5 Year Plan

“May the dreams of your past be the reality of your future.” ~Unknown

Twice this week the issue of "where do you want to be in five years" has come up in my life. I figure it's a sign I need to blog about it! :)

First off, I found paper I apparently wrote five years ago when I was in school at OSU all about where I'd be today. Here's a little portion:

There is very little that I know for sure about five years from today. I will definitely be a month shy of turning 26 years old. And I will probably not be doing anything that I have pictured in my mind now. If the curves in my life have taught me one lesson, it is that no matter what life throws at me, I can make it. Maybe life has bigger plans for me than I have for myself. There is only one prediction that I am willing to make about my life five years from now: I will be okay, wherever I am.

Second was a random occurance where I was tagged a blog posted by my friend who we'll refer to as Miss Canada asking me to list what I was doing five years ago and what I want to be doing five years from now. So here we go...

What were you doing five years ago?

~Finishing my junior year at OSU and preparing to take the LSAT to apply to law school
~Loving life in Stillwater living in Casa Mia with College Roomie
~Getting ready to spend the summer working in Oklahoma and trying to learn to golf from BFF
~Trying to get up the courage to tell this one boy how I really felt

~Making fun of people who had facebook because I thought it was stupid. :) And I had never even heard of a blog.

What will you be doing five years from now?

~Hopefully still working as an attorney (yes, I still have the "please don't fire me!" thought every day!)
~Happily dating Mr. Right (who will, by that point, be un-lost from whatever forest he's circling now!)
~Volunteering for a cause that is imporant to me
~Traveling all over the world to see my favorite people and places
~Buying some land for my expanded cattle and sheep herds
So, from this I take the following: Wow....I was a pretty darn smart 21 year old! I'm not sure I've gotten any smarter in the five years since I wrote that paper. I still don't have a clue where my life will go. Plans change, bumps occur and we have to keep moving. I could honestly look ahead and see several different paths that my life could take....and I could see myself being completely happy in every one of them. I think that may be the curse of being a happy person--you genuinely don't know what it is you want because you can see so many different things could be good.

No matter how many of my list of 5 goals actually come true, I think I'll stick with my conclusion from 2005--maybe life has bigger plans for me than I have for myself. No matter where I am or what I'm doing: I'll be okay! Bring it on 2015!

Mom...Don't Be Mad.....

"This is California. Blondes are like the state flower or something." ~ Beverly Hills 90210

This is probably not the blog title that my mom wanted to see the day after Mother's Day. Let's all hope she doesn't drive to my house and kill me! Anyway, this weekend I checked off another bucket list item. Since we've already learned I am a nice person on Sundays, it was a fitting day for this one.

DONATE MY HAIR TO LOCKS OF LOVE.

You may have heard of Locks of Love before. They are a non-profit organization that takes hair donations and makes wigs for children who have lost their hair due to medical conditions, such as cancer. I've been wanting to donate for years and I finally grew my hair out long enough to do it.

Here is me last week so you can get an idea of how long it was fixed.

And here is the "Before" picture today.

My hair stylist, Chad, assured me that it would be okay and it was still long enough that I wouldn't look terrible even after I cut it. Chad has hair about as long as mine, so I trust him to understand the trauma of chopping it all off. He put the hair in two 10" braids and.......snip!

At this point, I was pretty much freaking out and trying not to have a panic attack. I'm not one of those primpy girls----I rarely wear make up, don't worry too much about clothes, so my hair is really the only thing I have that I sort of take some pride in. Chad said he was glad I wasn't a crier because apparently he gets some of those.

Anyway, after he finished styling a little bit and we let the Chi do its magic.....I don't hate the new do. I don't love it either. :) I keep trying to remember the whole "I'm doing a good thing for mankind" aspect of the situation. And I figure that at least I just have short hair, as compared to those Locks of Love kiddos who have no hair at all.
I hope it's true that people see inner beauty, because I feel much better on the inside about the chop than I do on the outside right now. Sorry Mom.....

Family Farm Friday # 17: Picking Peas

"In my Father's house there are many mansions..." ~ John 14:2


A great song by Andy Griggs is one of my favorite ideas of what Heaven is like.

