2014.

Tonight at midnight, 2013 will be over.

And with it, so many memories.

Did the year fly by for anyone else? I feel like I was just ringing in 2013.

2013 was a good year for me. It started out a bit rough coming in from 2012, but in every way I am glad that 2013 happened.

Here's why:

1. I went on a cruise.

 

2. I swam with dolphins! 

3. I was forced to come out of my shell and sing in front of my entire music class.

4. I made an A on my 42-page Capstone project.

5. I turned into a rainbow at the Color Me Rad 5k.

6. I realized exactly why I want to be a teacher.

7. I started working on my teacher's certification and got a job substituting at my old school.

8. I discovered Veronica Mars (and bought the DVDs).

9. I graduated from college. 

10. I turned 20!

11. I took a cake decorating class. 

12. I had the best Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I also got to cross numbers 13, 31, and 56 off my bucket list, and I'm well on my way to crossing off number 11.

Some not so fun things that happened this year that turned out to be okay anyway:

• I almost died.
• I almost died again.
• My TV made life difficult.
• I was trapped in my house for 4 days.

That's pretty much it. The good definitely out-weighed the bad this year.

So, what does 2014 have in store? SO much and I'm so excited.

First and foremost, I will be completing the first part of my teacher's certification and will be able to start teaching full-time by the fall semester (!!!), Lord-willing.

I also have the opportunity to be a first grade assistant teacher for four weeks in January/February while the current assistant is out on maternity leave.

The Veronica Mars movie comes out on March 14th. I might have it written in really big capital letters in my planner. Maybe.

There may be a possibility for a family vacation in the spring, but I'm not getting my hopes up. More on that later.

I'll also be attending at least 6 weddings, give or take a few.

As far as resolutions go, I don't usually have any, but there are a few things this year I'd like to work on.

1. Having days off from work really throws off my routine because I think I can sleep in for as long as I want and then do nothing all day. This year, I am going to focus on getting into an everyday routine -- even on my days off -- and making the most of my free time. 
2. I would like to pay more attention to my finances and budget my spending more. I have been using Mint.com for awhile, but have more been adjusting my budgets according to my spending instead of the other way around. I currently don't have a lot of expenses to pay, so I think that's a good habit to go ahead and get into before it's too late and I'm broke.
3. Spend more time with God daily (this is pretty much going to be on my list every year).
4. Invest in others more. This is something I have been working a lot this year, and I want to continue to do this even more. I really am happier when I am focusing on others instead of myself.

I am also going to really focus on expanding my blog and readership this year, which I am excited about. It will be a lot of work but it is something I've been wanting to do for awhile (I even posted about it several months ago and then proceeded to do nothing about it, haha).  Feel free to spread the word if you know someone who might enjoy reading. :-)

I hope everyone has a fun and safe New Year's Eve tonight! What are your plans? I will be starting out the evening at a big party, and ending at a smaller get-together at my friend's new apartment. Looking forward to bringing in 2014 with all of my friends.

Happy New Year!

P.S. If it weren't for this post, I would have had 34 posts for the third year in a row. Seriously, I'm not trying to do this.

A Catch-Up Post.

Because I am so behind on here, I am devoting this post to recap everything I've been up to from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

Well, not everything. Just the important things.

Bonus: This post includes step-by-step instructions on how to be cool while on vacation, fabulous Christmas party ideas, and a tip for buying Christmas presents right in front of the recipient without them ever knowing.

For Thanksgiving, my family and my grandparents went to visit my aunt, uncle, and two cousins in Alabama.

I love visiting them because they live on the lake in the middle of nowhere. It's just so pretty and peaceful out there.

You know how people make up hashtags for their vacations and stuff? Well apparently that's the cool thing to do, so I made up one for my trip, too. You know, to be cool. It's #kaylabama. Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but it was too perfect to pass up.

Here are a few pictures from my trip. To see the rest, check out #kaylabama on Instagram.

Isn't the view beautiful?

Reading by the fire. It's the simple things.

 Part of our Thanksgiving morning hike included climbing all the way up to the top of this.

 And, as you can see, it was totally worth it. I don't know why I look like I have two black eyes.

I'm on top of the world!

So that was Thanksgiving. My favorite part was our Thanksgiving morning hike. I actually love hiking and wish I did it more. It was quite the climb but totally worth it because the view was GORGEOUS.

I didn't like Thanksgiving being so late this year, because it felt like there was NO time to prepare for Christmas. This resulted in me having an exhausting week before Christmas.

Case and point: The week of December 15th I went to FOUR parties (two of which I was hosting), baked 11 dozen cookies and two dozen blondies, did virtually all my Christmas shopping and present wrapping, worked 21 hours a week, and saw a minimum of 10 people each day...which is overload for an introvert.

So Sunday after church when I had no plans for the first time in a week, I went home and laid on the couch and watched Christmas movies for 8 hours and then went to bed at 9 o'clock. And I felt SO MUCH BETTER.

Anyway, one of the parties I helped host was this past Saturday and I was in charge of all the food for it. The other party I hosted was the night before to help get some of the food ready. Here is a picture of some of the food:

 Santa hat white chocolate covered pretzels and Christmas tree cupcakes.

For the cupcakes, I just used a box mix and then made the Wilton frosting (stiff consistency). I colored the frosting green and used the Wilton 1M tip to pipe tall frosting in the shape of a Christmas tree. I then used little ball shaped sprinkles (they only had white available, though I would have preferred colors) for ornaments and a star shaped sprinkle on top. I had to stick each sprinkle on individually and one at a time which was tedious but they turned out so cute so it was worth it.

These santa hat pretzels are the easiest thing ever. Just melt some white chocolate, dip half the pretzel into it, dip into red sugar crystals, and top with half of a mini marshmallow. They are so cute and taste yummy -- these were a huge hit.

I also made cake batter blondies with Christmas-y sprinkles, Christmas-shaped sugar cookies to decorate, and I bought chips and dip and a fruit and veggie tray for the healthy people.

It's funny how much I love food when I hardly eat anything.

We also had a hot chocolate bar:

For some reason the border here looks blue. It is actually white so I guess it's just an optical illusion...? Ignore it.

I had three different types of hot chocolate mix (regular, dark chocolate, and caramel), marshmallows, whipped cream, chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, sprinkles, and candy canes to stir with. We also gathered up all our Christmas mugs to use as cups to make it a little more festive.

