Day 12: "Two Thumbs Up!"

Day 12: Favorite Movies

Australia- There was so much going on for the first 5 minutes of the movie it made my head spin, but once it settled in, and the story started to unfold, I was captivated. I love the Australian slang/colloquialism that peppers the movie. Also, I want to take Nullah home with me.

Legends of the Fall - I love the cinematography of this movie, the setting (Montana has my heart, it just doesn't know it yet), and the plot. If Gone With the Wind was a Western, this would be it.

August Rush- A movie about an elf-like orphan musical prodigy "calling" to his birth parents with his guitar? um, yes please. Heartwarming and sappy. I love it.

The Sandlot- Nostalgic. Host to one of the greatest movie quotes of all time, "you're killing me smalls"

Practical Magic - that house.

Son In Law- One of the only movies I will watch when it plays on cable.

8 Seconds- I have a thing for cowboys, and wranglers, and good manners.

Cold Mountain- another epic, drama filled movie that I am in love with. However. Renee Zellweger. I cringed every time she opened her mouth. A British native (Jude Law) pulled off a stronger and more believable southern accent than Texas born and bred Renee did. Love the soundtrack.

The Goonies- because Goonies never say die! Duh.

Fried Green Tomatoes- Female empowerment without all the bra burning. Thelma & Louise set in the Depression era south without the ultimate plunge over the ravine. Feel good with a gritty edge. Southern. Honey bees. Kathy Bates. BBQ.

Steel Magnolias- I've heard the dialogue in this movie described as "each of the women talk like they're reading a bumper sticker."...I'll take one of each. I laugh and cry every.time. I watch this movie.

Little Women- It brought Louisa May Alcott's story to life for me. Beautiful film-making.

The Shawshank Redemption- Morality. Camaraderie. Redemption. Morgan. Freeman.

Forest Gump- There's a reason this is one of the most successful movies ever made. As "comforting as an afternoon nap, but also as refreshing."

Pretty Woman- A modern day Cinderella? He pays her $3000 and they fall in love... Hollywood. But I still love it. Her laugh when Richard Gere closes the jewel box on her hand, makes me giggle every time. And when she tells the snotty sales lady she "has to go shopping now".... favorite part.

Almost Famous- anybody with a love affair with music gets.this. movie.

Amelia- adorable. charming. french.

The Sound of Music- it's a musical. meaning they sing their dialogue. I think we should do this in real life. I think somebody telling you ...♫ you're a jerk, and your feet smell♪..., set to a tune is easier to take than somebody just saying it out right. anyway. I can quote every line and every song of this movie. It's the one musical that I can honestly say I love. I loved it so much that I went on a Sound of Music tour in Austria, and liked it.

Love Actually- romantic. entertaining. fun. british accents. Only problem? I could never watch it with my parents. if you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about.

Pride & Prejudice- lovely. in every sense of the word.

The Boondock Saints- a moral black hole, but it definitely taps into a secret desire for vigilantism.

Superbad- another one I can't watch with my parents. but.i.crack.up.

Euro Trip- funnier than it should be.

The Holiday- a little predictable, but overall one of my favorites.

Beauty and the Beast- talking/singing/dancing household wares. princess dresses. happy ending. classic Disney. favorite.

Chocolat- fabulous. teaches about tolerance and forgiveness. and how chocolate can cure all ills <---- I get it.

I'm sure there are more, but that's all I can come up with at the moment.

What are some of your favorites?

Day 11: Bag Lady

Day 11: What's In Your Purse

The more appropriate question here would be what's not?
I think I might have been a squirrel in my past life, because I don't like to throw anything away. I'm not a hoarder.....yet. Handsome says I'm toeing the line. BUT I hereby solemnly swear you will never find any dead cats that are so paper thin they make a crinkling noise and you can see through them, in my purse, or my possession for that matter (poor kitties).

This is not my purse. I wish it was though.

I'd also like to call this little sweet gem mine as well....

and, this one....

okay, I could do this all day. moving on.

I just dumped my purse out on my desk.... Good.Lord. I was even a little bit taken back by the amount of stuff in there... and that's hard to do.

*3 tubes of lip gloss....all pink
*86¢ (that's enough to make a phone call right?)
*2 Matchbooks from Canoe (where we went to eat for Valentine's Day)
*1 Comb
*1 Makeup bag (with it's own set of clutter problems)
*4 Packets of Twinings of London English Breakfast Tea (I love my hot tea!)
*1 Set of Keys... ah! that makes me feel better, at least I didn't lock them in the car. I was a little worried about that.
*1 Wallet with 500 receipts sticking out of either side.
*1 Small bottle of hand lotion in my signature scent...BVLGARI Eau Parfumée au thé blanc
*Enough paint swatches, in a multitude of colors, to tape over all the yellow in my kitchen.
*A print out of the haircut that I want (that I still have not made an appointment for)
*17 Napkins (if you feel the need to wipe your hands or blow your nose throughout the day, feel free to ask for one... I obviously have plenty)
*1 News bulletin from the church we visited this past Sunday... actually I have 2 of these. Must have grabbed J's and stuffed his in there too.
*1 Mini Snickers wrapper sans the Snickers
*1 Bottle of hand sanitizer
*3 paper clips
*All 3 of my dogs rabies tags that I keep meaning to put on their collars... I honestly don't have a clue why or how they wound up in my bag, but it totally explains the jingling noise I've heard emanating from my purse every time I pick it up lately.
*1 sticky note with the word call underlined and exclamated, but no further information than that. It's in my handwriting so it had to have been me who wrote it. Preetty sure whoever I was supposed to call never heard from me... hope they're not mad!
*1 USB cord for my camera

It seems my memory is going, since a lot of this stuff is not ringing any bells on how it actually wound up in my bag... rabies tags, sticky note, cord.... no clue.

