What I'm Loving Wednesday!

Hello, y'all!
This is my first ever "WILW" post and I would like to dedicate this post to two amazing co-workers: Melissa W. for her strength in facing the unknown, and Jennifer S., for her inspiring display of true friendship and dedication.


What I'm Loving Wednesday...
This Wednesday just further proved why I'm in love with all of my co-workers. I happen to work at a school where all of the faculty and staff are truly a family. Today, I saw over 50 people and 700 students rally around one of our own 4th grade teachers, Melissa W. Melissa, along with her older sister, were both recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Melissa is an amazing teacher that truly loves her students and she's probably one of the nicest, most genuine people ever. If you ever need anything, have a question, or just want to chat, she's there. She also has the most adorable little son, Jackson, and I can tell that she's a fantastic mother because her son is the sweetest boy I've ever met. He's truly a reflection of his momma.

Her team member and best friend, Jennifer S., immediately went into action when the news got out that Melissa was diagnosed with breast cancer and started forming a plan for our school family to show support for Melissa. The plan was that on her last day with us (today), we'd all wear a pink t-shirt with the Super Man logo that had a "W" in the middle with the phrase "Ward off Cancer" (a play off her last name) above it. Her students would even wear pink to show their support for their teacher. We also wanted to raise money to by her a Kindle because she loves to read and didn't want to lug around tons of books to her chemo treatment. In true OHES fashion, we raised more than enough and were able to get her a nice PINK leather case, an amazon gift card, and a few other items for her. But yesterday, Jennifer took it a step further and had her hair stylist add a HOT PINK stripe in her hair.

Seeing that hot pink stripe in her blonde hair inspired a trend that took off like a wild fire in our school. Another teacher had a tube of temporary hot pink hair color and volunteered her services as an impromptu hair stylist this morning. Just about every faculty member got a streak of pink in their hair, including moi! The icing on the cake was when Mr. H, one of our three male teachers that just happens to be a little bald on top, decided that since he lacked the hair required for a pink stripe, he'd color his beard. The final product was simply amazing!

Melissa's husband was in on the action and persuaded her that Dr. G, our principal, had given him the okay to take her out to a nice breakfast and come in an hour late. This way, everyone would be in their pink shirts and she'd walk in to the surprise! This afternoon, we gathered for a "faculty meeting" and presented Melissa with her gifts and sweet words and well wishes were said. Afterward, we all joined hands and said a prayer for her surgery to go well tomorrow. I could truly feel the power of our prayer and the well-wishes in that room. If love could ever be tangible, it was this afternoon. It was all very emotional and I can promise you that there wasn't a dry eye in the place. With our watery eyes and sniffling noses, we all went out to the atrium and took a group shot. Pictured below, is my amazing work family! Melissa is in the center with a dark pink shirt and I'm behind her to the left. If you look closely, you can see all of our streaks of pink hair!


I would like to ask if you would please keep Melissa and her family in your thoughts and prayers. I know they are in mine!

Today has truly been an inspirational, bittersweet, and loving day. I got to witness a true display of friendship, a community of people coming together to support one of our own, and one woman's strength and bravery as she begins her journey in her fight against breast cancer. Melissa, please know that your OHES family will be with you every step of the way!

And, that my dear readers, is what I'm loving this Wednesday.


XOXO, my loves!
B

I love NBC Thursday Nights....

"Calzones are a terrible idea. They're pizza...just harder to eat!"
--Leslie Knope

Every episdoe of Parks and Rec that I watch, I become more convinced that Leslie Knope and I may share several of the same personality traits as well as at least a 1/4 of a brain.

Also, Ron Swanson in braids and a kimono with the middle of his mustache missing????
Yeeeeeee haaaaw!

Now, off to watch tonight's 30 Rock. Quotes of the night so far (and in the first 5 minutes to boot)....
Candaian bell hop: "And may I ask, what's so wrong aboot being from Canada?"
Jack: "If Canada is so nice and friendly, why does most of our meth come from YOUR Asian drug rings?"
Avery: "Are we not even making our own meth!?! What is happening to American manufacturing!?!?!"

HA!


{And yes, I realize I haven't updated in a million and one years. I will update soon...ish.}


XOXO, my loves!
B

I think my plants are a little parched...