My co-host Meagan set up a photo booth, because no party is complete without a photo booth.

Now, onto actual Christmas!

Christmas Eve was spent with my dad's side of the family. We spent the morning preparing dessert and fruit and wrapping presents, and then headed over to my aunt's house for a late lunch. After lunch, my uncle had put together a crossword puzzle based on facts about ourselves that each of us sent him. That was really a lot of fun and a great way to get to know the family better!

After that we exchanged gifts. I got a lot of cash plus a really cool cookie press I've been wanting.

That evening, we spent some time with the other side of the family at my grandparents' house. They have us over every Christmas Eve for snacks and family time and a couple games of pool.

But the real excitement happened around 6pm -- one of my good friends from high school got engaged! I am beyond excited for them and cannot wait for the wedding. :-)

Christmas morning we had a big breakfast (our tradition) and then opened presents. more than 50% of my gifts have to do with baking, haha. The only two that didn't, aside from a few stocking stuffers, were my two main gifts -- a new phone (FINALLY! I have been due for an upgrade and I'm sick of my iPhone 4) and a 24" TV for my room!

The TV was a total surprise and here's how my parents bought it right in front of me without me knowing:

On black Friday, while we were still in Alabama, we were looking online at some deals on our phones. My mom found a cheap TV from Best Buy and asked if we needed a TV for any reason. I joked that I needed one for my room. My mom was all like, "You don't have the set up for a TV in your room" but really what was going on was she and my dad were using secret hand signals across the room -- while I was lying RIGHT THERE ON THE COUCH IN THE SAME ROOM -- and my dad told her to get it.

So now I have a TV! And I purchased a Blu-Ray player with wifi (so I can hook it up to Netflix, of course) on sale at Best Buy so I'm pretty much never leaving my room now. I'm also the ideal roommate whenever I move out because I come with a TV.

In the afternoon, my mom and I made some desserts and then decorated a gingerbread house. We finished off the evening with dinner and gifts with my mom's side of the family.

We should be on HGTV.

Oh my gosh! And my former English teacher got engaged on Christmas. So that makes 9 couples I know who have gotten engaged in the last, like, 4 months. 2014 is going to be a big year for weddings.

But that's totally okay with me, because I love weddings.

Hope you all had a very merry Christmas as I did! I'll be back in a few days to talk about New Year's Eve!

The Icepocalypse of 2013.

I live in Texas.

Texas is typically regarded as having very warm weather. In the summer, 100 degrees is not unusual. However, what many people who have never lived in Texas do not know about this great state is that while it is consistently hot in the summer, the other seasons (or should I say season, since fall and spring don't really exist here) are less predictable.

Basically what I'm trying to say here is that, summer being the exception, Texas is bipolar.

Last Wednesday, December 4th, was a beautiful, sunny, 80 degree day. Thursday morning, the temperature was 35 degrees and quickly dropping. By Thursday evening, we had reached 100% precipitation and the freezing rain began to fall.

Friday morning, north Texans everywhere woke up to what seemed to be a winter wonderland. The sky was a bright white, everything in sight was covered in snow.

 This was actually taken after it was mostly melted. Also, look at my sweet girl! :)

Except in Texas, "snow" actually means ice.

And ice = the end of the world.

Let me explain.

Because we are Texas and precipitation during below freezing temperatures is extremely rare, we are unprepared for situations like this. We don't have the proper tires for driving in this weather or even the proper coats. Classes are canceled, businesses close -- basically, everything shuts down until the ice melts. Usually (we have a major ice storm about once a year) this doesn't take more than a day.

Except this year, the high temperature didn't even get close to above-freezing until Sunday. And even then, it was only above freezing for a few hours before dropping again. The ice is melting, but it will be with us for awhile.

Let's take a look at what my weekend would have looked like without the ice:

Friday: go to work, go home and get ready for Christmas party, go to company Christmas party, look at Venus (it was the brightest it's been all year on Friday and I'm kind of way too excited by astronomy).

Saturday: help decorate my church for Christmas, go to another church event in the evening.

Sunday: go to church, go to lunch with friends.

Monday: go to work, go home and get ready for rescheduled Christmas party, go to company Christmas party.

Now let's take a look at what my weekend looked like with the ice:

Friday - Monday: watching four seasons of Community on Hulu before my one week free trial runs out.

Okay. SLIGHT exaggeration. I worked from home Friday morning. I also did a little bit of cleaning and Christmas decorating. And today (Monday) I worked from home in the morning and then was able to go in the office for the rest of the day. But other than that, I've been watching Community. Also, staying in my pajamas all day and not putting on makeup.

Since Friday, my office has been closed, the company Christmas party has gotten rescheduled twice, all of my plans have been canceled, and also, it was too cloudy to see Venus on Friday night and I am irrationally upset about it.

Oh, and my bunny is sick. Look how pathetic:

He looks dead. I promise he's not.

 
But that doesn't have anything to do with the weather.

So basically, y'all, ice ruins everything.  I haven't seen any of my friends since Wednesday and I'm starting to forget what they look like.

Also, fun fact: on Thursday, in preparation for the ice, stores were PACKED and shelves were emptied.

It truly is the apocalypse.

Actual Things 3rd Graders Said.

Over Thanksgiving, I was visiting family in Alabama which is why I have been absent from the blog. But more on that later.

Right now, I interrupt my usual posting to share with you some totally real, not at all exaggerated quotes from students in the third grade class I subbed for on Tuesday.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Student 1: "Miss Holiday, how old are you?"
Me: "20."
Student 2: "It's rude to ask people how old they are."
Student 1: "That's only for old people!"

------------------------------------------------------------------

Boy Student: "Miss Holiday, Girl Student wrote down on a piece of paper which boys like which girls and is showing it to everybody!"

------------------------------------------------------------------

Girl Student: "Miss Holiday, Boy Student wrote "I will date Girl Student" on a piece of paper and I did NOT like that."

------------------------------------------------------------------

Student 1: "I can date when I'm 16."
Student 2: "No you have to be 18 to date!"
Student 1: "My mom said I can date when I'm 16!"
Student 3: "Yeah, when you're in high school you can date as much as you want!"

------------------------------------------------------------------

Boy Student 1: "Miss Holiday, Boy Student 2 wrote down on a piece of paper that he and I* were married and then he wrote that we were divorced."

*Please note, these are both BOY students....

