Five Minute Friday: Throwback

Today for Five Minute Friday, I went back to a poem that I wrote on July 13, 2002. I made a few minor word choice changes, but I think it's pretty okay the way it is. When I was in high school and college, I loved to write. I wrote poems, short stories, journals, and among other things and ideas in journals and notebooks. I still have three or four notebooks full of my writing, quotes that I love, inspiring ideas, and song lyrics. Here is one poem that I wrote from back then with some minor changes for today's Five Minute Friday. 

Sludge

Brown flecks of cinnamon float gracefully on top of your vanilla latte. 

With one stir of your spoon, the small colony of spice is forced into a fluid dance,

resembling synchronized swimmers in a sea of brown silk. 

Staring into the over-sized cup, your eyes become blurry.

For once, your problems seem to settle at the bottom of your caffeine-filled snack.

With the last sip, you recognize them as that brown mush that never dissolved.

Wash it down the sink and move on;

it's not worth worrying about.

Brown sludge is never worth worrying about.  

Happy Friday!!

Love and happiness <3 Holly

A Week Full of Joy #2

This was a super, short week for me! Since school was finished for the week on Tuesday, I have a long, five day break to relax and recoup before heading back on Monday. Basically, all I did was nap on-and-off on Wednesday afternoon. I don't know what my deal is. I haven't been sleeping well. I've had a couple of weird anxiety days, and I've just been tired. It is nice to have a break to catch up on some things that I've been neglecting at home and relaxing to try to have some more energy once school starts back next week!

Here are some things that have been making me joyful the past week:

Happy #1: Family

Since this is the obvious one for the week, I thought I'd start out with Thanksgiving! This year, we ate an early Thanksgiving lunch at my mom's house and then headed over to Bjorn's parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner. I am so thankful for family! We had a day filled with cooking, good food, laughing, and relaxing. Here are a few pictures from the day:

Rachael waiting for me to do her hair. We need a smaller curling iron!

Bjorn and Mom discussing important Thanksgiving strategy. Webster unpacking the turkey.

This girl. My little Bella. Don't worry, Rach. I will send you this picture!

Seriously, these are the only pictures I have of Rachael practically!

Rachael starting her buttercream icing for her pumpkin cheesecake cupcakes.

Can she read a candy thermometer? I hope so!

And the yawning begins!

Rachie and Sean

Belly and her Sean :)

Thanksgiving Photo Booth

Cousins!!

This Thanksgiving weekend I also got to see some of my cousins, who always make me smile! We met at Chuy's in Kenwood, a Tex-Mex restaurant that is fairly new to the area. We had a great time! I love seeing my cousins. It's like time never passes when we get together--we just pick up where we last left off. We laugh until our sides hurt and catch up until next time. Can't wait to see you all again!!! Love you!

 Me and Emily!! Can't wait to meet Baby #2!

Emily and Brain

Me, Emily, Heather, Sarah, and Rachael

Heather and Sarah

Happy #2: Hanging out with my sis!

Rachael and I do a lot of random things, but no matter what, they always end up being a blast! We were so looking forward to getting together the other night. We both had a bad week and couldn't wait to see each other for a night of randomness! Our night started with dinner at Fresh Market, a walk around the mall, and then TJ Maxx. It was super fun!

Entering Fresh Market, this wine hit on us. We were flattered.

Rachael's double fire roll or dragon fire roll. Something like that.

She likes it a lot.

Fresh Market gettin' fancy with fresh roses on the table. For realsies.

At the mall, we saw a car that looked like Ashley's in Utah. We text her and asked if she drove to Ohio to walk around the mall with us. She didn't. : (

Our goal was to find Rachael new kicks for going back to Zumba. She didn't find any : ( Holly's reason: she is extremely picky and particular (love alliteration!).

Rachie has a work Christmas party coming up. I told her she HAD to wear these shoes!! She said, "No."

Crazy Things I Make My Sister Do At TJ Maxx

Rachael found a new friend.

She also found a gigantic crab. Delicious!

She's practicing her veterinary skills!

In the end we had a GREAT time! Rachael did not find shoes, but we both got a new make-up palette to try out! We've never owned make-up palettes before. We got two holiday specially priced palettes from Sephora; Rachael got Nars Limited Edition One Night Stand Palette, and I got Kat Von D's Spellbinding Eyeshadow Book.

Rachael is unsure of the picture chosen for the front of her palette!

Inside Rachael's palette: picture from www.beatuezine.com

I knew Rachael would love this palette when I saw it, so I told her about it. She LOVES blush! This palette has one of my all time favorite blush colors: Orgasm (top right). I bought the liquid version of it a long while ago. It is a little pricey, but I still have half of the bottle left. It gives you a nice peachy, dewy glow on your cheeks. Really pretty color.

Inside of Kat Von D's Spellbinding Palette: picture from www.musingsofamuse.com

I LOVE wearing colorful eyeshadow, and I think these colors are beautiful! I have tried out some of the blues so far, and they are so pretty! Can't wait to try more!

Happy #3: Pioneer Woman

Monday evening, my sister-in-law, my mother-in-law, and I went to Joseph Beth Booksellers to meet Ree Drummond, the Pioneer woman! She is so sweet in person! We ended up waiting quite a while to see her. I found out a little late that she was coming, so we didn't order our books to get signed until last week. It was worth the wait! We chatted about how we just made her salsa and couldn't keep it in the house. She was friendly and funny. It was a great time!

Happy #4: Snuggles

My puppies are always good at making me feel happy :) I love their cuddles and snuggles. They know how to brighten my day after a long day at work! They're loving that we're off for five days!