If heaven was an hour, it would be twilight
When the fireflies start their dancin on the lawn
And suppers on the stove and mammas laughin
And everybodys workin day is done

If heaven was a town it would be my town
On a summer day in 1985
And everything I wanted was out there waiting
And everyone I loved was still alive

I don't know what Heaven will be like really, but I think it's pretty interesting to think about what it would be like if this song is accurate.


I've had lots of great chapters in my life--it might surprise you that my Heaven-song idea is not the OSU football staduim covered in orange t-shirts. It's not a boat cruise in San Francisco. It's not touring Europe (although the countryside in Switzerland is probably a close second!). Nope....instead, my Heaven-song idea is a black eyed pea field just up the road. I've said before growing up on a family farm shaped me, apparently that included shaping my idea of Heaven.


When I was a kid, my grandma lived next door. Gran, Little Brother and I were like the Three Amigos. We would go check cows, drink windmill water, and visit the neighbors constantly. Gran always kept a little pickup for us to take around on our adventures. Gran had lots of friends we would visit--Ralph and Faye would have great stories and were the best at helping with science projects, Sandy and Lee were always happy to buy whatever cookies or fruit or whatever else us kids were selling, and Wanda always had candy for us when we went trick-or-treating.


But I think Gran's best friend was Aunt Jean. She wasn't actually my aunt, but she was always Aunt Jean to us. She lived right up the road from our house and always had the best snacks when we went to visit. Homeade cakes and candy....and what I've always called "Aunt Jean candies" (the little mini hershey bars--you know with mini Mr. Goodbars and Rice Crips and what not). No matter how long we'd been there, she'd always say, without fail, "I sure wish ya'll wouldn't rush off." She also had a great orchard and two fields--one of black eyed peas and one of corn. This is where my Heaven idea comes from.


Of all of my childhood memories, for some reason, this is probably the most vivid. We were there, in our shorts and irrigation boots, picking peas in the sun. Gran had her big straw hat and Aunt Jean was wearing her apron. Things were simple and easy and we were just picking peas.


I don't know what Heaven will be like, but I sort of hope Andy Griggs is onto something.

Throwback Thursday #21: Excuse My Rant....

"What is love, it could be a river; love's a single drop of rain, but to her love is forever...." ~Cross Canadian Ragweed, "Johnny's Song"


This week I'm taking a brief detour from re-living the summer of my life in San Francisco. Instead, we're flashbacking to my college days in the happiest place on earth, Stillwater Oklahoma!


This weekend I went back for Calf Fry (as you have read about once or twice) and I'm sad to say, I was greatly disappointed with the people in attendance. At the risk of sounding like someone's grandma here--back in my day, Calf Fry was better.


When I was in school, Calf Fry was an institution--a national holiday of sorts for Stillwater. One of my friends might have described it best when she called it "Red dirt in an open field." It was hours of great music, good friends, and a great time. Everyone had fun, everyone seemed to get along, and aside from the occasional drunk passed out by the gate, things were on the controlled side of wild. In typical Stillwater fashion, we welcomed everyone into town, were friendly to all the visitors, and many of us (at least College Roomie and I) left our doors unlocked for friends and more than once woke up with people we didn't know crashing on our floor (see one group below).


I don't know what changed this year. It was a train wreck disaster. On Friday night, Cross Canadian Ragweed performed. Mind you, these guys are FROM Stillwater. The hometown heroes come back to play for the crowd. What happens? Lead singer Cody Canada gets drilled in the side of the head when someone throws a So Co bottle at him. 24 stitches and a concussion later, the band had to cancel its show the next night in Kansas City. On Saturday night, Someone throws a pitcher onto the stage while Miranda Lambert is playing (she didn't get hit) and then later some idiot snuck onto the stage and tapped her right on the shoulder. He wound up mobbed by security guards and Miranda screamed "I should have kicked his [you know what]!" (Where were the security guards before the dude got on stage?!?)


I'm going to choose to believe that it could not have been OSU students who were involved in this mess. I just don't want to believe that people at my alma mater, who are having the same amazing opportunites and experiences that I had would act like this. But, the reality is I have no idea who it was acting like morons.


