Heritage Day... Rising Stars!

Noah and his friends singing a humorous tune for heritage day... I am so very proud of him and he loved every minute of it! Way to go Noah!

Good Friends... New Beginnings...

Two beautiful friends make my days at work amazingly fun and easy to enjoy... thanks to Dana and Pattie, Steph and Andrea and the other wonderful girlies that I work with everyday. Yet, to be the unsuspecting victim of picture taking on the playground during recess... yes... technology at its finest... we love to "get each other" when we are not looking... Dana got me this time and sent me a "gotcha" moment when I was laughing at something Pattie had said when we had just reached the playground... good times and memories like this... more reasons for me to love them. What is even funnier is when it shows up on your Blackberry... love my girls... and the 9 school days we have left! Plus the weather that allows me to wear sleeveless sweaters and open toed heels to work. My favorite season...

The Backroom Band Plays the Dixie...

Since the beginning of 2011, my friends and I have started a new tradition. The first Saturday night of each month is reserved for all of us to take a drive to TN to listen to the Backroom Band do what they do best at the Dixie cafe. They have such a wonderful chemistry and fun mix of humor and beauty in creating music. I can listen all night and usually do. Not only do they make an awesome sound but in between sets, they make the crowd laugh with their wit and banter... it is great to witness the ease at which they play together... the food is pretty good as well ;)

Boys of Summer...




You know it is summer when it is baseball season. I know it is summer when I start to spend my evenings at the park watching the boys practice or play. This summer, I have a cool new toy called the Q3... an awesome video camera that I actually really am not very adept at using yet... I will get better, but right now I am posting a few of the "first" videos that I have captured using it. They are also some of Josh's "firsts", which is pretty cool... in and of itself... his first slide into home and his first hit. This weekend I am going to try my hand at recording one of my favorite hometown bands... we will see if I can do a little better with the recording, a tripod might help :) Awesome to be able to have so much to enjoy in one's life.

My Momma Told Me There Would Be Days Like This...

Today we woke up at 7 and made breakfast together... bacon and waffles. Then we went to the park where I ran and the boys caught caterpillars... in a box... and left in the house to escape...We then had to find said caterpillars before they could wreak havoc on our home. After all of that fun, we decided it was time to prepare ourselves to venture to the Vet's park to see the classic cars on display. Those were super cool. I took several pictures for the boys on the Blackberry and then we were off to Bowling Green to meet friends to eat and play at Chuck E. Cheese and enjoy a night watching the Hot Rods play ball. We love to watch the Hot Rods play... well, I like to watch them play... the boys like the popcorn, the cotton candy, the cola, the ice cream, the foam fingers, the balls, the miniature bats... etc. Once it started to rain in the 6th inning, I made an executive decision that it was time that this day of fun and adventure was finally over... The boys were out of commission before I ever hit the parkway... I have to say... momma said there'd be days like this and I am glad.

Rosco... one of two of the Hot Rod's mascots...

If I Should Die Tonight - Marvin Gaye

Learning Never Ends...
It seems like, no matter what I am doing and no matter how old I get, I am consumed with learning all I can about things that intrigue me. I have recently been introduced to the "behind the scenes" world of music, and reminded of the music of my past. Somehow, it has impressed upon me the importance of passion, love and hope that music instills in us... the freedom of words to express what we cannot of our own volition and actions say to another... with one or two songs, we can tell the entire story of our life to someone or tell them how we feel when words fail us. Joy, peace, anger, frustration, experience, bliss... all encompassed in the notes and rhythms and harmonies coming together. Music is truly an amazing entity that permeates every facet of my life...

As Long As It Matters...

I am a few years older, much wiser and a LOT happier than the last time I posted on this blog... a great deal of changes have taken place in our lives since we visited with each other last... most of them good, some of them difficult, but all of them for the better. As I look back on the past two years, I see a year and a half of being a single mom in a doctorate program, learning how to live on my own in a comfortable and wonderfully content way... I am amazed at how truly easy life can be when I realized that it isn't about trying to make everything perfect or right or good, but to be myself, live to laugh, to enjoy every minute I can and to make myself and others smile. I am so thankful for this new way of living. One more step in the right direction...

With that said... let me share some recent and some, not so recent, photos and events...

Let's start with recent, shall we? Surprised my bestie with Sugarland tickets for her birthday...

After 13 years of friendship, she deserves so much much more from me! We have started and nearly completed half of our doctoral work together over the last year and a half... I am so blessed by her frienship, it is a true gift, one that most people do not get the chance to experience and for that I am thankful.


Now, if you will humor me and travel back in time a little... spring break with Aunt Riki... Disney World... 2010... A trip to remember! Some of our favorite things? Soarin', Toy Story ride, Star Wars show, Mickey Mouse (of course)... so many things... so little time!