Giuliani Visits the Loveliest Village On The Plains

"To be a great leader, you need to be optimistic.

You should be optimistic in life anyway-
you'll have a lot more fun!"

Auburn welcomed former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani last night. Giuliani spoke on "Principled Leadership in the Face of Change and Crisis," sharing pointers for life and leadership in today’s instant world. Giuliani's speech was well delivered and quite humorous (I, for one, did not expect to be laughing at this event). So, what does one need to be a great leader? Well, according to Giuliani, one needs to have strong, unwavering beliefs, optimism, and courage. Also, one should over prepare so that, when trouble arises, you will be able to preform any task under pressure. He was quick to point out that no one is perfect or knows all the answers--therefore, you must be willing to accept the help and advice of others who know more than you. Above all, to be a great leader, you must love people.

Sneaky Sneaky!

My third to last time playing at St. Michael's.
My last day to play will be May 2nd.
Don't miss it!
(I think I'll be out of town next weekend.)
Picture snuck by mom on her cell phone during mass!

Better Safe than Sorry

After lunch, I walked back to my dorm. Looking forward to relaxing for a bit before business law, I reached back to find my tiger card. It wasn't there. Panicking, I pulled my backpack off and started a mad search for it. Still- it wasn't there! I decided to retrace my steps. I mean really, it hadn't been that long since I had lunch (the card is used to buy food and as a key). I walked back to the Student Center and revisited my table--no tiger card, and the place where I bought my food--no tiger card. What was I supposed to do? Then, right on cue, my phone rings with a call from daddy. I answer, "Daddy! I'm glad you called. I have no idea what to do. I can't find my tiger card anywhere!" Daddy says to go to the tiger card right away, cancel the card, and get a new one. Good plan. I find my way to the tiger card office. "Hello! I need a new tiger card!" I said quite cheerfully. A lady looks up from a desk. "ID?" Nope. I don't have one. You see, my driver's license is in my dorm room. My dorm room is accessible only by tiger card. I can't get my ID because I would need a tiger card to do so, which is why I'm in this office to begin with. I explain this nicely to the lady and get the equivalent of "Too Bad!" in response. Eventually, I get into my room (a friend came out the door and let me in) and gather up my notebooks for the rest of my classes (in case I can't come back in) along with my id. I go back to the office and have a new id made. I head back to dorms and the key does not work yet. I call housing to update key and there is no answer. Fine. I decide to just spend time in Lowder's computer lab before class. I get there, open my email, and there's one new message with the subject "I FOUND YOUR TIGER CARD!" A boy found it in the quad and was looking to return it. He left a number, so I called him. Turns out, he lives in my dorm and hoped to get my card back to me before I had gone out to get a new one. I got my card back from him (I didn't tell him that I had already gotten a new one) and was ready to put the whole fiasco behind me. I guess I'll just use my old, newly found card for my scrapbook...

Any sense?

Ok Heinz, I do not understand your new advertising/marketing campaign...

A Very Mary-Kate

Does watching regular tv take up too much of your time? Are you just looking for a quick laugh? Well, maybe I can help for I've just stumbled on a hilarious web series that must be checked out! (And, each episode is only about 1-2 minutes long!) It is billed as "The unofficial biography of Mary-Kate Olsen." Whoa buddies!

Here are my favorite episodes thus far:

Hoppy Easter!

The Cadbury bunny is busy hatching his eggs!
(fyi- he clucks when you squish him!)

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

We'll keep the showers away...

This morning it poured. Not sprinkled. Not rained. Poured. I woke up early to the storm's sounds and it made me worry. You see, today was supposed to be gorgeous. I needed it to be for we had planned to meet up with Jennifer and her family at Centennial Park. I was really looking forward to it and didn't want something like the weather to keep it from happening (I was excited because I hadn't seen them in quite a while!). Luckily, a little before noon, the clouds dried their tears and the sky began to open up. YAY! We went into town for lunch and then headed to the park. Before they got there, Daddy played photographer and got a lot of pictures in the garden. He scouted out good places for photos and had us pose. (It was very cute! :) ) Then they showed up and man, had those kids grown up! They were so much bigger than before but still equally as adorable. This reunion was also the first time I got to meet the youngest: Baby Mackenzie. (We got some great pictures of her plopped down in a bed of tulips!) The park also has an old train. Now it was my turn to orchestrate a shot. I asked my mother to lay down on the railroad tracks in front of the train like a typical damsel in distress (which she was not to pleased to do) and I asked my father to pose like he was trying to rescue her (which he was more than willingly to play along with!). We all then journeyed to the pond to feed the ducks (side note: on the way there we were passed by a group of fancy dressed girls and boys done up like pirates! Not sure what that was for though...). I stole Baby Mackenzie from daddy to play with her as we made our way to the Pantheon. Codi tried for some jump shots, and I think mommy was able to get a really good one! We sat at the playground for a bit chatting before having some surprise birthday cupcakes (April birthdays= Mommy, Lindsey, and Ashlee). Then it was time to split. We head towards the riverfront to explore the streets of downtown Nashville and took in a lovely dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory (which I highly recommend. The food was great and the atmosphere was even better! The inside of the restaurant was so pretty!). All in all, what started out as a morning with little promise (concerning spending the whole day outdoors) turned into a wonderful day.

Come tiptoe through the tulips with me!

Whatca Say?

After declaring that Nick's (5) game of "let's-hit-Miss-Kerri-with-a-sword" was not allowed to be played, young Hayden (3) came up with an idea of his own; he wanted to play animals. He informed us that we would each be given a stuffed animal, and we were to act and speak as if we were that animal. Hayden gave a puppy dog to Nick who went "Woof! Woof!" I was handed a small kitten, so I purred. Carefully, Hayden looked through the pile of animals before selecting one for himself. After making his selection, he gleefully ran over to me with a cuddly bunny in his arms. Uh-oh. What was he going to do? What could he say? How was he going to play the very game that he invented? Smiling up at me and not worried in the slightest, he made his bunny hop up to me and proudly said, "Bunny, Bunny!"

______________________________________________

Later that evening, Nick looked at me and said quite seriously, "Miss Kerri, did you know that killer whales are nice to kittens?" Taken back a bit, I asked the only logical question. "Nick, when would a killer whale ever meet a kitten?" He loudly sighed and said, "They have to come up to the air to breathe, and, when they do, they are nice to kittens!" Hmmm... What can you say to that? There's no arguing with that kind of logic!