It's Bedlam, Baby!

“Yes, it’s definitely possible to make it all the way this year. Coach Monken always explains to us that we control our own destiny.” ~Tracy Moore, OSU Wide Receiver

Can I just say that I am excited. Like little kid on Christmas Eve excited. Fat kid in a candy store excited. Why you ask? Because It's Bedlam weekend....and I'm going to the game!

For those of you non-Oklahoma folk, Bedlam is the term for any sporting event at which my alma mater, Oklahoma State University, plays our biggest rival, OU. Saturday night is the football showdown of the year. We're currently ranked 3rd. OU is ranked 10th. The winner of this game is guaranteed a BCS bowl game, and if we win, we have a remote shot at the national championship.

Now, I've been to lots of football games. Here is a look back at a few of them in photos...

But for all these games, I've never been to Bedlam. For the last 10 years or so, it was always the Saturday after Thanksgiving, which is our family reunion, so I couldn' miss. But glory day, this year that changed and I'll be checking this baby off my Bucket List. Do I care that it's supposed to be 28 degrees? And snowing/raining? Nope. I'm packing my ski clothes and I can still yell for the Cowboys in the cold.

So this weekend I will be in Oklahoma spending some quality time with Soulmate Friend, tailgating with The Governor, Loud Oklahoma Girl, and Nomad, and attending church with my Small Group Friends.

Oh yea, and screaming my little head off at a certain football game. I've already warned Nomad that when (not if...) we win, I will probably cry. And run over anyone in my path to rush that field. Ya hear that, little kids and lukewarm fans? Get out ma' way!

Peace, love and GO POKES!!

Letters to Mr. Right: Letter #9

"Say not in grief: 'He is no more', but live in thankfulness that he was." ~Hebrew Proverb

Dear Mr. Right,

I think that the thing that makes me the most sad about you not being here yet is that you didn't get to meet some really great people.

You won't understand that when people say things like "Hogan's goat" or "Sweet Petunia" they are quoting Mr. Franklin. And you won't know what my cousins and brother mean when we talk about Faye's weenies. Likewise, the phrase "Aunt Jean candies" means nothing to you. You won't get to hear this one laugh that could make a whole room crack up for no reason at all. You won't get to meet First Valentine who got me a passing grade in home ec, and blame him for my inability to be domestic. You'll be confused when I drop everything if Paul Harvey comes on the radio and enjoy watching MASH episodes even when I can quote them line by line. Those are thanks to Gran, by the way. And to you, pink cowboy boots are just pink cowboy boots. rather than what found me my best friends.

But hopefully, if I'm doing anything right, you'll see parts of these people in me.

Beyond that, I guess you'll just have to learn as you go.

Waiting for that day,

Me

Photo via

My Heart Will Choose To Say...

"I discovered I always have choices and sometimes it's only a choice of attitude."

You know, sometimes life is just not that much fun. I know, I know....I write all the time about having a good attitude and living life to the fullest. And don't get me wrong, I'm totally a believer in those concepts. But even when you strive to live your life that way, sometimes it's just not that much fun.

Sometimes your job might really suck. Sometimes you just don't feel like getting out of your warm bed to go running, yet want to scream every time you step on a scale. Sometimes it feels like you're getting left behind while everyone else is figuring their lives out. Sometimes your dang football team loses a game they should have won in their sleep. And by "you" in this paragraph, I obviously mean "me."

That's pretty much how I've been feeling recently. And, as He usually does, God got my attention. Last weekend in church, we sang one of my favorite worship songs, Blessed Be Your Name.

I previously fell in love with the verse talking about praising God even when there is pain in the offering and when you're on a road marked with suffering after Mr. Franklin died. At that time, that was the words that I needed to hear. But last week, because the time was right for it, I heard a different part of the song.

"My heart will choose to say blessed be Your name." Choose. I liked this for two reasons.
First, because it says that it's okay--normal, maybe--for us to not automatically feel the way we ought to. We don't automatically have a grateful heart or see the glass half full. I struggle with this. For example, College Roomie and I were talking last week about "western world" problems---like when you're upset that you hit three red lights in a row or your house cleaning lady doesn't show up on time. I always feel guilty for being annoyed by this kind of thing because I know how good I have it. So I appreciate the reminder that our hearts are not always programmed to be as grateful as they should. Instead, it's a choice that we have to make. Knowing that takes some of the guilt away.