------------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone: "WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?! DE DEE DO DO DAH DO DE DAH!  WA PA PA WA PA PAPA POW! RING DING RING A DING A RING DING!"

------------------------------------------------------------------

Third grade is the new junior high, y'all.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.

50 Random Things About Me.

Today I'm participating in my very first link-up with Rita at Fighting Off Frumpy!

This is actually the perfect link up for me, because I actually started writing a "50 Things About Me" post months ago, but never finished it because I was afraid people would think I was narcissistic.

But now that it's a link-up, I have an excuse. I tried to make it as random as possible to guarantee that there will be at least one thing on here you don't know about me.

Check out mine, check out Rita's, and then join in the fun!

Without further ado, a list of 50 [really] random things about me.

1. I am doing either one of two things when listening to music: singing loudly at the top of my lungs, or, in situations where it would be inappropriate/embarrassing to sing, pretending I'm a character in a movie/TV show.

2. I tend to eat one to one and a half meals a day, plus some snacks. Except on the rare occasions that I'm suddenly STARVING all day long. On those days, I eat about 7 meals (for realz, this happens).

3. I love books, but not reading. I'm the worst reader. I'm super slow and I have a short attention span and unless I'm REALLY into a book, it will take me approximately 3 years to read it. I can't remember the last time I was only reading ONE book, because of my tendency to start a book, forget about it, start another one, forget about it, and so on.

4. I turn into a ninja when people try to touch my neck. Catlike reflexes, people. Don't do it. I am not responsible for any injuries that may result from an attempt to touch my neck.

5. I love watching basketball, football, and hockey. I mean, I don't specifically set time aside to watch them on TV or anything, but when I do watch them I enjoy them.

6. I hate driving. Mainly because nobody else is as good of a driver as I am, and they always try to hit me because they're jealous of my magical driving skills, like using my blinker and yielding to people with the right of way. (Skills that are hard to grasp, I know.)

7. Spiderman is my favorite superhero. And I like Andrew Garfield more than Tobey Maguire.

8. There are few things in this world I excel at. Which is okay, because I'm not competitive. But I hold on for dear life to the three things that I am good at. Sometimes people mistake this for competetive-ness, but really it's just a self-esteem issue (like, I MUST REMAIN THE BEST AT THESE THREE THINGS OR I MIGHT CRY).

9. Human personality is a subject that I find fascinating. I love learning more about it, and trying to figure out other people's personality types when I meet them. I'm usually right.

10. I think I'm hilarious.

11. When I go to old-timey looking places, or scary places, or anything of the sort, I like to make up a story about the place and pretend I'm part of it.

12. I can't stand the flavor or smell of cinnamon. I like it fine as an ingredient, i.e. mixed with other things and baked like in spice cake or cinnamon rolls, but on its own, or in gum form, or in soap form (we had a cinnamon scented soap once and I couldn't use it), I will die. For real.

13. If I had a super power, it would be teleportation through time. So not only could I just show up wherever I wanted in nothing flat for free (Trip to Europe? No problem.), I could also show up wherever I wanted in any day, month, year, or century that I wanted. ("Laura Ingalls Wilder's house, 1882." Poof. "Hey what's up Laura?!" Best. Day. Ever.)

14. I was born in the wrong time period. 1860s or 1950s for me, please.

15. Sometimes I wish I was blonde. Just for the sake of being blonde. But then I think I would look weird, and I fall in love with my dark hair all over again.

16. I love exploring/going on adventures.

17. I'm the worst car owner. Ever. My brake light was on for 6 months before getting it checked out. My registration was expired for a month before I noticed. My inspection was expired for 3 months before I noticed, and then I went to get the inspection and discovered that my insurance card had expired, as well. I went in for an oil change 4000 miles past due, and there was absolutely no oil left in my car. I don't know what 90% of the buttons in my car do. However, I am very good about keeping it clean. That part I'm good at.

18. The only time I update iTunes is when I get a new computer and have no choice but to download the latest version.

19. I am easily amused by squirrels.

20. I am always afraid to be the first person to go after a red light turns green, just in case I'm imagining it.

21. I am fascinated by stars. I want to move to the middle of nowhere just so I can marvel at the stars every night.

22. For a similar reason, I keep my blinds open at night. I like seeing the stars/moon (if visible) when I'm lying awake in bed.

23. I like to pretend I'm on American Idol. I come up with different themes and sing a song that fits, and the judges always, ALWAYS love me.

24. I also like to role-play future conversations that I may or may not have with certain people. Kind of like rehearsing my conversation with someone before I actually have it. It rarely works out though, because I can never quite be sure what the other person will say in response.

25. I don't like spending money and I hardly ever do it.

26. I can be really shy and quiet and I'm terrible at small talk, but I LOVE getting to know people. (And analyzing their personalities, of course).

27. I love animals. Particularly small furry ones, but I really love them all. (Except spiders, but they don't count).

28. I have a weird obsession with World War I. It's my favorite war.

27. I like trying to be witty. It doesn't always work but I do my best.

28. I love musicals and I want to see them all.

29. I don't take offense when people make fun of me. I'm easy to make fun of. I get it. I make fun of myself all the time. (As long as I know you actually love me and are just joking.)

30. I cannot recall a time when something good happened to me on a Tuesday.

31. I often find myself wishing I kept a notepad and pen in my car, so that when I see my friends' cars in parking lots, I could write them notes and leave them on their windshield. I've never done this, though, for fear of looking like a stalker.

32. I could watch game shows all day long. Seriously. I've never seen a game show I didn't like.

33. I have this weird obsession with the baking aisle at grocery stores. Shopping for regular groceries? Eh. Shopping for clothes? Exhausting. Shopping in the baking aisle? Oodles of fun and I could stay there forever.

34. I don't really care for movies that much, but I have a terrible addiction to TV shows. My symptoms include falling in love with fictional characters, watching TV for 12 hours straight, and yelling/screaming/crying/hyperventilating at 2am when the season finale ends on a cliffhanger.

35. Don't shoot me, but I think cats are better than dogs (even though I LOVE dogs). I really don't understand why so many people hate cats.

36. I would rather receive an encouraging card or note than flowers. I'm terrible with flowers; I forget to water them, so they die, and then I forget to throw them away so I just have dead flowers sitting around for 6 months. Sweet cards/notes, on the other hand, I read over and over and save forever.

