Friends I'll Never Forget

Game day in Oxford Mississippi from scottburtonphotography on Vimeo.

This video by Scott Burton Photography gave me chills and is a more accurate portrayal of a game day and really took me back.  Loved it so I just had to add it to the blog!  Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!!!

It's too bad this blog wasn't started 8 years ago, mainly because I would have written about my time at Ole Miss also known as the University of Mississippi.  This video shows part of the experience, but only graduates will have the life long memories of attending school there.

Before I was married those were definitely some of the happiest times of my life!  I still keep in touch with the friends I can never forget that I met there!  Some of the sweetest and beautiful women in the South!

Baby you're a Firework

"Firework" by Katy Perry





This inspirational and meaningful song to me is about finding yourself when you are down, and the inner light that will come out when you tackle your inner fears or insecurities.  It is not a wonder how 5 of the songs released from her album went #1.  I will tell you I downloaded the whole thing and was very happy to see her release all the songs she did and that they did so well. 

Good for you Katy!!!


Here are the lyrics if you are like me and want to know them!

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag,
drifting through the wind
wanting to start again?
Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin
like a house of cards,
one blow from caving in?

Do you ever feel already buried deep?
6 feet under screams but no one seems to hear a thing
Do you know that there's still a chance for you
'Cause there's a spark in you

You just gotta ignite, the light, and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July

'Cause baby you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"
You're gonna leave 'em all in awe, awe, awe

You don't have to feel like a waste of space
You're original, cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds
After a hurricane comes a rainbow

Maybe your reason why all the doors are closed
So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road
Like a lightning bolt, your heart will glow
And when it's time, you'll know

You just gotta ignite, the light, and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July

'Cause baby you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make 'em go "Oh, Oh, Oh"
You're gonna leave 'em all in awe, awe, awe

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
It's always been inside of you, you, you
And now it's time to let it through-ough-ough

'Cause baby you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go "Oh, Oh, Oh"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make 'em go "Oh, Oh, Oh"
You're gonna leave 'em all in awe, awe, awe

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon

Best Sand Castle at the Beach

Sand Castle #1

Sand Castle #2

Sand Castle #3

Sand Castle #4A

Sand Castle #4B

UP, UP and Around

Me & Kyle in front of Myrtle Beach, SC Farris wheel

I had a great adventure at the beach this time around, it was nice to enjoy the Jimmy Buffet Farris Wheel in Myrtle Beach, SC.  It is almost a Sky Bucket because it goes up so high and is fully enclosed.  You can go with 2-6 people and it was truly a ton of fun!

Kyle and I saw the coastline for miles around and all the fun lights of the city since we were going at night.  Every day is an adventure with this amazing man of mine!

I love the beach and Myrtle Beach was such a fun place to go, it was like Destin of South Carolina!  Sand was white and the water was blue, what more could anyone want?  It was dog friendly before 9 am and after 5 pm, which is perfect because the beach is really too hot for canine during the day!  It was also very friendly.  See my other post about the best sand castle!!!

Love like Crazy

This song will always have a very special meaning to me as it was the first dance song at our wedding!!!  Almost exactly a year ago we got married in Norcross and had the reception at the 173 Carlyle House.  This was such a perfect spot for us and was so beautiful!!!

courtesy of Lee Patterson Photography

As we are almost ready to celebrate our One Year Anniversary of being married, I am getting all nostalgic of the memories from the wedding and how beautiful it was.  Kyle was so handsome and I felt like a princess.

courtesy of Lee Patterson Photography

It was clearly the happiest day of my life!  I'll never forget what a blessing my mom was to planning everything.  Kyle's mom, Susan did such a nice job with the rehearsal dinner, and Amethyst my Maid of Honor did above and beyond what I could have hoped for.  I was also grateful for all the people that helped with planning both my bridal showers, which, by the way were also spectacular! 

It was so great to have people come from all over the world to be at my wedding, and especially those that came across the country!  I have never felt so loved!  I guess that is what it is all about right?! 

Love can conquer all!

