my oh so talented sister in law, lisa, has a blog to help you out with all of your birthday planning needs. ever since she got hitched to my brother and started popping kids out, she has never ceased to amaze me with the parties she pulls off. for a mario party she actually dressed up like mario and had games set up around the house for the kids to play, ending outside where they had to defeat bowser. for a bug party she made a HUGE spider web on the wall and made everybody into a bug - there was an ant that said "aunt meg" and a daddy long legs for my brother.
if you're a mom trying to plan a rockin birthday for your little bit or just enjoy crafty people in general you'll love reading her blog! it's full of tips and suggestions and you can even contact her to get some specialized ideas!
http://www.build-a-birthday.blogspot.com/
-meghan
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
the plea of mankind
about 2 weeks ago hillary, tori, vicki and i loaded up in a car to drive to texas to get memaw for a visit. we left in the afternoon, so after about 3 hours of driving it was dark in the car. hillary and tori were laying in the back either half asleep or listening to ipods when all of a sudden hillary felt a bug on her leg and popped up. she started feeling around in her pants and yelled at tori "shine your light on me! hurry!" when she yelled that i immediately thought of Jesus. she sounded so urgent and desperate, and why wouldn't she?? after all, she did have a bug walking around in her pants.
everyone has felt the need for something more at one point or another in their lives. even you, person who is reading this. many, myself being the chief, have tried to fill the void, the emptiness, with things of this world. there are so many distractions the world has to offer to try and satisfy our every need that someone could easily spend their whole life going from one fulfillment to the next. friends, possessions, status, marriage, money - these are all things that society has put a stamp of achievement on, and attaining them gives you a mark of importance. but what happens when the well runs dry, when you are no longer loved or praised for what you've done or who you are? what do you do when you've "got a bug in your pants" so to speak? time and time again your entire being cries out to God: shine Your Light on me! hurry!
years ago i remember laying down one night and thinking "is this really what my life is? this can't be it." my depraved heart knew that something was missing, that there was a reason other than myself to live for. counting on people to fill my happiness left me empty too many times to recount. i was an absolutely spoiled, self-centered, rude teenager and i cant say it enough, i'm really sorry about that, mom. no matter what i got, who i dated, what i did in my spare time, how much fun i had, i always wanted more. i was truly a wretch. i didn't just have a bug in my pants, if anything i would have been the bug. but bugs are just bugs, they are not nearly disgusting enough to make a comparison when it comes to talking about a sinful heart. without me even realizing, my depraved life shouted shine Your Light on me! hurry!
praise God that He is the One to fill our emptiness, our need for everything. and praise Him that calls us to Himself, draws our hearts closer without our invitation, knowledge or permission. praise Him that we have the Bible, the Truth to cling to while false gospels are being taught. praise Him that when i cried out from my soul "shine Your Light on me! hurry!" i brought Him glory!!
"awake, o sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."
everyone has felt the need for something more at one point or another in their lives. even you, person who is reading this. many, myself being the chief, have tried to fill the void, the emptiness, with things of this world. there are so many distractions the world has to offer to try and satisfy our every need that someone could easily spend their whole life going from one fulfillment to the next. friends, possessions, status, marriage, money - these are all things that society has put a stamp of achievement on, and attaining them gives you a mark of importance. but what happens when the well runs dry, when you are no longer loved or praised for what you've done or who you are? what do you do when you've "got a bug in your pants" so to speak? time and time again your entire being cries out to God: shine Your Light on me! hurry!
years ago i remember laying down one night and thinking "is this really what my life is? this can't be it." my depraved heart knew that something was missing, that there was a reason other than myself to live for. counting on people to fill my happiness left me empty too many times to recount. i was an absolutely spoiled, self-centered, rude teenager and i cant say it enough, i'm really sorry about that, mom. no matter what i got, who i dated, what i did in my spare time, how much fun i had, i always wanted more. i was truly a wretch. i didn't just have a bug in my pants, if anything i would have been the bug. but bugs are just bugs, they are not nearly disgusting enough to make a comparison when it comes to talking about a sinful heart. without me even realizing, my depraved life shouted shine Your Light on me! hurry!
praise God that He is the One to fill our emptiness, our need for everything. and praise Him that calls us to Himself, draws our hearts closer without our invitation, knowledge or permission. praise Him that we have the Bible, the Truth to cling to while false gospels are being taught. praise Him that when i cried out from my soul "shine Your Light on me! hurry!" i brought Him glory!!
