Thursday, April 28, 2011

New Country Strong Celebrity Crush.

*this was my regularly scheduled post for today...

This post is mostly about Garrett Hedlund and a little bit about the movie Country Strong.

I was first introduced to Garrett Hedlund back when he played Cracker Jack in the movie Four Brothers.

Who didn't cry when Cracker Jack got killed? I was at the theater crying like a baby.

After Four Brothers,  I didn't hear anything from Garrett (that I can recall) for quite some time.

However, just a couple of weeks ago Ryan and I rented TRON. I was reluctant but Ryan wanted to check it out. Alas, being the ever selfless wife that I am I went with it. It had nothing to do with the fact that what I wanted to rent was all checked out.

Well, much to my liking... good ole Cracker Jack was the main star of TRON. I was instantly glad we rented that one!

Then I came across this post over on I Hate Green Beans.

I had no idea until then that Cracker Jack/ TRON was a character in Country Strong!

But here's the thing... I may have had a tiny celebrity crush on Garrett Hedlund, but when I heard his voice in Country Strong it was all she wrote.

He plays a rough around the edges, guitar picking, country crooner with a heart of gold  in this movie and I fell in love.

I loved the movie too by the way. Good story. Heartbreaking and sweet at the same time. I teared up a little and then rejoiced.  I would definitely recommend watching it.

However,  at the end of the day I want to buy this movie just to watch Garrett Hedlund. I'm telling you right now, go watch this movie... if for nothing else let it be because you want to watch him!

Here's a little sample:



Please enjoy this yummy goodness! Oh and TGIThursday, as it's my Friday. I'm off to the beach for a wedding and fun! See you on the other side of the weekend.

Dark & Stormy

Last night, we once again found ourselves weathering the storm. I know its been covered on all the national news channels, but when your in it, really in it, it's an entirely different story.

To know people who have been directly effected. Friends who have lost their home, people who have lost their business. A local camp, called Children's Harbor, here on Lake Martin took a direct hit last night. I'm not sure the extent of the damage but that's close to home.

In the state of Alabama alone, 128 fatalities have been reported and here's to hoping that number does not increase. 

It was a scary night. Mother Nature does not discriminate. To witness first hand how quickly the destruction can occur is mind-boggling.

One of the many tornadoes that came through the state.
We watched as the weatherman followed a storm right through our hometown. A neighbor was at our house seeking a "safe place" in our basement. The power blinked. The weatherman stated that a tornado was on the ground. He was naming places that were so close to home. The sirens were blaring, "SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY." We were in our safe place. In four minutes it would be here, the weatherman would say. In nine minutes the tornado will be in this area, he would say. The power would blink again. We were in the basement unsure of what was to come. Probably more hyped up because we had been watching the storms all day. Seeing the damage and destruction in the wake of the storms. As the storm passed by, and headed to a neighboring town we waited. Our neighbor's parents live in the neighboring town. We waited. The storm finely made it passed that town and she tried to call. No answer. What a terrible feeling. She called again, no answer. The next news we got was that several ambulances had been sent to the area in which her parents live. Still no answer.
She finally got in touch with her parents. They were fine. Some of their neighbors were not.

The 'not knowing' and being unable to reach family and friends after the storm has passed is scary. We (my family and I) were some of the lucky ones. I am thankful for that, but not everyone was.

Please lift up the South today as you say your daily prayers. Pray for the people who have lost their home. Pray for the families who have lost a loved one.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

O.T.W.-- Easter has come and gone...

Easter has come and gone. As any other holiday around here it was filled with lots of family time, food, sweets, and praising Jesus.

Here's a pic I snatched from Ryan's sister, Ali.

I got in a bit of a verbal spanking because I refused to wear my Easter dress to lunch. I ran home and quickly tossed on jeans and a tank... much more comfortable.

EASTER=Goodness. The End.

Also, as an update to Friday's post....

. . . Do yourself a favor and go see Water for Elephants. So, so, so good. Loved it. Reese looked better than ever and I loved seeing Rob Pattinson as a normal human. It was splendid. Two thumbs up from this kid.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Do the Bunny Hop

It's Good Friday/Earth Day. I'm at work. I think we should observe at least one of those holidays, but alas my tiny opinion carries only a small amount of weight around the office.

