Waterfalls

So I was running the other day, and as I sometimes do, I veered from the trail and let my feet carry me wherever they deemed worthy. I was lost in the music spilling from my headphones, enjoying the beauty of the day, marvelling at the mansions surrounding me, when suddenly...I realized where I was. My body had, without coersion from my mind, taken me to a place where I once met myself. A place where I discovered who I could be, and was forced to admit who I was. I was in Highland Park...land of Dallas Old Money....and scattered throughout this palatial neighborhood are the most glorious parks and creeks known to North Texans. Tucked behind a park there is a spot that is almost hidden...you have to actually stumble upon it to know it's there. You clamber around some rocks, then all of a sudden...you are face to face with a waterfall...an honest to god waterfall. Technically, it's just the spilloff from the pond above, but when you're on level with it...you feel lost...like..."How the crap did a waterfall end up in the middle of Dallas?" lost.

I've been to this place before...I spent time here during a drought in my life. I left my mark on this place on multiple occasions. Some of them bring back hurt, and as my breathing slows and I stand with my hands on my knees, my mind reels with accusations. "Do you remember another time in your life you were here?", my conscience seems to whisper at me. "Here you are again...running." Although this time, I was simply running. With no thought to do harm to myself or those around me...I was running for the sheer joy of it. With that thought, my mind fast forwarded to another time I visited this waterfall. I spent a night under the stars, climbing the slippery rocks, standing under the spray of the water...the cold drops mixing with silver tears already streaking my cheeks. All alone, I stood. I raised my arms to the sky and came face to face with the Holy One. He who could erase everything. He who could give man the creativity to orchestrate a waterfall into the middle of a city landscape. He who could cast my sins as far as the east is from the west.

On this strangely warm February afternoon...I looked at this spot, this meaningful spot...and simply smiled. For I am thankful for each and every waterfall in my life. For being reminders of who I once was, and who I am now. And how, no matter how hard I try to run...I'm not that far from the girl I've always been. A little wiser maybe...but still a girl who can stop everything and get lost in a moment. A girl who takes the time to seek out waterfalls...and to raise her arms to the God that made her.

When accusations of my past are hurled at me like poisonous barbs...I will simply tell myself..."Hey...I'll always have waterfalls..." and smile.

My Personal Soundtrack

Here is my soundtrack, progressing from self views, to songs that are meaningful to significant parts of my life…finalized by what I would consider my current personal mantras.”


Ben Folds Five, “Kate”
“When all words fail she speaks,
Her mix tape's a masterpiece,
Walks through the garden so the roses can see…Oh I...have you got nothing to say?And you can see the daisies in her footsteps…Dandelions, butterflies…I wanna be Kate”

Jackopierce, “Wildflowers”
"Sweet darling country girl, Got her hair tied back in a bow, Walking long and dusty miles, Down a gravel gray Texas road. Her butterfly eyes have seen the coming of ten thousand wildflowers. Her eyes have seen the coming of the wildflowers. Tiptop of Texas on the handle of the land, The boy who would be cowboy rides on…VW van, Bringing everything about him that she can have If she can. He's got himself a mind for wildflowers. He's coming long miles for his wildflowers, Wildflowers.”

Elton John, “Tiny Dancer” (Tie Me Down Sir)
“Blue jean baby, L.A. lady, seamstress for the band, Pretty eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man, Ballerina, you must have seen her dancing in the sand…And now she's in me, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand”

Wyclef Jean, “Dance Like This”
“I never really knew that you could dance like this…She make a man wanna speak Spanish…Como se llama? Bonita. Mi casa, su casa.
Baila la calle de noche, baila la calle de dia.”


Amos Lee, “Southern Girl”
“Something about a southern girl Make me feel right. In a Mississippi morning, She's an angel in flight. In a blink of an eye, She'll be out of your sight. Something about a southern girl.”

Jackopierce, “Vineyard”
“But that girl over there has mahogany hair, And her eyes of sweet amethyst. I think maybe it would be better if I just wrote her a letter, But instead she grabs me and we kiss. And she says, And she says, Won’t you stay on the vineyard for the summer? Won’t you stay on the vineyard for the year?”

