Memorial

Here lies...

A brave soldier in the US Army from here in Tuscaloosa, Sgt. Card lead his troops with honor and pride.

It has been a long time since his death but his valiant effort to protect the freedom of this country will never be forgotten..

Redesign: the Sharpie Pen

The original Sharpie Pen:

The New and Improved!!!

Very Superstitious

So last Wednesday (Halloween) I defied a superstition that my Uncle Ted believes in more than anything...

Never set a hat on a bed.

Whoops!

So here are the results:

Wednesday: Won the costume competition at work with my Pinata costume

Later that night, I decided to defy another superstition and ran through a cemetery on Halloween... what was I thinking???

All was well and good until Saturday - and I have learned my lesson. Never ever ever break a superstition during Alabama Football Season.

After hours of panic and depression, we beat LSU in the final drive!!! YAY - but I never want to feel again like my stubbornness to break a superstition will cause us to lose our dreams of winning a national championship.

Love Actually - Intertextuality

Love Actually (2003) - Genre: Film

Four Horizontal Intertextual Connections:

Bridget Jones Diary (2001) - Genre: Film
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243155/
Crazy thing: after I was doing research when this film came to mind, it turns out that the same people that wrote and directed Love Actually worked together on Bridget Jones Diary too. Hugh Grant is an actor in both movies but there are many character parallels between the two movies.

He's Just Not That Into You (2009) - Genre: Film
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1001508/
Like Love Actually, He's Just Not That Into You has a plethora of A-List celebrities as characters that all inter-relate in some way in the plot-line.

The Holiday (2006) - Genre: Film

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457939/

This connection seems pretty obvious to me: Christmas time, British people, love story, heart break, gorgeous celebrities playing the roles...

Harry Potter (series) - Genre: Film

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417741/

But why Harry Potter?????? Because these guys...

Are actually

   and

Mind. Blown.

FOUR VERTICAL INTERTEXTUAL CONNECTIONS:

1. the UK - Genre: Geography

The film is set in the UK and embraces the "holiday culture" of that part of the world. And don't forget those accents.

2.  The Royals- Genre: Public Figures

Doesn't the Prime Minister and Natalie ....

look a whole lot like...

3. Lobster Costumes: Genre - Wardobe

The Nativity Lobster ends up looking a whole lot like...

this little fella.

4. Nativity - Genre: Religious Celebrations

VS.

PUBLIC TERTIARY TEXTS:

 

By Roger Ebert, Film Critic, Chicago Sun Times:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031107/REVIEWS/311070304/1023

  "'Love Actually' is a belly-flop into the sea of romantic comedy."

By Rebecca Murray, Film Critic, About.com:

http://movies.about.com/cs/loveactually/a/loveactuallyrev.htm

"Audiences can start celebrating a little early as the holiday-themed romantic comedy “Love Actually” weaves its spell over moviegoers."

PRIVATE TERTIARY TEXTS:

 

Lost!

My Ancestry

Click the link... and make sure your sound is on! Enjoy!

http://portal.sliderocket.com/BSSQW/112EC846-1048-40E6-BDF0-58D511A93CDB

The 11th Commandment

The 11th Commandment:

Live a life of authenticity.

Bask in your uniqueness.

Share what makes you an individual with others around you.

Laugh. Cry. Jump up and down. Don't hide the emotions that make everyday life so beautiful.

Look at yourself in the mirror and  

                                                                    believe 

                                                         know

                                                   without a shadow of a doubt...

                                                          that you were created with an intention that only you can fulfill

Celebrate the authenticity of others.

Eight Colors in My Crayon Box

As a lover of art, travel-addict and food enthusiast, color is something that I have always used to definite my life - Something that triggers memories and thoughts of the people I love.

So here are the 8 colors that define me... chronologically through my life... scrapbook style.

