Day 17: Three of your favorite blogs and what you love about them

Day 17: Three of your favorite blogs and what you love about them

1. Hot Mess.  I love, love, LOVE this blog! While I have never met Anabel, I so enjoy reading about everything she has to say about everything. She writes about life and all that it entails. I love her because she is so open and raw. I admire that she puts herself out there in such a real way.
2. Southern Charm. This blog is as charming as its author, Nikki Bagley. I love this blog because it showcases all the appeal of the South, in a way that Honey Boo Boo never will. 
3. Writing with Light. I love this blog because of its beautiful photography. I had the pleasure of working with the author, Kathryn McCrary, at Drake Middle School. If I had to describe Kathryn in one word, I'd choose elegant. This description is also true of her blog. 

Day 16: Tell a story from your childhood. Dig deep and try to be descriptive about what you remember and how you felt.

Day 16: Tell a story from your childhood. Dig deep and try to be descriptive about what you remember and how you felt.

   I'm going to tell y'all about my absolute favorite memory from my childhood.

   Our red, single seater go cart was my favorite toy growing up. I couldn't wait to come home from school and ride that thing all over the yard, tearing up the yard as I went. Unfortunately, my dad was not so fond of it for that very same reason. Apparently, he made mention of this to my Granddaddy.

   I came home from school one day to find that Granddaddy has taken his tractor and cut a race track in the pasture behind my house! I'd say it was more of a maze than a race track because you could deviate from the path you were on and go on another. You could go as fast as you wanted around the curves because you would only run into a wall of tall grass. It was so much fun--until the grass grew up again.

   I loved that racetrack/maze so much!!

 

Day 15: Something difficult about your "lot in life" and how you're working to overcome it

Day 15: Something difficult about your "lot in life" and how you're working to overcome it

   I would say that I've been blessed with quite an easy "lot in life". (Knock on wood!) If it were a lot of land, it'd be located on the lake, or maybe the beach. However, I'd have to say I've been dealt a difficult hand with my auditory issue.

   I don't have a name for it so I just say I have an auditory issue. I'm chronically ADHD and not in the way that everyone labels themselves because technology has crippled our attention spans. I've got the papers to prove it. I don't know if my "auditory issue" stems from this or if it's a whole different issue. I'd like to think they go hand in hand, but that may simply be because I don't want to add to my ever expanding list of peculiarities.

   Anyhoo, I struggle with being able to focus on one noise when there are multiple noises around me--which is always. For example, sitting in a crowded (and noisy) restaurant is a specific type of hell for me. I can hear the words coming out of my table companions' mouths, but I cannot understand them. I liken it to standing in crowded room and having everyone scream different sentences all at once. It'd be almost impossible to pick out what one individual screamed--even though you heard their contribution to the screams. That's about the same level of difficulty I have when seated at a table in a crowded, noisy restaurant.

   I'll spare you the details of how I've tried to cope with this and give you the highlights. Because I try to avoid medications if at all possible and because I'm stubborn as a mule, I thought I could train myself to focus on one sound and block out all the others. After all, I trained myself to clap on a beat. And I got so good that I could even sing and clap on the beat at the same time. But enough bragging. :) I was very wrong about training myself. So I tried medication--twice. Both times I didn't like it. While the ADD is no fun, the H in there really is. I rather like having loads of energy and being easily excited! Unfortunately, the medicine took care of all the letters in my label, and I wasn't good with that. It also made me so focused on one thing that I was no longer a skilled multitasker. I wasn't good with that either. So I'm back to being unmedicated, but at least I'm excited about it!

   I wish I had a better success story so I could say the issue is fixed, but I'll settle for saying I'm coping with it. I could be plagued with something far worse.

  If anyone cared enough to get to the bottom of this long post, here's the lesson I want you to take from this. If you're talking to me and I'm smiling away and nodding my head at an inappropriate time, please know that I'm not an idiot. Chances are I have no idea what you're saying. Either let it slide or come a little closer, but not creeper close. Nobody likes that.

