Catch of the Day

My Aunt Tanna emailed me recently with a picture that I have absolutely fallen in love with.

I love it.

That is my daddy on the left, and his grandfather Pappy on the right. Two peas in a pod. I will confess to being homesick at the moment and every time I look at it, I feel a little better. Thanks, Aunt Tanna!

I love you, Daddy.

Sunday Surprises

You all know what big Braves fans we are. So, when our good friend Greg called and asked if we wanted a pair of tickets he couldn't use for Sunday's game, we gladly agreed to take them off his hands.

We were just excited that we could escape to the 755 Club if it got unbearably hot!

We had no idea that we would be sitting 12 rows behind home plate! Woo-hoo! Even though it was a thousand degrees outside, we were really excited to have such great seats.

Chipper at bat


Tiexera (my new favorite) had several big hits, but the Braves couldn't seem to pull it together

Just before we headed for the cold air in the 755 Club

It was not a day for the Braves to come out on top. It was rather sad, actually. I think we lost to the Nationals 15-5. Ouch. I can't complain though - it's probably the first loss we've seen in more than a year. We like to think we're good luck charms for the Braves. :-)


On our way back to the car, we decided our luck was turning around when...

Bryan found a dollar in the road!

I know people find quarters and dimes pretty frequently, but a dollar?! We decided it was a sign. A sign that we needed to give in to our cravings and have...

Margaritas!

We headed to one of our favorite Vinings spots - La Paz. Yum. Nothing better on a hot summer day than Mexican and Margaritas!

Steak and Black Bean Quesadillas

The Triple Taco

We left La Paz and headed home with sunburned shoulders and full bellies. :-) It was a really fun summer Sunday. I don't have very many left! Come see us!

Happy (Belated) Birthday Toni!

The traditional birthday girl birthday shot.

My sweet friend Toni had a birthday on Sunday, the 20th. Being the good party-ers that we are, we went out on Saturday night to celebrate. We headed to Hemingways to see... you guessed it... 7Sharp9! It's way more fun when you know the band.

Michelle, Nikki, Toni, Moi, Amber
(MIA: Sherry and Claudine)

You know I go out with a date!

Right before we took this picture I heard, "Another one?! We've only taken 15 in the last two weeks!!"

"We have to have lots."

"Why?"

"Duh! Our wedding slide show!"

:-) (If you look back at the photo, you can see my cute new highlights!)

Roper and Toni

That's not Toni's boyfriend Jeremy, that's her work husband - Roper. Toni is switching schools this year, and she needed a photo of her work husband so she's not tempted to find another one. You know, since the number of straight men in elementary school is staggeringly high.

Happy (Late) Birthday, Sweet Girl!

7Sharp9 in Smyrna

Last Saturday (July 12th), we joined our crew of friends on the Village Green right here in Smyrna. We were supposed to arrive earlier for Michelle's summer shindig at her new house, but we had a small hiccup in the way of our air conditioner.

Remember our air conditioner? And how we already paid to have it fixed? Well, it broke. Again.

This house was hot-hot-hot!

Thank the LORD for my neighbor Anita. She recommended an air repair man who works for the school system. We had to wait a little while, but I'll take a $70 fix over a $300 fix any day! We are currently loving life with a house that's at least 10 degrees cooler and a new air repair man.

As soon as the air conditioner was fixed, I sweated my way through getting ready. I must stop to mention that I loathe getting ready when I'm hot. It makes zero sense to me to take a shower, dry off, get dressed, begin to dry my hair, and start sweating all over again. Yuck.

Anyhoo. Nicole and "J" met us here and we headed towards the Green. And as soon as we arrived, the picture taking began. There was lots of singing and dancing. And picture taking.

My silly girls. I love them.


Not sure what Michelle's up to... Claudine seems interested, though!

With Toni on the blanket!

Nikki and Toni

Big Brother Robel (aka: Our Bacardi Supplier)

And of course, the couple shots:

Nicole and J

Me with Mine.
It was a very giggly night.

Claudine and... Jeremy?