Happy #5: Still Reading

I finally got my reading stride back and have been really enjoying some books I recently picked out from the library. This has been me the last few days:

Here are some books that I have lined up to read next:

her is a memoir written about the life of one identical twin after the other dies of a heroin overdose at the age of 28. The book shows girls' relationship growing up and discusses how it changes as they age. One twin is traumatically raped which greatly affects her relationship with her sister. After the death of one twin, the other's life is completely changed. To read more about this book click here.

Mockingbird tells the story of a girl named Caitlin, who is ten years old. She sees everything in black and white because she lives with Asperger's syndrome. A tragedy strikes her family, and Caitlin is forced to try to cope with it in her own way. To read more about this book and it's author, click here. 

It's been a great week of relaxing, family, friends, laughter, and happy. I hope you have had a week full of joy too. Happy belated Thanksgiving!

Love and happiness <3 Holly

Happy #4: My Blood

Rachael, me, and Ashley at our cousin Amanda's wedding, Summer 2009

My sisters have always been my best friends. Of course we've always been there for each other; when we were little, we were nuts-o together! My mom and dad had their hands full!! When we were younger, my mom worked night shift on the weekends as an ICU/CCU nurse. On those nights, my dad would do his best to entertain three girls and still watch his favorite sport, Bearcat basketball (to him, this was the only sport). He'd feed us dinner right when the game came on, so we would be occupied for a little while. And that way he could watch some of the game while we goofed around and ate our food. 

My mom usually put some kind of dessert in the fridge for us to eat after dinner. She really missed spending weekend nights with us :)! Sometimes we'd have 3-layer jello. Sometimes we had fruit. Sometimes we had her special peach cobbler. 

1-2-3 (3 Layer) Jello

One night in particular, I remember we had 3-layer jello. We LOVED that stuff! As we were eating our jello and dad was enthralled in his Bearcats game (they were his "boys"), we realized we needed to find something to do. Dad was seriously not going be done watching the game soon.

Our solution: torpedo our 3-layer jello at each other across the table with our dessert spoons! We all though it was a rather fun and exciting idea!! We ducked and hid under and behind the kitchen tables and chairs. We dodged shots of flying jello. Sometimes it hit us. Other times it hit the floor. A few times it stuck to my mom's new wallpaper! My dad was so engrossed in his game in the familyroom that he didn't even notice our game of jello war was in full swing. 

Once my dad came in to check on us to see if we had finished our dessert when there was a break in the game. We sure had! We had finished it and left a huge mess everywhere! I think the jello won that war, but we were pretty proud of ourselves for having so much fun on our own! My dad, on the other hand, looked pretty mad. But he held it together, took a deep breath, and walked away. That was my dad: he took a deep breath and carried on. 

Found at Kimkardashian.celebuzz.com

When he came back, it was time to clean-up the jello. Let's just say that in the morning, there was no sign of jello for my mom to see and realize that there was an all-out jello brawl in the kitchen the night before. She actually didn't know any of this happened until a few years ago!!! I think we told her the story when my dad was sick. She cracked up!!

Growing up, we always found ways to amuse ourselves, and get ourselves in some trouble too. We were always creative; we even made lists of things to do separately and then came back together to compromise and agree on what it is we should play for the day!! We were very organized crazies!! 

A Little About My Sisters

Ashley and Rachael dancing at my wedding October 9, 2010.

Rachael and I get to hang out A LOT! She still lives in Cincinnati. A day out with Rachael can make everything better, no matter how bad your day has been!! She is goofy, caring, and insightful. She helps me put my anxiety in perspective. She can turn a walk around Target into a fun time! She's a no-nonsense kind of person, so don't mess with her! But she is also one of the sweetest people you'll meet. She's also the person you text when you're tutoring and you don't know how to answer a middle school math problem!! She loves sports, make-up, music, coffee, and chocolate. We can yell at the Bearcats together to play better and then blast music in the car and sing on the way to get a coffee. Perfect day. We enjoy a lot of the same things, so we can always find something fun to do together. She is my sanity!

My wedding

Ashley moved out to Utah a few years ago and before that lived in Columbus. We don't get to see each other a lot anymore, and I miss her! I did get to see her this summer when we took a family vacation to Florida!! Fun!!!!!!! Ashley is funny, caring, and loving. She has a big heart and cares so much about people. She will help anyone in any way that she can. I love that she knows sign language! She has a huge smile. When you see it, you can't help but smile too. She texts me to tell me she loves me in the middle of the day. She calls just to say she misses me. She has a creative eye too. One year she made me flower barrettes for my hair on her own! They were so cute! Boo, if you ever move closer, we need to start a crafting club! We'll make Rachael join, even though she hates that stuff! She can just drink wine and watch! 

Epcot 2013

Summer 2013 in Naples with my sisters.

I LOVE my sisters and wouldn't trade them for anything in the world. They are amazing. They can brighten my day, make me laugh, and make me smile. They make me happy :) They are my happy. 

At cousin Emily's wedding with Grandpa Burns, May 2008.

At cousin Scott's wedding, Summer 2008

Ashley heading back up to Columbus (she used to live there), 2007

Ashley's wedding in Utah (where she lives now), February 2012 

Rachael, Ashley, and me. (Look at those bangs!!)
I am the oldest.
Me and Ashley are two years apart.
Me and Rachael are six years apart.

Rachael's prom, Spring 2006

Playing in the snow, Winter 2004

My rehearsal dinner, October 2010

Love you my sisters!! Rachie, you better sleep over soon!!!! Miss you, Booty!!! Come home soon!

Love and happiness <3 Holly