Meet the Cast Monday #29: Flintstone

Welcome to another Monday and another cast member to meet! Today you're going to get introduced to my dear friend, Flintstone. He lives in Kansas, works in sales, and has an absolutely adorable daughter.

We're a really strange friendship, he and I, but it has worked for 9 years now, so we're going with it! We met in junior college when we were on the same judging team. We were polar opposites--he's a cattle kid, I'm a sheep girl. He was the life of the party, I was Little Miss 4.0. We never should have clicked, but we did and we never looked back. Even though we have not seen each other since 2003, I consider him one of my best friends and don't know what I'd do without him in my life!

With that....Meet Flintstone!

What is your favorite memory with me?

My one favorite memory is how I used to chase you around on the judging van with my feet because you hated it....That was a hoot!!!! {Yea....a hoot.....that's not what I'd call it. I'm still traumatized.}

What is your favorite junior college judging memory?

It is hard to decide on my favorite moment....It would have to be when we took 2nd at Louisville. {We were actually 3rd....can you tell he used to be a steer jock and has typical memory problems??} We worked so hard that year and it was nice to finally see our hard work pay off!! A hell ya goes out to Matt, Tiffy, Mike and Robyn {Who we all know as the Crazy Canadian}!!!

Best part of having your adorable daughter?

My daughter is the one true love of my life!! She lights up the room everytime she enters one!! The coolest thing ever is to become a parent and I love it!!!

You travel all over the place (except MY city) bowling--tell us why you love the sport so much?

I love bowling because its a challenge...I played golf for quite awhile and kinda got bored with it. With bowling I have had to opportunity to visit alot of cool places. For instance I get to see the Oklahoma Girls once a year because of bowling. The other thing is it is something my girlfriend Laura and I love to do together!!!! {Sidenote...the Oklahoma Girls and I named him Flintstone after we were talking to him on the phone one night and the Loud Oklahoma Girl made a comment about how he should be hanging out with us instead of bowling like Fred Flintstone. It stuck. Margaritas may have been involved.}

What's your favorite song?

My favorite song is "When I Come Around" by Greenday...For those of you that know me know there is no explenation needed. {I asked this expecting to get an Eminem song as the response...he made us listen to that song from 8 mile before EVERY.SINGLE. judging contest that year! You never know what you'll get when you a question I guess.}
We frequently have chats about self confidence (crazy to think that you’re like my life coach!)…give everyone some of your sage wisdom on this topic.

Well it is something that I have a lot of {classic Flintstone right there, ladies and gentlemen}.....You need to be confident in your self and how you look everyday...The one thing that I always say is there is a difference between self confidence and arrogance...be careful your not on that side of the street.

People might not know, but you're a pretty good cook. What's your favorite recipe to make?
My chicken vegtable soup....It is to die for.
What would you say is your biggest regret?
Giving up on show cattle....I haven't totally given up on it but sure am not in the loop anymore.

What is one (or more) item(s) on your bucket list?
Go to the Kentucky Derby
Visit St Andrews..THE HOME OF GOLF

WILW #6...AND....A Giveaway!

“People love others not for who they are but for how they make them feel." ~Irwin Federman

Oh guys...I'm loving LOTS of things this Wednesday! Be sure to check out what everyone else is loving here!

* My photo for the theme "vibrant colors" made the list of "favorites" (not top three....but still something!!) at the LEM challenge! I am so excited...this is only the second time I've ever been chosen as a favorite photo in any challenge, and the first time at LEM!
* Remember my blog about my future dream proposal? Well a family friend sent me an email with another related suggestion. Check this out:
Love love love it. Mr. Right---you have options now! Cow pasture, or sheep shearing. Good thing for you that I'm not picky. :)

* My dear, sweet, wonderful friend Flintstone called me over the weekend concerned after seeing this picture on facebook:

He said that I looked too skinny and that he thought I needed a couple of double quarter pounders. He is clearly (a) blind; (b) biased; and (c) dilusional.....but I love his guts for this comment!

* And while I'm talking about my friends, I am also loving my chats with ND Friend. I tell you, that girl is awesome. No matter what we're issue we're discussing (or what boy we're complaining about...you all remember Pancake Boy, right??) somehow after we talk, everything seems like it's going to work out okay....she must have a gift!

