on a lighter note. . .

I found this today at the Habitat For Humanity Flea Market RIGHT HERE IN OLE NICH-VEGAS for $3.00!!!
(I took this with my phone . . . I'll post a better pic when I get home!!!)
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!

Bull Frog's song

Wednesday night I visited you. The sun settled in for its evening slumber.
It was a beautiful sunset and reminded me of the many nights spent in your company.
Friends and family all around. Always smiling. Always singing. Always dancing. Always laughing.
The whistle of the brew sang a song and my gurgling sips seemed to be the chorus.
A bull frog joined in.
Darkness fell all around me but I know you stayed. Stayed to share time, stayed to share stories, and you let me cry as I told you I missed you.

Wednesday night I visited you. The field was green, the air was warm and the breeze was cool. There was silence and it was then I knew again you were gone.

E-mail to a friend

Happy Birthday Fenton!
Shit, I cannot believe you are 48! Yes, I know your ass still looks good.
(Doin a little shake)
No, I can't believe I've known you now for 13 years.
Ha ha ha, OMG, the party at your house for the UK NCAA tournament was so fun.
Sheesh. . . what else can you say about that night but "I woooooonnnn, I wooooon"
There should never be that much tequila consumed in a single night. . . EVER again!!!
By the way, thanks for retrieving my earring.
Wasn't that Marsha's birthday? I think so, she had some type of crown on her head all night. Unless that was a pre-party prize!!! ha ha ha
Maddie was soooooooo little. Poor kid didn't know what she was in for, having you guys for parents! She's so big now. When I call the house I'm not sure who I enjoy talking to more, Marsha or Maddie!!! Chase could care less of course!
For your birthday I bought you your very own pair of black lace thong undies. Catch is that I get to hide them randomly, ANYWHERE in the house so Marsha can find them and chew your ass! Ha! Good lord, somehow (your wife!) that story came up at your house after we'd said good-bye to you. I'm not sure your MOM found the humor in it. But the rest of us had yet ANOTHER big laugh over it.
OH MY, I miss you.
Christy and I had dinner Saturday night and talked about you for so long. The stories somehow just kept spilling out! Imagine any of us. . . telling stories!!!
I told her about Culpepper and the pool, Randy and the coozies! Poor Danny! He was all flustered. She told me about you two getting schnockered at the airport and almost missing your flight! I told her about climbing on your kitchen counter to take aerial shots of the group tequila shots. Of course the "How I met Dave" over a bottle of Maker's story. And then I heard something from Christy about "off site meetings"??? Did we have those at Ashland??? OH NOOOOOOOOO!!! We called THAT "comp time". F'ers! ha ha ha
Good times man, good good times.
One day - we're gonna make some more memories! You can count on that.
In the meantime, we are keeping shit under control for you!
Don't get me wrong, it ain't the same without ya but we do what we can.
Although, I refuse to drink your nasty ass old Bud Light!
How 'bout some Old Speckled Hen tonight?
Yea, I didn't think you'd mind!

How sweet it was!

It’s no surprise that I skipped out of work a little early. First things first!
Off to my boys at Midas for a little oil change, tire balance and rotation.
I had an hour . . . tap tap tap . . . what to do . . . what to do???
Marrikas! Perfect! The first vacation beer is always the tastiest!

Then there was the birthday party at Furlongs! More tasty beverages and a wonderful dinner with dear friends! I was definitely off to a good start!
10:30pm the car was FINALLY packed and I was ready for a disco nap!
A disco nap indeed it would be. I was so excited I didn’t fall asleep until almost 1:00am.
Never fear, my internal alarm went off at 3:20 am, 25 minutes before the real alarm was set to wake me.
Up and showered, “Puppy! Are you ready to go on VACATION!!!???” Wagging his tail WILDLY (as if he knew what I had said) he zoomed to the door. One last stop by my apartment (cause you know I forgot some shit) we hit I-75 SOUTH promptly at 5:00 am.

It was a beautiful, sunny, blue skied drive.

Etta (the Jetta), BJ (the puppy) and I rolled into the parking lot at 2:00 pm.
BJ and I tilted our heads to the sky and took a deep breath of ocean air.
We were finally there!!!

I’d love to have tales of debauchery but that isn’t what this trip was about.
I needed this vacation, this rest, this time for rejuvenation.
Everyday was as follows.
Up around 6:30 – Puppies are ready for their morning outing to "water" the plants!
Shorts, t-shirt, tenny-shoes – Stephanie is ready for her morning walk.
Down the beach – shoes ON!
Up the beach – shoes OFF!

Breakfast - Dad and I cooked eggs, BACON and toast while Mom hooked us up with an awesome pot of coffee!
By noon it was time to pull on the ole swimsuit and hit the beach.


When I had sufficiently cooked for the day I returned inside for a shower. It was time for dinner!
I remembered how special it is to have family meals . . . every night!

Back to the condo for a movie and then off to bed.
It was . . . perfect.

I did meet four WONDERFUL women who were also staying at the condos!
Some days on the beach were spent with them; chatting, laughing, telling stories and just being in good company. They live close enough to visit (it is such a small world).
I have no doubt that I will see them again.
They made my days much more fun. Ladies – THANK YOU!

