An Empire State of Mind

Well... Since my last post that is actually considered a post much has happened :) I had an awesome summer, saw SEVERAL movies, went on a few vacations, celebrated my 22nd birthday (YIKES), and have had the opportunity to watch my adorable niece and nephew grow up right before my eyes(They'll be taller than me before theyre 7).

In July my friend Steven(now boyfriend) :D had invited me to spend the Fourth of July with him and his family. At first I was really shy because I knew basically noone there but him, his mom and a family that is good friends with his family. As the night went on I got more comfortable until the "finale"... Steven likes to make a thing called "Sparkler Bombs"...I had never heard of them before. And I almost died because of this one! His family lives out on a farm so they have those light posts that sense when its light/dark out. This Sparkler Bomb was SO BRIGHT it turned the lights off and we were all left in the dark to pack stuff up. Looking back its kind of funny because only Steven could set wet grass on fire. next year he better not use so many sparklers :)

A few weeks later his family invited me on their family vacation to Branson! Which was loads of fun! I hadn't been there since my Senior Trip for High School. 4 days on the lake(the wakeboard killed me, one day I'll be able to get up again!!) and just relaxing and having fun! Saw the movie "Inception" at the IMAX theater and WOW..amazing. :) Went to the Amish Store and found THE BEST CANDY EVER! It tastes kind of like sweet tarts and is in the shape of lego's.. you could actually build with the lego's! I was pretty excited :) It was a really fun trip. LOTS of laughs were had. I can't wait for my next Graves family adventure! (Which will be this Christmas) ;)

I just realized how horrible I am at taking pictures now! I dont have a single one from my adventures this summer!!! Sad fricken day!!!!

My 22nd Birthday... I know that 22 really isnt that old at all, but when youre 10 and you just cant wait to be 16 to be able to DRIVE and then 18 when youre finally an "ADULT" (ya, that one is dumb, never grow up kids!) And then to all of a sudden be 22.. Where did those years go!?!?! i didnt do a lot for my birthday. Had lunch and cake with the family then that evening went to dinner and a movie(Easy A) with Steven. It was a very chill and relaxed birthday, which are exactly what I like :) For those of you that know me, know that I LOVE Smallville. well, for my birthday Steven bought me the green necklace that Lana Lang has in the first few seasons. I have a picture of it, but I need to take a better one. So, until then just google it. He picked it out all on his own, its probably my fav. b-day present ever :)

I blew out all 22 candles in one breath :)

I went Trick-or-Treating for thefirst time since my freshman year of college and it was my nieces first halloween!!!!! well, its "Treat-Treat"as my nephew calls it.. he's a smart kid..forget the trick part of halloween!! Cara and I took Natalee around in their little red wagon, she looked so adorable in her little fairy costume. My nephew was Buzz from Toy Story. He was really excited until it came time to put on his costume, he just didnt want to do it! He wanted Natalee's fairy wings instead..silly little boy..:)

And last but not least... my trip back East :) Sadly its taken me FOREVER to post just those three pictures. So, I wont be posting any pictures of my trip. I left my house around 7 am Central Time..flew to Denver for a lay-over, then landed in New York around 10pm Eastern Time, then drove the two hours to my uncles house. Our first stop was to Philly though to get a Philly Cheesesteak and some fries :) Philadelphia was definitely my favorite part of the trip! I didnt get to see much of the city. But the parts I saw I fell in love with :) The coolest part of my trip was probably getting to know more of my family and being able to say I've walked the streets of the 2009 most dangerous city in America.. AKA Camden, New Jersey.. :) The East Coast is definitely different from Oklahoma. I may be from New Jersey... but Oklahoma is my home :) Im for sure a small town girl! :) I really enjoyed getting to spend time with my uncle. he's a crazy old man and I love him to pieces. Along with his two daughters. Which, I learned I definitely get along with one better than the other. All in all it was a very fun trip, and I cant wait to go back. :) my next post I'll try and post some pictures. Im just too annoyed with Blogger right now..ha ha

Missing In Action...

Soooo... Im ridiculously sorry for being the worlds worst blogger for those of you that actually follow me... At the moment Im in New Jersey visiting my Uncle Skip and cousins so, I dont really have time to make a long post or anything, but, as soon as I get home and get access to a blog I will make a proper post :)

Oh, and for those of you that REALLY know me and are wondering... Yes, my accent is coming back in full force!!