Paul Wright, “Walks on Water”
“She wakes up and takes up her surfboard,
heads out…out from the seashore
and from the world in where she lives.
She's got no fears or worries at all right there
just the smell of salt water that's in the air
and the sunrise.”

Ryan Adams, “Stars Go Blue”
“Dancin' where the stars go blue, Dancin' where the evening fell, Dancin' in your wooden shoes, In a wedding gown”

Lionel Richie, “Easy Like Sunday Morning”
“Everybody wants me to be what they want me to be. I'm not happy when I try to fake it…No. Ooh, that’s why Im easy….I'm easy like Sunday morning…Thats why I'm easy….I'm easy like Sunday morning.”

Dave Matthews Band, “Dreamgirl”
“Caught by a wave my back to the ocean. It knocks me off my feet and just as I find my footing...here you come again.”

Matthew Sweet, “Farther Down”
“Into you so far our words go...so much clearer then you hear.

Into you goes everything I know...no one else knows how I feel.

Farther down I'm desperate for you,where you never have to know. Farther down I'm still without a clue, just something, something takes my pain away.”

Andrew Peterson, “Just As I Am”
“All of my life, I've held on to this fear. Its thistles and vines ensnare and entwine, what flowers appeared. It's the fear that I'll fall, one too many times. It's the fear that His love is no better than mine. But He says that just as I am and just as I was, just as I will be He loves me, He does. He showed me the day that He shed His own blood. He loves me, oh, He loves me, He does.”

Rich Mullins, “Land of My Sojourn”
”Nobody tells you when you get born here how much you'll come to love it, and how you'll never belong here. So I call you my country, and I'll be lonely for my home, and I wish that I could take you there with me.

Sara Bareilles, “Many the Miles”
“There's too many things that I haven't done yet, too many sunsets, I haven't seen. You can't waste the day wishing it'd slow down. You would've thought by now I'd have learned something. I made up my mind when I was a young girl I've been given this one world, I won't worry it away. But now and again I lose sight of the good life. I get stuck in a low light, but then Love comes in.”

Missy Higgins, “Steer”
“But the search ends here where the night is totally clear and your heart is fierce.

So now you finally know that you control where you go.

You can steer.

So hold this feeling like a newborn,

all the freedom surging through your veins.

You have opened up a new door,

So bring on the wind, fire and rain.”

L'on verra s'arrêter le mobile du monde

~Héliette de Vivonne~

L'on verra s'arrêter le mobile du monde,

Les étoiles marcher parmi le firmament,

Saturne infortuné luire bénignement,

Jupiter commander dedans le creux de l'onde:

L'on verra Mars paisible et la clarté féconde

Du Soleil s'obscurcir sans force et mouvement,

Vénus sans amitié, Stilbon sans changement,

Et la Lune en carré changer sa forme ronde:

Le feu sera pesant et légère la terre,

L'eau sera chaude et sèche, et dans l'air qui l'enserre,

On verra les poissons voler et se nourrir,

Plutôt que mon amour, à vous seul destinée,

Se tourne en autre part, car pour vous je fus née,

Je ne vis que pour vous, pour vous je veux mourir.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You'd sooner see the spheres of heaven stay,

The stars to glide ungoverned in the sky,

Unlucky Saturn smiling from on high,

Or Jupiter his throne cast far away.

Sooner would the Sun abandon day,

And dance with peaceful Mars in darkened June,

Or loveless Venus, Mercury delay,

A cube of rock replace our rotund Moon.

The fire go dull, the earth grow light,

The water dry, and in free flight

You might see little fish float past

Before my faithful spirit might

For other heart than yours ignite,

My destiny, my unsurpassed.

Run

I long to be outside, in the warmth emulating from the sky. I stare outside the window with a yearning akin to needing air. In a few hours, I will be released from this prison of work and will not walk, not jog, but sprint to the doors. I will look up, breathe deeply of the crisp, blue air around me and will thank God for this very day.

