My babies...

Flossie the Food Stealing Alien Baby (Angie's)

Proof that Flossie is an alien...or was. =) See top left.

Fannie (Jennifer's Baby)

Due in May

Frannie (ABB's Baby)

Due in July

Yay! I heart babies! I can't wait for more pics of my girls!

If you're wondering...The "F" names started with Angie. We both named our iPods and when I got mine, I tossed around calling it Flossie. I finally decided on the more appropriate name iRis iPodimous. So, when Angie found out she was pregnant I said, "Call her Flossie!" Of course, she said no, but allowed me to give her that nickname. Yay!

When Jennifer found out she was pregnant, I wracked my brain for a similar, silly, old timey name. At first I was calling her Nellie...but it just didn't sit right with me. Then one night, Abi (roomie's daughter) was sitting in front of the fireplace and she said, "My fanny is all warm." And I had a lightbulb moment! "Fannie!" That's the best name ever! So, Jennifer's baby is forever Fannie to me.

Now my dear ABB is pregnant again. I decided to go with another "F" name b/c the others were working so well for me. ABB's baby will be Frannie to me or Frances when she's a bad little girl. =)

Yay for babies! Yay for silliness!

Okay. That's enough of this ridiculous post!

My Nephew!

This is my nephew, Duke!

Duke and his daddy, Tim (my brother).

Xmas Movie Xtravaganza!

So, I'm not really crazy about Chrismas. Maybe it's b/c I don't have children, but...aside from the meaning of Christmas it's all...meh...to me. My coworkers think I'm scrooge, but to be honest, I think they're CRAZY! Tee hee. Seriously. Donna has a whole wardrobe that she pulls out for Christmas. All these really awful Christmas sweaters and jumpers...yes JUMPERS! Ick!

Anyhoo, I don't really get into all the decorating and stuff, but I have been in the mood to watch Christmas movies. So far I've watched A Miracle on 34th St (sweet) and National Lampoon's Christmas vacation (hilarious!). This weekend I'm planning to watch It's A Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story. I'm excited! I plan to curl up in bed in my comfy pjs and fuzzy socks and just veg out!

ABB, what Christmas movies do you love?

Blast From The Past...

When I first joined myspace (about 3 years ago ) I wrote a couple of blogs that I loved. I've since deleted the blogs (and stopped blogging there althogher) from my page, but I saved them on my harddrive. I thought I'd bring them back out today and post them here. Enjoy!

Rob's Philosophy

As I was looking around on myspace today, I was reminded of Rob's philosophy from High Fidelity. This is a place for you to meet new folks... relationships, friendships, networking... whatever. How do you draw these potential new folks? By listing what you like... For example, I made a new friend just b/c I like Napoleon Dynamite. Sweet!

Rob's philosophy is:

"What really matters is WHAT you like not what you ARE like. Books, records, films...these things matter. Call me shallow - it's the effin truth."

So, you see...Rob's philosphy is what this whole myspace thing is built on!

More from Rob...

"What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?"

Okay. The whole idea of organizing your records autobiographically... GENIUS! I don't have any records to organize (I wish I had that collection!), but I can without a doubt categorize my life into different music phases. See Below:

The Top 40 Phase: I was pretty much a Top 40 girl when I was a kid. I loved just about anything on the radio. Anyone remember Zoo 98? Yes! Anyway, before middle school, the only two musicians that stand out in my memory are Michael Jackson and Reba McEntire. I know...total opposites, but my brain is a little fuzzy (see Grateful Dead phase).

The New Kids on the Block Phase: Yes, it's true...and I'm darn proud of it! I was OBSESSED with NKOTB. I had every album, book, etc... that they made. My bedroom walls were literally papered in their posters. I was the coolest! My mom took me and my cousin, Shelly, to camp out for tickets to one of the concerts on the Hangin' Tough Tour. OMG! I still get chills just thinking about it. He he. And, yes I still know every song by heart.

The Big Hair Band Phase: Shortly after NKOTB, I made a drastic change from pop to heavy metal. Poison was my fave! Sadly, I never got to see them in concert. I also loved G-N-R and Skid Row, etc...

The Return to Top 40 Phase: In Junior High...nothing stands out. I was focused more on socializing during those days. You know...the whole Drill Team thing, etc. In those days, I listened to whatever was on the radio.

The Beatles Phase (High School Part 1): In the 10th grade, my friend, Angie, turned me on to the Beatles. I was instantly OBSESSED. I gobbled up anything and everything I could about the Beatles. Fun times... Also, Samantha got me interested in all things 60's and 70's rock and roll. I remember many nights zoning out to Pink Floyd. Nice...and this was b/f drugs. See, you don't have to do drugs to experience and appreciate good music. LOL.

The Alice in Chains Phase (High School Part 2 and Beyond): After the Beatles phase I went straight in to grungeville. I loved Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, STP, etc... But my absolute fave was Alice in Chains. OMG! 1995 was a great year for grunge rock! Another one who stands out during that time is Alanis Morrisette. She rocks! This music brings back great memories from working at Hastings. I'll never forget that group of people that I worked with. It was amazing and awful at the same time. That was where I met James...GRRR! The bane of my existance. That relationship screwed me up royally. The James relationship was directly responsible for the next phase.

