New Toy

So I got to mess around on iMovie today for a CA project, and let me tell you, I LOVE it! It's my new toy.

It's so easy to use, and especially with the source material we were using, it was hysterical to make this video!

Just figured I'd pop over and post that here.

iMovie=LOVE

Faith. Trust. Pixie Dust.

~Jackie

So I Have This Little Addiction...

...to all things Disney.

To tell the truth, it's actually fairly recent. I always liked Disney and knew tons and tons and tons of facts about the movies and had watched all the classics a million times, but I wasn't obsessed. However, if you ask anyone who knows me currently at college, they'll tell you:

I. LOVE. DISNEY. A LOT.

Specifically the Disney Princesses. They've got lovely little pedestals in a special section of my heart. Especially Jasmine (don't get me started on how underrepresented she is in the Princess merchandise. Cinderella, Belle, and Sleeping Beauty get all the glory.)

I think the obsession pretty much started when Samford took a road trip down to Orlando for the first football game of the year versus UCF. As a bonus, the entire group got to go to Disney World the next day. I was hanging out with a wonderful group of girls (Ruth Anne, who would go on to become my best friend, Olivia, another fabulous friend, and Jessica, the current roommate), and we decided to get princess crowns first thing when we got there. Ruth Anne was Belle, Olivia was Aurora, Jessica was Cinderella, and I spent much time deliberating between Ariel and Jasmine.

I identify incredibly well with both of them. Ariel for her passion for singing and naive nature, and Jasmine for her sarcasm and boldness. And both of them are hopeless romantics and stubborn. In the end I ended up going with Jasmine because her crown was prettier : )

We wore those crowns all over the park that day and were greeted as "Your Highnesses" wherever we went.

Can you say, "amazing?" Because I can.

Anyway, so that pretty much started my absolute fascination with the Disney Princesses. I have a wonderful poster on my wall of the Princesses (minus Tiana because she hadn't officially been added yet) and Jasmine's tiara is hanging beside it. I have Disney Princess playing cards, and I even did a paper about Vera Wang's Princess perfume wearing my tiara (the professor loved it).

So yeah. Obsessed. Just a little bit.

But feel free to gift me anything that may have to do with the Princesses. Because I love them.

Faith. Trust. Pixie Dust.

~Jackie

I Enjoy Snow.

I really do. I mean, I live in Georgia and go to college in Alabama, so snow exactly a common sight. But this year, both my home and Samford got a good coating of snow...about 2-3 inches in each place, I think.

Snow is so magical, and I was lucky enough today to be walking outside when it started. I got this goofy little grin on my face and started bouncing in my Emus (knock-off Uggs) on my way to the campus post office to get my Valentine's Day package from the parentals. After getting said package, I sat on a bench outside the University Center and picked through the ten layers of tape in the snow.

Why?

Because I could.

Snowball Fight on the Quad

Unfortch, I had one more class to go to, but it was only an hour, (plus a bit more...the professor talked over time today. The snow day of all days! Grr...) and I could watch the snow falling outside the window, so I was okay.

When we got outside, I was in awe. The snow had started to stick while I was in class, so there was about an inch on the ground by the time I got out.

I basically started dancing right there...no lie.

View from the Vail 4th Floor Lobby

So, to put it simply, I've been ecstatic all day long, even if it was just the afternoon classes that got cancelled and all I have are morning classes. Snow totally made up for all of that.

I spent about 2 1/2 hours in the snow: snowball fights, lovely pictures, watching people "sled" down the hill in and on everything from mattresses to laundry baskets to the old trays from the Caf (darn our Caf for going trayless! The only reason we had a tray was because one of the guy RAs had one in his room). One of my friends had his snowboard with him (Why? We don't know, but we're glad he did).

The Football Field

It was amazing.

I love snow.

I'm talking about the snow : )

Faith. Trust. Pixie Dust.

~Jackie

It may not be the NY Times, but...

I'm kind of hooked on reading The Crimson now. I realize that it's a small, weekly, university newspaper and that the amount of typos in some issues would horrify my middle school english teacher. But it's slightly addictive.

I don't read everything. Some things I've heard too much, some things are topics that don't interest me, and some are just straight-out dull. But I do read the Opinion section. I always read that section.

You can find pretty much every popular (and some off-the-wall) opinions in there and their opposition. It can get pretty interesting to read, especially when you go to the website later and see the comments (one article last week caused a massive uproar online).

But sometimes, I get lucky.

Sometimes, there's that one article that I read the headline of and just go "Oh. My. Gosh. LOVE."

There was one this week, and I just about fell out of my chair in class (don't worry, I was reading it before class started) when I saw it.

It was about fairy tales. And I ah-dore fairy tales (more on that in a later post).

It was just such a great piece, about how fairy tales are more real than we recognize. How we live in a constant battle of good vs. evil, and how even the most established of women can be a damsel in distress. How dragons exist and how they can be overcome.

It was brilliant.

(It made me go "Why didn't I think of that?")

So, Corinne Dyer, thank you. It was kind of nice to read an Opinion piece that had nothing to do with politics, religion, or criticism of the university. It was nice to read a piece that had everything to do with me.

"Fairy tales are more than true, not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be defeated." G.K. Chesterson

Faith. Trust. Pixie Dust.

~Jackie

I Salute You, General Beauregard Lee

Today, my friends, is the most amazing of holidays.

It is...GROUNDHOG DAY!

