Why I March....

On October 24, 2016, I voted early. I voted early with tears in my eyes because I was voting for a candidate that I felt was so immensely qualified - that also happened to be a woman.

 

A candidate I believed in so much, I spent months and months campaigning & volunteering for. I spent hours after work phone banking, doing signs - you name it.

When I shared that photo on a "Women for Hillary" supporters page -- for the sole purpose of chiming in on the "I voted for her today!" chatter --- the number of  men that came out of the wood works to inform me what a dumb, emotional female I am. How I needed my eyes opened, how women shouldn't be allowed to vote (because after all, women aren't very informed, they couldn't actually have done any research if they voted for Hillary!), how they should "show me" what a woman's REAL place in the world is. How I couldn't possibly be very intelligent or I wouldn't have voted for her. It went on for DAYS,  I couldn't log into Facebook without tons of messages waiting for me to harass me.

I'm sure I was supposed to be intimidated by these "men" hiding behind a computer attempting to tell a woman where they thought her place was.

All it did was make me angry. And it's been two months and I'm angry again.

I'm angry that I keep being told I should "get over it, Trump won!"

I'm angry that I continue to be told by men (usually privileged white men that don't have any worries about their rights!) that I have equal everything, that I should just shut up about all this. 

I'm angry that in 2016, Brock Turner was sentenced to 6 months (served 3) in jail for raping an unconscious 22 year old female. The victim was shamed for drinking & causing it to happen. And then that very same year, we elect a guy who brags about sexually assaulting women without their consent -but want women to shut up and accept it, there's nothing to worry about.

I'm angry that a man elected for the highest office in the country can publicly mock a disabled person & people want me to just stop talking about it and insist that's not what happened, that he was in the right.

I'm angry & I'm tired & I'm not letting people silence me.

I have nothing good to say about Trump. I of course don't wish for his failure. But I also won't sit back and "get over it" and let his horrific behavior be normalized, and ensure no one criticizes him.

As most of you know, my sweet Paige turned 18 last year. She's smart, feisty, with a ginormous heart - I'm so proud of the amazing young lady she's blossomed into. I don't know how I got so lucky to be her aunt, but I sure am thankful I am. Her future has been in my mind since February 28, 1998.

I am terrified that she is entering adulthood in Trump's America.  A time where a man can make a comment like:

"I'm automatically attracted to beautiful [women]—I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything ... Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything."

And still be voted President & his comments be laughed off as "locker room talk". That we should "get past it", that most men say things like this. (Since Trump's election, we've already had a man arrested for grabbing a woman's genitals.) We elected a President that commented he would expect his own daughter to quit her job if she was being harassed. He still stands by his tweet that sexual assault should be expected in the military if we're allowing women to serve.

THAT is who people try to tell me is going to better the country. For who, exactly? Cause it certainly isn't for women.

I won't "get over it". I will do anything under the sun to ensure that Paige can do anything she wants to do. That she goes through her life feeling respected. And valued. That she deserves - - and should demand -- equal rights. That she knows her body is hers and she deserves the right to choose what happens to it -- and that no man should touch her without her consent, period. That she should stand up for anything she believes in. I want her to break every glass ceiling that is in the way of wherever she wants to be.

It is for that reason that I joined sooo many others and marched this weekend.
2017 Nashville Women's March:

 

 

 

(I really thought my heart was going to explode when we started seeing so many Leia signs. I totally thought we might be the only Star Wars nerds with Leia signs at ours!)

 

Ch-Ch-Changes.....

I've lived in the same place for almost 7 years. I've had my share of complaints, but I genuinely love my place. With landlords who didn't really care what we did......this place became "home" very quickly. I love Nashville oh so much, and this part of Nashville is where I have been for over 10 years - I can't imagine not being in this immediate area.

But unfortunately, we loved it more than the landlords. We took wonderful care of the place, we hired fantastic lawn guys, we painted - this place has been well maintained by the tenants for years. But the "big" stuff that needed to be done kept being ignored by the landlords. When they finally sent someone out last year, they told him to do a patch job only. (Which doesn't solve a major mold problem brought on by a major pipe problem nor does it solve the floor in the bathrooms giving out enough for someone to fall through!)

