all of his records as soon as they were released and played them over and over.

mom-mom

After graduating high school my two best friends, Billie Fay and Lela, and I got jobs in a nearby town and took turns driving to work. One day we were having lunch at the Tastee Freeze and while we were sitting in our car eating, this pink Cadillac pulled in to a parking space right in front of us. We almost choked on our food. Elvis has a PINK CADILLAC!!!! But, there was a woman driving the car alone so we decided it wasn’t his car after all. We couldn’t help staring at it anyway.

After a few minutes the lady went to the window to order her food, then she came over to our car and said she noticed us looking at the car she was driving.  She said she was driving it from California to Tennessee for Elvis, and she asked if we would like to go over and get a closer look at it. We all scrambled out of the car and ran over to the pink Cadillac. It was AWESOME!! It was all white leather and pink plush inside and his initials were embossed in the middle of the steering wheel…E. P. It also had a TV. It was beautiful and we were ecstatic! I wish we ‘d had a camera.

A couple of years ago my daughter Cheryl and granddaughter Ashley took me with them to Memphis and we toured Graceland and the museum of Elvis’ things. I even wrote my name on the wall in front of Graceland! We bought lots of souvenirs and I drink my coffee out of an Elvis cup every morning.  Love it!

graceland

mom-mom & elvis

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Elvis Friday: Jennifer

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Hey y’all! Today’s posts are all about Elvis! I’ve talked here several times about how much I like him, and today’s posters share my love for The King!

Jennifer from Crazy Shenanigans is also a huge Elvis fan! She just got back from a trip to Memphis a few weeks ago, and I so wish I’d gone with her! Be sure to check out Crazy Shenanigans and her travel blog JMO Travels.

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I’m Jennifer from over at Crazy Shenanigans and guess what… I’m an Elvis fan. I’m actually a really big fan of his. I love his music, his movies, his humanitarian efforts and most of all what he taught us about the American dream. 

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I’ve been to the King’s home, Graceland twice and I’m attending this year’s Elvis Week. It will be my first time and I can’t wait to experience it and be around thousands of other Elvis fans. Now I could go on and on about the reasons why I love Elvis but that would just be silly. So instead, I’d like to talk about what he represents… at least in my eyes. I believe Elvis represented the good and the bad in the American dream.

If you know anything about the King of Rock n’ Roll is that he wasn’t always the King. He grew up in a two room shack in Tupelo, Mississippi. His family barely had money for food, let alone any extra extravagances. From a young age he had a dream of being able to what he loved the most- singing and to in turn be able to take care of his momma and the rest of his family. He didn’t care about having money for cars, clothing or impressing girls, sure that would be a great plus but he just wanted to provide. He’d lay awake at night and hope and pray for the future.

And as we all know, he achieved his dream. He rose from the poverty and became one of the most recognized faces in the world. He was able to buy his momma the house of her dreams and give her everything she could possibly want and more. Along the way he made tons of friends, his fans grew by the thousands and he got more than he could ever dream of. He spent a lot of time giving back to charities, down and out friends and family and often total strangers. However, with fame and achieving the American dream came the downside.

Once you get everything you’ve ever wanted what do you do next? He became depressed, dependent on prescription drugs, developed mood swings and shut people once close to him out of his life. He had the American dream and to him it started slipping away. He had the fans, the music and the money but to him it was about finding his spiritual side and being happy. He died way too early in life and I often think that he could have been saved. So what does he represent the American dream because many others follow in his same foot steps. Don’t we all wonder and secretly wish to know what it would be like to be rich and famous? Well there’s always a downside to the dream and Elvis taught us that.

Thursday Thoughts: Becca

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Up next is Becca from So scared of getting older, I’m only good at being young! She is the cutest, and I love reading her blog! If you don’t follow her, read this post, then head over to her blog right away! Her dad is an NFL coach, and today’s post is a little NFL behind the scenes! Enjoy!

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When Ashley first put out the feelers for guest bloggers I was stoked at the idea of writing on her blog because it’s one of my personal favorites to read. It’s nice to read a blog written by another Christian girl who’s passionate about some of the same topics I am: adoption, faith, friends, family, chocolate, sunglasses! I mean, we’re practically soul mates. We were intended to be friends. I was trying to think of something unique to write about that would be different from what some of you who mutually follow us have already seen me write about. So I thought I’d tell you about being a coaches kid.

Growing up my Dad coached college football which basically meant that as one of 3 girls, my sisters and I had cute college guys over for dinner regularly. What could be better than that I ask you? It was like having (really cute, unrelated) brothers in the house. Not to mention we got to play on the football fields, eat at ‘training tables’, and sport fun gear to the games on weekends. We loved it.

When I was 10 my Dad made the plunge from college to the NFL. The big leagues. I’m not sure why but it never really occurred to me as a child that this might happen so when it did I remember being shocked. Oh, the NFL. This illustrious unreachable place that all the sudden was a reality for us.

