wint-o-m-g

as an addition to my earlier post, i would like all of you to know that as i was perusing through some blogs, i found this...

...stuck to my arm.

*sigh* my sweet cousin sarah has a problem. an addiction, really. the culprit?

wint-o-greens. since sarah discovered them in high school, she has been completely hooked. by what she has told me, she eats approximately 90 of these guys a day. i wish i were kidding. 

and now as she sleeps soundly next to me, i have decided to try and help her. i tend to be an enabler. 

if you would like to help miss sarah continue on in her quest to eat every single wint-o-green on the planet, please follow her blog here and i'm sure some sort of correspondence can allow you to mail her a box or two. 

do it for love.

yours, 

m. wilson

drowned rat in the city.

well, one could never tell me that today was not an adventure!

bear and i made quite a trip, starting in the financial district and looping down to battery park and up through some other parts of new york which i cannot currently remember. i do remember lots of things that we saw, and unfortunately i do not currently have my camera cord in order to show you all of the fabulous things we saw today! i will be getting back to that soon (i.e. by tomorrow).

the weather was absolutely insane, it went from chilly to very hot (with a steaming side of humidity) to a torrential DOWNPOUR! but did that stop us? it never has before. we trekked on like real troopers to reach all of our destinations for the day. we also got to enjoy several delights at local eateries including a guacamole taco and one incredibly delicious vanilla milkshake in chelsea market.
in the immortal words of rachael ray: yumm-o.

something important that new york is a constant reminder of: the world is incredibly vast. (this is drawn from the fact that new york is incredibly vast). it is a great reminder, but also a scary one. it's amazing to be so stunned by such a beautiful city and so humbled at the same time. this has been deep thoughts, by mackenzie wilson.

once again, i'm sorry for the lack of pictures for today, but i promise i will make it up to you all soon. there will be a torrential downpour of pictures.

yours,

m. wilson

here comes the bride: part two (otherwise known as: get me to the church on time)

hello friends.
everyone survived the wedding in one piece! it was a beautiful ceremony and the reception was quite literally perfect.

the best way to show as much of this past week as thoroughly as i can is through pictures.

the bridesmaids and miss kayla went out for lunch at hickory street.
they have the most fantastic zucchini bread you will ever taste!

this trip, of course, included some family time.
dad took the boyfriend and myself out for 'a taste of asia'.

my pup, gretle and my kitty, cookie. they are friends.

dad will never be found without his bluetooth. 

miss gretle is so sweet. she loves going to the groomers

but always ends up with just one bow.

the rehearsal dinner was luau themed since kayla and jarrod's

honeymoon was (is) in hawai'i. i played with the table decor.

priceless faces.

everyone told stories, and we all cried. this is gran.

the next day (the day of the wedding) i took kayla to get

her hair done, then literally sped to the church.

her flower girl was precious. you will notice several 

pictures including her.

miss beth (kayla's mom) was like a beautiful, sparkly,

somewhat frantic, champagne-colored dream.

it wouldn't be a texas wedding without unnecessary dirt.

some things really don't change. 

thank goodness.

this was about the time when i started bawling.

this was the moment when the ordinator asked if i was

done singing so he could have his mic back. 

notice me trying not to laugh.

kayla looked like a princess.

old friends.

old friends and bubbles.

gerber daisies have always been kay's favorite. 

all in all, it was a wonderful wedding. and now they are on their honeymoon! i know it's going to be a blast. i really do wish all the happiness in the world to them. they deserve it. :)



and now onto something completely different! new york. i've been in ft. worth the past few days visiting my boyfriend and his family, but tomorrow i am off on a different adventure. my sweet cousin sarah is having a birthday tomorrow and i am getting the pleasure of visiting her!!! i have a flight to catch in the morning, so i must be off to bed, but there will be a new york themed installment soon. (as well as on her blog--you should check it out, she is adorable.)


yours,
m. wilson

stylish is not my middle name.

as a fabulous and wonderful blogger, my sweet cousin sarah has been nominated for a stylish blogger award! and as part of the rules, she nominates other new bloggers as well, so she nominated me! i feel so honored. :)

as part of the "rules" in receiving this stylish blogger award, you must link and recognize whomever nominated you (see above). you must also list off seven random things about yourself.

my facts:

1. for about 4 years now i've been growing my hair into a ridiculous waist-length, completely untamable mane, and last saturday i chopped it off into a shoulder-length bob-type cut. it felt so liberating!

