Food for your Music Soul

MUSIC FLASH!!!!!!!

One of my good friends is the lead singer for Taddy Porter and they released this album TODAY! I've listened to the whole thing and it is pretty rad. Soooo you should go buy it....now....seriously. Check them out on itunes and buy the album!!!

One week down, many more to go

The last few weeks I've had to make some pretty huge decisions. Up until now I mostly had my choices made for me or I was given just a few options to pick from. Man those were the days! My two biggest decisions were where to go for college and graduate school. I remember at the time I thought those were the biggest decisions ever. Yeah I thought wrong.

Over the last few weeks (well months really) I had to really figure out what I wanted, needed, and what is really most important to me. Sure I "wanted" to move to Chicago, but what you want isn't always what you need (I can hear my dad's voice in the back of my head). My next idea was "wanting" to live in Tulsa, Dallas, or Pensacola where I didn't have to pay rent for a year. Saving up money sounded like the grown up thing to do! I then realized I had to be mature (ugh such an ugly word) and figure out the difference between what I wanted and needed. I came to the conclusion that I "needed" to find a job where I could get the most quality experience and really push myself to learn as much as possible, even if that meant moving away to a small town away from your family and friends (dagger to the heart - okay I'm a little melodramatic).

So this brings me to the present. I have found an incredible hospital where I get to learn a million new things each day. I've officially spent an entire week there so far and yes I am so overwhelmed, but at the same time I am learning more then I could have ever expected. Moving to a small town has given me the opportunity to work with all types of patients in many different settings, such as the precious sickly newbies in the NICU, patients in the ICU, pediatrics, outpatient, etc. Literally every single wing, every single floor, babies through geriatrics - I'll get to work with it all! It's so exciting and unbelievably scary at the same time, but every day I leave feeling good knowing that I learned something I didn't know before.

Moral of the story : Maybe God's plans don't match your plans. If given the choice, I would go with His. He kinda knows what He is doing. He is kind of a BIG deal.

Happy Father's Day!

I am the luckiest girl in the world! Wanna know why? Not only do I have one fantastically incredible father, but I have two! As much as I would love for you to think they are "together" (because lets face it....that would be hilarious) they are not. They deserve a whole lot more recognition than one day out of the year, but this is the only day Hallmark allotted to the world.

The one and only Steven E. Holden the first.

I've known him for 24 wonderful years of my life. No one makes me laugh harder than this man (except for maybe my brother who is a clone of my dad). I love him more than anything and I depend on his wisdom and love every day. Not to mention he has some incredible fashion tips. God truly blessed me when he chose this man to be my father.

Tim Gribben, step-father extraordinaire!

Look up "selfless" in the dictionary and there is none other than this man. He truly has a servant's heart in every sense of the word. He has a wonderful heart and would do anything for anyone. I mean it must say a lot considering he has been able to handle my loony-tune family!

Love you both with all my heart!

Soon-to-Be Mrs. Gavin DeGraw!

Okay maybe I won't become Mrs. DeGraw anytime soon. A girl can dream, right?!? Last weekend I went to one of his concerts. It was AMAZING! I would suggest for everyone to go see him at least once....if not more.

Even more entertaining than Gavin is the super fans that you get to watch everywhere.

• Super fan #1 - he cannot see you even though you continue to excessively wave at him every time he looks to the left.
• Super fan #2 - dancing seductively will not get you noticed by him. Everyone behind you is just making fun of you. Maybe you shouldn't drink anymore.
• Super fan #3 - I'm sure Gavin appreciates that you bought a shirt (or two), but no matter how many times you hold it up he is still not going to notice you.
• And to all the boyfriends of super fans - might not be a good idea to bring your girlfriend to Gavin's concert. She won't be thinking about you later that night.

Trials and Tribulations of Moving

Well I am officially moved into my new fancy-shmansy pad in Amarillo. This was the first time I moved basically by myself and ya know it wasn't too shabby! Don't get me wrong...moving still blows. But there are a few things I learned and it's your lucky day because I'm sharing them with you! I know...I'm much too kind.

1. You do not need all the stuff you're leaving with. I would suggest going through all your clothes and going to a second hand store, such as Plato's Closet, and selling as much as you can. You might not get much, but every little bit helps. Everything you can't sell take to Goodwill. Seriously you're probably never going to wear that ugly dress again and no it's not going to come back in style....ever. Just let it go.

2. Boxes are way more expensive than they need to be. You can buy and sell your boxes on Craigslist. I got this great tip from my step-sister, the wonderfully comedic Jenny-Lynn. I'm pretty positive "selling cardboard boxes" cannot be mistaken for any innuendo so you should be safe! You can also get free boxes from grocery stores...especially if you're a young girl. Sorry guys.

3. I would try to wrap all of my breakables in clothes. It's free, it doesn't leave a mess, and the clean up is easy. If you don't want to use your clothes, make sure to use un-printed paper. Newspapers can leave their print on whatever you are trying to protect. Don't get me wrong, I love the news...just not all over my vases.

4. If you don't want to spend a couple grand on a moving company consider Uhaul. They now offer to hook you up with a loading and unloading crew. They'll list all the crews in each city along with price, ratings, etc. and you simply pick which ones you would like. The 2 crews I had helping me were absolutely incredible and cheap, cheap, CHEAP! A moving company quoted my move to cost anywhere from $1700 - $2000. We went the Uhaul route and it only cost about $800 - $850.