*1 Roll of tape in it's dispenser. We're talking the large, office desktop size dispenser. I was posting up Missing Dog fliers in my neighborhood, and obviously thought my bag was the perfect place to put the tape when I was finished with it.
*3 Missing Dog fliers. I ran out of signs in the neighborhood to post them to. (These are not for me, all our dogs are present and accounted for... a lady in the neighborhood down the road from us is missing her pup)
*And last but not least, a pair of pearl earrings that I thought I had lost.... so that's where they've been this whole time!

Moral of this story? If I have misplaced something, the first place I should look is inside my purse.

xoxo,
asm

Day 10: Bee Charmer

Day 10: Goals

I'm glad nobody is holding me to this "30 Days" thing, cause I'd be in some kind of trouble if they were.

This is going to be more like a bucket list rather than simply goals....

I have a ton of things I want to accomplish in my life before the good Lord calls me home.
As a Christian, my greatest wish should be to be sitting at the feet of our everlasting Father, surrounded by His heavenly saints and angels.... and that is of course, my ultimate "goal," but I'm just selfish, and human enough to want to be there, after a full, happy, life well-lived. But who knows really what that means anyway? If I am called home today, I would be okay with that too.... I believe the choices I have made for my life have put me right where I'm meant to be... and knowing and accepting that, is a life well lived in my book.

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1. Become a mother... and watch my children grow, prosper, be happy, accept & know our God all their lives. This is a two birds with one stone kinda thing, because I want to give my husband children and my parents grandchildren!

2. A friend recently told me that one of the prayers for her life would be to have a glimpse of Heaven, but without all the scary stuff that usually accompanies those types of experiences. I feel that some days, I have seen glimpses of Heaven. When I see striking, color filled sunset, or sunrise. When I have had a good, long, soul cleansing cry and prayer time and my soul just feels so fresh and so clean... but I know what she means. A truly awe-inspiring, miraculous glimpse of where God lives outside my heart. Paradise. Yeah, I'd like to see that too.... ("glimpse" is the key word here... for those of you not listening! ;-)

3. I'd love to find my true niche in life. What am I supposed to be doing?? Am I doing it, but don't even realize it? I am thankful for each and every blessing in my life. Again, I believe that any choice I have made in the past has been utilized by God to put me right where I am supposed to be, and even if I am discontented in a current position, I am there for.a.reason. But I'd love to wake up one morning, and just have the satisfaction of loving where I am in my life. This really pertains to my job folks, I am truly happy in every other aspect.

3. That being said... I would love to be a children's photographer... But I am having to teach myself everything... and it can be overwhelming and daunting, most of the time. Also, everybody out there with a digital camera is a "photographer" these days, and that is intimidating also. How do I break through that and establish myself in a flooded market when I'm not all that much better (yet!!!) than the competition? It's nerve wracking sometimes.

4. Also, I've always had an obsession with pretty papers... stationary, note cards, sticky note pads... If it's pretty, i love it. I have kept literally every card, invitation, and thank you note I have ever received. I would love to design a set of paper products fashioned with vintage and eclectic graphics. I have several that I have put together... but am really too nervous to show anybody. Also, I don't know where to start finding a printing source in order to produce my products that is not so expensive I price myself out of the market I'm going for. The goal here? Design, produce, and effectively market a suit of paper products that reflect my love of color and vintage design.

5. Carry my dog Mr. Butler around in my purse on Rodeo Dr. like I'm somebody (and have him Not poop in it)

6. GET OUR HOUSE TO REFLECT WHO WE ARE AS A COUPLE. Before I'm dead or so old and crotchety I can no longer hold a paint brush. This is a biggie, and probably the easiest of my goals in terms of labor and actual method. However, I cannot seem to pin down the exact look I am going for in terms of color. Some days I'd love to paint everything turquoise and chartreuse, and other days I want everything white and creams... finding a balance between these, and making sure Handsome can live there happily too? That is a biggie.

7. A garden. I want one. Why? “Because that's what Southern women do – we wear funny looking hats and grow things in the dirt" Favorite move line e.v.e.r I also love the idea of producing and eating my own food. I think this day in age, people depend too much on things other than themselves... And while I don't plan on making my own clothes, and start walking everywhere, gardening is great way to really take pride in the accomplishment of something you've done. I'd love to eventually have a green house, but I'll settle for a patch of earth that will grow tomatoes, squash, and beans. I'm starting my seedlings tomorrow, and hopefully this weekend, Handsome and I can get outside with the tractor and start tilling up our packed down red, Georgia clay, and start preparing the ground for growth. Will definitely be blogging about that adventure!

8. Become a Bee Charmer. I have had a private, life long obsession with bees, Honeybees to be exact. Although I don't like when they fly so close to my face that I can see my reflection their eyeballs, I'm not one to freak out and start swatting at them when they buzz by for a closer look. I would love to have a set of hives and cultivate the honey. Besides Ouiser Boudreaux in Steel Magnolias, one of my other favorite characters is Idgie Threadgoode the tom boy, free-spiritited, bee charmer in Fried Green Tomatoes.

