on finishing a book

I finished reading a book yesterday. A book that I started in January, but hey! I did it! If this had been a marathon, I would have been about three minutes months behind the cop car that herds all the slowpokes to the finish line. 

Don't wait on me! I'll catch up to you soon! 

Wait, maybe come back here and help me...

But whatever.  It felt so good to read something that didn't have any words that ended in -itis or -lysis or -osis. 

Wanna know what I finished? Steve Martin's autobiography, Born Standing Up.

Wanna know what other books are lined up for me to finish in the next two to fifteen months? A big, fat pile of astronaut autobiographies. 

THIS IS WHAT HEAVEN'S LIBRARY LOOKS LIKE, PEOPLE.

I'm sure of it. 

Anyways, this whole me being a grown bleep woman and finishing a non-anatomy book thing made me think of other things I should do more of now that things like studying anatomy and Pilates history are no longer consuming my life

Get ready for the lamest and most adult list ever that also might be the best and coolest list ever. 

 1. Sit down and look through the dang photo books I've made. 

When I decide to make a photo book it becomes my job. My job that I don't get paid for, but instead am the one doing the paying. So that makes perfect sense. I spend hours, no days, debating over whether to add the sparkle sun badge or the flag banner on the top left corner of page 9. Because what if I hate it once it's printed?! I'll probably end up sticking it on a shelf and never looking at it! So I have to make it look perfect!

Oh wait...they end up stuck on a shelf anyways.

So you know what? I pulled out those bad boys yesterday, wiped off about a year or two worth of dust, and actually looked at them. 

2. Let the dog sleep on me. 

Ugh, twist my freaking arm, but fiiiiiine. I'll take a few chill minutes and let doggie look like this on my lap.

And this.

And this.

3. Spend more time on Pinterest

Because how else will I know which household projects I can feel guilty about never doing if I don't pin them on Pinterest?

4. Clean

I don't mean Clorox Wipe clean. I mean clean. In bold so you realize how serious this cleaning business is. Getting those baseboards clean. Getting those cabinets clean. Getting whatever is under the couch clean. So fresh, so clean clean and all that. 

This also includes not dusting around stuff, but moving said stuff in order to dust. Speaking of dust, let's talk about how it's the most unrewarding and frustrating job on the planet. 

Me: I feel awesome. I just dusted!

Dust: I feel awesome. I'm going to float around in the air for a few seconds before landing back in the same spot I was!

Ugh, I told you this list was lame and awesome. 

5. Snapchat Face Swap More

Because everyone else is doing it, and I look really good as the 1990 version of my grandfather. 

Happy Friday!

Linking up with Karli and Amanda. 

from the archives: this time last year...

***Originally posted on April 24, 2015.

I had a whole post written (and by written I mean I had it planned in my head) for today about all my favorite Charleston things and places. This means mostly a post talking about all the food I love to eat here. Fatty status. A Charleston heavy (get it?) post would be rather fitting for today since it is my last Friday in Charleston.

Cue the freaking out face emoji(s).

But then this week happened and Dear Lawd, this week has been so humbling. Wonderful? Bittersweet? With a pinch of sadness? And a spoonful of happiness? I can't even put into words what this week has been like which means I should definitely not try to write a blog about the week since blogs need words.

#oops

You see, I teach (roughly) around 150 kids a week. That's a lot of kids in not a lot of days <<<<my math skills are off the charts amazing. The youngest kids I teach are still wearing diapers or just being potty trained and they go all the way up to the high schooler who are just figuring out how to drive and what it's like to juggle obscene amounts of homework with obscene amounts of rehearsals with obscene amounts of social calendar appointments. 

This week I have had to say goodbye to these 150 kiddos. There's been a lot of See you later! And Of course, come visit me in Texas! And Yes, you can definitely ride in my moving truck and come with me! And even some Thanks for your mom's cell phone #, can't wait to FaceTime you! (side note: since when do four year olds know all about FaceTime?! Feeling so hashtag old these days).

I've been given flowers and the best handmade cards and gifts and other goodies, and it's all been so sweet and completely overwhelming, but the best thing I've been given? 

All the cheek kisses. All the second and third and fourth "last" hugs. The high fives. The We have to take a selfie so I never forget you! The fifth and sixth and seventh "last" hugs. The reassurance that what I've been doing for the past 3.5 years has been something.

Teaching dance is in no way seen as a job of importance and some days (a lot of days recently) it has felt like that. Unimportant. But knowing that I've made a difference, no matter how minuscule, in even one little student's life makes me want to saute and jump for joy. Plies are important, people, okay?

I come home at night and just collapse on the couch. From the couch I can look to my right and see all the pretty flowers perched on the empty table. I can see the stack of cards on the kitchen counter--the cards that I really need to go ahead and pack, but I just want to leave them out a little longer so I can read through them one (or three) more times.

