My Grown Up Christmas List

**Disclaimer...This post is for my family. You may want to skip it...

Every year my mom asks me to make a list of what I want for Christmas and she shares this list with everyone in my family. I normally like to make a fun list with all the pictures and email it..or I've even been known to make a powerpoint. But this year, I am going to blog. I figure the people my list would normally go to read this, so it will suffice. Plus, its only natural to expect the unexpected when your dealing with Katie. :) 

So, {drum roll please} Introducing: 

Christmas List 2010

Instructions:

Click on the picture and it will take you to the website. Please note, these are in no particular order.

Gourmet Collection- Saute Pan Set- 2 Pack

MAC Eyeliner- Engraved

Gold Fossil Watch

Leather Jacket- Size Small

Lauren Conrad Style

TOMS Shoes- Size 8

No-Crack Lotion

In Style Magazine Subscription

Gift Cards:

 

It was way harder than I thought to find these items. I found a million and one things I want to get for my family, but I really had to scrounge to find stuff for me. I'm a hard girl to shop for because usually if I want something, I just go get it. I'm a little impatient that way. 

Mom, I will try real hard not to change my mind OR go buy anything on my list myself. But, to be on the safe side....check back for updates. :)

Why I Wear Orange....

Why I Wear Orange. Is orange a particularly pretty color? no. Yet we all find it beautiful. Is it a popular color? Fashion right now has a lot of orange in it, but normally, it isn't. Is it a powerful color? it is eye catching, but not really considered a power color. So why in the world do I and the other faithful love it so much?

The color is a symbol. It is all we remember of our Oklahoma State experiences. To us it not only symbolizes all the national championships, but also 0-10-1. It is Theta Pond, it is Fraternity Row, it is the Union. It is Barry Sanders, Walt Garrison, and even Dexter Manley. It is Eddie Sutton, Leonard Hamilton, Les Miles, Pat Jones, Mike Gundy, and Henry Iba. It is the wrestling team, soccer team, and even the intramural teams. It is meeting your friends at Joes or the Hideaway. It is Pistol Pete. It is the Waving Song or the Alma Mater. It is the Walk, it is tailgating. It is that girl you always wanted to ask out but never did. It is that guy that you were too shy to talk to. It is risks taken, it is wild success and fantastic failures. 

It isn’t just the buildings, it is the memories that we make in them. It is late night Pizza Shuttle runs. It is no air conditioning in the dorm or getting tickets from campus police. It is not understanding your chemistry instructor or that really nerdy English grad student. It is signing up for a 5 hour class at 7:30 in the morning as a freshman. It is learning to never do that again. It is hating OU. It is Bedlam. It is showing our recruits how much we appreciate them, it is feeling disappointed when some choose to go elsewhere, or the elation of them deciding to come to OSU and join our family. It is having unbridled optimism that others call orange colored glasses.

 What makes orange so very special isn’t just the best of times; it is also the worst of times. It is beating OU 16-13 but it is equal parts remembering the 10 that were taken from us in the Colorado Plane crash. It is about winning national championships, but it is also honoring the memory of Vernon Grant and Darrent Williams and the feeling of loss. It is as much the reveling in Barry’s Heisman as it is the probation that followed. It is all the highs and the lows that bring us together and form this bond that unite us all. Orange is all of those things. It is always relevant, it is always appropriate. 

We can't talk about our feelings for our school without going into stories that would make people's eyes glaze over. It is hard to explain to people that the reason we wear orange isn't just because of sports. It isn't because of any one thing or even 100 things. Orange is pride in all things OSU. Be they good things or bad things, they are all part of why I love OSU. When I see people wearing OSU hats or shirts, most of the time no words have to be spoken. Just a nod or a smile and we both know that orange is something special.

Time passes… We grow up… Most of us leave Stillwater… Yet we always feel like we are back there when we wear this beautiful color. Orange is knowing that together, we can not only survive anything, but we will succeed.

I'm wearing my orange - are you?

Thanksgiving Fun

Yes, Yes, it's true...We ARE in school for two days this week. I think we are the ONLY district in the Metroplex in school, but that's ok. We had a lot of fun today. I thought I'd share pictures from our MMMR Turkeys and our History Harvest at school today.

Since we were having our big feast today, our classes were shorter. We had fun with these cute little turkeys. They had to cut out their hands, pick 10 numbers, then find the mean, median, mode and range of their set of numbers. It was pretty fun and a great review of MMMR.

All my little turkeys also made a great wall decoration in the hallway. We wanted to be festive for the big History Harvest. :)

Every year our 5th graders get to dress up as Pilgrims or Indians on our History Harvest day. They all bring their favorite Thanksgiving dish to share and we all feast together...dressed up and all. I'm not gonna lie...we have QUITE the spread.

Our parents volunteer to come help serve and be a part of the festivities. 

Check out all those desserts!!!

