Best Friends > Boys

I saw this on MSN/Glamour/whatever (they all pull content from other places) and it made me happy so I thought I'd share. I'm lucky enough to have several people I call my best friends and I believe they are the greatest ladies in the world!

[Note: Erin Meanley writes for the Glamour.com relationships blog, Smitten. This is an excerpt from that blog.]

Believe it: a true friend is way more valuable than a boyfriend. The same is true when you're 20 as when you're 80. So while some of you may be scrambling to meet a guy or working overtime to make a relationship happen, just remember that your best friend is for life. The guys will come and go — and they'll cause a lot of drama in between. In case you need a reminder, I've listed 20 reasons a BFF is more important than a BF!

1. A best friend doesn't care if you haven't shaved your legs or painted your nails today.

2. A best friend doesn't make you watch boxing on TV.

3. A best friend is equally as literate in The Bachelor and DWTS as you are.

4. A best friend doesn't booty call you.

5. A best friend isn't concerned whether you're Julia Child or not.

6. You won't have to diet to meet your best friend's mom.

7. A best friend doesn't talk about marriage just because s/he thinks it's what you want to hear.

8. A best friend doesn't spook at the word "baby."

9. A best friend understands your issues about bangs, periods, nasty bosses, push-up bras, straightening irons, and driving in heels, because she has the same issues.

10. A best friend can listen to a complaint because that's how we communicate.

11. When all the men have left, your best friend will still be there.

12. If a best friend puts his/her career ahead of you for even one night, you can tell the person to snap out of it, and s/he'll agree with you.

13. None of your best friend's Facebook friends will make you jealous.

14. A best friend always puts the toilet seat down.

15. A best friend will not only wait for you to get ready — she'll help you get ready.

16. You never have to suck in your stomach for a best friend.

17. A best friend is fine with you wearing a dress that looks like a tent.

18. A best friend carries spare feminine products on her person at all times.

19. On vacation, a best friend can work on her tan for nine straight hours, just like you can.

20. When you're in the mood for chocolate, your best friend is also in the mood for chocolate.

Aaaaaand I'm Back!

So again I've gotten behind on this blogging thing but I am back now! And now that it is summer, I don't have school as an excuse to not blog. So to get things started here's a look at what I've been up to so far this summer...

I went to Austin and got to visit my old campus and some of my best friends in the world. It was a great 10 days and I'm sure I gained 15 lbs with all the Mexican food I ate!

When I got back from Austin, I hung out with some country music stars at CMA Fest. It was pretty much 4 days of awesomeness and I'm so glad I got to go with my wonderful friend Raysha!

I also got my puppy back! Isn't he cute? Yeah... that's what I thought until Father's Day weekend when he proceeded to jump out the window of a (slow-moving) truck as I pulled into my parent's driveway. Now before you judge my dog-mom skills - he had never, EVER shown any interest in open car windows until about 5 seconds before he jumped out. Nevertheless, he survived and I don't feel too sorry for him...

I also got to see these little cuties. I hadn't see Tyler (the oldest boy - blonde) since last September and he's gotten so big!! He's now 10 years old and is very grown up, mind you. I love these kiddos more than I could ever express and am eternally grateful to my sister for giving me such wonderful nephews/niece. I am lucky to be their aunt.



This past weekend my friends Courtney and Jonathan invited me up to their pool for a day in the sun! I got quite the sunburn but Courtney's pie more than made up for the pain I'm still in!


This is one of the many mushroom friends that have popped up in my yard recently due to all the rain. I just got some new photo apps on my iPhone so I decided to play with this toadstool. It's just too perfect!



Finally, yesterday was quite the rainy Sunday so pretty much the only thing I did was venture to Target where I bought Max a brand new sweaky toy! I know, I know -- he's too spoiled. But, he loved the toy so much he took it to bed with him last night!

Well that is about it from me for now, but I promise to keep more up to date with this thing!
Much love to all!

I Survived!!

So I'm apparently really bad at this blogging thing. Maybe grad school and blogging aren't supposed to be done at the same time. But alas, I have survived my first year of graduate school! (almost) I have about a week until my last final is due but I will push through to summer. And after that comes....

I GET TO GO TO AUSTIN!!! My best friend from college is graduating with her Master's on May 21, so I get to go play for a couple weeks to celebrate. I miss Austin and UT each and every day and am so excited to go back!

