the long weekend.

hello friends and general lurkers…

I am seriously slacking on my blogging. not cool.  I think I take too much on sometimes so I've been neglecting my poor blog as a result.  I swear I'll be better. *cross my heart*

So, what have I been up to?  Well, I'm glad you asked. I've been doing the usual… work, school, catching up with friends (when I can), etc…  exciting stuff, right?  Any who, I had plans to attend Book Bash in Orlando at the end of June with some friends and wouldn't you know my luck I got this dreadful (and I mean dreadful) cold.  I mean I asked the doctor to put me down after I finally dragged my half dead self up to her clinic.  It was that bad.  After my first round of meds didn't work I went back to the clinic for the stronger stuff to help get me to Orlando.  I was NOT missing this trip.  I had already paid for my tickets so come sickness or health I was going to get there. 

I was still feeling kind of out of it for most of the trip, but I'm so glad I pushed myself to go.  Book Bash was a blast.  Got to meet the authors of some of my favorite books and the parks didn't disappoint.  Let me say one thing about this trip…. HOGWARTS.  I mean, I could've been perfectly content to hang out there the whole trip.  Like I wanted to quit my job and go work as a house elf there.  You're probably laughing (and I am too), but I'm still debating it… no joke.  I spent a ridiculous amount of money on really nerdy things and I don't regret it whatsoever.  So I hope you all enjoy my photos/memories of my trip.  

 pure happiness on this face. 

 until next time… 

 the dynamic duo (Christina Lauren)

 Colleen Hoover, Griffin Peterson, and the band.

 such a sweetheart. 

 this guy wins at life. 

 Did I mention somebody thought it was funny to pull the fire alarms at 2:30am?

you're hilarious.

 love all the details.

Until next time...

that time I met Matthew McConaughey

This past weekend was one for the books (no pun intended).


I went to New Orleans with my friend Mary and her coworker Tammy.  We had an unforgettable experience.  We went for the RT Book Convention which was a bit of a cluster in the beginning, but we got to meet so many of our favorite authors.  They were all extremely friendly and I loved being able to put a face with some of my favorite stories. 

After we met the authors and purchased our books we went to eat at Huck Finn's and then stopped into Cafe Du Monde for beignets. 

While we were walking back I was snapping a few photos of an old building on my iPhone when all of a sudden who breezes out of a car to my left with his wife and a friend, but the one and only Matthew McConaughey.  

Naturally, all three of us gasped and reached for our phones walking briskly so as not to lose capturing this moment.  I was very proud that we didn't scream or make a scene so we could get a photo of this gorgeous guy.  Especially since there was a line a few feet away of people waiting to see Kenny Chesney perform a benefit concert and we didn't want to have him get swarmed by fans.  

After they were seen quickly into the House of Blues I shouted "Congrats on your Oscar" and Matt turned and said "Thank you very much" *swoon* What a gentleman.

Later that evening, we got to go to the Meet and Greet as part of our day pass and it turned out to be a lovely surprise that all the books at this portion of the day were free. So of course we stuffed our bags until we couldn't put another thing in them.  There was also great food for everyone, which was also a lovely treat. So I've decided to join Mary and Tammy at Book Bash in Orlando at the end of June.  I'm pretty excited about this cause we're also planning on going to Universal Studios as well (Hogwarts I'm coming for you!). 

Until next time...

 So happy to meet these wonderful ladies, Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billing (also known as Christina Lauren)… the brilliant ladies responsible for the Beautiful Series.  I mean what can I say about these books?  They're all kinds of amazing.  These are the type of books I start to read and completely forget about reality… I mean I pretty much ignore whatever is going on in my life until I finish them.  Then I get the dreaded book hangover.  

 Rachel Van Dyken… what a sweetheart.  She actually had a stomach bug, but still came out for her fans.  Her book "The Bet" is such a fun, hilarious read and we got to meet her grandmother who was her inspiration for the grandmother in the book.  I thought it was really great her mom and husband got to come and support her as well. 

