Pinterest Christmas List

First of all I hope you all had a wonderful
Thanksgiving Holiday with your families and friends!

My family had such a great day spending time together
and eating lots of yummy foods.

I think I was mostly made up of mac n cheese by the end of the day. ;)

Soooo now that we're headed towards Christmas I thought
I'd do a post about creating a perfect Christmas list.

I mean all I want for Christmas is a certain guy who's
6'4 and British, but sometimes we just have to be patient. ;)

Back to list making...

I remember when I used to

be sitting in class on a crisp November day

and I'd pull out my notebook and start jotting

down my well thought out christmas list.

This is probably the reason I don't remember much

from my Fall semester classes, especially towards the

end of the semester.

Christmas trumped Psychology, sorry i'm not sorry!!

Now that we're all tech-ee and futuristic

I've traded in my notebook for something else.

I've used pinterest for the past two years

to create my christmas list.

It's a great idea because you can

share it with whoever wants your list

and then they've got all of your little Christmas 

dreams at their fingertips.

Not only can they see what you're after

but with one swift click of a button they will

be directed to the exact place of purchase.

There's no waiting in lines or jumping from store to store.

It's easy to share and then it's easy for them to shop.

I like the idea of shopping Small Businesses

so a majority of my list consists of Etsy shops and

small online boutiques.

I love how Pinterest pulls all of my ideas together.

Here's my Christmas Board.

Maybe it will give you some Christmassy ideas of your own.

Follow Emily Owens's board Christmas List on Pinterest.

You can see more of my list on Pinterest!!

Hope you all have a great weekend!! :)

We booked a flight!!!!

A few weeks ago Tom made the trip down to London

to apply for his B-2 Visa to come to the USofA for 6 months.

That was step 1.

It went rather smoothly seeing as he got the Visa with zero problems.

Step 2 was to book a flight.

That step happened on Friday.

So now we just wait for his arrival.

Tom is coming back to Texas and I am so stinking excited!!!

January 22nd can't get here fast enough!!

I'm so ready to have my guy back here with me.

I can't believe he just gets to stay here for half a year!!

I mean I know I did the same thing earlier this year but 

it still just seems so crazy that we get this much time together.

I mean all of this is leading up to even more time together.

But I'll take this for now ;)

Yay for Tom coming back to Texas!!!

I'm not the only excited person to see him returning

but I am the MOST excited out of everyone!!

Yippee I can't wait till he's here!!!

:) :)

Let's talk about personality types

Hey peeps, have you ever heard of Meyer's Briggs?

Chances are you have so I won't really get into it.

It's a personality test that basically reads you like a book.

It knows you so well it's creepy.

I'm an ENFP.

So if I was to describe my type to you

I'd saayyy that' we're really fun and creative

and totally indecisive but when we do make decisions

they are usually pretty good, however fairly soon after

the decision is made we change our minds and do something else.

We're really fun and super complicated.

It's great to be an ENFP.

Some famous ENFP's are:

The Fresh Prince of Bel Air/Will Smith

Sandra Bullock

Rachel from Friends/Jennifer Aniston 

Harry Potter/Daniel Radcliffe

Gwen Stefani

So yea...we're a pretty amazing group!!

However...

right now I'm in that whole indecisive bit.

I want soooo many things, so many things.

I want to start a business, I want to travel the world

I want to be lazy and do nothing but watch New Girl and the Mindy Project...

I want to make a living creating fun things for fun people.

I.want.so.many.things

Being an ENFP is fun but exhausting.

I'd like to think that I'll figure it all out one day

but I'll probably be this way forever soooo oh well ;)

What is your type?

I love hearing what other people think

about Meyer's Briggs, it's pretty fascinating.

So if you feel like sharing just leave a little comment. :)

It was one of thhooossseeee nights...

Alllllrriiggghhhttttt

So last night was fun....pause...not!!

Let's start at the beginning...

I got off work around 5:50 and I knew

I needed some more salad stuff so I went to target.

I bought a really adorable and comfortable sweater.

So i mean the night was starting out on a good note.

The cash register man in Target asked me if I wanted a Red Card.

You know so I could save 5% every time I shop at target.

