164/365

164/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Tonight was game night at Fuse! We had a mini-scavenger hunt, played some crazy game that was guys vs. girls that had to do with running, buckets, and M&M's, and we played four square. Andrew and I dominated in team four square.

One of my favorite moments was when Chris called out "visible belly button lint" as one of the scavenger hunt items. And yep, home slice up there indeed had some visible belly button lint. I only wish I could have a gotten a picture of Amber's reaction.


Zoe and Shelbye ready to go!


Tie breaker.


And here's Andrew coaching Josh but he doesn't really need it because he has super speed.

In the end, everyone wins at game night.

163/365

163/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

You guys won't believe what came in the mail.

First of all, this cute card:


From one of my ex-New York roommates, Evie:


In case you didn't get a good look, this is the title:


Best title ever. I was already laughing and hadn't even opened the book.

Also, laughing that Evie thinks it's up my alley.

(Evie is married, by the way. She got married in a castle in Scotland, basically, and I'm pretty sure doves sang it looked so beautiful.)

I want to give you a tour and Evie, please let me know if this is illegal. I'll smudge some pictures or something.

A few chapter titles:




Who'd have thought you'd ever see the word "fugly" in a cookbook?

The recipe titles are partly clever, partly last minute. Most of the recipes are fairly simple, but I suppose if you're ready to eat your weight in broken heart, you aren't likely to bake chocolate croissants.

This one's cute:


And so is this:


This one's pretty sad:


This one's pretty funny:


And this one's pretty strange:


I suppose you can only be witty and ironic for so long until something like this comes out:


And honestly, she could have just shortened this to "I'm old and bitter...cookies":


Hopefully it won't come to that.

So here's my plan...avoid the heartache and hard-heartedness and just enjoy the food!

You should check out Evie's blog, Bookilicious, if you haven't followed the link on my blog roll already. She's seriously got it going on!

162/365

162/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Y'all, this is all I got.

My view right now. It's a straight up party in here!

161/365

161/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Lauren and I had a whirlwind trip to Tulsa. We realized today that we weren't even in Tulsa for 24 hours. But the 5-hour drive was SO WORTH it! Because we got to go to Leanna's bachelorette party and I would have been severely depressed had I missed all that fun.

Leanna is my cousin and she's marrying an awesome guy named Aaron in three weeks. That picture up there was taken after midnight, so I'd venture to say it's the earliest photo ever featured on this blog. She grabbed the wheel of the party bus and told us we were all in safe hands...

Okay so yesterday: after the WalMart change we met the party for dinner, then went to the hotel for the shower, then hopped on the party bus which took us all over Tulsa. I two-stepped in between rap songs. Apparently I caught on quickly....pshhhh.


Shower in the hotel room.


Leanna and Lauren in the hotel lobby.


Leanna and I share middle names and height genes.


And this is the best picture of the party bus I have to share!

This morning we woke up, cleaned up, went to iHop, saw Aaron's house, visited Aunt Christine, went to Panera Bread, and got on the road around two.

I.....am.....tired. And happy! And delirious.

160/365

160/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Lauren and I have been driving for five hours to go to my cousin, Leanna's, bachelorette party in Tulsa. We spent most of our time learning rap songs for our karaoke arsenal.

It took a bit longer to get here than we thought so we had to stop at WalMart to get dressed and put on our make up. It's probably going to be the best night ever.

159/365

159/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

I know I've introduced Amy before, but I feel like I need to do it again because she keeps changing her hair.

Here are a few things to know about Amy:

1. She likes to change her hair.

2. She is over five years younger than me.

3. We look the same age. We take it as compliments.

4. She is going to Africa with me for 3 months.

5. She eats weird pear, gorgonzola, arugula, walnut pizza with me:



6. She has an insane laugh that is completely whole-hearted. And everyone can hear it.

7. She's super fashionable and loves photography and she's really passionate and loves loving.

8. She's my little friend.

9. Okay, my dog's stomach is freaking out next to me right now. It's gurgling and talking and it's kinda gross. And...something about Amy.

10. Amy has...never mind. You don't need to know that.

I just tried to make a video of what I'm assuming are Gracey's musical bowel movements. But then I realized, "Seriously, what sort of person wants to watch that?" So I deleted it.

And I love Amy.

158/365

158/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

This is what I call, "Impressionistic Photos by an Innovative 6-Year-Old". Above, number one.


And here, number two.

Okay, fine. The truth is that one of my summer jobs is to babysit three really awesome girls (who happen to be the same age difference apart as me and my two sisters). Today I sat and watched with the youngest while the other two...


Swam at swim practice.

The youngest was bored and my phone battery was dying, so I let her have at it with my camera. I guess technically I didn't take these pictures, but since I make the rules here, I say these photos work. She took pictures of everything in that room, including the two of us being celebrities in my sunglasses. They are great photos, but I'm selling them to People mag, so you'll have to wait to see them.

