Mary Poppins Wasn't Perfect

Hailey Morgan Barr. We were an unlikely match. Everyone knew it. We ourselves knew it. When people heard Hailey and I were going to be roommates, their response was most often "Wait...you and Hailey Morgan?!?" Hailey was all sass. I was boring. Hailey was the life of a party. I just hosted the party. :) My roommate was getting married (shocker!). I needed a new roommate. Hailey needed a roommate. We made it happen. We took a couple of days to get moved in, but our first official day as roommates just so happened to be the same night our good friend Laura was getting engaged. We had unloaded boxes all day (in the middle of the Texas summer) and were heading to the engagement party that night. Needless to say- showers were needed. We were rummaging through boxes trying to find clothes, shoes, and other things needed to show up decent to the engagement party when Hailey decided she was hungry and thought she'd have enough time to cook and eat dinner. She had a box of...

During my time living in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area and now my time living in DC, it is not uncommon to hear someone on the street corner yelling at anyone and everyone "Repent! Turn to Jesus. You don't want to burn in hell!" You are familiar with these sorts of people, yes? In DC, I've even found some people will come out with more than just their voices and a few tracks. They will have a large speaker and mic. They just blast to whomever. How many people walk by them thinking "Wow! This person really cares for me and wants me to go to heaven- so I will stop and talk to them and accept Jesus right on the spot!"...? Anyone? Do you ever see these people and think to yourself "Man. They've got it. They are doing it right." I doubt it. Well, friends.  Facebook has become the new 'street corner.' Those who blast their religious and political views are spewing. They are spewing at whoever and whomever. They don't care who hears ...

While working yesterday, the mailman came.  Yup. That's the sentence I decided to start this post off with. Exciting, right?   Well, what's even more exciting is that he had a package for me.  I opened the package and I immediately became choked up. In my little cubicle, while trying to get a press release out, I just sat at my desk and could barely move.  Inside was a custom made cookbook that contained recipes not only from one person, but many.  Recipes from my grandmothers, my aunts, my dear friends.... Recipes from people who have never met each other- but they all know me.  Recipes from my grandmothers that are family favorites. The ones we have when all our family is together. Seeing my grandmothers handwriting on those recipe cards.  Knowing how difficult it was for my grandma Scheatzle to write those out as she has MS. But seeing the handwriting I know and love.  Recipes from friends whose kitchens I've been...

I took this photo a year ago.  Even looking at it now, I still can't believe I was able to be in a room where taking such a picture would even be possible. And to think that life would even get more exciting from here. It's crazy. My first 6 months in Tallahassee at the new job- I wouldn't have called them boring- AT ALL- but it was definitely the learning phase. Learning the Foundation. Learning our mission. Learning how to be their voice on social media. Then June came along. And life became FUN. Lots of fun. Life picked up. I went from sitting in my little office communicating with people via Twitter to sitting in a room with a presidential candidate, to Disney World, to the RNC (OMG), to DC, back to DC again, apartments burning down, moving to DC, traveling to Arkansas, attending conferences.... I mean really. Life picked up. 20 months in to my job with the Foundation and I wouldn't trade it for anything. And I mean that. In other news, not much to update as...

We have a home video of my older sister and I modeling our new Christmas clothes. From 1987. I was three years old. Almost four. I was kinda cute, I must admit. We each had a handful of dresses and Dad had received a new video camera equaling the perfect combo for a modeling show. He put on some sweet tunes and was more than happy to narrate as though he were a beauty pageant host. We came out from our room, bashful at first, not sure what we were supposed to do. Dad had to do some encouraging along the way....asking us to twirl, curtsy or asking question like "who gave the dress to you?" Of course, as the modeling progressed, we became more and more comfortable in front of the camera. So much so, we'd hear in the background "Minda, put your dress down!" after I'd get so excited and my twirling would become a bit aggressive. Also, teaching a three year old to curtsy is quite comical. Each time the curtsy looked different, but most of the time it ju...

In each apartment I've had the past 7 years, I've had a wall in my home with a collage of frames. No frame was the same, and each contained pictures of dear friends. In my first apartment I think I'd had maybe 5 frames, but had 13 in my last apartment. In the picture here taken after the fire, you can see the outline where the frames had been hanging. One of my favorite things about this wall was the fact it was always a conversation starter. People would immediately go to the wall and look at each of the pictures, usually prompting questions about each of the people or places the pictures contained. The hard part about 'recreating' that wall in this new apartment is the fact that each of the frames were different. It's not like I could just go buy 15 new random unique frames all at once. So. I've begun a new search. I'm buying frames to fit 4x4 pictures. I bought my first three frames this last week while in Florida (fitting, I guess) and have the...

If you follow me on facebook, twitter, or instagram, you know I take a lot of pictures. And post them. For anyone and everyone to see. But today I want to share a picture with you that means a little something different. A company called Social Print Studio has made it possible to take all instagrams photos and print them on quality photo paper. I had several posters made using this company and decided to have some 4x4 prints made. One of the photos I selected to have printed was of just myself. Which is kind of weird. Maybe. Well, no. It IS weird. It's a selfie. Taken myself. In my car. When I was flipping through the prints I'd purchased, I came across this particular photo of and stopped. It's an interesting photo. I have no makeup on. My hair is not fixed. I'm wearing a sweatshirt. These are usually not descriptions that most girls would say they find great about a photo they find themselves in. But when I came across the photo after having it printed, ther...