songs that take you back

i call it song déjà vu.

when you hear a song and takes you right back. back to your childhood. back to college. back to the easier days. back to a simpler life, the way it’s supposed to be. a 3 minute foray into the old memory bank and just smile. perfect.

which is why today i’m thankful for song déjà vu.

a few examples:

 

straight back to junior year of college. shenanigans afoot.

it’s 2003 and i’m driving my truck home from the barn, elbow out the window, after a great ride. nothing on my mind but pure love for my horses with the whole world in front of me. freedom.

new zealand.

senior year of high school, i was 17 and we really did buy a coke, some gasoline, and drove out to the county fair. too bad there was no tim mcgraw to be found. dang.

high school ski days.

fresh prince = my generation’s hilarity. how can you hear this and not crack up?

 

putting this together was a blast! what songs take you back?

check!

i’m super anal retentive. i have lists for everything, always color coded. my crackberry is synced with my gmail calendar, contacts, to do list, everything. i always know what needs to be done and rarely [if ever] just don’t do something i’m supposed to do.

 

so while my current list is ridiculous, i’m totally thankful for to-do lists.

i keep them in my super precious lilly notebooks.

they’re bangin’. they lay everything out perfectly, you don’t forget stuff, and the most gratifying feeling is checking off that box.

 

with exams quickly approaching, i have to finish my end of the semester reading, my outlines, and keep everything straight for my 8 days of 5 exams. eek! but that’s okay. it’s daunting, but especially as i get stressed, i can just look at my list and breathe. one box at a time.

 

occasionally i’ll cheat and put something easy on my list, but it just feels so good to check off my “things to accomplish” list. i whittle it down, one by one, until, BAM, freedom!

 

festivities!

while i abhor christmas creep [thank you, nordstrom], i do love appropriate decorations.

christmas is above and beyond my favorite season. but as any law student can tell you, there’s little to no time to enjoy it. this year, my last exam is the 17th. so at 9:01pm on december 17th, i’ll be partying like there’s no tomorrow. 3 weeks of absolute freedom. skiing. playing with my puppy. hanging out with my fabulous family and friends at home. going to the nutcracker with my mother. decorating the tree. perfect.

 

until then, i really just get to look at the trees and lights and pretend to be excited. but hey, c’est la vie. that’s why, today i’m thankful for christmas decorations.

so spectacular! a time to be thankful for what we have. give to those who aren’t as blessed. walk on a beautiful, tree-lined road in a pea coat with bright red cheeks. perfect! and even looking at the beautifully decorated homes just warms my heart.

 

christmas at the newport mansions: gorgeous.

and the way i celebrate: less extravagance, but no less festive attitude or spirit.

burp

hello, and happy day after thanksgiving!

my brother got in yesterday afternoon and i cooked a semi-thanksgiving dinner for us with our favorite foods the parents made. no turkey, but a ham instead. 🙂

i’m very grateful for a lot this year, but i must say, my brother saved my day yesterday. he fixed the internet in our house!

so today i’m thankful for the internet. research would be so much more difficult without it. it provides massive amounts of entertainment. it’s fun. it’s informative. i realize this is going to make me sound like a prissy prissy princess, but how on earth did people survive without the internet? sheesh.

and now, my big brother has fixed the internet in my house, and i’m pumped. woot.

that’s what the internet looks like. i have no idea what that means.

happy thanksgiving :)

2009 has been a great year and i have so very much for which to be thankful this year. 🙂

happy thanksgiving, all.  i hope you find yourself around those who love you and you have a chance to reflect on all of the blessings you’ve had this year. even if you cannot be with your family, i hope you’ve found yourself surrounded by the family we create for ourselves – friends.

today, i’m so unbeliveably thankful for family, particularly my big brother.

my brother is flying in today. he called me a few weeks ago to ask me to pick him up from the airport. i haven’t seen him since may 2008. he moved to amsterdam right after i graduated and moved back this fall. so i’m making a small version of dinner with all of our favorites. a long cry from the bratty little sister who used to get him in trouble everywhere we went.

 

i wish you and yours the happiest of thanksgivings.

thanksgiving is more than eating, chuck… those early pilgrims were thankful for what had happened to them, and we should be thankful, too. we should just be thankful for being together. i think that’s what they mean by ‘thanksgiving,’ charlie brown.