9. Travel. I want to travel with my husband, and experience worlds outside our own existence. I am incredibly lucky to have been able to travel way past the county line before I was 20 years old. I've been all over the United States, and have been to the Bahamas, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, and Germany. I've seen other cultures, ways of life, ideas, values, and customs. I've seen sunrises and sunsets over places other than Emerson, Georgia. I have breathed in the air, swam in the waters, eaten and drunk things that are different from what I've always known. I haven't stayed at these places long, but long enough to see and appreciate that there is a great wide world out there... and I want more of it.

10. Lead at least one person to Christ. I don't necessarily feel that entails knocking on people's doors, or "preaching" to people about how they are not living a Godly life and are bound for Hell... I mean, maybe that's what it takes sometimes, but that has often turned me off in the past. I want to live a life that is for Christ, that is open to Him, and one where He can use me so that others may know of His goodness and glory. I want to be a light in the world.

11. I want to learn how to sew. Although I don't have the time it takes to sew my own clothes, I'd love to know how to do it. Sometimes I go shopping with a particular clothing item in mind, I can either a) never find anything close to it or b) it never look exactly like what I want it to. It'd would be so awesome if I could just go home and "whip a little something together." So when people ask about it, I could say, "what? this old thing?" haha. just kidding... maybe.

12. Learn to dance. Not the stuff people call "dancing" these days. That stuff is generally vulgar and disgusting. And if you turned the music off, you would really look extremely ridiculous. I want to learn how to ballroom dance, and salsa dance. Those types of dancing are beautiful. You could turn the music off, and still be moved by it.

13. Take up a ballet class as a form of exercise, poise, agility, and strength training. Somebody in C'ville should start an exercise ballet class.

14. Learn to speak another language fluently. I was almost there in college... had I pursued it and used it a bit more, I could probably be pretty dern good at Italian by now. But you don't use it, you lose it, and that's the case with il mio utilizzo italiana (my Italian usage). Would love to get it back.

15. Recycle more. We only have one life to live. And until they set up condos on Mars, we also have only one Place to live. Gotta take care of what we have been entrusted with.

16. Learn to be more forgiving and less sensitive.

17. Take a survival course that teaches you how to live off the land, (with the less is more approach), and be more aware of your surroundings. At some point in my life, I would like to take this a step further, and "live off the grid" for a time. The wilds of Montana has been calling our names for awhile now...

18. I know that true peace will never happen on Earth. The majority of humans don't truly understand or accept the concept of peace... they (we?) are too selfish for that... but I would love to live long enough to see some sort of peace in the world.

19. Be involved in a mission. I would love to bring the Gospel to a foreign soil, but hope to be at peace with it, if God decides to use me in my own community.

20. Dry our sheets and clothes on a clothesline in my backyard. Silly? maybe. Something I've always wanted to do? yes. May have to get Jason to string that line up this weekend....

21. Buy some Tom's Shoes. I think they are pretty much ugly as a mud fence, but I get a new pair of footwear, and so does someone else in the world. Win!

22. Be debt free at an early age. J and I are pretty economical with our money. We still enjoy our lives and doing things, but we aren't a slave to our possessions. We don't have credit card debt, we are making plans to lower our car payment, and we are putting more than the average into our 401k. Would love to be able to buy/pay off the house, and become truly debt free before age 40.... we'll see.

23. Get a new hair cut. This seems like a silly goal, but I have been growing my hair out for about 2 years now. Always with the intention of cutting and donating it in honor of my mom's battle with cancer. I just haven't done it yet. And although I'm grateful for my hair.... it is driving me crazy. It's everywhere. It gets wrapped around my face when I sleep; It gets wrapped around J's face when he sleeps. I wake up half suffocated with it tied around my neck. I.can't.take.it.anymore. Making that appointment today....

24. Learn to cook... and like it. I am not a cook. It doesn't come naturally at all. And when I've tried to "wing it" in the past, and just throw in a dash of this and that, it came off completely inedible. On a good day, I'll only scrape half the food off of J's plate.... on the bad days, the dogs won't even eat it.

25. Become less of a homebody. I like being at home. I really and truly do. I like moving from my bed, to the couch, to the chair on the deck, back to the couch, to my bed. I'm the friend my friends always rolled their eyes at, and complained I was such a bore. Don't get me wrong, I love to go out with friends, and have drinks, and a good time, but I also like to be at home in my pj's by 10:30... I would like to do less of that, maybe... and enjoy being OUT more.

26. Go on a cross country road trip. I did this once with my best friend. It was the summer between 7th and 8th grade. We road out with her dad, and sister and her friend to California to pick up a horse. We spent the majority of the road trip hanging out in the living quarters of the horse trailer, which was probably illegal, and more than slightly dangerous, but I think her dad could only take so much of "are we there yet" from 4 tweens. Watching the world go by from the bunkhouse of the trailer, we saw way more of where we had been than where we were going. Would love to do that again. But not in a horse trailer, but definitely with my best friend!

27. Make my mark on the world. This is a biggie, and I have absolutely no idea how I will accomplish this one. Or even if I will. I think people's obsession with the rich, and famous, is not so much the rich part, but the famous part. And what that really means. It means they won't be forgotten. It means they made a mark. However good or infamous one is, if they are known throughout the world, they will continue to be known throughout the world. I think I have a fear of being forgotten when I am gone. That's a big thing for me to admit. But there it is.

