A little enlightenment

Lucy from Romance tagged me! And because I'm "it" you get to find out 11 fun facts about me :)

The Rules:
1. You must post these rules.
2. Each person must post 11 things about themselves on their blog.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
4. You have to choose 11 people to tag and link them on the post. 
5. Go to their page and tell them you have linked him or her.

11 Questions:
1. What's your favorite Christmas/ Birthday gift or story (good or bad)?

Birthday: I have 2 - it's a tie. When I was in 7th grade my 3 best friends spent months planning a surprise party for me. They spent hours individually decorating each invitation and envelope. They had my family and all of our friends in on it. I had NO idea. It was at the Camden Place clubhouse. Bonnie lived in Camden Place which backed up to my neighborhood. I could cut through my across the street neighbor's backyard and end up in Bonnie's back yard. Her dad put a bail of pine straw at the fence so when I jumped over I didn't have as far to land. That day I hopped over the fence, Katie and Kyle were already hanging out at Bonnie's house for the evening. It was TGIF! All of our favorite shows were most likely coming on that night: Boy Meets World, Step by Step, Family Matters, Full House. But it was a pretty day so we decided to jump on the trampoline. We WORE OURSELVES OUT! You know how tiring it is when you play on the tramp for over an hour?! Well, before TGIF started they somehow threw out the idea that we should take a walk up to the pool. I don't remember anything in particular about the walk up there except when we reached the parking lot one of them suggested we cut through the clubhouse to get to the pool (and now, come to think of it, it was February or March, so I'm not sure why I wasn't catching onto something being "up". Too cold to swim! :) But, I opened the door and it was pitch black and I heard something. I remember saying, "Did y'all hear that?!" And I rounded the corner and lights came on and tons of people cried out, "SURPRISE!!!!!" and I was BLOWN.AWAY. It was for me! It was SO. MUCH. FUN! We danced and ate and belted out songs at the tops of our lungs. I do remember jumping on couches too! It was quite honestly one of the greatest childhood memories I have! SO. MUCH. FUN! 

I will tell the other favorite birthday memory on a different blog post because that response was really long and I still have 10 questions to go. Stay Tuned :)

2. What's your favorite memory from college?
the first one that comes to mind is doing jumping pictures in Granny's attic with the fan blowing while wearing bathing suits over our clothes. SNA (Sunday Night Alive - spin off from SNL) also comes to mind. And there is also the first time Tay and I saw each other freshman year after having broken up when we left for college. Whew! Flood of emotions! We literally hugged for like an hour straight with Norah Jones playing in the background - it was the greatest and the most heartbreaking time ever. 

3. What's your favorite place you've been?
Africa

(I'll try and answer more rapidly now or else I'm scared I may never finish)

4. What's the next place you'd like to visit?
Switzerland

5. Lake, beach, mountains, or dessert?
BEACH

6. What's your favorite cuisine/ meal?
Italian. Any carb or starch. I love things that crunch. Breakfast. Einstein Cookies from the GMP (ate, no lie, sometimes 3 per day my freshman year of college). 

7. Would you rather be on Survivor, American Idol, or Jersey Shore?
American Idol. I love American Idol. And I'd love to have the camaraderie with the other contestants. And at least once per episode I will stand up at commercial and give Taylor my rendition of how I would have performed the previous song. 

He does that eyes-to-the-ground-sweet-smile-shake-his-head-thing when I do this. 

8. Would you rather head up a flash mob dance party or sing along?
FLASH MOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

9. What's your favorite childhood movie? 
Little Giants

10. What's the best thing you've learned from your mother?
hmmm . . . lots has been learned from my mother. This is a very difficult question to answer as I am trying to fire rapidly through these so I don't loose all my readers (ha! readers? Anyone out there? Really? Sometimes I want to just ask you to leave a comment so I know that people at least glance at the posts. So, leave me some love below people!!!!). . . I'm thinking I'm thinking. 

There are the 3 points of good manners:

1. Use the Golden Rule

2. Always do your best

3. Choose to do the right thing

Then there is "what sunshine and exercise can do for the mind and heart!"

Then there is "Just be Sally."

And then, in all seriousness, she taught me about Jesus. That is by far the best thing I've learned from my mother. Jesus.

11. What's your favorite pic (please post and add a caption)?

FAAAAVORITE PIC?!?!?!! sheesh, this is hard too!! For emotional reasons (So hard to pick just one) but more importantly for technical reasons seeing as we lost an absurd amount of pictures in the hard-drive incident . . . so, I'll pick my fav from what I have access to on my computer at the moment. 

This one still makes me smile EVERYTIME I look at it. What JOY!

11 New People

1. Hal from R.E.D

2. Catie from Craving Sweet Tea

3. Beccs from Lowlife Couture

4. Rebecca from The Dosters

11 New Questions

1. Tell about your childhood pet. 

2. What is one of the things you are most proud of in your life?

3. Did you have a childhood security blanket (or stuffed animal or pillow, etc)?

4. How many children would you like to have?

5. Is there a hobby you would be interested in trying to incorporate in your life?

6. What's one thing you learned from your father?

7. Favorite book you had to read for school? (remember A Separate Peace, The Scarlet Letter, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, Catch 22, The Crucible, The Giver, The Grapes of Wrath, etc)?

