Wine and Cheese

Monday Night I went to a wine tasting with mother and some of her friends at Two Rivers in Canton. It was really nice. The wines (ones that I tried until I got stuck on one in particular) were good, and the cheese was really just as good as the wine. Well, I was extremely hungry too. I loved trying all the fine cheeses. The white wines aren't my favorite, and I only really tried two red wines. I got stuck on the

pinot noir of course, my favorite, or it got stuck on me. They gave generous portions and as many refills as you could drink. Mother is such a light weight; she was feeling good by the time I got there. The wines went by number. You ask for number one, then two, all the way through five. We wanted to eat afterwards, so we could all drive. haha There were no tables to be had in the house, but Bradley pulled some strings and got us the corner booth at the bar, perfect for the six of us. It was my first time to eat there, but the food was fabulous. It was a great beginning to the week, and a night of fun for all.

Nursing School

Everyone wants to know about nursing school, so here goes. I have orientation on the 12th from 11:30 to 3:30, and my first day of class is the 18th. All my books I ordered off the internet are here as well as my uniforms and stethoscope. My "bookbag" came from Gingersnaps!! of course. I'll be the hip student with the Toss bag and cute notebooks. You have to do something to keep it fun and interesting. The Jansport/NorthFace backpack thing is just not me. I still plan on taking lots of weekend trips!! Hello Ole Miss football... so, I do not know quite what to expect. After getting my first bachelors' degree barely opening a book, I hear it's supposed to be very different here, we'll see. SO I'M NOT GOING TO UMC, big whoop. With a previous bachelors' degree, I will be making more than the average grad in my class. If I decide to make this a career, I will definately go on to get my masters as a nurse practitioner. However, being a nurse is not really my personality type, so we'll see how this even works out. My criminal background check finally came back. Supposedly I was a convicted felon, or somebody was. So the fingerprinting people aren't the brightest in the box.

I will continue to teach swim lessons at St. Dominic, as I really enjoy the kids (and the money). It makes me happy to teach people what I know to better their lives, but don't ever think I'll be a school teacher. I like the people I work with, and I get to work out up there too...with the doctors. haha well, I am excited about starting school. It will give my life a little more meaning besides figuring out which days it will be sunny, so I can lay out, or working at Gingersnaps for eight bucks an hour. My year and a half of goofing off and figuring out how to goof off next is coming to an end; it needed to. It's time for this life to have a little more meaning and challenges laid ahead...

ANWR

What do you think of when you think of a national wildlife refuge?

Yeah, that's exactly what I think of too!!

MY SUV LOVES IRAQI OIL!!

WHY?

BECAUSE AMERICA WON'T DRILL!! MY SUV DOESN'T HAVE A CHOICE!!

I almost hit a dear on the way home. Why the heck do all these people want to save the freaking caribou?? Check out the caribou in the "national wildlife refuge" politics don't want to drill...

The ban on drilling in ANWR is such a political hoax. I don't want to drive a hybrid car on bicycle wheels or put ugly solar panels on the top of my house. So why don't they grow corn in ANWR so the caribou can eat and we can drive ethanol cars? Canada and Cuba are drilling where our political 'heros' won't.
I'm paying $4/gallon for gas, so the polar bears can live like this....
But please, RECYCLE!!! I don't want to live in everyone else's land fill!!
And.....our 'good ole boys' need to trade in their motor oil for cowboy hats and bull ropes..... yeah right.

DRILL BABY DRILL!!!

Shock N Awe Softball 2008 Season

So the season started off a little rough..... to say the least, but it was no easy task. Ok, Ok, I admit my favorite part was socializing after the games and cheering from the bench, but hey, I was a fastpitch player. The first picture was after our first win!!! There were only four teams in the league, and we were the only one completely consisting of, well, crackers. We didn't exactly play in Liberty Park, in fact you probably would not want to get caught there alone after dark, in fear of being offered some malt beer. My position, random out fielder/bench warmer, was totally a nececity, let me tell you. I think I let as many past me as I stopped. Dad would not be proud!!, and those hits, yeah I hope nobody taped those. What exactly does a strike look like in slow pitch. The one thing I never googled, gasp, slow pitch softball rules. All leagues enforce different rules or let certain rules slide. The Madison Baptist Church league does not really enforce many rules, but it's way more, way more up tight. There's NO drinking after those games...... Anyways we had a great time game in and game out, win or lose, because that's the caliber of people on the Shock N Awe. We even took a picture with the second place trophy!! Thank you Will for asking me to play and introducing me to these fun people!! Next, we will be playing kickball on Wednesdays!! Is there a benchwarmer position in that sport?

Happy Birthday America!!!