But I'll go ahead and show you this little gem that was waiting for me to find on my memory card:


Talented kids (really)......funny swimsuits.

157/365

157/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

I saw this a few days ago on my friend's blog. Sarah was trying to decide between Snow White and the giving tree but I FLIPPED and bought this within minutes.

You will not believe how creative this girl can get with vinyl decals for your Macs. I'm normally such a clean and bare person when it comes to electronics and things, but I couldn't deny the brilliance.

Also, we have four MacBooks in the house. This makes things easier on all of us.

You must at least peruse her site (I love the Iron Man one and the Lost one, of course): Crafty Gal Decals on Etsy

PS - I love Sarah Kim.

156/365

156/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

I have two simple, succinct things to tell you:

First, frozen yogurt at Yogurtland FLOORED me today. Yikes, new addiction.

Second...



Rangers WIN!

155/365

155/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

This post is a little late because my computer froze at 1 AM while I was trying to simultaneously update my iPhone with the OS 4, upload a video to YouTube, and edit photos.

Not that anyone's used to early posts...

So last night Lauren and I wanted to run but it was soooo hot that we had to wait until 9:30 to go. We were sweaty messes by 10:15. It was still unbearably hot to be running that far. But it was perfect weather for the first late-night-freestyle swim of the summer. So we swam...and then we got cold.

And THEN, I decided to make a VIDEO of our next adventure. It's really exciting.


Window into my really exciting life.


Late night summer Sonic = my youth.


Preston told us about leading his guys at Young Life Camp. He has some amazing stories and testimonies.

Do you ever go to Sonic in your PJ's? I did. I told mom I wouldn't get out of the car...sorry mom.

PS - I can't believe this shirt is showing up on my blog more than once.

Late night runs, late night swims, late night Sonic. That's a good late night.

154/365

154/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Dad, Lauren, Me and [insert Rachel here].

Rachel is off to Colorado for Young Life camp. She missed Father's Day and it was sad, but she got to call a few times! And it was fun to watch my dad's face light up when she called, then fall when the call dropped, then light up when she called back.

It was a great day with my dad. We celebrated mostly with good food! I was housesitting but I came home early with his favorite Starbucks drink and Lauren and I made breakfast: chocolate chunk pancakes with homemade blackberry and blueberry sauce. Mom made some venison sausage and Lauren made eggs. We had too much fun eating breakfast so we were late to church. Church....good.

Then we had lunch at Mellow Mushroom, which by the way, only leaves me two culinary reasons to visit my college town of Nashville: Pancake Pantry and SATCO. I graduated three years ago and haven't been back since. It's a little crazy.

After lunch we made our way over to my cousin's house for ice cream sundae's. We spent about an hour going around the room and honoring the men in our family. We talk a lot and we bless a lot and most of the time it's right before a meal, so we say what we need to say, then we eat, then we say some more. But don't let our mouths loose when our bellies our full...because then we have no reason to stop. We'll even blubber through many, many tears.

It was a really amazing time and I LOVED hearing what everyone had to say. I heard some stories for the first time, I viewed every father through a daughter's eyes. Not granddaughter's eyes, not niece's eyes, not cousin's eyes. It was a glimpse into the guy's lives from their children's perspective. It's always nice to get out of your own world every once in awhile.

I completely butchered it when I talked, but I think I got my point across. My mom has this silly thing where when she cries she can't talk. I got that. I try, I TRY, but I can't. Meanwhile, Aunt Sherrice over here has tears flowing but is talking like any regular person...

But today and every day I love my daddy. He goes to the front lines for me and I am so thankful for him. I know this is weird and please don't get the wrong idea when I say it, but I can't wait for him to be a grandpa because he is going to be THE BEST. So Lauren and Rachel...get going.


Me with my car-fixer, heart-mender, dream-giver, love-pourer-outer.


Lauren with her ditto.


Mom with her main squeeze.


Is it vain of me to say they'd have beautiful kids?

Love you, Dad!

153/365

153/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Today Lauren, me and Amy held a car wash to raise money for our trips to Africa.

It was hot. 100 degrees. And we were outside for six hours. We. are. exhausted. You know it's harder to hold signs up and smile on and on than it is to actually wash a car? It is. It really, really is...

But I have nothing to complain about because we had a goal to make. We decided a total of $300 would make it worth it for us. That's $100 a piece. You know that.

Well, we washed about 16 cars.



And we made $604. That's $201.something a piece.

You know that, too.

God was so good to us! He doubled our portion! How we made that much money from 16 cars, we'll never know!

But a part of it is due to our families and friends. My parents were out there ALL DAY. Lauren said driving over, "We have the best parents. We said we wanted to do this and they didn't even question. They just said, 'okay' and we went for it."