8. Tell about a time when you really laughed hard - like belly laughter, deep from your soul.

9. Cold weather or hot weather?

10. The best conversation starter you've ever heard?

11. Favorite picture with a caption.

I'm sure of it

Tay and I have this funny little thing going.
I always come up with great ideas
and
he always comes up with bad ideas
and then, he always tries to convince me it's the other way around . . . that boy!


I don't remember what it started with, but it goes something like this:


Christmas 2011
T: Do you want to put the plastic trash bags out under the tree before I bring it in here?
S: It's always such a hassle to cut those things and then vaccuum around them, I'd be ok with not doing them this year. Would you?
T: Great, I've always thought they were ridiculous anyway! Help me bring the tree in.
S: Wait, What?! You've always thought they were ridiculous? Then why do I always do them every year? I thought you wanted them there in case the water leaked out onto the carpet?
T: HAHA! No, I'm pretty sure the first year we were married that I rounded the corner and I saw you carefully cutting the trash bags down the middle and meticulously laying them under where the tree stand was about to go. I didn't question what you were doing because I thought you must like having that extra protection for the floor.
S: No, I'm just sure that you were the one to request that we put bags down. If you didn't request it, you at least were the one to suggest it.
T: No, bukes, I never initiated the thought process on this subject. (this is the point where he cuts his eyes at me and then looks at the floor and does a sweet smile and shakes his head slowly)
S: I'm just sure of it being your idea!
T: No, bukes :) it wasn't.
S: Think what you want, Bukes, but it was your idea. Anyway! I'm glad we've now both come to the realisation that those bags are just not necessary! 4 less steps for me now! Ok, let's bring the tree in.
T: Bukes, it wasn't my idea, ok?
S: No, it really was. I know I didn't come up with it. I'm just glad we are now both on the same page about it, though.
T: Bukes . . .




or


Summer 2011
T: Phelps is such a cool name. I really am so glad we decided to call him that. 
S: Me too! He's the best. Such a buddy. And, I love it when you love my ideas!
T: BUUUUUKES, the name Phelps was not your idea. (insert eyes movement, smile and head shake here)
S: NO WAY! Are you kidding me? I absolutely was the one to throw that into the pot!
T: Oh my goodness! Really, you're going to do this again?! I DEFINITELY came up with the idea for calling our new puppy Phelps.
S: No. Trust me. I am sure of it! I was the one to suggest it! You, remember, it was August of 2008 and Michael Phelps had just won the 8th Gold Medal and the next day we went to the Humane Society and got a puppy and we brought him home. We were throwing out a million name ideas and I, without a doubt, was the one to voice the idea, "how about Phelps?"
T: You are ridiculous, Bukes. Do, you know that? You are completely confused.
S: What are you talking about? You always talk about how good my memory is! How many details I can recall! 
T: Do you realize that you do this? This little thing of taking credit for whenever there is a good idea. But, whenever there is a bad idea, you blame it on me that I was the one to come up with it. You are mistaking how you remember things taking place.
S: I think you are the confused one here. Sorry, Buka. You are wonderful and you are my favorite husband and you bring me such laughter in situations like these, but you are in every way, not the one who came up with this idea. 
B: Bukes . . .


:)


I will definitely be sure to tell you of all the other good ideas I come up with . . . many more blog posts to come! But out of upmost respect for my husband I will not embarrass him by sharing all of his bad ideas. I love him too much.


:):):):):):):):)


Until then you can view the "after" of pig-tail days!

100 Atlanta Dishes to eat before you die

Have you seen this list?


I had my first dish on Tuesday at West Egg Cafe. It was the fried egg sandwich. Not just any fried egg sandwich, so, truly worthy of being included on this list! It was 2 hearty fried eggs (hopefully they weren't hearty because they were genetically modified - eww), bacon, arugula, tomato, some sort of spread and toasty-not-too-hard-cut-the-roof-of-your-mouth-bread. mmm, mmm, mmm! 
(And yes those are gerber puffs in the background!)

Mama got the fried green tomato sandwich . . . also delectable but I still think we both liked the fried egg sandwich best. 

And an added bonus?

In the car on the way there I had a kairos moment where time seemed to stand a little still while the world swirled around us. I cherished it. Daye and I were driving on our way to meet Eecie for lunch. But on the way there, on 75 South before we got off at Howell Mill Rd I reached my arm over the ledge of the car seat and placed my hand around Daye's fist which was gripping her lovey as she stuffed it into her mouth (her soothing technique that could quite possibly be a serious suffocating hazard). Then she moved her hand around until she had my pointer finger grasped. 

And I smiled. 

And I sighed. 

And I said, "Thank you Jesus for this moment."

