Home is wherever I'm with you.

My hometown is, was, and forever will be sleepy little Stuart, FL.

But to me, home feels like a lot of different things. 

Home feels like an apartment overflowing with popcorn, Diet Coke, and country music videos.

 Home feels like listening to Wagon Wheel. Over, and over, and over. 

Home feels like seeing a beat up old truck decorated with an American flag sticker and a Martin County license plate. 

Home feels like the first glimpse of the Blue Ridge mountain range after a road trip full of Chick-Fil-A and Johnny Cash. 

But mostly, home feels like being surrounded by the people that laugh at my corny jokes, don't judge me for not washing my hair for 5 days, and tell me to straighten up when I'm acting like a grouchy brat.

Yep, that's family.  

This week home was Thanksgiving in Dothan, Alabama. 

Nope, I didn't get a fancy new camera. But I did get a fancy new iPhone and I had way too much fun with the Instagram app. 

Home was a kitchen full of perfecting family recipes and experimenting with new ones.

When life doesn't give you enough lemons...or limes...

Startin' em young.
(In the mixing bowl: Mama's Hashbrown Casserole. Major yums.) 

Home was a week-long(ish) slumber party with the best brothers and cousins a gal could ask for. 

#airmattresslife

Home was cruisin' around the farm on four wheels. Or four legs. Whatever.

(The following pictures were taken by Aunt Tracy and her out-of-this-world-awesome camera. Not my iPhone.)

I literally got to ride a horse into the sunset. And yes, it kind of made me feel like a Disney princess. 

"I need to start doing this more often. I mean the horses are in my backyard and all..." -Ethan

Home was constantly being entertained my father, the king of one-liners. 

Somebody, please, get that man a Twitter! 

Papa Jeff on Black Friday shopping: "I'm just gonna sit here and see how long it takes for somebody to want to take a Santa picture with me."
(PS: Nobody did. Better luck next time, padre.)

Home was football. 

SO. MUCH. FOOTBALL. 

(and we wouldn't have it any other way.)

What Thanksgiving is complete without a little backyard football action?

Iron Bowl 2011...
War eagle anyway. 

Great 'stache, bro.
(PS. I had my FSU tank on underneath my Auburn shirt. Easy transition for the back-to-back games.)
(PS again: SEMINOLES RULE, GATORS DROOL.)

And home was all the random snippets of memories that can't really be categorized. 

No caption necessary. 

Dothan, Alabama trying their best to overcome racial stereotypes. 

Our family can't cross the state line without bringing home some kind of animal.
Pictured: Ally (as in Ally-bama) the Walmart parking lot pup. 

 So yeah. Basically, I love my family. 

Because home wouldn't be anywhere or anything without them.

(PS. Somehow Mom, Nanny, Stephen, or Uncle Ric didn't make it into any of the pictures worth posting. Sorry folks! Get ready for a paparazzi at Christmas.)

Title reference: Home by Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros. 

But you should really listen to this version. It's way cuter. 

A few of my favorite things.

In the spirit of the Best Holiday of the Year (actually it's tied with the Forth of July), I wanted to do a post about the things I am thankful for. 

But I'm thankful for a lot of things. 

Spanish moss, thunderstorms, Moe's queso, random acts of kindness, duck boots, morning runs throughout an empty campus, movie theater popcorn, finding new friends, my favorite song coming on the radio at exactly the right time. 

So I'll just limit it to my favorite things that are in the 10 square feet that is my room. 

My notecard journal. 

Read this post for the full story. 

My cowboy boot hat hangers. 

Warning: Don't step foot in a Hobby Lobby if you don't have money burning a whole in your pocket.
Which I don't.
Which is why I'm not going back.
(Haha, yeah right.)

My sleepy shorts. 

I think I've had these things since I was like 14. They are the softest most comfortable thing I own and I'll cry the day the washing machine does them in. 

My bed.

I found the pillow at Target. And then Dad and I made the headboard using a shower curtain... from Target. And then I found the sheets for 6 bucks at Target. SCORE. 

My t-shirt quilt. 

The summer after my freshman year, I came home and realized I had a butt-load of high school t-shirts that I probably wasn't ever going to wear again. Solution? T-shirt quilt! 

The fact that I had literally spent zero time on a sewing machine prior to this endeavor did not deter me. I spent most of my free time working on the squares, but I had NO idea what I was doing. Seriously, my techniques probably would have made legit quilters cringe. 

The summer came to an end but the production of my quilt did not. And then the summer of 2011 passed without me sewing even a stitch. My mom knows me better than anybody in this world, so she paid a professional to finish it. 

BEST. BIRTHDAY. PRESENT. EVER.

(Besides Bernise the Old Jeep, of course.)

Happy Thanksgiving. 

Is there anything random in your room you are super grateful for?

Catch-up.

Remember that one time when I neglected my blog for almost a month?

And I skipped over Halloween, Parent's Weekend, and my 21st birthday?

Yeah, me too. 

Sorry.

Halloween: my least favorite holiday, but my favorite costume yet. 

Pan Am, anyone?

The skirt-suit came from Goodwill (of course) and Sara made my hat out of thin blue foam. 

Sara and I cheesin' it up.

An artist and her canvas. And a flight attendant. 

Angry birds. 

We decided they were Pan Am stewardesses...off duty. 

Divas.
(Ke$ha, Adele, Amy Winehouse, and Britney)

Halloweekend also consisted of a visit from my mother and brother. And a football game. And trips to Chick-fil-a and Chipotle. Because we are the Bowers family, and that's what we do. 

Not pictured: Papa Jeff. Maybe next time. 

Tailgating photoshoot mishap...but I really love this picture.

Stevie making a new best friend. 

Life is just better when mom is within hugging distance. 

And then came my 21st birthday. 

Yep, the big 2-1. 

Two words: chalkboard wall.

 Since my birthday fell on a Monday, my loving friend/roommate Sara planned an on-campus picnic so friends could come and go in between classes. Have I mentioned how much I love her?

We all enjoyed  pesto/tomato/mozzarella sandwiches, my favorite bean dip, and lemon/blueberry cupcakes made from scratch. That girl knows what she's doing in the kitchen. 

Cupcake headband! And a ThirstBuster.
(69 cents for 44 ounces? Let's just say I am so obsessed with that bargain that I just wrote an entire paper on it for my microeconomics class.)

Some friends and a brother. 

And a lawn chair. Why not?

Oh, and don't worry. 

Alcohol was involved. 

First legal purchase.
I'm fairly certain the cashier wasn't even going to card me. I pretty much had to shove my drivers license into her hand. IT'S MY 21st BIRTHDAY DANGIT!

And for my birthday dinner I wanted Mexican. And margaritas. 

The only picture that emerged from that evening.
I blame the strength of the tequila.
Whoops. 

And now its almost the end of November. 

 Almost the end of football season. 

And almost the end of the semester. 

 Wishing you all a Thanksgiving week full of relaxing family time, rib-stickin' food, and winning football teams!

(coughGONOLES/WAREAGLEcough)