 So, I feel a little foolish that I was unaware that E.L. James is British.  She really is a lovely lady.  Her lines were definitely the longest at every event of the day, so we were thankful to get to meet her when we did.  We even saw her and her husband at the bar later that evening, where I was able to get this picture.  Hopefully all the authors had a great time while they were visiting New Orleans. 

 me and my book buddies. 

 meet our new friends, Zach and Eric.  Such sweet guys.  Wishing them the best of luck in their Web Series.

awright, awright, awright!

missing in action.

SHE LIVES!!  I've been neglecting my blog due to stress from school and work. mainly school.  So this will be sort of a condensed version of the past month.  

There was lots of homework. LOTS. Analysis projects, presentations, research papers… oh my!  But I did really well in both classes and I'm glad to have them behind me.  

When I wasn't consumed by school and work I snuck away to New Orleans, went to the flea market, and had some fun times out with my friends and coworkers. 

So enjoy some of my favorite moments (and meals) captured via my iPhone, in no particular order. 

 This was my very first macaroon.  It was like a little piece of heaven. 

 Kickball Tournament for work. 

 that night I wore makeup… and you could actually tell I was. 

 the boyfriend.  such a cutie.

 my flea market purchase.

 my three year anniversary gift from Andrew. 

another weekend has come and gone.

This weekend has been a lot like the past few weekends: TOO SHORT!

I ended up staying in Friday and writing a blog post, then studied a bit for my midterm for my Human Resource Management class *groan*.  I volunteered to work the Hazardous Waste event with a few of my coworkers on Saturday and we had a great turnout.  This was my second year working the paint section and we stayed busy the entire 4 hours I was there.  Then I squeezed in a hair appointment before doing an early dinner with my friend Mary.  We had to catch up on the season finale of "The Walking Dead" and what's to become of our beloved characters.  We're seriously in love with that cast and the infatuation became worse when we met a few of them at Wizard Con in New Orleans.

 Aren't these flowers gorgeous?  I saw them and became even more anxious for spring to hurry up and get here.  We've had a pretty dreary weekend with all of this rain.  So with my little free time I had Saturday night I cleaned my bathroom and rewatched old movies I've seen a hundred times waiting for Andrew to come over.  

We had a low key Sunday.  We went to church with my family and I loved that my priest referenced "What About Bob?" in his homily, haha. Then we had lunch with my Dad and Mom before we went and saw "Captain America: The Winter Soldier".  I won't give anything away, but I will say I enjoyed it more than the first one.  The rest of the evening was spent doing laundry and hanging out with Andrew before he left me to do my midterm online.  I feel like I did a good job on it so now it's time to enjoy my clean sheets below and mentally prepare for another work week. 

reunited.

I met up with my book buddies two weekends ago.  I'm just now posting cause school has been a little hectic.  I should be studying, but here I am blogging instead... cause let's be honest, blogging is way more fun. Chelsea came down and we had a lovely start to the day by eating at this cute restaurant in downtown Ocean Springs that she had suggested called Bayview Gourmet Restaurant.  The weather was on our side so we were able to eat outside and watch the festival that was going on also.  

Isn't this couple holding hands adorable?  I couldn't resist getting a snapshot.  Anyways, back to our girls day... After brunch we went and saw Divergent with Shailene Woodley and Theo James.  Oh my, did I love it!  There was lots of fangirling going on whenever Theo came onscreen, and man that Shailene Woodley can act with her eyes.  She's becoming one of my favorite actresses.  It stayed pretty true to the book in my opinion so I always like that.  Us book readers hate when important parts of the book get changed during the adaptation of the screenplay.

Later in the evening we had dinner with our guys at Buffalo Wild Wings, where I kicked butt at their trivia game (at least for a good portion of the night).  Me and Mary's husband (Matt) got pretty competitive with each other, haha.  We ended the night with a few hours of neon light laser tag and goofy golf.  I haven't had that much fun in awhile and I always have a good time when me and Andrew (the boyfriend) do couple dates.  There were some annoying middle school kids there who parents left them for a fun night out themselves I'm guessing, but we didn't let that spoil our fun. Can't wait to for us to all meet up again soon and relive our favorite books.