Road Trip?

So, I've been in a nostalgic mood here lately, and I've been thinking about a few places that I wish I had gone as a kid. Granted, most of these places weren't even around when I was a kid, but if they had been, I'm sure the Bice family have been burning up the roads to make this only child happy. Isn't that right, mom?

First, Babyland General Hospital in Cleveland, Georgia, birth place of the Cabbage Patch Kids... I had LOTS of Cabbage Patch Kid dolls when I was a little girl, and I was always told I looked just like them with my chubby cheeks. The ones I remember were Heather (a redheaded, yarn-hair doll with pigtails) Walter (a little yarn-haired boy with dimples) and Emily (one of the cornsilk-haired dolls who wore glasses. She was my twin.) My grandmother's neighbor made clothes for my Cabbage Patch dolls. I took them everywhere I went. I still have them at my parents' house.

Second, the American Girl Store... I think I caught the very beginning of this craze at the tail end of my childhood. These dolls were SO cool. They each came from a specific time period and everything about them (clothes, furniture, story, etc.) was so incredibly detailed. I had the only four that were out at the time - Molly (World War II-era), Samantha (Victorian-era), Felicity (Colonial-era), and Kirsten (prairie-era). Samantha and Kirsten have since been discontinued. I had the girls' beds, pajamas, dress-up clothes and school accessories, as well as the matching pajamas for me. Spoiled much? They're all carefully preserved with their furniture and accessories at my parents' house, too.

And third, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter... This part of Universal Studios in Orlando doesn't actually open until this summer, but I can't wait to go!!! I'm a Harry Potter fan and not ashamed to admit it, and this would be worth an Orlando trip on its own to me. Of course, while I'm there, I'd want to do Disney and MGM, too. I love theme parks though - the good ones, I mean, not Six Flags. Anybody up for a road trip?

Weekend Wrap-Up

I outran the tornadoes on Saturday and made my way to the Coast for the SMA ball. We've made this an almost annual tradition with some of my college friends, and this year my friend Christy was the ball chairman.

The decorations were beautiful, and we had so much fun. I did not, however, have too much fun on Sunday after finishing off an entire bottle of sweet tea vodka on Saturday night. I am hanging up my "fun hat" for a while - at least until our beach vacay in a few weeks.

Here are some pictures from the night...

On a more serious note, as for the tornado recovery, the Grey lake house at Eagle Lake is fine, thank God. I think there was a tree or two that fell, but the house was not damaged, so that's a total blessing. We saw firsthand how devastating tornadoes can be a couple of years ago in our neighborhood, and I will never again take Mother Nature for granted. Scary stuff... still thinking and praying for everyone who lost loved ones and/or properties and personal items over the weekend.

Oh, the horrors…

Our DVR decided not to work last night. Tuesday nights are big TV nights in my book with American Idol, 90210, Glee and Parenthood. Next week the final season of The Hills premieres on Tuesday, too. Wowza...

It was amazing (not to mention incredibly sad) how upset I got about my shows not recording. Before we discovered DVR, I really and truly would adjust my social/after-work schedule accordingly as to when my favorite shows were on. PATHETIC... But now, I just record all that I want to watch and play catch-up on nights that I’m home with nothing to do or on the weekends. I look forward to it. That, too, may be sad, but everybody needs some downtime.

Sometimes I like to watch Lifetime movies in bed on Sunday afternoons, sometimes I like to read a book, and sometimes I like to watch hour after hour of DVR’d shows. It’s like having a must-see-tv marathon with no commercials. And, in Derek’s words, I am not apologetic.

I’m terribly upset that I missed the Madonna episode of Glee, but I can always watch it online, even if that’s not ideal. And Parenthood comes on again on Saturday night, so I can record that episode then and watch it later. And 90210 was not new last night, so no worries there…

In summary, I am not ashamed of my television habits. At least I don’t watch Dancing with the Stars.