Second, I like that it's up to me to decide how I react to my situation. It's up to me to decide if in a rough patch, I will keep a good attitude, find the positive, and praise God for all of the blessings that I have and for whatever purpose he has for me in my current situation. I have control over this. It's similar to my prior realization about having an obligation to fight for joy.

And so after hearing this song in a different way than I had before, I was left to apply it to my life and I thought, "Well dang. I'm a disaster." I sure hadn't been thinking this way lately. I wasn't thinking about consciously chosing to be happy and optimistic and grateful. Instead I had been contemplating the name of my surfboard stand. God apparently thought I needed a reminder about the choice that I should be spending my time on. And so far, it's been working. Just as well. I hadn't come up with a killer name for my surf shop yet anyway.

Father Daughter Ski Trip

"What do you first do when you learn to swim? You make mistakes, do you not? And what happens? You make other mistakes, and when you have made all the mistakes you possibly can without drowning - and some of them many times over - what do you find? That you can swim? Well - life is just the same as learning to swim! Do not be afraid of making mistakes, for there is no other way of learning how to live!" ~Alfred Adler

I headed back to my parents' the last weekend in August for one last lake trip this summer. You read abour our big Fourth of July trip previously. We were hoping to have a bunch of family be able to come in for the last trip, but in the end, it ended up just being my dad and my uncle, Cousin Whitney and I. We deemed it Father Daughter Ski Trip. Here are just a few snapshots of the day. The weather was perfect, the water was smooth, The Classic ran like a dream and it really could not have been a better day for skiing.

For those of you wondering, yes, my dad and my uncle are old. Yet they are still pretty much rockstars on skis. Snow and water, for that matter. Fingers crossed that's genetic!

We did have one little mishap involving men not using much common sense and running out of gas. For the record, I told them it was stupid from the get-go. Fortunately, as you recall from this blog, my Dad and I learned the art of paddling while white water rafting two weeks before, so he was able to paddle the vessel back to shore!
The day after......well that could have been a lot better. I was so sore I could hardly move. I seriously think I may have whiplash. Self imposed whiplash---way to go, Tiffany. Trying to learn to ski on one ski instead of two is a painful thing, turns out! And instead of realizing this and stopping, I decided to be stubborn and pig-headed and keep going. Seriously, there may have been permanent neck damage!

And so, with that, the ski boats are put up for the summer. And my neck has about 9 months to recover. But next year, be ready. We're going to get this one ski business down!

Homecoming 2011 (Part 3): Game Day in Stillwater!

"Even though we've changed and we're all finding our own place in the world, we all know that when the tears fall or the smile spreads across our face, we'll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will ever change so much to the point where we're not all still friends."

I'm going to do some catch up this week on posts that I just hadn't gotten around to, so excuse the random, unorganized nature of the next few days! You probably remember that I went to Homecoming at OSU (Part 1). Home of the whole Kyle the Medic drama (Part 2). Anyway, here we go with Part 3.

So my dear Soulmate Friend and her husband Tuba Player graciously let the Oklahoma Girls and me crash at their house on Friday night. We got to play with Little Linebacker all morning and then to top it off, Soulmate Friend whipped me up a birthday breakfast of french toast casserole with a candle to blow out and everything. She's the best.
Later that morning we headed to campus to meet up with one of my best friends from high school (and one of my favorite people in the world!) Chocolate Brown and his lovely wife. Chocolate Brown is going to law school in Oklahoma, so for their college graduation last May, I told them I'd take them to an OSU game. What better than homecoming? I was SO excited to see these two!

So we did a quick campus tour---the orange fountain, student union, Library Lawn, The Strip, you name it.
Then it was time for us to help with the tailgate patrol. Loud Oklahoma Girl's company sponsors this, so the five of us loaded up in a golf cart decorated like an Escalade to go cruise around the tailgates. It was pretty awesome.
And then, it was game time! There is nothing like over 75,000 OSU fans in a sea of orange screaming their heads off. I mean, it's just awesome! Here are some shots from the game (which we completely dominated by the way, much to the chagrin of Cousin Swiss Mister!)
So after the massacre was over (GO POKES!!), we said goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Chocolate Brown and they gave me flowers, candy and an OSU shirt for my birthday. Pretty sure those are three of my favorite thinbgs in the world! Then the Oklahoma Girls and I headed back to Tulsa where we rocked out our awesome Halloween costumes....check it.....
Rock paper scissors. And because Blonde Oklahoma Girl was in charge, that meant glitter everywhere! LOVED it!