1980 - Scarlet: Its June 1980 and my parents have just gotten married and are on their honeymoon in Mexico. My mom's favorite color was, and has always been scarlet (see above shirt). I am 10 years away from being born but her insistence upon everything in our house being scarlet definitely made its impression.

1988 - Ivory: This is Easter of 1988, 6 months after my awesome big sister was born (I have still yet to make my appearance into the world. Ivory is the color of both me and my sister's baptism gowns as as well as the columns of Sedgewood Plantation. My dad grew up on a small "plantation" in Mississippi and now that is where we go to celebrate Easter and Christmas.

1990 - Little Tykes Yellow: This tiny bad ass comes into the world.

1995 - Hot Pink: My mom dressed me in matching jumpsuits for most of my childhood... until the day that I insisted on dressing myself... and this is what I went to kindergarten in: Hot pink sweatpants; hot pink, teal, and lime green sweatshirt; and pink and white Indian headdress.

2009 - Kelly Green: I went to John Carroll Catholic High School in Birmingham, Ala. Our school colors were green and white. So appropriately for "Green and White" day during Homecoming week, I dressed up as a sailor and stole someone's Hulk hands.

2010 - Sequin Silver: The color of our silver dresses for the Resonance Show Choir.

2011 - Deep Blue: (color of the ocean) I studied abroad in Italy in 2011 and LOVED the color of the ocean along the coast.

Now - CRIMSON!!! Roll Tide

Loooooove note

Last Meal...

"Life's short, so eat dessert first"

Tell me about it - I'm on death row so for my last meal, all I'm having is dessert.



Drink: Strawberry Milkshake with whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles

Entree: The apple crisp with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream from Cheesecake Factory

With a side of blue Sour Straws and chocolate covered pretzels

Dessert: Bananas Foster and a cup of coffee

Calories:
Milkshake - 570 cal, 77g sugar
Apple Crisp - 650 cal, 74g sugar (even though it is rumored to actually be 1400 because of their "serving size")
Sour Straws -  210 cal, 26g sugar
Chocolate Covered Pretzels - 130 cal, 11g sugar
Bananas Foster - 355 cal, 33g sugar

Bringing my last meal to a whopping 1915 calories with 221 grams of sugar.

I'm going to be honest, that's not nearly as many calories as I expected. But as you can tell, I have the worst sweet tooth of all time. And if I am about to die, I think I should at least have had it satisfied once in my life. So here it is... Sweet Tooth Satisfaction to the max.

"Hey - Thanks for just being you"

Sometimes, the most simple of sentences can say the most. This is a clip from one of me and my best friends from high school's favorite movies Love Actually. I love it because of the simplicity of the message he is trying to send. Maybe the messages that mean the most don't always have to be complicated.

What would you think if you received a random text message from your best friend from high school? What if that message said, "Hey- thanks for just being you"?

In high school I had 3 best friends - Caroline, JP and Peyton. Once getting to college, I realized that I pretty much had the idyllic high school experience. We never fought or gossiped about each other. All we did was have an amazing time for 4 years. Unfortunately, after graduation, we all ended up going in completely different directions for college.

*This was me and Caroline junior year of high school. I knew we would be best friends forever when she insisted on dressing up as a penguin during Homecoming Week.

*Peyton and JP - Something I always have admired Peyton for is her ability to have anyone give her a piggy-back ride. Its quite impressive. And JP is just plain awesome. He's Peruvian, loves soccer and we are both fully accepting of our mutual addiction to Surin.

Caroline goes to Oregon, Peyton is at Auburn, and lucky for me JP is here at Bama (but I don't get to see him nearly as much as I would like to cause he is always studying for his MCAT).

So I decided to text the 3 people who have completely made me into the person I have become... and here they are.

When I first got their responses, I was a little disappointed for some reason. So I slept on it - and now that I am re-reading them, I think they are perfect.

Peyton has always been the uplifting one. She has the most open heart - it actually wouldn't surprise me if she had sent this same message to someone before.