2. i'm currently studying classical voice, but i really just want to sing jazz forever.

3. my favorite color is gray.

4. i'm related to abe lincoln (sorry for stealing yours, bear.) 

5. i am clumsy as all get out. my freshman year of college alone, i broke my foot, chronically sprained my ankle, and tore my meniscus which resulted in surgery.

6. i have a ridiculous obsession with the name 'd'artagnan'. i think it is regal and hysterical. it is also the name of my first car.

7. this makes me desperately want a tropical vacation. and maybe something coconut-y...

as such a new blogger, i am having a hard time discovering other new bloggers! odd predicament, no? if you have any suggestions as to other young and upcoming bloggers that you think are worthy of the stylist blogger award, please let me know so i can share the love.

and to close, moments where i have felt the most stylish:

prepping for a performance of "charlie's aunt" in high school with sarah and our friend taylor.

going on an adventure for the sake of food with my freshman roommate, mer.

getting my hair dyed in one of those fancy upside-down bowls.

playing dress up, age 4.

i'm feeling more stylish already.

yours, 

m. wilson

here comes the bride: part one

so. one of my dearest friends in the whole world (we've been practically sisters since 8th grade) is getting MARRIED on saturday!! i couldn't be more excited or happy for her, because she deserves all the happiness in the world. miss kayla and mr. jarrod will be tying the knot at their small country church followed by a lovely reception where we can all eat, drink (punch only) and be merry.

this is us from back in senior year. honestly, we haven't changed much and i prefer it that way. as of now, i don't have any photos of the happy couple on hand, but you can be sure that there will be several once the big day arrives.


i was lucky enough to get to be kayla's maid of honor, and unfortunately i wasn't around to be able to do all of the "maid of honor tasks" as i was in school in waco and she was in abilene for most of the wedding planning process. BUT, that being said, i have also made it my goal to be the most fantastic maid of honor that i can possibly be with what little time i have left to do so.

when i arrived home on sunday, i knew there was a great deal to be done this week...as you can see from my schedule, my job is going to be a tough one:

wed: lunch with kayla and the other bridesmaids at hickory street cafe. (known especially for their incredible zucchini bread. i plan on eating a few loaves.)
thu: bachelorette party.
fri: lingerie party, "last-single-girl night" sleepover (consisting of lots of food and movies such as "father of the bride" and "my big fat greek wedding".)
sat: go with kayla to get her hair done and get her to the church on time!

kayla has also given me the honor of letting me sing at her wedding. the song she picked is just precious and so sweet and i will probably have to choke my way through most of it. it's a "peter, paul, and mary" song entitled simply, "the wedding song".

as a pre-duty duty of mine, kayla, her roommate abigail and i all put on face masks for fun last night. kayla still had some homework to do as she is still finishing up her finals (quite literally just in time for the wedding) but we made time to turn blue anyway.

point is: i love this girl. and i am so excited for this wedding to happen! look forward to several more installations towards this wedding and all of the fun it will be. :)

yours,
m. wilson

music to love today.

sometimes when i get in a funk for no apparent reason, i later realize that it's because i hadn't been listening to enough music at the time. and i don't mean music that i have to listen to for school, but just really truly fantastic music.

recent favorites to play on repeat have been:

1. rolling in the deep -- adele

let's be honest, her whole new album is fabulous. she is fabulous. this may not even be my favorite on the album (it's really hard to decide with so many good songs) but this is the song that i keep coming back to. it's an incredibly raw reflection on a bad break-up which...let's be honest...we can all relate to. it's got a 60's twist to it with back-up singers (probably adele dubbed over...which i don't have a problem with) to keep things moving. point is: it is the real deal. and a fantastic driving song. win.

