You've just been pep talked

 

It's time y'all met Kid President, the self-appointed Tiny President of the United States. He's a 9-year-old third-grader who is encouraging the world to be more awesome and then getting up and dancing about it. He's made it his personal mission to help make grown-ups less boring.

 

His YouTube channel has tons of adorable, quirky, funny, inspiring videos that share pieces of innocent wisdom like "treat everyone like it's their birthday," "don't be in a party, be a party," and "if it doesn't make the world better, don't do it." He interviews people using tin cans and strings, and he gives out "The Medal of Awesome" to other kids who are being, well, awesome by changing the world. And not only does he make a point to dance, but he encourages you to do the same and even join the party by sending in videos of you cuttin' a rug.

 

Most recently, he decided that the world needed a pep talk.

So, what is going to be your Space Jam? How are you going to stop being boring and start making the world more awesome? Let's take this tyke's advice, and get out there and give the world a reason to dance!

We are Warriors!

Seriously, you're never going to believe this. In fact, I was there, and I hardly even believe it, myself.

Last Saturday, Brad and I, along with some friends - Kris, Jeremy, Madison, and Josh, completed the Warrior Dash. Yep, you heard that right. I did the Warrior Dash. It's a 5k that includes 12 obstacles. Wait. Let me rephrase that: It's running. Forever. And having to complete boot camp training througout!

Obstacles included jumping over walls then rolling under barbed wire multiple times in a row; running through tires then climbing over old cars; crawling through a pitch dark tent; climbing rope nets; climbing over giant walls with only a rope to pull you up; crawling across suspended rope nets; jumping over burning logs; then finally swimming through mud underneath barbed wire to get to the finish line. Yeah. I did that!

This was the final result:

Here's Brad and Kris first thing in the morning. For some reason, Brad decided to run the entire race as a California Raisin. Random. I still haven't figured out how he saw to complete all of the tasks through those tiny eye holes.

The race had professional photographers throughout the course. You have to purchase their photos, which I am too cheap to do. However, since they literally covered each of them with a million watermarks, I don't feel too bad about "borrowing" them for the sake of this blog. Doesn't Bradley look totally B.A. jumping over that fire and crawling out of the mud?

This is proof that I actually crossed the finish line. I was basically dead by this point. I had visions of me running through with my arms held high to the cheers of the crowd, but when it came to it, I was huffin' and puffin', just glad to be alive.

Jeremy and Madison were a power couple, totally finishing the whole course like champs.

Kris actually showed us all up. From the start, he ran ahead and dominated the entire thing. And since he was willing to purchase (and doctor up) the photos, his pictures look friggin' awesome.

Here we all are after the "shower." aka, mass party under a firehose. Gotta love the viking helmets.

I agreed to run the Warrior Dash with Brad under two conditions: He stay with me the whole time and go at my pace for the entire course; and he promise to not laugh at me when I cried. He only fulfilled one of those promises, because I never ever cried! And I completed every single obstacle! Booya!

It was actually quite fun to do with him. We both really enjoyed it, and I love that I got to exprience something so extreme with my One And Only. Brad says he'll definitely do it again the next chance he gets. I say I'll definitely be waiting there at the finish line, cheering him on and taking muddy pictures of him and his equally crazy friends!

And after such an exhausting morning, sweet Layla's welcomed us home with a pretty banner expressing her support. Love her! ♥

You better believe I'm proud of that Warrior Dash viking-helmet-shaped medal I received at the finish line. Brad teased me for wearing it to our friends' house. And to the grocery store. And to church. But I totally earned that baby, and I'm going to wear it with pride! It's currently hanging from the rear view mirror of my car, constantly reminding me of what I'm capable of. Slow and steady. :)

Doggy competition is Ruff

Naturally, I have always thought Chester to be the greatest dog in the world. I mean, just look at him...

However, my feelings may have recently changed. Even though he's talented enough to ring a bell to tell me when he needs to go outside, he still rudely leaves the door wide open after he charges back into the house. Furthermore, he expects me to open and close the blinds all by myself every day; and he never ever helps load the dishwasher. Honestly, he calls himself a dog...

But Jesse sure has upped the ante for all pups everywhere. Behold:

Seriously, Jesse may as well be Wishbone, himself. That dog can do everything!! Looks like Chester's got some 'splainin to do!

Parks & Rec

[pic via]

Brad and I have recently started watching reruns of Parks and Recreation, which is to say that Brad and I have recently fallen in love with Parks and Recreation. Seriously, we laugh at every single episode. These characters are awesome, and it really is generally an innocent show with an overall positive outlook on life...