After I return I get to move into my new house and get to explore this great city of Nashville over the summer. I will also be working part time at Vandy to put some food on the table. If you know of fun summer in Nashville activities I should not miss, let me know! This may be my only summer here!

Where has March gone?

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been so MIA lately. I never meant for this to be a daily blog, but over a month is way too long. So we have some catching up to do!
Nothing really happened in February after Valentines day, so we will move right along to my birthday. My birthday is March 5, which also happened to be the first weekend of Spring Break! To celebrate, my wonderful grandmother flew all the way out to Nashville from Los Angeles to entertain me for a week. It is hard for me to see her getting older, but she still has it. I treasure every moment I have with her and am just now starting to realize there is still so much I don't know about this incredible woman! Anyway, while my grandmother stayed for a whole week, my parents came up just for the weekend to celebrate me turning 23!
In the pictures, please notice the bangs that lasted a total of 4 days. I tried them, but decided that front bangs just aren't for me, so I'm back to the usual side-bang do.

As stated before, my birthday marked the beginning of Spring Break. Grandma left on Tuesday and Wednesday I was off to Philadelphia to volunteer at a student affairs conference. It was actually the job fair attached to the conference, but it was a great experience and I'm glad I went. I'm not sure if that is where I'll be looking for a job this time next year, but it could be so it was nice to go get the inside scoop on how things work.

On Saturday, I skipped out on volunteering and went site-seeing! I'm a huge history buff so getting to go see the places that our country was founded was amazing. For pictures, please see my Facebook. There are too many to choose from.

Since Spring Break, I've had a few personal things going on and I'd like to take the opportunity to thank all of you who have been supporting me through this. I appreciate you every day!

Well, I am a grad student, so of course school is calling. I am giving a presentation on moral development theory tomorrow so wish me luck!!

'Til next time...

Happy Valentines Day!

"Married men perform far better in life than single men, and are happier than single men, and live longer than single men, and earn more money than single men. Married women, on the other hand, make less money than single women, suffer more from depression than single women, don't live as long as single women, and are more likely to be the victims of violence than single women."-- Fun Facts from Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert


Now I'm not going to turn all feminist on you and denounce the institution of marriage, but this book has really got me thinking. The author (same women who wrote Eat, Pray, Love) is a marriage skeptic who is getting married so her partner will be allowed in the country. To prepare herself for marriage (again.. her first ended in divorce) she does a lot of research on the history of marriage, the social constructs of marriage, how to make marriages work, why marriages fall apart, motherhood, etc.

Pretty much, throughout the world and throughout history, marriage sucks for women! They are the ones who primarily give up their passions and dreams and sacrifice more for her husband and kids than most men do. This is changing, but the statistics still aren't good and I don't want to end up giving up everything about myself to make some man happy.

I still want to get married and have kids some day, but I honestly do feel a little more prepared for all that having read this book. I am not finished with it but I would definitely recommend it to anyone, whether you've been married for 50 years or, like me, are still single.

All of this in the spirit of Valentine's Day...
Kelsey

Plug for Gray!

Also, I want to give a shout out to my friend Gray and his wonderful blog. It brings me joy daily to see how people decorate their cars. I think it really does show something about someone. I know that when you look at my car you can tell instantly I went to UT Austin and am a HUGE fan! To see what others are saying via their bumpers check out: http://auto-garnish.tumblr.com/

Snow, snow, snow...

I am tired of snow!!! I know that Nashville is north of both Texas and Mississippi, but last I checked, Tennessee is still in the South!! But yet again, Mother Nature has blessed us with a snowstorm. I am tired of it, and it just makes me want to move back to Austin.

In other news, this is my off week in boot camp and I have done NOTHING! I am absolutely going to die on Monday when we get back to it. And to make things worse the aforementioned snow forced us to cancel the best part of off week: PANCAKE PANTRY!! It is a Nashville institution and it is way too busy to go on the weekends, so I look forward to this every month.

I also turned in my first paper of the semester tonight. It is for a class I don't really care for and to be honest, I don't think it's my best work. However, it is now in my past and there is nothing I can do about it now, so....

With all of these stressers this week, I am very much looking forward to going home this weekend. My wonderful mom's birthday is tomorrow, so Max and I are loading up and heading back to MS to celebrate with her. More on that trip when I get back!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!