I could not have had a better time on Homecoming weekend with my amazing friends. I love that friends from different periods in my life can all meet up and have a blast together. I have excellent taste if I do say so myself!

Blessed Beyond Belief

“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.” W. T. Purkiser

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Take time to be thankful for the abundant blessings we have been given! And to eat a lot. And take a nap. :)

Letters to Mr. Right: Letter #8

"Highways and broken hearts, late nights and old guitars, wondering where you are, you're so far away..." ~Eli Young Band

Dear Mr. Right,

Sometimes I wonder about the girls you're dating now.

I hope that they are good to you, and that you are good to them. But not too good, because I can't take that kind of pressure. I hope that they teach you to understand the difference between "fine" which means "okay" and "fine" which means "don't you dare even think about it." I hope that they aren't too domestic or crafty, or if they are, I hope you think that's annoying. I hope that at least one of them breaks your heart--so you know how that feels and you will be careful not to ever do it to me. I hope that you have this feeling that something is missing....something that you won't find in any of these other girls, but will appear when you find me.

Photo via

Oh yea, and I hope you break up with them really, really soon. No, that's not true. Well...maybe it's kinda (totally) true.

Waiting for that day,

Me

Hey, It's Okay #2 and Photos of the Week: Week 46

"When the world doesn't make no sense and you're feeling just a little too tense, gotta loosen up your chains and dance!" ~Dixie Chicks

I'm just not feeling super philosophical today, so instead of anything important, we're doing confessions and photos. Here we go!

Photos of the Week

Theme: Orange (Project 64)

I realize that lately this blog has been all OSU all the time what with my reaction on Saturday to the announcment that there would be protesters at the memorial service for our coaches (by the way, one man prevented this....read the story here), and my thoughts yesterday on my love for OSU, but you had to know that when orange was the color of the week, there would be a football-related picture coming your way. I love this shot in black and white with just a splash of orange in the center. Check out the other entries at Project 64.

Theme: Giving Thanks (Quotography)

I've always loved this quote and thought it fit perfectly with this theme. Be sure to check out the other entries at My Perspective!

Theme: Music

I'm totally not a musical instrument person. Once, College Roomie and I called our dorm neighbor "Trumpet Boy" for months before learning that the horn he carried around was a saxaphone. Oops. But I love me a tuba, mostly becuase of SoulMate Friend's husband, Tuba Man, who I used to go watch play in the Stillwater Community Band. So when I saw the tubas playing at Homecoming Walkaround, I had to snap a shot.

Hey, it's okay....

(To see the other entries, visit Brunch with Amber. To see my prior "It's Okay" post, click here).

1) ...that I'm not doing this on Thursday. Tuesday, Thursday, potato, potaaato. It's my blog.

2) ....to seriously feel like this little picture was drawn about me. No lie, I had 4 (count them...FOUR) facebook friends get engaged last weekend. Three are younger than I am. Of course all of MY friends are beautiful and I'm happy for them, but seriously, some other people getting engaged make me feel just like the girl in the picture. Which leads me to my second wedding-related confession for the day.

3).....to watch Say Yes to the Dress and more often think "who is the world wants to marry a girl who acts like that" or "how is she engaged and on tv and I'm sitting on my couch in my sweats" rather than "what a lovely mermaid dress she is trying on." Whatev. And by whatev I mean "universe please don't curse me and never send Mr. Right!"

4) ....to at least once a week think about quitting my job, selling my house, and becoming a beach bum who makes money selling surfboards. (As you might remember from this blog, this really just means its time for a trip.) And it's okay to not know anything about said surfboards.

