Weekend Recap

We had a great weekend! Matt went with his brothers, dad, and some other male family members to Athens, Alabama for a long weekend of golf. They have an annual golf weekend/tournament which took place this past weekend. So I decided to head to Atlanta with the dogs to visit the family while Matt was off playing golf.

Friday evening I met my dad for dinner at this fantastic Italian restaurant. We rarely get to hang out just the two of us and we had a blast just spending time together. My dad is hilarious!!

Saturday my mom and I met went to see my cousin Liz's new house. It is really nice and she is doing a great job of fixing it up! We went to lunch with her and then mom and I came back to hang out around the house, aka nap! Later that evening we did a little shopping and just came back home to relax. It was as always so nice to see her and spend time with her.

Sunday I visited my best friend Amanda, her husband Bobby, and their two kiddos Avery and Reece. They recently moved into this huge and beautiful house in Powder Springs, Ga. I was very excited to see the new house which is amazing! Later, Amanda and I had some great girl time eating lunch together and shopping.

As usual my weekend to Atlanta was too short but I had a great time. I'm so thankful to have such amazing family and friends who live nearby and the drive only takes about 2 hours. I don't think I could live any farther away from them or I'd be very, very sad.

We have another exciting weekend coming up. We are heading to Auburn Friday afternoon and are going to tailgate and go to the game Saturday night. They are playing Clemson and I'm sure it will be a blast. Auburn holds a special place in my heart and I always get emotional when I get to go see my old town and school. War Eagle!

ADHD America

ADHD-Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. I know you've heard of it, been diagnosed with it, think you may have it, or know someone who has. Apparently, in America we tend to quickly diagnose and medicate someone when they have a problem, instead of figuring out what may be the root of it and other possible solutions. I see that often times with children who seem to be somewhat hyperactive or energetic they are diagnosed with ADHD and medicated. No one even considers it may be normal for a young child to sit still or that they are very energetic by nature. And when they do get diagnosed and prescribed medicine, parents are quick to come to me and say "Timmy's medicines aren't working! He's still getting in trouble at school!". Well, perhaps Timmy doesn't actually have ADHD and just maybe has some behavior problems that should be fixed the old fashioned way with more structure and discipline. People assume medicine will fix everything and are sorely disappointed when they find this is not true.

As a whole, our society itself seems to have symptoms of ADHD. We can't seem to sit still and relax, and often like the parents of energetic or hyper children we want medicine whenever we experience anything that we dislike or don't want to feel. Emotions are real, and lots of people would rather medicate themselves instead of dealing with the root of the emotion. We no longer can sit still and complete one task at at time. We are a multi-tasking society. I am not pointing fingers, I myself have been on the phone, playing on the computer, and checking my phone at the same time. I have been reading a book and take a minute to play on the Internet while reading. Why can't I just do one thing at a time anymore? Is it just me? I hope not, because this whole blog is focused on how I believe it's ingrained in our society more and more to be like this. They had to make laws against multi-tasking. Think about the no-texting laws. Shouldn't we realize how dangerous it is to text or be distracted doing something else while driving? You would think we did, but judging by the way we act we don't. Yes we are a busy society. Yes we have a lot of important things to juggle each day whether it be work, family, or our personal lives. But are we truly putting in quality time and care to the tasks at hand when we are doing more than one thing at the same time? When I am talking on the phone to someone am I really listening to what they are saying or able to give them the most helpful advice or input? Probably not. Maybe we should slow down and live our lives, one task and one thing at a time. No, we don't need to be prescribed any medicine to do this. We just need to take a deep breath, stop other tasks, and focus on the most important at the time. I bet we will be more competent in our work, will improve our quality of relationships, and will feel less stressed. I'm gonna try it. Why don't you?

Nick and Megan Shower

This past Friday several friends along with Matt and I threw a wedding shower for my brother-in-law Nick and his fiance Megan. We had a blast and I think they racked up on some gift cards! Here are a few pics from the night:

Girls Night, Guests, and Tubing

We have been busy lately!! It started last Wednesday when several of my girlfriends and I went to "Chow Down Around Town" which is when we get together each month for dinner at a different restaurant. This was our first month and we went to the
restaurant 26. We had some great food and drinks and ended up going to the Blue Monkey Martini Bar. We had a blast.

Friday my best friend from Atlanta, Amanda and her husband Bobby came into town for the weekend. I have known Amanda since I was 14 and she was in my wedding, and I in hers many years ago. She is the only person I have been able to keep a close relationship with long distance and that alone speaks of how much I love her! So Friday night the four of us went to eat at at Jackson's restaurant in Homewood. The weather was perfect and we sat outside and enjoyed one another's company. We weren't quite ready to head home so we walked to Oak Hill Bar and had a few more drinks.

