2009 In Pictures...

I saw a wonderful blog entry today entitled 'The Year in Pictures'. What a great idea! I hope everyone will get back on the 'blog-wagon' and do this on their own pages!



January:
A good month for visiting Memphis. My dad gave his first public talk in many years so I wanted to make sure that we visited for that. So me and my buddy Misty took a very quick trip to the ol' hometown and had a great 24 hours. We went shopping at Flashback, had a Karaoke BLAST on Beale Street, and saw the aforementioned talk on Sunday morning. It was a great way to start out the year and to say goodbye to the platinum blonde hair!


February:
After I went 'red' again, I really got involved in my Vintage Styling endeavors. This photo was taken for my Pin Up Series on YouTube, and is based on the artwork of Art Frahm. The channel has given me a sense of accomplishment I would not have expected and is opening doors I didnt know where there. The internet CAN do some good. :)



March:
My favorite photo that was taken this year. My husband had just cut my son's hair and this photo was taken right before the meeting. He took it w/ his PHONE, which is surprising. I love everything about it. The tractor was a nice touch as well. :)




April: Another great Rockabilly Weekender this year in Vegas! This photo of the Haystack Hitones was taken during their reunion performance on Saturday of the event. It was one of my favorite performances of the weekend.


May: For our 14th wedding anniversary we went back to Memphis-town and spent a great couple of nights. We saw 'Hillbilly Casino' with a group of friends at the Blues City Cafe and spent next afternoon at Pa and Mimi's.


June: Over the course of the summer, my husband placed this little figurine at various places in the county and took a photo. I like the idea; I think it documents our area in an interesting way, especially since we might not live in this area much longer. Bittersweet.



July: I love the Wilson County Fair! This sweet horsey was making ice cream by walking on a sort of antique 'treadmill' that was attached to an old fashioned ice cream churn. It was so fun to watch and we kept slipping him treats. The convention was this month too but unfortunately, I didnt get any good photos.


August: This August was fun and included a trip to the Redneck Rumble, a car show in Lebanon that is improving every year. Good bands played and relatively nice cars showed up. But the photo I chose to document the month of August was one of my son's lego creations. I think it's supposed to be The Titanic.


September: This was the month that Misty and I took some photos for my friend Heather and her new line of floral hair clips for ladies. I helped name them 'Belle Blossoms' and she seems to be doing well with this endeavor, shipping items all over the world. It was so exciting to be a part of a project that was just 'getting off the ground', like this.


October: This year, we spent alot of time driving around and really appreciating this area. I am sad that Pleasant Shade School closed right after Johnson finished kindergarten. As it stands, it looks very forlorn and abandoned...the playground equipment is rusted and the grass is grown up. The huge gym would be a FANTASTIC place for a dance or a band to play. How cool would that be?




November: Okay so I stole this photo. We spent the November holiday with friends in Louisiana and I loved this photo because it really conveys the good time/family atmosphere. Plus, the look on Craig's face is priceless!




December: Lastly, I realize we haven't really taken many photos this month. I thought this one was worth posting because its proof that our digital camera is finally dying. The picture quality has steadily gotten more and more screwed up and now, this is the monster it creates. :)

Anyway, as I said, bring on the next decade!

December in a Nutshell...

I refuse to let this blog die! I will at least be posting updates once a month, in spite of the urge to just focus on facebook and communicate my family's status there. :)

This month flew by...as did this whole YEAR, actually. No big news really, but a few changes such as the house bein officially 'on the market' are worth mentioning. We have had no 'bites', as of yet, but I am optimisitic that the spring will bring a few promising offers...hopefully.

The kids are all getting very 'antsy', being at home, and I can't lie and say that I don't look forward to school starting. It gives them structure, and they need that. Especially since I'm so busy working and can't really keep them busy like I wish I could.

