Please Take My Words

      I had planned to review/talk/rant about a recent book I read set in the south, but written by people who lived in California.  Throughout the book there were sweeping generalities: all the "normal" girls in high school want to be like Kristin Chenoweth from GCB (blonde, ridiculously tan, and skanky but in a Christian way), EVERYONE reenacts old Civil War battles (or really the War of North Aggression), and no one ever makes it out alive (as in the small town you're born in is the small town you'll die in).  Being from the South I know that all of those three things aren't true.  However, I guess I live in a bigger town, so I could be missing out on some Southern experience I have yet to find out about.
     While I was helping set up for the Crystal Ball (that's tonight), I was going over in my mind everything I wanted to say about the South.  You could go on for days talking about it and you still wouldn't cover it all.   There's the tradition that's engrained in our very bones, the wildness that will never be tamed, and the history and mixing of it all through storytelling to provide some classic gothic tales.  When I was younger, I wanted to escape Mississippi just as fast as I could.  I knew I had to go to Ole Miss (because for some reason, out of state schools never really seemed in the realm of possibilities), but once I done with Ole Miss, I was leaving this wretched state for good (I kept count of the years).  I never really had a true plan, it was more of a need to leave.  All I could see was the sad state of the Delta (think that black and white photograph from the great depression of the "Migrant Mother"), the state's test scores and low literacy rate, and some one high up in government trying to convince me to stay in Mississippi by telling me all of the smart people were leaving (those were his exact words but close to it).  Plus, every time I told someone I was from Mississippi they were surprised, like I should be wearing overalls, no shoes, and not know how to live in the modern world.
     In college, I came to love this state and while I want experience life in other states (because I believe one should), I know that I eventually want to come back and settle here--if it fits into God's plan, of course.  Mississippi does have it faults--obesity, low literacy, sometimes not so great politics--but the other things I love about this state aren't going away any time soon.  I like to think that the things I love about Mississippi are some of the same things that writers like Eudora Welty, William Faulkner, Willie Morris, Barry Hannah saw in Mississippi.  Mostly I know that it's probably a far stretch but I'm still learning about this state through their work.  I'm still growing up here and the more I grow up the more I stop taking our Southern traditions for granted.

This is actually a picture taken in Alabama (my second favorite state) at my Grandfather's.

Title: "Red" by Little Green Cars

I've Been Away So Long

     I know I've been a little AWOL these past few days, but I thought I might take a small break.  Plus by the time I've been thinking about blogging I already feel too horrible to even think about doing anything but going straight to bed.  However, I couldn't miss a "Five Things" posting, even if it is a day late.  These posts are so important to me because it's easy to get caught up in the negatives and though I try to think positively on a day to day basis. Saying things like "at least I don't have hives" can only get me so far, particularly because I'm a little superstitious about those things and I'm not 100% sure they aren't going to come back.  Which makes these posts just as important as Thanksgiving.  We all need to take a little time to think about how we've been blessed and as much as I sometimes don't want to, counting my blessings every week helps remind me to look on the bright side of life and remember to be thankful for God's little blessings.

5 things I'm thankful for this week:

Babysitting sleeping children

Mostly because it means I get to catch up on my "Family Friendly" movies without any shame

Successfully keeping up with both of my 365 photo projects

You can follow my progress on Flickr (I also have a Flickr feed in the sidebar)

Being able to take the weekend off

I had a pretty wonderful staycation this weekend

(P.S. I promise I'm not strangling Oscar and he's enjoying being loved on)

(Photo Credit)

Ole Miss conquered their bowl game

And we're supposedly getting some extremely awesome recruits for next year's season

(Photo Credit)

My internship is almost done

I'm definitely ready to close the whole "working for free" chapter of my life... If only I could figure out what I wanted to do next

Title: "Keep You Right" by Blind Pilots

Keep Your Eye on the Light and It Will See You Through

5 things I'm thankful for this week:

I just bought Adobe Creative Cloud for the next 365 days.

Plus VSCO film, a set of pre-made presets that make your photos amazing as in like film.

I made it to the stripes!! 

On the blanket I'm working on.  I hope it's going to be big enough!

My cookie flower

Ole Miss won Homecoming!

Even though I wasn't there, I have some Grove pictures from last weekend.

And last, but not least, my inhaler.

This has helped me breathe easier this past couple of weeks. 

Title: "Carla" by Life in Film

You Will Always Get What You Want

     I had the best birthday a sick girl could ask for.  I went to the doctor this morning and I have an upper respiratory tract infection thingy and maybe kind of bronchitis.  But I'm on antibiotics to which I may or may not be allergic.  Z-packs and steroid packs aren't necessarily the same thing (so if you remember taking 5 little pills on day 1, it's not the same as 2 big pills on day 1).  Crazy little fact you now know thanks to me, no big deal.
     I did get to blow out candles on my birthday cake!  Which was completely awesome.  (My parent's didn't even mind my bronchitis germs being blown all over my cake.  Hear that y'all, I think I just claimed the cake all for myself!)  But really, the pound cake was way too delicious to let a little thing like germs get the best of it.  (And anyway, it's not something you can really catch.  I don't think.)  Oh and I got birthday flowers sent to the office (by my family) which was embarrassing and made me feel special all at the same time.  They also took me shopping at The Pink Zinnia and Janie Rose (in Hernando).  I got some pretty sweet stuff that I'm definitely wearing to the Grove on Saturday.  Because how can I go to Oxford this weekend and not get dressed up and go to the Grove?  It's just unthinkable!

Title: "Something Good Can Work" by Two Door Cinema Club

I'll Just Try to Keep Up

     If I had planned better, I'd be talking about design right now and how amazing it can be.  But I didn't.  So instead I'm just going to share with you a funny video put together by whatever Texas team Ole Miss played last weekend.  There have been so many I can't keep them straight.  (I looked it up, it was Texas, so descriptive right?  That's how I had no idea what team it was, I kept thinking I was missing something.  But nope, it was just Texas.)  Of course, we won lost.  No surprise there, but it was our first game of the season to lose (BIG surprise there).  Anyway, it was a huge game.  I saw Facebook statuses where some of my friends couldn't get cell phone service in the grove on FRIDAY.  Yeah, that hasn't happened since the Presidential Debate (so many people came the cell phone companies put up extra tower thingys, we've been good in the grove ever since).
     A group of fans made this video about the grove.  While it does portray Ole Miss in not the greatest light, you've got to think that they probably interviewed a ton of people and most of them probably got the answers correct.  I couldn't even answer some.  Not too surprising since it's all about football and I don't really know much about that subject.  

     I'm headed down to Oxford for what sounds like just the first half of the day.  I'm hoping it will go well, but who really knows.  This whole week has been so hectic, busy.  Ready for the weekend!  (And for my parents to get home.  I'm finding out that I'm really going to have find a job where I don't have to be out of the house all day or I can take my puppy to work.  Oscar is going to be a heck of a trouble maker if he's left alone ALL day especially inside.)

Title: "Travelin' On" by Norah Jones

Yeah My Friends They Are So Beautiful

     The Grove.  The Game.  The Epicness.

Title: "Friends" by Band of Skulls