How cute are the little Pilgrims and Indians sharing their Thanksgiving Feast together?!?

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I thought I'd join in on the fun and link up with Jamie for her Wednesday post.

I'm Loving...That my puppies are here visiting for a few weeks. They make me sooo happy! I just love coming home and they go crazy with excitement to see me. I wish I could get Sey to do that. Ha!

Tyson and Riley (last Christmas)

I'm Loving...Hey Tell! Have you heard of this app? OMG...best.app.ever! It turns your phone into a walkie talkie and you can send messages to people. It alerts you as a text message when someone pages you and then opens the app. Just keep it open and you talk back and forth. Yes, I know we could just call...but it's basically a verbal text message, and SAFER! My family loves it and we have code names. 

I'm Loving...My way cool boot camp instructor! :) He never ceases to amaze me. I'm telling you, this kid is cooler than the flip side of my pillow. Prue awesomeness. 

I'm Loving...That in less than 25 days I will be in NEW ORLEANS! I so can't wait. I still need ideas of what to do when I get there. We'll be staying in the French Quarter, so stuff around there.

I'm Loving...That we only 4 more school days until Thanksgiving Break. Can't wait to be with my family! Period!

I'm Loving...That in less than a week I get to play with my Harper Girl as much as I want. I miss her to pieces...you would too, look at this face...and those EYES!

I'm Loving...That so many people are supporting my dad! He is so UH-Mazing and it really makes my heart smile to read the letters and messages everyone is sending me recognizing that they know his greatness too. The Newmie Bands and Fighting Back shirts have been a total success. You all are awesome! ..and the shirts turned out pretty rad too.

I'm Loving...That my Oklahoma State Cowboys are ranked #12 in the nation and are 9-1! I'm getting REALLY excited that we actually have a good chance of winning the Big 12 South and playing down here! Tailgating? Yes, please. 

Teacher Thursday!

*Disclaimer...If you are not a teacher, you will probably want to skip this post*

Seymour Simon came to visit my school today for an Author's Visit. It was pretty neat. If you don't automatically know who I'm talking about, he has written over 250 science books for kids. Here are a few of the books...

He talked to the kids about space and it was fascinating! He explained to us just how big our universe is with little bouncy balls. If you imagine Earth as a small ball, then the whole library (and it's big) would be the Sun. wow!

One more fun fact that I learned today was an example of how many stars are in our galaxy (Milky Way)  If we filled our entire school with sand, floor to ceiling, and counted each grain...there would STILL be more stars in the galaxy. That's hard to even fathom.

Nerd Alert! 

Here is a picture of me with Seymour Simon. He loved me...I saved his presentation with my technology skills. Holler! 

I was a bit bummed that the ONLY book I could find at the last minute was this book on Spiders. YUCK! I hate spiders...but an autograph is an autograph I suppose.

All in all, it was a good time. His website is pretty amazing too. Check it out...especially his blog. There's a great post on BED BUGS! Ahhh!  www.seymoursimon.com

SU2C

...Stand Up To Cancer. Have you heard about this? I first learned about it during a commercial while I was watching the World Series. It looked really cool so I visited the site. They have a section on their site where you can launch a star for someone you love with cancer. All you have to do is make a donation and write a little message to the person you love.

I launched a star for my uncle and my dad last night. They are right next to each other in the sky.

    

How cool is that?!?  We have dubbed their galaxy the "Newm-Sok" Galaxy. Ha! I know every time I go outside and look into the sky I will probably say "There's my dad's star, or there's my uncle's"...but it's just a nightly reminder to say a quick prayer for the people I love. But how cool is it that there is a star out there named for each of them.  In case you ever want to make a donation to a good cause and don't know which one you want to donate to, consider cancer research. They are so close to finding a cure, and just think...we could all be part of finding it! SU2C!

Girls Weekend

I had SO MUCH fun this weekend! My mom came down to spend some quality girl time with me. Here are just some of the highlights (aka places we took pictures)

Friday Night...We went to Spring Creek for some tasty BBQ and then came home and got all the Fighting Back shirts and Newmie Bands packaged up to ship out. (I'm sporting the shirt in this picture in case you needed a model) 

Saturday Morning we woke up at 6:00 am to get ready for my 5th grade fundraiser...an Applebee's Pancake Breakfast. It was great fun and the food was oh, so tasty. 

Next stop...PEDICURES! We had to get our feet ready for our day FULL of shopping. We headed out to Southlake's Town Square...It is so beautiful out there and the shopping is heavenly. 

Have you ever heard of these? Nothing Bundt Cake? OMG! To die for bundt cakes. If you ever come across one of their stores, you HAVE to stop and try one. 

Today was great. Went to church, ate at La Madeline (yum!) a little more shopping and then got ready for the big Remix tomorrow. We had a great time! I wish we could do it more often...Love you mom!