* And one more friend shout out... I love Blonde Oklahoma Girl and our Friends dvds.
BOKG and I both watched our Friends dvds this weekend. We ended up both watching the episode right after Ross said the wrong name at the wedding to Emily and afterwards Rachel was saying how she kept making bad decisions in her love life and decided that Monica would make all of Rachel's love life decisions? (I just realized that those of you who watched Friends are totally following me...the rest of you wonder if I'm speaking Engligh!) Anyway, BOKG and I both emailed each other and said that we were going to let the other one make our decisions! Ha! Go figure. Talk about the blind leading the blind as they say!

* I've stumbled across a couple of Red Dirt songs that are old, but new to me that I am absolutely in LOVE with. (Notice that I've added a few new songs to the playlist over on the left. Feel free to enjoy.)





* And I saved the best for last. I'm loving the number 100. That's right---I have hit 100 followers. I just cannot tell you guys how much I appreciate the fact that you read my blog. It's so much fun for me to write, and I have even more fun reading all of your blogs each day! And, as I promised.....I'll be doing a Tiffany's Favorite Things Giveaway!

What are my favorite things, you ask? Well...take a gander:
Sexy Little Things Perfume, Dried Cherries, an Eli Young Band cd (which is brand new, but will arrive opened because I do plan to download it to my iTunes before I give it away!), a beautiful leather journal, a three piece travel set of Coconut Lime Verbana from Bath and Body Works, the best chocolate chip toffee cookie you will ever taste... and some OSU face stickers (football season is just 3 months away you know!)

How do you enter, you ask? Simple!

Just leave a comment below! I'd love to know if you have any blog ideas...what do you want to read more about? Any fun ideas? Any questions?

If you want 5 extra entries, become a follower of my blog (leave a separate comment letting me know that you are). Be sure to enter by Friday, June 10 at 6:00 pm. I will announce the winner on Saturday!

Throwback Thursday #44: A Decade

"The days are long, but the years are short." ~Gretchen Ruben

Sometimes I'm oblivious to obvious things. Okay, a lot of the time. :) But until I returned from our family ski trip on January 2 (blog on that coming soon!) and read another person's blog, I didnt' realize that January 1, 2011 marked not only the beginning of a new year, but also the beginning of a new decade.

As I thought back on the 10 years that were 2000 - 2010, I realized that this time frame will likely be the time where the greatest number of changes occurred in my life. Don't get me wrong here---I think that I still have some pretty great days ahead of me (so keep reading the blog). But the sheer volume of changes that occurs between the time a person is 17 and 27 is unbelieveable. With that, I'd like to take a little Throwback to some of the important things that occurred in the last decade!

2000: My team won the State FFA Dairy Judging contest and were Reserve National Champions, I won my first Grand Champion Lamb banner at the county fair, learned that sometimes "friends"will stab you right in the back.
2001: Thought Mr. F was crazy for making us judge poultry, won my second Grand Champion Lamb banner (and watched Gran almost get into a fight with another grandmother in the process), won State Star Farmer, enjoyed my senior year of high school. 2002: Played in the state basketball tournament, went on a great senior trip to Dallas, graduated high school, started college at Dodge City Community College, met two amazing, important friends (The Crazy Canadian and Flintstone), placed in the top 10 at my first 5 college judging contests, learned that sometimes life doesn't work out like you had it planned. (Sidenote: I tried to find a picture of graduation, but digital cameras didn't exist yet, so this is the only picutre of my last semester of high school I could find....I'm sure The Bride loves getting included!)
2003: Left junior college and headed to OSU, moved in with College Roomie having no idea I was making a best friend in the process, began what would be 3 of the best years of my entire life, loved my student tickets to OSU football, met SoulMate Friend in a very round about way.
2004: Lost my Gran in June and three close family friends on back-to-back days in October/November, changed majors to Agriculture Business, joined the Pre-Law Club at Oklahoma State, watched OSU make it to the Final Four.