So listen up OSU students and anyone else who comes to our town. Put a smile on, say hello to the guy standing next to you, have (don't throw) a drink, and enjoy some awesome red dirt music. Who cares if you've ever met him or not? Take a note from my friend, Dr. TPB and just say hello!

Don't ruin a great thing for everyone by acting like an idiot.

Calf Fry Gets Me a Checkmark!

"Won't you smile for me my Texas Angel....it'll be alright. Just lay your head beside me, dream of me tonight..." ~ Honeybrowne, "Texas Angel"

I wanted to blog today about how Calf Fry let me get a Bucket List CHECKMARK this year today....because tomorrow I'm going to be having a short rant about the bad side of this year's event.

But, happy news first---me and my fabulous foursome all reunited in Stillwater to attend the yearly ritual/national holiday of Calf Fry.

I do love checking items off of the bucket list! You might wonder what my item was:

TAKE A PICTURE WITH A FAMOUS PERSON.

See, one of my Oklahoma Girls works with a wonderful woman who dates a guy named Alex, Miranda Lambert's lead guitarist. When Oklahoma Girl said I might get to meet him, I was super excited, but a little on the fence about whether he qualified as famous.

Sure enough, his girlfriend was kind enough to get him to come out and meet us. He was super nice and really funny. Then, randomly, I learn that he used to be the lead singer for Honeybrowne. I try to play it cool, but completely freak out because I LOVED Honeybrowne, especially their song "Texas Angel."

Anyway, at this point I know that he qualifies as famous for sure and I'm dying to get that picture...luckily, his girlfriend is a saint and she offered to take one for us! She also got us all guitar picks from him....how great is she? And for all the talk I hear about what jerks band guys are, I can assure you I'm not a believer. This guy came off his bus to meet four girls he didn't know and chatted with us for half an hour before his show, posed for pictures, and got us guitar picks.

Anyway, another Calf Fry is in the books and I have a Bucket List checkmark to prove it!

I Don't Wanna Grow Up.....

"May your heart always be joyful; And may your song always be sung; May you stay forever young" ~ Forever Young

So this weekend I'm taking a little journey to the Happiest Place on Earth (aka Stillwater America!) for a national holiday (at least at OSU)...Calf Fry. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, allow me to explain.
Calf Fry is an institution at the Tumbleweed Dance Hall in Stillwater. It's a HUGE outdoor concert with tons of red dirt music. When I was in school, it was only two nights, but it's now expanded to four nights of music. Check out the event and the musicians who will be in attendance. It's so much fun--it is like an ag college reunion, but not just the OSU ag college--people come in from all over the place. This year, I know of people coming from New Mexico, Texas, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska! (and fyi--are are my age--so it's not just me!)

I've taken a day off of work on Friday and I'm counting down the minutes until I'm in Oklahoma! When my brother found out I was headed to Calf Fry, he responded, "You know that you're not in college anymore right? One day you're going to have to grow up and let that go." Those of you to know Little Brother will find this ironic.


Maybe one day I will grow up and not flock back to my college town for this college event--but that day is sure not today! I am still ready to go live it up with my friends and pretend, at least for the weekend, I'm still a crazy college senior!

So stay tuned for next week's blogs that will no doubt discuss the crazy fun the occurs at the concert on Saturday night (And the adorable babies that Aunt Tiffany will see on the trip. See, I am growing up in some ways! These two will be having their first little one on the Calf Fry anniversary!)

.....I'm no Toys -R- Us kid, but I do love my Calf Fry!

The Happiness Project

"Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." ~ Abraham Lincoln


I think I've mentioned before I usually read about 4 or 5 books at a time. College Roomie says she thinks I may have undiagnosed ADD. But I get bored reading the same thing every night before I go to bed, so I try to mix it up. The most recent addition to the list....The Happiness Project. Apparently I've had happiness on the brain lately, as I recently blogged about the topic.

