I haven’t seen tonight’s AI yet because I’m out of town (I’m in Nashville and have had THE BEST DAY – more on that later), but I’m going to go ahead and put up the Mr. Linky because, well, I will develop some sort of nervous tic if I don’t. Because every Tuesday night I’m supposed to put up a Mr. Linky for AI. That is what I do.

So link away, my friends. And I’ll play catch-up sometime in the next day or two.

Finally, please make sure you link to your specific post – not your general URL.

Thank you ever so much, oh Idol-watching internets.

See y’all tomorrow.

So Melanie, Shannon and I are in the beginning stages of planning for our little bloggy seminar at SheSpeaks in June. Honestly, I’m a little surprised that we’re planning so far in advance – because typically I don’t plan anything way in advance unless I’m trying to set some very ambitious hair goals.

And there’s still time for that, my friends.

Anyway, we’ve started to talk about what we’d like to cover during our first session, and we’ve realized that we would benefit from some insight and assistance from the internets.

So if you wouldn’t mind, it would be really helpful if you could briefly answer these questions in the comments or in an email (and no need to answer here if you’ve already said all you have to say over at Mel’s or Shannon’s, unless of course you’d just like to repeat yourself, and that is perfectly fine with me, I repeat myself all day long):

1. What part of blogging brings you the most joy and satisfaction? Relationships? Having an outlet for writing? Reading? Commenting? Building your traffic? Something else?

2. What is the most frustrating part of blogging for you?

3. If you had to give someone one piece of advice about blogging, what would it be?

4. What do you know about blogging now that you WISH you had known when you started your blog?

5. What draws you to the blogs you read regularly? What elevates a blog to “daily read” status?

You can answer any or all of these, and if you’d like to do that on your own blog, that’s great – just send me a link to your post.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some hair goals to solidify.

I mean, June will be here before you know it, y’all.

And time’s a wastin’, oh yes it is.

…fourteen fifteen children – seven> eight of whom are orphans – have been rescued from poverty today!

FOURTEEN! FIFTEEN! CHILDREN!

That’s extraordinary, internets. Thank you so much.

There is still one orphan – Adera – who hasn’t been sponsored yet. So if you’d like to help him, just click on his name. (he’s been sponsored! yay!)

And here’s what I know for sure: as thankful as I am for what y’all have done, I can’t even being to comprehend how grateful those children will be when they find out that they’ve been sponsored.

Thank you so much, everybody. A million times.

Thank you.

I cannot say it enough.

As of 6 AM central time Tuesday morning:

Y’all ROCK.

I will be the first person to tell you that I am no expert on fashion. I am a fashion enthusiast, certainly, but I don’t always know what looks great together and I get overwhelmed by trends and sometimes I have to call in the reinforcements (aka Emma Kate and Melanie) to ask for advice.

I am but a wanderer trying to find my way on the rocky fashion path, my friends.

And most of the time I’m a wanderer who’s wearing the wrong type of shoes.

Speaking of shoes (HOW’S THAT FOR A SEGUE?), you may notice a bit of a pattern with mine.

I am a fan of the flip flop. I am also a fan of the wedge heel. And as a result, my absolute favorite shoe in the world is – YOU’LL NEVER BELIEVE IT – some sort of wedge-type flip flop.

I stick with what I like, you know?

As far as clothes go, I think I’m mainly going to focus on the stuff I’d wear to pick up the little man from school or run errands or whathaveyou. Or stuff I’d wear when I’m home and want to be really comfortable but don’t want to be embarrassed if someone comes to the door. I’ve never been much of a dressy clothes person, but I do enjoy sassy clothes.

Here is one such sassy item.

Oh, I kid.

I bought that t-shirt at an outlet in Destin in 1998, which makes it ten years young. And every single time I wear it, my husband looks at me like, “Gettin’ yourself all gussied up for me AGAIN? Oh, bless your heart.”

In my defense it is the most comfortable thing I own, though I never, EVER wear it out of the house. My goal is to wash it enough that it’s the consistency of baby-soft tissue paper yet still completely intact. I’ll be sure to let you know how that works out for me.

Anyhoo.

So I pretty much adore yoga pants, and I wear them ALL. THE. TIME. I like them because they’re long and flared and stretchy and long and flared, and I have learned that long and flared works way better for me than short and straight. The whole stretchy thing is really just a delightful bonus.