I said no, (face palm) i'm pretty sure that's where my luck went bad.

Always say yes to Target savings!!

Learn from my mistakes.

The reason I believe it was saying NO to targets Red Card

that gave me bad luck is because as soon as I said no

I realized I forgot to buy a bottle of water.

You see, I was very thirsty.

So I was like...meehhhh I'll just stop at Sonic.

(Drives to Sonic)

I order a sprite at sonic.

I'm all like...yay sprite...It tastes so good.

So it's time to go...

I TRY to start my car...

Dun dun duuuunnnnn

My battery is dead.

Not like dead dead because my lights still work

I can still listen to the radio and what not but

when I turn my key I hear the clicking.

The clicking is bad.

Soooo I do what any stranded gal would do.

I push the red button..

Me -"Ehhh excuse me, my car is dead, is there anyone that can help me?"

Sonic - "Sure thing ma'am I'll send someone out"

Sonic rules!!

So this nice guy comes out and pulls his car around

and proceeds to jump my car.

Or attempt to jump it...

Dun dun duuuuunnnnnnnn

No luck, no luck at all.

It's dead, so dead!!

So I call my dad and he calls AAA.

AAA is on the way.

The nice sonic guy offered to let me

sit in his warm car while I waited but you know me

I passed up on that super generous offer because

"I'll be ok, I'm good"

5 minutes later on the phone with Tom.

"I'm so freaking cold, I can see my breath, I feel the hypothermia"

About 15-20 minutes later AAA made it 

and started doing their thaannggg.

First of all...FIST PUMP to AAA.

They are awesome!!

So on the spot, right then and there, I got a new battery.

At this point I had been off of work for like 2 hours...

I was 10 minutes from where I work and 10 minutes from my house.

Stuck in the middle.

But now with my new battery I was on my way.

Well not quite yet because in all of the battery hoopla

I realized I was out of gas.

Like below the E...

Soooo I pulled into the gas station next door

and I parked, opened my gas flap thing,

unscrewed my gas cap and put it on my trunk.

I put in my card and tell the machine it's Debit

and the machine is like so broke so I get frustrated.

I get frustrated because it's cold and I'm ready

to go home and this stupid pump isn't working

and I get frustrated..

So I jump in my car and drive...

Dun dun duuuunnnnnnnn

I forgot a few things in my haste...

Like the fact that the gas flap was open and my gas cap was on my trunk.

So as soon as I whip around the pump I see my gas cap

rolllinnnggg and rolling and rolling into the middle of main street.

I park real quick because I need to close the flap and retrieve the cap.

So I watch as cars nearly run over my cap...

And then one does run over it...

And then for like .5 seconds there are no cars...

So I decide to run out onto main street and grab

my BROKEN gas cap.

I mean this is main street.

There's nothing calm about it.

And I ran into the middle of it for a broken gas cap.

I get back in my car and oh yea i'm on the phone with Tom.

I was on the phone with Tom when my car wouldn't start

and on the phone with him when I lost my gas cap.

So if you were to ask Tom about my commentary during all of this

it would probably look something like this...

Dead Battery

"Oh no...oh no oh no oh no...

MY CAR WON'T START...AHHHH WHAT DID I DO??

The lights are still on...I DON'T UNDERSTAND???!!!

I need to call my dad, babe I'm calling my dad..I love you"

Gas Cap

"Uggghhhhhh babe this gas pump isn't working...

I JUST WANT TO BE WARM AND GO HOME...

I'm leaving, I'm out of here!!! 

OH CRAP BABE, ohhhh crapppppppp

babe...no...oh noo come back noooooo

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Babe my gas cap, i forgot it....

It rolled into the street...main street babe..

OHHH CRAP it's just been run over..

I'm going to run and go get it...

Babe I got it, I got it babe!!

It's broken...uuggghhhhhh!!!!"

Poor Tom haha

So after all of this...

I go to Walmart because my mom asked

me to get a picture developed for a party she's doing at school.

So I just wanted to go home but I knew she needed it so I went to Walmart.

I just needed one picture and the machine said it would take 23 minutes.

So I wait, I want to be home but I wait...

AND THEN DUN DUN DUUNNNNN

I get a text from my dad...