The 15 years (wow, has it been that long?) since then have been a whirlwind of experiences. I think it’s safe to say there have been more ups then downs – both for the teams we’ve been with and with our families experience in the league. We’ve had some pretty cool experiences along the way from attending 2 Pro Bowl’s in Hawaii to winning a Super Bowl in Miami (we also lost one there). It’s really been a crazy ride. But really, you just want to hear the funny stuff and the famous people I’ve seen or met, right? So let’s get to the goods.

Probably my most shameful NFL related experience took place in Nashville, TN. My college buddies and I had taken an RV from Purdue (where I went to college) to Nashville to see the Colts (my Dad’s current team) play the Tennessee Titans. It was a division game so it was a big deal for us as a team of course, but it was also just meant to be a fun trip for my friends and I. We sang a little Karaoke, we tailgated with the few other Colts fans present, we slept 12 people in an RV, and we headed to the game. We were of course sitting way up in the upper deck, tucked away where the home team wouldn’t hear us, ya know. The row of people behind us was a group of 40 year old men who’d all gone to high school together, were liquored up, and trash talking on the Colts. Awesome. I’m a pretty high strung person so immediately my friends were concerned. One of my guy friends asked me if I’d like him to politely ask them to tone it down a notch. Nah, I’m a big girl and I’ve grown up listening to trash talking fans, I’m good, right?

The conversation takes a fateful twist when they start picking on the Wide Receivers which was the position my Dad was coaching at the time. They’re picking on our players, who of course feel like family to me, and I’m growing increasingly tense. I take a deep breath and tell myself it’ll be fine, no big deal. Just as I finish this thought the guy says ‘Well maybe if they had a decent coach’ and I snap. I turn around and smack him straight across the face. Whap. I have now been reduced to ‘that girl’ who gets in a fight in a stadium and of course my initial thought is, oh my gosh my Dad’s going to kill me. I mean seriously, who does that?

Thankfully, after some explaining from my friends and I the guys behind us including the victim of my rage, felt terrible. They apologized and kept offering me beers I politely declined. And we left that day relieved that I wasn’t having to be escorted by a police (how mortifying would that be?) and without further incident. But I have to say, that’s still my most mortifying NFL experience and my Dad still doesn’t know (until maybe now?).

Hmm, I can only imagine what you all are thinking of me now. Yikes. I should pause here to explain the toughest part about being a coaches kid is hearing people (usually ignorant people) bad mouth your Dad. I don’t know what it is about family that brings out my sensitive side but I’m super touchy about my family members. When I was in college I would get these obnoxious facebook messages and posts from people who cheer for other teams. They’d think they were clever with their wise cracks and digs and honestly, it was terrible! I went back and forth between wanting to take a swing or wanting to cry. It’s tough enough to hear it in the stands but from people you considered friends? Brutal.

The best part? Free stuff! I mean naturally we all love free anything, right? And along the way we’ve gotten some pretty sweet loot. Other than my love for the actual game which I think would be there with or without Dad being so involved – the free stuff is stinkin awesome. I have the world’s largest collection of baseball caps that from various teams, events, sponsors, etc. I love hats. I also seem to always have a ridiculous supply of t-shirts. I was laughing about this the other day when I finally sent 10 to a friend so I could start closing my drawers again! The drawback is that frequently the free stuff is like a mans 3XL. Ack.

But since this blog is primarily written for girls I’ll skip the overly gabby football part and tell you a few highlights I think you’ll enjoy…

- I went to this party at Warren Sapp’s (@theqbkilla on twitter) house once, when we were with the Bucs and a few weeks later I saw his house on CRIBS! I was in middle school so naturally this was the coolest thing that had ever happened to me. Duh.

- At our first Super Bowl we sat 5 rows in front of Ashton and Demi! They were wearing Bears jerseys (our rivals) but hey, it was still cool! David Spade sat in front of us but that was less exciting. Oh and yes, Demi looks just as amazing in person. Even wearing one of those horribly unflattering ‘women’s jerseys’. I want to know her secrets! We also had a Paris Hilton sighting that day – but I’ve never been a big fan of hers.

- I got to meet Brett Favre once – pre-scandal. But it suddenly seems like a bigger deal now.

- I got to fly on a private jet with Trent Dilfer. Trent’s awesome. He and Dad were going to an FCA speaking gig (I don’t even remember where – I was blinded by the coolness) and my sister and I got to tag along. Now that.was.awesome. I’m back to flying coach now. Wah.

- I asked for and was given Al Davis (owner of the Raiders and famous child-hater)’s autograph and lived to tell about it. This may not mean much to you if you don’t know the football world, but this was a bold move for a 10 year old. He was wearing a white leather Elvis suit. Enough said.

- Saw The Who & Prince sing live at Super Bowls not to mention a whole fabulous array of people doing the National Anthem over the years including Carrie Underwood, who I also love.