"awake, o sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."
yum's the word
tonight i made homemade cookies and cream ice cream for the first time! i found an ice cream maker over a year ago while home visiting my family and asked my mom if i could have it. i brought it home with every intention of using it all the time, but instead it ended up in storage. i decided to test it out and make sure it works before taking it with me to nashville. i was nervous i would mess it up - i've never made ice cream before except in high school in my "food technology" class, where i dumped an ingredient into the bin. vicki told me to be sure and put something underneath it or else i would get salt everywhere, which was a very helpful tip that i definitely would not have thought about.
one of the reasons i haven't made ice cream until now is because i thought it took hours to make, but i quickly learned that i was wrong about that! about 20 minutes after i turned it on it stopped, and i thought "well, i guess it doesn't work". wrong! i couldn't believe how quickly it was finished. i loved the cookies and cream and can't wait to try other flavors, especially pineapple. i really loved the recipe for ice cream that vicki uses, it's simple to make and easy to remember.
2 quarts of half and half
3 cups of sugar
4 teaspoons of vanilla
after putting in these ingredients i put in broken up double stuf oreos until they reached the fill line. the ice cream it made was oh so delicious!
-meghan
one of the reasons i haven't made ice cream until now is because i thought it took hours to make, but i quickly learned that i was wrong about that! about 20 minutes after i turned it on it stopped, and i thought "well, i guess it doesn't work". wrong! i couldn't believe how quickly it was finished. i loved the cookies and cream and can't wait to try other flavors, especially pineapple. i really loved the recipe for ice cream that vicki uses, it's simple to make and easy to remember.
2 quarts of half and half
3 cups of sugar
4 teaspoons of vanilla
after putting in these ingredients i put in broken up double stuf oreos until they reached the fill line. the ice cream it made was oh so delicious!
-meghan
Monday, April 12, 2010
honestly there's only one answer here
due to the great support of my urinal post, i wanted to put a picture i found that shows the solution to this whole mess.
-meghan
-meghan
Sunday, April 11, 2010
men are from mars, women are from earth.
so i went on a rant last night with tori and wanted to share it and see if anybody else thinks the same as i do. the rant was brought on by tori telling me about a guy whose mother left when he was young, leaving him to be raised by his father. i was just about to say that it was good thing that he was a boy when she said there were 5 kids in the family, which led me to this question...what does a single dad do when he is out in public with his little girl and she needs to use the bathroom? he can't take her in the women's bathroom, but he for dang sure can't take her in the men's bathroom for the sole reason of my rant - the urinal.
whose idea was it to make urinals? and why are they still around? most people don't have one in their home, so obviously men are capable of doing all of their business in one toilet. and it's not like women think they have to have a separate, different kind of toilet. we do all of our business in the same place, and we're fine with it. and don't give me the excuse that we always sit down. just because you're not sitting down on it, it doesn't mean you can't stand over the same one you sit on.
and if they insist on having urinals, why not make stalls for them? what is okay about just standing out in the open and peeing in front of everybody? aren't guys the ones that can't sleep in the same bed as each other and make fun of girls for going to the bathroom together, yet they just walk in and whip it out in front of a room full of strangers. say what you want about girls, but at least we're consistent in our privacy issues.
and when they don't have a urinal around, they think they have to pick the lid up (and leave it up). ridiculous. they've been using a non-urinal, regular toilet in their house their whole life. i'm just saying, if you can't get in the huge hole with the lid down, putting it up isn't going to help you out. i understand it might be hard when they're say...3, but after that their aim shouldn't be so bad. and if they can't go without getting it on the seat, they need to be sitting down on it.
oh, and the droplets they like to leave on the seat? turns out they really should be using toilet paper every time they go just like us girls, they just don't.
something really is wrong with boys.
whose idea was it to make urinals? and why are they still around? most people don't have one in their home, so obviously men are capable of doing all of their business in one toilet. and it's not like women think they have to have a separate, different kind of toilet. we do all of our business in the same place, and we're fine with it. and don't give me the excuse that we always sit down. just because you're not sitting down on it, it doesn't mean you can't stand over the same one you sit on.