It's true. They worked just as hard as we did and they bought us Subway for lunch. And they brought cold waters. I drank five bottles of water and didn't pee. Isn't that a little crazy?

And our aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, friends, friends-of-friends, co-workers of friends, etc. Stopped by. Some helped, some donated, some did both. THANK YOU!

After the car wash we washed ourselves up at Mimi and Papa's then went to our friend, Caitlin's, lingerie shower. Where we had some rum spiked with strawberries and lime juice.


Is that backwards? I'm just a little tired it seems.....

Don't we clean up well?

And speaking of clean up well, sorta, I'd like to go full disclosure and post yesterday's intended picture. I can't believe I'm going to do this.


Thank you, Jillian Michaels. That is a lot of sweat and frizz.

And that's it, folks.

152/365

152/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

I'm feeling a little depressed. This blog is really not about photography at all, is it? People seem to think I'm a good photographer but the truth is, it's about one in a million for me. I normally just share the good ones. That way, people think I'm good.

But when I'm blogging every day and some days you're supposed to post a picture of yourself but you accidentally wore a bathing suit all day even though you only swam for 15 minutes at 9:30 AM...but you still wore the suit on no less than four errands and then to babysit later that day...and so you didn't shower...and then you had a killer work out right after you ate a killer sno-cone...

I mean, those days I just don't have the time to take a million photos and pick out the one.

I actually took a real photo on my real camera after said work out. I figured I'd show you my drenched clothes and rat nasty hair. It's real. It's honest.

But I'm house sitting and I left my camera chord at home. So Photo Booth pic it is.

That is why I'm feeling a little depressed.

But I'm wondering...what's better for you guys? A really great photo or maybe a slew of photos I take throughout the day that give you a better peak?

Basically, are you artsy or a stalker? Both are weird. Believe me.

Aaaand good bloggers probably don't call their readers weird, do they?

I'll just talk to y'all later.

151/365

151/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Today has been one of Those Days.

I normally don't blog about Those Days because no one wants to hear it, and I don't want to re-iterate that sometimes life is just not as great as I want it to be. Don't get me wrong, I love my life. I have absolutely nothing to complain about because I know it's all because of some crazy amounts of grace that I even have a shirt on my back. I know I don't deserve the shirt on my back. But the thing that bothers me about life, is that it's fleeting. How time...goes. And doesn't really care about me. Stupid, inconsiderate time.

Not that I deserve time...of course.

Today was not a bad day, it was just a Those Day. I woke up at 9 and made three small blueberry pancakes. Then I sat around until noon in my pajamas while my sisters laughed at me because I was scouring food blogs, recipe books, and lists I've made trying to find something fun and exciting to cook. Lauren got really sick of me saying, "Oh! I know what I feel like...." But really, I didn't know what I felt like. I didn't even feel like cooking, actually. It was just a fail-safe.

Meanwhile, Lauren decided SHE felt like tuna for lunch. I finally closed the cook books and had a tuna sandwich, too.

I told Lauren I felt bad because I had a million things running through my head that I should be doing and instead I was reading food blogs. She didn't believe me and told me to rattle off ten things.

Well.

"I should be praying, working on music, making aprons, working out, swimming, calling Sallie Mae, cooking, showering..."

I mean, I wasn't kidding.

I got dressed. And then I turned on the TV and went back to my computer. I couldn't shake it.

But eventually I convinced Lauren to go on an Adventure Thursday with me! We would make it fun!!

First, we drove about 30 minutes out to a house that we're house-sitting. We stopped for buy-one-get-one-free hot fudge shakes on the way.


I thought I should take a picture while I was driving. That resulted in chocolate shake spilling into my air vents.


Lauren tried to clean it up with the closest thing I had to a napkin.


My bank receipt.

We decided to go out to Central Market in Southlake afterwards. I spent too much on weird food. Then I spent too much on gas. We filled up on free samples at Central Market. Also, some not-so-free samples. What else are candy aisles for??

We got home about 6:00 and we ate dinner. I have been full since 10 AM this morning but man, it was dinner time.

Lauren and I decided to make healthy Rice Krispies Treats with brown puff rice and dark chocolate on top.


We burned them.


Who does that?

We were desperate to redeem the day. So we went rollerblading. Actually, it was probably the best part of the day.

Until we got home and realized that So You Think You Can Dance didn't record because of a bunch of HD sports we had going.

So I ate a bunch of those burned healthy tasting things. Should have just made the real ones.

I don't know why I just felt like I was hitting walls all day. I decided to take a shower, shave my legs, and make some tea. Shaved legs before bed time are so awesome. And today, it has to be the little things that make it awesome. I don't need another day off anytime soon...tomorrow is back to the busy. Those Days are behind me.