It'll take more than just a breeze to make me fall Overboard

-Ingrid Michaelson

So I haven't updated in ages. Apologies. So much has happened and so many pictures have been taken. I will post a few. Innerchange Youth Camp was beyond words. Hands down the best camp. Besides getting burnt it was bittersweet :)

Braille 2009

This Friday starts the beginning of my crazy journey. Jessica, Staci and I are hitting the road in Birmingham, AL and headed towards Leavenworth, KS where we will bunk with my moms childhood friend. Crazy, fun, beautiful lady. From there we will trek up to the Mount of Rushmore [lol] I wanna see it before Obama defaces it... I kid, I kid. I thought it was funny that in my search of Mount Rushmore several pictures of it had Obama photoshoped into it. We are camping that night if I'm not mistaken and in our search for a campsite we found out that Sturgis is the weekend after our visit. Thank the dear lord however we will have to beat the Latinos off with a stick because apparently its Latino bike week in Sturgis... lol. While up there we are also visiting Crazy Horse kind of bummed we are missing the fire ball ceremony but I will see it again someday maybe then. We get back on the road headed to Montana where we will visit Glacier National park and sleep in a yurt. Apparently we will be fighting off grizzlies there.. I bought bells. We decided against Yellowstone, In hopes that this place is wayyyyy cooler. Then it's back on the road again towards Seattle, WA where we get to sleep indoors and right down the road from the space needle. I promise to post tons of photos :) We are taking a ferry across and getting on 101 where we will hit up all the Twilight stops Port Angeles, Forks and La Push... hopefully god willing we are camping on the beach and rafting through the rain forest. After that its off to Portland, Or where my two dear friends will depart. I have a day of down time where I will probably rest and wash clothes. The next morning I pick up Josh and begin part 2 of my road trip. We are taking the long, beautiful coastal hwy through Redwood National Forest until we get to San Fransisco, CA and then we are hitting up LA and then on to Vegas for 2 days baby. Going to see the Hoover Dam and skywalk over the Grand Canyon... After that its a long journey home. When I get back I will pack my crizap and head toward Waco, Tx. Where I will be living until I either get kick out, stolen, or decide to move to another unknown city :)

Should be fun... now that you have the run down at anytime I don't make it to my next destination or you don't here from me... please contact the authorities. Something crazy has happened. Love you guys tremendously and will miss you all like crazy. 

[I may get a tattoo on my trip. I want "the river why" in script on my arm]

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.  ~Friedrich Nietzsche

She weaves secrets in her hair

She weaves secrets in her hair
Her whispers are not hers to share
She's deep as a well
She's deep as a well

Another day wastes away
And my heart sinks with the sun
A new day's dawning
And a new day has not yet begun

So, anyway
There I was
Just sitting on your porch
Drinking in
The sweetest decline
The sweetest decline
Sober mind

the sweetest decline- Ryan Adams

So I think it's decided I will be moving with Staci to Waco. I have prayed and done pro/con lists and made my mom cry so I have decided to go. Do something different. Live somewhere different. Work somewhere different. Be open for anything at anytime. Im stoked.

So here's to the new :) 

you...

take me the way I am

the way I am-Ingrid Michaelson

2009 prom teasers :)

She's laughing, she's turning

She's holding her tonic like a crux

Sometime around midnight-Airborne Toxic Event

someone reminded me how much I love this group

thanks:)

New Blue October is good. Approaching normal. I have a ton of pics I need to upload, edit, and post. Busy BUSY. They finished the construction of our bathroom.. We still have painting and I'm doing some art on the walls :) The new bathtub is fabuloso. I took the girls shopping for Easter outfits.. My dad gave me a $100 bill Jessie's & Taylor's dresses were $16 and Layne got 2 dresses one $12 and the other $20... SO heck yea way under budget. Still got to find some shoes for Taylor. I'm taking pictures of my sisters and putting together a present for my mom :) super secret so shhhhh. I am hanging out with Courtney tonight going to the movies, then prepping her hair for tomorrow [pin curls] she will have some killer prom hair and dress, and then doing a haircut either late tonight or early early in the morning. In the morning I have prom photo shoot with Courtney and Zach... either going to the ranch or somewhere not so wet. We shall see. Then at some point tomorrow I am getting in the new bathtub and relaxing. No whining teenagers. Angry kittens. Loud Dads. Worried Moms. NO phone calls or texts or facebook updates or tweets. I want music and Jacuzzi action.

