Spring round-up: Home is where the adventure is

Six months in Doha? Impossible. I've spent the time:

Exploring Dubai (where my first Ski Dubai experience ended in an hour of me going around the ski lift):

Catching up with this talented rising musician who's performing at The St. Regis' Vintage Lounge:

Boot scooting at a Texas A&M Qatar fundraiser, where I wore subtle amounts of burnt orange.

Wandering the Museum of Islamic Art's Marvelous Creatures exhibit ...

... which wasn't nearly as trippy as witnessing Carnival in Venice ...

Celebrating my first Easter without family at a local church, where the kindest strangers helped me and a friend out of a sitcom-like parking mishap.

Crashing the British Embassy's birthday party for The Queen:

Surviving my first sandstorm (and subsequent trip to the ER for a swollen eye).

Quadrupling my knowledge of sports with my first handball game, equestrian competition, tennis tournament (at which David Beckham made an inexplicable appearance) and club "football" match. I'm as surprised as you are:

Searching for ways to channel my overseas experiences into writing (stay tuned), and coercing my Houston editors into letting me write from afar, including this profile of a savvy local boutique owner and this defense of my favorite movie of 2014:

Being enamored with this guy's insanely good solo album:

Applauding this parody that smartly tackles rape culture:

Coveting these:

Missing this:

Digging this (unbelievably, May 25 marks 10 years since this creative force won "American Idol"):

Anticipating a trip to this fascinating country next month.

Standing by my best friend of 15 years on her wedding day, and getting ready to join the festivities for another in a few days ...

... and feeling humbled by new perspective, new challenges and new friends, one of whom anonymously gave me this oddly endearing housewarming gift (identify yourself!):

*Post written to the sultry tune of Little Big Town's "Girl Crush," the non-controversial song that sparked the most ridiculous non-controversy earlier this year. 

Carrie Underwood’s fourth album era: Thoughts and tidbits

For Carrie Underwood fans, it’s been a fun week of promo for her fourth album, Blown Away, which came out this past Tuesday. The album is a healthy creative departure for Underwood – darker, more challenging and more thematically diverse than anything she’s released so far. I’m not sure if it’s the album I’ve been waiting for from her –the one that showcases a fully realized artist– but it’s a bigger step in this direction than I expected. I’m particularly excited about the commitment she shows to creativity and to finding new ways to sculpt her massive instrument.

It’s no surprise that my two favorite songs off of the album are nothing alike. The first is a gorgeous, desperate country ballad that, true to the genre, swirls together themes of alcohol and heartache. The second is a southern gospel-flavored tale of revenge and murder. Check out her performance of the latter at her IHeartRadio concert in New York City (at which she also killed her definitive “Idol” song, “Alone”):

But my favorite tidbit from this past week is related to a song from back in theCarnival Ride era. I’ve blogged before about why I’ve been able to connect with Underwood’s music on a personal level, but I always find it difficult to explain. Sometimes it’s easier to point to the things that touch me the most – like this:

Oh, and I can’t resist. Love this:

“My husband calls me ‘the queen of awkward moments.’ If something can be said to make an awkward moment even worse, I’m going to say it.”

Holiday round-up: In between giving thanks

Thanksgiving week has always been my favorite week of the year – and this year I took the entire week off from work to fully enjoy it. Between friends, family, food and celebrating my (sigh) 26th birthday, I squeezed in:

Blazing through a pile of these on my coffee table:

Belatedly reviewing this single:

Discovering this gem from a few months ago:

Quoting this:

“Quick, what’s my favorite hospital food? Jellooo.”

Drinking too many of these:

And obsessing over anything and everything Christmas. Join me?

#Thankful

I’d been dreading my 25th birthday –half jokingly, half seriously– for a few years, but now that it’s here, I’m only overwhelmed by gratitude (and not just because it’s Thanksgiving). I’m ready to hit the ground running at 25, enjoying to the fullest all of the wonderful people and opportunities I’ve been blessed with.

…because there ain’t no time like this time (baby). Happy Thanksgiving!

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