My feet will hit the pavement and I will run. I will run until my lungs are bursting, and sweat is pouring. And once again, I will thank God. Thank Him for the freedom I am an owner of, the freedom to run for the sheer joy of it, and not because someone is chasing me. The simple fact that I love being outside so much because I live in an indoors world, and for the fact that I don't live outdoors.

As I run, I will pray. I will pray for this world I live in, and the impact I may have on people and things around me. I will pray for my dearest friends, and thank God that Has brought me to a place in life where I feel deeply, and pray that those I know will feel His presence just as deeply as I do.

On this day, I vow to run. In essence, to take the gifts He has bestowed on my and use them.

We Could Walk Together

This is an awesome song by my current favorite band, The Clientele

We could walk together

In the jade and the coolness of the evening ligh

tAnd watch the crowds serenely flow

Through carnivals of shop windows where elm trees sigh
The summer’s heat is fading

And the clown on the golden lawn holds out his hand

And out there on the fading day

The members of a strange parade play sarabandes
Like a silver ring thrown into the flood of my heart

With the moon high above the motorway

I have searched for all your fragrance in the silent dark

Is that okay?
So why don’t we stick together

With our eyes so full of evening and amphetamine

And watch the fools go rolling on through

Still fields as the darkness falls on England green

Music I am LOVING

For some reason, this playlist makes me think of Spring....

Winter Kids, "Your Eyes Are Like Mine"

Cloud Cult, "Chemicals Collide"

Jaymay, "Hard to Say"

The Brunettes, "These Things Take Time"

The Clientele, "These Days Nothing But Sunshine"

The Perishers, "Nothing Like You and I"

The Cave Singers, "Seeds of Night"

Vampire Weekend, "Oxford Comma"

The Blue Jackets, "Do You Remember?"

White Williams, "Route to Palm"

Valentines Dedication

One of my all-time favorite songs, that I would like to send out to the fram.

"When it Don't Come Easy"

~Patty Griffin~

Red lights are flashing on the highway

I wonder if we're gonna ever get home

I wonder if we're gonna ever get home tonight

Everywhere the waters getting rough

Your best intentions may not be enough

I wonder if we're gonna ever get home tonight

But if you break down

I'll drive out and find you

If you forget my love

I'll try to remind you

And stay by you when it don't come easy

I don't know nothing except change will come

Year after year what we do is undone

Time keeps moving from a crawl to a run

I wonder if we're gonna ever get home

You're out there walking down a highway

And all of the signs got blown away

Sometimes you wonder if you're walking in the wrong direction

But if you break downI'll drive out and find you

If you forget my love

I'll try to remind you

And stay by you when it don't come easy

So many things that I had before

That don't matter to me now

Tonight I cry for the love that I've lost

And the love I've never found

When the last bird falls

And the last siren sounds

Someone will say what's been said before

Some love we were looking for

But if you break down

I'll drive out and find you

If you forget my love

I'll try to remind you

And stay by you when it don't come easy

Due to a newly developed case of writer's block...I am desperate to write something. I feel heaps of creativity bottled up inside me, but when I put pencil to paper, or fingers to keypad...I get nothing. The urge is there, the plug is just not meeting the outlet. Jess suggested I write what I feel most strongly about today. Which made me stop and think...what is it that I, at this very moment, feel strong about? Alas, my mind is not racing with ideas, or thoughts. I have instead, a sense of peace, and that all is right with the world. Maybe that's it...there is nothing at this very moment that is overwhelmingly looming above me. Maybe my writer's mind only works when there is something in my life tormenting my soul. Or perhaps, like a quote I pasted in my journal says, "I'm a born copier-I just copy the people I like", I have no thoughts of my own outside others poetry and song lyrics that strike a chord in my mind (pun intended :) ). Although that quote applies to interior decorating...not baring one's soul on paper...it too makes me wonder if I am truly creative, or just a fake. I have a deep seated desire to be "artsy", well-read, knowledgable about all things cultural...and there are times I feel I succeed...then there are time like the last couple of days, where I feel like the most boring, uninspired human being on the planet.