I am so, so excited to begin this new chapter of our lives, but Texas you betta' not mess with ME. I'm leaving behind some precious people. 

Now please, you may go ahead back to your regularly scheduled, non-sappy, and mostly happy Friday activities. 

when it rains, it pours. and floods.

For those of you who watch the news/skim Twitter/scroll slowly through Facebook, you've probably seen that Texas was underwater this past Monday. 

That's a slight exaggeration. I mean, we personally were not physically underwater, but we also live on the sixth floor. If we had been in the basement of our building then we definitely would have been underwater. I know this because Ricky and I decided to walk down to the basement to see how high the water was getting, and well...we couldn't even get down the stairs to the basement so. Yeah. That answered that question.

Also, the dog park was underwater so we sent Lupe out there to play/swim in it.

KIDDING. Kidding. Ain't nobody got time to pick up whatever strange diseases the bayou water is carrying... 

side story: one time Freddie and I saw the most, ginormous, humongous, mutant catfish ever swimming in the bayou. Seriously, King Kong Catfish. Alert! Alert! Bayou is gross. Moving on. 

I can't help but think maybe this is God trying to tell me I need to build an ark. Or move back to Charleston. Or something. If you remember, we went through this whole flooding thing last Memorial Day weekend, and here we are almost a year later going through it again. Alas, I am not spending my time building an ark, nor am I spending my time calling up two of every animal. However if I do decide to call two of every animal, I do solemnly swear that I'll leave off mosquitoes this time. #thanksfornothingnoah

From left to right: Normal, Memorial Day 2015, Great Flood of 2016

In honor of The Great Houston Flood of 2016 (so far) (knock on wood) today's post is...

Five Things To Do When Houston Floods. Again. 

one

Pop champagne corks into the flooded waters. Because...why not?

two

Make jokes about driving around, but NEVER actually drive around. Seriously, I will never understand the people who try to drive down an underpass that is filled with water...

...

...

Say no to driving in the flood. Also say no to drugs because drugs might make you think you should drive down that flooded underpass. 

p.s.-remind me to write a post sometime about the time my mom drove us through flood waters and we had to abandon our car. Fun times!

p.p.s.-drugs were not involved in the making of the above story. 

three

Eat Nutella out of the jar for lunch because you just got back from a trip and hadn't gone to the grocery before the flooding started. Oops and also yum. 

four

Invite people to come over to play games before realizing no one has a helicopter to get places when it floods. Well, I'm sure the Coast Guard has helicopters to get places, but I don't think they would accept our game night invitation. Or maybe they would? Who knows. I'll save that to try during the next flood. 

five

Snapchat the bleep out of the flooding. We live right by the bayou so we can watch it get higher and higher (and lower and lower, post-rain ending). And when the bayou does flood, I don't think it counts if you don't Snapchat it. Right? Snap or it didn't happen? Is that what the cool kids say?

Jokes aside, we were/are safe, sound, and very fortunate to have suffered no damage to us or our home. Others were not so lucky, and we're sending lots of dry-flood-be-gone love to them. 

What would you do if your city was flooding?

Oh hey, that's about every week in Charleston, too!

Happy Friday!
Linking up with Karli and Amanda. 

on being done, but not being anywhere close to done

I remember walking out of my last final as an undergraduate. It was in the middle of the afternoon, and I still had about a week until graduation. The campus was quiet, and the sun was shining bright because I don't know if you know this, but Georgia is beautiful in May. Beautiful! I stood right outside the door and couldn't do anything. I couldn't do anything because I didn't know what TO do. What do you do after you accomplish something for which you've worked so hard?! Do you cry? Do you run down the street screaming? Do you keep drinking the cup of bubbly you snuck into your final?

I imagine that every single one of you has gone through similar emotions when you (excuse my French) badass it up and accomplish something big. There's that moment, or moments, when you can't believe you are done. When you can't believe that this time of "being completed" has come. Whether it's successfully cooking a hard recipe (pb&j's don't count), graduating high school/college or graduate schools, achieving a career goal, or even finally taking the leap and dyeing your hair a really cool color---all these situations can create the craziest, most exciting, most messed up groupings of feelings. Ever!

Just pretend you are all Pilates nerd for this next paragraph and geek out just a little bit...and maybe Google Lolita so you can really geek out...

I was on (and still am on) that emotional roller coaster the past few days. After thirteen or fourteen (but who's counting?!) months of studying for my comprehensive Pilates certification, I finished. I spent two days down in Florida testing out with the Pilates elder, Lolita San Miguel--one of two elders still alive, and the only living Pilates elder who has a training program. I was getting to soak in the knowledge of an 81-year-old woman who actually trained with Joseph Pilates! The 81-year-old woman who would get up on the equipment and flawlessly demonstrate Joseph Pilates' movements to us. The woman who would run her fingers under my under butt and said, "Emily! Where's your kiss in your glutes? Don't be lazy!"