Caroline is my soul-sister. She is all over the place just like me - I think in the message she got the surface "thank you" but knows that if I ever sent something like that and meant it, something was probably actually going wrong in my life and she wants to get to the bottom of it.

And JP, he's the problem solver. He always has an open ear to all the shit going on in my life and helps me to sort it out... so he was probably waiting for me to get all emotional before he commented.

I'm really happy I did this though. I miss my best friends so much. Its been 3 years since I've seen Caroline and 2 years since I have seen Peyton. Sometimes I get so frustrated with technology because we think we are still "in touch" with people because of how quick and easy it is to communicate. But it makes me so sad to think that because I haven't really taken the time to send more than a text or quick Facebook message, I really have no clue what is going on in their lives.

But before going, I would like to include one last clip- simply because it is my favorite part of the movie. I aspire to have dance moves like this. Practice makes perfect!

Blog: Starring... Rebecca Ann Howard

In every new social setting, be it a party or a class, there is always some form of an introductory statement from the "host" prompting you to tell others a little about yourself.

"So, where are you from?" "Do you like your new job so far?" "What are you drinking? The next one's on me."

But I don't believe these questions tell you anything about who a person truly is. People say that character is who you are when know one is looking... and when getting to know someone, I would much rather get to know someone's character than who they would like the world to perceive them to be via their drink choice. Cause lets be real, we are constantly surrounded by what I like to call "articles of social deception"... AKA Spanx, under-eye concealer and knock-off designer handbags - all things that tell you NOTHING about someone other than the fact that they WANT you to think a certain way about them.

So before a new acquaintance has the opportunity to impress me with the most charming small-talk I've ever heard, I like to ask this simple question...

"If you could have an illegal occupation without the fear of ever being caught, what would you choose?"

You have no idea how many "hit-men" I have gone on first dates with. (*Notice I say "first." I would be insane to say, "Why yes James. Your charm, intelligence and secret desire to kill people for money has left me wanting more!")

And possibly even scarier, for some reason all my friends are split 50/50 between being the leader of a drug cartel or an arsonist. (I know, time for me to find some new friends)

I've thought about this question for myself and have even done a little research at the University of Google to help me find my answer... only to find that #1. Our good friends at Indeed.com have a category for "Illegal jobs" and that #2. if I ever let someone borrow my laptop I'd be screwed because my search history includes words such as "pimp" "pickpocketing" "how to fly an airplane" and "computer hacking."

After much debate, I have come down to two potential careers for myself.

Option A:
Casino Heist-ess (Yes, "heist-ess" is now a word. (noun) - a female who designs, organizes and executes with complete accuracy the multimillion dollar robbery of a major casino in Las Vegas. She also would have a "heist partner" who would more than likely be Ryan Reynolds). My plan is to "take" the casino Batman-style (incognito with no guns... I can't have guns on my conscience).

Option B:
The owner of an underground jazz bar during prohibition. Yes, this would mean I would have to time travel - two birds, one stone. I get to dance and drink the night away during the jazz age AND time travel... what more could I possibly want?

Runners-Up for "Rebecca's Illegal or Socially-Frowned-Upon Occupation" are as follows: train graffiti artist, Captain Jack Sparrow, or full-time palm reader in New Orleans.


So if my exquisite taste in illegal careers has left you hungry for more, here's a little personality snack about me for you to chew on:

For literally as long as I can remember, I have wanted to join the circus - this is not an exaggeration. From a very young age, I've had a complete obsession with Ringling Bros. and Cirque Du Soleil that is only getting worse the older I get. Even though I am in college studying to have a professional career, I also take flying trapeze classes. So if the whole "PR Professional" thing doesn't work out after graduation, I guess you'll be able to find me in the circus.

Here a video clip of my very first partner catch:

 

"I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. I've learned that I still have a lot to learn. I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” 

 Maya Angelou