28. Help the homeless in my community. Every time I see somebody wrapped up in crusty, dirty, old blankets under random bridges, my eyes well up with tears and I feel incredibly guilty about my life. I will almost always give extra cash or change I have to a begger on the street. I don't have any problems with that. Some people say I shouldn't do that because they will just go buy drugs or booze with it, but my thinking is, I give with an open heart, what they do with the money is between them and God. I heard from a friend about a woman who puts together little "hygiene pack" for the homeless and she carries a few with them in her car all the time. They contain socks, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a bottle of water, travel aspirin, washcloth, bar of soap, vitamin c tablets, hand sanitizer, comb, rubber bands, high protein bars, a pack of cards, a few pieces of paper for letters, and stamped envelopes, and a $5 bill. These would cost a little bit of money to get together, but I could only imagine how grateful I would be if I received one of these little packs if I had nowhere to go, and most people passed me on by without so much as a second glance, much less a little bit of help, and room in their prayers at night.

29. Surprise my parents with a ____? I have no idea. Something fun and unexpected. Gotta think about that one!

30. Surprise my Husband with a bright red Dump truck with chrome side panels. On our first day and from time to time in between, he's told me he's always wanted a dump truck to drive around... must be the little kid in him? I'd like to get him one.

31. Become an aunt to my brother's kids. He's 21, not married, no girlfriend, and totally living the life of a 21 year old boy. That's okay. I want him to. But I also want him to marry a nice, sweet girl, who adores and loves him, from a good family, who will give me nieces and nephew to love and spoil.

32. Have a small retreat somewhere in the mountains. (Must include a bubbling brook.)

33. See in concert, the following, not necessarily together (but that would be so cool), Bob Seger, Elton John, and Van Morrison, before they die.

34. Be a grandma... so I can love 'em up, feed them tons of crap that's bad for their teeth and their energy level, and then send them home to their parents.

35. Stand inside of a Redwood tree before they are gone. I'm pretty sure I've done this with my parents when I was a kid, but I'd like to do it again, and remember it.

36. Buy back the family property in Brunswick that has our Family cemetery on it, then rebuild the house for reunions and getaways.

37. Learn about my dad's family. We have literally overload information on my mom's side, but I know very little about my dad's people. Knowing "where" and "who" I came from is very important to me.

38. Get our sailboat Cirrus in the water, and sail her to Margaritaville.

39. Do something completely out of character, and maybe even illegal (eeek!!), like I don't know... wipe my muddy feet on the carpet in the oval office, spitting out my gum to where Queen Elizabeth walks on it and it gets stuck to her shoe, cheat on my taxes (but not get caught!), You know... stick it to tha' man! actually... I'm feel a panic attack coming on just thinking about these things... nevermind.

40. Go camping in every State park in Georgia, and then move on from there...


41. Raise our children in the same house and on the same land where my brother and I were raised. It's perfect for children. It's safe, secluded, and full of sweet memories. Memories from my childhood, and memories that my husband and I are creating there now. I hope and PRAY that it's in God's plans for us.

42. Eat more fiber.

43. Learn to be happy in the moment. I love plans. I love planning things, and the excitement that builds up to the next occasion. I often find myself saying, "I can't wait till Saturday" or "I can't wait till 5 o'clock" (okay, I will probably always want it to be 5 o'clock!), or "I can't wait till _____" <--- fill in the blank with any of the possible millions of things that I find myself wishing away time for. I want to learn to revel in the moment, to leave the excitement of tomorrow in tomorrow... and be excited for the today. To not wish my time away to hurry up to the next big event in my life, but to really and truly love the here and now. Okay, I could go on and on, but my eyes are starting to cross, and I'm getting a headache from thinking about this. In case you didn't deduce this for yourself, I have A LOT I want to do in my life, with my life. But I am grateful for each and every breath I have been given, and will count myself extremely lucky and blessed for each and every breath I will be given.


xoxo,
asm

ps- If you hear of some tour where Van, Elton, & Bob are going to be performing live, in concert, & together! buy me a ticket... I'll pay you back. fo' rillz.

Day 9: Mom & Dad

Day 9: Your Parents

"Let's raise children who won't have to recover from their childhood." - Pam Leo

Where do I start?

God, in all His infinite wisdom, gifted me with an incredible set of parents. One of my greatest wishes is that one day, Jason and I can be at least half the parents to our children as mine were and continue to be to me.
Throughout my life they have been a constant source of strength and encouragement. They've seen me at my absolute worst, and still managed to love me unconditionally.
I have seen them happy, sad, frustrated, uplifted, disappointed, and proud. I have seen them struggle, and overcome, and every other condition in between. Along with my brother, there are few memories from my past that do not include them in it.

When I think of somebody who is infinitely kind spirited, compassionate, and charitable, my mom immediately comes to my mind. And I daily try to love, honor, and trust the Lord in the complete, and unassuming way she does. Trusting His plans for her life, seems to be an unquestionable trait of hers, and it is one that I struggle with. She gives monetary, and material gifts with an open heart, even at times when a more economical person would not, with the full faith that God will provide her and my dad with assistance in others ways and other times. He always has.
She has cool hands, that are soft like butter. And she hums gospel songs, when she vacuums, and on long car rides, and when she cooks. She does it a lot. She is a cancer survivor, and my greatest inspiration on how to handle trials and tribulations in my own life. When going through treatment, she had my dad shave her head, and she never wore a wig. She's not perfect (I did get my temper from her), but she is perfectly beautiful in spirit, and presence. Her battle with cancer opened my eyes to the fragility of the human life. The experience we had, has definitely helped me to better appreciate, the weight of each moment, of each breath I take, and the time I spend with those that possess my heart.

