Dallas Day Two

Friday morning, we went to downtown Dallas to brunch and to drive around the area. Our first stop was Breadwinner's which I have been to before and it is simply delicious.  If you ever go there, I highly recommend the cinnamon rolls, but their menu overall is spectacular.

Here I am in front of Breadwinners Uptown.

My cousin M and I

My cousin D and I

After brunch, we drove around the campus of Southern Methodist University. It is a gorgeous campus and I can definitely see myself there for college.

All of the cousins!

Before we retired to my Aunt's house, we drove by The Hockaday School - another gorgeous campus.

Have a great Tuesday!

xoxo,

Royar

{The Young Southern Prep}

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was so much fun! My Aunt hosts her family at her house almost every year and it's wonderful to see everyone! In Texas, we boil our turkey and it is so yummy, along with chicken and dumplings!

Here are some pictures from the day:

My cousins and Aunt making a cake!

PM and I

Me with Ranger!

How were y'alls Thanksgivings?

xoxo,

Royar

{The Young Southern Prep}

Thought for the Week

"There's a trick to the 'graceful exit.' It begins with the vision to recognize

when a job, a life stage, or a relationship is over - and let it go. It means leaving what's over without denying its validity or its past importance to our lives. It involves a sense of future, a belief that every exit line is an entry, that we are moving up, rather than out."

- Ellen Goodman

xoxo,

Royar

{The Young Southern Prep}

Book List

I found this on Pearls & Bourbon {If you haven't checked out her tumblr, do it. now. I love it.}

The BBC believes most people will have read only six of the 100 books listed here.

 Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES. Bold those books you’ve read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but did not finish or read an excerpt.  

The List:

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee  {Read it in 7th grade, still one of my favorites of all time}

6 The Bible  

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte {I'm reading it right now for English - LOVE IT}

8 1984 - George Orwell  

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger {Read it last year, only after I finished it, did I truly appreciate it}

19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger 

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell {I am Scarlett O'Hara reincarnated.}

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald 

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame 

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy {Intending to try again over winter break}

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens 

 33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis 

34 Emma -Jane Austen

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell {Blew my little 7th grade mind}

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery  

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood 

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding 

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan 

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel 

52 Dune - Frank Herbert 

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck {Would love to re-read!}

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov 

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac 

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville 

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker 

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

76 The Inferno - Dante

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

 81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

 82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

 83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker 

 84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

 85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert {I love this book! Such a wonderful read!}

 86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

 87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White

 88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

 89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

 90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

 92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

 93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

 94 Watership Down - Richard Adams 

 95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

 96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

 98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

 99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl 

 100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

I have read 10 of the 100. To see what other books I have read, visit me on GoodReads.

xoxo,

Royar

{The Young Southern Prep}

Roll Tide Roll

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and spent some good time with your families!

Last week, the Alabama Crimson Tide defeated Georgia State 63-7

{Credit}

{Credit}

The best part of the game? AJ McCarron getting good playing time. He's going to be a great quarterback next year!

Today, the Crimson Tide takes on the Auburn Tigers.

Sorry, Holly

Roll Tide Roll. Beat Auburn!

xoxo,

Royar

{The Young Southern Prep}

Thanksgiving

Giving Thanks
For the hay and the corn and the wheat that is reaped,
For the labor well done, and the barns that are heaped,
For the sun and the dew and the sweet honeycomb,
For the rose and the song and the harvest brought home --
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

For the trade and the skill and the wealth in our land,
For the cunning and strength of the workingman's hand,
For the good that our artists and poets have taught,
For the friendship that hope and affection have brought --
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

For the homes that with purest affection are blest,
For the season of plenty and well-deserved rest,
For our country extending from sea unto sea;
The land that is known as the "Land of the Free" --
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!
Author Unknown 
What I'm thankful for today:My dogs, Tiller and Tess,My good health,My sturdy home,My wonderful school that provides me with a great education,Living in a great country where I have so many freedoms and rights,The opportunity to volunteer with Operation Smile,My loving parents who take care of me and provide for me,My sweet brother who is always there when I need him,You, my sweet readers, who have helped me reach 100+ followers this month,And numerous other things that I am forgetting,however, I know that I am truly blessed and I thank God everyday for the many things I have in my life.
What are you for this Thanksgiving day?
xoxo,
Royar{The Young Southern Prep}

Leaving On A Jet Plane

But don't worry, I'll be back. In a few hours, I'll be hopping on a plane and flying to Dallas!