However, there is another side to this proverbial coin. It is nice to be at a place in my life where there is peace around me. Where I feel things are "right" and my heart is happy. Happy to simply see the sun, and to come home and roll around with my dogs, happy to cook a palate pleasing dinner, and content to sit with a blanket wrapped around me and watch "2 Days in Paris" for the 4th time. I think, in a nutshell, this kind of living can be described as "Simplicity". Simplicity is something I often yearn to attain for my life, but spend my days in a competely different manner.

So, in a way, I'm a bit thankful for the lack of ideas right now. It reminds me that there have been times in my life when I couldn't write enough...couldn't get the hurt, the fear, the worry, the anger, and the frustration all out on my paper before running out of ink. While I pray to always have a creative outlet, I am content now with not having anything large and important to write about...and look...after all the worrying about not being able to write...I wrote. :)

Lyrics of the Day

It feels right

It feels wrong

It feels like when you have it, then it's gone

I want more

More and more

And if you steal the fire

Give me some

Cause the sun

Disobeys while it waits for a friend to arrive from the past

What holds us around, and around

While we wait

~Jack Johnson~

While We Wait

Taking a Cue from Dan

Here are 75 little (or maybe well) known facts about me....

I love sunshine.
I get seriously, clinically depressed if I go too long without it.
Sometimes I forget why I became a teacher.
Then I remember it's for the summers off.
I love my family and friends more than anything.
I am never more happy than when both groups are all together.
I drive an FJ Cruiser that is pretty bad ass
but would rather drive a Jeep Wrangler.
I love vintage clothes
and have what some would say a really eclectic fashion sense.
Sometimes I'm not sure if that's good or bad.
I am obsessed with anything labeled organic, or all-natural
and only use all natural products on my skin/hair
as well as on our dogs.
Of which we have 2.
One is a pit bull named Slater who is the biggest teddy bear ever.
The other is Duke, a beagle who is totally the boss.
I am a runner by nature, I get so antsy when I sit still for too long.
I love to run in the middle of the day, in July, I feel there is nothing better.
I need to be by water at almost all times...
I hear the ocean calling my name in my sleep.
Flip flops are a staple in my wardrobe.
I love my newphew just as much as I would if he was my biological child....
I don't know if I ever actually want my own children
and am perfectly aware that some people thing that's awful.
I would pack up and move to Africa tomorrow
and sometimes pray that God would send that word.
I want to own a vineyard one day, and live in Italy,
where I will wear linen pants and tank tops every day of the summer.
I love shells, there isn't a room in our house that does not contain at least one.
I dream of being a famous dancer,
and can be found dancing around the house at any given moment.
I love Audrey Hepburn, and wish I lived during her time...
because I feel we could have been best friends
and also because I want to dress like her every day.
I love to sing
and will do it loudly
but am fully cognizant of the fact that God did not bless me with that gift.
I LOVE parties.
I HATE mayonaise, but am willing to try almost anything else.
I don't like most sweets, though
but do love baking so I give them away alot.
I am much more insecure than I come across.
I have to work very hard to let go of control and not be boss of everything.
I love decorating
and want to open a vintage/kitschy home store one day.
I will never forget a name
and it drives me BONKERS when people I've known for years can't spell my name right.
I want to get my masters in journalism
or meterology
because I love reading and also weather
and I know these sound strange together.
I walk into a bookstore and think it says to me, "Welcome home, friend."
I think there is a song for every event and every moment in life.
I am addicted to Starbucks,
a Tall Non-fat Caramel Macchiato to be exact.
Or if it's summer, an ICED tall Non-fat Car. Mach.
Although I do love Passion Tea Lemondade.
If I had to pick an all time favorite movie,
I would choose Serendipity.
Although the other 2,500 movies that I love run a close second.
I have a crush on a man named Cary Pierce,
and Trey is convinced I will leave him for Cary if given the chance.
If made to choose, my all time favorite song is "Vineyard"
for many reasons.
I think that Americans are very small minded and need a broader world view than People magazine offers us.
In saying that, I must be honest.
I love People magazine.
I am currently reading 5 books, and love them all.
I love avocados, and any dish that contains them.
I love Youngs Double Chocolate Stout Beer
but only if it is mixed with Lindeman's Framboise...
I'm not sure if I spelled that right, and I don't care.
I will read anything by C.S. Lewis, and pretend to understand every word.
I am thankful at this very moment for Carrie and the CD's she made me because it shows she understands me and knows what I love...

