Getting Passport: Might Possibly Travel

I stood in my closet this morning, browsing my tops and trying to decide which shirt had a neckline that I won't regret in 10 years. Why? Because I took passport photos today. And a passport is good for a decade. What hair style and neckline will I not regret in 10 years? It's hard to say. If you told the 20 year old version of me that I would wear jeans other than bootcut in a decade, and that the jeans I would wear would accentuate all the wrong things and make me more hyper aware of how squatty I am and how wide my hips have become, I wouldn't have believed you. And, for the record, I think I'm going to get a Change.org petition going to bring the bootcuts back and rid the universe of the skinny jeans. It's time for them to go.

Anyways, I did go to a post office today and a very nice lady administered my passport application process and made me raise my right hand and take an oath and that made me very nervous all of a sudden.

Is this photo a true likeness of you? I don't know, I'm wearing a lot of makeup. When I woke up I looked a heck of a lot worse than this.

Are all of the answers in this application true and accurate? Maybe. You already made me change one answer because I said I am 5ft 2 inches AS I HAVE SAID FOR THE LAST 12 YEARS and you corrected me and informed me that I am 5ft 1 inches and so I am just really not sure about anything anymore.

The last time I applied for a passport, I was 14 years old. I was going to Italy on a choir trip and I had braces and lets just say I'm glad that photo is no longer a part of my national security record. The next time I traveled outside of the United States was on a cruise and they didn't make me have a current passport for that, and then the next time was on my honeymoon in 2006 and we went to Puerto Rico which is part of U.S. territory so I didn't have to have one then, either.

Since then, we've traveled to Florida and California and Oregon and New York and lots of fun places, but we've kept it domestic. So where am I going now, you're asking? Why do I need a passport?

Get this: I have no travel plans.

Let me break it down. Grant and I are not long term planners. We're more like 60 day planners. And I don't have a passport. So what if we want to go somewhere? We can't he will say to me. You don't have a passport.

Well guess what? I do now! BOO YAH!

Also, Ellie is at school today so I could apply and not have a toddler climbing up my leg. Ellie is especially mad at me today because I made her take off her pajamas and then I also refused to let her carry her GIANT PINK CASTLE into the car with us today. Clearly I am an out of control dictator.

Anyways, this is the top I chose. Also, the lady who took the photo kept telling me multiple times to get my hair out of my face. The side bangs were not acceptable. Apparently the U.S. Department of State needs everyone's foreheads to look as large as possible.

The Early Arrival of Christmas in Our Home

I'm starting Christmas festivities a little earlier than usual this year. I normally have a strict day-after-Thanksgiving start date in our home, but this year I'm bending my rules a little bit. I haven't started decorating, and I probably won't until Thanksgiving is over, but I am easing some things in. It all started two weeks ago when we took a little family field trip into Lowe's and Ellie about lost her mind in the Christmas department. LOST. HER. MIND. She doesn't really remember Christmas last year and there were all these trees and twinkling lights. And don't even get her started on the giant, inflatable yard decor. Y'all.

She looked up and saw Snoopy in a helicopter and started yelling at the top of her lungs "LOOK! LOOK! HEDICOPPER!" really loudly. Like, we were the spectacle of the Lowe's. Then, a 9ft. tall giant inflatable teddy bear. "TEDDY BEAR, MOMMY! DADDY! LOOK! BEAR!"

And then.

AND THEN.

She saw the Mickey & Minnie inflatable.

It wasn't this exact image, but you get the idea. I wish I could accurately describe to y'all how much my child lost her ever loving marbles in the Lowe's. Screaming, y'all. SCREAMING. "MICKEY MINNIE! OH! OH HI MICKEY MINNIE!" Over and over again. I turned to Grant and said "Why would we ever need to take her to Disney World? We can just come to Lowe's."

Grant then turned to his daughter and said "Ellie... this is called Disney World. You are at Disney World right now."

Anyways, we had to pull her away to go to other departments in the Lowe's store and she was not happy about that AT ALL and sobbed and screamed and threw a giant toddler hissy fit. It was a really special time, as I'm sure you can imagine.

Anyways, I know she is going to love Christmas this year. She's been watching some Christmas movies that I've rented from Amazon Prime and she is loving it all. I love that she's hearing these songs for the first time and loving them. I've also ordered her a nativity set and a little toddler Advent calendar to go through once Thanksgiving passes. Like I said, I usually don't start things this early, but in a way I feel like this is her first Christmas and I don't feel like 25 days is enough time for her to watch all the Christmas specials she is required to watch and get the full Christmas story and experience. So, Christmas has come into our home. In small increments, but it's coming.

