Saturday Samantha, Emily, Lauren and I 

piled in to Reginald (Samantha's car) and drove through 

the Arkansas countryside to Memphis.

My birthday was last Tuesday (turned 21!) and Lauren's was yesterday 

so we decided to get out of Searcy for a few hours. 

photo by Lauren

When you live in a town where Sonic and Goodwill are the 

most exciting attractions, you go stir crazy quite often. 

I don't think many weekends go by when we don't get out of town 

at some point or other. 

The first thing everyone should do when going to Memphis 

is eat barbque. Our favorite is Corky's. 

When you go, you should be required to order the sausage and cheese platter. 

Trust me, it will change your life for the better.

Another option is the barbque nachos, which are good, but cannot even 

be compared to the smoky goodness of the sausage and cheese platter.

And any good roadtrip deserves some fun tunes  as well. 

When in doubt, 90s and early 2000s pop always hits the spot. 

We still remember all of the words to Britney (before her breakdown),

NSYNC, and Christina.

How fitting that JT's portrait was by our table at lunch? 

No trip outside of Searcy is complete without a trip to Target and Hobby Lobby.

Searcy has neither. I've decided that I will never live in a town without a Target. 

Period. Although I never go when I'm at home, I miss it so much more when I'm at school. 

It's the little things that mean the most in life, right? 

With our bellies full of smoked sausage and cheese, we drove around 

Beale Street, but since nothing too exciting was going on there 

we kept on driving because we wanted to get home to watch 

the Prosecuting Casey Anthony Lifetime movie that came on.

Clearly we are know how to have a fun time.

One of my other favorite things to do in Memphis is see a show at 

The Orpheum and have dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse just a few blocks away. 

I've gone to see Shrek! The Musical and The Nutcracker so far. 

It's such a beautiful old theater.

Hope you had a fun-filled weekend as well! We are out of school today,

which is well-deserved. That first week back is always the hardest. 

-Jess

*p.s. you can view more of my photographic genius by following on instagram @jesskboyd

When we first arrived in Paris, 

the metro map looked more like gibberish than something useful. 

To get aquainted with our new home away from home, 

Lauren sent us on a scavenger hunt around the city. 

For a recent multimedia storytelling project, 

I interviewed Samantha about the experience. 

{laduree}

 {moulin rouge}

{louvre}

{notre dame}

{the winning team}

{the second place team}

don't worry, after too long i ditched that blue bag.

-Jess

*p.s. Yes I know it's not actually Tuesday, but there are no fun travel words that rhyme with Monday.

I've spent a lot of time thinking recently about my future (t-minus 13 months until graduation, people!), and do you know what my biggest realization was? 
BIG. DRAMATIC. PAUSE.

Here's a funny picture to build suspense.

I want a nickname. Like a fun, catchy name that my bffs call me. Not the ones I already have like Sam or Sami (gag). Nope. I have higher aspirations than that. You know on The Office when Andy calls Jim 'Tuna' because he brought a  tuna sandwhich for lunch on the first day of work? Something like that.

Creative and Catchy. I like it.

Two of my very best friends have creative nicknames. Our dear friend Dillon's is 'Chimmy' (short for Chimichanga) and Emily is affectionately known around here 'Mutti" (German for Mother). In fact, I couldn't even remember the last time I called Emily by her real name. It's always Mutti or Mutts (pronounced Moots- rhymes with boots).

Jess, Mutti, Chimmy, and I in Paris.

And now it's time for my #humblebrag. My sister, Baby Watzles, was named Homecoming Queen this weekend!!! I don't know about where you're from, but back home in Texas, this is a HUGE deal. Like bigger than The Dallas Cowboys winning a  game Super Bowl big. So naturally I had to go home for this and was promptly named the "Official Baby Watzles Photographer of the Night". 

She's so stinkin gorgeous.

I'm so proud of her. My little Baby Watzles is all grown up (: 

Not much has changed.

I'm open for suggestions on the nickname thing. Did you see that even my sister has a fun nickname (Baby Watzles isn't her real name, obvs)? Do you have a nickname with a funny story behind it?



PS, you should follow me on Instagram: @samanthakate24
I take awesome pictures. And not just of food.