2005: Took the LSAT, applied to and was accepted to law schools, managed to survive calculus with my GPA still in tact, went on my first real vacation and fell in love with San Francisco!

2006: Enjoyed my last semester of college at OSU to the fullest, took a Spring Break trip to the east coast with College Roomie and Cousin Whitney, had a Calf Fry Weekend that could only be described as epic (HOW have I not blogged abou this??), graduated from OSU, got mono and thyriod disease over the summer, took an amazing trip to New York City to see Teacher Friend, started law school.
2007: Went on a fantastic cruise, worked my first summer of law school at my current law firm, survived a broken heart, applied on a long shot and somehow got a job offer with a great law firm in San Francisco for the folowing summer.
2008: Welcomed College Roomie home from a year in China, had the time of my life working as a summer law clerk in San Francisco, had an amazing girl's weekend with the Cashmere Mafia, made the stressful decision of which job (and life) I would take out of law school. 2009: Bought my first house, graduated from law school, studied for the bar, took the bar, escaped to Europe for a much-needed post-bar relaxation with Cousin Swiss Mister and Cousin Whitney, started my first job, was a pall bearer for one of my favorite people in the world.
2010: Continued to travel around to visit friends all over the country (lots of weddings and babies), ran 7.5 miles at Bay to Breakers, celebrated 100 years of owning my family's homestead ranch, survived my 1 year review at work, took in a football game at Notre Dame while getting to reconnect with and see great friends before and at the game!Clearly I've seen a lot of changes in the last decade---some good, some bad. These last 10 years have made me into the person that I am (and hopefully into the person that I'm meant to be). I'm excited to embark on a new decade and see where life takes me next!

Letter to Me

“Never let go of hope. One day you will see that it all has finally come together. What you have always wished for has finally come to be. You will look back and laugh at what has passed and you will ask yourself... 'How did I get through all of that?'” ~Unknown

Last week, I read a great blog where the girl wrote a letter back to herself at 20. Brad Paisley has a great song about this same idea. I was inspired, and decided to write a letter to myself as well. It really made me think, but was a lot of fun to do. I totally recommend it.

Dear 20 year-old self:

Enjoy every minute of your time in Stillwater...the energy, people, college town, nights on the Strip, crazy parties at 44th and Western (this address will mean something to you one day soon) and everything else that happens during the next three years. You will spend a lot of minutes later on wishing you could go back. They will be some of the very best of your life.

You've got the best family in the world. Your parents, brother, aunts, uncles and cousins are crazy and loud and overwhelming and absolutely perfect for you!

Your year of junior college was a disaster. But it's over. It might have been necessary to funnel you into Oklahoma State. And you met this boy from Kansas and girl from Canada and their friendships will more than make up for the bad parts!

Know that alot of friends will come and go, but there are some friends who you make when you are nine years old that you will have forever.

You have just met a couch named Snuggles. When you move away, take him with you. There is no other couch that comfy and you will never be able to find him again!

Tell the boy how you feel. And this will apply to more than one boy in the next 6 years. Stop worrying about ruining the friendship.....once you get older and the boys start falling in love with other girls, the friendships start to fade anyway.

Always get the season football and basketball tickets. I know you are broke and it seems like a corner that you can cut. Really, it's not. Don't eat for a week or two if necessary.

On a related note, do NOT call your brother trash talking when OSU gets Texas down by 4 touchdowns in the first half of the home game your senior year. There's a guy named Vince Young who will shut your mouth. Big time.

Pick up a limee. Actually, maybe that's not the best idea. You not discovering them until your last semester may be what gets you (and your liver) through college unscathed.

That roomate who you were lucky enough to find is becoming one of your best friends in the world. Yes, you are nearly complete opposites. Maybe that's why it works. Don't yell when she burns the popcorn. It was an accident. Don't forgive her too fast when she breaks the cannister lid. She feels real guilty and will probably cook you something good if you play it a little...

Relax. Stop stressing about school and work and trying to get everything done. This nothing compared to law school, which is nothing compared to the bar, which is nothing compared to working. Who cares if your MCIS powerpoint is perfect? Put it down and go do something fun.