37. That being said, if you were to buy me flowers anyway, I like daisies. Because they are the happiest flower.

38. I have only thrown one party in my life, and I really enjoyed it. However, it was a lot of work and kind of expensive so I'm not sure I'll ever do it again, at least not to that extent.

39. I am currently learning how to decorate cakes. I've wanted to learn for awhile, the main reason being so I could give wedding/birthday cakes to friends and family free of charge to help them out if they are on a budget.

40. I LOVE birthdays. Not just mine; anyone's. I really don't even know why. I just get so excited when someone has a birthday.

41. I've been to about 20 states, but only three of them are west of Texas.

42. The only two sweatshirts I own are from the two places you would never expect I would need a sweatshirt: Hawaii and southern California.

43. I don't like dim lighting.

44. My favorite commercial is the one for the green KIA with the hamsters that get makeovers and then dance to Lady Gaga's Applause. Cracks me up every single time.

45. I haven't had caffeine (except for in a few life-or-death situations where I have only had caffeinated drinks to choose from) in...10ish years. (Chocolate doesn't count).

46. Even though I didn't really care for high school, there are some things I really, really miss about it. Junior high on the other hand, you couldn't pay me to go back to.

47. I am great at Facebook stalking. I can find ANYONE on the internet, and I'm not even a little bit ashamed.

48. My cousins' dog chipped my tooth when I was about 10 years old. The dentist never fixed it, so that tooth is still shorter than all the others.

49. I was a competitive swimmer for several years when I was younger. One time, my ears popped underwater and got water behind the eardrum. It's still there, and my ears pop every time I swallow. I also can't go very far underwater without getting a terrible earache and having to use rubbing alcohol to dry out the inside.

50. I quit swimming because it got too competitive. I was in it for the fun, and when I moved up a level and got a new coach, she yelled at me and made me cry because I wasn't swimming fast enough. I also felt like all my friends who I was once faster than were getting better than me, and it just wasn't enjoyable for me anymore.

And thus ends my very long list that was much harder to compile than I thought it would be.

Let me know if you decide to participate -- I'd love to learn more about you (see #26)! :)

{Update}: 51. I don't know how to count. There are actually 52 things on this list (53 if you count this update), because apparently I think that the numbers go 26, 27, 28, 27, 28, 29.

Oh well.

The Spider.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I am deathly afraid of spiders. I'm not exaggerating.

One time I found a tiny (like, the size of a sugar ant) spider crawling on me. I screamed. Loudly. For a whole minute. While flailing around like an idiot trying to get it off me. But all that did was make the spider fall down my shirt to where I could no longer see it. Defeated, I sat down and cried for the next five minutes.

It was a truly traumatic experience and I am scarred for life by it.

Spider - 1, Kayla - 0.

Last week, I had just finished locking our dogs up in their crates in the garage for the night, when I heard one of them crying. I ignored it at first, but the crying persisted and my mom had me go check on them to see what was wrong.

As soon as I opened the garage door, of course the crying stopped. Unable to figure out what was wrong, I went back inside and began to get ready for bed. The crying started again.

This time I went and actually let them back outside for a few minutes in case someone just needed to go to the bathroom or run around or something. After a couple of minutes, I locked them back up and went back inside.

About five minutes later, the crying began again. My mom told me just to let them out and leave them out. So I went into the garage, let them out of their crates, and then followed them to the garage door to let them into the backyard.

As we were walking to the door, I saw a big black spot on one of my dogs. At first I thought it was just dirt, but then I noticed it was moving. I looked again and sure enough -- a GIANT spider (probably the size of a quarter, which qualifies as giant as far as spiders are concerned) was hitching a ride on my dog.

My dog who was now standing in between me and the door to the backyard. Which meant that a giant spider was standing between me and the door to the backyard.

I froze. I began to panic. I screamed. And then I turned around and ran inside, slamming the door behind me.

"THERE'S A GIANT SPIDER ON BUCK!" I screamed at my mom. "HE'S STANDING IN FRONT OF THE DOOR. I WOULD HAVE TO GO NEAR THE SPIDER. I CAN'T LET THEM OUT."

My mom convinced me that the spider was probably not on him anymore and to try again. I cracked open the door to see my very confused dogs wondering why I left them loose in the garage. I looked at Buck. I saw the spider. And it had doubled in size (now the size of a half-dollar coin). I screamed. I slammed the door. I went into hysterics yelling things like "I CAN'T DO IT" and "WHAT IF IT EATS ME?"

I almost made my mom who had just had shoulder surgery and was already settled into her recliner for the night get up and put them away, but she convinced me to try once more.

I opened the door. I looked at my still very confused dogs. I examined Buck closely. I didn't see anything. I took a step out. It still looked good. Maybe the spider was no longer on him.

But wait.

If the spider was no longer on Buck...then OH MY GOSH THE SPIDER WAS IN THE GARAGE SOMEWHERE WAITING TO EAT ME.

Enter adrenaline rush. Unsure of where the spider was lurking, I ran to the side door, yelling at Buck the whole time to STAY AWAY FROM ME. I opened the door, they ran out, and I slammed the door shut behind me as I ran screaming back inside.

Spider - 2, Kayla - 0.

I came back inside to find my mom literally dying from laughing at me. I was less amused.

"The spider wasn't on Buck anymore and now I'm afraid it's hiding somewhere on me," I said, offended that my mom was laughing at me when my life was at stake.

Suddenly, she stopped laughing and looked at me. She had this really serious, concerned look on her face. And then she gasped.

And that was all it took.

I screamed bloody murder and jumped a couple feet into the air, flailing my arms around for about two seconds. And then, as my mom once more burst into laughter, I realized what a cruel trick she had just played on me.

Spider - 2, Mom - 1, Kayla - 0.

But don't worry. One day, when it is proven that spiders are in fact little tiny demons that steal your soul and then kill you, I will have the last laugh, and my score will finally be Kayla - 1.

P.S. I was going to add a picture of a spider for effect, but I couldn't do it. The pictures on Google were horrifying and I couldn't look long enough to decide on one.

Saturday in the Park (Unintentionally).

Okay, so in the past three days so much craziness has happened, I'm going to have to split it up into a few different posts. But let's start with this afternoon.

I had quite the adventure.

I went to lunch with a couple of friends and had a great time. The craziness started when I was trying to leave.

I had parked in a parking garage to the left of a big concrete column. As I was leaving, I needed to go right. For those of you playing at home, that means that as I was backing out I was turning toward the column. Do you see where this is going?

