Michelle Obama called the White House a prison.

Or actually, she really didn't. 

Here's the problem I have with Facebook commenters: they don't. read. the. article. 
Yesterday, MSN linked an article in which Michelle Obama and Laura Bush were interviewed in Tanzania. One question was what it was like to be first lady. Michelle Obama answered quite candidly and honestly, which was surprising to me. Her answer: 

"while our husbands ... have to react and respond to crises on a minute-to-minute basis, we got to work on what we're passionate about. ... I have just found it a very freeing and liberating opportunity. ... [Laughing] There are prison-like elements, but it's a really nice prison. You can't complain. There are confining elements ... While people are sorting through our shoes and our hair ... whether we cut it or not" 

Okay. I'm sorry. I just don't see where she blatantly says the first lady is like living in a prison. Honestly? All I see is her finding a way to explain her situation. What is her situation, you may ask? You may say, her job seems pretty cushy/lots of perks/she was just in Africa and that trip cost $500 million (that was an actual comment on Facebook). Every little thing she does is scrutinized, from her fashion choices, her infamous bangs, to her words and actions, and her right to bear her insanely toned arms. This is an excellent example of this exact thing: she says one little comment about how there are confining elements to the life of being married to the President, and people automatically get upset and call treason. Really? 

And for real - Laura Bush, who was sitting right next to her during all of this, laughed and joined in, agreeing that, hey, guess what - being the First Lady is really isolating and confining! Why aren't people freaking out on her?! 

And Michelle Obama is by far not the first person to say such comments about the lifestyle of a political figure: 

Harry Truman called the White House a glamorous prison and the "great white jail." Did people freak out over that when he made those comments? Probably not. 

Bill Clinton once said, "I don't know if it's the finest public housing in America or the crown jewel of the prison system." 

And probably my favorite quote relating the life of the first family to a prison by Julie Nixon Eisenhower: "The isolation of the president in the White House is not so much self-imposed as it is imposed by others and by the nature of the office itself. The ushers, military aides, and key staff members all try to ensure that the president's energy is reserved for the big decisions; to spare him the petty details of life; to fulfill as quickly as possible his requests, large and small. His family is similarly isolated, and are oddly unaware of most of the rumors that sweep through Washington."

I just find it really odd that people try to argue with statements like these. Have these people ever lived in the White House? Have they ever been the President? Or heck, even a political figure at all? Sure, we have some preconceived notion of how a President and his family lives, and I'm sure some of it is true. But until we are in their shoes, I highly doubt we will ever know what is like to live under the microscope of the public and the media. Give me my simple life any day! 

Her job is being the First Lady. And while some people think, "the First Lady doesn't do anything," or "since when is being married a job?" (-that is a real comment from facebook, also - being married takes work, I'm pretty sure, so I'd be interested in finding out if that specific commenter has been married...) 

The First Lady does so much that we don't even hear about. And why? Because we only hear about her fashion choices, her haircut, or the weird comment she made about her so-called lifestyle. (I mean, really. I saw one person call her a tramp, one call her an a-hole idiot, and another call her the c-word. And you wanna know a fun fact? All three commenters? MEN.)

I don't know why I felt the need to write this. 

But sometimes, the things I see on Facebook really weigh on me. 

Thanks for listening. ;) 

Throwback.

I don't know if you knew this, but it's Timewarp Tuesday.

I'm sure these things happen elsewhere, but at our local dollar theater, we have Timewarp Tuesdays where movies only cost $1. This is absolutely ridiculous because, number one, we still call it the "dollar show" and it costs $3.50 now. And Timewarp Tuesdays aren't even $1! I remember hearing on the radio one afternoon that Timewarp Tuesday prices were upped to $1.50. I called my best pal Cassie immediately to complain.

Anyway.
That has nothing to do with this post. Like, at all.

This is my version of the Throwback Thursday/Flashback Friday trend, except for the fact that it's Tuesday. So here we are, Timewarp Tuesday.
Here are some cutesy photos from vacation a few years ago. This was the summer Blake gave me a promise ring. It didn't fit, we never got it resized, I never wore it again after that. Also, Blake's pool & beach read was Twilight. So there's that.

We were (mostly) tattoo-less at this point in time, so a picture of us will look just a tiny bit different this year. ;) Also - as proven evident in the above photos, we are definitely more pool people than beach people. I almost feel guilty admitting that for some reason. Don't get me wrong, I definitely go to the beach a handful of times during the week, but at any given moment, I'm probably at the (amazing) pool that's a 2 minute walk from the house.

Things of note I look forwarding to sharing when I get back:
*The cute ice cream shop that is a nearly nightly stop for our family.
*Pizza by the Sea. My favorite. My FAVORITE.
*The donut truck. 'Nuf said.
*Seaside, FL. We stay in a little beach community that's about 5 miles away from Seaside, the town where The Truman Show was filmed. This is a must every single year for us! There's so much fun shopping (an amazing book and record store!), food trucks, live music every night, all of that fun stuff.