A neighbor let us know that the landlords put the place on the market in September but didn't mention it to us. As soon as we said something to them on 1/4, they sent us a generic letter telling us to go ahead and be out in February. Gee, thanks!

I'm not upset they put the place on the market, but I sure wish they had told us and actually communicated with us - especially given how long we've been tenants and how much love and work we put into this place. A little bit of communication would make this so much smoother.

So I threw myself into looking for a new place in the past two weeks. Success -- and now the time to pack has come. Who knew this was going to be such an emotional transition? When did I basically become Maggie Seaver going from room to room thinking of when I moved in and all the great memories in this place? I know every neighbor in this area.  I know everything that goes on in this area. I cried having tea on the front porch today because tea on the front steps has always been my thing & I miss it already.

Fortunately, I'm only going 2 miles away - so I'm still in the area I love and know like the back of my hand. The neighbor on the other side is going a mile, so he's close and we'll easily be able to meet up for our lunches and dinners. And we've discovered the mold in the place is what's causing some of my health issues -- so this is a genuine good move.

Doesn't mean I'm not gonna miss this place like crazy. And all the great memories here. I'll miss little making a cup of tea on Halloween and going outside to  Cliff's porch and sitting around talking & passing out candy to the kids. But change is good. And I'll embrace the upcoming changes.

And still cherish the memories of sleepovers here when littlest love was a little smaller!

Rock Springs

 

I'm far from a huge nature girl. My idea of camping is a cheap hotel.  But I sure do love getting to photograph it sometimes.

Rock Springs is beyond beautiful.  Getting away from everyone for the day was also beautiful. Not a sound in the world except the splash of water at the creek.

 

cannot even comprehend....

 

Just heartbroken today.

Spending the day on the Natchez Trace to get the hell away from humanity.

And then tomorrow I'll start listening to HRC.

 

It's kind of fun to do the impossible.....

Oh my heart. My love for Disney is so deep, y'all. My dream job is forever and always at Disney Animation Studios. Maybe I'll be like 78 when it happens, but it will eventually!

Until then, my heart is fulfilled with my constant Disney trips. This time I didn't take the kiddo with me & went on a girls trip with one of my best friends. A few days at Universal so we didn't skip out geeking out over Harry Potter World, a week at Disney.....solves 90% of my problems. (Okay, not really, but it does make me happy!)

First of all, let me say that Universal was such a bust this year. Thank goodness for Harry Potter world, because otherwise we literally wouldn't have even bothered going back our last day. The customer service was so terrible --- to the point we got kicked out of Moe's because it was like 30 minutes to closing and employees wanted to leave early?

 

Thank goodness for Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

We stayed on Disney property, so by the time we got back to the resort, we just wanted to hug just about every cast member we saw for being so amazing to us.

We did Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (um hello, HOCUS POCUS PARTY), and we specifically went during free dining promotions soooo we paid for just about zero food! I think we paid for two meals -- one sit down at Epcot, one breakfast with characters. We ended up with extra credits at the end of the trip.

We mixed the time up really, at all the parks, although Magic Kingdom holds my heart - which is where most of the time was spent.

A brief run down.....(maybe next year I'll actually day-by-day each park!)

 

Hallowishes

 

GUYS. MY LITTLE SNOW WHITE HEART CAN'T HANDLE THIS. 

 

I took the most ultimate Nicole photo ever....Starbucks at Magic Kingdom. 

 

Stormtroopers totally stalking me.

 

Can I move to the Haunted Mansion? I want to be there 24/7.

I needed this trip. And I'm working on next years NOW. Because I dont know how the next four years could potentially be....I may need all the happy places I can get!

I'm baaaack....

It's apparently time for me to get back in the swing of blogging.....

Not only to have my outlet back, but for all the trips I have coming up.

Slowly getting back into the swing of it, and making some changes. Back full time super soon.

That time it was all about me....

And here lies my completely shallow & selfish post, because when it's your birthday, you're completely allowed to do that, right???