I was looking left to make sure no cars were coming while I was backing out and turning right. As I turned my head to look right, I noticed how close I was to the column. But what I didn't realize was that I had not yet cleared it. I thought, That was close! and kept going. Half a second later I heard the screeching sound of my car scraping against the column.

Not knowing what to do, I then stopped backing out and went forward instead. My car screeched again as it scraped the column once more in the opposite direction. I straightened out my car and continued backing out, thankfully clearing the pole this time. And then I exited the parking garage, hoping the damage wasn't horrible.

As I was exiting the garage, I got confused about which way I was going and, though it really didn't matter, accidentally chose the more difficult way. Which I realized as soon as I turned, but it was too late so I was going with it. I knew what to do, so it wasn't a big deal.

Except I got distracted and missed the street I was supposed to turn on. Naturally, I assumed I could turn on the next street and it would lead me to the same place. Naturally, I was wrong.

I ended up on a weird street and was briefly concerned that it was going to lead me off a cliff. Instead, it led me to a park.

Side note: I have been to this park before but have never driven myself. It is across the river from where I work and I have always wondered how to get there. Now that I have figured it out...I really doubt I could do it again. Probably not even with a map.

Anyway, I pulled over in the park to gather my thoughts and come up with a game plan and check out the damage on my car and respond to a text message. My car looked like this:

Which was a lot better than I had imagined. So it's no big deal.

Anyway. This park is really confusing. Like, it has a bazillion roads to choose from. I wasn't sure what to do so I just went straight. I followed the road a little ways but it just led me to a dead end. So I turned around and turned onto a street that had this sign:

This photo is from google. I am not so crazy as to stop and take a picture of a sign just 

because I am already writing the blog post in my head.

I have no idea what this sign means. I have a vehicle and I'm pretty sure it has a motor...does that mean I drive a motorized vehicle? Wouldn't a de-motorized vehicle, like, not move? Confusing.

But there was a stop sign just up ahead facing me, and why would they have a stop sign if cars weren't allowed there? I decided that I was not in fact driving a motorized vehicle (even though I'm still convinced my car does have a motor) and that it was okay for me to proceed. I came to a turning point so I picked a direction and turned. I was sad for a minute because it led me to yet another dead end, but then I realized that there was an exit!! That led to a street!! That led to another street from which I knew how to get home!!!!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I was below empty on gas this whole time. And unfortunately there are no gas stations in the park.

Maybe that wasn't as crazy as I made it sound but it felt pretty crazy to me. Sometimes I don't even know how I manage to be so...I don't even know what the word is. Me. That's the word. So me.

And what will I be like when I'm 30? I'm sort of afraid to find out.

Stay tuned...

A Few of My Favorite Things.

Forgive me for my absence from the blog the last few weeks. I've had a lot going on and have a CRAZY week ahead of me. I'm writing an article for a magazine my church is doing (due Monday), cooking a meal for my group Tuesday night, and Wednesday morning I am taking a very important test for my teacher's certification that I'm kind of freaking out about. In the mean time, here is a list of things that are currently making me happy/keeping me sane. 

Enjoy.

My One Line a Day journal.

You write a couple lines everyday about what happened that day, and it goes on for 5 years. Great for the sentimental people, like me. I'm really bad at journaling but I've been doing this now for just over 4 months. I love that it's so quick to catch up on if you get behind.

My pretty new planner.

Even though I can't use this until January, organization makes me happy. This beauty is made by Sugar Paper Los Angeles and can be snagged up at Target for 8 weeks only. Get yours now! (Also, this mint green scarf in the picture is new and I LOVE it.)

My Wilton cake decorating classes.

I actually completed course 1 on Monday, but it was so much fun learning how to decorate cakes! I'll be taking a break for the holidays, but I hope to start back up with course 2 in January. This cake was my final project. What do you think?

Halloween.

I haven't dressed up for Halloween in about 8 years. This year I got invited to a costume party and I was so excited! It was a lot of fun. I went as a flapper/20's girl. I found the perfect dress at Goodwill (for $2.75, thank you) and just added a few accessories, did my hair in a faux bob, and put on some red lipstick and I was good to go.

Sara Bareilles.

Sara Bareilles is a fairly new discovery for me. I've always known her hit singles that were played on the radio, but that was it. Man, I have been missing out! Each song is catchy and I can relate to every lyric. Her voice is so strong and rich and perfect. And I love the borderline jazz/blues genre of her songs. I can't get enough.

The #joyfilledhomechallenge.

Remember my 30 Days of Thankfulness post from last year? This year I'm expressing my thankfulness by participating in this photo challenge, hosted by two awesome bloggers. Check out my posts on Instagram (@kholiday25) and be sure to let me know if you decide to participate!

I will hopefully be back with some brand new posts after I take my test on Wednesday! I have a lot in the works, just haven't gotten to making them postable yet. :-)

Happy November!

Without God, I Am Nothing.

The other day I was praying for a friend who is going through a tough time right now, and it reminded me of the hard time I recently came out of. Like literally just a few months ago. It has been the hardest thing I've ever gone through so far in my life, and it took a year to recover. For a year I was insecure, sad, and confused as to why God would let this happen to me. Why me?

A year.

But now? I'm grateful. I'm grateful for this experience because I learned so much. I learned a lot about relationships, I learned a lot about myself, I learned a lot about relating to others, but most of all, I learned that God is WAY bigger than all my problems.

And then I remembered this post I read from The Christian Wife Life a few months ago. If you've never checked out this blog before, do it now. Read every post. Ashley is an inspiring, Christian woman growing closer to God every day.

I strongly urge you to read her original post -- linked above -- but here is basically a summary of what she said.

Have you ever heard the saying "God will never give you more than you can handle"?

Ashley says that statement is misleading, and I completely agree. Personally, I think God has given me many things I can't handle. But despite that, I have always come out stronger on the other side. Not because I'm way tougher than I think, but because I have God on my side.

I think God gives us hard situations to remind us that we need to relinquish total control to Him. To remind us that nothing is too big for our God. To remind us that without Him, we are nothing, but with Him, we can do anything.

Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." It doesn't say, "I can do all things because I believe I can," which I think is the message that society often tries to send us.

I know for a fact I would not have been able to handle my year-long situation on my own. Heck, I wouldn't have been able to handle junior high on my own. But thankfully, I didn't have to do it alone.