Plastic Jesus

While watching "Cool Hand Luke" last night I was struck by a song I've never paid attention to before. Jess pointed it out, so I made sure to listen. I was struck by the great theological words in this tune...and wanted to share it.

I don't care if it rains or freezes'

Long as I got my plastic Jesus

Riding on the dashboard of my car

Through my trials and tribulations

And my travels through the nations

With my plastic Jesus I'll go far

Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus

Riding on the dashboard of my car

I'm afraid He'll have to go

His magnets ruin my radio

And if I have a wreck He'll leave a scar

Riding down a thoroughfare

With His nose up in the air

A wreck may be ahead, but He don't mind

Trouble coming He don't see

He just keeps His eye on me

And any other thing that lies behind

Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus

Riding on the dashboard of my car

Though the sunshine on His back

Make Him peel, chip and crack

A little patching keeps Him up to par

When I'm in a traffic jam

He don't care if I say "damn"I can let all my curses roll

Plastic Jesus doesn't hear'

Cause he has a plastic ear

The man who invented plastic saved my soul

Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus

Riding on the dashboard of my car

Once His robe was snowy white

Now it isn't quite so bright

Stained by the smoke of my cigar

If I weave around at night

And policemen think I'm tight

They never find my bottle, though they ask

Plastic Jesus shelters meFor His head comes off, you see

He's hollow, and I use Him for a flask

Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus

Riding on the dashboard of my car

Ride with me and have a dram

Of the blood of the Lamb

Plastic Jesus is a holy bar

Tuesday Ten

10 websites that I absolutely cannot live without....

www.weather.com- I SO should have been a meteorologist...
www.people.com- This website alone allowed me to win the celebrity couples game at the last wedding shower I went to.
www.relevant.com- because I feel very shallow that I posted People before this one...
www.dailycandy.com- makes me feel urban and cute...
www.jennsylvania.com- makes me laugh more than any other blogger
www.amazon.com- because I am a book JUNKIE!
www.dominomag.com- has the greatest links to even more websites (including lots of green websites) so I can stay on the internet even longer!
www.ohjoy.blogs.com- because it just makes me happy.
www.pajiba.com- also makes me laugh like crazy! (see reel time movie reviews)
and last but not least....
www.twitter.com- for obvious reasons....

OK people...add to the list!

Urban Cowgirls...

That's right...that's me...in boots...on a bull....

What makes me happy on this Monday...

"Happiness isn't happiness without a violin playing goat."

