Just my opinion...

Not to get too political on this blog, but this debate over Amendment 26 (the "Personhood Amendment") really makes my blood pressure rise. I feel like a lot of people are not seeing the bigger picture here and are not educating themselves AT ALL on what all is included in this amendment.

It is not a pro-abortion or anti-abortion vote at all. It's about at what point an embryo is considered an actual person and all that is associated with the treatment of said "person" shortly after conception.

There are a lot of unanswered questions about how this amendment would affect fertility treatments, and I, for one, think that fertility treatments and abortion should not in any way be grouped together for any purpose. Any blanket amendment that would target both should be seriously reviewed because they're on total opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of intent.

I walk the line in terms of my values, but overall I tend to be fiscally conservative and socially liberal. I feel like Mississippi, as a whole, can be so backwards sometimes.

I heard someone the news last night say that "the nation is focusing on Mississippi, and that this is our chance to be first in life rather than last in everything." Let me set the record straight with some statistics...

Mississippi is No. 1 in the country for teen births with a teen birth rate of 65.7, meaning out of 1,000 teenagers, 65 of them will have a baby. But you know what else? We're the second to last state (above Wyoming) for abortion rate with a rate of 4.6, meaning out of 1,000 women ages 15-44, there are fewer than five terminations. Those numbers have not a single thing to do with one another. Passing this amendment to make abortion illegal in Mississippi will have no effect on bringing down the teen pregnancy rate in Mississippi. Some might argue that it will do just the opposite.

Mississippi has only one abortion clinic in the state, and legislation is presented every year to try and shut it down. I'm NOT saying I'm pro-abortion at all. That's a topic that's obviously very difficult and sensitive to discuss, and this blog is not about that. I just feel like there's a never-ending circle of ignorance that people don't feel the need to address. Why not switch our focus to educating our teenagers about sex and STDs and the consequences of teen pregnancy, etc., rather than just ignore the reality that they're having sex? By pretending like it doesn't happen we end up with more teen moms who don't finish school, who can't get a decent job because they don't finish school, who are dependant on federal assistance because they can't afford to live, etc. It just never ends, but that's a totally different topic right there. Back to the debate at hand...

To the majority of people who will vote on this, this amendment is either pro- or anti-abortion, and there's just so much more to it than that.

They have not take into consideration the thousands of couples who want desperately to have a child and have to resort to science and clinical assistance to help make that dream a reality. And trust me, if this amendment passes without separate consideration for fertility treatments, there will be enough red tape associated with what is legal/illegal for doctors to do that it will be hard for them to continue fertility practices as-is in this state. It would most definitely limit physicians' treatment protocol options for those seeking fertility assistance, and I feel sure that any couple faced with that issue would want every single available option at their disposal.

There are plenty of opinions out there on both sides, and I'm not saying one is right and one is wrong. I just feel like this is a "blanket" amendment that hides some of the unintended consequences of its passage. Just be educated if you plan on voting, and consider all sides, even if it doesn't seem like it may directly affect you. That's all.

Okay, off my soapbox... Thanks for letting to me vent. :)

The Big 3-1 in the Big Easy

Well, I'm officially over 30. So far, so good. I was actually at a work conference last week for my birthday, so I celebrated with my boss and some co-workers in the big city of Tunica, Mississippi. Lovely city. Lots and lots of casinos. That's about it.

We drove back to Jackson on Thursday, and after about an hour of not being in the car, I hopped back in the car with Derek, Drew and Kristin for our second annual Grey-Gor NOLA Birthday Getaway to "officially" celebrate my birthday and Drew's birthday. We took it pretty easy on Thursday night and just relaxed at the condo and visited with Uncle Rusty. (Miss that man and don't get to see him nearly enough!)

Friday morning we slept in a little, then got ready for brunch at one of my favorite little breakfast spots, Elizabeth's. We had some praline bacon, grits and grillades, French toast, big mouthwatering biscuits and some mimosas to start the day right. SO GOOD!

After breakfast we wandered through the French Quarter doing a little window-shopping and some day-drinking along the way. The weather couldn't have been prettier for wandering around New Orleans - sunny and breezy with a cold front on its way.


Friday afternoon we met three of Derek's old fraternity brothers at The Bulldog on Magazine Street. It was happy hour, and they made the most of it. Fun times. :)

Friday night we went to The Mortuary haunted house. This, might I add, was ALL Derek. We just accompanied him because he wouldn't let us do anything else until we did this. It was pretty scary. Very professional. I told Derek from the get-go that I was going to either wet my pants or cry like a baby because I do not like haunted houses or people jumping out at me.

Well, after waiting for an hour to go inside and then the terrifying (to me anyways) 30 minutes inside, I will admit I did one of the two things I promised Derek I would do. And I did not wet my pants. I cried. The UGLY cry. It was horribly embarrassing, but I survived. And I hope my sweet husband enjoyed putting me through pure terror on my birthday weekend. I will say it was actually a lot of fun in the end though, so no harm done...

After we left The Mortuary, we grabbed a late bite to eat at a bar on the way back to the condo and called it a night.

Saturday morning we headed to Lucy's for breakfast before walking two doors down to watch the Mississippi State-Georgia game at The District. We met my friends Keever and Bobby for the game, and although State didn't have a very good game, I had a great time catching up.

After the sad loss, we walked back to the Quarter and stopped in at Jax Brewery for some more day-drinking with our group of friends and met up with a few more...