Sometimes, life is going to go downhill. And then it's going to get better, and then it's going to get worse again. That's just how it works. But God is there for us no matter what we're going through, and we need to remember that. God helps us through the hard times and rejoices with us through the good. Our God is greater, stronger, and higher than any other and nothing can stop us for He is on our side.

"What then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31.

The Third Decade.

I just entered my third decade of life.

Wednesday was my 20th birthday!

To celebrate, I:

Went to work, and was given this fabulous birthday tiara by two of my coworkers.

Please excuse how awful I look. It was early. 

 Was gifted the complete series of Friends on DVD (finally!), a cake decorating set & cake decorating lessons, and a few other small things.

 Presents!!

Went to the Cheesecake Factory with my parents and grandparents, and ate this delicious caramel apple streussel cheesecake.

That's right. Be jealous.

Spent some of my birthday money on a third ear piercing, because apparently I was lying when I got my double and said that I was done with piercings forever.

 I think it's really cute. Don't you?

Also, my growth group started on Wednesday which is always super fun! But I don't have a picture of that. Just know it was awesome.

I always get really sad when my birthday is over. I think the day after your birthday is one of the most depressing days there is. But if this year goes by as fast as last year did, I'll be 21 in no time.

Until then, I'll be looking forward to Christmas. Just 88 more days -- better start shopping!

An Early Birthday Present.

[Background information: My birthday is on Wednesday.]

*The doorbell rings, Mom opens the door and comes back in with a package.*

Mom: Someone got an early birthday present!
Me: YAY!!! Can I open it now?!
Mom: I don't know, we might have to make you wait!
Me: Who's it from?!
Mom: It's from a boy!
Me: A boy...? [Internally: What boy would be sending a birthday present to my house...?]
Mom: Yes, a boy named Tom.
Me: Tom? [Internally: Do I know somebody named Tom?]
Mom: Someone named Thomas!
Me: Thomas? [Internally: Do I know somebody named Thomas?]
Mom: Thomas EDISON!
Me: YAY! [After briefly thinking, Isn't he dead?! -- then I remembered that's the name of the college I graduated from last week.]

I'm a diplomatic! 

Soooo I'm *officially* official! And the words say (if you're wondering): "The Board of Trustees, upon recommendation of the President, hereby admits Kayla Rose Holiday to the degree of Bachelor of Arts with all of the rights, honors and privileges thereunto appertaining. In witness whereof, the seal of the College and the signatures of the President and the Chair of the Board of Trustees are here unto affixed this thirteenth day of September, two thousand and thirteen."

In other, less fancy words: I graduated. (On Friday the 13th...)

Yay!

I will be accepting congratulatory cash gifts starting now through September of 3013. (I also have a birthday in two days, so if you want to double the cash amount to cover both things, that is also acceptable.)

Exciting Things That Have Happened Lately.

1. Today at work my friend/coworker gifted me with a live cricket that he found in the bathroom. He intended to freak me out but the joke was on him because I love crickets. After I caught it, I made him open the door for me (because my hands were busy holding a cricket) and I went and released it outside. But the cricket had already grown attached to me (because I'm lovable) and wouldn't leave so I had to push it off.
2. Yesterday I subbed for a 5th grade class and LOVED it. And apparently they told their regular teacher to get me next time she needs a sub, so that's a good sign. One of the girls came up to me while we were walking over to lunch and held my hand and told me I was really fun. Made my day week.
3. The new seasons of all the TV shows are starting this week and next. It's been way, way too long.
4. Last week I cleaned out our refrigerator. I found a candle. But before you question our sanity, look at this picture of said candle. It looks like jelly. (On another note, we could totally be on an episode of Hoarders: Refrigerator Edition. But that's an entirely different story.)
   
   
   
   Making a candle that looks like jelly is just ASKING for it to be stored in the fridge.
5. I got iOS 7 today. It took about 2 hours to download and install and I had to delete all my pictures, music, and about 5 apps (including Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram aka the only things I use my phone for) because it requires a whopping 2.9 GB to install, BUT other than that it's pretty cool.  
6. Update on my car: We figured out that the reason my car tried to kill me a few weeks ago is because my tires were very worn down, so I got all new tires (which are NOT cheap). On Sunday, I had trouble getting my car started and figured out that my battery had gone bad, so I now have a new battery. I also got an inspection and oil change, and my registration is due this month. Cars are expensive. :(
7. MY 20TH BIRTHDAY IS IN ONE WEEK AND I'M REALLY EXCITED ABOUT IT.

That is all.

Drowsy.

Shortly after midnight last night/this morning, my mom walked into my room and the following conversation (or something very closely resembling it) took place.

Me: *Coughing my lungs out*
Mom: Are you still awake?
Me: Yes, that medicine...it doesn't work.
Mom: I came to get a pill for your dad since you took the whole bottle up with you.
Me: That medicine doesn't work, it's not making me sleep. I want to take more but I can't remember if I took a second one already or not...
Mom: You don't remember?
Me: No.
Mom: Well go ahead and take another one anyway.
Me: Okay. *Takes pill*

Mom starts to leave.

Me: I just keep tossing and turning.
Mom: Are you having crazy dreams again?
Me: Yeah, it's like every time I close my eyes there's...it's like, my bed...and then the sheets...and you have to pay to make a room...it's a blank room, and you have to pay money to...put stuff in it...
Mom: *Nodding as if she totally understands me* Why don't you just try to think of something else?
Me: I can't! The room! Every time I close my eyes it's the room...and the game show...and we have to build...something...and my bed...and...
Mom: Just close your eyes and think of a story or something.
Me: (Defeated) Okay.

The medicine may not have put me to sleep -- or cured my allergies/cold (whatever this is) -- but it sure made me lose my ability to form a complete thought.

And 14 hours later? I still feel completely out of it. And I don't even have medicine that will effectively put me to sleep.

Life is hard.

You Alone Can Rescue.

I know I exaggerate a lot, and so what I'm about to say will probably not mean much to you, but it's for real this time, y'all.

I almost died today.

It was a normal Sunday morning. I got up, got ready for church, and was in my car by 9:30 to arrive 15 minutes early for the 10:00 elementary girls' class that I help with.

I turned to the country music station because they do a top 40 countdown on Sundays. I backed out of my driveway, pulled out of my neighborhood, and got on the ramp to I-35.

I drove up the ramp, rocking out to Two Black Cadillacs by Carrie Underwood, I turned the corner -- freeway in sight -- and I felt my car start to drift to the right.