"Mom doesn't need the picture,

she got it on Saturday"

Lollzzzzz

I leave, get gas, get panda express and go home.

Now I'm here relaying this to you guys ;)

I think the biggest lesson here is to

never say no to Target...

ANNNDDD to chill out a little.

I overreacted about a lot of this because at the time

it was really dramatic and I was really dramatic.

Take a breath and just let it be what it is and move on.

When it rains it pours people, make sure you got a hefty brelly ;)

Oy...

Flighty flights

Buying flights, Oy!

Source

In the past two years of long distance dating

Tom and I have spent around $4,000 on flights alone.

We're about to make it $5,000 with his flight in January 

and before next year is done it will be close to $6,000 because

I'm sure I'll be making my way over there again.

Long distance is EXPENSIVE!!

We've been stalking sky scanner once again.

Waiting for the perfect ticket price.

The problem is, that rarely ever happens.

There was one time that I had a too good to be true flight price

and that was my flight to the Dominican and back.

It was about $320 roundtrip and when I purchased

it i'm pretty sure i heard Angels sing!!

A few weeks ago, before Tom had a Visa

the flights from MAN - DAL were in the $600's.

Today they're in the $900's

But truth be told even when you get a ticket

at a great price you're still left thinking if you could

have done any better.

Flight prices fluctuate so often and it's

really frustrating because you buy a ticket

and then the next day that same ticket is $200 cheaper.

Sooo over the past two years I've just learned to

jump when tickets are looking too good to be true.

I've also learned what the average cost of a flight

from MAN-DAL and DAL-MAN cost.

That way even when I do spend $900 on a flight

I know that it's pretty normal and I haven't totally

been bamboozled by the airline industry.

I mean i've probably been bamboozled but

it just doesn't feel as bad.

Now when the price of flights is $1,100 or more...

I feel totally bamboozled.

All that being said...

Buying flights sucks but it's a necessary evil.

If you've never heard of Sky Scanner

I would deffinitely recommend looking into it. 

It's a great site to compare prices and find

the best times to fly in order to get cheaper flights :)

I'm sure I'll be buying flights for like...the rest of my life

so I'll just have to get used to this ;)

Hope y'all have a great weekend!!

Home Alone

This past weekend my parents went to New York

for their 30th Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to those two, they are without a doubt

the best parents in the entire world and I'm so thankful they are mine!

So about two weeks ago they sprung this idea on us kids,

telling us they were considering a trip to the Big Apple

to celebrate their 30th year together!

image

My sister, brother and I were thrilled because we were
trying to come up with a big creative celebration but time
and money were running low so when they said New York
we got some money together and gifted them with
a card full o' money so that they might do some
extra fun stuff that they might not do otherwise.

So long story short...
They left for New York on Friday morning.

The only people that live in our house are my parents and myself.
Yea, still living at home, moochin like a champ until
long distance becomes no distance ;)

So when they left they left me, all alone, in this big house.

I've never in my life slept in this house by myself.
It's not something I ever wanted to do but you know
I had to put on my big girl panties and just bite the bullet
because we all have to grow up.

So during the day it's all sunshine and butterflies
but then the night comes and it's freaking terrifying.

Freaaaking terrifying!!!

I will not tell a lie, I totally slept downstairs in my parents room.
Yea, I'm 24, so what??

I came to the conclusion that my parents room had a lock on the door
while my bedroom upstairs had no such thing.

PLUS if we were burglarized I'd be on the first floor,
which would make fleeing the house in the event of a fire
or break-in much much easier than jumping from my second story window.

I put a lot of thought into this.
A lot of thought.

I had my escape planned out, blueprinted, I was ready!!

Can you say paranoid????

Yea, i know...

I even thought about getting really crafty and boobytrapping the place.
I had some major major plans that would put Macaulay Culkin to shame!!!

So while I should have used this weekend to party
by myself, probably binge watch some shows and eat loads of Pizza,
I, instead, decided to sit around totally freaked out that this would
be my last weekend on the planet because SOMETHING was
bound to happen during the night.

So night 1

I locked all of the doors and then double checked them ten minutes later.

So there I was all snug on my momma's side of the bed.
They have a sleep number bed, i didn't hate it!!

