pretend it’s Friday. mostly because it’s Monday, again.

I wrote this last Friday with every intention of posting it…until I looked at the clock and realized that I only had time to hit “save” before rushing out the door and making it to my haircut a few minutes late.

Today is a good day. I woke up unusually happy, had an amazing cup of coffee, our office still smells like crawfish from the grower meeting/appreciation dinner last night, and I just got a free pork loin- the whole loin, like the entire length of a grown, huge pig! (Not sure what I’m going to do with it all, but hey, free food!) Oh and I’m wearing my henna-elephant-looking shirt with pink pants. Sounds ugly…and it might be, but it makes me smile. I feel like this is a good weekend to go on an adventure. Not sure exactly what and where, but it just feels like one of those “kill a Saturday without actually killing anything” kind of weekends. I’m excited though I don’t know why…Fortunately, Mamie is on her way here now and is a great partner in crime for trips/adventures/weird stuff. We will probably end up in a strange hole-in-the-wall coffee shop instead because we are old ladies in 20-something bodies, but either way, we will have a time!

Here is one of the places that I want to go to soon…maybe not this weekend since it’s several hours away and Mamie is already driving 4 hours just to get here:

 

The Windsor Ruins

Windsor Ruins are the columns left standing from a huge mansion that was constructed near Port Gibson, MS in 1861. Though it’s said that the mansion never reached completion, it housed both Confederate and Union soldiers during the war. After the war it was used for large parties and was burned down in 1890 when a guest’s careless cigar was dropped. The mansion housed over 25 rooms, each with their own fire place, and a 4^th floor that held an observatory room that overlooked the plantation and river. It cost the family around $175,000 to build, which is nearly $4.5 million today. After the house burned, the family donated the ruins to the state and it is now on the National Historic Register. There are still bricks left in the rubble pile that are good for the taking, so I’m told. (So of course, I want one.)

Speaking of history, I will be the first to tell you that I love school. I know, it’s weird. Most people can’t wait to get out of school and get to college, and then get out of college and get a real job. (Though most want to go back to college as soon as the real world sinks in.) I thought that it was just the college lifestyle that I have been missing so much, but as it turns out, it’s the classes. I came to this realization after the ridiculous amount excitement that struck me when I discovered that the W (Mississippi University for Women- though it’s open for men now too) is offering life enrichment classes. I could go back to college except for the fact that I’m broke and will be paying off student loans forever as it is, and I don’t feel like writing a dissertation to get another degree. But enrichment classes are in my price range! I missed the deadline for the spring semester classes so I’m crossing my fingers that they offer them again in the summer. If not, I’ll be anxiously awaiting fall!

There’s your fun and fashion (my outfit) for today.

Has anyone else seen the knock-off Girl Scout cookies that are being sold in grocery stores everywhere?! Coming from a lifetime-member of the Girl Scouts, I am personally offended that someone else is ripping off our specialty. On the other hand, I’m excited that I can now get them year round!

And speaking of grocery store finds, check out this giant can of tuna that we found! I didn’t even know they sold these in regular stores. I figured you’d have to order a can this size!

 

Biggest Tuna Can Ever…and a lovely model 🙂

And there’s your food from Wednesday that I missed….

Happy 2^nd birthday to the baby girl who showed us all the God still works miracles. From 14 ounces at 4 months premature, to 17 whopping pounds, she has come a long way. She couldn’t open her eyes when she first got here, but as she learned to open hers, she taught us to open our own as well. I love you so much baby Henley, and can’t wait to watch you grown into an amazing and beautiful woman just like your momma!

Wishing everyone an adventurous weekend. Only one week until Gin Show and 5 days until I try to convince Alex to take me to the Josh Abbot concert in Starkvegas. Get excited!

Also, go read Gone Girl if you like suspense stories. It was weird, but I liked it.