Oh and did I tell you guys my dad is fixing my car [this is where I insert my happy/victory dance] its in the shop as we speak. Downside is I have to drive my moms car and get a stomach ulcer from worry. In the words of the great Stewie "victory is mine". When my dad heard my story about the ticket and how I almost got one for my tail light he called guy who owed him a favor. I'm getting it all done for FREE... no more worrying about funds. Hellz yea.

Keep posted I will post some pics soon :)

God, what a mess, on the ladder of success..

Where you take one step and miss the whole first rung
Dreams unfulfilled, graduate unskilled
It beats pickin cotton and waitin to be forgotten

Bastards of Young- The Replacements

good jams today I made a few playlists for a friend

So the law caught up with me today... I have only had one ticket the 6 years I have been driving. I got clocked coming over a hill on Old Tuscaloosa Hwy 67 in a 50... I apparently don't mesh well with the jews. 

officer- "what's the hurry"

me- "nothing just trying to get back to work"

officer- "do you know how fast you were going?"

me- "No sir" [which was me being honest]

officer- "license and registration" [panic]

me- "ummmm. here's my insurance but I ran out of the 

office and forgot to grab my bag"

officer- blank stare

me- "let me make sure it not in this bag I know my DL number"

officer- "name... social"

10 minutes later...

officer- "miss I'm not gonna give you a ticket for the 

busted light and driving without a license but I am for 

speeding... sign here."

me- [idiot why not go ahead and finish the punishment..

oh and btw I wasn't wearing a seat belt and I was texting. Bastard.]

officer- "blah blah blah court date.. have a better day and slow it down"

me- blank "hummm" [you're welcome hope you got your quota for the month]

Ok so first ugh I so did not want to shell out cash on a ticket. Not having a my license was totally on me but I was told if you knew your number it was fine... my busted tail light cost $300 just for the replacement piece and the body is bent so its gonna cost me around $1000 dollars after everything. Yeah right it can stay busted for a little bit... it still works. Now here is my issue I hate it when cops use their judgment to enforce the law... If I broke all three of those laws I should have to pay for them. That's where lines get blurred and people get off for doing worse things and I personally think that is a slap in the face.. be man enough to enforce the full law or none at all. 

Never guessed it got this good

Wondered if it ever would

Mint Car- The Cure

My cousins kid... with his BeBe [aka my mom]

check out the rest on the space... the kid they are still loading so give em a little while :)

Oh Lord, have mercy on me

Please pull me from this heat
My hands are burning and I can't feel my feet
This wasn't how my life was to be
Bum bum bum bum, Oh no
Bum bum bum bum, Oh no

I'm going down with the Devil's thunder, yeah
I'm going down
So throw me some water
Yeah, Throw me some water 

Devils Thunder-Rachael Cantu 

So she tours with Tegan and Sara sometimes

I may have to find a show with them together

New favorite

I'm in one of the dark "not quite sure what would be my next step" moods. I am in no way being morbid or disrespectful with this post... just venting. I feel like that kid at the beach.. I'm standing at the edge of the water looking at all the mysteries and possibilities with reality and storms waiting for me back on land. I love the ocean and water it so beautiful and breathtaking, mysterious, refreshing, renewing, deep... I hate being in water where I cant see what's around me or under me but at the same time I'm the kid who wants to explore it. My reality check this morning was I'm not ready. I have so much responsibility on my shoulders at times I just want to toss it and run, swim, drive as fast as I can away from it. What makes me so mad is it is responsibility I didn't sign up for but that I have nonetheless. My dad's business, care for my sisters, My mom... and tons more I don't want to even think about. I woke up this morning to my sweet mom worrying herself to death like all women do about everything. 

