blueberries.

there are so many wonderful things about this collage, looking at it makes me bubble with joy inside. dresses and cowboy boots, always a classic. wedding scenes, a just married car and a precious cake that looks just delicious. and blueberries. i don't really eat blueberries that much anymore, but we ate them all the time when i was a kid. my mom is from Wilson, a small town in North Carolina. her dad lived in the same house she grew up in until he passed away when i was in fifth grade. across the street was a huge soccer field where we would always go play and bug my older cousins, this is the first place i rode my bike without training wheels. we would go visit granddaddy in Wilson all the time. him and my mom would sew missy and i the greatest smocked dresses and we would go back into her and aunt tricia's room and play with their old school barbie dolls or run around in the front yard. i loved eating at granddaddy's, although lots of times we would go get the best eastern North Carolina barbeque around. his house always smelled like pipe smoke, but in a good way and we liked to watch the price is right on his funny little tv and eat the hard strawberry candies. we always had "turner family christmas" here and would squeeze all of us in to open our presents by the tree. when it was our birthday the whole family would head to wilson and i remember sitting on granddaddy's lap to blow out the candles, we would blow out his on his birthday too, you know how that works. but my favorite part about going to wilson had to be the blueberries. in the backyard was this old shed with a big window in the top and my cousins and i would always climb in it and play in the top, probably not the safest thing but we absolutely loved it. below, amongst the pine trees were bushes and bushes of blueberries. yum. we would pick them for granddaddy and take them inside, baskets of them. missy my mom and i just loved blueberries! it makes me sad thinking about it, i haven't been to that house since i was probably about ten years old. but i will never ever forget the blueberries in granddaddy's backyard.

don't worry be happy.

If you haven't heard of "the happy book" I highly recommend it! I haven't completed it, but I love sitting down and flipping through it. Full of 14,000 things to be happy about that will make you laugh, cry and question the author's sanity. During cross country, at camp, or on trips throughout high school we would make our own happy lists, full of anything that made us smile! Here are some examples (because there's too many to pick favorites):

• getting carried away
• watching the winning touchdown
• valentine candy hearts
• milking cows (used to do this at the state fair when i was little. ha.)
• rolled-up shirtsleeves
• baskets filled with letter writing supplies
• summer storms
• messy piles of shoes in the closet
• the smell of a babies skin
• fluffy pillows
• a smile, a sunny day, ice-cold Coca-Cola, and a best friend to share them with
• when small miracles occur
• a big glass of wine, jammies, presents to wrap, cozy house, and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" on at eight
• crazy hats and sunglasses
• singing in the rain
• the final four of the NCAA basketball tournament
• dodgeball
• daisies and black-eyed Susans
• the position of your head as you bite into a taco
• on a weekend night, setting the alarm for 2 a.m. to bake oatmeal cookies and read, write or do whatever
• sexy music
• the biggest smile in the world
• extremely tiny pancakes formed from the batter that fell off the ladle
• a wheelbarrow for joyful rides
• construction paper

... And she finds 13, 975 more random reasons to be happy! But i could probably think of millions. Check it out.

"This is happiness; to be dissolved into something completely great." -Willa Carter

"spring is nature's way of saying 'let's party!'"- robin williams

This weekend was KA cowboy ball at Pappy's field. What a wonderful day! We hopped in the car, coolers in hand, turned on some O.A.R. and were ready to party. Pappy's field is so great. The music was awesome all day, there's a huge shed were I found a great soccer ball, a tire swing, they set up a mechanical bull and had henna tattoos. Not to mention I love seeing all the girls decked out in sorority gear! We gave lots of boys chi o jersey's. They secretly just wanted to show off their "muscles." The weather was the best it's been yet. Nothing beats hanging out in the sunshine in shorts, tennis shoes and a lax pennie with good music, good friends and good drinks.

All day I was bugging people because I wanted to go down the Waterslide sooo bad. Thank goodness I found Kluggy! Gosh this was the best part of the day. It was a two person slide, and it was so tall and so fast! At the bottom you landed in about a 3ft pool of water, which Loftin then informed us was probably filled with beer and pee and gross things. Oops. But we went five times, we rocked that slide! We also rocked the dance floor. Our feet were so muddy at the end of the day. Always love dancing with Klug.

Thennn I waited for what felt like hours to get the lady to paint my face, but I made lots of new friends. I was also freezing cold by this point due to my excess watersliding. But they lit the bonfire and I was saved. I was so happy all day. I was not so happy the next morning, but luckily I made it back to the house safely and was nice and asleep by ten o'clock. I would say the day was a major success. What a great start to the spring! Can't wait til next year already.

if you know me, you know that i LOVE food. any food mostly i'm not picky but pasta,pizza and mexican are the all time best, and anything my mom makes of course. even though i was only gone for a week, ever since i got back to athens (especially since i can't eat) i've been craving my favorites.