On Christmas Day, I did take them up the hill behind our house. It was a healthy jaunt and pretty strenuous since I had to carry the two year old for much of the thorny way. But it reminds me how much I love this property and how beautiful the view is from up there, when compared to the one we have down here at the house. But alas, moving would open up lots of other options that we can't ignore. So hopefully, it will sell and we can quickly move on. I don't see my self 'mourning' over this place much, even if it IS the only house that Nathan and Victor have really 'known'.

Either way, the new year promises lots of interesting things and I'm looking forward to it immensely. Bring on the next decade!

November Galavanting...

In spite of a severe shortage of green and lots of distracting nonsense, we decided to make a trip to Louisiana for the 'holiday' weekend.

We had been sick w/ a virus earlier in the month, a clingy one that just didnt want to give up...the baby had it the worst. He would be well for 24 hours, eating somewhat normally, and then he would have another bad bout of diahrea or vomiting. It was really frustrating and worrisome. However, we came through that pretty well and made rushed around getting ready to depart on Tuesday night of last week.

Instead of heading straight for Talisheek (small town outside of New Orleans where some good friends of ours live) and trying to make the trip in one fell swoop, we opted to go a little out of the way and stop over in Memphis so as to avoid the boys having to be in the car for eight straight hours. The trip to Memphis was unusually slow. It took us 5 1/2 hrs to get there. We basically had just enough time to catch some sleep before leaving early the next morning for Lousiana, by way of jackson Mississippi.

The trip was mostly uneventful...a few hiccups in the form of explosive diapers (not 'the green apple dirties' but something awful, nonetheless) and the price of gas (yikes). But we made it to Abita Springs at about 3pm and were happy to finally see our friends. They really had a great set up for us...we were spoiled by the novelty of sleeping in a nice camper they had drawn up to the house so as to give us privacy and separate sleeping quarters. So convenient! The family we were visiting, New Orleans-ingly known as the Chiassons, are an incredibly hospitable bunch. We enjoyed visiting w/ Craig and Sarah (w/ whom we were staying ) for a while before heading a mile down the road to the rest of the 'Chiasson Compound'-a group of houses clustered together in a chummy way that most families would either dread or love, depending on their closeness. We enjoyed some campfire conversation and yummy libations before heading back over to Craig and Sarah's for dinner and my first encounter with the Wii. I didnt really play it but it does look great. Notes for future shopping lists.

The next day was Thursday. We all went back over to the Chiasson compound for an amazing feast and plenty of good times. There was croquet (which I hadn't played in YEARS), tons of entertainment for the kids, friendly faces, excellent beer, and ACRES of food. Maybe not literal acres...but it felt like it. Gumbo to start, four fried turkeys injected with Creole Butter (oh...my...gah), two kinds of stuffing, delicious potato salad, homemade sweet potato pie, mac and cheese, chocolate cake...all amazing and perfect, of course. The day flew by and I think we all went back for seconds and thirds before finally deciding that our stomachs had reached full capacity. Did I mention the turkey necks? By far the best part. haha

That night, I truly don't remember what we did...oh! Homemade blackberry wine. That's it. :)

Friday the family all piled into several cars and drove across the causeway to the New Orleans Audubon Zoo. We were treated to the zoo trip and are HEARTILY grateful since it was one of the better zoos I've visited. The boys had a blast...they were especially intrigued by the white alligators, which reminded me of white chocolate. That evening, we drove home by way of Magazine Street, a fantastic part of the city that I had only seen on television. I am so anxious to go back and just shop and eat for several days straight. Dinner that evening was the Abita Brew Pub, a special treat.

Since my dad had a public talk on Sunday and we wanted to be sure to make it, we said fond farewells to our friends (can't wait to see ya'll again!) and headed off to Memphis town for the night. Since the kids were suffering from cold symptoms and we didnt want to put too much on them, we opted to stay for the entirety of Sunday (horribly rainy weather anyway) and head home on Monday. And so we did.

I'm tired but thankful for good and generous friends as well as motivated to compensate for some of those calories with renewed energy in a good diet/exercise program.

Great way to bring November to a close!