Corpus Cristi

Hey guys! So first off, I officially started work last Friday. And I almost died my first day. I guess it was a combination of sleep deprivation, hunger, and heat, but I got real dizzy, my ears were ringing to the point I couldn't hear myself talking, my vision went black, and my co-workers told me my lips had started to turn blue. My only guess for what happened was that I wasn't getting enough oxygen to my brain and I had started suffocating. So that was scary as hell. And it was only my first day! But every day after has been fine. I got a little dizzy my second day but I kept drinking water and reminding myself to breathe. For my job, I'm in the stock room, where I hang apparel. Literally, just pull clothing out of the box, tag if it needs to be tagged, put on hanger, and put on rack. Sometimes I run the clothes out there, sometimes I don't. The worst part is that I have to wake up at 7 AM. But next Monday and Tuesday they have me coming in at 6:15. Not looking forward to that at all. Except that I get off before 11. That's nice. 

Anyway, the real reason we're all here today is so I can talk about Corpus Cristi. My mom, brother, sister-in-law, and their daughter took a trip Monday through today. Corpus is only about a two and a half hour drive from here (when I'm driving anyway), so I decided to go down there on Tuesday and leave on Wednesday. It was a lot of fun. I haven't spent a lot of time with that brother and sister-in-law recently because they live farther away than my other brother and his family, who I try to see almost every time I'm home. 

We went to the beach both days I was there, and while it's not as pretty as Galveston or South Padre, I still got some great shots. My good camera was sitting in my back seat the whole trip, so all my pictures are from my iPhone. Not that I mind. iPhones take great pictures. 

For dinner on Tuesday we went to a place called Oso, which is a fishing pier, bait shop, and restaurant. My brother told me the pier had been there for 50 years, when the shop originally opened. My mom talked to the owner, a young woman who looked like she was 20 to maybe 25. She had bought the shop several years ago and after acquiring a partner in 2014, decided to open the restaurant part of it. Their food was amazing. I just got a simple grilled chicken sandwich, but the bun was sweet and soft, the chicken was delicious, and they put this kinda spicy sauce on it that was perfect. It was a cute little place, located right before the bridge that goes toward the A&M campus. 

On Wednesday we drove out to Mustang Island and hung out at the National Park. It's only $5 a person, and they have bathrooms and showers, camping, fishing, and several sites for RVs. The water was a lot choppier over there, cause it was the straight up ocean instead of just the bay. I loved the waves over there. 

Alright! Time for pictures!

All three of the last pictures are from Oso. The top one is my mom, sister-in-law, and niece outside of our hotel, enjoying the beach. I don't know what happened with the watermark. It worked perfect for the first picture and then decided to derp out for the others. Don't know why. Couldn't fix it. Oh well. 

Okay guys, that's it. Have a fresh weekend!

Kaylee

(Also something that was really humbling to see was a great big memorial for the Orlando victims. It was on Tuesday night, right on the waterfront by a park. Hundreds of people were gathered to pay tribute. My thoughts are with all the victims' families during this time.)

Photography (Appreciation..?)

Okay so remember like a long time ago when I posted a bunch of old pictures? Well I'm posting a bunch of pictures again, but this time they're a lot more recent. I hope you guys enjoy them. Have a fresh week! 

Kaylee

Around campus. 

Leaves in fall on campus. 

Chair at a second hand store. 

Drive to my cousins. 

This Week We Discuss Books.

I've tried over a hundred times to write a blog post, but nothing would come to me. It was like the energy to create just didn't exist for a while. But, while my writing has been on the fritz, my reading and photographing muses have been singing. At Christmastime, I started rereading one of my favorite book series of all time: The Gemma Doyle Trilogy, by the all-powerful Libba Bray.

http://libbabray.com/

This would be the first time I've read these books again, since I was in seventh grade. That's nearly seven years! It took me from Christmas until this past weekend to finish the first one, which is only 400 pages long! I imagine it took so long for several reasons: I got bored (hard for me to admit), I had school and sorority, and I was busy being with my boyfriend. Luckily, I did finish the damned thing and moved onto the sequel (600 pages), Saturday. I finished that this morning and then proceeded to grab the last book off my shelf (800 pages).