Enjoy every single Sunday at Sunnybrook Christian Church. You will find a small group that will become like family to you. The faith that you experience and cultivate here will only become increasingly important in the rest of your life.
When you meet the really nice girl at Lights on Stillwater, know that she'll lead you to one of your new best friends. The Lights on Stillwater girl will disappear from both of your lives, but that new best friend isn't going anywhere. Transfer out of the terrible Business Law class you go to the first day of your junior year and go to Professor Urich. Business law with him will open your eyes. You will realize that there are so many places to do and things to see and experiences to have that you can't live your life without trying these things. You will learn that not everyone believes what you believe, and while you might disagree, you can still be civil and respectful.

As great as your friends are now, there are some of your best friends who you haven't even met yet. Keep your eyes open. These girls will change your life!
This one is the most important. By the time you're 25, two of your favorite people in the world will be gone. Even though you think they seem invincible, they aren't. Ask them your questions, get their advice, and enjoy your time with them now. Hug them both every chance you get. Someday, you would be willing to give anything to hear their voice one more time.

Love, Me at 26

June Updates

"Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once." ~Lillian Dickson

Every month I try and update my readers on any developments from prior posts. Here we go!

Expanding my herd. You probably all remember when I purchased my cow a while back. Well, my livestock herd has expanded once again. I'm now the proud owner of 8 hamp/suffolk cross ewes. I'm pretty excited to see how this little project turns out. I love having cattle, but if we're being honest, I'm a sheep girl through and through.

After spending so much of my life lately cooped up in an office, I cannot wait to get home this weekend and spend some time with the animals, out in the sun, wind and dirt! I'll get some pictures of the new little ladies to post soon!

More Senior Quotes. Well, you may remember one of my favorite blogs about funny senior quotes from one of my Oklahoma girls. You might also remember Mr. G---he was responsible for the quote about the shirt and about his wife thinking about a diet. Anyway, we have good news to report. Mr. G has been discharged from physical therapy. Yay for him, sad for us because that means no more quotes from him. He did, however, leave us with a dandy.

(Mr. G is leaving the office after his last appointment).
Oklahoma Girl: "Mr. G, I sure am going to miss seeing you."
Mr.G: "Well, me too... but I am just glad those cops never caught me."

Oklahoma Girl informs me that she has no idea what he was talking about. Classic.

Casting Call. After the blog about who would star in the movie of my life, I continued thinking about who would play other friends in my life. I decided to give you some insight on who would play the people you read about frequently in my blogs.

The Oklahoma Girls will be played by Joanna Garcia (actress who played Cheyenne in Reba) and Adrianne Palicki (who plays Tyra on Friday Night Lights--which is my favorite show by the way!).

The Crazy Canadian will be played by Melissa Peterman (Barbara Jean from Reba). She's perfect....they are both so perky and happy and full of life. I think this one is the best casting yet! A picture will not do it justice, so watch this video!

BFF was the hardest one for me to cast to be honest with you. After a lot of thinking about this, I went with Dermot Mulroney, the guy on My Best Friend's Wedding and the Wedding Date. He's funny and nice and really cute. BFF isn't sold on this yet, but I think it's a great idea.

Flintstone will be played by Luke Perry. Sort of in a cross between Dillon from 90201 and Lane Frost from 8 Seconds.

Cousin Swiss Mister will be played by Jude Law. I really do think they look sort of alike!

Cousin Kevin will be played by Danny DeVito. I'm kidding, I'm kidding---his head probably just exploded. That was payback for his suggestion that Meryl Streep should play me. Um....no. Actually, I think I'd go with Bruce Willis for Cousin Kevin.

Quote of the Month. For the second month in a row, one of the Oklahoma Girls wins quote of the month. Summer is the season of weddings, which can be a little frustrating for single twentysomethings. This fact led Oklahoma Girl to pronounce this month's quote:

Even bald people are getting married.....I have a full head of hair...how is this fair??

Throwback Thursday # 26: Tornado Season

“If you wait to do everything until you're sure it's right, you'll probably never do much of anything.” ~Win Borden

My friend, who we'll call Flinstone, drives me crazy. Twice in the last month I've call him and asked what he as doing. His response? Out driving around in a van chasing tornadoes. Last weekend as we were talking he seriously asked the driver if he could see at all through the storm they were in the middle of. I had to hang up. It was too stressful for me. Boys!