first the grit yummm! if you visit athens, you must eat here. i thought i wouldn't like the grit very much since it is a vegetarian restaurant and well i like meat. before eating at the grit the thought of tofu made me want to barf but my grandbig (who is vegan) and my big sis took me there for a "family" dinner and i feel in love! i got the best, huge grilled cheese and tomato sandwich of my life (although i can make a pretty rockin one in the diet-coke panini maker at chi 0) and then they made me try there golden bowl and i was captured. the golden bowl includes brown rices, veggies, cheese and yes tofu. if you're scared of tofu then try it from the grit because you will no longer be scared, you will be in love.

and here comes my love for bread. big city bread is a small cafe/bakery with the cutest little patio and inside, oh i just love it! the atmosphere is so great and it's always full of really cool trendy people. we usually eat here after church on sundays, it always makes my day a little bit brighter. they have the best biscuits and eggs and hashbrowns and everything, i usually get grapefruit too. i especially love ordering a hot chocolate, the small comes in this big coffee mug and it feels so great to just wrap your hands around it. i've been here once for dinner and had probably one of the best hamburgers i've ever eaten in my life (and no i'm not exaggerating). it was wonderful and it had these delicious portabella mushrooms on it, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. i recently took my parents there for lunch and we all enjoying our food tremendously. can't wait to attend for brunch this sunday!

last but most certainly not least, mexican! my number one favorite spot is la parilla. it's more authentic and they have the good never ending chips and salsa as well as wonderful combinations plates. it reminds me of my favorite mexican restaurant in raleigh, el rodeo. it's one of those places where you leave and you feel sick but you're happy that you feel sick because it was so worth it. once i'm allowed to eat chips, this will be the first spot i attend. i plan on that being this weekend. if not, i may cry.

i believe in pink.

i wouldn't consider myself "a pink girl", but i look and i'm wearing my favorite pair of pink panties (what a great word) which are the "pink" brand from victoria's secret,a skinny pink tank top, and i'm laying in my light pink jersey sheets (i kinda feel sexy haha). and i realized there's something about pink that just gets me sometimes...

pink reminds me of tea parties and cute girly things.there's nothing better than a big pink hair bow twice the size of a little girl's head, my mother dressed me in these everyday. or pink petifores at a tea party. or any pink desert for that matter. oh and the winery in athens has the best drink entitled touch my peaches, it's pink, served in a martini glass with pink sugar around the edge, deliciousness if i might say so myself. i also prefer pink roses to red roses. and who doesn't love swirling around in a pink tutu? and i miss that feeling of opening a fresh pair of pink pointe shoes. i have a little wind up cinderella doll that i just love sitting in my room, she's wearing a lovely pink dress as well. and who could forget the infamous pink ladies... if audrey hepburn believes in pink, i think all women should.

last night...

i got tired of sleeping decided i'd fill you in on the craziness of last night. i woke up (i should say jumped up) about 2:45 from what must've been a bad dream, and heard this strange screaming noise. i was sweaty (gross) and a little out of it due to the time and my pain meds so i told myself to calm down for a second. i thought this noise might've just been in my dream or something. i live on the third floor of our house, right above my sister, but our windows face our side yard and while they are four stories up i can hear everything down there. i was of course freaking out because it sounded like there was a crazy man standing in the yard screaming "ah, ahh, ah" over and over. i listened again to make sure it wasn't an animal (0nce i heard belle fighting a racoon, that was not pretty) and i called my dad in a panic and told him to come upstairs and not turn any lights on (i guess i didn't want this person to know we were awake?). in my head i created a picture of someone who had either just been hurt badly, someone who was insane or someone who wanted to get attention so they could rob our house or something. my dad looked out the window but couldn't see anything and everyone agreed it sounded like a man screaming. this may sound dumb, but i was freaking out. the noise continued for at least fifteen minutes. i made dad call the police and of course five minutes later this "screaming" had stopped. dad went and met them outside, he said there were three big guys with heavy duty flashlights and another car patrolling behind the house. i was certain they were going to find someone who had been shot, or beaten up or with a gun or something in our backyard, i was holding my breath... well they didn't find anything. dad said the police probably thought he was crazy or something and then we both realized there is a hawk that lives in the backyard? haha but he didn't tell them that cause he didn't want to look stupid. i couldn't sleep and all this excitement caused my throat to start bleeding (sorry tmi, the whole tonsil thing) so mom came and slept with me and i watched mamma mia. i'm such a baby but i'm still convinced there was a crazy man out there.

hi friends

wow i'm starting a blog. i'm still in recovery from getting my tonsils out last friday (over spring break and my birthday. yes i'm a tiny bit bitter) and figured why not? i love love love quotes, my quote book is probably one of my favorite possessions. i love pictures, and colors, and collages, and stuff. you should see my walls in my room at home and at chi o. they're covered in collections of my favorite things. i am someone who can never throw anything away if it has the tinniest significance in my life. what i'm going to do with everything i've piled up over the years, i have no idea, but i know i'll love shuffling through the mess someday. i don't want to miss one memory. so maybe a blog will be fun for me and my scattered thoughts! hope it's enjoyable...