Anywhere But Here

"Anywhere But Here by Mayday Parade"

soo.... in a 72 hour period I have fallen and hurt my knee pretty badly.. like to the point where it hurt to walk!!!! then the next day I dropped a table on my foot.. yes, you read that correctly.. a table.. on my foot...soooo many choice words came to mind when that happened!! Then...yes, there is more! I also ran into a door frame.. yes.. a door frame.. causing my shoulder injury to flare up again... needless to say...this title is perfect!!

On a better note.. Sunday I had the privildge of baby-sitting my adorable niece and nephew. :) Natalee is 2 months old and a little fatty :) She's adorble..and was no trouble at all. Even Camden was helpful!!! he's such an adorable little boy! I was very proud that he actuay kept his clothes on! They're usually off the second someone turns their backs! Put in "Finding Nemo" and he's set! I love those two. and I could be slightly biast! :)

Anyways, I know this post is crazy short.. but there's a book Im reading that I want to finish! :)

It Is What It Is

Alright, I have recently been told by someone, who shall remain nameless.. :) that I am a horrible blogger and need to update this bad boy more often.. So, Im going to attempt it! Im going to apologize now for the lack of pictures.. I forgot my camera cord :(

In March my ADORABLE niece Natalee Victoria Tate was born. :) March 19, 2010 to be exact. :) While my sister-in-law was at the hospital doing all the easy work of going through labor and all that jazz.. WITHOUT an epidural(sp) I might add. I had the pleasure of watching my 3 year old nephew.. which was really the hard job.. I LOVED getting woken up at 5 am having Camden cry for his daddy. It was basically the most heartbreaking thing because there wasnt a thing I could do to make him feel better except let him lay there with me. :( A few things that I learned during the few days I was there. 1) If its too quiet, go find out what he's gotten into. 2) He knows how to work the microwave very well... His Woody doll got his face melted off. 3) Just because he's 3 years old doesnt mean he's dumb. The kid is smarter than most people my age. and finally 4) I gained a new found respect for Cara(the sister-in-law) I barely understood a word he said half the time. At least he knows how to point!!! :) The hospital Cara was in had some way strict rules about some big flu virus thingy or whatever and no child under the age of 12 was allowed in the hospital. Of course they didnt tell us this until we walked hand in hand with Camden up three floors passing at least 20 different people, they informed us of this when we were standing in front of the room that Cara was in. She was pretty upset about it. Stupid Ark City Hospital! But, she did get to see him for a few minutes, and that was better than nothing! Adam (my brother) and I took turns playing with him in the park across the street. Which was fun, until other little kids decided to be mean. I'd never wanted to punch a 5 year old before until he was picking on my nephew.. that just doesnt fly with me. obiviously I refrained but, i did say some very polite yet harsh words to the kids parents. Kids these days, I swear!! Here are some pictures of the new little family.. :)

In April I went to Houston Texas to visit Howard and Pat Foy. Thanks to Conoco they were transferred to Houston last fall. Which really upset me. Moreso than I thought it would. These people have been like a second set of parents. I go to them for advice a lot and really respect their opinions, so to not be able to see them just whenever I wanted didnt set to well with me. I was glad I had the opportunity to visit them though and see first hand how their life in Texas is going. I decided I'll NEVER live in Houston(if I have a choice) but will only visit as long as they are there. :) Sister Foy and I did many things during my stay. We went to NASA which was way fun, if you ever go take the tour, pay close attention to what the tour guide is saying, you can really learn a lot. DONT pay the extra money to use the headsets, we were very disappointed in them. :( I also learned while at NASA that I have the health of an 18 year old. I look 17-18 so this was pretty much dead on.. except for the fact that I'll be 22 in a few months!!!! We went to the Houston Temple, which i absolutely LOVED! I was able to perform baptisms for some of my ancestors which was amazing :) They were called as temple workers so are at the temple at least twice a week. It was an amazing experience and Im so glad I was able to share it with them. :) Lets see.. what else.. The three of us took a little road trip and saw the famous Blue Bonnets(theyre flowers) they were gorgeous!! Google them to see what they are, I took pictures, but as stated before I dont have my camera stuff with me. :( Sister Foy and I went to visit my Grandpa Tate who lives there. I had not seen him since I was about 11 or 12 years old. So, it was interesting experience. I was very nervous at first. Especially since I had never met my Step-Grandma. It was good to hear of stories from the past though. My grandpa is a very strong Southern Baptist, and of course Im Mormon. Not a religion he really agrees with and he makes that known in strong but subtle ways... And while we were there we spoke of dancing with the stars.. his favorite pro dancer was Julianna Hough.. She just happens to be LDS.. I have to laugh about this because every famous person or musical group he likes just happens to be a religion he wants nothing to do with.. There's so much irony in that. :) We watched movies usually of an evening. I think the best one we watched was "Have you heard about the Morgans" I could be wrong since I can only really remember that one. Well, and this other one we watched that I really wish we would have turned off. It was called "the Invention of Lying" It looked cute and such, but in the first 30 seconds I felt quite uncomfortable and especially in the end. My advice, dont waste your money! Hind sight is 20/20 after all.. :)

