A Very Lucky Girl

To refresh your memory, our flight from Prague to Amsterdam was cancelled so we were en route back to London to make sure we would make our flight on May 1st. We landed at London Stansted Airport shortly after midnight, which really shouldn't even be considered a London airport seeing as it's 40 miles outside of London proper. At this point all public transport into London had stopped running and the first train was scheduled to depart at 5:30 AM. We were exhausted, starving, and freezing. We addressed the middle problem first. Burger King was the only open restaurant in the facility so we begrudgingly got in line. Jordan's nuggets appeared as though they had been sitting in a warmer since 8 AM and my burger was doused in mayonnaise to the point of in-edibility. We managed a few bites before focusing on our next problem: exhaustion.  Since Stansted was so far outside of London we weren't able to get a hostel and resigned ourselves to an airport slumber party for 2....

My sister-in-law and I recently returned from a 13 day adventure around Europe and I couldn't think of a better avenue to share our experience. We both received a multitude of questions of how we planned, executed the plan, and saved $$ for the plan. Do you sense a "plan" theme? Stay tuned, not very much actually went according to plan once we were in motion.  Jordan and I talked on and off about making this trip a reality, but it honestly came together fairly spontaneously. Jordan ordered her passport in January and we booked our trans-Atlantic flights in February, with only about 2 months to go. We decided on April 19th through May 1st, strategically celebrating Jordan's 23rd birthday in the middle! Once dates were selected, destination decisions were made. With this being Jordan's first out of country trip (and her very first flight!), I wanted her to pick most of the places. I had 2 places on my wish list: Nice, France and Budapest, Hungary. After stud...

I am an avid supporter of running. I don't necessarily always love it, nor am I as good at it as my dad or other fanatics, but I do think a jog is a wonderful thing. Add colors of the rainbow to a 5k and I am all in. I've participated in The Color Run in Tulsa twice so when I heard about the Run or Dye race in Oklahoma City on September 28th I signed up immediately. The long-awaited day arrived, and with it came rainstorms of downpour proportions. The 7 AM Run or Dye check-in quickly turned into a Swim or Dye with several drenched, white t-shirt contest participants. I held out hope for the "rain or shine" start that Run or Dye advertised and so Megan and I were there, laced and ready to run. As we eyed the other runners taking refuge in their car, we scrolled through the Facebook updates, desperate for some news, be it yay or nay. Oklahoma residents are not strangers to inclement weather. We are aware of the split-second changes and often have "a little rain ...

I attended the best concert of my life last night with Megan. The event had it all: good music, eye candy, talented artists, but, best of all, the generous spirit of not only Oklahoma, but America. You may have caught Healing in the Heartland on NBC for an hour last night. If so, you were a part of blessing Moore and the tornado victims of the May 20th disaster.  Blake Shelton, the Oklahoman with a heart the size of Texas, put together this incredible event and kicked off the night with the hit "God Gave Me You." Darius Rucker was up next with "True Believers." I'll see you in a few short days on June 8th, Mr. Rucker. Thanks for swinging by early! Rascal Flatts played a song that truly spoke to the victims. "I Won't Let Go" talks of "a storm that cut a path" and of people who "will stand by you." Miranda Lambert teared up during her performance of "The House that Built Me." Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic broke up the cou...

Not mine, rude.  The Oklahoma City Thunder are losing the hirsute beast, James Harden, to the Houston Rockets. Several other players were negotiated in this trade, but they weren't key components of the USA Olympic team so I'm not as devastated about their loss.  The news broke on Saturday evening, as the Sooners were beaten down by a series of unfortunate plays, bad calls, and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Needless to say, it was not a great night for Oklahoma sports.  As I learned more about the trade, I grew progressively disappointed in the decision Harden made. ESPN reported that, " The Thunder offered Harden $55.5 million over four years -- $4.5 million less than the max deal Harden coveted and will get from the Rockets." Harden abandoned his team and his OKC family for 4.5 million dollars. Obviously, I've never been in Harden's position. So I don't fully know his pros and cons list, but neither do I understand the observed greed in this trade. ...

I reside in the home of the Thunder. And I wouldn’t say that I wasn’t a fan. But I certainly wasn’t fanatical. I was happy when they won, but I could shrug off a loss like an ugly cardigan. That has changed. I went to the playoff game last Wednesday night against the Lakers. It changed my whole perspective. It gave new meaning to the random visits that Jamba gets from James Harden from time to time. Not joking. We’ve chatted. Okay, I’ll stop name dropping now. At the beginning of the game, before the refs went blind (more on that later), this video played. (before anything else I need to say that I spent significant time searching for this video. And I wanted it in actual video form, not video of video. But this is all I could find. And Miss Brittney doesn't know how to type because according to her, this city is actually our cury apparently....moving on.) I’ve mentioned before that Oklahoma isn’t my favorite place. But I’ve never felt such pride in this state...

So I've been trying this new thing where I make a genuine effort to be truly nice to people, just for the sake of kindness. Not because of what they can do for me.  It's out of character. I'm intensely selfish by nature. So I'm issuing myself a challenge this summer. I challenged myself last summer, but it was an entirely different kind of challenge. I like this one better. I want to demonstrate a Random Act of Kindness to someone every day (this is where you go "ohhh now I understand her title!") during these next few sweltering months. Friends, strangers, annoying customers at Jamba Juice, kindness knows no discrimination. I've been struck lately that you never really know what's happening in someone else's life. And for that reason, being hateful has the power to be doubly damaging.  I don't even want to single damage. A single kind word or action flips my days and I'd love to make other people feel the same. It takes 21 days to form...