I was flipping through the channels on the Tv,
mostly watching House Hunters and Diners, Drive ins and Dives.

It was probably around 1:00am when I turned the sound on the Tv down
and prepared myself to go to sleep, night one, alone.

So i'm closing my eyes, all is quiet and chill when....
THE TOILET IN THE HALLWAY FLUSHES ITSELF.

This isn't like a quiet flush either, it's like one of those
flushes that the toilets in public restrooms do.
The LOUD ones that make kids cry.

Yea, that!!

It flushed and I had about 70 mini heart attacks.
I'm surprised I didn't jump out of bed and hightail it out of there.

Ghosts?? Are there Ghosts that like to flush toilets??
Is this like a game to them??

I finally fell asleep.

Night two was the same, the EXACT same.
The freaking toilet of terror flushed again and this
time i'm pretty positive i pee'd myself.

I wasn't ready for it, not ready at all.
Freaking toilet.

Night Threeeee I had a dream that seemed all to real.
I was home alone, in my parents room, scared.
It even included casper the friendly ghost
but I tell you this, he was not friendly...
More like casper the terrifying ghost.

Why did I dream about Casper?
No freaking idea...

There was however no toilet of terror that night.
So you win some you lose some.

Moral to this story is I'm still alive, I survived.
But I'm also a total wimp and I never want to live by myself.

I'm hoping I'll never have to!!

So yea...There's that ;)

2 years of dating bliss + Tom wrote half of this ;)

Hey peeps, gueeessss whattttt??

Todddaaayyyy is my two year anniversary with Tom.

Is that the right way to say it??

My two year anniversary?

Our two year anniversary??

WE'VE BEEN TOGETHER FOR TWO YEARS DANGIT!! ;)

Yeeaaaa, that's right, two years of dating bliss.

I think it's absolutely crazy that it's already been two years

but then at the same time i'm feeling like we've been together longer than that.

I mean looking back on everything we've done so far

it feels like we've had a small lifetime together ;)

We went from penpal messages to letters to skypes to texting to real life

to skype to real life to skype to real life and currently back to skype.

We've skyped hundreds of times for hundreds of hours.

We text like it's going out of style and we are probably

the only two people still using massive amounts of emoji's.

There hasn't been one single day in the past 730 days that I haven't talked to Tom.

We've been saying 'I love you' on a daily basis for 595 days.

We've spent 232 days physically together.

We've been to 5 countries & 5 States together.

We've kissed in some pretty magical places ;)

I love him so very much.

Happy Anniversary bugs!!

You're my favorite!!!

...

Tom wrote a little bit for the bog today

Soooo be sure to read this part in 

Your best British accent ;)

...

It seems strange that the last time I remember writing a blog it was just before

I went over to the US to meet Emily for the very first time. Now I sit here, getting

ready to go for the third time, two years after first saying hello online. It feels like

so long ago, longer than 2 years even, because so much has happened in that time. 

Emily has been over to England to see me twice, the second time was for
six months which was great because it was the first time that 

we really got to be with each other for a good while.

Living together, eating out, shopping, going to the cinema, it was really great just being

together without having to worry about one of us leaving.
That time was kind of the closest Emily and I got to having a
normal relationship which was nice for a change. 

The novelty of long distance gets old fast

but of course I wouldn't change anything because I love her.

Most recently I've also been back to Texas. Which was great too, because I love it there 

and haven't yet been able to spend as much time there as I'd like. But just the short time

that I have been there I've felt so at home. Emily's family have been amazing and I'm

looking forward to seeing them all again. 

So when Emily came up with the idea of me coming back to stay for 6 months

it wasn't long before I was on board. I was a little scared leaving my job but the opportunity to do what Emily did was too good to pass up. Which is exactly what I told the 

people at the US Embassy, which was a little scary too! But all the money we've spent, 

leaving my job, jumping through hoops just so I can get there, its all been worth it to

see Emily because I love her and I can't wait to see her again in January!

...

Weeeellll there you go :)
So much love over here!!

Today is such a good day and i'm so happy
and I love Tom sooooo much!!

I can't wait for him to get here in January.
Next year is going to be the best year yet!!!

Hope you're all having a great day!!
:)