Sunday, May 9, 2010

Onward and Upward - May's Playlist

I must say I'm super proud of my playlist for May. I listened to it multiple times on my drive to and from the Mississip this past weekend.

In Christ Alone - Page CXVI
I Know Where I'm Going - The Judds (a throwback)
A Whole Lot Better - Brandon Benson
The Fear - Lily Allen
Portions for Foxes - Rilo Kiley
Blow Away - A Fine Frenzy
Today Was a Fairytale - Taylor Swift
Highs and Lows - Mindy Smith
Dancing in the Dark - Mat Kearney
Crush - Glee Cast
Why Didn't You Call Me - Shelby Lynne
All I'm Thinking of - Tyrone Wells
Sex and Reruns - Jay Nash, Matt & Tony Lucca
Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of - The Avett Brothers
Help Yourself - Sad Brad Smith
Kings and Queens - 30 Seconds to Mars
Electric Feel - MGMT
The High Road - Broken Bells
Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap
Animal - Neon Trees
Ghost Town - Cary Brothers
If I Die Young - The Band Perry (This is my personal new favorite song.)

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

April, You're Here Too Soon

Yes, I realize this is the name of my last post on 12 Months of Resolutions. It's also the name of this month's playlist. Ready? Set. Go!

40 Dogs (Like Romeo & Juliet) - Bob Schneider
Kandi - One Eskimo
Breakeven (Falling to Pieces) - The Script
Lisztomania - Phoenix
Kick Drum Heart - The Avett Brothers
Dog Days are Over - Florence + The Machine
1972 - Josh Rouse
Home - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Cousins - Vampire Weekend
Makin' Pies - Patty Griffin
Love this Pain - Lady Antebellum
Look So Easy - Dave Barnes

Enjoy each and every moment of these treasures.

Well, hello there.

I promise, April is the month for blogging. I'll be back. But in the meantime, check out 12monthsofresolutions to see what April has in store.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Real World: Baton Rouge

So Bob, Kay and I surprised John for his 8.5th birthday! We moseyed on down to Red Stick after Greg so graciously planned everything. A few notes of the weekend:

- On the drive down I-55 just outside of Jackson, I smelled a burning odor and asked Bob what he thought it might be. His response? Burning chicken feathers. What? You've smelled chicken feathers burning? He claims he has.

- Baton Rouge is surprisingly like Jackson, only with a really large college in the middle of the city.

- I ate crawfish at two meals on Saturday....once fried in a po'boy, once boiled in a huge tray all for the eating. And eat I did. My love for mudbugs was something unknown to my family. GET TO KNOW ME!

- Here's the kicker...You may see the McDonnell clan on next season of The Real World: New Orleans. Apparently, one of the Miss. State basketball players knows one of the girls on the new season. So she and another girl from the house (you know the lingo) sat in our section. We didn't know why these cameras were following these random girls. Somehow we find out that it's for MTV's The Real World. They are filming a second season in The Big Easy, this time after Katrina. Of course we have to explain what we're talking about. Kay claims she's never heard of this. She then proceeds to tell us that we shouldn't know what it is either and that she knows that we used to watch it in her house even though it wasn't allowed.

Of all the nerve! Truth be told, we did watch MTV even though we were forbidden to. One time I walked in on my dad watching Singled Out. I told him that I was going to tell Kay and he begged me not to since she'd have the cable taken out. Hilarious.

Back to the subject, you may want to watch the next season as there were multiple times one or two of us were on camera. Kay even strategically placed herself behind one of the girls for a while. She's "taking a picture of the scoreboard"...at least that's what she'd say.

- Story of the weekend: Bob is a trickster. He and Kay met in the early 70s when he still had dark hair and a spring in his step. Apparently, he convinced Kay that he was Jewish for the first few months of their relationship. He went to the trouble to drive her by the Jewish synagogue, talking of Jewish holidays and the such. So for months, she's believing he's of the Hebrew nation. Until one family dinner at her grandmother's house, Bob got asked what religion he was. He replied "Episcopalian". I guess he felt obligated to tell the truth to the elderly. What ethics he has!


Thursday, February 25, 2010

The Cutest Emergency Ever

Seriously...it's 6 minutes long but so precious.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

How do you do that?