My daddy, he was the first man in my life, and the one that I measure all others against. (I am so very lucky that God blessed me with a husband that has so many traits that I need and desire from the love of my life.) He is strong, and resolute, he is honorable in the purest sense, uncompromising, and loyal. He can literally do anything with his hands it seems. He's a McGuyver for sure. I've never seen anything broken that he can't fix. They definitely don't make them like him anymore. I never knew what a maintenance man, plumber, or electrician looked like till I went to college. Actually, I did... he was daddy. He can do it all.
I used to dance on his feet. He would throw me up and catch me, and I felt like I could fly to the moon. I don't think I can go to the moon anymore, but he still thinks I can.
Again, he's not perfect, (and boy have I heard some stories about the younger him!!), but he has taught me so much over my life... not the least of which to check my oil once a week...(it's the life on the engine! and hey, the Bronco is still rocking right along). He is a good man. The best kind of man. And he's my daddy.

I have my mamas flash-pan quick temper, that sometimes explodes at the most inopportune moments, (I also like to be right...all the time), and I can be pretty set in my ways like my daddy, but I like to think the good, important, positive aspects of my character are from the greatest role models in my life.

Because they have made such a huge impression on me, I sometimes have a hard time separating myself from their lead, and feeling a need to check with them before making many decisions in my life. But one thing that my mom has constantly said throughout my life is that, she will know she and dad did good, if my brother and I can go out in the world, on our own, set our own goals, and succeed. With my husband's help, I'm working on it.

This is mama around age 7.

This is mama at 18... she looks like a movie star.

This is my daddy around age 6... isn't he cute?

About the same age.... I just love this one.

Wedding Day, I think this might have been the second one? The first one they were married by a blind judge at the courthouse... they had a ceremony later for family and close friends.

my wedding day.... (the only one!)

There's no denying I'm my dad's kid!

I'm a lucky girl. I don't have to recover from my childhood.

xoxo,
asm

Day 8: Message In A Bottle

Day 8: Something You've Done That Sets You Apart

Well, I didn't really know what to write about when I got to this topic, so since I've been meaning to blog about it for awhile now, I decided to talk about something Jason and I did during our wedding that was a little different than the norm.

Jason and I got married October 10, 2009 in the backyard of a home on Hampton Point, St. Simons Island. I've always known that I would marry my husband on St. Simons, a place that is as dear to me as my own childhood home. Calling it my "second home" doesn't really do it justice. It's where the other half of my soul resides. When J and I began actually planning our wedding, friends and family assumed it would be a beach wedding, since we were dragging kindly asking them to travel 5.5 hours south to attend a wedding in the backyard? But it was the marshes, and the Spanish moss, and the shadows and light that I was after to be the backdrop and setting of my fairytale wedding.

If you've been there, you know that the Golden Isles are not your typical paradise of white sandy beaches and crystal clear blue water... truthfully it's gray sand, and muted, opaque sometimes green, sometimes not, always brackish waters... and it's absolutely, captivatingly, beautiful. So we planned an October wedding, in the backyard of a friends home (we could have fit maybe us and the preacher in mama & daddy's backyard), and it poured down rain 10 minutes before the music was to start, and stopped just as Jason was walking his handsome self to the end of the aisle, (can I get an AMEN!), leaving a rainbow and crystal drops of sweet southern raindrops on the leaves. It was a rather warm evening, but very few bugs (another Hallelujah here!), and because of the short shower, everything was a little "dewy" but the day was absolutely, perfectly wonderful.
I always love anything unique, different, fanciful, etc..., that being said, I knew I didn't want us to do the traditional unity candle, because they never seem to stay lit during an outside ceremony, or unity sand because I felt that was too predictable (no offense to anybody who does that at all! i think it's a wonderful memento/keepsake), and I just knew I wanted to do something whimsical and unconventional. I thought how fun it would be to really take advantage of the island/ocean setting by incorporating a message in a bottle as the "unity" aspect of our service ... so I told J about it, and surprisingly he went right along with it (I often come to him with off the wall suggestions/opinions on things, so I was expecting the look, thankfully he's super patient with his wife...that'd be me, and he really got into this idea of mine....now if I can just get him to agree to a pink refrigerator!).

So, basically, we wrote love letters to each other that neither one of us had read. We put them in a heart shaped glass bottle my mother gave us. She got it years ago, and kept it because she'd loved the shape. It couldn't have been any more perfect... I suppose it was serendipity that had made her hold on to it for so long. So J and I put in our letters, along with a letter to the finder, a self-addressed envelope, and an albino peacock feather that had been in my bouquet and J's boutonniere.

After the wedding we sealed that puppy up, waited for an outgoing tide, and threw her into the great, wide-open ocean off Gould's Inlet.

I'm pretty sure the thing probably sunk like a rock the second we turned out backs on it. But maybe it's still on it's way to China (or maybe it's caught up in one of those floating junkyards in the middle of the Atlantic that Greenpeace is always yapping about). Who knows. We will probably never see it again, but I think the mystery of where it winds up is part of the fun in it.

This is the letter we included in the bottle,

I have really, (like whoa!) terrible handwriting... and I apparently can't write a straight line. don't judge.

This is us putting our love letters in the bottle....