It's finally September which means….my birthday month is over! And a great birthday month it was. Do my friends/family know me or what?! Throughout the month I kept receiving box after box. Eventually I opened up all these gems.

What kind of treasure trove is this? A mix of Disney, Once Upon  a Time & The Walking Dead? It’s hard to get better than this.

And not only did I get a mix of all my shows and Disney, I got my coffee mugs! While I don’t drink coffee at home, most of you know I AM obsessed with tea. (And yes, I drink wine out of them too!) So my twin cousin sent me these gems for the new Inside Out movie! (If you haven’t seen it, you HAVE to,  it’s not only a great Disney movie, it’s an AMAZING message about emotions - and probably something kids really need to learn.)

(They are adorable, and yes, they are all my faves but we pretty much determined after the movie I’m a mix of Joy & Disgust ;) 

After all this,  I rearranged my cabinets, and….I’m pretty sure I’ve got my tv show, and Disney covered with my coffee mug collection?

I spent my actual birthday having lunch with my mom and niece, and hitting Jurassic World in theaters again. Yes, it was the third time, but...it was in the IMAX? Who would skip that chance??

Saturday I went to celebrate at Dolphie’s with the sis, our friend Kim & my best friend.  The Denny’s next to the bar is long gone, but this was the first time we’d gone in a few months….so sadly the Denny’s before and after our night tradition has ended. We grabbed dinner at O’Charley’s beforehand, and ended up going to bed after karaoke was over. Bummer. But still a great, great night.

My sister totally wins on the cake front. HOW ADORABLE is my Snow White dress cupcake cake? Seriously? This is adorable. Because yes, I'm the 32 year old with a 12 year old heart. This is what happens when you're an artist that loves the creative stuff.

 

My sister found it online, so she was so proud she got the bakery to do it exactly like she saw it!

Slight picspam, because there really aren’t a ton of pics to post for once:

And with that....it's off to get my nerdy brain back in photoshop!

Happy (almost/getting closer!) Fall Y'all!

I love summer. Always have. I love warmth, I love the pool, I love flip flops -- summer is just fun.

However, I also love love love fall. Not only is it fun, it smells amazing and it's gorgeous. I am so excited for fall decorations, pumpkins, apple cider and of course Pumpkin Spice Lattes! I am ITCHING to put out my adorable pumpkins I painted in UK blue last fall!

And of course, Halloween. I have my Halloween playlist ready and roaring to go. While normally I have fun at a Halloween party, this year I'll be in Atlanta at a Walking Dead convention...because the nerd in me can't not go & I need to see Norman Reedus in the flesh. Given how many people cosplay at cons....I'm sure I'll be surrounded by plenty of zombies on Halloween this year ;)

But lets be real... the two best things about fall are (well, okay, besides all my shows coming back!):

Bath & Body Works having Pumpkin Pecan Waffles in stock.

A friend of mine spotted the small candles in stores a couple weeks ago and immediately sent them to me. And now I'm the nerd who keeps going to stores every week to see when they plan on releasing the large three wick candles so I can stock up. Last winter I blew through so many of these candles that I resorted to eBay for more. 

And of course....

It's almost Hocus Pocus time! Fall & Christmas are the best times of the year because I can turn on my tv at any given time and find Hocus Pocus or Christmas Vacation. And even though I own both movies, watch both movies year round....I STILL get giddy finding them on tv!

Disney Adventures...

(Yes I know what a bad blogger I’ve been. I’m fixing that, I promise. I have so much on the horizon to blog about!)

Two weeks ago, girl & I took over Disney World! It was partially just a fun trip for us, partially a Graduation present for her – because I’m a good aunt-, and partially for me to get my A) Disney fix & B) take a trip because y’all know I cannot sit still for very long at home.

We had the best time – honestly, I get a LOT of time with the girl because she comes over a lot of weekends to spend the night or we’re out shopping, etc – but it was a blast for us to actually get away for a week! Also, she’d never flown before so it was pretty much the cutest to watch her staring out at the window.