July 4th was kind of unplanned. I was supposed to go to the lake house, but didn't really feel like going. So, Bradley and I went out to the country, and I mean the boon docks. Kristen and I were the only girls that actually came dressed for the occasion. The other blonde, southern girls were in dresses sipping martinis on the pier. Now, there's a time and a place for all things, think Julip on a regular basis. The boys found it amusing to slip and slide into the lake. It was the longest, soapiest, widest, country, slip-n-slide I've ever seen. I didn't partake in the activities, probably because I was way too sober. When Michael and Kristen arrived, it was on to the 4-wheeler riding. I've never seen so many of these things in one place at one time. It seemed like there were about 20 of them, like it's the cool thing to have.... So it was only my second time actually driving one of these things; I moved up from a piece of flair on the back thanks to Drew teaching me. I'm a city girl!! Bradley's used to these things. By the time we went, I actually knew what a deer stand was.... even though they look like tree houses!!!.... they are sometimes used for other purposes, like sitting in for hours on end looking for that big one....We found some trails, got lost, got dirty and made it back to the lake, finally. It was awesome!!!, but there comes a time in a city girls' life when she needs a shower!! Poor Kristen had to stay longer than I did with all the mosquitoes. The mayor of Ridgeland gave Bradley some VIP passes to the Balloon Races for us to use!!! We weren't really planning on going, but we got hungry.... It was a lot cooler than I thought it would be. So we got there pretty late. There is such a thing as fashionably late you know..... However, we saw all the important things: one balloon glow, the main singer (I forgot his name), and some good ole festival grub. It was a great end to a great day watching fire works light up the sky. The VIP parking was the best too!! We were out before everyone else and home packing for the lake the next day!!

It couldn't get any better!! A great July 4th at home with friends, then off to the lake for a relaxing weekend with family. Yeah, it's boring at the lake sometimes, but July 4th is when the lake comes to life.... The flotilla boat parade was hilarious as always. There were a few boats that stood out in particular..... the wagon with horses playing "Save a horse, ride a cowboy" totally should have won. There were a couple war ships with people shooting stuff like mardi gras beads, and the unforgettable tiki bar boat. It lost some poles later in the day that got caught in our engine, so we were none too happy about that. Mac and Lexi (the dogs) went on every boat ride with us.... They love the wind blowing on them. Lexi likes to drive with me every now and then, maybe she can see better. So, we almost ran out of gas one time, but I made it just in time to the pump. Mac and Lexi were glad they didn't have to swim back to the boathouse...
Our last night, Daddy treated us to the Duck's Nest. They have the best catfish in MS in my opinion!! It is soooo my favorite!! We had an awesome table by the water!! I gave Daddy his birthday and father's day present, a leather jacket for his next big venture into motorcycles, and a symbol for his red corvette with a paw paw license plate. haha We made it back to get ready for the big work week ahead (3 day work week for me)!! Somebody's gotta do it!!

Bahamas Introduction - June 13

Queenie, the famous taxi driver, picked me up from the airport and took me around to run some of her errands. Drew sent her to get me, and she was on time and awesome. We saw some of her friends, went to the post office, and she introduced me to coconut water. I haven't found any in the states, and Sarah was mad. One of Hemmingway's drinks at Sloppy Joe's was made with coconut water, and she hasn't had it before. If I'd only known exactly what I was drinking..... Anyway, Queenie was hilarious as was the entire day and night. At some point in the day, a random old timey ship came in the channel. It looked just like it's name said, "Ghost Ship". We couldn't figure out if it had been pulled up from the bottom of the ocean or been used to commit some murder scene. It was just what I pictured when thinking about Bahamian ships. It was actually just used in a movie. Not long after that, the intern, appropriately named, Shitern, took 3 tries to splice a rope. He only figured it out after some help from the Ole Miss graduates, Drew and I. What are they teaching kids these days. It really wasn't that difficult. After some relaxing reading and recouping time in the hammock at the Gunk Hole in the backyard, it was off to an awesome night with Drew and the gang.
Grayson gave us all a round of laughs before we went out. Too bad the only two girls in the house didn't have a blow dryer. Who needs one of those? I don't even own a straightener. He thinks the heat gun off the boat will serve as a perfect blow dryer, and since he has long arms it shouldn't fry his hair. Well what do you know? Some hair got fried in the OGM III Beauty Salon that night. All the while talking on the phone......

We grabbed some drinks on the square before going to eat. Grayson saw it fit to order 18 beers and a bong. We didn't stay long enough to see the beers get finished before we went to an awesome sushi restaurant. They made reservations and everything. The fish was so fresh; I do think it might be the best sushi I've ever eaten. Even the saki was so smooth. The last time I had saki was in Las Vegas. The boys were checking out the top heavy chicks. Dinner was fabulous as was the night out on the town. My drink of choice for the night was vodka and cranberry. Drew showed me an awesome time of course, and I will remember it for a long time. At the end of the night he found Grayson asleep in the laundry room, his crash spot of choice.