This is the bottle.... we realized after we did it that it looks like a seagull did his business all over it, but whatev. We poured enough wax over that cork to make multiple candles, we didn't want that cork going a.n.y.w.h.e.r.e. (it probably popped of the second it hit the water).

And this... this is a little something I put together for your viewing pleasure. Be forewarned, I, nor J has any experience in cinematography. what.so.ever.... as is blatantly evident by how choppy, bouncy, poorly focused, and overall inferior quality it is.... but, I LOVE it!
ps- if you decide to watch it, i suggest you scroll to the bottom of the post and pause my "blogger tunes" first, or it might give you a headache!





xoxo,
asm

Day 7: Let Your Soul Shine

Bet you thought I'd forgotten about my blog didn't you? Well, never fear, I am back to bore you with more inconsequential details about me and my life...

Thursday Handsome and I bid adieu to the farm, left the kitty cats to fend for themselves, and took a much needed mini-vacation to St. Simons to visit my family. (I miss them. All the time.) I hesitated to leave the purr babies for so long to fend for themselves in the wilderness, but J said they have their claws for battle, should the need arise, and I also saw it as a good opportunity for Petra to realize how important a person I really am in her life, and thought it may make her appreciate me more after my return. It didn't. Once we came home, and settled in, she preceded to jump up on the couch, walk right across me, and curl up in the crook of J's arm. No loyalty that one.

Our trip....we did a lot of laying around, reading (me), playing online poker (J), and eating. I ate a whole pack of Oreo's on Friday. by.myself. And they were double stuffed, meaning I really ate TWO packages of Oreo's on Friday. by.myself. Yikes. I had to lay flat on the bed this morning to get my jeans zipped. Nice image huh? Anyway... it rained. A lot. But we got to spend some good quality time walking the dogs, cleaning up after the dogs, running after the dogs when they ran off with my family. I miss them. All the time.

J and I also took a couple of poles and wet a hook for a little bit. We caught nothin'. But had a good time at it anyway.

Here I am feeding the seagulls our leftover shrimp. J took this. He's quite proud of the action shot, (me, in the air looking like the biggest goon). It happens to look even more silly, because there's not the slightest sign of a bird anywhere in that picture. But trust me, they are there, about to swoop in from all sides.

So, that explains my absence from my blog. Did I mention, I miss my family?

Day 7: Put Your Ipod on shuffle, list the first 10 songs that play.

Well, J broke my Ipod. He says he didn't, but I know the truth. Actually, I don't really think he did, but it did just so happened to have stopped working while in his possession. Dern thing won't even turn on. I keep meaning to google it, but I just never can seem to find the time.... Anyway, the Ipod is shot, BUT, I did run across a CD of mine that I burned a while back that just happens to have playable songs on it, so, that's what ya get. Beggars can't be choosers round these parts. I really am amazed that the CD even plays, I have a tendency to scratch the bejeejesuz out of anything that says "do not scratch." Cell phones, CD's, the sidewalls of my tires....It's a gift.

1. Soulshine. This is an Allman Brothers Song. It's now performed by Gov't Mule (sometimes I feel like one of those don't you? A gov't mule? anyway...) And one of my all time favorite songs. E.V.E.R. It's one of my theme songs that I would have playing somewhere on the soundtrack of my life... you can listen to it here.

2. Chances Are. This is a duet by Bob Seger and Martina McBride, and it's in the movie Hope Floats... another one of my favorite songs ever recorded. This song was J's and my first dance song at our wedding... for that reason it will always, always, always have a special place in my heart. He's definitely the best I've ever met. Gives me chills every time ---> here

This must be a CD I made right before the wedding, because it has a lot of songs that were played during the ceremony and reception.... I'm listening as I go, and it's totally taking me back...

3. Galloway Girl. If you've ever seen P.S. I Love You, this song probably sounds familiar. Gerard Butler AND Jeffery Dean Morgan sing it to Hilary Swank's character.... lucky girl. Anyway, it's by one of my favorite southern rock, country, bluegrass artists Steve Earle. J and I had this on our wedding website, and the bluegrass band we had at the wedding played it. l.o.v.e it. here

4. In Your Eyes Is originally a 1980's hit by Peter Gabriel, but this particular version is by the Vitamin String Quartet. I walked down the aisle to this version. Another one of those that gives me chills. Minute 1:16, uh, yes. please. here. The lyrical version is awesome too, but we're going with the CD here folks... it does get kind of repetitive around minute 3, so feel free to cut it short, and head back this way.

5. Father & Daughter, by Paul Simon. Danced to this song with my sweet daddy at my wedding. You can dance to it with your daddy too, here.

6. Daughter, by Loudon Wainwright, this was somewhat of a contender for my daddy/daughter dance, but lost out because it basically would have made me sound like a spoiled little brat. which I'm not (I hope!), but my daddy (+mama) definitely blessed me with a lot in my life. you can listen to it here.

7. If The World Had a Front Porch, by Tracy Lawrence.... here Don't get more country than that! When I youtubed this song, this video that I linked was the first one available, so I grabbed it. I really loved the artistic nature of the video.... Visuals for virtually every line of the song. Perf! the bowl of ice cream was my favorite. ;-)

8. Blue Skies, written by Irving Berlin, recorded by many, sung here by Willie Nelson.... another one of those life soundtrack songs... I love how mellow his version is. Just an amiable, afternoon of soft rain, curled up on a porch swing with your sweetheart kinda song.... Blue October also has a song also called Blue Skies, here. This one is less mellow, makes me want to grab a jump rope and start double-dutching or something... if i had a jump rope, or knew how to double dutch...