Here is how the author's Happiness Project started: "I'd always vaguely expected to outgrow my limitations. One day, I'd stop twisting my hair, and wearing running shoes all the time, and eating exactly the same food every day. I'd remember my friends' birthdays, I'd learn Photoshop, I wouldn't let my daughter watch TV durin breakfast. I'd read Shakespeare. I'd spend more time laughing and having fun, I'd be more polite, I'd visit museums more often, I wouldn't be scared to drive. One April day on a morning jus tlike every other morning, I had a sudden realization: I was in danger of wasting my life." (Gretchen Ruben, The Happiness Project)

After this, she began a year's journey that she called her Happiness Project. Each month, she decided that she would focus on improving one area in her life. Within each category, she'd pick 3-4 goals to focus on. Sounds simple, right? By the end of the year, she would try and put each of these goals into action.

So, I've decided that I will start a similar project in my own life. The first of each month, I'll let you know what the category and the goals for the month are. Instead of developing my own categories, I'm stealing Gretchen's. I will, however, design my own goals within each category. Hope you'll enjoy my journey! Stay tuned for May 1.... (FYI--I started a week early on the first one since I'll be gone to Calf Fry next weekend and let's just say I'm already loving it!)

Every Day

"Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness.” ~Mother Teresa

So I had an interesting experience last week that made me think. You know that if I end up thinking, it goes on the blog.

One of my guy friends, McCain, asked what I was doing over the weekend. I told him about my plans for going to get some bloodwork done, shopping and hot yoga on Saturday, and that I planned on helping at a volunteer event for the American Cancer Society and going to church on Sunday. He responded with something along the lines of, "Wow, Sunday must be your day to be a good person or something."

Ouch. I know that he was kidding because our friendship is pretty much based on sarcasm. But I couldn't help but wonder--am I only a good person one day a week? I sure hope not.

Life is funny--our weeks are crazy and busy and it's easy to let things slip. Laundry and dishes, for example, usually fall by the wayside in my house! I really hope that I don't let more important things, like being a good person, slide as well.

Obviously I don't have time to be spending 5 hours volunteering at an event every day of the week, but there are so many other ways I can be a good person--being friendly to people in the elevator, helping someone with a problem, calling a friend just to say hi, praying for people in my life, letting someone in when they need to change lanes.... Maybe every day we don't have to do grand gestures, but every day we should try to do something good for another person.

As I get older, I realize more and more how important it is to be a good person. I just hope that besides realizing how important this is, I'm successful in putting it into action.

Family Farm Friday #17: Things Are Different....

"You can take the girl out of the farm...but you can't take the farm out of the girl."

It's officially summer weather. I went for a run in a long sleeved shirt and almost died. People have their doors and windows open all the time. And the ice cream man has been driving around playing his little tune.

One of my "city friends" was talking about how the sound of the ice cream man music made her think of summer. It made me realize how nostalgia is different when you grow up on a farm or a ranch. Ice cream trucks don't come driving by. But don't feel bad for us. We're not deprived. We have plenty of strange nostalgia of our own.

• The smell of sawdust and revive: It's my favorite smell. Hands down. If you showed, you understand. Anytime I smell Revive to this day my stomach drops and I feel the pre-show nerves. My brother said once that if a girl wore perfume that smelled like Revive, he'd propose on the spot. The guy he was talking to agreed. So it's not just me! (For the record, my second and third favorite smells are similar...fresh cut alfalfa and rain).
  


• Pick-up Lines: There are some lines that a guy can use on a country girl that would never work on a city girl. Two of my favorite examples from college were: "You two girls, you are class winners." and "Tiff, if you were a cow, I'd flush you." To this day still the best compliments I have ever gotten!
  


• The State Fair: My "city friends" talk about the rides and the fair food. I can assure you that country kids think of neither. State Fair conjures up images of the dorms, street dances, livestock shows, and washrack water fights.
  
• Friends: When you're an ag kid, you have friends all over the state. Other people don't have that. They know people at their school and maybe a few that live on their street. But ag kids bond at fairs and rodeos and judging contests.....people are always amazed at how I know someone in just about every town in New Mexico. Thank you 4-H and FFA!
  

• Savings Accounts: I was talking to some friends the other day who opened their first savings accounts after college, when they got their first job. I've had a checking account since I was 9 years old and a savings account since I was 11. Showing built that baby up pretty large by the time I headed off to college!

