Praise YOU through the storm!

Wacky Wednesday is all the could be used to describe April 27,2011. It started with me being woke up by bad weather and tornado sirens going off around 5:45 that morning. I huddled with my dogs and turned on the tv to see what was going on.....that is until the power went out a few minutes later. I kept waiting to see if school would be cancelled before I attempted to get dressed in the dark. I ended up having to drive myself to school in the windy weather instead of meeting carpool. One carpool friend was stuck in her neighborhood where they ended up confirming an F2tornado had touched down. I was struck by the damage that littered the streets and interstate. I got to school and was amid chaos due to the power being out. The First Grade teachers had to sit and entertai the students in our school library for 2 hours until the school decided to release us early.
When I left school to go home and prepare for the BIG storm that was coming that afternoon, I was shocked at how blue the sky was--yet so deceiving for what was to come later that afternoon.
I packed up the dogs and my stuff and headed over to Ben's to stay to ride out the storm. The picture above is what I was watching at Ben's (his power came back on around 4:30 that afteroon just in time to catch the storm coming) when the news showed the tornado hitting Tuscaloosa. I freaked out and was calling Ben to come home from work asap and sent him that picture. He came home long enough to get me and the dogs to drive back to his office and get in his cement vault. There were other people up there and the weather got a bad for about 2 hours. We were lucky.

Over the past few days I have seen images that I have never seen before. I grew up in South Alabama and have been through numerous hurricanes (Ivan was the worst) but have never seen damage this so widespread. I have donated to my church , tried to donate blood (waited 2 hours and they ran out of supplies), donated to the humane society of Birmingham, and worked via Red Cross in Tuscaloosa. I feels so good to be able to help, yet there is so much help that will be needed. Please take a moment and donate to .

Below I will share some of the pictures of the devestation I saw from Alberta City which is a small community outside of Tuscaloosa, AL that was completely destroyed. It just makes me so sad and heartbroken for all of those who are going through this terrible situation. I was able to help families remove debris off of their homes to be able to go in and gather what was left. I truly touched my heart at all of the volunteers, guard, military, policemen, etc that are responding and helping others. It is such a heartwarming experience to see all of the people across the state (and around the United States) pull together and help neighbors in need.

My school is still not back in due to the damage to schools in our county, power outages, water problems, and bus routes unpassible. I am trying to use this time to help out in any way I can.

WILW

I am loving that everything is starting to bloom outside. The azealeas, cherry blossom trees,and dogwood trees are a few of my favorites.





I love a cold Diet Dr Pepper first thing in the morning. That is MY coffee.



I love to put lemon juice in my water. It makes it SO much better! I gave it up when I was having stomach issues, but it is easing back into my water everday. I am a tad addicted to it and have been told that I am really drinking "lemonande".



I am loving that a lot of people I know are getting married and having babies. What an exciting time in someone's life that I get to share with them! Now if only it will just slow down a little bit.




I of course always love my "black babies". My Mom had a girl paint this picture in black and white on a canvas for my birthday surprise. I love it and will have to share it soon.





Peace, Love, and Happiness Readers!

Top 2 Tuesday

Top 2 TV Shows

I have always been a big tv watcher. I mean, what better way to escape from the day than a great tv show. I would not be able to enjoy my shows if I did not have DVR.



1. I have always caught this show randomly on TNT. I didn't quite get into the show until when I was out of school for a snow week in January. It comes on tv twice a day on TNT and I DVR it to watch whenever I have time. I love a good mystery and she is such a Southern Belle/Bitch that she makes me smile.





2. I have been into the "vampire" trend ever since the Twilight books came out a few years back. I like reading about them and now I watch tv shows about them. No I don't wear fake fangs thank you very much. I started watching True Blood on HBO a few summers ago and enjoy it. But then the CW announced this new young adult vampire show that was also based off books they were premiering. I have been HOOKED ever since the first night it came on. It is non stop action packed and the cute people on the show don't hurt either!

Oh Deer!