As I've said before, I love listening to podcasts. My favorite one is The B.S. Report with Bill Simmons and I think the reason for this is the format of the podcast. Essentially, Bill just talks to his friends about topics. Sometimes it's about sports, sometimes it's about pop culture. I love that he calls up his friend who is a Yankee fan at work. The guy picks up the phone as if he's answering a business call and then they proceed to talk about how the Yankees are doing for the next 30 minutes. Or he calls up his friend Jacoby, the Czar of Reality TV and they discuss Jersey Shore for over an hour.

I think the biggest pull for this podcast is that I feel like I could do that. How do you get into something like this?

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Handicapped Poser

This is Amber posting not Sarah...I know you are all like who the heck. Promise I am the co-blogger to this account. Anyway I thought this msn messenger chat was pretty funny and should be posted. So I used to have a boot on my foot and had one of those handicap things you hang from your mirror. I took full advantage of the handicap luxuries when I wore the boot. I mean that boot was BIG...it was justified guys, I was even on crutches at one point if that helps my point. Anyway my co-worker was making fun of me only using the handicap bathroom stall at work and still using the handicap parking spot even tho I no longer have the boot. Sidenote there is not a handicapped person that works at my company.

Crystal says: is that way you insist on the first parking spot,t oo?
dude, you dont even have a sign on your car
we could totally report you.
Amber says: i'm not really insisting homie...who's parking there??? NO ONE. and i do still have the sign if i need to start using it again
Crystal says:when i go to the publix, and there is NO ONE using that spot, do you think it's acceptible for me to park there?
Amber says: NO
Crystal says: how is this different?
Amber says: this ain't publix
how many peeps you see walkin up in here handicapped
Crystal says: what if someone from American prinitng came and was injured, do you thinkthey should have to park out back?
injured. injured, baaad
Amber says: they should call ahead...just sayin
Crystal says: you're redic
i don't know what to do with you
you are soo an only child!!!!
Amber says: dude i can't help it the rents didn't have more
its like in my blood
Crystal says: i guess...

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Life's Soundtrack




Live music in Nashville on a Tuesday night. I don't take advantage of the fact that I live in Music City enough. So I'm going again Wednesday night to the Bluebird Cafe.

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A little reading




I love magazines. As I opened the mailbox today I found these treasures inside. Yippy Skippy!!!

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Monday, February 8, 2010

What Most Don't Love




I love Unexpected Snow!!!! I will keep a silly grin on my face until the last flake falls.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

My Town: Full of Possibilities





I love living in a town where I have so much left to discover. I went to Art Crawl Saturday downtown. And while I'm not a huge art fan, I loved the experience and the idea that I saw something new in my town. (This is The Arcade)

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Thursday, February 4, 2010

You Ridin' With Me?

Apparently it was for research for Taxi Driver. But wouldn't it have been cool for DeNiro to be your cab driver?

Day 4 - Images of Heritage


Isn't that such a ridiculous title? Give me a break. I couldn't think of anything else.

These are photos that I keep of my family. That awesome couple in the back? Macky and Grandmother (I'm sure if John and I had known her we would have given her a rockin' grandma name.) those two love birds on the right? Why, that's none other than the infamous Kay and Bob. The cute kids in the front? Johnny Mac and me. And the dapper man on the left (with me)? That's Boppa.

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Day 3 - Hail State


This is my Alma mater. Well, not Vanderbilt. The team on the bottom goal line is Mississippi State. So many memories are tied to that school and place. I'm glad I still get to see them play once in a while.

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Tuesday, February 2, 2010

These Kids - Day 2


Nathan and Laura. Some of my best friends in Music City.

12monthsofresolutions
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Monday, February 1, 2010

Day 1- dinner with friends


Friends eating at Blue Coast Burrito. 2/1/10


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Saturday, January 30, 2010

Another Fantastic Find



Here's another great find for shopping. Much like IDeeli which I posted about last week (here.)


Friday, January 29, 2010

Man, I love a drum line

When I was in high school, our band was...oh, how you say...lacking? Sure they played the fight song and even marched at halftime but they were very small and just okay.

The high school where most of my church friends went had a great band with an incredible drum line (I believe the honorable Chris Kinsley was a drum major for the MCHS band.) I loved to go to their games and watch the band, especially the drum line.

While they were good, I don't think they would hold a candle to these jokers. I guess this is what the Swiss are doing while they aren't engaged in combat, so always.