- I once signed (not to be confused with sang) the National Anthem at a game with thousands of people watched (and yours truly on the jumbo tron)

- I’ve gotten to meet so many cool people from Peyton Manning to Warrick Dunn – it’s really been pretty fabulous.

I hope you all have enjoyed this guest post and I haven’t bored those of you who don’t like sports (or football?). Hope I gave you at least a few giggles along the way. : ]

Love,

B

Thursday Thoughts: Meghan

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Hey y’all! Today’s first post is by Meghan from The Perfect Compilation Tape! I started following Meghan’s blog right after I started my blog, but it was when I was too nervous to publicly follow anyone. I had her blog bookmarked! I thought she was super cool, and now that I’ve gotten to know her, I just love her! I’m super excited Neely and I get to visit her this summer. Chicago isn’t going to know what hit it!

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Hi everyone!  For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Meghan, and I blog over at "The Perfect Compilation Tape" where you can usually find me blogging about Chicago, cupcakes, coffee, and everything else in between!  I am happy to be helping Ashley out with a guest post, and even more excited about the fact that I actually get to meet Ashley in a few months!  You see, Ashley and Neely of "A Complete Waste of Make-Up" are coming to the Windy City to visit and I couldn’t be more excited!  I’ve been thinking a lot about where to take these two lovely ladies and it inspired me to put together a little post about some of Chicago’s greatest highlights – a tourist’s guide, if you will.  And so, here are my top 5 places that I cannot WAIT to take Ashley and Neely this summer!

Millennium Park

Ashley #1(Source: www.chicagoclout.com)

From the famous "bean" to concerts on lawn, Millennium Park is the perfect place to sit, have great conversations, and people-watch in the middle of this concrete jungle!

The Willis Tower Skydeck

Interior View looking Down The Ledges(Source: http://gadgetsteria.com/2009/05/01/sears-tower-to-get-skydecks/)

From the tallest building in the United States, the 103rd floor skydeck provides an awesome view of the city! 

Swirlz Cupcakes

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Somehow, I doubt that this won’t be the only cupcakery that the three of us visit, but it is imperative that Ashley and Neely experience my favorite cupcakes in all of Chicago!  Instead of a wedding cake, my husband and I ordered a tier of Swirlz cupcakes instead.  They are PERFECTION!

Thrifting in Wicker Park

Wicker Park is Chicago’s quintessential "hipster" neighborhood and is filled to the brim with vintage shops, boutqiues, cafes, etc.  It’s such a great place to grab a cup of coffee and skim the racks of vintage pieces.  This neighborhood makes for GREAT people-watching, too!

Running/Walking/Biking/Sunning Along the Chicago Lakefront

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Views, views and more views.  I love my city.

If the lovely Miss Ashley was coming to visit your city, where would you take her?

Bloggy BFF Wednesday: Neely

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Today’s other post comes from Neely from A Complete Waste of Makeup! When I started blogging, I never imagined I would roadtrip to Dallas to stay with someone I’d never even talked to on the phone and I never imagined I’d talk/text someone almost daily that I met online! She’s a great friend and I love her!

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Hello Ashley’s blog followers. I am so excited to be guest posting for my sweet lovely amazing friend Ashley today.

I am Neely and I blog two places: Daily at A Complete Waste of Makeup and every Wednesday at In My Twenties.

neelySo today I want talk to y’all about why I love to blog and what it means to me.

When I started blogging officially in December of 2009 I was shocked when I had 5 readers. I remember calling my then boyfriend and saying "OMG 5 people read my blog!" and thinking "Why would anyone read my blog?" I never thought I would meet legit friends or find people who I consider best friends or people that I could relate to so much.

Blogging means the world to me and I couldn’t imagine NOT doing it. It has become something I love to do everyday. I love curling up with my laptop and a latte or glass of wine and reading blogs, writing blogs and discovering new blogs.

I have been lucky enough to meet a ton of bloggers like my sweet friend Ashley. 
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Do y’all ever get weird looks when you talk to non bloggers about blogging? Or from anyone you say "I have a blog" to. Its because if you don’t blog you don’t get blogging…right? My family and friends and even people I meet and tell I have a blog to sometimes look at me weird when I talk about a blog friend or a twitter friend. But these people have become people I turn to when I need a shoulder, when I need advice, when I cant decide what to wear, when I need support, when I need anything. These are not blogger friends these are FRIENDS. People I couldn’t imagine not in my life.

This is why I blog.

This is why I have continued to blog everyday for over a year. Because I have made life long friendships with people I never would have met otherwise. I now have two summer trips planned to visit others bloggers, I have gone to a blogging conference, and I have discovered so many amazing stores, brands, ideas that I would have otherwise not known about.

Blogging means the world to me and I hope some of y’all can relate to this as well.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and please come visit my little corner of the blog world.

WINNING

Neely