Wowza. It feels like it's been ages since I've updated and to all of my nine followers (WOW! Nine people actually read my blog and follow it! I'm so honored. Thank you!), I sincerely apologize for the lack of action. This post is going to be a little "sprinkling" so to speak because this week has been super crazy and I'm fairly certain my brain is about to go on strike. So, without further ado, I'm going to post the most adorable thing I've seen in a very long time. My heart simply melts whenever I see this little pup.




That's all for tonight folks! I hope that you all soon get a dose of joy like little Iso...

XOXO, my loves!
B

Uh, someone left her game face at home!

Today was a rainy Tuesday. I believe it started at midnight and lasted all day. I love the rain, especially when it's raining while I'm sleeping. There's nothing better than a hunkering down in a comfy, warm, bed...except when you wake up late on a rainy morning because your multiple alarm clocks couldn't pull you out of your slumber! (Just to let you know, I'm great in bed. I could sleep for days!)

Due to my inability to rise and shine, I had a very important decision to make this morning, people: be late to school or go the day without my cosmetics.

Being the ever semi-responsible adult, I chose to go without my mascara, rouge, powder, and lip gloss. I spent the whole day BARE FACED and I can tell that it truly affected my day. I was out of sorts, addle brained, just all over the place. It was terrible. I've learned a lesson from the icon of fashion Miss Coco Chanel. There's a quote by Coco that I think may become my life motto:

"I don't understand how a woman can leave the house without fixing herself up a little - if only out of politeness. And then, you never know, maybe that's the day she has a date with destiny. And it's best to be as pretty as possible for destiny."

Oh, Coco, truer words have never been spoken. (I really need to remember them on Saturday mornings when I have to run errands. So easy to slip on a hat and some sweats.) Speaking of the fa-boosh, Ms. Chanel, I simply must recommend the french biopic flick, Coco before Chanel with Audrey Tautou. It's très magnifique! It made me want to hop on a plane to Paris and buy Rosetta Stone to learn how to speak French. (Both are things that I seriously want to do!)

It is almost 9 P.M. and I must take dear Coco's advice to heart. I shall now head to bed to get my beauty rest so that I can wake up on time and "fix myself up a little" in the morning (just in case I have my date with destiny tomorrow!).

Bonne nuit, mes amies!

-XOXO-
B

Good gravey...

Who misspells the title of their blog? Or who would ever post a title that's incorrect and never bother to double check?

Me.

I'm the ding dong. It's supposed to be "Ramblings-On", not "Rambling-Ons". Dang it all to heck. (I'm trying really hard not to embarrass my mother by cursing on my blog. I wish I could say that I've never uttered a profane word in my life, but then my nose would be incredibly long like Pinocchio's because I'd be a liar.)

Needless to say, I'm full of chagrin right now. But, to be quite honest, this is very typical of me. On the outside, I look very put together. I make sure that my hair's teased a little bit, powder is on my nose, my clothes/jewelry/shoes are all color coordinated, and that I've at least sprayed half a bottle of Downey Wrinkle Releaser on my clothes to get the wrinkles out (I don't believe in ironing.) But the rest of me...I'm such a mess. Seriously. You just have to take one look at my teacher's desk at the end of the day, along with my closet, to get that organizational skills are not my forte. I don't believe in putting things away. I believe in putting things in nice little stacks so that I appear to be organized and know what the heck is going on. That's just my style, my method to my madness.

So...yeah. I'll hopefully be changing the title to my blog, but I'm keeping the same address. Besides, I think it gives this blog some character and Lord knows I love some character...

XOXO, my loves!
-B

J-E-T-S! Jets, Jets, Jets, and Cheese.

{Man, I'm really into hydrating my blog today. I promise this one will be quick.}

I love football. I love college football and I love NFL football. Sadly, my Falcons were decimated by the Packers and crushed our Super Bowl hopes. Well, there's always next year. I have a secret to tell you and I've only shared it with a few people. I'm fairly certain that I'm psychic. It's true. I love making predictions, and, according to my predictions with Miss America in years past (I kick butt predicting the Top 15, Top10, Top 5, etc, etc), I'm pretty darn good at it. I claim an 87.5% success rate. (I like to leave a little room for growth.)

Here are my predictions for the AFC and NFC champs of 2011.

For the NFC, the new Champions will be...


The Cheese Heads, aka, the Green Bay Packers. Sorry, Dikta. Maybe Da Bears can do it next year. Let's face it, Aaron Rodgers and his Cheddar boys are just too hungry for that Lombardi. They're going all the way this year and will leave everyone behind in their cheeto dust.