Thursday, January 28, 2010

Will it or won't it?

I think that if I wake up and run to the window tomorrow morning and there is no snow, I shall shed a tear. This Mississippi girl needs to see some significant snow.

Don't think I won't pray for this tonight.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Are you afraid of the dark?

Remember that show on Snick? Me too. And it scared me. Below is an article from MentalFloss.com about the strange phobias of celebrities. Do you think some of these phobias may be publicity stunts? Like Tyra's fear of dolphins? (Believe it. To think that she is going to be off the air. What a shame for journalism everywhere. It's truly a loss.)


Everyone has their weird phobias. Me, I hate clowns and people wearing costumes or masks that cover their faces (which is weird, considering how much I love Disney World). But compared to these 10 celebrity phobias, my fears are pretty normal.

bobchair-300x206.jpg

1. Billy Bob Thornton hates antiques so much he refuses to stay in a room with furniture from before 1950. This might be a rare phobia, but he’s not alone more than 250,000 people in the U.S. alone apparently suffer from this fear of antiques. “I’ve had friends tell me that maybe I was beaten to death with an antique chair in a former life,” Thornton has mused. Hmm.

2. Of all of the things that could traumatize Alfred Hitchcock you know, showers, birds, mama’s boys –one of the things he hated most were eggs, specifically runny ones. You know what’s weird? My mom shares Hitchcock’s birthday (not birth year, mind you) and she also loathes eggs. Even cracking one into a cake mix can make her gag, and don’t even ask her to make you over easy eggs.

3. Christina Ricci cannot stand to be around house plants, which would be known as a form of botanophobia. She finds them dirty and shudders at the idea of watering one. “If I have to touch one, after already being repulsed by the fact that there is a plant indoors, then it just freaks me out. I guess if a guy sends her flowers after a date, there won’t be a second one. Or maybe flowers are different? Do we have any botanophobics out there that can clarify?

4. Tyra Banks won’t be swimming with Flipper’s cousin at Sea World anytime soon she says she’s been scared of the intelligent swimmers since she was about eight years old. “I have dreams that I am in a pool and there are dolphins bumping me and I’m frightened,” she has said.

If you’re really interested, here’s a video of Tyra bravely facing her nemesis for her talk show.

5. Megan Fox hates paper. I imagine this must make it very hard to read scripts, but what do I know? Technically, she clarifies that this isn’t a phobia –it’s more like people who get the chills when they hear fingernails on a chalkboard. She says that sometimes she even has to have a cup of water nearby so she can thoroughly wet her finger before turning a page if she’s doing a lot of reading at once. So, War and Peace is probably out?

6. Do you guys remember Frankie from The Real World: San Diego? If you do, you probably remember her for her battle with cystic fibrosis (which she sadly lost in 2007) and not for her strange phobia: big boats. Really. The cameras were rolling on the roommates just standing around chatting when Frankie bolted for the bathroom, white as a ghost and thisclose to throwing up. Why? Because someone said “cruise ship.

7. Matthew McConaughey is scared of revolving doors. And maybe also personal hygiene, because he says he hasn’t worn deodorant in 20 years. He claims he feels anxious about even getting near revolving doors, and he’s also scared of tunnels. While actually being in a tunnel doesn’t bother him, the point where you have to go underground to enter the tunnel does.

kidfly-300x149.jpg

8. Nicole Kidman is what is known as a lepidopterophobe a person who is terrified of butterflies. “It’s so bizarre,” she told In Stylemagazine, “I’m not scared of snakes or spiders. She said she once tried to overcome her fear of the colorful little guys by making herself go through the butterfly exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History, but just couldn’t make it through. As a little girl, she couldn’t even go in her yard when she got home from school if there was a butterfly sitting on the gate.

9. Childhood sure can mess a person up. “My grandmother used to save it [used gum] in little rows in the cabinet,” Oprah once said. “I’d be scared to touch it because it was so gross, so I have a thing about gum. One guest in my home sat at the dinner table, took out some gum from her mouth and put it on her plate after she left, I threw the plate out.

10. What does Madonna have in common with a dog? I’m sure there are lots of hilarious answers to that, actually, but the answer I have in mind is that they’re both afraid of thunder.