and if they insist on having urinals, why not make stalls for them? what is okay about just standing out in the open and peeing in front of everybody? aren't guys the ones that can't sleep in the same bed as each other and make fun of girls for going to the bathroom together, yet they just walk in and whip it out in front of a room full of strangers. say what you want about girls, but at least we're consistent in our privacy issues.
and when they don't have a urinal around, they think they have to pick the lid up (and leave it up). ridiculous. they've been using a non-urinal, regular toilet in their house their whole life. i'm just saying, if you can't get in the huge hole with the lid down, putting it up isn't going to help you out. i understand it might be hard when they're say...3, but after that their aim shouldn't be so bad. and if they can't go without getting it on the seat, they need to be sitting down on it.
oh, and the droplets they like to leave on the seat? turns out they really should be using toilet paper every time they go just like us girls, they just don't.
something really is wrong with boys.
Friday, April 9, 2010
i'm ready to be a tennesseean
i'm about to start cooking for our party tonight that hopefully i'll be telling you about tomorrow, but i wanted to take a minute to let out some of my excitement about moving to nashville. I CAN'T WAIT!!!! i'm absolutely in love with the town and feel like i can't get there soon enough. today i was talking to one of my friends who is also about to move and she said she never realized how unhappy she was in the town she currently lives in. then she said "it's not that i don't like it, it's ok. i just can't breathe there." i knew exactly how she felt - whenever i'm in nashville i feel like i belong there and truly believe that i do belong because God has ordained it. i praise Him for the change that's about to take place in my life and can't wait to take a deep breath of the music city!! in honor of the move, i'm going to leave you with a country song today that i consider tolerable. it's certainly a great day to be alive!!
-meghan
-meghan
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
how does my hair look?
this is a picture of sterling and i at jameson's 16th birthday dinner at outback. it's one of my new favs because it's one of those pictures where the people in it look goofy and you're not really sure what's going on in it. the timed, posed "1,2,3, say cheese" pictures are good, but candids are my favorite! i love that sterling is only 1 and i already have a great pic like this with him!!
-meghan
-meghan
Monday, April 5, 2010
total KO and easter
this morning i dreamed that i was choking and couldn't breathe and it was so intense that it actually woke me up....and i still couldn't breathe. for the past week or so my sinuses have been in a fight with my pollen allergies, and they finally lost. when i woke up my nose was completely stopped up and full of junk, but the problem was my throat was full of junk too. my right eye was all but stuck shut, so i was walking around gasping and bumping into stuff trying to find my glass of water! it's about time for me to stock up on alavert, nose spray and eye drops.
easter at the vaughn's was wonderful yesterday! every year the winter family color coordinates and when i first moved here i would decide if i wanted to match or not, but for the past two or three years it hasn't really been a choice. this year the colors were supposed to be black, white and pink. finding dresses went so quickly for the girls it HAD to be a new record! however, all of our dresses were black and white, no pink. we decided to do what we did last year - matching colors for clothes but then everybody got to pick their own shoe/accessory color. sterling was absolutely precious and put on a show for us by walking around to everybody all day long!
i was going to expand on easter a little bit more, but she & him are about to be on jimmy kimmel and i don't want to miss it!! if you haven't heard them before give them a listen.
-meghan
easter at the vaughn's was wonderful yesterday! every year the winter family color coordinates and when i first moved here i would decide if i wanted to match or not, but for the past two or three years it hasn't really been a choice. this year the colors were supposed to be black, white and pink. finding dresses went so quickly for the girls it HAD to be a new record! however, all of our dresses were black and white, no pink. we decided to do what we did last year - matching colors for clothes but then everybody got to pick their own shoe/accessory color. sterling was absolutely precious and put on a show for us by walking around to everybody all day long!
i was going to expand on easter a little bit more, but she & him are about to be on jimmy kimmel and i don't want to miss it!! if you haven't heard them before give them a listen.