And she just held my finger for the next mile and a half right before I turned into the parking garage. She would occasionally move her thumb back and forth as if giving the gesture, "I love you. I am calm when I hold your hand. Let's just rest here a bit." (Or maybe that's what I was saying to her and hoping she was experiencing).

I think it was one of those things that seems so dreamy when you see it on a commercial or read about it from another mom or even picture it happening while you are pregnant - and then when it happens, there is no serene tear-coaxing-music playing in the background, or ray of warm light shining in on the caps of our heads, it is just Daye and me and this exchange that only the two of us know about and it is intimate and it is real and it is revered. (And then I share it here and it's not just something the two of us know about anymore . . . hmmmm, interesting :)

A few pics from our Target outing yesterday

And this one which makes me smile too. . . Pigtails and Ponytails . . . can't get enough!

My Pal Brooks

(This is intended to be read in Daye's voice)

Hey Guys! Brooks and I have play dates together regularly. It's great cause we live in the same neighborhood just a street and a half over. So, when my mom needs to run an errand or when his mom needs to get her haircut or when my mom meets with someone or when his mom substitute teaches, they drop us off at each other's houses. . . And we play!

D: You're here again?
B: Yeah, Daye! My mom didn't even have to drop me off . . . I came straight from Heaven this time.

D: Yessss! You dropped something. Gimmne Gimme Gimme!
B: Please don't take my yellow "D"! I accidently dropped it.

D: Hey Brooks, did you see this? It goes on your wrist and rattles.
B: Yeah, I played with that earlier. I'm just glad I got that yellow letter back from you. 

B: Oh Hey Daye! I'm so excited to be back playing with you today!
D: Me too Brooks! Let's both flap our arms up and down to show my mom how much we love this!

D: Want to play with this puzzle? It's really cool
B: Sure, let me just crawl over there and see. . . Oh, yeah! This is farm animals. I LOVE farm animals.
D: Me too, Brooks! My dad reads Animal Sounds to me every night and I LOVE it! He's best at the Owl!

D: Man this wood tastes good. At least I can still get some somewhere - my mom covered it on my crib. 
B: Hey, Mrs. S! Whada ya say you let us outta here? It's like we're at a petting zoo or something. Only we're the animals. See, there's an animal creeping around behind us!

D: Ummmmmmmm, what are you doing?
B: If I just lean in like this . . . "Hey pretty girl!"

strange

Ok, so, some of the posts I do are a little strange. Like this one, this one or that one and that one. They just don't seem to always flow or make sense, or you find yourself having to scroll back to the top to realize,
"oh, so, she's pretending Daye is speaking"
or
"oh, so, this is one where Daye is not speaking"
or
"oh, these pictures have nothing to do with what she is typing"
or . . .
you get the idea.

SORRY!!!

Sometimes things make sense in my head and then when I type them out and even read them back to myself they still make sense to me.
But then Another Person can be reading it while sitting next to you and can make you realize what everyone else probably did when they started reading it . . .
And I observe and reflect to the Other Person, "Oh, guess that is a little confusing, huh?"
And then the Other Person responds, "Um, well, some of your posts are kinda strange sometimes. But it's ok! It's your blog! Nice to have an outlet where you can do what you please!"

And I think, "Yeah! That's right! I don't have to explain myself!"
And then when I keep thinking about what the Other Person said I ask myself, "Wait, did he say, 'some of your posts are kinda strange . . .?' EEEK!"

So maybe I need to come up with a code so you'll know before you start reading WHO you should be "hearing" (ie read in Daye's voice or read in mine)
And maybe I'll need to come up with another code so you'll know before you start reading whether or not the pictures have anything to do with the commentary.

Or maybe codes would be too confusing and too annoying

Let's just say I'm going to try and make things a little more clear in future posts
but let's also just remember what the Other Person suggested, "it's ok. it's my blog - and its nice to have an outlet where I can do what I please . . . even though it can be strange sometimes." 
:)

*The Other Person is on the right

You and Ellen

Yes

I post a lot of pictures

and mostly of this girl

sorry

that's just the way it is these days

I went to visit a friend

she just had a baby

a preemie

her baby is beyond beautiful

she is precious

she's an angel

and so delicate

and tiny

and a reminder of the miracle each life is

take that in a moment

. . .

each life.

each.

life.

your life.

you.

you are a miracle.

you are a precious child.

you are dearly loved.

by the Greatest.

. . .

I have quickly become prey to the most delightful enticement

its called Momastery

its hilarious (as Ellen says it - she's got an extra accent in there when she says the word, "hill-AIR-ious"

She's certain of two things

(the Momastery Girl, not Ellen)

(although I do pray right now, that Ellen would come to know and believe these things too)

(cause I really do love Ellen)

(she's "Hill-AIR-ious")

(and she's kind)

but back to those two things the Momastery Girl is certain of, and of which I am too:

1.      I am God’s beloved child.
2.      So is everyone else.

So this girl

you see lots of

she's one of God's beloved children

and so is everyone else.

so that means

so are you.

You are one of God's beloved children.

and so is Ellen

:)