 

Day 14: Ten things that make you really happy

Day 14: Ten things that make you really happy

This one’s going to be tough. Really tough.  My moodometer is pretty much always set to happy, and it generally doesn’t take much to get me there.  I am one of those people who gets overly excited about pretty much anything—great or small.

1. Waking up and seeing/feeling Skunk sleeping beside me. Yes, I know I’m a cat lady. No, I don’t care.
2.   Pretty much any kind of dessert. The more decadent the dessert, the happier I am.
3.  Anthony Carter Bianchi.
4.  Unexpectedly receiving sweet little cards from my Mama in the mail.
5.   Listening to my old CD’s from high school.
6.  Jamie Days, days I spend completely with myself. This is my therapy, my sanity, my bliss.
7.  Feeling effortlessly pretty during the summertime in messy waves, a sundress, & a tan.
8.  Doing something from start to finish all by myself. I love the self-satisfaction of knowing something is what it is all because I put hard work and effort into it.
9. Girl time with my ladies. It’s cathartic, to say the least.
10.  Going to church. Words cannot describe how much I love going to church and worshiping with my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Day 13: Issue a public apology. This can be as funny or as serious or as creative as you want it to be.

Day 13: Issue a public apology. This can be as funny or as serious or as creative as you want it to be.

Dear Toned Tummy,

      I am sorry for putting you through such a hard time a few months ago. I know it must have been devastating to let the consumption of all the pasta, chocolate, and breads you could desire come to a complete and sudden halt.  I’m also sorry that I made you contract and release your abdominal muscles  hundreds of times, day after day, in an effort to provide you with a hard, protective shell. But most of all, I’m sorry that all of this work and effort was for naught.

     It might  would have been completely worth it if we’d continued on the course to bikini-ready that we were on. Unfortunately, we became a statistic and got “soft” due to a new relationship.  We traded in gym time for couch time (or in our case chair time) and healthy meals for big, fun meals to cook together. And just like the will to work out went away, so did the definition.

     I’m not saying I’m sorry this happened. Definitely not! I’m simply issuing an apology to you for putting you through all of that for absolutely no reason.

     Now, with that being said, gear up and put your big girl panties on because we’re about to do it all over again. Enough’s enough. 

Day 12: What do you miss? (a person, a thing, a place, a time of your life...)

Day 12: What do you miss? (a person, a thing, a place, a time of your life...)

     While I couldn't be more happy with where I'm currently at in life, I'd have to say I miss college. I loved college so much I decided to stay for five years. Each year was very different than the last, but they were all so good for very different reasons.

Freshman Year: This year was special because this was the year that I realized I actually liked kids. I know, it's crazy (especially coming from a former teacher), but I actually spent the majority of my life not being so crazy about the kiddos. I took a job as a babysitter during my freshman year of college and fell head over heels in love! It started with one sweet five year-old little boy, and then it grew to two sweet baby boys. By the end of that year I was babysitting four kids regularly and loved every minute of it.

 Sophomore Year: This year was a cuh-razee year! I was the definition of a bookworm in the previous year, but sophomore year was when I put the books on the back-burner and scooted the social aspect of college to the forefront. In hindsight, I definitely would have taken school more seriously, but the fun this year held cannot be denied!

Junior Year: This was most definitely my favorite year of college. I was joined at the hip with four other girls, and we had a blast! I was fortunate enough to live with two of these lovely ladies. We had so much fun! This was also the year I changed my major to education. :)

Senior Year, Part 1: I moved in with my parents, transferred to AUM, and worked at Jim N Nicks. I thought moving in with my parents would be horrific, but it actually turned out to be spectacular! The five of us girls were still inseparable and moved our fun to Montgomery, rather than Auburn.

Senior Year, Part 2: This year was great because all of my hard work and time was finally paying off. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. I completed my internship and landed my dream teaching job before graduation!

    I could honestly write so many entries about these five years. There's so much to tell, and I barely skimmed the surface of highlights. I hope your college experience was as wonderful as mine!

Day 11: Sell yourself in 10 words or less

Day 11: Sell yourself in 10 words or less

Fiery.

True.

Fun.

Silly.

Lover of People.