Good times with good friends

It was another beautiful spring weekend, and we enjoyed every minute of it! Friday night we met Wes and Elise and Katherine and Paul at the Crawdad Hole for a bit, then headed back to Belhaven for drinks on Wes and Elise’s deck followed by a late dinner at Keifer’s.

Saturday I went to a baby shower for my old friend Ashley Plummer (Herndon now). She was one of my sorority sisters, and I’m so happy we reconnected and have stayed in touch. I’m ready to meet Baby Keegan in a month or two!

Late Saturday afternoon we hit the road to Vicksburg for Riverfest. The weather was beautiful with a nice breeze, and the music lineup was great this year. Mayhem String Band, Reid Stone and the Guilt Ridden Troubadour, Rocket 88 and Blue Mountain.

We had a great time catching up with people we haven’t seen in a while and listening to good music on a perfect spring night. We even enjoyed a little late night at Jennifer Lynne and Stephen’s house. It was just like old times, but the next day feels a little worse than it did years ago. We’re definitely not spring chickens anymore.

Ugh… we had a lazy day on Sunday and were pretty worthless except for a trip to the grocery store and a good dinner. It was a great weekend, even with a worthless Sunday. Those are needed every now and then, especially when you have so much fun on the Saturday before. :)

Terrible Tuesday, but Thankful Thursday

Tuesday was a very bad day. The day started out with my boss totaling her car in a pretty bad wreck when someone ran a redlight on Lakeland Drive. She was okay for the most part - some pretty bad bruises and soreness, but no broken bones. It could have been a lot worse.

Then Tuesday night my mom fell down the stairs in our garage and split her head wide open on the concrete. They rushed her to the emergency room, removed a blood clot and now she has eight staples in the back of her head.

I knew nothing of this until around noon yesterday when she called me from the hospital, so I immediately packed a bag and headed to Hattiesburg, even though they told me not to go. I don't know how much help I was, but I just wanted to be there with her. It scared me to death, and I know it scared them, too. My dad doesn't usually handle situations like that very well, but he went into emergency mode when it happened and wouldn't let her move, called 911 and even helped clean up the blood. Then when they were released from the hospital, he went into nurse mode and was taking such good care of her.

I couldn't relax until I knew without a doubt that she was okay. I just needed to see her and talk to her, especially after everything with Derek's mom. I'm so thankful she's doing fine. She's very sore and will have the staples in for a week, but I don't even want to think about how much worse it could have been. I'm so, so, so thankful.

So overall, Tuesday was a crappy day, but it could have been much, much worse in both situations. Trust me, I'm saying an extra prayer or two today for that exact reason. You can never be too thankful.

Spa Day + Girls' Night = Perfection

What a beautiful weekend for our second annual Girls’ Spa Vacay! I hit the road around lunch on Friday and rocked out to my new “Liz’s Favorite Summer Mix” cd, courtesy of my sweet husband. It was a gorgeous day for a road trip, and I enjoyed all three hours of highway time to the Coast.

Friday night Brooke, Katie and I went to eat Mexican then just visited for a while before calling it an early night in preparation for Saturday’s spa day. Saturday morning came bright and early and we headed to Biloxi for a round of mimosas before our appointments at The Grand.

My appointment was at 11, and this year I decided to go with an 80-minute hot stone massage. Let me just say this was absolutely the best choice I could have made, and I’ll definitely be getting the hot stone massage again next time. FABULOUS. I didn’t have a single complaint. After I was totally relaxed from my massage, I enjoyed some time in the hot tub and steam room while I was waiting on everyone else to finish.

Once everyone was finished, we headed back to Christy’s for a girls’ night slumber party. SO much fun. Lauren even bought Baby Cooper, who is now almost six months old, and we made fruity drinks, played with the baby and laughed until we cried. It was a perfect night.

I just love these girls, and it’s so much fun to get together and catch up. And I love the spa, so the two combined made for an absolutely wonderful weekend. I’m ready to plan the next one already!