-meghan
Saturday, April 3, 2010
it's just not easter without a puking bunny
i look forward to a good holiday meal as much as the next person, but on easter its what comes after the meal that i'm waiting for! when we start digging into dessert and filling up our coffee cups i get so excited (along with everybody else) i can't stop myself from laughing! i normally drink my coffee black with one or two packets of sweet n low in it, but not on easter. our amazing hostess, jane, goes all out with decorations and the coffee creamer is the icing on the cake! it's shaped like a rabbit, which is pretty common for the holiday, but the best part about it is that the cream pours out from a hole in the bunny's mouth!!!! surely the person that made this creamer realized that it looks like the bunny is throwing up in your coffee??!! we decided the bunny needed a name and he was appropriately called chuck. last year we were so ready for chuck we couldn't even wait until dessert. alex filled chuck up with tea, offered to get hillary some more tea and then proceeded to tip chuck over her glass, complete with sound effects.
along with chuck, another easter favorite is quoting clairee from steel magnolias when she's telling jack a story at the easter egg hunt. she finishes her story and then tells jack...well maybe you should just watch it. the only clip i could find is of the whole easter egg hunt scene, so to hear my favorite line you'll have to skip ahead to 3:45. if you're like me you'll just go ahead and watch the whole clip so i want to forewarn you that it was taken from the dvd, meaning that ouiser's language is not censored. if you've never seen steel magnolia's then DO NOT watch this clip! the entire movie is available on youtube in 12 parts and i promise it'll be worth your time.
-meghan
did you know...
pay attention, i'm going to quiz you on this later.
1. i love Jesus.
2. i'm a proud member of the 4 pack. the other members are joy beth smith, hillary winter and tori winter. we're gonna be famous one day, be on the lookout.
3. cooking is my favorite hobby and i often pretend i have my own cooking show when i'm in the kitchen. i explain what i'm doing, give tips and suggest substitutions in case you don't like something i'm cooking with.
4. the first cd i ever owned was the grease soundtrack.
5. i love being around babies and kids all the time. they are by far my favorite kind of people.
6. my favorite color changes every now and then. right now it's either green or yellow, i'm not really sure.
7. i've never been in a serious car wreck and the thought of one terrifies me. i'm also a little bit scared of the dark.
8. i'm incredibly indecisive. for example, i hate my hair at least 75% of the time. when it's long i want it short, but when it's chopped off i immediately set a goal of growing it out.
9. i love it when people tell me i look like my mom, which is often. hopefully the older i get the more i'll look like her.
10. my nephews are absolutely precious!!!!
11. i collected dolls when i was little, but now i collect records. if you have an old stash of vinyl boxed up in your garage you want to get rid of, i'll take it!!
12. my dad's name is joe bill and it fits him very well. everybody that has met him loves him and everybody that hasn't met him loves to hear stories about him.
13. i can't swim underwater without holding my nose. i know that's ridiculous, but i don't care. if ever i'm on a boat i make sure there's a life jacket near by, if not on my body.
14. the disney cartoon version of alice in wonderland is one of my favorite movies. dumb and dumber and steel magnolia's are also at the top.
15. i have two big brothers and one sister in law and they are all infinitely cooler than me.
16. i met my best friend when i was 6 or 7 years old. i always wanted to be a big sister and lucky for me she lived right down the street and had two little sisters and later had a little brother.
17. my organizational skills are almost nonexistent. it doesn't bother me at all to just cram stuff into a drawer and i'd rather throw something away then find somewhere to put it.
18. i love flowers, all kinds and all colors. i try to pick a favorite, but i like them all so much that i can't!
19. i'm from texas and no matter where i live i'll always claim it as home and tell everybody why it's better than anywhere else.
20. i have a cousin named lindsey that i absolutely adore.
21. one of my favorite meals is easy mac with cut up hot dogs in it, pop rocks and nerds ropes are my favorite candy, and i can't stand olives (green or black) or grape juice (white or purple).
22. i'm not a very competitive person and when playing a timed game such as scattegories i often get bored of making my list. if the tv is on or if there's a magazine by me i'll just put my paper down until the time is up. however i LOVE to play quelf.
23. one of my most treasured possessions is an old bible of my grandmother's that is practically falling apart and full of her handwriting. i love having things that belonged to her - i have her brooch on my coat and my jewelry is on a tray that she painted.
24. this is my second attempt at a blog.
