One of my favorite college professors was my English Comp prof. She once told us a story about how she didn't have any interaction with her only sibling, her sister. I found this to be shocking being that I too am one of two and I was floored.
She went on to tell us that they didn't talk because they were so different. That had they not been siblings, that they wouldn't in each other's lives, they weren't friends. So they didn't speak.
My mother is one of five children, they each have their own relationships and interactions with each other. I was always super grateful for the relationship that the three of us had. It wasn't tons of people, just us three.
My sister and I are very different, and yet surprisingly similar in certain cases. You obviously love your family, but I also like my sister- which I was always grateful for, especially after my professor made that admission.
A year ago today, my sister moved to North Dakota... young love. And we haven't spoken since Labor Day 2016... Life is weird.
Last week, was the Inaugural Jewel Ball at Tangier for Omega- both the collegiate and alumnae chapters of Alpha Gamma Delta.
The first of anything is always exciting cause it's new- I mean, I'm the first child and I'm a hoot and a half!
Shopping for the dress, the shoes, jewelry and deciding on hair and make up was great! Like an alumnae formal. One of the best parts of collegiate life- were the formals, and this was no different as an alum!
I'm more than a little obsessed with the final result- the dress, the shoes, ALL BLACK EVERYTHING.
Enjoy a photo diary of the event!
En-route to Tangier...
Black like our hearts, souls and apparently our wardrobes.
Once we arrived, so blessed this photo was captured.
Truly, Blessed
Alumnae crew on point!
Team Petty (Minus Rachel + Justin) and clearly I'm into that roll, duh.
Mean Girls is LIFE
Alpha Gam Fam
Everyone loves a Candid
I mean the photos speak for themselves. Here's to you, Here's to me, Here's to AGD!
I'm not sure how much was raised for the Foundation, but the price tag for the evening, was priceless & certainly worth it.
Monday, I started back on fitness- I say back-- but it hasn't been since 2013. Well that's not fair- there was that time when I climbed the mountain and ran 3 miles every day-- but that was more boredom, but I digress.
I realized that dancing is a great workout- duh. I also remembered why I don't dance in front of people- cause it's too funny.
By the end of the day, I was wondering how it was ONLY Tuesday. Woof. I did decide what I wanted to do for my birthday- have a birthday luncheon- think end the of Bride Wars, and I was directed towards Hilton Downtown Columbus... now I'm jazzed to turn 25!
If you're not watching, FOX's The Mick, reevaluate your life- and get on it!
FINALLY FRIYAY! Am I right?! TGIF! What are your weekend plans? Mine- go see Split after work, against my better judgment and then ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. It's gonna be bomb!
I've had two cars up to this point in my life, at 16, mom bought me essentially from her school's "Craigslist", a red 1996 Saturn sedan. I had it from the summer before junior year until it died the spring break of my 4th year of college.
From there she bought me a blue grey, 2001 Ford Escape.
I had always wanted an SUV, power windows and locks.
I had this car from that spring break, Spring '14, until the summer of my funemployment when it died after a job interview and once AAA got it up and running and I got it to a mechanic we learned it needed a new transmission.
If you know nothing about cars, like myself, know this-- the transmission is one of the most expensive parts to fix on a car.
So the Ford sat behind our garage for a year, while I tried to save money- and fail- and mom and I shared her car... for a year.
Then in June or July of 2016- mom paid to get me a new transmission.
If you haven't figured it out yet- my mother is a saint.
After that- and having one or two lectures about the safety of the car from my mom and my best friend's dad not to mention a rental car- I started my search for a car...
I learned a lot along this journey and want to share it with you.
This is the part where I say: Do as I say and not as I did- because well I know how it should be done- I didn't necessarily practice what I preached.
SAVE SAVE SAVE
The more money you put down on a downpayment the lower the monthly payment. I suggest $1,000 but... you should know I didn't have that much- it worked out.
HAVE GOOD CREDIT
Pay your bills on time
You're not dinged until you're 30 days late from your due date!
Have a credit history
Don't let every dealership check it, oops.
Know what you can afford
BE REALISTIC
I wrote down all my bills in a month then calculated how much I make between two paychecks and went from there.
Have a minimum, a likely $$$ and a maximum. STICK TO IT!
Compile a list of features your dream car would have:
Rear camera
Bluetooth connectivity
Cruise control
steering wheel controllers
RESEARCH
Go online: Kelly Blue Book!
Go ole KKB.com, it is LIFE and find cars close to you
Look for 35,000 miles or less- mine was 53,000.
Look for a car 2-3 years old if you're looking at a used car.
3 years is when cars' depreciation starts to slow down.
Buy v. Lease
Have that decision made before you go to the dealership
I bought because I wanted to be able to drive my car any and every where with no restraints.
Leasing is nice because you give it back after 1-2 years. But you have to be conscious of the miles you put it on it.
It's a brand new car!
Know that basically this is a deep, dark rabbit hole you're about to fall into.
Be prepared to sell your soul...
But now you're really an adult.
xo,
KJB
If you have any tips to add- leave a comment below!
Especially if you aren't wearing all of it- which let's be honest, you're not.
Who is? I dress up 5 days a week and my weekend is made up of the same outfit... After work on Friday afternoon/evening- I change into my pajamas and I stay in them until Sunday's brunch with grandma or if she comes over- I stay in them until Monday morning. If we do leave the house- the moment we come home it's back to the weekend uniform.