Returning home is usually a dreaded thing but not this time!
I was rested, relaxed, rejuvenated AND returning home to see my dear friend.
It had been a year. I knew one day wasn’t going to be enough time to spend in his company but it was all that would be allowed. There were lots of hugs, lots of laughs and the most was made of the time we had. I do love you, dear Timothy! YOU make my soul sparkle!


It is now Friday, almost a full week since I returned home and not even work has been able to damper my mood. My week has flown by! It has been jam packed with friends: old and new! The weekend is predicted to be more of the same minus having to go to work, which makes it even better!

I am reminded over and over that I am blessed with the most amazing friends in the world.
They absolutely fill my life with joys that make my chest swell with love!
Man oh man; I am truly blessed with you all.

With all my might I shall hold onto this peacefulness for as long as possible.

Because it stirs my soul intensly. . .

There has always been something about music that stirs my soul. Since I was a little girl, music reached me on a different level.
Some of my first memories are of swinging in my back yard in only my butterfly underwear and a cowgirl hat, singing Dolly Parton's 'I Will Always Love You' to the top of my lungs and crying my eyes out by the end.
Even then I felt the music and the words in a way that some don't understand. Well, nothing has changed in my (almost) 35 years.
I still cry everytime I hear Fleetwood Mac's 'Landslide' and I still dance in my car anytime Cameo's 'Candy' blares from my radio speakers. (Those are just two examples of HUNDREDS!)
I'm not one to post song lyrics. It seems like the cheater way out of finding my own words to express feelings. . . kinda like buying a stupid Hallmark card. . .
Then there are times when WOW, it just hits me as hard as the fifth martini!
So here I am, taking the easy way out. My soul swells when I hear this song and I swear that I could not write these words any better.
The song is 'So Small' sung by Carrie Underwood.

What you got if you aint got love?
The kind that you just wanna give away
It's okay to open up
Go ahead and let the light shine through
I know it's hard on a rainy day
You wanna shut the world out
And just be left alone
Don't run out on your faith

It's so easy to get lost inside
A problem that seems so big, at the time
It's like a river that's so wide
It swallows you whole
While you're sittin round thinking about what you can't change
And worryin' about all the wrong things
Time's flying by, moving so fast
You better make it count, cause you can't get it back

Sometimes that mountain you've been climbing
Is just a grain of sand
What you've been out there searchin for forever
Is in your hands
When you figure out love is all that matters after all
It sure makes everything else
Seem so small

Things you can do in a day. . .

In a day you can work, drive to the ocean, call your parents, play tennis, watch your favorite TV show, eat three meals, read a book, sing a song, go for a run, walk to the park, have a picnic, visit a neighbor, cook dinner, shop for a new pair of shoes, write a letter, fly across the Atlantic Ocean, scuba dive, video your child’s first steps, do some gardening, wish a friend a happy birthday, move to a new place, make a list of things to do, do the first thing on your list, take a friend to lunch, reorganize your desk, wash your car, paint your nails, plan a vacation, meet someone new, watch a movie, visit a friend no longer with you, visit his wife and children, build a fire, drive an unknown road, pay your bills, play with your puppy, hike a trail, kiss a loved one, get an oil change, do your laundry, go to the go to the doctor, think about all the things you can do in a day.

One thing you can’t do in only one day is spend enough time with a dear friend before he gets on a plane to go home.

Hump Day

It’s Wednesday. Hump Day; the day when you are officially halfway to the end of the work week.
This week I am extra special happy for this day! This hump day brings me not only closer to the end of the work week but also to vacation.

As of yesterday it has been 7 months since I’ve had any type of vacation. The thought of a full seven days, lying in the sand instead of sitting in my office chair, listening to the waves roll in instead of the numbing voices of my coworkers, morning puppy kisses instead of an alarm clock and no schedule other than the one I choose, is something I am not only looking forward to but am desperately needing.

Even the 9 hour drive is peaceful.
I’ll rise around 2am on Saturday morning, have a quick shower, a good strong cup of coffee, the car will already be packed, I’ll scoop up my puppy and hit the road by 3am.
Around 5:00am I’ll pass through Knoxville, TN (it will be OH so tempting to take the Alcoa Highway for a nostalgic drive or even continue on I-75 south to that dot on the map so few people know about) but I will pass and head east on ole I-40.
By 6:30am I’ll approach the beautiful Smokey Mountains of North Carolina. As the sun wakes up it will play a game hide and go seek with me as I wind my way up the mountain. As I come down the other side around 9am, I’ll say good morning to South Carolina.
I’ll know I’m getting close when I begin to see the trees full of kudzu!
10:30 am . . . CAREFUL! Highway 22 has cops!
They got me last year . . . sneaky bastards!
(Even if they were sitting right in the middle of the highway IN PLAIN SIGHT!)
Oh well, a little crank of the volume dial and some cruise control set at 60 should keep me right!
11:30am - I’ll take a deep, salty breath and know that the next seven days are mine.
Mine all mine.


PS – I forgot just one thing.
Noon – There will be sand, a beer and a blanket. . . OH! And me; toes in the sand, sun on my face, wind in my hair . . . and waves; beautiful, blue-green, Atlantic waves. . . .