1. Garden Salsa Sun Chips are delicious.
2. “The Sing-Off” could have been so much more.
3. I’m totally in love with the color turquoise right now.
4. The state of Alabama is a little fired up about football right now. This is one of many reasons I am so thankful to live here.
5. I have never seen Titanic. And yet my heart still goes on.
6. I will watch any television show about people buying a home.
7. Oatmeal cookies are underrated.
8. Current fashion obsession: Sandra Bullock’s orange sweater / navy pants / gray & white striped scarf outfit in The Proposal.
9. I have no desire to see Avatar.
10. I feel like I have no idea how to successfully put on eye make-up. Still. And I’ve been wearing make-up for A LOT OF YEARS.
11. The new season of “The Bachelor” is supposedly more family-friendly than previous seasons, but hopefully it’ll be just as cheesy (FINGERS CROSSED).
12. Watched Duplicity. Thought it was two different movies in one. Which, I guess, is consistent with its title.
13. Why has nobody made a reality show about women who genuinely like each other and enjoy each other’s company and are, you know, FRIENDS?
14. Just a little more than a week until the new season of “American Idol” begins. Feels like the last one just ended.
15. The other day I watched the last few minutes of the “90210” where they change the Hollywood sign to “W Bev Hi ’93,” and I had the sobering realization that THAT WAS OVER FIFTEEN YEARS AGO. Time stops for no man, y’all. Not even Brandon Walsh.
Assorted Variety Of Random
A Handy Resource
Hey bloggy peoples –
I have a big night of TV in store, what with the Very Special Episode of “Iron Chef” on the DVR, not to mention a rented copy of “Star Trek” just waiting for my undivided attention, but I wanted to pass along this info before I forgot. And trust me: I will forget about four minutes into “Iron Chef” if I don’t tell you right now.
Our church is doing something this year called The Radical Experiment. And earlier tonight, when I was looking at the Scripture readings for the week, I realized that I can link to the Family Worship Guide that our church is putting out each week, and it struck me as something that might interest some of you.
There’s an original song that you can download and sing, a coloring page for your kids, a Bible lesson for the family AND suggestions for age-appropriate activities you can do with your kids – all corresponding to the Scripture readings for the week. It looks like the curriculum is going to be incredible. You can check The Radical Experiment website for updates each week.
Okay. That is all. I’m going to watch TV now.
Hope y’all are having a happy new year!
2009 Favorites
So I spent a chunk of the day writing this long, reflective post about 2009. And I’m really glad I wrote it, because “remembering” has been a little bit of a theme in 2009. But the more I read over what I wrote, the more I think it’s one of those posts I need to keep close to my heart. It might be a wee bit thoughtful for a blog where the focus is usually on reality television and bacon.
However.
Writing the post made me think about a whole bunch of fun stuff that happened this past year. Here are a few of my favorite moments of 2009.
January – Travis recorded a live CD in Woodstock, Georgia. David and I drove over for it, and Melanie was there, too. Before the concert Rich snapped a picture of Travis, Melanie and me that I absolutely adore, mainly because it makes it look like Melanie’s about to go live on the local news.
I cannot tell you how much I love those two people and their families. So many fun memories with them in 2009.
February – Alex and I went to Memphis for my sister-in-law Janie‘s 40th birthday party. I developed a huge crush on the centerpieces on Janie’s mama’s dining room table. I also got to meet Emma Kate’s orange chairs for the very first time. It was love at first sight.
March – I made a quick trip to Nashville to watch State’s NCAA tourney game with Sister, and I got to see my friends Angie, Annie and Angela while I was there. I don’t know when I’ve ever had so many meaningful conversations packed into 24 hours. I cried the whole way home. So grateful.
Also: Alex turned 6!
April – Melanie and I went to New Orleans for Living Proof Live and were alternately terrified and fascinated when we spent a solid hour waiting for pizza inside a Domino’s that was filled with such an eclectic array of VERY VOCAL people that I was certain we were being filmed by some sort of hidden camera. I returned home to find that Star Wars action figures had taken over my house. They have yet to surrender.
May – Alex’s last day of school was one of my most treasured “mama moments” to date. His teacher called each student to the front of the room, and then she looked each child straight in the eyes and told him or her what she loved about them. She prayed for the group when she was finished, and I cannot tell you how encouraging it was for the kids and for the parents. She spoke Truth into each one of their lives. I will never forget it.
June – I went to Oklahoma to see Melanie, Shannon and Ree. Mel rode A Horse Named Cheese while Shannon and I tried to figure out how to respond to a cantankerous cow. Ree made garlic bread and angels sang. It was one of the most fun trips of my whole life. We even got to see Kelly, Harper and Judy on the way home. THE INTERNET IS A WONDER.
July – We swam and swam and swam and swam. We made two separate trips to the beach and had loads of family fun – not to mention approximately 4,892 trips up and down water slides. Alex decided that “Oh, picklenuts” was his new favorite phrase. It made me laugh.
August – Alex started back to school, I got re-adjusted to a schedule that involves, you know, WORK, and the rest is sort of a blur. I’m sure I cooked some things and watched some TV and talked to some people. But that’s about as much as I can remember.
September – Alex’s buddy C came to visit from Texas, and oh, what a happy day it was – we had all missed him so much. We went to Memphis for Labor Day and to celebrate Sister’s birthday, then came home for more time with C. We fell into the routine of all things fall – football season, Sunday School, Wednesday night church stuff, choir, soccer – and the month flew by.