Simply Grace

My life has run the gamut of every possible human emotion in the last year, but none have been felt so deeply as grief. I guess I used to think that grief was a word that only applied to death, but over the course of a year I have learned that there is more to death than simply the soul leaving the body on it's way to an eternity spent with it's creator or the one it fought daily on this earth.
In my own life, I have experienced a death of childhood. I feel up until this season of my life, I was living just as I did as a child. I didn't question those around me, and had a simple faith, as well as an air of naivety that could only be described as, well, naive.
In this loss of childhood, I also grieved trust. Trust in myself, as well as trust in others. What used to be an unabashed faith in my own judgement has now been replaced with questioning every decision at every turn. On one hand, this is a step forward for me. I am much less prone to stepping off into the unknown because I did first, thought later. In the other, I rather enjoyed just doing something, and debating the merits of it later, which is where the grief comes in. It hurts immensely at times to make decisions that involve emotional toil. To look at everyone around me and ask myself not only how said decision will affect me, but also the circle of people I surround myself with. My faith in humanity as a whole has also been shaken. Not broken, just a bit cracked. In a former life, I trusted blindly, always believing that everyone around me had my best interest at heart. I was under the foolish impression that the world really did revolve around me, at least, my small corner of the world did. Because I have always considered myself a giving, kind, wonderful person (humble as well), I simly assumed so was everyone else. In the past year, I have learned many things about myself and the world around me. I have learned that I am not so giving, kind, and most especially, not so wonderful. I have learned that the world does not, in fact, revolve around me. Realizing these things about myself was indeed a type of death. A death of a self-view that, although healthy as a child, was actually quite destructive as an adult.
I have also experienced the type of grief that does come with literal death. I am, as I write, grappling with the emotions associated with this kind of grief. My emotions, on a daily basis, seem to be sky high, then basement low at the drop of a hat. I lose control of these emotions and struggle to get them back under control. At the slightest mention of death, the tears start flowing, and it's all I can do to keep them at a trickle, not a sob. I sat through the movie, Atonement, which I loved, but simply lost it at the end. My mom called to give me news of a friend with cancer, and my mind races to the end...when truly it is only the beginning of a long battle. I realize that I am trying to control things I cannot control. My heart is hurting, my mind is reeling with questions, and my raw emotion should take precedence for a time over my usual outward show of happiness.
Grief.
It comes in so many fashions, and we each wear it differently. The common thread that runs throughout each of our personal grievances is a word that to me, means the complete opposite of grief.
Grace.
Grace in a time of need, in a time where I feel my soul has been scrubbed raw and left bleeding and naked, yet clean, on a podium for all around me to see. A time when I hear the small, yet persistant voice of God offering what I need most, grace. To me, there are so many other words wrapped up in that small one.
Love, comfort, forgetfullnes, compassion, beauty, balance, mercy, reprieve.
What I have come to know, is that this word is something offered so freely to me, but that I must choose to accept in each area of my life. I am not as wonderful as I once thought, but in accepting grace, I can strive to do wonderful things. I can make a difference in others' lives, by taking what I've been offered, and pouring it out for others. A simple concept, but one I've only recently started applying to myself. Others around me don't always have my best interest at heart, but I can accept that due to grace, and it was only in having to accept it myself was I able to extend it to others. In my pain, my distress, my crying out, I have to take that comfort, that compassion, and in my darkest moments, in amidst all the questions, I have realized that when I accept what is offered to me the pain lessens, the demons quiet, and I truly am comforted.
That is not to say that I don't still have days where even getting out of bed is hard, because I would rather lie there and wallow in my own self pity. Or days where I am scared my past sins will come back to haunt me and the life I have built will crumble and again leave me standing in shambles. Days that I don't fight with Satan and let him win battles I so long to overcome.
I am thankful for the grace that has been bestowed upon me. By my maker, and also those around me. Those who I have scarred purposely, and for those who have been caught in the aftermath of my recklessness. And grace from those who know me, truly know me, and yet would still argue that I am, in fact, a little wonderful.

Land of the free, home of the trailer trash...

I would like to post a disclaimer to this blog before you get too far. There might be profanity, and the teensiest bit of snobbishness, and maybe a little stereotyping. But this, very, true story MUST be told...so read on if you're up to it.

It all began with me....wanting firewood. I offered Trey the use of the FJ this weekend so that he could bring firewood home from the lake. However, before said FJ traveled, it needed an oil change, and pronto. Being the wonderful, thrifty wife that I am...and given the fact that I got off work at 2:00, and had nothing better to do...I said, "Trey, don't worry...I'll take the car to WalMart (henceforth to be referred to simply as, "hell") to get the oil changed." Trey, with an incredulous tone in is voice replied, "But Katy, you hate WalMart." **Sidenote...I do. I HATE WalMart. I avoid it at all costs. I think it's, well....evil.** To which I replied, "Yes, but I'll save like 15 dollars on the oil change." Hence, the thriftiness...