–marcie

quiet

i’m not going home for thanksgiving. due to the terribly inadequate length of our break, the fact that 2 full days are wasted on travel, and the imminence of exams, it just doesn’t make sense to go home until christmas. besides, it would just be a tease, and in 3 weeks i will be home for 3 weeks with nothing academic to do. delightful.

until then, study study study. all of my courses this semester are exam courses, and as such, i have 8 days to take 5 exams. truly daunting. so i’m sitting in the library now with the only 5 people who are still around. which means it is quiet.

and lord in heaven, i’m thankful for quiet today.

it’s depressing enough to not go home for what is seen as the most family-oriented of holidays, it would just be horrible if i couldn’t get some peace and quiet in which to study. it’s about as quiet as a graveyard in here, and i’m so grateful.

• no 1Ls running around, freaking out about exams [they have no idea what they’re in for].
• i more or less have tons of space all to myself.
• i can get all kinds of work done
• next week, the true freak out about exams will commence. until then, silence is golden.

shhh.

dixie!

until this weekend, i hadn’t been in the south since graduation in 2008. yes, i was in dc for the summer, but i do not include that, even though it’s technically below the mason-dixon line.

today i’m thankful for the south!

i didn’t realize how much i loved it until i left. my nomadic ways might be ending soon – i’ll graduate in 2011 and am going to move back to virginia. my plan now is to sit for the virginia bar and move to NOVA or richmond, depending on a j-o-b. i definitely left my heart in dixie.

lord in heaven do i love the south.

• history
• beautiful land
• kind, polite people
• culture
• politics
• hunting [both game and fox hunting]
• preppiness everywhere!

it’s just an entirely different world. you really cannot understand it until you live there. and after reliving the glory days there all weekend, i need to get my bum back there. 🙂

best of friends

wedding weekend.

we spent the entire time reliving the glory days, picking up right where we left off. i’m so in love with K&J and unbelievably excited for them. now they’re in barbados – JEALOUS!

so if you ever find yourself in richmond, be sure to stay at the jefferson, eat a prime rib from the tobacco company, and a crepe and mimosa brunch from can can. absolutely to die for.

today, i’m thankful for the most vital element of life: friends.

put aside the exorbitant wedding with all of the fixtures. put aside the absolutely perfect weather. forget all of that and just look to the best part of the entire weekend: bringing together amazing friends. it was just so perfect – people who all hung out in college, raged together, spent good and bad times together, and came out on top, meeting up for a long weekend to celebrate J&K. nothing can beat that.

caught up with old friends and made some new ones [shout out to susan in the south! a new friend from the weekend who is one of the groomsmen’s GFs. she’s super cute and so is her blog!]. all in all, simply wonderful.

life is so rich with friends and i’m not sure what i would do without such a wonderful group, even if i am way too far away.

after all, things change, so do cities. people come into your life and they go. but it’s comforting to know that the ones you love are always in your heart… and if you’re very lucky, a plane ride away.

zzz…

this weekend was the singular most phenomenal weekend of recent memory.

it was the most beautiful wedding i’ve ever seen and i’m so grateful to have been a part of it.  🙂

my liver is also a bit sore from all that “exercise”. 4 days, pretty much partied nonstop.

 

so today, i’m thankful for naps.

your body is dragging, you’ve just had so much fun [or not enough sleep], and it’s all you can do to drag your body to your bed for a quick refresher.

perfect.

weddings!

my best friend is getting married today.

the girl i got into so many shenanigans with at sweet briar. from horse showing to bull bucking, econ classes to giggling and passing notes, silly tradition to another, the girl is amazing. i’m not sure how i got so lucky to make such a wonderful friend, but she’s amazing. and her fiancé is a perfect fit for her. a wonderful guy with a great sense of humor. perfect.

i couldn’t be more excited for her. and i’m overjoyed i am able to take part in her special day.

 

with that said, today i’m thankful for weddings!

yes, they’re stressful.

yes, people spend too much money on them.

yes, they’re an exercise in absurdity.

but they’re so fun! it’s just an excuse for a HUGE party. and all the drama aside, what could be more fun than getting together with good friends and family and just celebrating? it makes non-emotional people get all warm and squishy inside. it puts a smile on the scroogiest of faces.

 

but they’re just great. at the end of the day, if people don’t get too caught up in it, what could be better than getting everyone who means the world to you together to play?

 

congratulations, K&J, i couldn’t be happier for you.