No I did not misspell "Deer" in the title. That slogan basically sums up the crazy week I have had. It started with the great snow/ice storm of 2011 and being out of school ALL week! The roads were full of ice and snow due to the fact that the temperatures did not get above freezing until the end of the week. I was basically stuck inside my house for a few days. I was able to sleep in, work out everyday, watch tv and just have ME time. It was nice for about......oh 2 days!

I finally ventured out Tuesday to go to the grocery store and head over to Ben's for dinner. My battery light came on halfway to Ben's so I called my Dad to see if the cold could be causing this issue. As I was on the phone with my Dad being reassured that if it started and it running then surely I would be fine.....when it started dying. I was able to pull off the road into a school parking lot. But it was 20 something degrees, I had the dogs in the backseat, and a half full bottle of wine with me. Thank goodness Ben decided not to go to the gym and was able to come rescue me. We had to wait forever for a tow truck. I ended up having to get a new alternator, battery, and belt for my car. I had problems with my car awhile back and was told that I would probably need maintenance, but it still was a hard pill to swallow forking over all that money.

I picked my car up from the shop Thursday. I was headed over to Ben's to cook dinner when I realized that I had forgetten an ingredient for our dinner. I decided to swing over to the Target close to Ben's to grab that 1 thing I needed. I was on the phone chatting with my mom, when all of the sudden I hit something. I screamed "I just hit a deer!" and hung up the phone. This huge deer had run out of the middle of nowhere and I hit it going about 40 mph---it flew! I was so shakin' up that I turned on my caution lights and pulled out of traffic. My car had some serious damage, but was luckily driveable. I called my insurance agent the following day and was told to get a quote. When I took it in and they started pointing out all the things that needed replacing, I realized I was going to have to get it fixed sooner than I thought. Sigh.....Even worse is that I killed a deer :(







Let's just hope that the rest of my 2011 is not going to follow this pattern.



TV shows:
I of course have been sucked in by Bachelor Brad's jawline and sexy body. I am still unsure of who I am pulling for yet, but it is still early.
I am ready for the rest of my favorite tv shows to come back on after winter break. This week while off work I have rediscovered The Closer on TNT. I forget how much I love that show! It comes on everyday on TNT for those of you who want to record it

Movies:

I went and watched The Dilema this past weekend. I freakin' love Vince Vaughn! He just talks to fast and has such a witty personality.
I want to see the upcoming movies No Strings Attached, and whatever the Jennifer Anniston/Adam Sandler comedy is.

Peace, Love, and Happiness readers!

27 Dresses Anyone?

I went wedding dress shopping with my sister and mother this past Saturday. We had a wonderful experience! We went to a bridal store in Homewood and thought we had found "the one"--that I picked out none the less. Next we went to a nice consignment shop in Homewood and we weren't even there 15 minutes and knew that it wasn't the store for my sister. We proceeded to go to Bella Couture in Mt. Laurel that was recommended to Kathryn by a couple of girls who had gotten their dresses there. She ended up trying on a few dresses while waiting to try on the dress she thought was "the one". A few were cute but just not her. Well I was called into the dressing room to help zip up a dress. When I was zipped up and I looked at it....we all just knew. It is absolutely gorgeous! My mom and I even teared up watching her in the mirror trying on veils.

Then we moved on to my bridesmaids dress. We had found a short one earlier in the day that we really liked. After she had officially found her dress--my dress was changed. We found a pretty one that almost matches my sisters dress but it is going to be long due to her long train. So operation bridesmaid dress is on because I need to look good.

I am enjoying my relaxing time for the next month, because after that things are going to pick up big time. Between my annual girls beach trip in February, to my birthday, to wedding showers for Kathryn. Whew!

The great "winter storm" of 2011 is in full effect as I type. We are experiencing mainly a huge amount of sleet and maybe some snow late tonight into Monday. My school is cancelled tomorrow and I am not really looking forward to being iced in my house....or making up a day of school later on. If it is in May around my sister's wedding I will probably just take off.

Well readers. Peace, Love, and Happiness and stay warm!

Oh and War Eagle on the outside.....but secretly Roll Ducks Roll on the inside!