5. You CAN drive a Uhaul all by yourself even if you're a girl. Notice I didn't say "drive well" but I got from point A to point B so I'm gonna call it a success! Gas in these sweet rides is expensive so don't be shocked when a 1/2 tank costs you $100. And if you plan to go over 70 mph then I would make a different plan. O and one more thing...Uhauls are not equipped with CD players so if you require music to somehow pass the mind-numbing drive then I would suggest looking for an alternate means of playing music. Okay I know I said one more thing, but I remembered one more...many Uhauls (I hope note all) have manual windows. I didn't even know these prehistoric vehicles still existed! Well I love to have the windows down so before I started my trek I rolled down my window and the passenger window. I now know I should have probably checked the weather report. I was hit with a pretty amazing downpour and couldn't do a single thing about the passenger window. I mean I was just helping clean the interior of the Uhaul, right?

6. If you are renting, always give the place a good look through BEFORE the crew starts moving in your stuff. When I arrived in my apt the windows were open to air out the place because the carpet had just been cleaned. I thought no biggie. Well I got moved in, left for a few hours to eat dinner with my dad, and when we arrived back into my new apt we had quite a surprise. The apt reeked of animal pee. The cleaning of the carpets just emphasized any smell that might have existed before. I was positive it was cat pee because it is impossible to get cat pee out of the carpets (just one more reason why cats are inferior to dogs). Dad was sure the lady before me was harboring a Tiger because the smell was so horrific. The apt managers even came over and couldn't pretend it didn't smell funky. Well I now have brand new carpet...thanks apartment people!

So moving is not as painful as I predicted. Good to know.

Well Hello Again Texas....I've missed you.

It's time for the next chapter in my life. I don't know if I'm ready or not, but I'm turning the page anyways. Now that I have graduated I must complete my clinical fellowship year (CFY). All this means is I will have a supervisor looking after me for 9 months. When I was trying to decide where to complete my CFY I had to really think about what was most important to me. I had it narrowed down to 2 things: mental well-being & experience. I also realized that I could not seem to fit both of those things into the same job. Shucks.

My original plan was going to look something like this:

Awww...Chicago. Clearly my original plan was to make sure I had an exciting life outside of work. At first I really didn't care which setting I would work in as long as I could be here. I mean is loving where you work so important? As soon as you left work there would be something new and exciting to do every night, so many people from different backgrounds to meet, plays and concerts every weekend to go to, world renowned restaurants to eat in, public transportation (seriously I love the L), etc.

Well I realized I had to grow up a little bit and make the wise decision. The quality of the experience I will be getting from my CFY should and does outweigh the amazing social life I could have had in Chicago. Goodbye social life...I'll miss you too.

And now my plan looks a little something like this:

Dear Amarillo,

Hmmm....where do I start? I feel like we have gotten off on the wrong foot. Okay okay I might have made fun of you for the past 6 years - my sincerest apologies. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be living within your city limits. God sure does have a sense of humor. I decided working in a hospital would be much more important than my social well-being. In these next 9 months I am going to honestly try to enjoy what you have to offer. Not sure what that is yet, but I will figure that out. Luckily my best friend in the whole world is a native Amarillo-an...Amarillo-ian...Amarill-an? Okay whatever you get my point. So clearly you must have something to offer, right? Well I'm trying to jump in with both cowboy boots (yes that will be my first purchase) and enjoy whatever comes my way. Here is to being a grown up and making grown up decisions. So far being a grown up kinda blows. Cheers!

Sincerely,

The Okie Wanderlust

P.S.

If you could tone down the wind just a wee bit I would greatly appreciate it. I'm pretty sure you're just trying to blow Ruby back to Oklahoma.

SLP Class of 2010!

Whoever said "time flies" didn't go to graduate school. On June 15th, 2010, I officially graduated with my masters in speech-language pathology. That morning I woke up and seriously contemplated not going to graduation. I didn't think the rents would mind because they have been to a total of 5 of my graduations already. What's one more really gonna do? Well clearly once I spoke with them that was not an option. So I threw on a dress, put on some sassy shoes, and added a few false lashes for sparkle (o yes....false lashes are God's little gift to us). I made my way to Norman (and somehow managed to get lost) and finally arrived at the correct place. I drug my heels all the way to the ceremony. Seriously why did I even go?!?

I made my way to my seat and above all the noise in that place I could clearly hear my family. No they were not yelling for me....they were yelling at me. I couldn't make out what they were saying and I didn't wear my glasses so I could not figure out what they were pointing at. So I tried shaking my head like I knew what they were talking about....that didn't work. I then tried to ignore them....that didn't work. I even gave them the "sit down and shut up" gesture....nope that didn't work either. So finally I strained really hard to hear my mom/see what the heck she was pointing to. I could have swore I heard her say "Emily", but why the heck would she be saying that? She was pointing to a row of girls, but since I didn't have my glasses trying to make out their faces was pointless. Luckily a gangly looking girl (sorry Em) stood up. I looked at her and then looked at my mom and said "My Emily?!?" And then the water works started. Not only was "my Emily" there, but my other two girls Jaclyn and Megan!!! Somehow these incredible besties of mine were able to keep a huge secret from me for 2 whole months and they drove all the way from Houston & Temple to surprise me! I was absolutely shocked and then I was so SO happy I was graduating! Honestly it was the best graduation I have ever had all because of these three. Love, love, LOVE them so much!

I am so blessed to know these three!

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When I was driving to graduation with my family we drove past this fantastic statue of a sphinx/angel/cat/sumo wrestler thingy and I told my brother that I had to have a picture with this amazing piece of art. Then after graduation when I was reuniting with my lovelies what is their first request?!? Taking a picture with this amazing sphinx type statue!!! Seriously is our friendship meant to be or what?

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And my wonderful parents who made me go to my graduation! Love you both so SO much!

And now.... NO MORE SCHOOL EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello Real World - please be nice to me :)