October – I was sort of weird about my birthday this year – it felt like a turning point and I didn’t really have a mind to turn. Plus, I had this dream in my head of being with all my friends and family on my birthday, and for about sixteen different reasons, it didn’t happen. I was a little sad about that. BUT, my birthday ended up being great. Loved it.
November – We celebrated my brother’s birthday in Memphis at a beee-yooo-teeee-ful party that Janie put together, and then we drove to Starkville for the State/Ole Miss game and a fun time with my sweet friend Daphne and her family. That day is one of my favorite memories.
December – Christmas night Alex opened an MSU football jersey from my parents. When he saw #24 on the front of it, he screamed, “ANTHONY DIXON! I LOVE ANTHONY DIXON!”
That’s a boy in touch with his football heritage, my friends.
All that to say: it was a great year even if it wasn’t always an easy year. I’ve been reminded over and over again that people are God’s greatest earthly gift to us, and He is so gracious to put just the right people in our lives at just the right times.
I am so thankful for each one of y’all – you have added something special to every single day of 2009, and our family is better for it.
Happy New Year!
If All Else Fails, I’ll Use The Swatch Cards For A Game Of Solitaire
Well.
Yesterday Sister and I went to Home Depot so that I could look at a few paint colors.
After all, I’ve only been talking about painting our bedroom FOR THE LAST TWO YEARS. I figure it’s high time for me to buckle down and maybe look at some paint swatches so that I can have the entire project finished just in time for Alex’s high school graduation.
Lofty goals!
Right now our bedroom is a really deep burgundy color that we inherited from the previous owners. You’d think that it would be right up my alley what with my love for a certain college team that wears the maroon and white, but living with the burgundy bedroom for the last three years has pretty much convinced me that I most like colors in the purple-ish brown family when they’re on spirit wear and in end zones. But bedroom walls – not so much.
There’s a lot of blue / blue green / green in this house, so I figure I’ll repaint our room with some color in that family. Honestly, my first inclination is to go with a light taupe because I just think that’s what you’re supposed to do – PAINT WITH THE LIGHT TAUPE – but I fell in love with the turquoise-ish color of the Drapers’ living room in the first season of “Mad Men,” and every single time I think about painting our bedroom some form of beige, I remember how Betty Draper’s decorative choices inspired me, and I resolve to be a little bit bolder.
It’s totally fine if you want to pity me for being inspired by the choices of someone WHO ISN’T EVEN REAL.
So here’s what I brought home from The Depot.
Okay. Obviously the second swatch card is waaaaaay too blue, but the second color on it reminded me of my imaginary friend Betty Draper’s living room.
Have I mentioned how much I love my imaginary friend’s imaginary living room?
These colors were Sister’s favorites, and they look much more green in real life than they do in this picture. I think the second one is really pretty – and it would look great with our bed (which is dark wood) and our white bedding.
David’s favorite is on the left, and that’s not really a surprise because he loves dark colors. I think our bed would get lost in the middle of all that dark brown, though.
This one, surprisingly, is my favorite. IT’S BLUE. And I’m not really a blue person. But there’s the prettiest touch of green in this shade in real life, and, well, I am intrigued.
What about y’all? Do you have favorite paint colors you’d recommend? Similar OCD tendencies when picking out paint? Temptations to throw all your paint swatches in a hat and pull one out and then yell WE HAVE A WINNER?
Any suggestions?
We’re Still Christmas-ing
So for us the second round of Christmas really got cranked up this afternoon when Sister and her hubby rolled into town. They’ll be here for a couple of days, so that means lots of Xbox for the boys and lots of Steinmarts for the girls. And lots of Starbucks for all of us, of course.
Amen.
Alex had big fun during Christmas ’09, and he’s spent a chunk of the last three days playing with some new favorite toys.
I have no idea what the appeal of that iCoaster thing is, by the way, but he cannot watch the marbles roll down the track without jumping up and down and up and down and up and down.
The marbles! They’re very exciting! Apparently!
By the way, I pulled all of these pictures off of my daddy’s camera, and for some reason when I popped the memory card out of his camera and put it in my computer so that the pictures could download, I felt a wee bit like Sydney Bristow. And I wished for just a second that I was wearing a wig and some sort of funky cocktail dress. Because if memory serves, whenever Sydney Bristow used someone else’s memory card to download information, she always seemed to be wearing a wig and a funky cocktail dress. And I realize that I didn’t necessarily need a disguise in order to successfully download pictures from my daddy’s Kodak Easy Share camera, but still. It’s always fun to think of practical, everyday uses for the wig/funky cocktail dress combo.
Anyway.
Mama and Daddy have been here since Christmas afternoon, and we have loved having them here. Daddy actually offered to go to the grocery store this afternoon and pick up steaks for our supper tonight, and since our grill is currently a little temperamental, I cooked the steaks on the stove. I used Ree’s method with my cast iron grill pan, and I don’t think my range fan has ever gotten a bigger workout.
There was some sizzle in that pan.
But every single bit of the charred beef smoke was worth it, because the steaks were deeee-licious. Now the kitchen is all clean and splatter-free, and everybody has gone to bed except for Sister and me. She’s drinking her third or seventh cup of coffee while we watch the end of the Music City Bowl, and I’m waiting for a video to finish uploading. THE EXCITEMENT NEVER STOPS.
So that’s about all the Christmas news from our little neck of the woods. Lots of family fun in store. Plenty of football and basketball games on the horizon. A six year-old who’s convinced that this was the BEST CHRISTMAS EVER.
And a house that smells like Western Sizzlin’.
God bless us, everyone.
Somebody Just Won A New Computer…
…and you can find out who the winner is if you click here.
Merry Christmas, everybody!
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