Mike looks a little... disturbed.

My favorite part of the night came when this awesome rock star signed ME. Oh yeah.

That's right folks.
I got signed.
With a Sharpie.

I'm Still Here!!

I've been Super-Nanny (no, really) for the last two weeks and haven't really had time to blog. The family I'm working for has one of those fancy schmancy Macs that I'm afraid of. By the time I get home, it's 7:00 and all I want to do is eat and lounge with Bryan.

I'm hoping I can take my laptop with me tomorrow and upload some photos during nap time. If not, hold tight - they'll be here soon. :-)

In the meantime, my friend Lydia tagged me and I thought it would make for a fun update...

(PS - You should go check her out. She is fun and smart.)



1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? My parents just liked Abigail - it means "Joy of the father." Lee (my middle name) came from my maternal grandmother. I was almost Miranda... Little Randi. SO GLAD they went with Abigail.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Monday night. I was walking in the dark and ended up with a splinter in my heel. It's still there. And hurting.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? I love my handwriting. I'm a little OCD about my handwriting.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Honey Ham.


5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? NO. No, No and NO!

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I like me.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? I teach 4th grade. It's a necessity.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? God did not make me a bird. I choose not to do bird things.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Quaker Oh's.

11. Do YOU WONDER WHAT HAPPENED TO QUESTION 11? Not really.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? I've got some muscle. Rawr.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Chocolate Peanut Butter.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Hair. Smile. Eyes.

15. RED OR PINK? Red.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOU? My pant size. :-)

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My grandmothers. And my sisters.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? No - I'm just wasting time. I am a little curious, though.

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Black boxers (Bryan's) and no shoes.

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Black bean and cheese quesadilla. Mmmmm.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Robot Chicken. Not my idea.

22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Green.

23. FAVORITE SMELL? Yellow Cake baking.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Bryan

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? I think Lydia is fabulous!

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? College football and basketball.

27. HAIR COLOR? Brown with highlights that really need to be updated... and will be on Saturday!

28. EYE COLOR? Green like Daddy's.

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Yes - and everyone should be really glad that I do.

30. FAVORITE FOOD? Mashed potatoes.

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Stepbrothers - Bryan got tickets to a Sneak Preview on Monday!

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? A blue and white tank top.

34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Winter.

35. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs.

36. FAVORITE DESSERT? Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting.

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Nicole?

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Probably my brother-in-law, Chris.

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Straight Up and Dirty

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? No mouse pad - laptop.

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT? Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

42. FAVORITE SOUND? Laughter.

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Beatles.

44. WHAT IS THE FURTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Hawaii.

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? I can make my voice sound like I've swallowed an enormous amount of helium.

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Waynesville, NC

47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOkNG FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? Anyone's. :-)

Looking for a Good Read?

Thanks to my friend Nicole, I found the following list on Entertainment Weekly's website:
(Yes Mama, the one I did shots with last weekend.)

I did the following as I transferred the list here:

• Cross out books I've already read.
• Italicize the books I want to read.

The Top 100 Books of the Last 25 Years

1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars' Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness, José Saramago (1998)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
47. World's Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (1998)
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators' Ball, Connie Bruck (1988)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)

My favorites were probably Persepolis, The Glass Castle, The Lovely Bones and Fast Food Nation. Persepolis was the first graphic novel I ever picked up (albiet for a grad class), and it was absolutely fascinating. It has since been turned into a movie.

The Glass Castle is one of my favorite memoirs. I saw the author on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and picked up the book later that week. I could not put it down. People are incredibly resilient.

The Lovely Bones was recommended to me by my Tia (yes, we call her just Tia). Sad and haunting, but awesome.

Fast Food Nation was the book that sent me into a vegetarian frenzy for 2+ years. My mother finally bought a free range turkey one Thanksgiving, and I caved. I still have a hard time walking into a McFatty King and not thinking about Schlosser's expose on slaughterhouses and the fast food industry. Blech.

Like Nicole, I'm curious to see if my readers have any recommendations. My Goodreads list also looks insanely long now. Thoughts on books I might want to stay away from? Your favorites?