It's also very interesting that I'm reading this (my favorite book series) at the beginning of the semester, because last fall, I reread my second favorite book series, by a talented Mrs. Rosemary Clement-Moore (https://readrosemary.wordpress.com/). Who I actually have met! Almost all of the books that I own by her (which is nearly all the YA books she's published) are signed (in person!) copies.

Both of these women writers, Bray and Clement-Moore, are my role models. They're beautiful, strong, courageous, and they write in such a fashion and in such lines that I wish to be the main character. Not to give spoilers, but both series revolve around a young girl who has just discovered powers inside herself that she's not sure how to control. In Bray's trilogy, Gemma is a young girl (just turned 16) who was raised in Victorian era British-ruled India, but pretty soon in the book is moved to England for school. Clement-Moore's books detail a slightly older girl named Maggie who attends a present day high school. Both girls must battle demons, while facing rocky friendships, growing up, and finding out who they truly are (and romancing hot guys).

I love these books with all my heart. If posting this gets anyone out there interested in either the authors or the books, great! I would feel more than accomplished at getting these authors' names out there and these wonderful books noticed. Read them! Follow them! Live the lives of two young girls just trying to make their way through this cruel and craggy world. I love books, y'all!

That's it, rant over.
Kaylee

PS- I got a job!

Classes... Tomorrow

Well I'm back at school. Yay..? My room looks cute (of course), and my roommate (Chey again) is still basically moving in. Classes begin tomorrow and I'm not looking forward to it. I mean, my classes are fine, almost all of them are things I really want to take, but the problem is actually going to and sitting through classes. Of course I only have three classes and one of them is cancelled, but one of them is also a night class. For two hours. Ugh.

Also tomorrow we have our first sorority meeting. And like I said before, because of my night class, I won't be able to go to a lot of them. And tomorrow is the first example of that. I'll be able to meet with the executive board tomorrow before my class and get things done, but it's definitely not the same as actually sitting through a meeting with everyone and seeing them all again.

Saying goodbye to my mom was hard, like it always is, but she's already planning on coming and visiting soon. She also got to stay an extra night, which is amazing. But we aren't even able to talk because her phone bill wasn't able to get paid this month. Now we're just waiting for her to be able to pay it. I can't believe how much I already miss her and I just wanna be able to talk to her. Oh well, guess I'll just have to wait.

I think I missed Chey and Alex more than I thought I did. It's only the second day in and it's like the great times of last year all over again. Tonight we've laughed a lot, made great dirty jokes, and created a "Dirty Mind" headband. Mostly it's stayed on Alex's head, but once it almost made its way to my forehead. I think this might be a good year... besides, you know, classes.

Also, I posted this a day early so I wouldn't forget tomorrow.
Kaylee

I Love to Write

Today's Google picture is probably one of my favorite of all time. I love the Eiffel Tower. I've never been to Paris or France (or even out of the country), but I've always wanted to see those places. As a writer (and a photographer) I love traveling, pictures, people, and experiencing different cultures. Though I haven't been many places that are different from my every day life, my passion for writing didn't begin until my first mission trip to a Navajo Reservation. We camped on a mountain for a week and it was gorgeous out there. It was sorta like being in two places at once. We'd go down the mountain and be in the desert, but as soon as the elevation began to rise, there were pine trees and green every where. The view from our bluff was unbelievable. Maybe I'll upload a picture some other time.

This post may already seem haywire and like I'm telling five different different stories at once, but I promise I'm not. My point is to touch on the fact that my life goal is to see the world. But not only to travel and eat and meet people, but I want to write about it. I love writing, I love talking and I love eating (my thighs can attest to that). My dream come true would be to travel and write about my experiences.

The reason I mentioned the Google homepage picture is because Paris is the one place I've ALWAYS wanted to see. I know the French tend to hate the Americans and I don't know a bit of French, but it's always been beautiful to me. The day I get to set foot into Paris, the day I can climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower, that day I would be able to die beyond happy and content.

My point in all this is just to highlight my love of writing and traveling. Again, my life goal is to the world, the cultures, the food, the people, and all the amazing sights that are in this world. I want to write about them, document them, put my stamp in magazines and journals and show people what is out there. Instead of reading about people's adventures, I want to write them, I want to live them.

I want to be all I've ever wanted. And that's fresh. Just like you.

Google Homepage, March 31, 2015