If you love the show, too, then you'll totally love these clips from NBC. If you've never watched it before, then consider these clips introductions to a couple of the best characters currently on TV. Period.

I can't wait for new episodes to restart, next month!

HP "Friday" parody

This about sums up my excitement today!

(Seriously, parodies of "Friday" never get old!)

Giggling Bubbles

I'm a firm believer in starting the weekend off on a high note, and I just truly think there's no better way to celebrate the end of a week than by enjoying the sweet sounds baby laughter! So here's this week's edition. It even features a funny dog as a bonus! Enjoy!

Hope you have a great weekend! Got any awesome plans? I'll be gaining a new sister! (Beat that!)

Laughing Layla

I didn't think there was anything I liked more than random laughing babies, but when that laughing baby is my own best friends' daughter, the video is exponentially better! Believe me. 

Told ya. ♥

Gotta Share!

Have you ever heard of Improv Everywhere? They are hilarious. They "cause scenes" by going to regular places and (seemingly) randomly breaking out into song. If you've never watched any of their flash mobs or musicals, you'll seriously want to watch every video.

Here's their most recent release, where they focus on social media. It cracked me up and I just Gotta Share!

Could you go a while without staying connected? I have to admit, I'm kind of addicted to today's technology. I mean, I do keep a blog, obviously... Could you get up and sing a random song in front of total strangers? No way, Jose. Not this girl. But I hope you enjoy spending the rest of your day watching this group do it over and over again in all of their other videos!

Easter Weekend

It's always fun to sing about a special day of the week. So here's a little something to get you excited about the Easter Weekend!

For real, though, I hope you have a great Easter Weekend and get a chance to focus on and give praise for the incredible sacrifice that the Lord and His Son made just because they love us so much.

God is so good! 

March Happiness

I don't usually care anything about sports. I kind of enjoy the Super Bowl, but let's face it; I care more about the commercials than the game itself. However, this year, I totally got involved in the NCAA championship. Check me out!

I joined Brad and the gang in the March Madness hoop-lah. (Ha, see what I did there?) Under his excellent tutelage (aka, extensive knowledge of team colors and mascots), I filled out my own bracket with well informed decision making skills. (Dogs always beat cats, duh...) And would ya guess what! I came in second, over all!! (If UConn hadn't made it to the final, I woulda been tied with Kris for first. So close!) Holla!



(click to enlarge)

And furthermore, the girls at work created our own bracket. We were intimidated by the main "work pool" that actual sports fans joined, even paying the entry fee of $5 and earning a little prize in the end. But, since we didn't care enough to actually put money on it, we decided to just do our own fun one. Now, granted, the competition in this bracket wasn't quite as steep as the other one (no offense, girls), but seeing as how I filled out the whole thing by randomly clicking boxes within a 3 minute period, I'm still pretty stoked about my first place ranking!

(click to enlarge)

Perhaps I'm a sports-lovin' gal afterall! Maybe basketball is actually "my thing." Well, maybe only comparing colors and mascots during the month of March, actually. I mean, it seems as though I'm pretty much a pro at it. Jussayin...

Dangerous Wands

You can't have an April Fool's Day without some shenanigans, so check out this Mashup of Harry Potter and Dangerous Minds. It.is.epic.

Seriously, I would totally watch this movie!

RIP PLGs

Sad news, everybody. Please prepare yourself for some serious heartbreak...

Apparently, I have been duped by a stupid marketing ploy for that sneaky DirecTV. (BTW, it worked.) I regret to inform you that the petite lap giraffes which I featured in yesterday's Tiny Pets post are, in fact, not real after all.

I know, I know. I'm devastated as well. Upon further investigation, it turns out that I am the only person in the world gullible enough to actually believe in such a wonderful, miraculous creature. It seems as though everybody else immediately understood that it was all sarcastic and tongue-in-cheek. Well, well, well. Mybad for instantly falling in love with such a cute, little, adorable, tiny, cuddly animal!

So, first and foremost, I would like to apologize to you for carelessly spreading false information without doing more research of its validity. But more importantly, I want to super-apologize for causing any undo devastation that you are currently undergoing, as you sadly realize it was all a trick.

I, like you, do not think this is very funny, at all! Cruel, cruel joke, "sarcastic" marketing guys! (Or should I call them "Dream Killers"? ) It's not very nice to dangle something this spectacular in front of people just to snatch it right away from them! I honestly don't know if I'll ever recuperate from the heartbreak caused by this "joke." I may have to initiate a recovery group just to cope with the loss of the hope of one day seeing a petite lap giraffe in person.