So I will, instead of working too hard, write this post (which is pretty random).

I found these cupcakes over on Glorious Treats and immediately feel in love.

The only thing I would change is the color. To blue and white, duh.

Next up, tonight Ryan is taking me to see this movie:


You may realize I've been waiting since June for the releaseAnd then proceeded to dwell on it again last month. I don't think Ryan felt like he had much of choice. Regardless I'm so excited. I hope it's everything I've built it up to be.

I will be sure to let everyone know if it's worth checking out!
I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter Weekend. Maybe the good ole Easter bunny will hop on down your lane.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

What Does It All Mean?

Is it odd that my favorite show on Thursday night (other than this one) is Vampire Dairies?

I mean, does that fact make me as cool as a 15 year old girl?

I get so caught up in the drama . . . what with Bonnie having the power of 100 deceased witches, Claus coming back for Elena, Stefan and Damon doing everything they can to protect Elena.. It's all so realistic and exciting.

I guess at the end of the day, if  tuning in with millions other 15 year old girls to the CW on Thursday at 8/7 Central makes me a little less cool then so be it. (or maybe it makes me cooler) Because my heart beats a little faster during that one hour while The Salvatore Brothers try to live a normal life in good ole Mystic Falls.

Here's to hoping Bonnie doesn't die using all that power.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

So close, yet so far away

Bless her heart. She wants, so badly, to be tall enough to see out this window. Can't help but love her for trying... 

Because try - she does.

Monday, April 18, 2011

O.T.W. Farmville (In Real Life)

Ryan and I had the one of the most laid back weekends we've had in quite a while.

Friday night the weather was so bad there was no need in getting out.

I ended up staying up over half the night trying to decided whether or not I needed to get Ryan and Maggie and squeeze into a closet with me. Ryan slept soundly as I paced the floor. One of our city's weather sirens happens to be right next door to us... and it went off roughly five times in the span of a couple of hours.

I don't know about you but I think it's scary for the siren to go off and then have some guy over a loud speaker tell me  "A TORNADO WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR YOUR AREA! SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY!"  Tornado warning = there is an actual tornado somewhere in our county. Me no likey.

Needless to say, it was a long night.

Saturday morning I hopped up and headed to Birmingham for a hair appointment. After my hair appointment I met Lacey & John and Kristen & Aaron for lunch at Mugshots. I tore down on an amazing cheeseburger. It was so big and so good I couldn't stop. I was so full after I literally didn't eat another thing for 24 hours. It was intense.

On Sunday, Ryan and I headed to my family's farm for an early Easter get together. The weather was beautiful. We ate, chatted with family, and I took some pictures of the farm.

Our farm is actually about thirty minutes from town. It's where my dad and his siblings were raised. None of the family lives there now... we use it for weekend get aways, family gatherings, and what not.

Eddie Murphy

Mel B








I was in love with the all the little yellow flowers in the pasture.

My dad and his brother (in the hat, pictured above) renovate the old barn. It's now a little get away. The inside has two bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen and living room.

My dad's sister, Mona and brother, John.



Mel B is the closest and Eddie Murphy is behind her. I should note that my family actually call the jack asses Jenny and Jack. I don't think that's as original as Eddie Murphy and Mel B.

My dad and his brother actually just sold all of cows. But this one right here put a fight. She meant she wasn't being sold. She liked our farm and that is where she intends to stay. So she the lone cow for now.



Look how handsome!




My grandad was the probate judge of Clay County, Alabama for years. This was one of his old campaign signs.


It so peaceful at the farm. It was the perfect way to end the weekend.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

A New Suit

A couple of weeks ago I was shopping with Deidra and her sister, Ashton when we happened in to Victoria's Secret. I remembered I had two of those "free pair of panty" coupons and I needed to claim them. So I did just that.

At the cash register I remembered that I had a random Victoria Secret gift card in my purse, which I assumed had a $0.00 balance. However, being the eternal optomist that I am I decided to ask the cashier to check the balance anyway.

As it turned out, I had over $30.00 left on that random gift card. According to Deidra I may have been a bit overly excited about the news that I had money on what I thought was a grft card I could trash.

