Prayers

A very special family needs your prayers right now. The mother of one of our best friends is in stable but critical condition after a brain aneurysm. She's making baby steps in progression every day, but if you could spare a few prayers, they would appreciate it. We were with him when he got the call that it had happened on Saturday, and as the events unfolded, it was like deja vu for us.

While each situation is different, we can only hope and pray for more positive outcome this time around. Please say a prayer for the Gorneys that Debbie makes a full recovery - at her own pace - and that the rest of the family has strength through this process.

If you'd like to know the whole story and read the updates, here is the Caring Bridge website:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/debbiegorney

Each new day they hope for better news than the day before. It might be a long road, but what a great, loving support system they have in the meantime.

Cheers

"Where everybody knows your name... duh duh duh duh duh..." Well, maybe not everybody, but at least a couple of the bartenders and a few friends and neighbors.

There's a little bar just a few blocks away that has become "our" bar in recent years. It's pretty much a dive, but it's a cozy little place where there's almost always a seat or two available, plenty of games to play like shuffleboard or bowling, and CHEAP pitchers of beer when you're extra thirsty after a rough day at the office.

Fun memories at this place for us have included spending a Thanksgiving night in T-shirts hanging with our neighbors, winning the best couple's costume contest for Halloween (Ringo and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds), watching the monsoon rain come down Labor Day weekend last year while playing a "rainy day" mix on the jukebox, and many a happy hour beverage with my husband to just talk about work besides the basic "how was your day" conversation.

"Our" bar closed Saturday night. They're changing it into some sort of seafood/tiki restaurant and bar. Change is good, right? And a renovation was definitely needed for this place sometime in the near future.

We went Friday night to bid farewell, and it really is bittersweet. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but I just think it's kind of sad when a place where you have memories just isn't there anymore. Like the Mugshots in Hattiesburg that burned down last year. That was where Derek and I shared our first kiss. (Ha, classy, I know...)

Anyways, I'm rambling like I've had one too many $6 pitchers... In closing, FAREWELL and thanks for the memories. What stories those walls would tell if they could talk!

Greycation Part 2

And now we continue... the second half of Greycation was as great as the first, if not better.

We spent some time at The Track racing go-carts and playing goofy golf, hanging out on the back deck doing a little yoga (see below), heading over to Dauphin Island to visit Derek's grandparents, and then enjoying our last few days on the beach.

We really lucked out with great weather the whole time, and now we're nice and tanned, not burned, for our first day back at work today.

We ended our vacay by spending Saturday out at the lake for the July 4th (a few days early) boat parade and fireworks. Now it's back to real world, at least for a couple of days before the actual holiday.

Leaving the beach was pretty hard... but the good news is we'll be able to get back down there in just a few more weeks.

I do it all for you, blog readers... It's a hard job, but somebody has to do it. I like to keep things interesting on here. Ha! ;)

Greycation Part 1

I'm blogging live from the beach at Fort Morgan, Alabama. As we speak I'm watching the waves roll in and drinking a super cold beer. Gotta love technology...

We got down here Friday night for a fun, family-filled week with all Derek's siblings and families.

We've had a fabulous time so far with beautiful beach days (despite the threat of Tropical Storm Debby yesterday), a fun dinner out at LuLu's, bushwackers at sunset at Tacky Jacks, a birthday party for Frances, and some family fun in the hot tub playing tea party with Ryan Hadley.

Here are a few pics from the first half of our "Greycation"... More to come when we get home in a few days.

Frozen in Time

I shared this on Facebook last week, but I thought I would say a little more about it on here. My dad sent me this photo of my grandma from the early 1940s and me from 2003. The chair she's sitting in has lasted about 70 years at this point. If that's not amazing, I don't know what is.

It's just a cool photo collage... we were probably close to the same age when these photos were taken. I know my grandpa was at war because his photo is on the table beside her. She looks like she's straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. The photo of me was taken the weekend we moved me into my little Vicksburg apartment. I was worn out but enjoying the soon-to-be solitude of a 300 square foot space that was mine and only mine for the first time ever.

That one chair has been all over the south and now resides in my guest bedroom in Jackson. It's been recovered and awaits yet another recovering one day in the future, but it's a really interesting piece of furniture and Bice history. I'm happy to have somehow inherited this family heirloom.

If only furniture could talk... it would have DECADES of secrets to tell. ;)

Family Time on Father's Day

Nothing beats a great Father's Day celebration that spending time with both my family and with Derek's family. Our house in Jackson was the middle ground yesterday, and we really enjoyed it. We stuffed ourselves with a late lunch and visited until almost 5. Love my (little AND big) family!

It was a fun family day with the Greys/Ferrells/Bices/Thompsons. :)

Christy's Baby Shower

This weekend I got to spend some great, quality time with some good friends from college as we celebrated my friend Christy and her soon-to-be baby boy, Jackson. It was so much fun to see old friends, laugh, talk about old times, and catch up. I love these girls, and I'm so excited to meet baby Jackson in just a couple of months!

After the shower those of us who stayed in Hattiesburg went for drinks and dinner at Keg and Barrel. We met up with even MORE old friends and just had a great time.

I cherish my girls' weekends so much, and they become less frequent with the addition of babies and added miles that separate us. As Christy once put it, our girls' weekends are like chicken soup for the soul, and I couldn't agree more.

Until next time, we have some great laughs that will last us a while! My love tank is full. Ha!