2. the tide pulls from the moon -- william fitzsimmons 

william fitzsimmons is amazing. i had the privilege of seeing him live this past summer in ft. worth, and it was one of my favorite live shows to date. his sound is a lot like iron and wine, but if you can believe it, more depressing. and everyone needs some solid masochistic depressing music every once in a while. i first heard this, actually, in the show "private practice". anyway, this song is wonderful. this one is really good for nighttime driving.

3. valerie -- amy winehouse

fact: amy winehouse is a bit nuts. other fact: the nuts ones make the best music. simply put, this song is good mildly-dirty fun. it's great for when you first wake up. :)

i will probably make more installations toward just-music blogging. i love it, and i love sharing my most recent favorites. if anyone has any good suggestions for summer music, i'm about to start compiling a mix for driving, and other silliness. 

yours,

m. wilson

on a rainy day in may.

i just wish the weather would make up it's mind. first a tornado from hell, followed quickly by 75 and sunny, and today it was 50 degrees and rainy. when you live in a place like texas, (more specifically waco), you have to just learn to roll with the punches. and on rainy days like this, i try and keep myself somewhat occupied. today, it was with eclair cake.

my mom has been making this "cake" for as long as i can remember (note: it's not really a cake...) and i loved it so much that i decided to make it today for my end-of-the-semester studio party. it's kind of rustic and ugly, but deceptively delicious and more importantly, really simple to make.

ingredients:

3 boxes of instant french vanilla pudding
1 box of graham crackers
1 8 oz. tub of cool whip (or make your own whipping cream)
1/2 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons of butter
3 cups of milk, then 3 more tablespoons for chocolate topping
1/2 cup of light cairo syrup
3/4 cup of confectioners sugar

FIRST
mix up the french vanilla pudding with 3 cups of milk (don't worry--it's supposed to be really thick) and let it set in the fridge for about 2 minutes.

THEN
add in 8 oz. of cool whip and fold together.

NEXT
heat (over medium-low heat in a small pot) the chocolate chips, butter, 3 tablespoons of milk, sugar, and cairo syrup until it has all melted together and has a thin-ganache-y consistency. don't worry, it's supposed to be really thin. you can sweeten to taste, but don't make it too sweet, the rest of the cake is sweet enough.

FINALLY
layer the "cake" thusly in a 9'' by 13'' glass or metal pan: graham cracker layer, 1/2 of pudding mixture, graham cracker layer, other 1/2 of pudding mixture, and a final graham cracker layer before topping it all off with a thin layer of the chocolate yumminess.

refrigerate until it's time to eat! it can be served immediately, but i prefer my graham crackers a little on the soft side.

like i said, rustic, but one of my all-time favorite desserts. *secret tip* in order to keep the bottom layer of graham crackers from flopping around in the bottom of the pan when you are trying to layer the pudding on top, try putting a little whipped cream or pudding mixture on the very bottom before you put in your first layer of crackers. it will keep them in place, as i learned today from a bit of trial and error.

if you're lucky, you get to share this eclair cake with some fun people like i got to this evening at the studio party. when we all get together, it is chaotic to say the least, but we always have a lot of fun.

kaylie and edgar. 

om nom and lonnie.

lauren and richard. she was extra ridiculous tonight.
but that's the way we like her. :)

umstead NEVER likes being in pictures. we talked him
into this one. this is just all of us in our element. 

so, this rainy day wasn't so bad after all. i'll let you know if texas ever settles on a weather choice...it will probably be sometime in july when it hits 100+ and won't let off until late september. ahhh...waco...

yours,

m. wilson