Long. Flared. Stretchy.

SCORE.

I tried to take a picture of my black yoga pants, but the light was weird so you’ll just have to use your imagination. Which shouldn’t be too difficult because you can just look at that picture of the hot pink yoga pants and imagine that they’re, you know, black. This year I had a couple of different “sweatsuit alternative”-type shirts that I wore with my yoga pants – they were pullover hoodies that I got at Old Navy, and I love love loved them because in addition to being super-comfortable, they made me feel like I was ‘dressed’ for the day and not just running around in my pajamas.

Not that I’m at all opposed to running around in my pajamas, of course.

I am also a HUGE fan of the trouser jeans – I can’t go more than two days without wearing them. Most of y’all know that my love affair with the trouser jean began when the Lord used Angela Cottrell to plant a trouser jean dream in my heart, and I haven’t been the same since.

Hallelujah.

Anyway, I actually was wearing a pair of trouser jeans today, and I took a picture and everything.

INSPIRING, ISN’T IT?

Well, I mean, I couldn’t exactly stand in front of myself. I DID THE BEST I COULD, PEOPLE.

And I’m pretty sure that’s the camera’s wrist strap over to the right. Because I’m all about some photographic excellence.

The great thing about the trouser jeans is that they’re LONG, FLARED (ARE YOU SEEING A PATTERN HERE?) and completely eliminate the muffin top effect because they’re typically cut a little higher in the waist. I buy classic rise jeans almost exclusively, and hey, that reminds me, look at these super-cute pants I found at Old Navy, but I apologize in advance because I did not iron them before I took this picture.

Somebody may need to hug me because I’m feeling terribly vulnerable right now.

And guess what?

They’re LONG and FLARED.

Shocking, I know.

I love knee-length skirts, too, and in the summertime they’re my wardrobe item of choice. I live in skirts like these – they’re adorable with a plain white or black t-shirt (and I really like the Mossimo t-shirts at Target, by the way) and a pair of wedge flip-flops.

I bought both of these at Ross for, like, $6.99 or something like that. I love that they’re a little funky but not too short – and Ross always has a huge selection of skirts in a similar style.

And here’s the biggest thing that makes me feel sassy when I’m running around town with a five year-old in the backseat: wearing at least one piece of fun jewelry at all times. These earrings are my current favorite fun jewelry item.

They’re big ole hoops, and they go with almost everything. They also cost a whole $7.00, and if I ever lose them I will cry.

I also wear this necklace that Lisa made me ALL THE TIME – it’s one of my favorite pieces of jewelry ever.

So, to sum up: I enjoy sassy, inexpensive clothes and funky, affordable accessories.

And I don’t know if you picked up on this, but I like for my pants to be LONG and FLARED.

And for yay, even more fashion fun, head over to Big Mama’s place and check out all the Fashion Fiesta goodness.

All righty, internets – three things:

1. Dave Barnes (have I mentioned him before? I wasn’t sure) is going to be in Birmingham (Alabama, not England) tomorrow night at WorkPlay. He has two shows – one at 7 and one at 9:30. You can get ticket info here.

2. Trent Monk (from Monk & Neagle) is going to be performing in Birmingham (Alabama, not England) Thursday night, April 10 – you can email me for more info if you’re interested.

3. And Emma Kate asked me to tell y’all that Trent will also be in Tupelo, Mississippi on Friday night, April 11 at The Church at Trace Crossing. The show starts at 7, and admission is whatever you want to give. I’m not even kidding. So if you need more info, click here.

I believe that’s all.

As you were.

Hey.

Remember when we lived at our old house, and we were about to move, and the septic tank went all cuckoo? And we had to spend a whole bunch of money to fix it?

Well.

Look what’s in my backyard right now.

We seem to have some sort of sewer problem. Because for the second time in two months, the rainwater has caused some, um, overflow from the sewer.

Oh, it is a treat!

The good news is that since the lines belong to the city, they’re fixing everything.

The bad news is that given the last year and a half, I think it’s safe to say that we seem to have an above-average number of waste management-type issues.

And I have a feeling that I’m about to read a whole bunch of really lame punchlines as a result.

Let ‘er rip.