As Promised...

As Nicole recently hinted, we made some mischief Saturday night with Nic and "J" at Suburban Tap playing trivia. We lost on the final question, but a good time was had by all. My favorite part of the evening included one of Nicole's favorites - Key Lime Pie shots.

Don't be deceived - those shots were quite large. However, I drink like a fish. Nicole drinks like a whale. Well, she used to. Maybe now we're both fish. I did find a recipe for them online. I highly recommend ordering/making one yourself - they're quite delicioso!

Before the chug-a-lugging began.

Seriously?
We're almost 30. Well, I am.
Who am I kidding - that was really fun!!

Sorry there aren't more pictures. At least I remembered to capture the important moment: Drinking like the collegiate hotties that we are.

I mean, were. ;-)

The Smyrna Zoo Welcomes...

WOODY!

No, we did not get a dog. Woody the rat terrier has been visiting this week while his "people" are out of town. One of Bryan's co-workers, Bubba, asked if we could dog-sit while he and his family took a well-deserved vacation. We (obviously) said yes. While it has been a lot of work, it's also been a lot of fun. I have someone to walk with 2 or 3 times a day, and he watches TLC and HGTV without moaning or groaning.

We did, however, learn a few things:

1. We are not big fans of picking up poo at 7:30 am when someone wants to go outside.
   
2. It gets really hot in the bed when there's a dog sleeping in your armpit.
   
3. Our cats + one small dog = Some pretty p.o.'d cats.
   

This is not the face of a happy cat.

A few days ago, I kept my friend Nikki's little boy, Tyler while she and her husband Chris did some work in their rental house. Here's what happened when we introduced Tyler to Woody...

I love this face!


This didn't last long. Buddy soon retreated to the bedroom.

These two wore each other out!

Tag! You're it!

I will be sad to see Woody go home today. However, I will enjoy not waking up in a deep sweat and sleeping (at least) until 9 am without dog breath in my face. :-)

Happy Weekend!

Students in the Summertime?!

Every year, Six Flags sponsors a program called Read to Succeed. It's absolutely fabulous. Students read for 600 minutes after school, documented by parents, and they get a free Six Flags ticket in return. Their classroom teacher also gets a free Six Flags ticket of her very own as well!!

Most of you know I teach in a low-income school. This means that while the free Six Flags ticket is a great reward, it's not something their parents can afford to do with the whole family. So, this year I made the offer (along with my good friend and colleague, John Roper) to take any kid who wanted to go with me (us) as long as they had a free ticket.

My brave friend, Roper.

John and I rented a 15 passenger van, packed a bunch of sandwiches, Doritos, sodas and Little Debbies into a cooler and headed towards Six Flags yesterday morning. We had 8 students come along, and two additional chaperones - Bryan (who gave up his day off) and another parent, Dominic.

Waiting to go in!

This was just before Bryan's most un-favorite ride of the day. It's a carousel of swings (hanging on chains) that rises up in the air and glides up and down for about 2 or 3 minutes. The man with slight acrophobia almost lost his lunch. :-) We made it.

Going into Monster Plantation

Most of you know I am NOT a rollercoaster girl. I will watch from the ground all day long while everyone else gets turned upside down and thrown around in circles in a box on a track. However, I surprised myself by riding the Georgia Scorcher!

Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia :-)

You ride this monster standing up. STANDING UP! I was standing in line, debating on whether or not I would chicken out when I realized how short the ride was - under a minute. I talked myself into it. When we got off, I had two concerns: 1) How to make my legs stop shaking. 2) My blood pressure.

I stuck to less heart-condition inducing rides for the rest of the day.

Drying off after Skull Island

Two tired chaperones.

It was a fantastic and exhausting day. The kids had a great time, we learned we definitely need more time in the park (we only stayed until 6pm - next year we'll stay until it closes), and I can't wait to do it again! I think next year, we'll need another can. Everybody said, "Can we come with you next year?" :-)

Walking back to the van

We don't want to leave!

I said, "Show me a tired face."