I realize I am posting this when Groundhog Day is almost over, but we can all still appreciate the fact that there is still one holiday out there that is not over-commercialized and celebrates one of God's creatures that doesn't often get any recognition.

Now, most of America watches old Punxsatawny Phil up on Gobbler's Knob near Pittsburgh to see if he see his shadow. However, I live in the South, and we respect Phil, but our hearts belong to Georgia's own General Beauregard Lee. That's who predicts our long winter/early spring (No offense, Phil.)

This year, those poor folks up north will suffer through another six weeks of winter because Phil saw his shadow, but we down South will get a lovely early spring. Hooray! (I specifically say 'Hooray' for a reason that will be explained later.)

Groundhog Day is my dad's absolute favorite holiday (even though there is no candy involved). I don't know why, but it's become one of my favorites, as well.

We celebrate Groundhog Day in my family with presents from Greta and Greg Groundhog. Greta and Greg are a very nice old groundhog couple (I think they might have migrated from Narnia when it was under the rule of the White Witch...they have sometimes mentioned that they are friends with a beaver couple and a few fauns) who like to leave gifts for girls and boys who still believe in the magic of Groundhog Day. Now, they are getting on in age, and they are living off their retirement funds, so the gifts are small and practical, but fun all the same.

This year Greta brought me a heart-shaped light-up eraser, some cute pencils, metallic paper clips, Silly Putty, Silly String, and (best of all) Disney Princess playing cards!!! (though Princess Jasmine is not on them, which decreases their coolness some)

There is also a song we sing to celebrate the joy that is Groundhog Day. My father made it up, and I entertained quite a few of my college friends today by singing it. So you all can know the lyrics, I'm posting them here:

Happy Groundhog Day!

Happy Groundhog Day!

It's a wonderful, wonderful day!

Happy Groundhog Day!

Happy Groundhog Day!

All the children shout 'Hooray!'

If the groundhog sees his shadow,

Then we'll have to wait for spring!

Happy Groundhog Day

To you and everything!

(this is typically followed by "One more time!" and another round of the song...)

My wonderful father called me this morning to sing to me...it was very nice and much appreciated.

All in all, my Groundhog Day 2010 was fab! Can't wait for Groundhog Day 2011!

Faith. Trust. Pixie Dust.

-Jackie

SNUGGIES NEED TO DIE

Seriously, I absolutely despise the Snuggie. I think it is the lovechild of a sweatshirt and a blanket (the two items which, if properly utilized, perform the same task the Snuggie is designed for, therefore making the Snuggie a needless product). They need to be banned from Earth.

There. Now that I've ranted, I can get on with my account of my fabuloso weekend.

Saturday morning was full of ZZZ's, and Saturday afternoon was fairly boring by all accounts. I did copious amounts of homework, completely addling my brain for the rest of the day, but making me feel quite proud of myself by dinnertime. Ate something in the Caf that was supposed to pass as chicken with the friend-peoples (Ruth Anne and Olivia), then headed back to the room to waste an hour before the three of us watched the Miss America pageant.

Miss New Mexico: Nicole Miner

I'm not a pageant girl, nor have I watched one in its entirety in my life, but it was fun to watch last night. I was rooting for Miss New Mexico during the whole thing (she was absolutely stunning...it looked like she wasn't even wearing make-up), but Miss Virginia won me over through the course of the night, so I wasn't upset when she won (her yellow dress...genius!).

Miss America/Miss Virginia: Caressa Cameron

We were too lazy to change the channel, so we ended up watching some silly wedding competition show (4 Weddings, or something like that) that came on after the pageant, during the course of which Olivia developed a craving for IHOP. So we went.

BEE TEE DUBBS, forgot to mention, the rant about Snuggies at the top of this post was totally relevant due to the fact that Olivia felt the need to bring her pink one with her to watch the pageant. AND SHE TOUCHED ME WITH IT. I felt an immediate need to sanitize. It was awful.

Anywhos, after our adventure to IHOP (from about 10:30 to 11:30 PM), we got back to campus, parked in the parking deck behind the freshman girl's dorm, and while waiting for the elevator, we noticed the blue Security Call light was on. So we did what any sane girl would do...take off at a dead run for the stairs and into the girl's dorm (I actually still have no idea why we did this).

We got to sleep eventually.

Today (today being Sunday, for those of you reading this at a later date), we went to Church of the Highlands, then out to FLIP Burger Boutique for the lunch-meal. It was very modern, very young, very eclectic. Food was fantabulous, unique, and not too expensive, and I do believe we've found our new GDO/GNO food spot.

We also spent some time browsing around Charming Charlie (a.k.a. the most AH-MAZING accessories/clothing store known to man and ninja-kind...it's organized by COLOR. You can't beat that), where we picked up a b-day prezzie for a JMC friend, I snagged a beautiful peacock blue Pashmina (and almost bought an interestingly pretty black headband with two flowers lined in zipper teeth), and I decided that I want a legit tiara for my birthday (not kidding).

So, anyway, it was the most epic of Girl Weekends, and made us realize we need many more (I think one is in the works for next weekend...if it doesn't happen then, it won't happen until March because we're all so darn busy).

It also made me realize even more so that SNUGGIES NEED TO DIE...A SLOW, PAINFUL DEATH!

Faith. Trust. Pixie Dust.

~Jackie

I think I'm in Love...

...with Quaker Oatmeal Squares cereal. I'm just sayin'...

Faith. Trust. Pixie Dust.

~Jackie