So I’m not a Disney World newbie, but I haven’t gone to Disney in a few years, so there was a lot of new great stuff, including the Seven Dwarf Mine Train Coaster. Seriously, this is the best. We road it so many times, and on our last night there, we timed it just perfect to ride it as the fireworks set off – it’s breathtaking to be riding the roller coaster and having the sky light up around you! (And we were able to haul it off the ride and go watch the rest of the fireworks show sitting still!) We scheduled all our fast passes in advance, and I cannot recommend it enough – especially if you want to get on the Dwarf Mine Train without the 2 hour or so wait. (Although the last time we rode it, we DID wait in line & timed it nicely enough to only have to wait an hour!) There isn't too much at Disney I won't ride -- but there's certainly a few things. But because I love her, I wanted her to experience every ride I knew she’d love (okay, minus Space Mountain, because…I’m not into Space Mountain. At all.), so I sucked it up and even did Tower of Terror with her. (I survived. I still don’t like it.)

We did park hopper, but we only hit Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom & Hollywood Studios. Epcot was great when I was a kid going on a field trip – but it’s kinda boring when I’m on vacation with the kid. We hit Magic Kingdom multiple days & spent Wednesday at Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. We also squeezed in Downtown Disney for some shopping & to hit the Art Gallery!

I know the “happiest place on earth” is so cliché, but man it really…IS. It’s the best vacation. I head back the weekend of the niece’s graduation – literally the morning after her graduation, my group & I shove out to Orlando for another con & we’ve extended our trip a few extra days to give us Disney time. I’m not sure there’s anything better than hitting Disney twice in a year. (Family vaca is in July, and we’re skipping Disney so the boy can see Lego Land. What a sacrifice to go to Orlando and skip Disney World!)

Some picspam & commentary. And by some I mean a “lot” - not even kidding, you've been warned :) Seriously. I haven’t even gone through pics on my camera, so this is phone run down & a few shots from Disney's photographer.

Off we go! Paige’s first flight. It only took us 17 years to put her on a plane, hahaha.

At the hotel! It’s like “you know you’re at DISNEY when…..”

 

 Downtown Disney’s Art Gallery is my life. I could live here.  When you’re an art nerd, stuff like this just…absolutely blows your mind. Paige & I wandered the place for at least an hour analyzing all the gorgeous pieces, I don’t think we ever wanted to leave.  These pieces were just incredible.

How did you know which room was ours? By our window of course, we were NATURALLY the Little Mermaid & Snow White room.

Hellooooo Magic Kingdom! With our adorable Evil Queen and Ariel ears. We went big or went home – and had ears of our favorite characters made before we left, so Paige was Little Mermaid/Ursula themed for the week (with a touch of Maleficent!) and I was the Evil Queen/Snow White themed all week! This was Paige’s first time seeing the Castle!

 We got there so early the first day, we rode so much stuff so quickly. Here we are on Dumbo!

And the Tea Cups – the kid hasn’t laughed this hard in a long time!

Since Ariel is her thing, I did a fast pass for the photo ops with Ariel. Paige was pretty adorable in her little Ariel ears and her shirt – and it was a huge hit all around. Everyone and their brother stopped us all week to ask where I got all our different ears!

With the girl. Duck face is a requirement at least once when you’re with a teenager.

One of the days, we hit Hollywood Studios first --- and we hit so many characters in a quick time span, which wasn’t even our initial goal! We went with a super early fast pass to Toy Story Mania. Pixar was one of our biggest excitements for Hollywood Studios, and it didn’t let us down – we got our pics with Buzz & Woody before we had even been there an hour!

And then we just kept running into characters…

 Chip & Dale. How adorable is this?

  Donald Duck – we actually had been in line for another character & they swapped out for Donald right before we got up there. But we weren’t complaining.

  My girl at Hollywood Studios…..we had priorities – as soon as we got off Toy Story Mania, we hunted down the Starbucks before looking for more characters

 So I totally don’t remember this from my last Disney trip…they have a VILLAINS shop? I’m pretty sure both our jaws dropped and we rushed over there. This place was badass & we both LOVED it.

