crazy road trips

I tend to be pretty impulsive.  On Tuesday night, I decided to go with Jacob to Birmingham on Wednesday to see Wilco in concert.  We both had to work on Thursday, but it seemed worth it.  The concert was scheduled to start at 8 PM so i figured we'd get back late, but I was not prepared for what actually happened.  After we'd driven through Atlanta, the question dawns on me, "is Birmingham in a different time zone"?  So I pose the question and the results show that Birmingham is indeed in Central Time Zone, which of course means that the show starts at nine!  Whatever, we go and it was an amazing trip, dinner and show.  What wasn't amazing was leaving the venue at 12:30 EST and arriving in Jasper at 4:15 EST to wake at 7:30 for a wonderful day of work... all times given are AM, of course.  I felt nauseated most of the day.  Finally at about 2 PM my body started to acclimate to the conditions and for that I was very thankful.  That was definitely a time when I will look back and be thankful for the experience, but at the time it was dreaded!  But what else would we have done on a Wednesday night?  Watched a movie, made dinner and gone to bed at a decent hour?  Lame!  j/k.

the way we were

Romance.  Communism.  Heartbreak.  Barbara Streisand.  Robert Redford.  And quite possibly the saddest movie I've ever watched.  This 1973 movie depicts the story of Katie Morosky and Hubbell Gardner.  I won't ruin the ending for those who haven't seen the movie.  The story definitely makes me think.  Its very sad that two people can love each other so much and not find a way to make each other happy.  It doesn't seem fair that it can happen, but I suppose it does.  Last night I introduced two friends to this tragic story and they loved it.  We had a slumber party and it made for a great girl's night.  I would like to thank Target for the suggestion.

'cause lime green looks great on anyone...

Last night I attended the most giant birthday party of any one year old I've ever known!  It was awesome.  Adults, kids, babies, barbecue and presents.  The whole thing was very chaotic... and entertaining!  I watched the parents of the birthday girl open their child's presents because she was very busy chewing on the paper that once enclosed the first opened gift.  While juggling their own child and the presents, they also had to fight off everyone else's kids who were anxious to "help".  Then I watched two kids break one of the new toys.  It was tragic, but hilarious.  Sort of Shakespearian.  Later in the evening I tried to spark conversation with a new friend.  She was probably eight years old.  Her t shirt had an embroidered ballerina on the front so I asked her if she could do a little dance for us.  She said, "Oh.  No.  We're not too good."  It was really, really funny.  I appreciate her family's honesty to her about her skills.  Hopefully she will never be one of those types of people who perform on "American Idol" or "America's Got Talent" who clearly have no talent at all.  I always think to myself when I watch those people, "where are their families?  Why haven't they been honest with them?"  Tough love, people.  Your kids will thank you.  The bigger and more important theme of the evening however was that my friends made it through one blessed and miraculous year with their daughter.  I'm sure there were many times when they wondered if they would get to celebrate that day at all.  Thanks be to God.

this old house

Fun date idea #1: just drive.  Get in the car, pick some tunes and try to get lost!  Tonight after dinner, Jacob suggested that we go for a drive just to get out of the house for a bit.  He likes old white churches.  A few months back he discovered an unassuming white church, but while peeking through the windows he saw that inside it was hardwood floor to ceiling.  He hadn't been back in a long time and wasn't even sure that it could be found again.  On our journey to the old hidden church, we discovered this beautiful white house.  The bottom picture was our first peek at it from the road.  The sun was setting and the mountains were beautiful in the background.  The house was surrounded by a black wooden fence and acres of rolling green fields.  I want to live there some day or maybe just some place with a similar essence.  We discovered lots of cool things: some baby goats, a running dog that looked like a bunny, an old bridge that should maybe be retired soon, and we did find that old church.  We sort of stumbled upon it and it was just as Jacob said: totally unassuming, but beautiful on the inside.  I wondered if people meet there or how you get inside.  We weren't sure, but I hope that its used.  Driving is fun and educational:)  

birthday notice

Also, as a little side note, today marks the three month countdown until my 26th birthday.  Yeesh.  So, start planning people because I'm excited!  Ha ha.

beef its what's for dinner

It was for dinner.  Beef that is.  Tonight Jacob and I grilled indoors on the brand new Emeril All Clad Cast Iron Grill/Griddle!  It was very successful.  The grill made beautiful grill marks on our veggies and steakies.  See the picture to the left.  Notice the exquisitely charred lines on the meat.  Jacob was in charge of grilling because he's a man.  I did, however, prepare the steaks yesterday with olive oil and Emeril's Essense.  They refrigerated overnight and turned out deliciously!  We will use this new grilling toy as often as possible because it was enjoyable.  Bam!

not-so-speed scrabble

Jacob and his mom just played a five hour game of "speed" scrabble.  It took a long time for a couple of reasons.  The primary reason being that the game consisted of two people playing with two sets of scrabble tiles... that's 200 tiles, folks.  The second reason being that the game was broken up by showers, grocery store visits, and frisbee golf games.  This is a picture, well four pictures, of Jacob with his winning scrabble spread totaling 302 points!  The crazy thing is that he and his mom, Cheri, used the exact same number of scrabble pieces.  Kind of crazy, huh?  Way to go, babe.

in the dark

Yesterday it stormed in Jasper, GA.  I'm talking hail, extreme winds, torrential rains, fallen trees and power outages.  I'm staying the weekend at Sharptop with Jacob's family.  After chain-sawing a fallen tree on the driveway, collecting lanterns and generators, and cooking dinner campfire style in a gas grill we watched "Bedtime Stories" together.  Then we all went to bed.  As I laid in bed it dawned on me that it was Good Friday... not for the first time, but for the first time in hours.  Maybe it was semi symbolic that I lived in darkness for a few hours last night on the day Christ died.  Sure, it would have been more symbolic if I'd recognized it in the midst of the darkness, but meaningful just the same.  Before I fell asleep, I thought of how church families all of the world had gathered together to reverently  remember and reflect on the sacrifice God made on that day many years ago so that his people might be reconciled to Himself.  Death to life.  Darkness to light.  This morning I woke to light and life.  I am truly thankful.

that old dog

A few months ago I blogged about a dog that I saw on the way home from work.  Remember it?  It had one of those medical cones around its neck.  Yesterday as I was driving home from work I saw it again.  This time is was in even worse shape than the first.  It was dead beside the road.  It appeared to have been hit by a car.  Way to go Georgia.  Another one bites the dust.  Rest in peace, dog.

crazy 'bout ya

Do you ever feel crazy?  A definition of crazy (well technically insanity, but it works here too) that I've heard over the years is continuing the same course of action while expecting different results.  Crazy.  That seems to be sort of be the theme of my week.  Why do we continue on crazy cycles (we'll call them)?  Well, sometimes we get stuck and we don't know how to escape.  Sometimes we haven't identified the problem specifically enough to change the reaction, in short, we probably don't know ourselves well enough to change.  Sometimes the thought of trying a new course of action is scary because its different and not what we know.  Whatever the reason, its not good enough to continue on a "crazy cycle".  Please, stop the insanity.  

The title of this blog is a Dave Barnes' song.  I googled "crazy" but didn't like any of the things that it popped.  I like this song a lot.  Its definitely a different take on the word crazy from the topic above, but good just the same... better even.  Its a love song.  And love can drive you crazy... The people we love the most are the people who make you feel the craziest!

cougars...funny