I'm loving that the weather is getting chillier and I'm drinking lots of hot coffee and making chili and stews and pretending like I live in the tundra of the North. It never hurts to use your imagination.

Also, this has nothing to do with anything I just wrote about, but I reaaallly love this cover by Sara Bareilles and feel like it needs to be shared. So I'm sharing it. Because it's my blog and I can share what I want to.

So just play that 14 times and tell me you aren't in some kind of zen, relaxed, sip coffee and ponder life kind of moods. The girl is talented. Give her all of the Grammys.

That Time a Serial Killer Knocked On Our Door

I've shared with you before that my sisters and I didn't always handle pressure well. A few weeks back I explained how we ripped the spoiler off the back of my sisters car for no reason and pushed a panic button because someone was panicking. If you haven't read that blog, you can click here and find out more about that moment of my life that I am ever so proud of.

Every once in awhile I'll think of another sister story that I feel like needs to be documented for posterity's sake. So, today, I ask you to sit down, grab a cup of coffee and a good blanket for this edition of Sister Stories.

I was in elementary school, Jaclyn in middle and Shannon in high school. We all arrived home from school that day to find that our mother was not home. This was rare, but she left us a note (Hey, kids! There was a time when your mom couldn't text you because text messaging wasn't a thing and also children did not have phones. Isn't that crazy!?) and the note informed us that she had to run a quick errand but that the piano tuner would be arriving around 4:30 and she left us a check to give to him. All we needed to do was let him in.

That seemed simple enough. Basic instructions, right?

Well, Shannon had heard on the news recently that there was a serial killer on the loose posing as a piano tuner. Never mind that this sweet, elderly man had been tuning our piano for years and had never, not even once, attempted to murder any of us any of the times he had been in our home. Shannon, being the amazing and responsible big sister that she is, decided that a serial killer would not be entering our home. Not on her watch.

So, as 4:30 approached, we locked all the doors, turned off all the lights, and closed the shutters. We sat upstairs, looking out a tiny crack through the shutters as he came, knocked, and left. NO ONE IS HOME, PIANO TUNER MAN, YOU CAN GO MURDER SOMEONE ELSE.

When my mom arrived later that afternoon, she asked a) why our house was so dark and b) if the piano tuner had come. We informed her that we would not let him in because there was a piano tuner serial killer on the loose and you can never be too careful.

Mom went off on a nice little tirade about following instructions and how this man is approximately 109 years old and now she has to reschedule and GIRLS CAN YOU STOP BEING SO DRAMATIC?!

How lucky my parents were to have us.

It's a New Day

Hello, Monday! Confession: I actually like Mondays. There's something very fresh and clean about them. Clean slate. I'm all about that. And y'all. It's NOVEMBER, y'all.  November! Christmas is nearly here. Time to get my shoppin' on.

I told Grant last week that I wanted to download the new Taylor Swift album. But Grant told me to just listen to it on Spotify. Well, you know what's not on Spotify? Taylor Swift's new album. So this morning, I sat down to drink my coffee and I certainly did download that album onto my iTunes and I'm listening to it now and IT. IS. FANTASTIC.

I'm busy getting my act together and writing out my day plan since we were gone all weekend. We went to New Orleans to visit family and I helped with a baby shower given for a friend. We also had an awesome date night in the city while Ellie got to stay and play with her grandparents. We had dinner at Lilette and then went into the Quarter for dessert.

Here we are at dinner:

And here is my yummy dessert: Cinnamon Coffee and Creme Brulee from The Bourbon House. YES.

Honestly, we had such a fun night. It's been months since we went on a proper date and I was in a new dress and new shoes and it was all just fun.

Unfortunately, the night did end on a frustrating note. We parked in the Quarter and walked around and we were only there for about an hour or so. When we got back to the car, Grant realized he had misplaced his parking ticket. We searched pockets, all over the car, under the seats, and after about 20 minutes we figured we lost it somewhere along the walk. So we drove up to the cashier of the parking lot and explained that we had lost our ticket. AND THEN THE PARKING ATTENDANT INFORMED US THAT A LOST TICKET CHARGE WAS ONE HUNDRED AMERICAN DOLLARS. We had to pay $100 to get out of the parking lot. ONE. HUNDRED. We tried really hard not to let it ruin our night.

Even though my sweet husband told me the next morning that he dreamed about looking for it all night. Sigh.

Happy Monday and Happy November to you, sweet reader!