Our memories might be a little different, and we might te flattered due to compliments that most people wouldn't even understand....but I wouldn't trade growing up an ag kid for anything (including the ice cream man!).

Throwback Thursday # 20: Row Row Row Your Boat...

“Life is not a journey to the grave with intentions of arriving safely in a pretty well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming ... WOW! What a ride!” ~ Unknown

I'm going totally out of order here. But I think this is one of my favorite summer stories, if not one of my favorite days of my life. Picture it, Sonoma County, June 2008.

The firm took us on a KILLER wine tasting weekend (don't worry...blog on that coming soon!) in Sonoma. We stayed at the beautiful Sonoma Lodge, where everyone got their own room, or their own cottage if they had brought a date along. Because I hate being dateless to anything, my best friend ever in life, BFF, came to join me!
The last day of the retreat was a free day, so we could do whatever we wanted. Some people went to the spa, some slept in, some went home early. The fun people went kayaking/canoeing. And thus, the story begins.

My fellow summer associate and good friend and her husband had called around and booked kayaks for the day. When they asked if anyone else wanted to come along, they got quite a contingent---in all there were 9 of us up for the challenge. We loaded into vehicles and headed out. We stopped at Subway to get lunch that we would stop an eat along the river (this will be important later). Off we headed to navigate the Russian River.
When we got there, we had three kayaks and three canoes. The kayaks were one person and the canoes were for two. So BFF and I ended up in a canoe. You need to realize, canoes are much harder than kayaks. Now, I've never used a kayak, but I am sure this is true. Had BFF not have been there and I would have had a kayak to myself, I'm sure none of the disasters you are about to read of would have occurred.

We're canoeing along. Everything is fine. Then it happens. Our canoe tips over. For the life of me I don't know how it happened. But here we are, in the middle of the Russian River, canoe turned over, trying to swim to the shore, stuff (including sandwiches, shoes, etc.) floating right on down the river. Yea. Well after we gathered everything back up, and managed to save one sandwich that was somehow tied in an airtight bag, we flip the canoe over and get in again. This couldn't have been more than 20 minutes into the trip, so I figured it was common and everyone would flip at some point in our journey.

So we continue along. I am in the front, BFF is in the back. We somehow end up on the bank about to run right under a tree. Seeing this I yell "Duck!" and lean to the left. My dear BFF also leans to the left. You can guess the result. Yes, flip flops and surviving sandwich bag go floating down the river again. By this point BFF and I are screaming our heads off at each other about how stupid the other one is. Everyone else has gotten pretty good at fetching shoes and sunscreen as they float by. So, we're back in the canoe and we go again. Mind you, we've flipped twice. No one else has had any issue. (We gave our stupid sandwich to my friends Hawaii and Gonzaga at this point, because they looked to be a much safer choice!).

Then my married friends manage to get sort of caught on a tree that had collapsed in the river. The husband was so nice to the wife, saying things like "oh it's okay honey, just paddle a little. Lean to the right a bit, we'll get it." They did. In the mean time, BFF and I are literally screaming at the top of our lungs about common sense and who is supposed to be steering. We weren't mad, it's just how we communicate. :)

We continue down the river and at one point there's a big rock on the middle. Now, this was literally THE ONLY ROCK sticking up out of the river. We probably could not have hit that rock head on if we tried. But, because we were not trying, we hit it. No tip over this time, but it did make for a hilarious scene and story for my friends Hawaii and Gonazaga, who saw the whole situation, to tell for the rest of the summer.
Well, to wind this up, we ended up flipping over one more time. I don't remember how this one happened, but we were pretty good by now at getting things back under control. No one else ever flipped. Not at all. Go figure.


I think our canoe was defective. Or maybe it was because we were from the desert and had never seen much water before. Regardless, it was a great day and one I will never forget. Notice we have no pictures while canoeing. Luckily, we did not take the camera. Good call there.


In the end, BFF remained my best friend despite the yelling. After this, I've pretty much decided that when I apply for the Amazing Race, I have my partner already picked out. We'll be a dream for CBS' ratings!