5)....to be a little offended that Cousin Swiss Mister is skipping out on family Thanksgiving on Saturday because he didn't have enough time even though he did have enough time to spend a romantic weekend in New York with some girl. Who graduated from OU. Salt.In.Wound. I already don't like her. Oh well, certainly not the first time! :)

6)....to have totally forgotten to post my blog all about game day at Homecoming. Particularly given that it was SUCH a fantastic day with fantastic people. Who are super beautiful/handsome and will make you jealous when you see the picutres. Never fear, I'll get that up on Friday!

7)....to secretly look for Kyle the Medic when they show the sideline at an OSU game. No sighting yet. He's probably off marrying his girlfriend. Please refer back to confession #2 for my thoughts on that. And to the photo below.

We Are Orange

"Orange is Kurt Budke, Miranda Serna, Barry Sanders, Garth Brooks, Mike Gundy, Eddie Sutton...it's you and me." ~OSU Poem via Blonde Oklahoma Girl

Last week someone told me that anytime they heard anything about Oklahoma State University, she thought of me. I couldn't have been more proud. I love everything about OSU.


I love OSU when things are good. Like when our basketball team played in the Final Four. When I got to walk through the end zone in my cap and gown. Like last Thursday when our football team was 10-0 and we were applying for National Championship tickets. When it's a beautiful fall day on campus and the fountain is dyed orange.

And I love OSU when things are bad. When I can't fill in "OSU" on a March Madness bracket. When we had to pile into the Student Union basement for tornado warnings. When we lose our first game of the season and potentially the chance at a trip to New Orleans. And when tragic plane crashes take away members of the OSU family.
If you're a sports fan, you know that my Pokes were upset last Friday. We lost in double overtime to Iowa State, which may have ended our dream of playing in the National Championship. And it really sucked. And coming from a football fan like me, I know this is shocking, but I sure wish that had been the worst thing that happened last week.

You have probably also heard about the plane crash last Thursday in which OSU lost our women's basketball coach, Kurt Bundke, assistant coach (a New Mexico girl like me), Miranda Serna, and two pilots. They leave behind families, friends, kids, a basketball team, and an orange-clad family of thousands. Please keep these people in your prayers as they try and find some way to put their lives back together. I don't think anyone who heard the news could help but think back to that moment 10 years ago when another plane crash broke the hearts of the Pokes.
Then, we lost 10. Thursday night we lost 4. And Friday night we lost a football game. Sure puts things in perspective about the latter.

Yes, on Friday night those boys dreams were crushed. Along with those of everyone wearing orange. A Heisman was almost certainly lost. The chance of kissing the crystal National Championship trophy seemed to have slipped away. But they were able to walk off an airplane and sing the alma mater at the airport. And go home and hug their families. That's more important than the W any day.

If there is one thing I know about Oklahoma State in a tragedy, it's that we will never forget. We've said it and lived it for the last 10 years. In a field in Colorado. On a banner hanging from the rafters. At a statute outside Gallagher Iba Arena. In homecoming decorations marking the 10 year anniversary of the first crash. So today, I'm wearing orange. Because I love OSU. Win or lose. Happy or sad. Because I'm proud of the way we've pulled together in times of disappointment, in times of tragedy, and even in times of being targeted by terrible, crazy funeral protesters. Because I'm proud to be a Cowboy. Because we'll never forget. And because we are...Orange.

Proud To Be A Cowboy

"Ever you'll find us, loyal and true, to our alma mater, O. S. U.!" ~Oklahoma State Alma Mater

I know that I don't usally blog on Saturdays. And I've got a full blog coming on Monday about what people are calling the worst day in OSU history. In the mean time, I just have to say this.

It has been announced that the Westboro Baptist Church, that group of people who routinely protest at funeral of fallen U.S. soldiers, will be in Stillwater on Monday morning, protesting the memorial service for Coach Budke and Coach Serna. Their rationale behind this is ridiculous and repulsive.

I believe in freedom of speech. But I also believe in respecting and honoring the dead and the grieving. And in a God who would never condone the actions of these people.

Finally, I believe in Oklahoma State. The students and community are already planning to come out in droves, in a sea of orange. In doing so, they will show their support for the coaches' families. They will show their love for OSU. And they will show that nothing....not plane crashes, not upset losses, and certainly not jackasses from this so-called church will be able to quiet our spirit. I've never been more proud to be a Cowboy.