That's weird, I thought. I was driving straight and I knew my alignment wasn't off, so I wasn't sure why my car was veering to the right. So I lightly turned the wheel to the left to compensate.

But it went too far to the left. Which didn't make sense, because I had barely turned the wheel. I turned the wheel to the right -- again, lightly -- because I was in the far left lane and was getting closer and closer to the side of the ramp (which, by the way, was about 20 feet above the ground).

My car went even farther this time, taking me from the left shoulder to the far right lane (it was a two-lane ramp). As I veered closer to the far right side of the ramp (again, about 20 feet off the ground), I decided I was about to die. But I wasn't going to give up just yet.

I made one last left turn of the wheel to get away from the edge of the ramp and then slammed on my brakes. My car momentarily spun out of control before coming to a complete stop right in the middle of the two lanes.

My heart was racing and I couldn't really breathe, but I needed to get out of the middle of everything, so I very, very carefully pulled into the shoulder, turned on my flashers, and called for help (because I was NOT about to try driving again).

 This was almost me.

Thankfully, my mom was just about to leave for church, so she was able to come pick me up. My dad came by a little later to look at my car and move it into a parking lot where it would be safer.

I was late to church but I don't think anyone really cared about that when I had just narrowly escaped death.

The crazy part is this: when I turned the corner on the ramp, just seconds before my car TRIED TO KILL ME, there were cars all around me. When my car suddenly lost control, all the cars that had been near me had gotten ahead of me, and no one was behind me. The area was completely empty until I had made it safely to the shoulder. Once I was in the shoulder, there was pretty much a steady flow of traffic. I was all over the road; had there been anyone there, I would have absolutely hit them.

Had I hit the side of the ramp, there's a good chance I would have gone over the edge at the speed I was going at. I was incredibly close to hitting both sides, but in both cases was able to swerve back to the other side.

As I was sitting in our church service later, we sang the song You Alone Can Rescue. These are the words:

"You alone can rescue, You alone can save

You alone can lift us from the grave

You came down to find us, led us out of death

To You alone belongs the highest praise."

I know that this song is technically talking about salvation and Jesus dying on the cross for us, but today I felt it had another meaning, because God literally rescued, saved, and led me out of death (or at least some severe injuries) this morning. And He definitely deserves the highest praise.

I wish I could credit my awesome driving/remaining-calm-in-a-crisis skills, but I can't. All glory goes to God on this one.

There is simply no other explanation.

Subway Adventures.

Today I had worship team training at church from 10am-4pm. And let me just say, the series of unfortunate events that happened at my lunch break had Kayla written all over it. In big capital letters. Underlined four times. With an exclamation point.

This is good, guys. Just you wait.

Unfortunate Event #1: The Elusive Subway.

We were on our own for lunch but a large group of people (my friends included) were going to Taco Cabana. Which I found really surprising because I didn't know people actually liked Taco Cabana. Like, seriously, if we're going to have tacos I'd much rather have Taco Bell. But then again, I'm probably not the most reliable judge of food.

Anyway, obviously I was not okay with Taco Cabana, but I did want to spend time with my friends, so I was going to get food elsewhere and then meet them there. I decided that I wanted Subway because a) Subway is kind of healthy, and I've been feeling guilty about all the junk I've been eating lately, and b) it sounded really good. So, I got in my car and set off for Subway. Only I couldn't remember exactly where it was, but I had a pretty good idea. So I headed that direction and figured I'd see it eventually.

So I'm driving. And I keep driving. And I keep driving. Because Subway is past all the other fast food restaurants. I know* that it's further up the road, so I just keep driving. And every once in awhile, I think I've passed it. So I start to turn around but then I see another group of buildings coming up and I convince myself that that's where Subway is. But it isn't. After doing this about three times, I began entering unrecognizable territory, so I decide to turn around for real this time.

*Me "knowing" where things are located is like a five year old "knowing" how to do calculus correctly

I'm driving back and looking for Subway. And I'm not finding it. And I'm like, "Are you kidding me? Was it seriously further up? Does Subway even exist anymore?" AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN, I SEE IT. And I'm like, "SUBWAY! I see you! But...how do I get to you...?"

It was like behind a bunch of restaurants and...I don't even know. Like, it was there, but it was hidden. So I maneuvered my way through the Walmart parking lot and down a couple back roads and finally I'm in the Subway parking lot -- the actual Subway parking lot! -- and I park and get out of my car.

Which brings me to...

Unfortunate Event #2: The Door with the Sandwich On It.

I walk into Subway, ECSTATIC because I'm really hungry, and the first thing I notice are SIX bulky guys, about high school age, probably football players, sitting together and staring at me (quite angrily I might add) in dead silence at Subway. Just sitting there. With no food. Not standing in line to order. And I was like, "Do these guys know how Subway works? You have to go stand in line..." But then I looked up and realized that there was no one at the register. There were employees in the back (who saw me walk in), but no one at the front. So I stepped to the side and joined the awkward silence while these big scary guys just...stared at me.

While I'm waiting, I can't help but notice that Subway is a lot smaller than I remembered it being. Did they remodel? Why would they remodel and make the place smaller? Or maybe it just looked smaller because of the new design. But the counter looked way too small to hold all the sandwich fixins. And why did it smell like pizza in there?

And then I look at the door, and right below the picture of something that very closely resembles a SANDWICH (and sandwich = Subway) are the words "Little Caesar's."

Sandwiches > Pizza.

 

Little Caesar's. Last time I checked, that was different than Subway. And I'm completely mortified at this point that I have walked into and stood in for several minutes the WRONG restaurant. I have been stared at by creepy high school boys that totally had the ability to kill me. I have been acknowledged (but not served) by some very busy Little Caesar's employees. And I could feel the eyes of all 6 scary boys and all 3 employees on me as I silently walked out and never returned.

And before I walked into Subway, I read every sign from top to bottom just to make sure.

Unfortunate Event #3: I Give Up.

Thankfully, I was able to get my 6" tuna sandwich on Italian without a hitch, and I made it to my car and out of the parking lot without incident.

By the way, at this point our one hour lunch break is more than half over.

Anyway, I'm driving to Taco Cabana to catch up with my friends (for, like, a whole 15 minutes), but I was so...flustered, I guess is the word...from everything that just happened that I passed Taco Cabana. And at first I was like, "I think I just passed it..." but then I was like, "oh, no, it's further up here." But it wasn't. And by the time I was 100% sure I had passed it, I was almost back to church.