Saturday was the big day we have been looking forward to for a long time-tubing! We ended up having around 20-25 people meet up and drive to this place in the middle of nowhere. It's very difficult to find if you don't know where you are going, as we have learned in years past. I got directions this time so we all made it pretty easily. For $10 a tube, you are driven in the back of a truck to a drop off site where you walk down a ravine and hop in the Cahaba River. Then you will float along the river while being able to ride the rope swing, go down a few rapids, jump off some cliffs, and just pull over on the side to relax, eat, and enjoy the scenery. I had a few run ins with some rocks, and have the bruises and cuts to prove it, but it was a well worth it! We ended up having beautiful weather and a great time! Click here for more pics of our adventure. They are very cute!

Surprisingly, after we ate dinner and returned home from our day in the sun and in the water, I got a second wind. Bobby and Amanda were able to stay an extra night thanks to her sister who was watching their kids, so Amanda and I put on our pj's and had a few glasses of wine while singing our hearts out to karaoke at our house. Though we may not be the best singers, we had a blast and tried our hardest to match up to Cindi Lauper and Madonna and the other artists we sang.

Sadly, Bobby and Amanda had to head back on Sunday and I already am missing them! Sunday I didn't feel too hot (imagine that) so I was pretty much worthless. We did end up having dinner at our friends' Phoenix and Oj's house which was nice, so I can't count the whole day as a wash.

Since the new week has begun I am still recovering from the last week and our many adventures. We had a great time and I am so glad we got to spend lots of time with Bobby and Amanda and several other of our great friends. It's times like this that makes me feel so happy that I live here and am so close to such amazing people.

We have another big weekend coming up this weekend-Friday we, along with several of our friends are throwing my brother in law Nick and his fiance a wedding shower. Saturday if the weather is nice I am hoping to try to go check out Birmingham's Saturday Farmers Market Pepper Place. That evening we have an engagement shower to attend. Whew! It will be busy but fun!

Here are a few Pics from this past week:

Mere and Ang B. being silly at The Blue Monkey

Amanda, Phoenix, and Erica at the Blue MonkeyMatt and I at dinner Friday night

Amanda and I on the way to go tubingAnother one of me and Amanda

Versatile Blogger

Truthfully, I didn't actually receive this "award" but I still wanna play the game and pass it on to my friends. This is the Versatile Blogger Award. There are rules that come with receiving this award that you follow and then you pass on the award to other bloggers you like and/or think are versatile. Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person who gave you this award. In my case, I will send you here to a blog that I enjoy reading.

2. Post 7 random facts about yourself.

3. Pass the award along to bloggers who you think are fantastic!
4. Contact the bloggers you’ve picked and let them know they have received the award.

So, 7 random facts about me.

1. I don't have a favorite food. I like food so much that I just can't pick one, or two, or three, or ten. I just can't decide! Actually I'm pretty indecisive with most things.

2. I love to travel, over the past few years I have been to Mexico, Jamaica, Bahamas, New Orleans, Nashville, Gatlinburg, Florida, Key West, and Memphis. My heart belongs to New Orleans though Jamaica is a very, very close runner up.

3. I have a love/hate relationship with running. I run for an hour at least 4 times a week and sometimes hate to start but always feel great once I've finished.

4. I chew my nails and don't think I'll ever be able to stop. It's mostly when I'm bored.

5. I am super sensitive about offending people. I always doubt myself and worry that if I say something it may offend or hurt someone else's feelings. I will re-read emails tons of times and sometimes call others for reassurance that it sounds okay-and this is something as insignificant as an email inviting people to dinner.

6. I wish I had a more southern accent. Stupid, I know.

7. I have in the past few years a secret desire to be a police officer/detective but know I'm a wuss and would be scared on the job. Plus, those hours are terrible. (and the uniforms!)

Okay, so the people I am sending this to are:

-Amanda Thompson

-Tiffany Jackson

-Paige Hutchinson

-Lindsey Pace

For the Witches, Wicans, Magicians, or just for a good laugh

My co-workers and I stumbled upon this gem of a magazine a previous nurse had left behind after working her shift this morning and still haven't been able to stop looking and laughing at it since. The magazine is called "The Pyramid Collection: Myth, Magick (that's how its spelled), Fantasy & Romance". I first saw one of my co-workers reading it and became excited. "Oh is that a Halloween magazine!? I love Halloween!". She laughed and replied that she at first believed it to be a Halloween magazine but with further reading realized it is a serious magazine that specializes in--you guessed it: Myth, Magic, Fantasy & Romance. After reading it several times and getting MANY good laughs, I thought I would share this with others for a few good laughs on a Monday morning. I took these pics with my iphone so some are fuzzy, but I will try to translate what the picture is.

Let us begin with the necklace of the top left of this pictures. It is named "love bites" and is a choker with red jewels dangling from the necklace to appear as if blood is dripping down one's neck. Lovely. Then as we look to the middle right side of the page there is a glass that says "Friends don't let friends drink friends". I feel this makes a perfect Christmas or birthday present for a loved one-- very appropriate.