The Grateful Dead Phase: OMG! How can I even begin to describe this phase? Well...after some unfortunate business w/ James, I decided to move to Arkadelphia and live with my friend Samantha. Oh yeah...and to go to college, but I wasn't very good at that. Anyway, the first thing Samantha said to me was, "Beer's your friend. You'll drink a lot of it." (quote from PCU) I wasn't much of a drinker b/f that, but it only took one night to really break me in. I was ready to forget about James. So, I drowned my sorrows for 3 whole years. I was drunk and/or high almost every day! No wonder I can't remember anything! What I do remember is going to lots of cool shows (Phish, Leftover Salmon and other jam bands) and hanging with my beautiful friends. We would move around to different houses switching roommates. We were like gypsies or a commune...crazy. We were always broke, but always had money for some smoke (Heh! I'm a poet). And we were always up for organizing a kegger. Back then, it was all about the tunes. I could lose myself for hours listening and dancing to the GD. We loved the GD cover band The Schwag. FUN TIMES! Acid parties w/ different "mood" rooms. Day trips w/ sidewalk chalk. Awesome. I could talk for hours about the good times I had during these years, but there was also a lot of bad times. Eventually, the bad won out and my mom rescued me. On to the next phase...

The Christian Music Phase: So, after a while I got sick of the drugs and started thinking about life. I would look around at all of us- high and stupid. I would think, "Is this how it's going to be for the rest of my life?" I was homeless, jobless... My car wasn't running and I hadn't really spoken to my family in 6 months (can you imagine?!)... I felt cut off from the world and didn't see any way out of the hell hole I had dug for myself. Then I got really sick and finally swallowed my pride and called my mom. Hence the rescue. She said, "That's it! You're coming home. Pack your bags. I'll be there in an hour." And that's what happened. She took me home and I turned my life over to God.

And that brings us to the real story of the Christian Music Phase (finally!) After that life changing move back home, I just wanted to listen to music that helped me grow as a Christian. Music that glorified God. So, I quit listening to secular music. It wasn't that I thought that secualr music was bad (sinful, whatever). It just wasn't what I needed at the time.

The Return to Secular Music Phase: This is my current phase. For the past year or so, I've gotten back into "secular" music. I'm trying to discover all of the great bands that I've missed the last 5 years! And of course, I'm still digging the groups listed above... EVEN NKOTB! I still listen to their Christmas album every year. LOL. Don't judge!

Okay, so that's some highlights from my musical life. Hope you enjoyed.
Later!

p.s. In this post or any future posts...if there are spelling/grammatical errors...blame it on the Grateful Dead phase. Lots of brain cells lost then!

One more movie...

The roommate and I watched Reign Over Me last night. I actually saw it on opening day in the theater. I am a major Adam Sandler fan! =) Anyhoo, I rented it because the roommate hadn't seen it.

If you haven't seen it...GO RENT IT NOW! Heh. It's a departure from the normal Sandler roles, but he handles it beautifully. I bawled like a baby. Also, I happen to think Mike Bender is a genius. I loved The Upside of Anger.

TTFN!

Dreary Sunday Afternoon...

Where George Washington worshiped when he was in Charleston, SC.

Its the perfect day for sleeping in! Which is great for me b/c I'm sick...AGAIN! I can't seem to shake this stupid cold. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm allergic to something in this house. That'd be one more reason to get the heck out of here. =)

Speaking of the homefront, things are okay right now. The roommate is basically pretending like nothing happened. I can live with that for now. I do have a back up plan, so if she does the yelling for no reason thing again...I'm out of here. I still have all my stuff in boxes and all my clothes are easy to transport. As far as furniture goes, I only brought my bed, armoire, end table and a couple bookshelves. So, I could seriously be out of here in a truckload. It's pretty sad that I'd even have to think about these things, huh?


Anyhoo...Its been a boring few weeks. I've been laying low. Thanksgiving was boring. My family didn't get together. Mom's not eating right now. Hehe. She's doing the UAMS weight loss program. So, basically she exists only on their supplements (shakes, etc...). My Dad and brother, Timmy, went to my Dad's moms...which, yes, would technically be my grandmother, but I'm not close to her. She's actually my step-grandmother and it's a long story. My other brother, Logan, worked on Thanksgiving. My pal, Jennifer, took pity on me and invited me to dinner at her house. So, on T-day, I slept late, then got up and made dressing. It was my first attempt and although it wasn't awesome (like mom's) I was very pleased. I took my dressing to Jennifer's house and had a lovely dinner with her family. Fun times! In fact, Jennifer and I had so much fun that we've decided to do it again next year. The rest of the T-day long weekend I spent in my bedroom. I was either sleeping, reading or watching tv. I watched four or 5 movies, watched a 5 hour Dylan documentary and watched 8 episodes of The West Wing (just started the first season thru Netflix). TALK ABOUT LAZY!


Let's see...what to talk about...


Last night the roommate and I watched two movies. The first one was The Reaping with Hilary Swank. I had high hopes for this movie b/c I really like Hilary. Plus, it was a thriller w/ Biblical plagues. Creepy! Well, the movie WAS creepy and a little hard to follow at first. There was a twist at the end. It was...I don't know. I didn't love it.

I loved the second movie: Waitress with Keri Russell. LOVED IT! It was hilarious and sad. Sigh. I want to watch it again today that's how much I loved it. It's def one that I will buy. I've been a fan of Keri Russell since her Felicity days. I was obsessed with that show! So, I'm very excited that Keri has a great movie out there.

On a totally unrelated note...I finally got the Charleston pics from our trip in October! They're not as great as I hoped they'd be, but then again...I'm no photographer! =) I've posted a couple of my favorite ones and you can see some more here. Enjoy!

I loved the cobblestone streets.

George Washington Park

East Battery Mansions...

The only "white orb" we found on our ghost hunt.