The Weekender

What a beautiful weekend it was! I'd like to call it the last hurrah for awhile before my mom has her surgery :( Sad day! But, it was a fun way to do it. I woke up, put my makeup on, got dressed, and listened to some music to get pumped for the day!

The new DVD player in our car!! :0

My grandparents met at our house, and we headed to Valencia. We wanted to take them to lunch at one of our new favorite restaurants, Lucille's BBQ. It was delicious! While we were waiting for a free table, my mom, grandma and I walked over to one of my favorite stores. They seriously had so many sweaters! It was fall shopping central. My dad called, and we headed back to Lucille's. We had great conversation about how I'm going to be a nice little housewife these next couple weeks while mom is down from her surgery. My grandpa seems to think this will be good training for me to find a rich man. I was like, "Nah, I don't need a man. I'm going to get a degree in Journalism and make my own money." Everyone just keeps telling me that I need a rich man, or basically I'm going to go nowhere in life. I really hope to prove them all wrong, because I'm extremely annoyed with that, just because my parents buy everything and I'm high maintenance. I'm going to college for a reason...Though, sometimes I still wonder why. However, I did get fried pickles, and those make up for everything. Theirs are the best too!

Somehow, I always manage to do all of my over thinking and over analyzing at the worst possible moments, and this was one of those moments. I put myself in a bad mood, and trying to get out again is always the hard part. It also makes it difficult when you're out and about, and were aiming for a good time, but then...Ya know. We went to Stein Mart, which I don't care for, but I always find a ton of stuff. This trip was no different. I found a Betsey Johnson purse and a red sweatshirt. I was really excited! We looked around a little while longer, then went over to Wal-Mart, so my grandpa could pick up an ink cartridge. I was starting to poop out (I think I have low blood sugar, and just start to crash after awhile. Just ask my family; they'd vouch), but we went to a couple home decor stores.
The first one...Let's just say there were a ton of helpful people that Lorelai Gilmore would have made a really witty remark about. I'm not sure what, I just know she would have. They had some really cool furniture, which always makes me mentally decorate my future apartment or house.

I want this! It's both a desk and a dresser. 

Next door, there was another decor store, but this one was packed with Christmas decorations. Every nook and cranny was strategically placed like a magical wonderland forest. It really has me giddy with excitement for Christmas and all of the other holidays coming up. I also can't wait until I have a family of my own to go all out for Christmas with the kids. It's just something I like to think about these days. Seriously, if you were looking for something in particular to decorate with, I'm pretty sure they had it...and then some. 

This would totally be Katy Perry's Christmas tree...

Old fashioned Christmas lights make me REALLY excited! 

We headed back towards home not long after that, but stopped at Denny's for some dessert. I got Banana hush puppies and ice cream. Although, they turned out to not be banana; still good and ate them all, so obviously it wasn't a big problem. It was really good talking to my grandparents, and just joking around with one another. Our waitress was a hoot too! She reminds me a lot of what Minnie Pearl would've been like. She was giving my dad a hard time about everything, which was hilarious. It was a nice little pitstop. 

The sunset on the way home.

The rest of the night was spent hanging out on the couch, spending time with my parents and not doing much of anything.

Sunday:
I must've woke up on the wrong side once again, because I did NOT want to get out of bed, and when I finally decided to, I was not charming at all. The service at church was great! One of my friends' dad's/former pastor spoke about faith. I guess I really needed to hear that this week, and it is an eye opener that I need to start believing again. Big things are going to happen, I just need to get back in the game of life with a new attitude on it.
We had lunch at Chuy's, which was okay! My parents and I ended up talking about the debate and the choir coming up at church for Christmas. It's going to be hard for me to really do it this year, because I don't drive and with my mom having surgery, it'll throw things off a bit. This is my favorite time of the year, and I hate to miss out, so I hope something works out.
After we finished lunch, we made a quickish trip to Michael's to pick up decorating tools for our pumpkins. It was a little more difficult than I thought it would be, but it still payed off. I could go crazy at Michael's. I'm such a craft nerd, so going in a store filled with things of that nature, it's like, "Oooh! Shiny!" Plus, as we were walking in, a car drove by blasting Red by Taylor Swift.
We made it home, and I spent a couple hours taking a theater test, which was totally pointless, but we'll see how that goes. As soon as I was done, I worked on my pumpkin and watched the Halloween episodes of One Tree Hill. It's the last week to really do all of these "Halloween" festive things, so I want to do it right. After I was done with mine, my dad told me I could use his to carve if I wanted to. Of course I did, so I went with the typical "Jack-O-Lantern" look, although, I ended up butchering his face a bit. Oops! And the pumpkin guts leaked through the paper onto the carpet. I had a blast, though ;) That's all that matters, right?

My "One Tree Hill" pumpkin. Didn't exactly turn out like I thought, but it was fun!

My dad picked up dinner from Taco Pronto, and brought it home. Afterwards, I ended up VOTING! Since I won't be able to visit the actual voting location the day the polls are open, we decided to vote by mail. This is my first time voting in an election for president, so this was a HUGE moment for me. Being able to exercise my right as an American citizen, where it matters what I say and what I think is SO cool, and as I get older, I'm appreciating it more and more. I have to win this election! Every time I vote for something or someone, I usually win...It's just like American Idol ;) Totally kidding, but you catch my drift. 

Now, it's time to gear up for another crazy week! My mom has surgery this week, so that'll change things up around here for a little while. Prayers are very much appreciated :) I will be sure to keep you updated on my life as it happens.

That's all for now,
Shelby