not A merica, THE MERICA

Happy day-before-the-Forth-of-July! I want to take a moment to reflect on the glorious country that I call home. This blog is dedicated to the men and women who love this place enough to put it all on the line, and for that I am forever grateful. We so often take our freedom and liberties for granted, so I encourage everyone to revere this great nation and all that she stands for. Never forget the history this soil holds and all that it has overcome, and all that it continues to promise.

Two of my favorite quotes about life are about as equivalent to being American as it gets: “If you want to be happy, be” and “If you don’t like where you are, move” perfectly explain the majority of human problems as well as the solution. We are lucky enough to live in one country with 50 very different states- if you don’t like one, you’re sure to find one that you do. Though I have visited less than half of the states (so far), I still have an endless amount of respect and appreciation for each one for the depth and character they add to our “melting pot.” Here’s a list of the 50 things I personally love about our 50 states, even the one’s I haven’t been to yet…

Alabama- Football. And one smokin’ hot guy with manners! (aka, Alex)

Alaska- Deadliest Catch, dog mushing, and Mt. McKinley making the tallest point in the biggest state

Arizona- Grand Canyon

Arkansas- the LAKE

California- the pursuit of happiness and self always seem to be welcomed out there…and they have the huge trees in the Sequoia National Park

Colorado- Hiking, skiing, and the first place I ever saw a wild prairie dog

Connecticut- strangely entertaining hunting locations and nice homes

Delaware- the first of the great states, Fishers popcorn, and the lady bug being the state bug…

Florida- Disney World—so magical!

Georgia- Peaches, golf, and peanut festivals. It can keep the gnats, though.

Hawaii- Beaches everywhere…that’s a dead give away.

Idaho- Potato chips, hot springs, and the Nez Perce legends…they should have kept the Appaloosas…

Illinois- Chicago, the greatest rival to the Cards,…and the home of some of my best friends from college.

Indiana- Purdue. Agriculture forever.

Iowa- the crookedest street in the world, Snake Alley

Kansas- can’t say much because I was raised to hate a Jayhawk, but thank goodness for farm country

Kentucky- One word: Bourbon.

Louisiana- Cajun food and Swamp People

Maine- Lobster

Maryland- I read once that their Mcdonald’s offer crab rolls…

Massachusetts- Smarty pants schools that beat Asian math and science scores everytime.

Michigan- Detroit and vehicles- thanks, yall.

Minnesota- MALL OF AMERICA

Mississippi- Blues music, laid back lifestyles, Mugshots cheeseburgers, and Hail to Dear Ole State!

Missouri- The Bootheel and me, obviously. Although I should also mention the Sikeston rodeo, Lamberts, and the Cardinals.

Montana- the Horse Whisperer and the largest buffalo herd thanks to Ted Turner

Nebraska- corn, corn, corn, and the College World Series

Nevada- Sin City, baby

New Hampshire- first of the 13 colonies to declare independence from England- that’s FREE!

New Jersey- Jersey Shore and all of its awful, raunchy entertainment.

New Mexico- Hot Air Balloon Festival

New York- Sex and the City and the Freedom Tower, all 1776 feet of it

North Carolina- Nicholas Sparks and his fabulous romance novels

North Dakota- Cowboy Country, baby

Ohio- “Cleveland ROCKS!” oh, and so does Clark Gable…

Oklahoma- Oklahoma City, Still Water, Calf Fry, Corona Cartel, I could go on for days about this place…

Oregon- Carousel Horses and their ever-surprising football jerseys

Pennsylvania- HERSHEY’S CHOCOLATE

Rhode Island- home to the oldest operating tavern in the country, the White Horse Tavern, which opened in 1673

South Carolina- Hilton Head

South Dakota- the fact that this is referred to as the “Bad Lands” is just awesome…

Tennessee- itty bitty Paris spared my liquor habits in college and Nashville because, duh.

Texas- the “don’t tread on me” state of mind rules in the long horn state- and I love it!

Utah- Rainbow Bridge, the largest natural land bridge

Vermont- BEN AND JERRY’S ICE CREAMMMMM

Virginia- Gettysburg and the Pentagon, demonstrating the best defense for hundreds of years and counting…

Washington- I don’t remember much about Washington because I was young when we visited, but I did enjoy picking wild strawberries out of people’s front yards…and eating them.

West Virginia- 75 percent of this state is forest…because “mountaineers are always free”

Wisconsin- CHEESE

Wyoming- rodeos, frizz-free hair, and Yellow Stone.

And if you’re not singing “50 Nifty United States” yet………..I bet you are now….

“…each individual state contributes a quality that is great…”

But the greatest of all is knowing that no matter what state you’re in, you’re an American. And if you don’t like it, “man we’ll light up your world like the 4^th of July. Brought to your courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue.”