As for the AFC champions, drum roll please...

THE JETS! J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS! And, again, lets face it. The Jets are long overdue and any team that can defeat Tom-Justin Beiber Hair- Brady's team will get my support.

Sorry, Polamalu.
(You still have great hair, though!)

Let's see if I'm right. (I'm 87.5% sure I am.)

You have to water your plants...

The amazing blog goddess, or bloggess (get it? haha), Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman, gave ten very useful tips on helping a blog to grow. Tidbit #2 is one that I found to be applicable to my little blog...

2. Blog often.
Whether you write a sixteen-paragraph essay about the cosmic implications of a free market system, a one-paragraph description of what happens to your soul when you walk into your godforsaken laundry room, or a simple photo and caption, consider your blog a precious bloom that requires daily nurturing.

And watering.

If you water a plant once every two weeks, it will shrivel.

{Here is the link to her blog: http://thepioneerwoman.com/}

Here's the thing. I'm terrible at watering plants. It's a true story. I have killed many-a-plants. One time, I even forgot that I had a plant in my bedroom! It was tucked away in a corner, sitting nice and quietly. Shriveled. Brown. And as dead as a doornail. Oops. My bad.

My name is Blair and I am a plant killer. Rest in peace, bedroom plant.

Despite my plant murdering skills, I'm determined not to let this blog meet a similar fate! In fact, to give my blog some much needed blog food, I've decided to post about....Things That Made Me Happy This Week! Let's get on with the show, shall we?

THINGS THAT MADE ME HAPPY THIS WEEK:

1. Chocolate.

More specifically, Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" chocolate cake. Sadly, the cake pictured above is not a picture of the one I made. Although mine may not have been pretty, it tasted yummy. I made it on Martin Luther King Day (Happy B-day, MLK!) in celebration of Dr. King and his birthday. Ok. Not really. I made it because I was having a chocolate craving something fierce. It was delicious and now it is gone. Thank God.

2. NBC's Thursday night comedy line-up. More importantly, PARKS AND REC IS BACK!!!

I find laughter to be one of the most important things in life. If you can make me laugh genuinely then you're instantly added to my "I like you" category of people I know (and if you're a man, your attractiveness points go up. Big time. Remember that fellas.) My favorite shows on Thursday night are Community, Parks and Recreation, and 30 Rock. All three of these shows have incredibly strong casts and their writers are just brilliant.

I think that Parks and Recreation just happens to be one very underrated little show. It's hysterical and heart-warming at the same time. While it is similar to The Office in it's style (a work-based mocumentary), it's completely different. In fact, I think it's better than The Office (a show which I've never been that big a fan of period.) One of the reasons I love it so much is that it's central character, Leslie Knope, is one strong female. While she is the main character, like Michael Scott, the similarities stop there. She's ambitious, well-meaning, a heart the size of Texas, and she's down-right lovable. Also, funny as heck. It's true.

Let's take a look at Example A, shall we?

The other reason this show is the bomb? Ron-freaking-Swanson played by the man with the mustache, Nick Offerman.

Boo-lah-boo-lah-boo-lah!

Now, enough of my favorite shows (for now.) Moving on...

3. Burt's Bees Lip Balm.

This cold weather is brutal to my lips and causes them to get chapped. What do I use for relief? This little beauty right here...

There is nothing better that slathering this stuff on parched lips and feeling that oh-so-amazing cooling sensation. It's pure heaven. Really. Just ask my lips.

4. My little pup, Lily.




She's so obnoxiously cute and is in dire need of a good grooming. I'm fairly certain that there will be a post soon about the crazy antics of this little pup.

5. Country Strong.






I just saw this movie yesterday, and y'all. It's fantastic. I don't want to give away the plot, but trust me when I say, don't judge this movie by it's trailer. It's pretty dark and deals with some heavy issues. Although the movie is being marketed as it being all about Gwyneth Paltrow's character Kelly Canter, it's not really. It's about Beau Hutton's story. Beau is played by Garrett Hedlund and he simply took this role and ran with it. He's the true star, aside from the music of course, which was beautiful. I bought the soundtrack and haven't stopped listening to it. Leighton Meester and Tim McGraw also gave stellar performances as well. I was very impressed. Go see it. You won't be sorry.

Well, I think that's it for today. I've watered my blog, metaphorically speaking!


XOXO, my loves!
B