I think a fear of clowns is somewhat common, so I didn’t include Johnny Depp’s phobia, but I have to say that his thoughts on why he hates them sum up my own opinions pretty nicely: “There’s something about the painted face and the fake smile. There seems to be a darkness lurking under the surface, a potential for real evil”.



So you sat out a month...

Check out 12monthsofresolutions - February edition to see what February has in store, challenge-wise.

Are you in?

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Will you be there, Edward?

They are converging on Music City, folks. The Official Twilight Fan Convention is going to be at Opryland this weekend. It's sure to be a blood-sucking good time. And by blood-sucking, I mean weird.

Devoted fans gather for the love of a vampire

This weekend, scores of fans will descend on Nashville to attend the Official Twilight Fan Convention atGaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center.

If you're imagining throngs of screaming teens and gothed-out vampire wannabes, think again. Among the crowds will be a multitude of women — mothers, sisters and best friends — looking to escape their daily lives by indulging in their love of Twilight.

"The love story really is for everybody," says Crystal Bandurske, a 34-year-old mother of five from Louisville, Ky. "Whether you are a teenager or an older person, it attracts such a wide range of people."

Staying at the hotel, meeting actors from the movies (including Peter Facinelli who plays Dr. Carlisle Cullen) and mingling with like-minded fans is a far cry from the daily routine and the isolation that can come with being a stay-at-home mom.

"I'm 35 — this is my girls weekend!" says Lori Joffs, laughing. Joffs, who lives in Spring Hill, is the administrator of Twilight Lexicon, one of the most popular Twilight fan Web sites. She has attended Twilight conventions in Atlanta, New Jersey, Miami and Chicago (often as a presenter for Twilight Lexicon), and plans to attend about 10 this year. With so many conventions under her belt, Joffs has seen a lot of Twilight moms.

"There are a fair share number of teenage Twilight fans," Joffs says, "but generally speaking it's a rarity to find a teenage fan who's (at a convention) without her mother. And her mother says she's a fan, too."

"The last time I went somewhere with my girlfriends was August '01," says Debbie Smith, 33, from Nicholasville, Ky. "That was the last time I went anywhere without a kid or husband. I am always with a kid."

Smith plans to travel to Nashville with two friends, and the nearly four-hour ride is something they're all looking forward to, especially Angie Napier, the ringleader of the trip and possibly the biggest Twilight fan of the bunch.

"We will catch up and see what the other families are doing and just get out and enjoy life," Napier says. "We will just escape from reality and have a good time. I think that is most of what we are looking forward to."

'Everyone Likes Romance'

So what is it about Twilight specifically that inspires such passion? For the women we spoke to, at least, it's not so much the supernatural vampires-and-werewolves angle. Rather, they're drawn to the intense romance that develops between central characters Edward and Bella. That, and the character development at which author Stephenie Meyer excels.

"There are some mature aspects of mortality and family life and your soul," says Joffs. "It is a fun, escapist love story, and it's clean, so it's something a mother and daughter can do together, and a mother is not ashamed to share this with her daughter."

"Everyone likes romance," adds Napier, who says she relates to the strong-willed, feisty Alice character.

The husbands may not understand their wives' fascination with Twilight, but most can appreciate their need to get a break from the kids.

"(My husband) is actually OK with it," says Lindsey Morgan, 27, of Fayetteville, Ky. With three children under the age of 4 and a full-time job, the convention is something she's really looking forward to. "When I first told him I was going, he looked at me like I was crazy, but he loves to give me a hard time about it. He's glad it is something me and my friend can do together and he doesn't have to come with us."

Experiencing a giddiness and excitement that has been missing since high school, these women are unabashedly giving in to the rush fans have when they come close to their passion.

"I don't remember really being obsessed with something since Dirty Dancing came out," says Napier. "When I was a teenager we all had our hair cut like Baby and rolled up our denim shorts, and that's what I feel like now. I remember my grandfather making fun of my aunt, who was my age now when all of that happened. Now I can relate."

Another draw of the convention is having a direct connection to what has become one of the biggest franchises in history. "It is kind of neat how big it has gotten," says Morgan. "It's hard to fathom that those four books have caused this much interest in the world."

"I want to meet Dr. Carlisle," says Lexington mom April P. Merrill Bormes, 31. "But the one thing I am looking forward to is spending time with my sister doing something we both like."


via The Tennessean


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