25. as much as i love movies and reading, i really love music and would choose to go to a concert over anything else. there are several songs that i can remember where i was, who i was with, what i was wearing and how i felt the first time i heard it. wonderwall by oasis is one of those songs. i loved the song when it came out, but it was actually a cover that forever sealed it as a favorite. the first time i heard ryan adams sing wonderwall i was in the parking lot of a tcby in longview, texas with ryan, who will always be my best friend no matter how far apart we live from each other.
this is a video of ryan adams singing wonderwall. i know the sound isn't of the best quality, but i chose a video of this specific concert because i just so happened to be in the audience.
cd version of wonderwall: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzZhtrsbJzs
original version by oasis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hzrDeceEKc
thanks for reading! i'm not sure what the purpose of this blog is or if anyone will even read it - hence the title "dear whoever" - but i'm sure i'll find something to say!
-meghan
p.s. 26. i don't like using capital letters.
1. i love Jesus.
2. i'm a proud member of the 4 pack. the other members are joy beth smith, hillary winter and tori winter. we're gonna be famous one day, be on the lookout.
3. cooking is my favorite hobby and i often pretend i have my own cooking show when i'm in the kitchen. i explain what i'm doing, give tips and suggest substitutions in case you don't like something i'm cooking with.
4. the first cd i ever owned was the grease soundtrack.
5. i love being around babies and kids all the time. they are by far my favorite kind of people.
6. my favorite color changes every now and then. right now it's either green or yellow, i'm not really sure.
7. i've never been in a serious car wreck and the thought of one terrifies me. i'm also a little bit scared of the dark.
8. i'm incredibly indecisive. for example, i hate my hair at least 75% of the time. when it's long i want it short, but when it's chopped off i immediately set a goal of growing it out.
9. i love it when people tell me i look like my mom, which is often. hopefully the older i get the more i'll look like her.
10. my nephews are absolutely precious!!!!
11. i collected dolls when i was little, but now i collect records. if you have an old stash of vinyl boxed up in your garage you want to get rid of, i'll take it!!
12. my dad's name is joe bill and it fits him very well. everybody that has met him loves him and everybody that hasn't met him loves to hear stories about him.
13. i can't swim underwater without holding my nose. i know that's ridiculous, but i don't care. if ever i'm on a boat i make sure there's a life jacket near by, if not on my body.
14. the disney cartoon version of alice in wonderland is one of my favorite movies. dumb and dumber and steel magnolia's are also at the top.
15. i have two big brothers and one sister in law and they are all infinitely cooler than me.
16. i met my best friend when i was 6 or 7 years old. i always wanted to be a big sister and lucky for me she lived right down the street and had two little sisters and later had a little brother.
17. my organizational skills are almost nonexistent. it doesn't bother me at all to just cram stuff into a drawer and i'd rather throw something away then find somewhere to put it.
18. i love flowers, all kinds and all colors. i try to pick a favorite, but i like them all so much that i can't!
19. i'm from texas and no matter where i live i'll always claim it as home and tell everybody why it's better than anywhere else.
20. i have a cousin named lindsey that i absolutely adore.
21. one of my favorite meals is easy mac with cut up hot dogs in it, pop rocks and nerds ropes are my favorite candy, and i can't stand olives (green or black) or grape juice (white or purple).
22. i'm not a very competitive person and when playing a timed game such as scattegories i often get bored of making my list. if the tv is on or if there's a magazine by me i'll just put my paper down until the time is up. however i LOVE to play quelf.
23. one of my most treasured possessions is an old bible of my grandmother's that is practically falling apart and full of her handwriting. i love having things that belonged to her - i have her brooch on my coat and my jewelry is on a tray that she painted.
24. this is my second attempt at a blog.
25. as much as i love movies and reading, i really love music and would choose to go to a concert over anything else. there are several songs that i can remember where i was, who i was with, what i was wearing and how i felt the first time i heard it. wonderwall by oasis is one of those songs. i loved the song when it came out, but it was actually a cover that forever sealed it as a favorite. the first time i heard ryan adams sing wonderwall i was in the parking lot of a tcby in longview, texas with ryan, who will always be my best friend no matter how far apart we live from each other.
this is a video of ryan adams singing wonderwall. i know the sound isn't of the best quality, but i chose a video of this specific concert because i just so happened to be in the audience.
cd version of wonderwall: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzZhtrsbJzs
original version by oasis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hzrDeceEKc
thanks for reading! i'm not sure what the purpose of this blog is or if anyone will even read it - hence the title "dear whoever" - but i'm sure i'll find something to say!
-meghan
p.s. 26. i don't like using capital letters.
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