We also lounged on the Cadillac. NBD.

This certification was a goal I've had for about six years, and I was finally done with a "hurdle" that had been coming up for months and months. Months during which we moved halfway across the country. Months during which I travelled back to the East Coast every eight weeks to complete my training. Months during which we randomly got the cutest dog (what?! How'd that sentence get in here?) Any time I heard a date for future weddings or future events of 2016, I always classified those dates as BTO and ATO: Before Test Out and After Test Out. I spent countless evenings trying to learn anatomy, memorize the muscles that move every joint every way, and understand the modifications for people who come in with stenosis, sciatica, spinal reconstruction surgery, and just about every other crazy thing that can happen to bodies. I made Ricky test me on flash card after flash card (his favorite!). I ignored Lupe so I could learn movements (and he still managed to crawl into my lap every. single. time). I practiced movements so I could try to get at least one of my arm muscles to look stronger before test out (spoiler alert: I still have baby muscles). 

So what do you do when you finish something big?!

You pop some bubbly, of course.

I think we, as Americans (or really anyone anywhere in this day and age), always have to have a plan. We always want to know what's next and to have that next hurdle to jump. You finished something for which you've worked hard?! Awesome. Now go do something else hard! And that's great. I love that attitude! As soon as I finish scrubbing the nasty toilet I'm like Heck yes! What's my next cleaning hurdle?! Baseboards?? But I also think there's something to be said for taking in everything for a hot minute post-big accomplishment. Every feeling, every emotion, every detail of the day you are living. Not letting your brain go to the next thing, but making your brain stay on that feeling of WHAT?! That feeling of I DID IT! That feeling of OMG SLEEP. Even if it's just for a minute or two.

But in my opinion, kids, the adrenaline high is too great to be wasted on sleep!

In my case, I plan to soak in this feeling for at least a week, and then I'll go back to planning my next step of kicking butt Pilates. My next step of life (like do I want to wait seven or eight years to have kids now?!) (Wink. Kidding.) My next goal will come, and I'll start working hard on it. 

But for now, champagne and some Ricky/Lupe snuggles are in order. And maybe picking out the wall on which I should hang my diploma...;)

Cheers! 

Now after writing a whole post about me me me, I do have to add in that I could not have gotten here without the help, support, and love of SO many people, mentors, and teachers---big time bloggy shout-outs to Mary Ann, Heather, my mother and entire family, Rick Rick, Caroline, and lots of others. <----best group of cheerleaders right there. Congratulations Lynn and Meaghan! In the words of Elle Woods, We did it!

friday favorites: the thrown together one

Do you ever sit around and wonder how it's already April 8? Like really wonder how in the heck we went from January to April so quickly? Or hows about how we went from January 1998 to April 2016 so quickly. Or January 2000 to April 2016. Or January 1989 to April 2016. 

Riddle me those and then read on. 

Favorite Song

Windows Are Rolled Down by Amos Lee

This song speaks to me. I don't know what that really means, but let's pretend I'm a deep person with deep feelings about this song. Keep calm and listen to this song. 

Favorite Food

We've got a friend from Charleston in town this weekend which means HELLO, Texas BBQ. Which means hello, food baby. Which means hello, worth it. Worth it? Is it?

YAH, it is. 

Favorite Texas Thing

Texas Bluebonnets are a for real thing...who would have thunk it?

There's this corner near where we live that is covered in bluebonnets. Now take the image you have pictured in your head of a bluebonnet covered corner and multiply that times five or twenty. People go gaga over this bluebonnet infested corner. Families frolicking through the blue babies with their own babies, dogs running around sneezing, tripods and professional cameras set up everywhere. Or actually more like Snapchat open on all the phones. Anyways then there is Freddie taking classy shots without us in it like this winner. How's that for a non-Snapchat pic?

Favorite Pilates Move

Shoulder Bridge.

Let me guess...you sit at a desk, text on your phone, carry a heavy bag or purse, and lounge on your couch all week long. Here is your move to strengthen your booty, give balance to your body by working the posterior chain, and improve posture. Now get on the floor and booty bridge it out!

Pro-tips: think the strength of the glutes lift the hips up vs. the abdominals (or any other muscles) doing the work. Only go up to your shoulders---you should still be able to move your head and neck. Pull that belly button down to your spine. Ain't nobody got time for lower back pain.
Don't splay your ribs and lift your chin like I'm doing...

Favorite Snuggle Buddy

This dude!