Apparently my dad woke up with his back hurting again and of course he always makes light of his pain.. due to a crazy upbringing and parents who were [in my opinion] selfish and I can say that because I knew them and loved them and they basically helped raise me. Im rambling about something I cant fix [the past] but I can ramble its my blog..lol. My dad through his childhood and younger years hurt himself. Playing ball, being a kid, riding horses, working himself nonstop... with the mind set that if you get hurt brush it off and deal with it. There was no going to the doctor and get things fixed in my opinion that came from two parents who were very busy [so busy that they missed things] and put business first. His step parents didn't give a damn about him and made it known believe me even when I was a kid. So because of that he accumulated a broken back [several times] from what the doctors have told him recently... He is also overweight. You can't blame everything on the parents but he did adapt to that same mind set [they taught him] of "if you're not bleeding its not that bad so tuff it out". Hidden meaning behind that there are things more important than me having to listen to you cry about something that "probably" not that bad anyways. The doctors have told him there is nothing they can do to fix it because the damage was done a long time ago... He is walking around and at any time it could be bad like paralyzed or stuck in a bed for months even years bad. My sweet mom worries all the time and tries so hard to be strong for him but like her we both sit and worry about "what the hell do we do when that happens." She doesn't work and I dint mean she doesn't work hard everyday to provide for her family [I'm thankful]... I mean she has never had to go out and get a job or bring in money that has always been on my dad. She worked briefly the first couple years they were married but he has always made it clear he wanted her to worry over the kids and the house and he would take care of the rest and they have been doing just that for 22 years. My mom took care of her parents and sister for 6 of those years... they have all passed in the last 3 years her mother and sister of cancer and her dad passed suffering from multiple things. She is also dealing with two of the most greediest selfish bitches for sisters I have ever laid my eyes on [I can also say that because of I have witnessed it and even been treated the same as my mom]... Even though I know she wants to just write them off she can't because her heart it just too loving and she is too kind. So for me too say she hasn't worked is wrong but in the worlds eyes she is has made no investment in her financial future. That's what I'm told anyways not what I believe. The business falls to me, my mom's worries fall to me, my families troubles fall to me and I fall to God. Tremble really.

Can I just say I'm scared. I'm scared for the future of my family. I'm scared for the future of our business. I'm scared I want get on my own two feet and live a little for me. I'm scared for the future of our country and all that is becoming... but through all of that I have this underlying relief that everything is going to be ok. I have faith that things will be taken care not that it wont be hard and still doesn't stop me from being my fleshy human self. Scared, vulnerable, thankful, blessed, and all the other things my mind wonders off to.

O'malley [my crazy cat] made me so mad yesterday but completely redeemed herself. I played softball most of the day yesterday with a bunched teenagers from the ICY along with my 3 sisters.. So when I came home I was so tired. I had made my dinner and sat down just in time to watch Big Love with my parents... My cat has the tendency to pick the greatest time to destroy something of my moms. She hasn't realized yet she is treading shallow water with them...[and she really doesn't care] They are not cat people and it is the craziest thing for them to even allow the thing to be in the house but she has them wrapped around her claw for the time being. Her new favorite thing is to attack the peacock and pheasant feathers my mom has in a vase on the dinning room table and she chose last night to test my patience. I had already asked and removed her twice from the table the third time I looked back and called her name she jumped into the vase and pushed all the feathers out. I got up walked over to the table and picked her up by the nape of her neck [which she did not like by the way] and told her no while setting her down. She managed to reach my face with her claw and scratched it. I went to the the kitchen to clean up my wound when I was walking back in the living room she was sitting on the very end of the table... she saw me and made eye contact and then made a mad dash for the vase again. She sat in the middle of the vase with her head peaking through the feathers watching me. I'm not gonna post what I did next but know she wanted nothing to do with me for a couple hours when it was time for bed she stretched and I picked her up to take her back to my room. She all of the sudden was so sweet and innocent and curled up beside me on my pillow. It is the cutest thing when she is sleeping... she wants you to be touching her at all times or vis versa. She will place her paw on you or pull your hand over on her while she is sleeps. I couldn't stay mad at her even if I tried... her and her triflin ways.

Brookwood baseball

This is Hunter in all his glory.

this kid never shut-up through both games

Priceless

the ump totally looked like Seth Rogen

sweet name

this kid was super sweet

Garrett

 [Hunter] was in the outfield running 

for the ball and totally caught it... several times

Awesome pitcher

Dillon

good times. funny kids.

snow.

fun day.

You remind me of home,

sitting on a thrift store couch, I'm trying to get this all down

You remind me of home-Death Cab for Cutie

great song.

This is Amy. Cousin. Friend. Sister.

My mom beat the hell out of jessie...it was so funny

Of course Taylor has something smart to say

great weekend moments :)