Nothing too exciting has happened in the month of May.. I guess the most thrilling thing is a few months back my mom and I took in a stray cat who showed up at our house looking abused and not fed at all. (Im a sucker for abused animals) And last month he got into a fight with some other cat and really got beat up.... He had a limp and now his ear sits kinda crooked.. So, now the little guy really lives up to his name.. which is Swagger.. ha ha He no longer has the limp but his ear is still crooked and he looks all pimped out!

My good friend James Berry hit the year mark for his mission! He's serving in the San Fernando Valley, California mission! I hope this next year goes by just as fast as the first.. I really miss that kid!!!

On to the month of June!!!! My good friend Alex Foy returned home from his mission. (Those two years flew by in the blink of an eye!) He changed so much on his mission. Definitely for the better. He was always a really good kid, but now he's grown into an amazing man who will definitely make some girl a righteous husband. I wrote him off and on the two years he was on his mission and Im so glad that I did. I wrote him more than he wrote me, which is okay... he was a missionary for heavens sake! I had a lot more free time than he did. :) It really was a blessing the last two years me writing him and recieving his weekly updates. I learned a lot about myself in the process. It was weird this past Monday to not recieve an e-mail from him!

Well, Im sure Im forgetting somethings.. my brain just does not want to work right now. Probably has something to do with the 4ish hours of sleep I got last night. :( The only exciting thing coming up is that on July 3rd a few friends of mine and I will be traveling down to DFW to go to the Vans Warped Tour Twenty-Ten.. Im pretty stoked! It'll be my FIRST concert!!! WOO HOO!!! :)

Until next time. (Which hopefully wont be another three months)

Half Marathon....

I've recently decided i'm going to run a half marathon. Now, i want to do this the right way by training for it so i dont get injured. Plus, with my disability i have to take extra precautions. I believe if i train correctly all will be fine. Cross your fingers for me!

Also dont forget i'm going "private" soon! It seems people prefer to e-mail me.. So please! Feel free! :)

miranda.tate@gmail.com

Going Private...

So.... Im tired of random people googling my name and getting on my blog... getting on my blog just to see if ive talked about someone else... blah blah blah.... mainly just tired of people i dont know looking in on my life... :)

So, if you want to be one of those "special few" leave me your e-mail address here.... facebook it to me... or e-mail me!!! :)

Let me know in the next few days please!

miranda.tate@gmail.com

The Notebook...

The Notebook: A Novel written by Nicholas Sparks, now, a Major Motion Picture... And loved by just about every woman ever. But me, I never read the book, and never saw the movie the entire way through... until today. I now understand why its one of the "great love stories" of my generation...


Yesterday was my sister-in-laws baby shower!! Shes 35 weeks pregnant with my niece!! Due March 12th!! It was a blast being able to be a part of it all.... It was my first baby shower. I mainly watched after my nephew. He got into EVERYTHING!! Needless to say I was very tired by the time i got home! :) But, it was well worth it!

"I know Ive made a lot of stupid mistakes. But the worst one was thinking the person who hurt me the most, wouldnt hurt me again."

Gone with the Wind...

For the last 2 months i've been trying (major emphasis on trying!!) To read the book Gone with the Wind... It took me a little over 500 pages to actually get interested in the book! But, i pushed through it! Mainly because i want to know what all the hype about this dang book is about, and to be able to say i read it.. :)

BUT for today i have devoted my time to laundry, brownies, and a Channing Tatum marathon!! What more could a girl ask for?! :)

All in all it has been a very non productive day! Well, except for the fact that i used a $150ish graphing calculator to balance my checkbook while paying bills.. Biggest waste of money!