Today I put that gift card to good use! I ordered myself a new bathing suit.

This is the one I went with:

Here's to hoping I look even 1/4 as good as she does in it. 

Monday, April 11, 2011

O.T.W. One Man's Junk is Another Man's Treasure

What a good weekend. Pretty laid back for the most part.

Friday night Ryan and I met up with some friends at a local bar for drinks and good times. It was the perfect night to sit outside on the deck by the lake and have a few cocktails.

We didn't stay out too late because I had to be up early on Saturday morning to meet my grandmother. We had a date to hit up two estate sales in our area.

When I saw these two estate sales advertised in the local paper I knew just who to call. My grandmother, Nelda, is no stranger to the yard sale/estate sale circuit. She loves to check out yard sales on Saturday mornings, and if you're one of the lucky few she'll even hook you up with a treasure or two she's found along the way.

I'm sure at least everyone in my family has something that my grandmother has scoped out and paid no more that a dollar or two sitting around their house. She's good. What else can I say?

So I met her at eight o'clock Saturday morning in hopes of finding some cool vintage furniture (i.e. a china cabinet) to refinish or paint. I had no such luck on that front, but I did score some cool things.

Check out my loot:

Two gold deer for the book shelf in the living room: $3.00

A pair of black and gold studs: $1.00

Three funky fresh belts for dressing to dress up outfits this summer: $4.00

Glamorous vintage earrings: $3.00

Very Cool place mats (set of four): $2.50

Place mats in action = amazing!
And no, I didn't take one of these sweet boxer mix puppies home with me, but you can bet I  snuggled a few of them while we waited to enter the house. They were free to a good home, and you can bet any child in area had to have one. It was good thinking on someones part. Who doesn't love a puppy?

This weekend was also special because my life long pal, Alana, was in town for a visit. She's lives in Ohio now where she and her boyfriend, Clint, run a horse training business.

Saturday night in honor of her being in town I invited her and Clint over for a little cook-out. I snapped these pics:

Ain't my man handsome?

Family Picture. Find Maggie.

Love a man who can throw down on the grill. I sparkly heart nothing better than something hot off the grill for dinner.


However, I didn't take one picture of Alana and Clint, which is just ridiculous. So here's a link I jacked from her facebook because I like visuals of people and I'm sure you do too.


Click right here to check Alana and her boo Clint

Good weekend in my humble opinion. Got some good deals on some random stuff and had some good food and conversation with friends from both near and far.

Friday, April 8, 2011

I call this picture "LONGING"

Maggie would spend all day peering out the window... longing for what might be on the other side.


I like to remind her of the old story "Three Billy Goats Gruff." The grass ain't always greener!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Swamp People

I recently spent an entire Sunday morning watching Season One of the HISTORY Channel's show, Swamp People. The show follows several different hunters during the month long alligator season down in the Louisiana bayou.

I'm not sure what I learned other than you have got to shoot an alligator in the quarter-sized soft spot behind the eyes in order to kill them dead, but I love it.

Troy is my favorite Swamp person. He gets really excited and yells in his thick Cajun accent when he hooks an alligator. Whooo hoooo!

Meet Troy:


Season 2 of Swamp People has recently started up and it airs on Thursday nights if you're interested.

O.T.W.- Down and Dirty


Over the past weekend... a few of us got down and dirty on Saturday during a heated game of beach volleyball. (random side note- I literally just sat here for five minutes trying to figure out why sand volleyball didn't sound right... it's because it's beach volleyball)

I'll let the pictures tell the story. It got aggressive and I won't say which team won because it wasn't mine, but it was [this] close.

That's me really getting after it. I love John's facial expression. He's in shock.


We got a little aggressive once we got into the swing of things. We all ended up in the sand at some point.




 It made for a glorious Saturday by the lake.

And, well, Sunday was a girls' day by the pool.

Nothing better than a good magazine, beautiful weather, and sweet Maggie jumping in and out of the pool as entertainment!

Sunday marked one year since Maggie came to live with Ryan and I. We can't imagine life without her now.


It's Thursday people, which means we have survived the brunt of the work week. Stay strong friends, as the weekend is easing on in again...
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