Me and my new car...

So here is a picture of me in my new car. I have had a little over a week and still love it! It drives sooo good. AND I still haven't had to get gas yet even though Brad and I have driven it everywhere - yeah!!! I do need to wash it though. I mean all this pollen is everywhere!

How many beads do you think I'm wearing????

So last Saturday Brad and I went to Jackson's St. Patty's Day parade. I have heard that it is the fourth largest St. Patty's Day parade in the US, but I'm not sure about that. This is our second time to go and the thing I like the most about it is seeing how people dress up for this thing. See at the front of the parade is the parade of The Sweet Potato Queens from all over the US. It is ladies and some men dressed up as various sweet potato queens. It is connected with the famous book, which I still need to read to really get why these ladies do this but anyway. So I tried snap a few shots of all of it, so I hope you find them entertaining. It was a beautiful day and fun to get and do something different on a Saturday morning.

NO MORE HUB CAPS

Yes it is a new day and for me that means a new "ride" or more importantly NO MORE HUB CAPS!!! Yes that is right never again will I always drive a hub cap less car. Daddy, I know you are so glad. It is alloy wheels for me now and boy is that good new. I am so excited to say that I now have a new car!!! It is a Volkswagen Passat and wow is it nice. Brad and I drove it too workout and he said this is your car; I had to stop and digest it for a minute. Then I let out a squeal. I haven't had the chance to take a picture yet, so it is like the one below except black. So this too will take me many places and through many new stages of life and for that I am excited, too. It is always good to reflect, but even better to know we have a future. Well I hope many of you will be able to make some new memories with me in my new car!

My Good Ol' Grey Car

So this is my lovely car. Yes it is missing its front left hub cab, but most of you already know that because you've watched me drive it for the last 7 years. It is a great dependable car. Despite my dad's opinion it has run wonderfully without a hubcap and dirty for the past 3 years. I just never saw the need to replace it and thought it added character. It was a perfect gift from my dad years ago in college and has seen me through many different life stages - college, graduation, taking my first job, helping me move 5 times in 2 years, traveling all over MS for a job and to see family, and latest marriage. I am sure glad that car can't talk because it could probably let all of you know all my secrets. I mean think of all the conversations it has heard with my riders, on my phone, when I've talked to myself (I mean no uhhh), my singing out loud, my cries, my prayers - that car has been the only stable thing/object in my life for 7 years. My mom even helped me clean it out last week for the first time in I don't know how long. It was like my little home for those years (until I got married of course). So when I got in it today to drive to work, I had no idea that it would be my last time to drive it to work, the grocery store and home. I almost a little teary eyed not at the thought of the car itself, but the memories it holds. It is a reminder that time is fleeting. We must take in the moment and live in it fully. Never hold to tightly to anything but the Lord because all else is wasting away. Cherish times past but also look excitedly to the future - we never know what it may hold. So today I will say thank you to my dad for giving me this wonderful car many years ago to help me along my journey, without I wouldn't have gotten far. Also thank you to all my friends and family for the wonderful memories of time spent together in it. It is hard to believe that I am out of college and have been working with deaf students for five years now. It is also hard to believe all the changes that have taken place in my life over these past years, but I am very thankful for them all. So today I will cherish all those memories, but what will tomorrow hold.....

Ice Cream and my sister

So the other day I saw a commercial for ice cream cones and realized I hadn't had an actual ice cream cone in a long time. I thought back to when I was a child and my parents took me to the place of the 31 flavors. See when I grew up in north MS there was no Marble Slab or Cold Stone, there was only the one - Baskin Robbins. Didn't you all love going in there and asking to sample as much as you could just to see how many of those tiny little spoons you could collect? So over spring break my mom, sister, and I decided to get an ice cream cone. As my mom and I were trying to decide where to go, my sister (now 8) informed us that she has only been to Baskin Robbins ONE TIME in her life. I couldn't believe it. How deprived! (not really, I know but really only once - come on mom.) So of course we went to Baskin Robbins. I then decided to be wild and get a double scoop, so of course that is what my sister wanted too. Once we got them we went outside (my sister's favorite place) to enjoy our double scoop ice cream cones. The only thing is that I had also forgotten how much of an art eating those double scoops can be. I mean really they melt so fast. There was no time for talking just licking and laughing at ourselves trying not to lose one little bit of our ice cream cones to the ground. It was a lot of fun. I laughed so hard at my sister as I tried to lick faster. So how fast does it take you to eat a double scoop ice cream cone????