Love always,

Addie

“You know when they have a fishing show on TV? They catch the fish and then they let it go. They don’t want to eat the fish, they just want to make it late for something.”- Mitch Hedberg

bucket list

I really like the vodka commercial with Hugh Hefner that asks the question: “would you have a drink with yourself?” For me, when I think about what I would tell a complete stranger about myself, I draw a blank. I was the head cheerleader when our squad won the first ever back to back state championship for my high school, I have flipped a car and walked away with simply a scratched up elbow, I have been bungee jumping once at a fair, the doctor thought I had the “bird flu” when I was a sophomore in high school (he was wrong), I climbed a mountain in Wyoming and Mt. St. Helen in Washington, and last spring I stood a whole three feet from the one and only, Corona Cartel. Up until this point, my life has been pretty boring. Though I am proud of some of the things that I have done and thankful for all of the opportunities that I have been given, I’m pretty sure that anyone else would not think of my life as being anything out of the ordinary.

This puts me in a very troubled state of mind. I don’t want to be a boring person! I have always seen myself as a risk taker, an adventurer, someone who thinks outside the box and doesn’t follow the crowd– but I have absolutely nothing to show for it. I have all these big plans for what I want to do, but I have not taken any measures to accomplish any of those goals yet. I didn’t think I would ever say this, but I honestly think that a vodka commercial has changed me. I could sit and have a drink with the person that I see myself as thirty years from now, but my bucket list is long, and if I don’t get started on it soon, I’ll never finish it, leading me to believe that I will be a boring person from now on. I can hear Ms. Throop’s famous words echoing in the back of my head: “Just do it! When else are you gonna try it? When you’re thirty? Oh please.”

Ms. Throop was always a good motivationalist-(Yes, I’m pretty sure I just made that word up, but just go with it.) If you tell her your plans, you’d better believe that she’s going to be on you about it until you get them done. As she says, “you can’t wait until you’re thirty” to start crossing things off your list because by then your plans have changed and everything becomes a long lost dream. A “if only I would have…”

So I thought the best way to get started would be to materialize the bucket list that is currently building up in my head. That way I can begin to make plans and actually cross off the things that I have always dreamt of doing. Obviously it’s hard to do some things while I’m going to school, but it’s going to be even harder once I have a real job and eventually a family, which is why I plan to become a “gypsy.” In case you haven’t had the pleasure to hear about my idea to become a gypsy, here it is in a nutshell: After I graduate I want to take a year or two to simply travel the world and try new things that I have never done before. I can pick up odd jobs wherever I land to make enough money to get me to my next destination. It would give me a chance to chase my dreams before becoming a full time employee or wife. If the gypsy life interests you, please join me! First stop in the gypsy life: Ireland with Mamie. (It’s been a long time coming.)

In the mean time, I’m going to work on prioritizing so that I have enough time for all the endeavors on my list. Here’s to the future! (And having a drink with myself…as someone who I would actually want to listen to.)

Addie’s Bucket List  (I’m going to literally cross them off and write the date they were finished as they occur, so check back to see how it’s coming along!)

1. Skydiving
2. Mission trip to Africa
3. Hotdog eating contest
4. Scuba dive around the Great Barrier Reef
5. Swim with the turtles in the Galapagos Islands
6. Sit on a hill in Ireland and drink tea (with Mamie right after we graduate)
7. Amsterdam, though I don’t plan on staying long
8. Mardi Gras
9. Cowboy Downhill
10. Rome/Vatican (typical, but I want to see the paintings I studied in art last semester and all the references from the Da Vinci Code)
11. Watch the Running of the Bulls and participate in the La Tomatina in Spain
12. Surf
13. Dog Sled
14. Antartica (simply because, “who would want to go there?!”)
15. Learn to play REAL golf, not mini golf
16. Zorbing
17. Salsa Dance
18. Oktoberfest in Germany
19. Brazilian Carnival
20. Conquer Rt. 66
21. Ride a Gondola in Venice
22. Kentucky Derby (plans for 2011)
23. NFR (plans for 2010)
24. Wear a Cards shirt to a random Cubs game in Wriggley…thanks Chase for the idea
25. Send a message in a bottle
26. Visit Folsom Prison

Love always,

Addie

“If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space.” -Nickleback