She Made the Cut!

We are soooo proud of our youngest girlie for lots o' reasons, but this week she got some news that puts a smile of "shear" delight on our faces -- and hers! 

Millie Girl

 learned

 that she was 

accepted into

 the cosmetology program

 offered through her high school. 

YAY!!!

Here are a few highlights as to why there is cause for celebration: There are about 45 students accepted into the program from eight different high schools. The cosmetology program is offered through Birdville Independent School District, but our Keller District students are allowed to apply to take classes at the Birdville Center of Technology. 

In addition to Cosmetology, the tech center offers many other diverse programs for its high school students like: AV Production; Architecture; Automotive Tech; Computer Maintenance; Law, Public Safety and Corrections; Culinary Arts; Engineering; and Health Science. This specialized school is housed in a building that is only about five years old, so everything there is state-of-the-art. We were so impressed with the facility and the faculty. We feel that our girlie is very fortunate to get to go here.

The majority of the students come from the host's four high schools, but each of the four Keller schools each have four students admitted. Our girl was one of the four selected from her school. (There were about 15 girls from Millie's class of 650-ish who applied and interviewed for a coveted position in this program.) 

Beginning in August, Millie will travel about eight miles to the neighboring school district's technology center. She will need to leave the house a little after 6AM every morning. After several hours of training, she will then go to her high school for an afternoon of regular classes -- Reading, Writing, and 'Rithmatic! And Art and History. 

This is a two-year program that will allow our beauty schooler to take the state board upon graduation. She says that she plans on working at a salon, once she starts college so she can make $ while she takes classes. This girlie has a neatly styled plan all laid out. And I'm not teasing.

We are soooo happy that she will get to get a jump-start on doing what she loves. Our daughter will only be sixteen when she starts the program, so she will have her cosmetology license when she's 18. And since we will only pay a fraction of the cost of a traditional cosmetology program, our bank account will be pretty happy, too!

Once Millie Girl starts her own business, she will need a name for her salon. Send us your suggestions. We think we will pass on these following offerings.

Curl up and Dye
Hairway to Heaven
Combing Attractions
The Cuttin' Corral
The Comb Over
Upper Cuts
Split Ends
Rock, Paper, Scissors
The Lunatic Fringe
Choppers
Big Tease
The Mane Event
Hair I Am

The Forecast is Fair

Our artsy girl's colored pencil creation was chosen by the art department to compete in an art show. 

Although she didn't win any awards, Milllie's "Fair" piece WAS chosen by the school district to be matted and framed and put on display for a year. It will hang in the administrative offices for the Keller Independent School District. 

Our artist had to write up a description of her artwork to be printed on a plaque. I wish I would've gotten a more close-up view of her work. There is sooo much intricate detail, and lots of color! In the end, getting to be on display just might be better than getting a blue ribbon. ;-)

Europe for Adventure?

Our middlest child is off to Switzerland for eight weeks of study and fun -- and chocolate. Liesey will be living at Pepperdine's Lausanne campus, where she will be taking history and French courses.

She flew out of Dallas to LAX, where she will meet up with the rest of her traveling buddies. 

I'm so excited for this summer adventure to begin. And I'm so thankful that FaceTime makes the world seem like a much smaller place!

Packing It Up

On the morning of April 30, Mr. Smith and I had a crack o' dawn flight to LAX. When we touched down in California, we were greeted by a lovely college coed; our #2 Smithling! It was so good to see her on "her" SoCal turf.

We hit the ground running. We rented an SUV for hauling boxes, secured a storage facility, ate lunch, packed up the belongings in the Pepperdine apartment, cleaned the apartment, made a trip to campus to run a few errands (including buying a Pepperdine hooded sweatshirt that will make the trip to Lausanne), made two trips with the SUV and Liesey's car to the storage place, packed and stacked things in the storage room, and we checked on availability of an apartment for the fall, all before dinner. Whew! Not bad for Day 1. (And I might have omitted a detail here and there...)

We actually got the door to the 5X5 unit shut -- no problems! The couple that resides at and runs the storage facility is precious. They said they'd look forward to seeing us in August, and I really think they were sincere.

That evening, we ate dinner outdoors in Westlake Village next to the lake. A nice glass of Chardonnay tasted especially refreshing after such a productive day. Cheers!

Day 2 started out with the most fabulous French toast in Pacific Pallisades at a cute French restaurant that our daughter has frequented. I can see why; Maison Giraud is très délicieux! That is probably an incorrect translation, but you get the idea. It was YUMMY! I decided that gluten could be dealt with head-on for one meal. It was soooo worth it.

Okay, now I have to confess that we may or may not have purchased a few croissants AND a baguette to take with us. 
Gluten? What gluten? 
Glutton? That, too.

We enjoyed driving along the coast, walking along the beach in Dana Point, and shopping at Fashion Island.

The Dadzi and his daughter both found snazzy shades at Nordies that were actually on sale. No more squinting for these two. And they look oh, so stylish wearing their Ray Bans and Prada sunglasses. (FYI, Mr. Smith is NOT wearing the Prada sunglasses.) These two will be ready for the road trip home. Me? I'll be wearing my trusty, old, not-as-stylish-as-my-daughter's sunglasses that are about eight years old. It's all good... 

Since we had accomplished everything that we wanted to in two days, we cancelled our third night at the hotel and made plans to get on the road on May 2nd. Liesey's little car was loaded and ready to roll!

We had reservations at a hotel in Albuquerque, NM, but we wanted to see some things along the route. We called to request a late night arrival. No problem. 

A tasty lunch was found at one of our favorite places in Flagstaff, AZ. Diablo Burger is worth a slight detour off of the freeway for a lunch or dinner stop. (I'm sure breakfast would be okay, too, but they don't open until 11 AM...and they only serve burgers.)

We didn't dilly dally very long in Flagstaff -- we got back on the road. At the last minute, we decided that we probably would have enough time to see a National Park. Why not? When we got near the Petrified Forest, we made another detour just as the sun was starting to go down. We had just enough light to see the big attractions.

Although these are BIG attractions, we are not there yet!

  Yup. I just HAD to take pictures...

 We made it, and we were not one bit petrified. It wasn't scary at all... HA!

After rocking for a couple of hours, we rolled into Albuquerque. 

We slept for about 8 hours, got ready for another day of being road warriors, found a Starbucks, then got rolling again. 

The total trip from Pepperdine to home is roughly 1,450 miles, and every one of 'em was a treat, because we got to spend 'em with our girlie.

Even after so many miles, we were still all smiles.

It does feel good to be home again, though.