I am so excited I can hardly contain myself.  I can't wait to see my three sweet cousins tonight!

Us at the Gaylord ICE Exhibit last year

Also, I got an email last night from Student Programs of Operation Smile and I did not get accepted into Mission Training.  I am disappointed, not in that I didn't get in, but that a girl in my grade who is not old enough to attend a mission was accepted. Yes, you read that right. I am still in a bit of shock that she was picked over my sweet friend END, who also applied and myself.  However, I am excited because my best friend HEB was accepted along with a few of my other friends from ISLC.  I look forward to applying again this summer with END. Thank y'all for your sweet comments and support over the past few months. I can't wait to apply again and go to Beijing this summer!

xoxo,

Royar

{The Young Southern Prep}

Outerwear

With Winter fast approaching (or already here in some places), I thought I would share my favorite coats and accessories!

The One, the Only Burberry Quilted Jacket

Lands' End Pea Coat {I have this coat and I LOVE IT!}

Calvin Klein Tweed Tie-Front Coat

Old Navy Double-Breasted Coat

Old Navy Ruffled Coat

Old Navy Ruffle Collar Jacket

There are so many cute coats this year! What is your go-to winter coat?

xoxo,

Royar

{The Young Southern Prep}

Glee Songs!

I don't know if it's just me, but I think the songs have gotten so much better on Glee this season. Here are my two favorites thus far:

Forget You 

Teenage Dream

Are you a Gleek? What are your favorite songs?

xoxo,

Royar

{The Young Southern Prep}

Blackberry!

Yesterday, I finally got a Blackberry! I got the Bold and I love it already!

Any tips or tricks?

Have a great Sunday!

xoxo,

Royar

{The Young Southern Prep}

Favorite Musicals!

Here are a few of my favorite musicals!

The Sound of Music

South Pacific

Hairspray

Jersey Boys

White Christmas

Grease

Mamma Mia

What are your favorites?

xoxo,

Royar

{The Young Southern Prep}

Penny Loafers

This ad ran a few years ago for Cole Haan's Air Penny Loafer and I have been in love with Penny Loafer's since.

I then set out to find the perfect pair.  I have found two options:

Bass Weejuns

Cole Haan Air Penny

What do y'all think? Do any of y'all own a pair of penny loafers?

xoxo,

Royar

{The Young Southern Prep}


P.S. Have any of y'all seen this Tommy Hilfiger Ad? TOO CUTE

Happy Birthday & Roll Tide Roll

Happy Birthday to the best Father in the world, PF!

Last week, the Alabama Crimson Tide defeated Mississippi State 30-10

I kind of want these. Perfectly impractical, right? Christmas perhaps?

Today, the Crimson Tide takes on the Georgia State Panthers.

Roll Tide Roll. Beat Georgia State!

xoxo,

Royar

{The Young Southern Prep}

What's On My Christmas List?

Nike Alabama Crimson Tide #12 Crimson Replica Football Jersey

Alabama Crimson Tide Tri-Color Team Logo Tall Socks

SEC White Multi Lure Long Sleeve Shirt

Nancy Drew Handbook

Kate Spade This Year I Will Idiom Bangle

Kate Spade Give It A Whirl Idiom Bangle

What's on your Christmas/Hanukkah list? I'll post more items as I find them!

xoxo,

Royar

{The Young Southern Prep}

The Art Of Racing In The Rain

The Art of Racing In The Rain by Garth Stein

"Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver. Through Denny, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the human condition, and he sees that life, like racing, isn't simply about going fast. Using the techniques needed on the race track, one can successfully navigate all of life's ordeals. 

On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through. In the end, despite what he sees as his own limitations, Enzo comes through heroically to preserve the Swift family, holding in his heart the dream that Denny will become a racing champion with Zoë at his side.

A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a beautifully crafted and captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life...as only a dog could tell it." - Goodreads Review

 It is such a sweet story told by a wonderful dog. I truly enjoyed this book and all I can say is, have tissues handy.

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

xoxo,

Royar
{The Young Southern Prep}

Phoenix

Lately, I just can't stop listening to Phoenix! They are an alternative French band from Versailles and their latest album, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a certified Gold in the US, Australia and Canada. 

My two favorite songs are their most well-known songs:

1901

Lisztomania

Do any of y'all listen to Phoenix? What are your favorite songs by them?

xoxo,

Royar

{The Young Southern Prep}