First, a girl with the dirtiest fingernails I've ever seen made me feel like a complete moron for not knowing what kind of oil my car used. They have it on file at the place we USUALLY take it to, people...the place that's 15 dollars more expensive and yet 15 time more classy....if an auto shop could ever be termed "classy". She stood there and rolled my eyes while I called Trey and asked...rolled her eyes....now, THAT's customer service, folks. I hand over the keys, walk inside, and think..."How on earth am I going to kill 20 minutes in this god forsaken store?"

1st thought....check out the shoes...seems harmless enough. The FIRST pair of shoes I lay my little eyes on are camoflage ballet slippers (pay attention...they will make a cameo later in this story). As Carrie and I like to ask, "Why?" Speaking of Carrie, we are on the phone at this point, giggling over the incredible footwear available, when I stumble across a pair of red crushed velvet clogs. Red. Crushed. Velvet. At this moment, I say...I have to take a picture...if you were FORCED to wear one of these...which would it be? In all seriousness...Carrie replied..."How dare you ask that? That's like asking me to choose between my children." At which point, I burst into laughter, and I? Am now the crazy woman in WalMart.

Fast forward to yet another reason WalMart chaps my ass...I figured since I was there, I'd pick up a few groceries. I need gorgonzola cheese for a dip I was making...anyone want to take a gander on whether WalMart carries gorgonzola? They don't. They have Thomas Kincade, painter of light, clocks...but no damn gorgonzola cheese. I apologize if you are in ownership of one of these beautiful pieces of art, but I'm pretty sure most of my friends have a shred of taste....so I think I'm safe in saying this. I love how Carrie puts it..."I feel so un-American, but I HATE Thomas Kincade." No groceries....next stop....

Pharmacy. I suddenly remember I have a prescription that needs to be filled. "Why do you use WalMart pharmacy, given your strong feelings about the joint?", you might ask. The answer to that is simply, laziness. i haven't put forth the effort to switch, and also, the monthly trip to WalMart keeps me grounded...reminds me of my roots. But, I digress...I'm standing in line, about to put in my order, when a woman STEPS IN FRONT OF ME and sets down her plastic bag FILLED with empty scrip bottles....and without missing a beat says, "I need my Paxil, today!" At this point, I decide to let it go...the woman needs her meds for goodness sake. Problem ensues, of course....the sweet little pharmacist can't fill her scrips bc she is from New Mexico and they are all controlled substances. To which, this woman replies, "But I need my heart meds. I'm on those, you know, suppositories." I am NOT making this shit up! Again, I become the crazy laughing woman in WalMart...I can't handle it, I get the giggles and can't shake them. Paxil woman finally leaves, I fill my, non-controlled substance, scrip and pray to God above that my car is ready to be picked up.

I arrive at the auto section, where this time, a very nice, albeit large haired, woman greets me. I tell her I need to pick up my car, and no sooner can I get out my name, than someone cuts in front of me...completely cutting me off mid sentence. Satan's vagina...am I freaking invisible? Again. In less than 5 minutes, my entire faith in Americans is crushed. Have we become THAT rude? But again, due to the circumstances surrounding this man...I let it slide (mostly so I could take a picture...and as SOON as I figure out how to put pics from my phone on the comp...it will SO be on here...with the r.c.v clogs and slippers) The man that is so desperate to exchange some lights that won't work, is FIRST, very dirty. SECOND, he is wearing three (count them) shades of camoflage...shirt, pants, and hat. Which leads me to wonder if looking at him would be kind of like looking at a disco ball for some small woodland creature? Confusing, and a bit dizzying...THIRD, he has one arm. Yes. He does. One. Arm. And he felt the need to pretend I wasn't standing RIGHT THERE! So, I felt the need to use this time as a photo oppurtunity. When I sent the pic to Carrie, all she replied was, "Did you send him to the shoe department where he could complete his outfit?"

After all this, I trek out to my car with the fresh oil...I seriously hope it appreciates it...and call Trey to tell him of the travestys just bestowed on me, and all he could come up with was, "I told you you hated WalMart."

Yes, yes I do...

Framily Photo...at least for now...

Here we are at The Bling Tiger in Shreveport. A fun time was had by all. :)