Okay, I am totally skipping the glasses that look like spider webs to focus on the more serious item here. These stockings look like spider webs. They even glow in the dark! The best part is the caption next to them that says "Spider Woman. Only got two legs? These will make up for 'em". Okay, wow, are there people who are wanting more than two legs?! Whaa? For the low price of only $12.95 these can be yours, and don't forget they do glow in the dark.

On to a much more serious item. These are lovely crystal earrings. The best part of this item is that it is an "energy amplifier" and can "heal, energize, and (best of all) has the power to enhance psychic ability".



Next up is the velvet cloak. Or the cane with the red crystal ball. So appropriate for all occasions.

And I will end with my personal favorite, the purple and black cape. The title says "Dress to Impress" and I'm sure that's exactly what will happen if you go out in public wearing a cape on any day other than Halloween. The description says (with my added comments in parenthesis) "momentous occasions call for raiment, dignified and appropriate(when is a cape NOT appropriate?!). To that end we present our formal cape: fully hooded (cause you gotta have one of those) and reversible (because you don't want to be seen in the same cape color 2xs in a row)...tailored with convenient arm openings (oh thank god)...generously cut for graceful drape "(graceful and cape should never be in the same sentence or paragraph).

Be sure to let me know if you want me to order you and one of these items which are so useful I'm sure you'll get your money's worth.

Happy Monday Everyone!

Adventures of the Birmingham ladies and the impromptu pub crawl

All week long I had been so excited for Saturday. I had made plans with a couple of my best girl friends to go early morning to the Pepper Place in Birmingham, which is the Saturday Farmer's Market. After the Farmer's Market we were going to go eat brunch and then head to the pool. To my dismay, as I woke up Saturday morning it was raining and thunder storming. So we, being the laid-back go-with-the-flow kinda girls that we are decided not to let the rain stand in the way of a day of fun and we decided to skip the Farmer's Market and head directly to brunch.

We decided to meet at Jackson's Restaurant in SoHo, a part of Birmingham around 10:00 am. We were very excited to be informed that Jackson's had a special on Mimosa's for the day. Well, we do not need to be persuaded to have a Mimosa or two (or three or four) especially when they are on special and we would not be rude enough to turn this offer down. So we had a great brunch and shared a lot of laughs and good fun (i.e. Meredith rapping). A few hours later (you know how when girls get together time can just fly by) we decided to leave but didn't want to end the fun.

We tried to check out a new bar nearby called WXYZ but for some reason it wasn't open at noon on Saturday. Geez what were they thinking!? We then walked across the street and took a pit stop after Amanda and Mere spotted a kitty in the sewer. Laying on the ground and actually convincing a complete stranger to do the same with them they tried to coerce the kitty out of the gutter. After several attempts to "save" the kitty and to their dismay, they were unsuccessful and we left the kitty in the gutter. Bethany and I then decided we needed to check out the new yogurt bar called Tutti Fruiti. Apparently yogurt bars are huge right now and I certainly won't be complaining about this. They are amazing! And so was Tutti Fruiti.

After leaving Tutti Fruiti we walked down the street to go to Oak Hill Bar. Mere decided it didn't smell good so we moved on to Mama Goldberg's, aka Mama G's. We got a few pitchers of beer and sat outside for a little bit (it had stopped raining). We later moved into the restaurant after it got extremely hot and we needed refills for our drinks. Of course we had to have Mama G's famous nachos and I got my favorite sandwich Turkey Delight. I'm pretty sure we scared the young men who worked at Mama G's after trying to quiz them about the original Mama G's which is located in Auburn. It really bothers me that Mama G's has become a franchise and there are people working for them that are not Auburn fans, nor have visited the original hole in the wall location which holds a special place in mine and all other true Auburn fans' hearts. One guy said he had been to the original but the line was too long to wait. What a load of crap! Duh, everyone knows you have to wait in the long line at Mama G's, its a rite of passage and should be demanded for all workers of any Mama G's, regardless of the location of their store. I thought it was necessary for me to stress this to the Mama G's workers as well, I'm not sure if they understood the seriousness of this..... Okay, focus Jessica. So we had a blast at Mama G's and decided it was time to move on again.

Next stop was at Fuego, a Mexican bar/restaurant. By this point it was around 4 pm or so and we were all having a great time. I wore my sunglasses in the restaurant. Hey, don't judge, it was bright in there! We all had a few margaritas (definitely try the Watermelon Margarita if you go there made with real watermelon juice) and then a lot of water before calling it a night.

I ended up getting home to see Matt who had been playing golf all day with the guys. They ended up having to come home early after it began to rain again. I gave him the advice that he should have received a rain check to play again but he said that since they already played 27 holes of golf they wouldn't qualify for a rain check. Well, darn Matt.

After catching up on Jersey Shore (a MUST) I passed out at 8pm. For the night. I was tired. It's a tough life here in Birmingham but some one's gotta do it.

Hope you all had a great weekend as well as I did.