9. I Wish It Would Rain, by Nanci Griffith. She's one of my favorite artists, and this is one of my favorites of her's, feast your ears on this little "folkabilly" jewel here.

10. The Weakness of Me, by Joan Armatrading is a haunting, somewhat gritty, totally relate-able track. Here ya go!


If any of those links don't work, or take you somewhere in cyberspace that you really shouldn't be, I apologize. I'm still learning. Aren't we always?

xoxo,
asm

Day 6: "Animal House"

Day 6: Pets


That one's not mine. But every time I see it. I.crack.up.













This is Sutton. Jason and I got him about a month after we started dating. We found him wandering around a dump up in Resaca, Georgia. We were shocked that somebody could just throw him away like a piece of garbage, and we determined that we would take him home with us. We'd had him about a day, when we figured out his tendency to go on "walk abouts" and not come back. I've since concluded, maybe his old people didn't throw him away, more likely, he went for his afternoon jaunt, and "forgot" to go back home. It's happened on more than one occasion with us. Although, lately he's been doing much better about coming back to the house. Which I'm happy about because it means I no longer have to run up the road like a mad woman with my nappy house shoes and bathrobe flying when I see him hit up the fire hydrant and then keep going. To be fair though, I think it was a conspiracy thought up by my sweet devious Tiki-Belle.

That's Tiki-Belle. Don't let that sweet face fool you. She's as slick as the day is long. She's the one who you often see leading Sutton up the road, tail swishing, with a particular set of her head, that you know means business. She's on a mission. A mission to become an only dog. You can actually watch her get to a certain point of the road, then leave Sutton to his own devices (which bless him, are not the brightest), and then turn around and head back to sit on the front porch, and reign over her territory. While ole Sutton continues on down the road, oblivious that Tiki has just abandoned him. If she had hands, you can bet that she would do that dusting off motion of a job well done. But when she's not plotting, she really is the best snuggle buddy. She can't jump up on the bed, so she'll put her two front paws on the side of the bed, and peak over the top of the mattress with her ears back, just looking all precious. I'm telling ya, that dog knows exactly what's she's doing. I saved her from being euthanized at the animal control in Brunswick, Ga my freshman year of college. I think she some how knows she got a second chance, and has been grateful for every day she's had since. You could learn a lot from this dog, on how to enjoy life. When someone walks in the room she just lights up. She loves being inside, she loves being outside, she loves car rides, she loves sleeping, she loves laps, she loves running and jumping and chasing, she loves to sit on the step of the deck and study the world. This dog, when it comes to living and loving life, "gets" it.

That's Mr. Butler. This picture is a year old. I can't believe I don't have anymore recent pictures of that little mess. But this picture pretty much sums up everything you need to know about Sir Butler. If you could bottle the energy that this dog has in one little toe nail of his, you could probably power the town of Cartersville for a week. I get tired just thinking about him. I adopted him from a friend who was a couple months shy of having her second baby. He wasn't house broken at the time, so I got a good deal on him....free..and a year later he's still not house trained. Oh he will use the potty outside all day long, but he will also use it inside 2 minutes after you've let him in after an afternoon in the back yard. God love him. I know a big part of the problem is that he still has his boy parts, so a lot of the incidents are territory marking. gotta.get.that.fixed.before.i.lose.my.mind. I've done some researching, and from everything I've read, some teacup breeds never really "get" the housebreaking down to a science. say it ain't so. We love him though. I love to snuggle him, and baby talk him, and throw toys that are as big as he is, but he always drags back. He's my "meeester bootler" <---- that's what I have to yell to get him to come back to the house, (try it, it's fun to say....haha). He's a wanderer too. Gotta get some tracking devices to put on these animals.
That's Crete. She's a cat. She has turquoise blue eyes. And she is sweeter than her sister Petra. I don't have a picture of Petra, but she's just like Crete, except she's calico, fatter, yellow-green eyes, and meaner. So actually, they are really nothing alike....except they're both cats. Crete is my sweetheart, but she's glutton for punishment if she doesn't quit sharpening her claws on my living room chairs, and pooping in the guest bath tub. <---I'm pretty sure that's my fault because I don't have a litter box in the house for her, and sometimes I lose track of who's been out and who hasn't. She likes Jason better than she does me... so does Petra for that matter. He can have that one. She's mean. I love her, but she's just nice enough to me so I'll continue feeding her, and let her sleep on my stomach when we watch t.v., but no more than that. I'm not allowed to look at her, talk to her, put her outside to potty, or pet her. If I do any of those things, she'll hiss, growl, and strike at me. So I don't. We have an understanding, she and I.

That's Sweet Pea or Ms. Pea (it's interchangeable). I got her from the North Georgia Fair for my 17th birthday, and I've had her ever since. She's the last of our actual "farm" animals. And I love her. In this picture she's eating leftover cake. That pig loves cake, and twinkies, and chips from El Nopal. For a time she lived in a dog house in a pin, but one day she decided she needed bigger quarters so she moved her belongings (seriously, she drug her bedding and hay with her), to the shed outside of the fence. We kept an eye on her for a few days to make sure she didn't head over to the neighbors and start rooting around in their yard. She didn't, so we left her to it. We get some funny looks from people who stop by the house from time to time. I was home a couple of weeks ago, and the termite guy knocked on the door, and said "ma'am, I think you've got a wild pig running around loose in your backyard." I just smiled and said, "oh that's just Sweet Pea, she won't bite." She never travels farther than the barn... although one time we did come home from vacation and she had rooted up pig trails all in the front yard. As long as you feed her every other day, and make sure she has fresh water she just kinda hangs out. She is almost blind, so when you bring her food, you have to kind of yodel "sweeter peater" to her so she can follow your voice to her food. She's pretty cool.