We made our way back to the condo and got ready for dinner at HerbSaint. We sat outside and enjoyed the beautiful fall weather and just enjoyed the atmosphere that is the Big Easy. We ended the night with a visit to Frenchmen Street for some live music, and then a quick jaunt to the Tropical Isle on Bourbon (don't ask me why).

What a great weekend!! So good to catch up with old friends and spend the prettiest weekend so far in one of the greatest cities in the world. I've said it before, but embracing another year older is all in how you celebrate it, and I think we did pretty well. :)

Last Weekend Before I'm "Over 30"...

We had a really nice weekend at home, which was especially nice since it was my last one at "just 30" before heading into the "over 30" category this week. Ugh...

Saturday morning Derek and I did our first 5K! He ran, and I walked, but we were very proud of ourselves for actually doing it, and doing it pretty well. (Of course, "well" is relative given the fact that there were only five walkers who finished behind me, but that's ok. I didn't pass out or quit, so that's good in my book.) We definitely plan on doing another one soon. It was a nice, productive way to kick-off a gorgeous Saturday.

Saturday night we walked across the street to watch the MSU game with the neighbors, and then called it a night pretty early.

My parents and grandparents came up on Sunday for my early birthday lunch at Julep. This was our second year to do that, and I think it should be a little tradition. So nice! It was a lovely visit, and then Derek and I spent the rest of the afternoon watching football and movies. It was just a great weekend all in all.

Only two more days before my birthday. Turning 31 kind of hurts a little, but I'm embracing it. There's really no other choice, I guess. But I do feel like 31 will be a good year for me. Here's hoping anyways! :)

Nothing exciting to write about...

Sorry this blog hasn't been too interesting here lately... we just haven't really done much that would be considered bloggable.

We've both been crazy busy at work and have spent a lot of time as homebodies. We've also been spending a lot of downtime watching college football. I've never actually enjoyed it as much as I have this year. It's been fun.

Let's see what else... we went to Hattiesburg two weekends ago to celebrate my mom's birthday. We grilled hot dogs over the firepit since the weather was so nice, and I stayed up waaaay too late with my dad. Quality daddy-daughter bonding time, I tell you. Ha!

This past weekend we went to Vicksburg for Derek's dad's birthday and made a homemade German chocolate cake all by our lonesomes. We had fun in the kitchen working as a team, and the cake was actually good.

I guess that's really about it. I do hope we'll be doing some fun and bloggable things in the coming month or so, so stay tuned if you have patience for it. Eventually we'll do something exciting again, I promise...

Still proud 11 years later!

I am so proud to be a Delta Gamma. Yes, I know I'm 30 and waaaaaay out of college, but some things never die. And I think pride is one of them. Last night my sorority at my alma mater welcomed 53 new members. FIFTY-THREE! (To put it in perspective, my pledge class was 34 and it was one of the biggest that year.)

They officially made history as the largest pledge class in USM sorority recruitment EVER.

I am so proud of them! And the legacy that remains. I loved it when I pledged in 1999, on our "last" bid day in 2002 (pictured above), and I still love it today. Many of my best friends came out of those four years, and I can only hope the same happens for all those sweet new members who start their Delta Gamma memories today.

Way to go, DG!

A dog's best friend...

Our dog has never ever been a leash-walker. We tried it before he was even full-grown and he dragged us all over the neighborhood. He is HORRIBLY behaved outside of his little world that is our backyard. Bless his heart.

As a puppy, he was the pure essence of Marley from "Marley and Me." Absolutely positively 100 percent.

Well, lately we've decided Bentley wasn't getting enough exercise. He's 7 now, and getting lazier by the day, so we decided we would invest in a harness of sorts to try and take him on a walk. So far, so good! The harness keeps him from pulling too much and makes it easier for us to stay with him.

NOTE: This is definitely not Bentley, but it's a decent picture of the harness...

So I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship between Bentley and his harness. Fingers crossed, anyways. Yesterday we walked him around our half block twice, and he was so thrilled with the freedom of the great outdoors beyond the big fence that he didn't even know what to do with himself.

Now, if we could just get one of these to carry the cat around in on our neighborhood walks we'd be the perfect little family of four...

Haha, I'll let that mental picture carry you through the rest of the day... :)

That was one looooong weekend...

What a rainy, lazy Labor Day weekend. Tropical Storm Lee cancelled our plans to spend the long weekend at the lake, so we stayed home and enjoyed plenty of nice Q.T. inside.

We watched football ALL day on Saturday. I don't think I've ever watched that much football in my entire life, but it was actually really nice. The TVs in both the living room and our bedroom stayed tuned to ESPN from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. when we switched the channel to watch the Southern game. Nothing like watching college football in your PJs all day... sometimes it's nice to enjoy life as a total couch potato.

By Sunday evening we were going a little stir crazy, so we actually showered and put on real clothes and met some friends up at the Bulldog for a little Sunday Funday happy hour. It was pretty much a guys' night that I invited myself on, but it was fun anyways. After the Bulldog we headed to Sportsmans', then back to the carport for an old school game of beer pong. It was our version of a hurricane party in honor of T.S. Lee. Fun times...

We woke up this morning to no power, so Derek read all afternoon while I napped. The power finally came back on about 6 tonight. Just in time to snap out of our laziness and get ready to go back to the real world tomorrow.

The totally rained-out weekend wasn't a bad thing after all. It forced us to sit, relax and get some rest rather than constantly being on the go like we usually are for long holiday weekends. I feel completely rested and recharged. I will say I'm not exactly dreading getting dressed for real and putting on makeup for work tomorrow. It will be nice to feel like a normal person again. This couch potato lifestyle kind of drains your energy, as ironic as that sounds. :)