All Grown Up

Last night Toot had his kindergarten graduation. He attends the same school that I attended K-12. To be there again for this event felt so odd – they still have the same style ceremony as we did. The kids still had life size drawings of themselves hung along the walls like we did.


















As I mentioned in my last post, my nephew is growing up too fast. He’s the tallest in his class! I tried to take as many pictures as I could last night to hold on to this time. I even stole a pouty face moment when he learned that one of his classmates would be leaving the state.















I can’t believe ten years have passed since I’ve graduated high school.

Altogether it was a good night. I even had a strange, but, very… nice thing happen to me. An old friend whose child is in my nephew’s class was there and he approached me at the end of the evening. There was a huge misunderstanding and much wrong doing that happened between us over six years ago and he wanted to apologize for it. After going through a lot of his own drama and ups and downs, he said he was so clear and aware of what happened back then. His apology was so sincere it brought tears to my eyes. It really takes a big person to see through and reach out to apologize, especially after that many years. It was great to finally close that chapter of my life.

Only in Louisiana

Only in Louisiana....

Will you see an alligator sunning itself on the banks of a subdivision lake.

Only in Louisiana....

Will you be given a personal cell phone number for the town sheriff to come by and trap this alligator when he gets off work.

Only in Louisiana....

Will this sheriff comment on how glad he'll be to "get his hands on this bastard" and how he'll just dump it in his ice chest with the other one he caught two days ago.

Random Ramblings

For the last three months my president was MIA. Couldn’t reach him at his home, on his cell or at his office. No return calls. This is the problem with working for associations. Your bosses are volunteers. Guess the saying you get what you pay for relates.

I quit my job. Put in my two weeks last Monday. This of course has nothing to do with my missing president. However, once he caught wind of my leaving, he’s back in the picture with whip in hand. I have now been assigned to create a “procedures manual”. Ask me how much I want to just walk out now and not come back so that I can avoid this task.

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My nephew graduates kindergarten today. First grade is on his horizon and I feel old. No wait, I meant, OLD. I think I’d feeler older if I had kids of my own, though I’m not sure the reasoning behind this. It’s amazing how quickly time goes by when you’re a child and then when you are older, you sort of hang and time seems suspended. For example, my car is paid off in 3 months and damn if I can’t wish those months along any faster that their slow crawl. And yet as a child, those 3 months off of school for the summer went by so fast.

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Food is always better if someone else has prepared it. Prime examples of this are sandwiches and potato salad. I’m munching on some of my Maw Maw’s potato salad now that she sent home with me. Yummo. (That was my shout out to Rachel Ray.) This stuff is just not the same when I make it.

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I ordered my first Christian contemporary cd last week. I don’t think it the norm for someone my age to listen to this music, though I may be mistaken. Anyway, it’s a Third Day cd and it’s really good. If I heard the music playing at a friend’s house, I’d think it was just contemporary rock. Can’t really tell the difference until you hear the occasional “holy” or “glory”. Ha. I sing along to the music without really thinking that in some way it could be a form of worship. I’m not a church goer or a holy roller. In fact, I’m still somewhat confused about my religion and my beliefs. I just… enjoy the music. So leave me alone already.

Question though – is it weird or wrong that I have this new cd in my six disc player next to Saliva and 12Stones?

Hmm… anything else… nope, I think that’s it for now.

Weekend Awakening

This weekend has flown by. I had a "romantic" dinner set up Friday night when Jason came home. Then Saturday morning Babers took me for breakfast out, which has started to become a regular thing for us now. Then we went riding on the river all day. Its nice to be able to just relax and do as you please all weekend without worrying about anyone or anything else. Being out on the river is like being in another country or on vacation -- no cell phones, no contact with anyone other than those you are with, no worries.

A couple Jason and I are close to tried consoling us just before Jason left for work out of town. They told us that being away during the week made the weekends even sweeter. They said that we would appreciate each other more and quarrel less. While I agree that the weekends are sweet, I can't say we will ever experience the other - Jason and I have never quarreled, so we see no difference there. However, I feel like I'm finally getting into the groove of things and its a big relief.

I feel like my life is finally starting to become more enjoyable and definitely more peaceful. I've made several changes in my life recently to rid myself of debt, chaos, hurt, and dead ends, and I've never been more sure of myself and the decisions I've made. I woke up this morning with an extremely sore body (from riding all day Saturday), sunburned shoulders, and serious allergy side effects, but for the first time in a while I was able to take a deep breath.

I am happy.

One Year of Wonderful, Blissful, Crazy Love

This Sunday marked our one year anniversary. The year has absolutely flown by. I still can’t believe it’s already been a year. I guess the saying “time flies when you’re having fun” stands true.

Jason surprised me with the most beautiful bouquet of flowers that held all of my favorites – star gazer lilies, sunflowers and orchids. The only thing missing was him to smother with hugs and kisses. The flowers sit on my dining room table and fill the entire apartment with that yummy flower smell. I think I may just be the luckiest girl in the world. Not only is the love of my life romantic, he listens too!


I racked my brains the weeks before our special weekend for something amazing to do for Jason but nothing, I mean literally nothing came to mind. What kind of girlfriend comes upon a special day like this with no great ideas? After rummaging through a few websites for inspiration, I decided on my surprise.

Jason is definitely a kid at heart. It was hard blowing up these balloons with such a big smile on my face – I just kept imagining his reaction...

And, of course, his reaction was everything I hoped it would be. The plan was to blow up 365 balloons for every day we’ve been together, tucking notes inside each balloon before blowing them up. The notes were marked with all the reasons I loved him or memories I love that we’ve made together. Needless to say, the apartment isn’t big enough for 365 balloons, nor is my lung capacity.

Jason popped all 175 balloons (hey, it was close enough) spreading them out over the weekend. He requested I rubber band all of the notes to keep in our box. His sentimental side never fails to amaze me.

The entire weekend was awesome. We splurged on dinners out from Friday to Sunday, visited pet adoption centers, had wine and cheese and barbequed with friends – basically had a spontaneous, care free weekend full of fun. (Wow, that sounds cheesy.)

Jason has become such a big part of my life that I can barely remember what my life was like before us. Finding your soul mate is definitely something worth waiting for. He keeps me laughing and guessing, makes me feel beautiful and is ultimately my best friend.

This has definitely been the year of my life. I can’t wait for the next anniversary.

Blank Wall Covered!

A bit of catching up to do… Once Jason left for his new job out of town I had a good bit of time to myself for creative adventures. I finally finished my three piece painting for the large blank wall of my living room. Its one of the first paintings I’ve done that I’ve felt is complete as it is, instead of wanting to take the thing back off the wall to add or touch up as I’ve done in the past.