Random Updates

Lately, between writing horrendous poetry, reading Faulkner, classroom observations, and keeping my head on straight, I haven't had a whole lot of time to do much of anything. In recompense, I offer a numbered list of our most recent accomplishments and musings.

1. First grade does not seem to be agreeing with Joe. I'm not sure if this is the result of a conflict between he and the teacher or not, but it's getting rough. He is in trouble literally every day. He gets notes home for things like "sliding his book around on the table" or "kicking the water fountain." I know he is not a bad child, but he has a lot of trouble focusing. As of right now, I'm not pleased with the way the teacher is handling the situation(s). She has 25 years of experience, but at this point, I feel like her expectations are extremely rigid. We are going to request an intervention from the counselor to see if someone can sit in and observe and maybe give us (or the teacher) some suggestions.

2. On a lighter note- Fall is here! I LOVE fall! I spent the afternoon putting out my Halloween decorations.

3. Jason is honing his new-found carpentry skills by building cabinets and shelves in the garage. I can't wait to see the finished product. So far, the only occupational incident has been a single splinter which I removed this morning.

4. There are 3 things I would like for Christmas. 2 of them are book related. I am such a nerd!

5. Wednesday just might be the best day of my life. I'm getting contacts and seeing an old friend from high school.

6. I read another Faulkner novel, Absalom, Absalom! and I really liked it. I know, I'm surprised myself.

7. Joe has a new dance called "The Charlie Brown" which cracks me up.

8. We have a family game of UNO every night now.

9. In addition to my wonderful friends Tabatha and Lauren, I've made some new friends at school. (Allie, Rachel, and Holly) We spend all day Tuesday together. Allie quilts and Rachel smocks. I feel like a combo of Mean Girls and Golden Girls.

10. ROLL TIDE!!!!!

A Few Things You Should Know About Me

1. I've always been cool

I guess I always knew I had a bright future.


2. And I've always been sassy.

That's probably my last time in a 2 piece!

Yep, still sassy.

I guess some things never change!

Greek Food with a Greek Person?! My Head is Spinning!

Today was a paradoxical kind of day. Have you ever eaten Greek food with a Greek Person? One that can actually say Gyros without sounding like she has peanut butter in her mouth?

Well I have, and her name is Rachel!

We also met Lianne who, although not Greek, is pretty amazing! Today is her birthday and she is turning *coughmumble* years old! We ate at Nabeel's in Homewood with 4 kids. Yes, that's right, 4 kids and I didn't say a single swear!

I didn't take any pictures at lunch because, well, both hands were full of food at all times!

After we ate lunch, we decided it would be appropriate to take the kids to the park across the street so we could sweat out feta and onions they could play.

Joe found an awesome caterpillar.

He scaled it before the gate had even closed behind us.


He was on top of the world for a hot second.


He was nice enough to share the Caterpillar with Lianne's son and his new friend Luke.


He quickly moved on to the swings. Yes, he is swinging upside down with no hands. How do I tolerate these kinds of shenanigans? I'm not sure but they don't even phase me anymore!


This is Rachel's daughter Ali. She is precious and very serious so I'm going to train her to do eyebrow tricks like me.

Somehow I didn't get a picture of Lianne's daughter Emma (likely because my face and hair were melting off), but rest assured she was precious too. She had awesome hot pink glasses that made me totally jealous.

Lianne, Rachel, I'm SO glad I met both of y'all and I just love hanging out!


Until next time, I'll just twitter y'all 6000 times a day!

Brace Yourselves

What lengths would you go to for money?

Would you prance your little white self around and RAP on the internet?

Y'ALL KNOW I WOULD!!!!!!

Now, Unless you're into IT and computer stuff, this probably won't make sense. It doesn't make sense to me, but somehow I wrote a rap about it.

Apart from not making sense, I think it's pretty flipping hilarious. (Especially if you would LOVE to see me humiliate myself)

If we get enough hits we could win enough money for everyone to have a SWEET Christmas this year.

This was absolutely painstaking......please enjoy and feel free to watch it over and over.....and clear your cookies and watch it some more!!!

Two Years (!!!)

Today is our anniversary! If you couldn't tell by my headline, it has been 2 years. Two years may not seem very significant to, say.....my grandparents who have been married for 50+ years, but I'm very proud of it.

How it started: I met Jason while waitressing (yeah....I know). I admired him from afar and one day something just clicked with both of us. So, no, it wasn't "love at first sight." I've always been a very self reliant person. You will never hear the words "meant to be" or anything like that come out of my mouth. I believe we make our own futures. But, let me tell you, when I started dating Jason, I got slapped across the face with a healthy dose of "meant to be."

I love him so much. Our personalities go together like warm pecan pie and ice cream.....but our temperaments....more like pickles and cheesecake! He is very sweet, easygoing, and patient. Me? Well, I'm none of those things. He keeps me grounded.

We got married on Friday, the 13th of July 2007. Our wedding was very low key and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

We were supposed to get married on the beach, but my sensitive eyes got the best of me and I decided I couldn't do it without my sunglasses, so we got married in a gazebo instead.

It still made for good pictures.

We had our reception at the hotel bar! (Yeah...I know)

This was my Daddy's favorite photo.

Then we went back to the beach for a few more pictures.

That sand was HOT!

Then we left! Like I said, very low key.


Joe and I both love him so much! I know we'll celebrate many more anniversaries together.

Blunch and Why I Blog

Today I had lunch with some fellow Alabama bloggers. We'll call it a blunch. It was lot of fun and I met some great bloggers! A few times today, I was asked why I blog, or why I started blogging. Many of those folks blogged for a purpose....not just to tell silly stories like I do. Well, I have a few reasons why I blog. I'll share them with you in a numbered list.

1. I LOVE to write and I think I'm a pretty good writer. I mean, I am an English major. Sometimes I feel so bogged down in literary criticism and educational psychology, I absolutely lose my mind. I have to be able to write in my voice about what I want every now and then.

2. In 2007 I moved 4 hours away from every single member of my family (Thank goodness Jason's family is here). I'm very fortunate if I get to see them once every 3 or 4 months. We all miss them terribly and I know my sweet Mama and Daddy hate not getting to see Joe grow up day by day. With my blog, I can take a few minutes to keep them updated on our sometimes exciting, sometimes mundane everyday lives.

3. Jason thinks I'm antisocial. What do you do when you're antisocial? You make internet friends!

I'm so glad I got to meet some blogging friends today. I got some great insight on blogging and made some new friends!

What a Difference a Year Can Make!

The picture on the left was taken in this past Thursday on our vacation.
The picture on the right was taken in June 2008.

Eleven months have made a huge difference for me.


Yes, I know, I looked rough. I'm so pleased with the changes I have made this year.

I'm going to keep up the shred and then maybe give the P90X another try.

Hopefully, there will be more healthy changes to come. I would like to lose 10 more pounds to take me to 130 and then....who knows :)