Sister Time

During spring break I traveled to north MS to see my family. When I arrived on Monday my sister showed me how to do fingerprint art. It was so neat. As you can see from the picture we were fingerprinting away outside on the picnic table (because clara would rather do everything outside than inside - completely opposite of me). It was so much fun. I may have to buy me a variety of ink pads and that fingerprint art book, so I can do this more often. But it wouldn't be as much fun without YOU - CLARA! I love you little sis!

Creative Minds...

So I had to share with you one of the neat things I received from one of my student's parents. Davis is a sweet little boy that has amazing language considering he is hearing impaired. His mom on the other hand is very creative. She has her own company out of her house and makes all kinds of stuff. This is one of her creations - a framed corkboad with antique knobs and clips on the bottom. I have put this in my back hallway to keep invitations, pictures, our calendar, and any other stuff you would put on the fridge. Our refridgerator is stainless steal and can't hold stuff on the front, so this has helped a lot. I also really like the clips for mail and stuff on the bottom. She also makes frames, mini chalkboards/whiteboards, large corkboards for girls/boys, and frames for mirrors. Her company name is Be Be & Company.

Oh no! My new shirt has a stain!

So I went to eat at Amerigo the other night and spilt a garlic, oil, and butter sauce on my shirt. My brand new shirt and sweater. I am so upset. So today I tried soaking it in ice cold water and nothing has happened. Now I just looked on the internet for some ideas of how to get it out. I found this neat page of ways to get all kinds of things out. I'm going to try some of them today and will let you know if it works. In the meantime, you can send me your ideas or check out the sight for ideas concerning your own stains.

My sweet hubby

So this past Tuesday night I had a lot of reports due for work. I had to stay up until 1a.m. to get it all finished. Brad was so sweet. He sat up with me the whole time and even offered to typed some of my reports while I dictated them to him. He did type two of them which helped soooo much! Nobody has done anything like that since my mom years ago. Thanks Brad for being so selfless. It helped me out soo much!

Friday Night

So I have totally been slacking with posting in the last two weeks. I have had things going on, but I was sick for awhile, forgot my camera every time something happened, and have been very busy at work. But it's spring break, yeah!!! So as I sit here with Brad watching TV, I finally have time to try to update the blog. I still don't have any pictures, but oh well. We ordered pizza tonight. My favorite is Pizza Hut's pan super supreme pizza, so of course that is what I ordered. It was very yummy. Soooo what's been happening.... Last Saturday my small group girls and I gave a shower for our friend Kara. Kara and Kevin are going to have a sweet baby boy. You can check out her blog for a picture from the shower. I also received a call from one of my best friends, Brooke, from high school last Monday night to tell me that she was expecting, too. Congratulations, Brooke!! So I hope all my teacher friends enjoy a wonderful spring break. I sure plan to.

Worms

So I touched a worm at school. We did a unit on bugs and had this grand idea to have real worms for our lesson on worms. The only problem was that I didn't want to touch the worms myself. Thankfully the teacher and I next door combined classes and she led the activity while I took pictures. But after trying to get the kids to at least touch the worms, I had to do it myself. The one I'm touching in the picture is very tiny and fat. I still had to jump around right after I did it - yuck!!!!!

Sunday Lunch

This past Sunday our friends, Tracy and Caleb invited us over for Sunday lunch. This is Tracy in front of her very cute house in Belhaven. Brad went to high school with Caleb back in Memphis. I met them when we all started going to church together at Pinelake. Brad and I sang with Tracy in choir and praise team for awhile. Tracy made Eggplant Parmesan for lunch and it was delicious!!!! Thanks Tracy for having us over. We had a wonderful time!