Never wanna grow up

We are back from Seattle.
I'm tired so I'll write about it later.

But here are pictures from last week...
of us just enjoyin' life.

















John, Kristine, Vincent and I enjoyed the simple things of life: slides and a little bit of late night ice cream!!

Mrs. Galpin

Hello Dear Friend! I hope you are having a great birthday today!! I love you and miss you buddy yo! Happy happy Birthday to you~~treat yourself to sugar!!

I Can Totally Relate

Oh, so cracks me up! I despise roaches! And my friends, including my husband, mock my detest for these devils. I freak out, scream and at times I have cried at the sight of roaches. The other day, I was e-mailing and the 'nasties' flew on my hand!!!!! I freaked, screamed, curled up in the fetal position and couldn't move. Vincent had to run over, pick me up and move me away from the roach. There was another incident where I started crying, swearing there was a roach in my pants. At the time Ryan Dixon was driving, so I made him pull over, come to find out the 'roach' was only a seam in my jeans. I just can't STAND those things! There are many a times Vincent had to hold the sobbing me and reassure me that he will protect me from the roaches. (Oh, so embarrassing...but funny.) SO! In this weatherman I have finally have found a kindred spirit.

For 5 Talbot, click here.

Trash Digging

New City Sr. High Youth Group gathered this Saturday morning for a Yard Sale at the Church. It was to raise money for their annual summer Road Trip. We 'rented' out tables to peoples as well as selling our own stuff that was donated to us.

Yard Sales/ garage sales are such an American phenomenon. I still get a little bashful going to yard sales, the experience of rummaging through people's belongings is weird enough. Furthermore, digging through their unwanted stuff pretty much makes me a trash digger, and that is humbling, to say the least. Yes, only in the States is this a cultural norm.

Don't get me wrong, I'm starting to enjoy this American tradition. I think it's an brilliant idea, you get money for your junk and ironically this trash diggin' experience has become a treasure hunt for me. As you can see above, Vincent is holding Stevie Wonder's "Innervisions" album: to my man, that was a great find. Maybe it's my pride that makes me hesitant to go through people's stuff. I gotta overcome whatever it is soon though, since the largest yard sale in the world is about to hit Lookout Mountain in August. (It crosses several states: AL, GA, TN and so on.) And at that time, I plan to have my game face on to find me some treasures.

父の日

Cheers to my Dad, for being patient with me, raising me, loving me and continually praying for me! To Mr. Miyagi, Cheers!

Organized Chaos

So, majority of the time I work from home. We have just rearranged our house, and my study/office has not been completely set up so I've been working around our coffee table for the past week. I'm starting to understand the saying, "Don't mix business w/ pleasure". The couch area used to be my nap space and my internet cafe. It is now my work space that I loath.

(Note to self: Get my life together. Clean. Get my life back.)

To Strut or Not to Strut

Chattanooga's finest and largest block party of the year, Bessie Smith Strut was last night. Since the shooting of 2003 the strut only had lasted till 8:30. Understandably so. Until, this year, where the beer board won and pushed the closing time to 9:30. With how packed M.L.K Blvd. was, I'm pretty sure the hour made a difference for the venders. Apparently they are going to ask for another hour for 2008. Crazy! I mean, the place is packed out! They had security everywhere!

Like these cops scanning the crowd above buildings. We saw snipers too, just checking us out. Anyways, I don't know how security will be if it goes two hours past dark, next year. We all left before the cops pulled out their pellet guns to shoo us out. I mean, I wasn't about to stick around for a blind sniper to hit me. The place was so jammed packed, if anything crazy happened I just could imagine me getting stomped on.
Anyways, needless to say, even though it was packed and even though crazy things could happen, the cultural experience was and is worth having. Lowen, Vincent and I even witnessed a fight and I gotta say I was more worried about trying to get a picture of it than my safety. (Sorry, no picture of the fight.) I am such a tourist. dang. Well, next year...we'll see you there again.

Irresponsible Journalist turns 28

Here is the birthday boy himself! Happy Birthday Josiah! Off course we celebrated this 'Christmas in June' in a well deserved manner. In a warehouse, were we can make all the noise we want without disturbing others and music to make us dance till the wee hours of the morning. Though you are 'irresponsible' in many ways, you are a dear dear friend that deserves many best birthday wishes. Vincent and I are proud to call you our friend...I think...did I say that on the internet?...I did. Oh well. Anyways, Happy Birthday.
The host of the party: D.

The birthday boy and his lovely wife...trying to keep up with his pace.

More pictures on Flickr. It was such a great gathering of people as the Galpins and Wardells were able to join us this weekend.

spoiled and relaxed

This picture cracks me up. I don't know why it's so funny to me. Anyways, this weekend Abby Simpson came over and gave Vincent and me each an hour massage. So great! I had the best sleep that night. I was giddy all day waiting for Abby to come with her nifty little bed. I felt so spoiled having a personal masseuse in my very own living room. That's what it must feel like, to be rich. To top it off, when I was done with my hour, Vincent had finished our grocery shopping and fixed me dinner. B-E-A-Utiful!

So. If any of you want to be spoiled and relaxed for an hour, let me know. It's FREE! Why is it free? Because Abby is getting her license for TN (she's got one for GA already), and she needs to get her hands on 50 people. I love helping a friend out in need! Esp. when I get something great in return.

Bessie's Blues

Vincent and I went to see Bessie's Blues, a play put on by the Destiny Ensemble Theater Company. The play was vibrant, energetic and raw. The music was non-stop and it really made me want to dance, clap and stomp. One thing I didn't expect was how racy it was going to be. It makes sense though, since the play was about the life of Bessie Smith and the history of Blues.

I wish today wasn't the last day of the show, because you all should go see the play. You all really missed out. Anyways, Vincent covered the story in the Pulse, so check out his article to get the fully story, about Bessie and this theater company.