There just wasn't any point in turning around.

I was probably just going to pass it again anyway.

So I pulled into church and found a table inside to eat at while I recovered from the previous 45 minutes' adventures.

So yes, ladies and gentlemen, in 45 minutes I managed to:

• Get lost on a street I have traveled hundreds of times
• Share some delightfully awkward moments with 9 strangers
• Get so distracted that I just straight up passed my destination
• Just give up, because seriously, why do I even try to be cool? 

By the way, those first three things happen so often that I had to give them their own tags.

And to my friends who may or may not have been waiting on me to show up at Taco Cabana (I'm not even sure they knew I was coming, but just in case): I DID NOT ditch you guys on purpose. I totally intended on showing up, and wanted to...but, like, seriously...I just needed a moment to myself. To recover. Because...it was a crazy 45 minutes, y'all. Real crazy. Kayla levels of crazy. And Lord knows it takes time to recover from Kayla crazy.

Kaylzy? Oh, I know! Crayla. Wait, no...that sounds like a crayon.

Whatever. It doesn't even deserve its own word. You know what they say: when you name things, you just get more attached.

Which doesn't really apply in this situation but that's okay. The point is...well, actually there isn't one. (Other than to make you feel better about yourself, of course).

Sorry to have wasted your time.

I Just Can't Catch a Break.

Y'all know how I love my TV shows. (If you don't, see my last post). Well, I'm currently kind of in between shows because I finished Veronica Mars (in ONE WEEK, ladies and gentlemen. I'm not sure if that's a talent or an illness, but it's impressive either way) and I am waiting to borrow the DVDs of my next show -- Downton Abbey -- from a friend.

I'm super excited about Downton Abbey. I've heard it's amazing. Hopefully I will be getting the DVDs on Friday. That should occupy me for a few days at least.

As I was saying, I'm in between shows. I'm kinda watching New Girl on Netflix, which is pretty funny but I haven't gotten hooked on it yet so I'm not spending every spare moment watching it. Plus I'm almost done because there's only one season on Netflix. Though I do have a free two weeks of Hulu Plus I've been saving. I'll have to look into that.

ANYWAY. I'm also watching regular TV. Like today I discovered we have the game show channel again. I love me some game shows.

I got tired of watching game shows (mainly because I can't play along with Minute to Win It), so I was flipping through channels and came across a show that I used to watch with my family ALL THE TIME but haven't in a few years -- So You Think You Can Dance. I know nothing about dancing but I enjoy watching it so I got excited and started watching.

For some unknown reason that cannot be explained by anything other than an act of God because it makes absolutely no sense, it has been raining all day. In Texas. In AUGUST. Rain in the summer is not a normal thing here.

But everything is bigger in Texas, so we don't just get "rain." No, we get the whole shebang. The whole lightninging, thundering, pouring, LOST-SATELLITE-SIGNALING shebang.

After the first dance the satellite decided I watch too much TV (true, but not for the TV to decide) and dropped its signal. And I sat on the couch in silence for the next ten minutes staring at a signal-less TV.

And THEN, something magical happened. It started searching for a signal. A box popped up that said "Searching for signal. This should not take more than 5 minutes."

And TEN (not five) minutes later, it came back! *happy dance*

For a whole five minutes, and then it changed the channel because TOO MANY THINGS WERE RECORDING.

 How I was feeling at this point. Minus the wheat field.

And I'm like, are you kidding me? All I wanted to do was watch a nice dance show and Dish Network was not cooperating.

So I canceled some recordings and fixed it so that I could watch my dance show, thank you very much. Because it was really important. Because, like...yeah. It just was.

And then I ate some snickerdoodle blondies to make up for the hard hour I had. Because I DESERVED IT, dang it.

OH MY GOSH. I just realized it's Tuesday. No wonder the whole world was against me today.*

*The whole world being the TV. Obviously.

I Think I Need an Intervention.

So last night/this morning at approximately 1:48am, I deliriously posted this status on facebook:

 

Now I know that sometimes when I talk, I throw in the occasional hyperbole. This is not one of those times.

Tears actually happened. Freaking out actually happened. And the only reason I'm not ashamed to tell the world this is because it was 2am. Nobody should be expected to control their emotions between the hours of 1 and 5 am. 

But seriously. It was bad, y'all.

The show is SO GOOD. Like, SO GOOD. I got home at 9ish last night and had 5 episodes left in the season to watch. I knew it would be a late night if I wanted to finish, and honestly wasn't planning on it. "Just two or three..." I told myself. HA.

*Caution: Very vague spoilers ahead*

Every episode ended on a cliffhanger. Even worse, they ended on a cliffhanger involving my favorite character...so like, I had to watch the next one to make sure that everything was going to work out okay for him.

Well guess what? In the season 1 finale...EVERYTHING DOESN'T WORK OKAY FOR HIM. We don't even see him for the last 15 minutes of the show and the last time we did see him, he looked like he was in mortal danger. So the season ends with the main character hearing a knock on the door and opening it and I'm like...

"WHAT ABOUT LOGAN? IS LOGAN OKAY? WHAT'S GOING ON? IS LOGAN AT THE DOOR? PLEASE BE LOGAN AT THE DOOR! LOGAN I LOVE YOU! LOGAN!! LOOOOGGGAANNN!!!"

And I was SO CONCERNED ABOUT LOGAN that I started crying. Because I wanted to start the next season. But it was almost 2am. And I was really tired. And the fact that I was crying over a character in a TV show made me realize that I desperately needed sleep. Which made me cry harder, because I wanted to start the next season.

But ultimately, I decided to be strong and just go to bed. Once I fell asleep it would practically be morning anyway, so it's not like it would be very long before I could start the next episode.

Actually, it wasn't long at all, since at 7:30 this morning my brain was all like "Hey! It's morning!! Time to watch Veronica Mars!" and woke me up with NO regard to the fact that it's Saturday and I JUST went to bed 5 hours earlier. Thanks, Brain. You're a real pal.

But for real...I may or may not have a serious problem.

Oh, and I'm watching season 2 as we speak (well, waiting for it to load), and I am pleased to report that Logan is still alive. Which I knew anyway, because like, IMDB has him listed in all 64 episodes...and the movie that's coming out next year...but still. He could have been like, a ghost or something.