These were our horses. Baylady, Bella, and Kid. We lost them all in terrible twist of fate accident. But they were our babies, our pets, and we miss them every day.


This was Pauline. She thought she was a horse. She liked to stand on top of the round bale of hay to eat... she was also bad about stealing Sweat Pea's food. She's gone now too.

Some days I want to just want to send them all packing... usually on mop days. When I've just swept, and spit polished the floor, and then Jason comes through the door and our fur covered posse with him, and they all run pell-mell through the house leaving tracks everywhere, and doggy fur tumble weeds come out from wherever they were hiding. The cats are weaving themselves in and out of my feet, hollering to be fed, and batting at the dogs because they are ornery like that. <--- That will take a lot out of you. But then everything calms down for the evening, everybody is fed and in as happy a mood as they will be in. The dogs are curled up on top of each other sleeping, the cats are in their respective laps, and for once Petra is allowing me to pet her, and it's just, nice. A houseful of pets, of family members, and everything that goes along with it, and yeah, it's good.

Crazy Book Lady

Day 5: Your First Love

I'm sure you probably expect me to write about my first boyfriend, or more appropriately, my husband.... although Jason changed my life and my heart in ways I never could have imagined, I will get to him in a later post.

My first love? Well, that's easy. Books.

I will read anything. anything. Or I will at least give it a go. For instance, I once read The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.... it's a Stephen King novel. I read and read, waiting (hoping) on it to get better... it never did. I'm assuming it was one of those books that he must roll out on occasion to keep his publishers happy in between his major hits like Dream Catcher and The Green Mile. People buy these books, because hey! it's Stephen King so it has to be good, right? W.R.O.N.G. I was actually mad when I finished that book. Mad, not because it was over, but because I'd wasted my time on it. From what I understand the book was full of metaphors about survival and yada yada.... it was lost on this girl however. But I'm by no means trying to deter you from reading it, in fact, please do, then maybe you can clue me in on something I must have missed. My point is, is I will read anything. Food labels, receipts, good books, bad books, magazines, etc...

I don't know exactly when I caught on to reading, or what my first book was, but I know that every time I open the cover of a book, I am about to leave my world, and enter one entirely different. Every book I read I start off the same way. I read the blurb on the back, the information about the author if it's available, the book dedication, and then I jump on in.

One of my favorite parts of a book is that book dedication. Most of them are really simple. "To John".... yawn. But sometimes they are more.
One of my favorites is in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis

"To Lucy Barfield My Dear Lucy, I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand, a word you say, but I shall still be your affectionate Godfather, C.S. Lewis "

Um, how awesome is that?
And that taking it down from the shelf, and dusting it off part? Yeah, that's my favorite. Discovering a book I had forgotten about, opening it up and "revisiting" friends I had long ago met, and put to the back of my mind. I love that part.

Almost every book I own, is dog eared from my going back to them time and time again.
That being said, books are almost sacred to me. There's a scene in the movie The Day After Tomorrow, where the characters are in the library burning the books for heat (cringe!), and one character was holding/protecting the New York Public Library's copy of the Gutenberg Bible. When questioned about it, he says, "as far as I'm concerned, the written word is mankind's greatest achievement." Um, "true dat." If you have access to books, you have access to the world outside your own front door. Between a front and back cover are entire worlds so different from your own as to be almost beyond imagining.

If I don't have a book on the night stand I feel lost and sad. Jason could give me a book every birthday, anniversary, and Christmas of my life, and I would be A-OK with that. hint. hint.

Give me a new book and I am a happy girl...
Give me an afternoon in a bookstore, and I step through the doors and it's like the past, present, and future are swirling all around me, and I can barely contain myself. I have had to hold myself back on multiple occasions from doing a little jig.

I googled "book lady" to find a cutesy, representative picture of somebody who loves books as much as I do and this was the first picture that popped up....


Good Lord, please let that not be a foreshadowing of things to come... If I start wearing ribbon spools as earrings (among other things), I believe Jas will put me out.

Day 4

Day 4: A Habit That You Wish You Didn't Have

Okay, I'm going to make a confession. One of the worst habits I have is not calling people when I say I will. And I can just see all my friends nodding their heads and saying "I know that's right", right about now. I don't mean to not call, honest. I just get caught up in my daily goings-on, that it slips my mind. I'm also, NOT a phone talker, kind of person. like, not at all. But I should really, really do better about keeping in touch. I have a couple best friends that I don't see very often due to distance, that I also don't talk to often due to my "habit." Granted, in the day of social networking, email, twitter, etc... there are lots of ways of keeping up with people, but nothing it quite as good as hearing the voice of a dear sweet friend on the other end of the line. My friends are really patient with me, and I love 'em even more for that. I.must.do.better.


P.S. - I love love love my wedding dress, (it had polka dots!), but if we got married again, I'm pretty sure I'd pick a dress more like this....

ruffles. lace. touch of pearl beading. buttons. mosquito netting around the face...er... maybe not so much. did i say how much i love it? no? i love it. as in maybe I'll order it and wear it around the house, or grocery shopping, or whatev. I'm completely smitten by this dress.