Random Thought Thursday

Derek just burned me a new CD for my girls' weekend road trip (yes, we still burn CDs - we're a few steps behind, sorry) and it got me thinking. I thought I would do a post about my favorite song lyrics. Pretty random, I know, but hopefully a little insightful. Some are sentimental, some are somewhat deep, and some are just plain brilliantly written. Here are some of my favorites...

JESUS, ETC. - Wilco
Our love is all of God's money.
This is one of my favorite quotes of all time. To me, this says that if we don't make it, nobody will. God is playing a winning hand with us, and nothing's going to beat it.

BAREFOOT CHILDREN IN THE RAIN – Jimmy Buffett
Wrinkles only go where the smiles have been.
This is my mantra. In the end, who cares about getting old as long as you've made it all worthwhile.

BEST OF WHAT’S AROUND – Dave Matthews Band
And if you hold on tight to what you think is your thing you may find you're missing all the rest.
This lyric is especially close to my heart because Derek was not a happy camper about leaving Ole Miss to go to to Southern, but his grades needed a break from Oxford. Little did he know he would meet his future wife once he got to Hattiesburg. You have to be open to changes in life or you'll miss out on life in general.

TWO STEP – Dave Matthews Band
Celebrate we will 'cause life is short but sweet for certain.
No explanation needed for this. It goes hand-in-hand with the Jimmy Buffett lyric. Make the most of every day. Don't let life pass you by.

WADING IN THE VELVET SEA - Phish
You won't find moments in a box, and someone else will set your clocks. I took a moment from my day, wrapped it up in things you say and mailed it off to you.
This to me says that you can't always get what you want when you want it. More specifically, I think this is about a relationship that wasn't meant to be, regardless how much the two people wanted it.

INTO THE MYSTIC – Van Morrison
And I want to rock your gypsy soul just like way back in the days of old. And magnificently we will flow into the mystic.
This song as a whole is very special to me because it was our first dance at our wedding. I love the idea of finding your true soul mate. I think a soul mate is designated for you at the beginning of time, way before you're even born. Cheesy, I know, but I was swept away.

BE MINE – David Gray
Everytime I'm talking with you it's always over too soon. Everyday feels so incomplete til you walk into the room. Say the word now girl - I'll jump that moon.
What it feels like to be totally, completely and utterly in L.O.V.E., especially in those early dating days.

ALL THESE THINGS THAT I’VE DONE – The Killers
I got soul, but I'm not a soldier.
Nothing deep here. It's just catchy and I love it. I guess I should just say God bless America - home of the free and home of the blues.

Hippity Hoppity, SPRING is here!!!

We had a wonderful and BUSY Easter weekend. Friday night we met a big group of friends at the Crawdad Hole for a little crawfish, some live music and some cold beer. It was SO nice outside. We ended the night with a little deck-sitting at our house with Drew, Kristin and Ben. It was perfect, even though we all had a bit of a yellow tint to our skins from all the pollen! It just felt good to be outside enjoying springtime.

Saturday morning we hit the road to Hattiesburg to boil shrimp at my parents’ house. We had a great visit with Mom, Dad, Gran and Pap and totally stuffed ourselves with shrimp, corn and potatoes. Our ride back to Jackson Saturday evening was pretty miserable with full bellies, and we hit the couch as soon as we got home.

Sunday we got up bright and early and hit the road again – this time to Eagle Lake. We spent the morning and early afternoon getting the lake house ready for summer by cleaning out the back bedrooms and washing all the sheets and comforters. The sun came out just as we were finishing up, so we sat outside in the sunny breeze and relaxed for a bit before eating another big meal on the grill with Derek’s dad and heading back to Jackson.

We are still worn out from being on the road all weekend, but it could not have been a more perfect weekend with great friends and family. Spring is definitely here in full force, and I just hope we can get in a few more nice weekends before it gets to be full-fledged, HOT Mississippi summer weather!