Recently its my BFFs for Life Barack and Joe tee and when I get cold my Boy Bye sweatshirt.
So what do you do when you basically in one way or another wear the same 5 outfits every week and you have an overflowing closet.
Give yourself a challenge:
Make it a priority to wear something new everyday until you run out and have to repeat.
So while you're going through your closet- if you find something that doesn't fit or you just don't like- set it aside to either sell or donate.
This is the perfect opportunity to cut the tags off everything in your closet that you've had for years- never worn and can no longer return it. Cause honestly how often do you have an item with tags that you absolutely loved when you bought but it never works into your outfit, so you never take off the tags. Then you don't wanna get rid of it cause the tags are on it and clearly you bought it for a reason even if you don't remember it now.
So there you have it- challenge yourself to wear everything in your closet before you even think about repeating it.
I'm gonna do it too- unfortunately- I can already see that my pants will repeat but I'm gonna do my best with the blouses.
Stay tuned...
xo,
KJB
Let it be known, that I'm trying to practice what I preach and it's proving to be moderately difficult.
Thursday, I was professional AF and I made an impromptu trip to Columbus for killer heels for this weekend! Dinner was at Easton- it was a rather magical adventure!
It was a dark day. Literally- Mother Nature doesn't want to deal with PETOUS becoming POTUS either. At least the numbers were dismal. And as if that weren't enough- Girl Meets World's finale was tonight!
But let's hope Netflix will pick them up as a new original series- CAUSE I NEED IT!
I write this as I listen to Gilmore Guys, a wonderful podcast that I've referenced before- seriously listen now!
Honestly, I knew that Gilmore Girls was coming back and yet- I didn't head straight to Netflix to watch seasons 1-7. Why? Cause I'm a failure- I was even reminded in August 2016 by Meghan Reinks that should have had me shifting into high gear- she gave a call to action that was one to two episodes a day that would get me prepared for A Year in the Life.
And yet- I'm a terrible fuck and I gave myself essentially a month to get to the finale. That's 153 episodes and each at about 45 minutes long and 22 episodes a season.
Nope- so dumb, I had to get to a time frame where I had to watch 8-9 episodes a day.
So basically when the time arose to watch Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.
PHOTO: ROBERT VOETS/NETFLIX.
I had originally hoped that we were continue struggle bussing through seasons four to seven, but I could not even handle the opportunity of spoilers- so I lasted a day, because I did have to work Black Friday and then Saturday afternoon, Small Business Saturday, mom and I prepared ourselves to watch all four episodes.
Cause honestly- HOW DO YOU NOT WATCH ALL FOUR AT ONCE?! WHO even ARE you?!
I believe enough time has passed so I'm gonna go ahead with some spoilers-- you have been warned.
Here we go...
In 2017, two months later- my feelings on its entirety is a bit different but I'm gonna go off everything that discussed with other like minded fans!
But I digress...
Winter. Spring. Summer. Fall.
I didn't have the same response I did when I finished the Veronica Mars movie. So is Rob Thomas better than Amy Sherman-Palladino? Yes, obvi. Is it because Netflix paid for it, while the fans paid for Veronica Mars? Cause honestly- neither got an actual ending, be it that Amy and Dan left GG prior to Season 7 and VM got cancelled after the Season 3 finale, but like-- WTF Amy and Dan?! If this is how you had planned for Season 7 to go- I'm glad you didn't get it. Yup.
So I was happyish in Winter, and cried in Spring, Summer and Fall. Usually always Edward Herrmann related cause Richard was life and of course, the Life and Death Brigade Farewell, cause goodbyes are hard.
To be honest, it took me a lot to come to terms with the ending as well as the four episodes in its entirety. I read a lot of articles, here and here are some favorites that I could find again and OF COURSE, I spoke to a handful of friends/fans to be able to cope.
Honestly, overall... it was fine.
There I said it-- I'm gonna make the argument-- A Year in the Life... HUGE LET DOWN.
BIG MISTAKE. HUGE.
I would argue that the show fell short. As a fan, I feel bad saying that... but.
It felt a lot like the women of Friends on Jimmy Kimmel.
It felt forced in places- I don't think Gilmore Girls translates in 2016. There I said it.
Don't @ me.
That being said I enjoyed it for what it was: Fan favorites all growed up, there was JESS and LOGAN, and none for DEAN, bye!
There were places that I could've or any fan really could've made it better...
LIKE we got FUCKING JASON but NO Max or Marty?! Like yes, it wasn't Chad Michael Murray but we got Tristan- so what the f*@#?!
High Mediocre Praise: Gays and Blacks finally came to Stars Hollow...
We also got Sutton Foster and probably someone else from Bunheads.
I did love seeing everyone grown up. If only we could've had Richard. But honestly Emily was the unsung hero and the only character that got her own storyline to be completely original.
But there's been recent speculation that this wasn't the end for Gilmore Girls and all I could hope that is its real:
Cause the Loraeli, Luke, Christopher storyline has been done. It's dead- and as the saying goes- you don't shoot a dead horse in the face.
And I'll leave it at that.
xo,
KJB
With that being said- I intend to finish Gilmore Girls by catching up with Gilmore Guys i.e. 105-404 and then jumping back into Season Four. Where I can watch an episode and then listen to the Guys talk about it. That way, we move forward together.