 This is the big event of my summer (next is Taylor Swift! FANGIRLING), and definitely marks the halfway point of summer. After vacation it's crunch time on wedding planning! As of today, we are only 88 days away. Commence freaking out.

Happy (Timewarp) Tuesday! I'll see you when I get back from Florida!

Blake makes music.

Photo by Elise

Blake and I are music lovers, through and through. 

But we have extremely different tastes in music. 

We have a few things we agree on, but it's very rare that we both agree on the music one of us chooses to listen to in the car (ah, the art of compromising has not been learned on my side of things just yet). 

Anyway. 

It's no secret that Blake loves music, but I'm not sure if any of you know that he actually makes music. Yeah, sure, he's in a band (buy their album! Or stream it on Spotify here), but in his minimal spare time, he likes to create the weirdest, creepiest stuff. Like, I'm not joking... I'm not a fan of this kind of stuff. It's like the soundtrack to nightmares (he'd probably take that as a compliment, though). I, personally, may not be into this music, but the truth is - kid is talented. 

Today, he put out a track to an EP he's been working on and it's available to listen to & download! Check it out, if you so wish. I'm pretty proud. :) 

Now, if only we can get him to make some happier music... 

Well.
I went to the gym last night.
Followed by a trip to Starbucks.

I skipped on my usual drink (um, I guess I'll be honest here... I usually get an iced venti cinnamon dolce latte. WITH whipped cream. It's like asking for 5 pounds to creep up on me!). Instead, I ordered an iced green tea (unsweetened makes it a zero calorie drink, duh!) and I spent the next hour going down every single aisle of the grocery store.
I ended up with a cart full of things like greek yogurt...and granola.... and rice chips.
You know, healthy things.
Well, I'm assuming these things are healthy.

Anywho: for accountability's sake, and since I posted such a weirdly honest blog on my health, I thought I'd share my adventure to the gym!

After originally setting my alarm to be at the gym by 9 am, then going to lunch and seeing a movie with Blake,  I found myself on the couch for 2 hours watching "How Do I Look" on the Style Network. That's when I was like, "oh, duh, you need to go the gym, stupidhead."
So, I got my cutesy workout clothes on (because, really, how are you supposed to feel motivated if you don't look cute? Right? ...Right?) and I headed out to the gym. I slowly made my way upstairs to where the treadmills are and put on my designated playlist for such an occasion and went to town.

Here's where I'll be really honest, because I really do feel the need to be honest about how this whole workout and be healthy thing is really hard for me:
I did a little over two miles in 30-ish minutes. I think I quit right around 35 minutes. I walked, I sure as heck did not run. But I felt like dying all the same.

At around 1.3 miles, I hit my wall, and immediately wanted to call it quits. You know, the wall that's all like, "I can't do this anymore, my legs are turning to jello, the old lady on the treadmill in front of me is walking faster than me, dear Lord help me." I hit THAT wall.
But then I remembered how my mom can run a 5K in nothing flat, how my mom can easily do an hour on the elliptical and hardly break a sweat (okay, I'm pretty sure I made that up, she might sweat a little bit), and how my mom now wears the same size as me (good job momma, proud of you!).
So I pushed through and kept going. When I hit the 2 mile mark, I was right in the middle of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" so obvi I couldn't stop there, so I finished walking when the song was over. ;)

My gym also has an indoor track, so I then went on to do another mile-ish there (probably a little less, since I lost count of how many laps I did).

Oh! And I went home, watched the Bachelorette and did Pinterest workouts.
(Don't you dare act like you've never pinned some of those before!)

All in all, I'm feeling pretty proud of myself right now.
I'm still trying to balance it with everything I do in a week (every other week I work 12 hour work days 3 days a week!), but I'm sure I'll find that balance soon.
I'm also striving to make healthier decisions when eating, especially when eating out.

But Jesus, Lord Almighty, I'm gonna need some help when passing by Red Robin. Oh my stars.

This Week:

 A lot has happened in the past week!

1. My brother got married! Trevor and Amber have been together since they were in 8th grade (cue the "aww's") and they have been engaged since February '12. About a month ago, they decided they'd like to get married on their dating anniversary (June 6), so this whole "let's get married" thing was no real surprise to us. The surprise was that the night before the ceremony, they had no venue, no real concept of what they were doing, and had just secured a minister that day! It's so funny, though, because this totally represents them as a couple. They aren't the kind to make a lot of advance plans, and they just kinda do what they want to do. The fact that they were sitting at my parents brainstorming different places to get married the very next day totally makes sense. If only I were that free spirited... ;)

2. Breigh is home from the hospital, and not only that, she's up and going like an almost normal gal! I mean, she'll be out of real commission for a couple of months (also considering that she can't drive for the next 6 months), but we are so grateful for the improvements she's made since the seizures started. So happy!