 This was actually kind of hilarious – we went online weeks leading up to plan our fast passes and our game plan, and when we saw there was a tribute to some actors at Hollywood Studios, I joked “wonder if they’ll have any of the Golden Girls!”. Once we started to walk past it, Paige and I at the same time said “OMG IT’S BETTY AND BEA!” and made a beeline. (And pretty sure Paige was the youngest person to be OMG BEA ARTHUR! At Disney World. That’s my girl!)  

Every Toy Story nerd knows….Pizza Planet is the place to be! Paige talked about this for WEEKS leading up, she was DYING to check it out. So, obviously, we went the day we saw Buzz & Woody. My only disappointment was there was seriously no Claw Machine in the arcade part? Is it like gone? Because shouldn’t Pizza Planet of all places have the Claw?? We used Pizza Planet time to chill and charge phones, and I’d like to think we weren’t the only ones scouring the place looking for the Claw Machine while reciting “YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN!” (Isn’t the best part about Disney that you can quote every Disney movie and everyone else totally gets it!?)

 We also found Mikey and Sulley! Or, as Paige used to refer to him when she was little: Silly. 

 And then we found Mater & Lightning McQueen!

In what was probably our most exciting moment of the trip, we noticed on a sheet that the Incredibles were going to be at one part of the park, so we wandered back. It turned out to be this building with tons of characters and games for kids to play. And as we walked in, we saw Baymax! We didn’t think they had Baymax out, so we went over & they told us he was leaving and to come back for the next round --- and be there an hour early, because since Big Hero 6 was new and so popular, his line was pretty crazy.

That gave us a little time to kill, so we did go and find the Incredibles! And Frozone was obsessed with Paige & after we got our duo op with them both – he insisted on getting another pic with just Paige.

 And then we randomly found a small line that went to a room in the back. Paige curiously asked whose line it was, and was told “Minnie Mouse” in reply, and I cannot even tell you how big her eyes got. Seriously people – Disney’s not for just the little kids. “OMG Aunt Nicole we have to meet Minnie! I want a pic with Minnie!!” I think this is one of my fave pics of the entire trip – and now I can frame this pic with me & the twin cousin with Minnie from Disneyland in ’11. 

We got Baymax afterwards! Seriously, how adorable is he!? And, because the kid is awesome, she fist bumped him so she could do the “bata-lata-lata-la!” with him. (Which we saw tons of people doing throughout the day!)

 

 

 Some of the scenery at Hollywood Studios is amazing & I absolutely love some of the vintage feel to the entire park!

 

snapped this one for pretty obvious reasons :) 

Animal Kingdom was next on the agenda, where we were trying to hunt down Rafiki and Baloo. Rafiki was doing a parade when we went so we didn’t get  a pic BUT we did find Baloo & King Louie. We hit a few rides at Animal Kingdom – and the Primeval Whirl has to be the worst ride I’ve ever ridden. Seriously, whose idea was that?! It was physically PAINFUL when you go around the corners. 

 

Baloo & King Louie

 Another day at Magic Kindgom, another ride on the Tea Cups!

 My Snow & Evil Queen ears enjoyed the Castle.

Thursday while we were there marked the anniversary of Granny’s death. We always do something for her on this day, and we’re always together, but….it just happened to fall on Paige’s spring break this year which was the best time for our Disney trip. Because of this, it was our goal to find Goofy – her favorite – to get our picture with him. We successfully found him after another ride on Dumbo!

 And he couldn’t have been cuter. And my mom couldn’t have cried harder when we sent her the pic and told her what we did to celebrate Granny.

We totally wanted to be by the castle for fireworks, but we also wanted to ride the Mine Train Coaster again, so like I said; we hit the coaster at the most PERFECT time. 

And obviously because we were going so fast, I couldn’t take any pics. Once we got off, we immediately rushed to the castle to watch the rest of the fireworks show.

Overall…..an amazing vacation & an incredible week with my girl.  I’m so glad we went – and I’m so glad I’m this close to her and do these sorts of things with her. She’s already ready for our next trip – which I think Mom wants in on – so I think it’s pretty safe to say she had a good time!