Anyway, it got me to thinking about one of the tornado warnings that happened when I was in college at Oklahoma State. Somehow, I managed to make it through 3 years of living in Oklahoma without ever being in a serious tornado. This is probably why I can write a blog that is on the lighter side of the tornado issue.

One night, College Roomie were at our apartment when the tornado sirens went off. Although we really are both pretty calm, cool and collected most of the time, we went into freakout mode. We had no idea what one was supposed to do when there was a tornado. So, we did the only thing that made sense. We called one of the Animal House boys, our dear friend, Trailerpark Bryan.

See, Trailerpark Bryan (and yes, that's what we call him in real life, not just on the blog) is from Oklahoma. He also knows pretty much everything about everything. He was the kind of guy who could help you program a tv, fix a car window, repair any appliance you could think of....you get the picture. Anyway, Trailerpark Bryan tells us that the best thing to do is to get a matress and put it in the bathtub. If the tornado hit, we could get in the tub under the matress.

College roomie and I spring into action. We discover a slight problem. Our queen size matresses will not fit into the bathroom. So, being the resourseful ladies we are, we get all of the couch cushions and haul them into the tub instead. Then we decide that we should probably be sure we could both fit, in case this actually came to fruition. So here we are, both sitting in the bathtub, covered in couch cushions, preparing for the worst.

Well, once we decide that the dress rehearsal was sufficiently complete, we went outside to see what was going on. Now, growing up, I'd seen several tornadoes forming in the skies over my house before, but I'd never been in a situation where one was actually touching down. It's eerie.....the sky is sort of green and it's really quiet. While out in the street with the tornado sirens blaring, we decided that snapping a picture of the event was necessary.

As you might guess, the tornado did not hit our little apartment at Casa Mia that night. As I recall it ended up going south of town. We chalked this up to experience--we learned three great lessons. First, our matresses would not fit into the bathtub, although both of us and the couch cushions would. Second, Trailerpark Bryan really does know everything. And third, there is always time for a one-armed self portrait.

Happy Birthday, Boys!!

"It's the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that really matter."

So the first couple weeks of November are apparently a great time for birthdays. Not only are there a lot of them, but there are some pretty awesome people celebrate during this time! :)

Anyway, several of my boys are having birthdays and I figured instead of doing a blog each day, I'd do one big one and give them all a shout out.

So....Happy Birthday, boys!! You guys are the best!

High School Buddy - one of my best friends from high school. He's seriously one of the funniest, sweetest guys you will ever meet. Everyone loves him! He's also got an awesome drum set so if you're ever in Lubbock, hit him up and have him play for you! And ladies---he's single. But fair warning, you've got to meet my stamp of approval and it will take alot to be good enough for him!

Basketball Star is the tall guy (as if the other's aren't...) in the black jacket. He is a coach in Oklahoma....and he and his wife, just announced they are expecting their first baby! Basketball Star was probably the one person who helped me get through my year of junior college that was pretty much a disaster! He was always there to keep me sane!

KT - Well I always knew that KT was awesome, but when I was looking for a picture of him for the blog, I realized he was famous! He's got his own band, and he's made cd's...which I knew. BUT....he has kids that actually have recorded them doing covers of his music on You tube!! I think that's when you know you've made it big! :) Here's a video of the REAL KT doing his thing! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MAz_eiPMwg I stil remember being at his house one night when he was just learning guitar chords. Now he's a rock star!



Flintstone -- So I griped about junior college, but I must say I'd do it all over again because I made some FABULOUS friends there, and Flintstone is one of them! He's the one looking goofy in the green jacket and yellow tie. :) He's always there for me and tells it to me just like it is no matter what! He lives in Kansas and has a beautiful baby girl!

NM Animal House Boy---- He and I have been friends forever it seems like...he's one of the greatest guys I know! He was one of the group of guys in college who made my 3 years at OSU absolutely great! He's married to an awesome girl, who fits right in with our crazy friends and puts up with me calling and yacking to her husband for an hour when I'm mad about something!