Beach Bound and Care Free

One thing I love about being married and no kids is: if you want to leave for the weekend to head to the beach you can just go!  We took our dogs and our one year old wedding cake topper and we headed to SC beaches to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary.  It is a nice feeling to know we have made it our first year.  Things will only get better from here.

This was a picture from our room, kind of amazing right?  Thanks instagram for the editing help, super easy by the way, I had to borrow Kyle's iphone 4 ;)

Let’s just say when you are gone for a couple days and you take your dogs it is no hard task to fill up an entire truck bed.  With dog crates, dog bed, food, drinks, and luggage it is not hard to pack the whole truck up.  I was really excited about our trip to the beach because we were celebrating our anniversary.  As I mentioned, we have been married a year and it honestly has been one of the best years of my life.  We get along really well, but we also have amazing communication.  That is definitely something we work on daily and it is a blessing.

There is nothing better than getting some good ole fashioned Vitamin D and we went with our dogs on walks down the ocean.  I love to just slip my toes in the sand. Oh and the clique long walks on the beach!!!  Tootles :)

So Critical

‘“I was just thinking how critical you are.” My natural instinct was… well, you know. But I thought, This is a good willed man. Maybe he means something else.  So I asked, “What does that mean, that I’m critical?”  He replied, “I mean our family couldn’t exist without you. You are so critical to us.”’  “The Language of Love & Respect,” by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, Pg 101.

When I first read this I thought what you did, wow sounds like the beginning of a fight!  This amazing book talks about a lot of things but one of the points of this chapter is how men say plainly what they mean most of the time and women read in between the lines.  He also talked about how we hear each others voice's and have a different connotation in the sounds when we communicate.

I did an experiment with Kyle and myself at the dinner table.  I said will you yell my name, pretending you are trying to get my attention.  Then I did it.  I thought he sounded mad at me and he thought I sounded like a damsel in distress.  So this just shows how the tone of our voices can make the other person feel a certain way about something we are saying.

Two students are given a task to try to get the other student to cross a line.  Students in America will try to bribe the other student and do anything they can to try to get the other student to come over.  In Japan the same experiment was done and almost immediately all the students quickly switched sides so that each student won.  Hence a true win, win.

I guess that is why in a loving marriage we don’t try to win on just one side, we did like the Japanese and try for a win, win. There is no "i" in team.

Down and Out after an Amazing Game Tuesday Night

The missing ball's replacement

Kyle was really sweet and after I lost my blue Nike Soccer ball he went to the store and bought me a new one to replace it.  So I was all excited about having my new ball to play soccer with at the game.  I got there early and was warming up with our keeper Jeff and everything was going well for the game we were about to have.

We started the game and right away we moved the ball up field and my friend Jen G and Marta  both scored goals so we were up 4-0.  I remembered this team and I think we either tied them or they won last time so there was a sense that we needed to continue to play well.

One thing we definitely had going for us is our whole team or most of our team was there.  We were missing Marc and Charlie but we had almost a full roster.  We ended up winning 7-3 and it was amazing the first real game of the season. 

The only problem was I hurt my ankle by hyper-extending it. But yesterday I took the day off work to rest my ankle and let it rest and ice it down.  So now it's Thursday and I feel much better!  Tomorrow I will be back to work!

New Camera for a Semi New Family

He said he was driving and didn't want to take a picture

Kyle used his USAA points to get us a new camera.  I was surprised when he said he wanted a new camera because he usually doesn't even like it when I am taking tons of pictures.  If he is turning over a new leaf I am all for it. 

Kisses

Of course I am always up for a picture.

at a stop light

So I guess he doesn't mind having his picture taken after all. 

I am loving the quality of this new camera, it is a FujiFilm with 14 mega pixels, and 5x zoom, I wish I had this camera at the Britney Spears Concert, that is for sure.

This is one of the first things we have bought that is something we will have to share, and I am sure it won't be our last.  It is just part of being married. 

I mean our dogs even know I am Ruby's master and Kyle is General's master.  This is because before we were married the dogs lived with each of us separately.  Of course now they are our dogs and we each take care of the other dog, but the attachment and favoritism is also there.  

I love both dogs and both dogs love us too.  Seriously the dogs make me feel like a family because with out them we would be a married couple.  I like our family the way it is for now.