Or...  OR... I'm very seriously considering simply choosing to continue believing that the sweet tiny giraffes do indeed exist and hapilly resume my dream of one day owning one. I mean, "real" is all in the eye of the beholder, right? Or something like that. Yeah. I think I like that idea better. I'm definitely gunna stick with that one.

Friday

This.Is.Awesome. (In an awesomely terrible kinda way.)

What better way to celebrate the end of the week than by singing about it? Fun, fun, fun, fun.

Happy Friday! Hope you have a great weekend, partyin, partyin, yeah! (And I hope you are able to make your mind up about which seat to take!)

Friday Fun

It's no secret that I absolutely love videos of laughing babies, and here's another one that I can't get enough of right now. This 5 1/2 month old first gets scared when his mom blows her nose, but then he cracks up. And then he does it all over again!

Man! I just cannot help but laugh when I watch babies laugh! What better way to spend your Friday? Hope you have a great weekend!

Vintage Technology

An ad agency imagined what it would look like if current online services were originally released back in 1959 by creating some fake vintage advertisements for a few of them. Aren't they funny? Some people are so creative.

{via}

It's like a completely different world now compared to half a century ago, isn't it? Implanting our technology into their life just looks so weird. Who would have ever thought that we'd be so accustomed to these sorts of things? I love it.

Hill Ridge Logo

Let me just tell ya, living right next door to your best friends and basically owning the end of a street is pretty much the greatest thing on the whole planet. Jussayin...

The Hill Ridge Crew already has a mascot; now we just need a logo. Luckily, Kris is awesome at graphic art design. 

Even though it's been over a year since we officially moved into Mehaffey Manor and thus declared our community of BFs Hill Ridge Hood, we still have not managed to take a single group shot of the whole Crew together. (And yes, this whole time our living room has featured an empty picture frame that has been waiting for such a photo.)

However, this one might actually be better than any that we could pose for, because the chance of getting a decent, real photo of all six adults, two babies, and three pets at once is slim to none. Turns out we may have a framed caricature of the Crew in our living room pretty soon. Works for me. That's just how we roll in the 'Hood.

Laughter

Sometimes it's the simple things in life that bring the most joy. Exhibit A: If you're in need of a good laugh, maybe you should just spend a few minutes ripping up some regular ol'  paper!

Okay, I admit that this video is kinda old in internet terms (a couple of months), and I may be way behind the times for just now finding it, but seriously you cannot watch it without laughing! I simply had to pass it on!

A league of our own

While we were at the movies, Brad attempted to make a move on his #1 celebrity crush. He's loved Jennifer Aniston since her Friends days, but as you can see, she was not very interested in him at all.

Since Bradley had a chance to woo J.An, I at least had to get a shot with this pop heartthrob. Now, I wouldn't say that I have a crush on the Biebs like the majority of tweens in America do (I save my tween crush for TSwift.), but I do actually like him and really enjoy his songs while they're stuck in my head for hours on end. Sure, I'll go ahead and own up to a little Bieber Fever.  And honestly, the more I see of him through interviews and commercials and SNL appearances, the more I respect him as a remarkably talented, well-rounded, grounded, young man who seems to be handling himself pretty well within a tough industry. I love that he willingly makes fun of himself and genuinely loves his fans. (A lot of the same reasons I adore Swifty.) I'm sure we'll end up watching his movie at some point in time.

However, these big celebrities are totally out of our leagues. But that's okay, because we're in a league of our own. Thankfully, we're happy with each other and daily choose one another over unrealistic dreams and expectations, completely understanding that neither of us can ever live up to any of Hollywood's outrageous standards.

[Photo taken on last year's bday trip.]

True love is 100% better than any fantasy.

It's electrifying!

This dry weather produces so much static electricity! It's making my hair go crazy, which is totally driving me nuts. However, I definitely don't have it as bad as poor little Chester, whose whole body is completely covered with staticly charged fur.

Our sweet pup likes to "dig" on his blanket when he gets excited (or when he gets ready for bed, or when he's bored, or when Brad riles him up or when they play hide-n-seek). He frantically digs with his paws and rubs his head this way and that across the fleece fabric.

The process alone is always funny, but when it's combined with the staticy surroundings, it results in some pretty hilariously wild hair, as well.

Whoa.

Brad and I had a smidge of sympathy for him, but mostly we just laughed and laughed. Then we threw the blanket right back over his head and did it all over again! (Yeah. We're kind of mean parents like that. But what can I say? That's hilarious!)

Let's look on the bright side. No matter how much this dry, winter air drives me crazy with my clingy, staticy hair, at least I don't have it as bad as my baby boy!

Bare Necessities

Regardless of what the sign says, I believe a gallon of milk in Nashville during a natural disaster "snowstorm" is, in fact, priceless.

Try not to panic.