3. Blake and I have been thrifting every so often for little decor items to put on the tables for our wedding. On a recent trip we decided to dig through the movies and cassette tapes, and I found Les Miserables on tape! And not only that, but it was the original London cast recording (Patti LuPone! Eee! I'm such a nerd...). I was so excited to listen to it that I took the long way home just to listen to it longer! It never fails, every time I listen to the music, I always want to go straight home and watch the movie.

4. Last night was the #tremma wedding! I'm so incredibly happy for Emma & Trey. I don't think I've ever been to a cooler wedding. I mean, really, they provided lemonades (and beer!) to drink during the ceremony, which was located out on a pond at their grandmother's cabin. The reception was full of yummy cocktails, amazing appetizers (holy, shrimp cocktails!), and the most amazing ice cream bar. Emma looked absolutely incredible in her dress (which was handmade!). I'd seen photos of her in it that morning on Instagram, but it was seriously nothing compared to seeing her in person!
I'm incredibly fortunate to work for both Emma & Elsie. They are truly inspiring ladies and I'm so honored that they have both allowed me (and Blake!) to be part of their special days! It makes me look forward to sharing mine with them!

How has your week been? I can't believe the weekend is already over (insert sadface here)!
xo Haley

Someone to vary my days

"Don't be afraid that it won't be perfect. The only thing to be afraid of is that it won't be." 

Someone to need you too much
Someone to know you too well
Someone to pull you up short, and put you through hell. 

Someone you have to let in
Someone whose feelings you spare
Someone who like it or not will want you to share 
a little, a lot. 

Someone to crowd you with love
Someone to force you to care
Someone to make you come through
Who'll always be there, as frightened as you
of being alive. 

Somebody, hold me too close
Somebody, hurt me too deep
Somebody, sit in my chair and ruin my sleep
and make me aware of being alive.

Somebody, need me too much
Somebody, know me too well
Somebody, pull me up short and put me through hell and give me support
for being alive. 
Make me alive. 




I'm feeling rather sentimental tonight, as my biggest little brother got married to his girlfriend of six years... I am overwhelmed with happiness for them. God has blessed my family way more than we could ever deserve.
The song lyrics from one of my very favorite musicals, Company. Here is an incredible performance of the song, if you have the time to give it a listen. Photo is from a friend's wedding last summer!

Because I'm no good at sticking to my goals.

Let's be real, I don't stick with things. I never have and if we're being completely honest, I probably never really will.

I have a hard time finishing books (I have a million next to my bed just begging to be finished).
I bought a super nice (read: expensive) journal to use during our 17-month engagement to document everything. We are now 14 months in, and I have only filled 10 pages.
I quit piano lessons after 5 years because I thought I'd start playing soccer. This isn't even a case of starting something and not sticking with it. I never even joined the soccer team! Truth be told, once I found out you have to run, like, 3 miles every day at practice, I said "oh, heck to the no."

So this is the problem I face every time I'm like, "Oh yeah, I'm gonna get FIT." Last time I said that, I went out and bought all new workout clothes, a new pair of running shoes (holy expensive, y'all), and a shiny, brand new gym membership.
Now, I wear the workout clothes like they're going out of style, and the running shoes have gotten me through two 5k's in the past two months. But the gym membership? Yeah, pretty sure I've only used that sucker twice.

I don't know what it is. Is it because I'm lazy? Is it because I'm tired more often than the average person my age? Is it because I just really don't like running on a treadmill when there's ten other people around me? I don't know, but I've really got to fix this little issue I'm running into (or, rather, slowly walking into. Because I'm definitely not running anywhere).

Tonight, while at my parents, I weighed myself.
It was one of those times where I literally held my breath while it was registering the pounds and when I looked down, I laughed and said out loud: "uh, no, let's try that again..."
So I stepped off, waited for a second, then got back on.

Same number.

I drove home in tears thinking, "how did I let this happen?"
To be clear with this, though, I am tall-ish. I'm close to 5'9" and for my height, my weight is considered healthy. But to me? I don't feel comfortable at this weight. And tonight I made a conscious decision to actually do something about it. If I have to force myself to get up earlier to go use the gym, then so be it. If I have to do legitimate grocery shopping just so I have a reason to cook at home more often, than by all means, I'll do it. But whatever unhealthy habits I've formed since moving out of my parents house? Yeah, those have got to go. At first it was kind of just a running joke that I needed to get in shape for the wedding and now it's more than that. It's about me feeling comfortable in my own skin, and about feeling and being healthy.

So, here we are. I'm putting this out there in an effort to gain accountability in some form.
And I'm also on Pinterest in the "health and fitness" section, and let me tell you - it's an embarrassing thing to admit. Ha!

Thanks for listening to such a pointless post. It really does help to write it all out.
- Haley