Ignore every gross thing about this picture and just focus on LUPE. Snugglin' buggin' on my neck. 

Erm, and Freddie...

Happy Friday!
Linking up with Karli and Amanda. 

currently: the april showers bring may hellfires one

making //
I'm currently making Freddie make popcorn almost every night. Like the from the kernels kind of popping corn. Like the kind of popcorn that makes you feel like you're snacking healthily. Like the kind of healthy popcorn that is almost too healthy so you have to drop in some chocolate to balance things out. Or something.

wish listing //
For some reason I've gotten it in my mind that this cut of bikini top will make my boobs look existent look good on me. I spend a lot of time on Target.com looking through the high neck bikini tops and trying to visualize them on me because for some reason they aren't carried in stores here. They look d@*m good on the models so I'm sure they'll look exactly the same on me. Insert hair flip and/or side eyes emoji here.

cleaning //
I won't even tell you how long it's been since I cleaned cleaned the apartment. You know, the cleaning that people did before Clorox wipes existed? Such a sad time that must have been! Made even more sad by the fact that internet didn't exist then either and they couldn't blog about their sad cleaning-all-the-time life. Spring cleaning is cool and all, but it would be cooler if dust just never collected on blinds and fan blades in the first place.

posting //
That is a good question/point. What should I be posting? Plz tell me and/or go ahead and write said post(s) for me. Because right now it's hard to do anything other than pretend to Pilates study while worrying about not studying enough while simultaneously growing five worry ulcers.

tasting //
Leftover Easter candy. And I never want to stop tasting leftover Easter candy. We're down to the last bag of Hershey's candy coated chocolate eggs AND I CAN'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. Minus the whole just thinking about it now so I could write the previous sentence.

Are you currently stalking bikini tops on Target.com too?

Or are you currently dreading the hellfire heat of summer?

It's a BIG fat yes to both for me.

Linking up with Anne and Jenna. 

when coffee shops are the new bars

My Friday night this past Friday was pretty rockin'. (In case you were wondering, but of course you were wondering.)

Want to know what went down? I'll start at the very beginning. 

...

No, that's too long. Here are the Cliff Notes: when my best upper crust friend came into town to study anatomy with me, she introduced us to the game Dutch Blitz. We played it a lot. She left and our friends bought it and we played a lot. Friday night came around, and Freddie and I gave each other the look.

You know the one. Wink wink. Noooo, not that look. Gross, but the look of Are we going to go buy our own set of Dutch Blitz and play it all night tonight? Did we just become best friends?! Once that look had been exchanged we bought Dutch Blitz, drove to the nearest coffee shop that was still open, and played the game just the to two of us until the barista man closed up shop at nine o'clock. 

DID YOU JUST HEAR HOW CRAZY MY FRIDAY NIGHT WAS?!

I failed at getting a picture of said craziness so enjoy this picture of Lupe trying to steal Freddie's toothpick.

As I was sipping on my caramel latte (because apparently I drink coffee now? But that's a story for another time) and sitting across from my hubster (can we bring back that hubby nickname? pls? it's just the right amount of ridiculous), I realized that this is what life slash marriage is all about. This right there. Realizing that coffee shops and card games are almost more fun than bars and not card games (i.e. glasses of vino while ruining your eardrums with the atrocious level of bar music volume).

sidebar (hehe bar, get it?): the past few times we have done the Friday night bar night route, I've just become annoyed because like, Bars! Come on. Maybe I want to be able to hear the person sitting two inches from my face when he/she talks to me! Okay?! I don't enjoy losing my voice faster than a couple of basic teenagers at a Fallout Boy concert (because apparently they are making a comeback just like the word hubster will be making a comeback). 

sidebar sidebar: speaking of screaming, we went to a free Twenty One Pilots concert on Saturday, and that was interesting. Lots of face masks and scarves over heads all while playing music, singing, and doing backflips off of the piano. I did not get the memo to wear a crop top/no bra to said free concert, so I need a do-over. But anyways, back to my bra wearing, not boring Friday night.

Choose life people. And by that I mean choose to live your life by picking coffee shops and card games sometimes/all the time on Friday nights.

Other pretty rockin' things going on right now:

- I take my Pilates test out next Thursday. Insert the word terrifying instead of rockin'. Insert vomit.  

- Instagram still hasn't changed yet which means the world is still spinning.

- The Final Four is happening in Houston and all I know is that if Villanova wins then Freddie wins some dolla dolla bills so Go Villanova! or whatever people say. 

- Did I mention that I my Pilates test out weekend starts in less than two weeks?

- Time to go practice flexing my glenohumeral joint by using my bicep, anterior deltoid, coracobrachialis, and pectoralis major.

-Bam.