Here’s a list of a few more great things about ‘Merica:

1. We have the best “away colors”- camo

2. Back to back World War Champs

3. On a scale of one to America, how free do you feel right now?

4. No more prohibition means we can get “star spangled hammered” or “red, white, and boozed” anytime we want.

5. Flags a wavin’, guns a blazin’

6. Merica needed a nice vacation home, so she bought Hawaii.

Ok I’ll stop now. But on a serious note, always remember those that serve so we can call our home the Land of the Free. They sacrifice everything” not because they hate what’s in front of them, but because they love what’s behind them.” (quote from a friend that is currently serving for us)

I hope everyone has a fantastic 4^th filled with family, friends, BBQ, fireworks, and a body of water celebrating our heritage. Let’s put politics and differences aside for one day and revel in the complexities that keep us aware and give everyone a voice, and more importantly, a chance. This is our home, let’s be thankful.

“This Lady may have stumbled, but she never fell…From the sound up in Long Island out to San Francisco Bay, and ev’ry thing that’s in between them is our home. And we may have done a little bit of fighting amongst ourselves, but you outside people best leave us alone. Cause we’ll all stick together and you can take that to the bank. That’s the cowboys and the hippies and the rebels and the yanks. You just go and lay your hand on a Pittsburgh Steeler fan and I think you’re gonna finally understand.”- Charlie Daniels Band

Merica.

Love always,

Addie

“…meals are memorials that teach us how to move, history moves in us as we raise our voices and then our glasses to pour a little our for those who poured our everything for us, we pour ourselves our for them, so they can eat again.” –Jake Adam York, excerpt from his poem, “Grace”

still not OLD enough to share

Well it’s Thursday. Thursday’s don’t have a typical theme in my established presets for this blog but I haven’t posted in a while and felt the need for an update:

I guess I should start by informing everyone that I did in fact live through my 23^rd birthday. And though it was the most “grown up” birthday I’ve ever had, it was one of the sweetest. I had a beautiful flower arrangement delivered at work by my handsome knight in shining armor  farmer in Carhart bibs and was told that we were going to dinner. After work I went home to start curling my hair and began mentally sifting through possible outfit options to wear- all of which were discarded after Alex showed up in dress pants and a button down. So I crawled to the back of my closet where I keep the “fancy” dresses that are for special occasions and weddings and picked out one that was just right. We went to J. Broussard’s in downtown Columbus, which I always assumed was like the Broussard’s in Cape. Wrong. Obviously the “J.” makes quite a difference in terms of attire and setting. I reveled in pecan encrusted catfish and a glass of expensive wine by candlelight. I had to stop myself on the salad before licking the ranch off the plate…it was that good. Eventually the dessert display made its way to our table and we ended up with some sort of apple and ice cream and croissant combination. I believe the waitress referred to it as an apple “encrue”…but I’m not even sure if that’s a word and I’m not familiar with Cajun or Better Crocker terminology for that matter so I could be completely off track. Either way, it was heaven in my mouth.

Mom assured me that we will celebrate my birthday more officially this weekend at home during the Easter festivities. In short this means we really won’t celebrate my birthday but rather Easter and the “birthday triple header” (me, Matt, and Nanny), an Easter usual for our family. I’ve never liked sharing much, especially my birthday, but I guess that’s part of growing up. Alex even tried to enlighten me with the news that National Agriculture Day fell on my birthday. He was overjoyed….I was not.

I don’t really care today though because first and foremost I’m drinking my first cup of chai tea in a very long time. If I had a kryptonite, it would probably be this. And secondly because this weekend is going to be epic. I am leaving shortly to head to Murray to watch step show. As an alum of the step team, you can only imagine my excitement level which is somewhere between a kid on Christmas morning and a gay man awaiting the outcome from Congress about the current marriage equality rights. Marsha is meeting me in Murray and after the show we will be joined by Mamie, Becca, and the rest of the Murray crew for a novel night at the Apple to celebrate Marsha’s birthday. Where else did you expect me to go, after all? Good Friday will be spent in Nashville preparing pregaming for the color run that Marsha and I are running in on Saturday. After the race Saturday I will head home for the notorious “eve of any holiday throw down” at Jerry’s with S-town’s finest. Sunday will be spent at church and my house for the family Easter festivities and eventually I will hit the road again to return to my sweet ole Mississippi home. Four states in four days. You don’t have to tell me twice to get excited- I’m there.

I promise I’ll write again soon, but I’ve gotta get off this keyboard before my fingers bounce right off from all the adrenaline running through me.

Have a great weekend and Happy early Easter! And don’t forget to cheer on my ladybugs with the Alpha swag tonight at the Step Show to raise money for March of Dimes.

Love always,

Addie

“…Why do you look for the living among the dead?He is not here; he has risen!” –Luke 24:5-6