Rite of Passage

Rite of Passage - Shaving my Head from Ashley Hackshaw on Vimeo.

A friend sent me this video this morning. It sent me back to my rite of passage.

 

 My hair is even longer than it was before I shaved it. Still kicking cancer's.... ;)

My Neighbor, Jayne

This weekend I woke to the sound of a moving truck. Looking out my window, I saw the truck sitting in my driveway. My heart fell a little bit.

Not long after I finished my last round of radiation, I bumped into my neighbor Jayne. She told me of her diagnosis of breast cancer. I remember one day looking out the window and she stood on a rock in her front yard with a big yellow floppy hat covering her newly bald head. Her hands on her hips and then she lifted them to the sun. I am not sure what she was doing, but it seemed as though she was soaking up the sun. Soon hats and scarfs were not the only thing new. A cute yellow VW Beetle appeared in the place of the old blue Explorer.On another day, J and I found her backyard filled with friends planting her a garden. Another sweet pleasure to bear a terrible disease. A couple of weeks ago, she and her boyfriend John peered over the fence to ooo and aah over the puppies. She looked happy.

J had ran into John several days before the moving van arrived and was told the cancer had spread to her liver. She was in the hospital. When I saw the moving van, I knew something was not right. After getting myself together for the morning, I walked over to the fence. A few people were standing around smoking cigarettes and a couple had red eyes. I asked if everything was okay. A short awkward pause that seemed to last minutes. Jayne passed away.

After talking a few minutes, I walked away with tears in my eyes. Another warrior who saw defeat.

While Jayne and I were not close. Perhaps we both were a bit nosey. We did have a connection. I grieve over a woman whose joy was apparent even when...

Ezra 9

Ezra 9 is rocking my face off this week.

Would encourage you to listen to this week's podcast from Ethos and read passage for yourself....

A Little Love Vol. 2

Here are some things I am currently loving...

 
My Sister's Suitcase craft blog. I want to pin every single one of her ideas. ;)


The harmonies of these delightful women. I discovered The Staves at the Civil Wars concert.

Handmade Ryan Gosling is amazing, but all of my teacher friends are sure to enjoy the teacher Hey Girl! site.

Neeseybear moved into the 'Hood. Can't wait for more frequent girl nights!

Daydreaming about a little trip to Italy and a neighborhood bookstore. For now that is all both of those are...just dreams.

Brunch.  I wish this would become a weekly Saturday tradition. This week we tried to go to Sky Blue cafe. Too long of a line. Will try again soon.

The Music of Little House

source: Pa's Fiddle Project

On Friday night, Em, Dad, J, and I headed to the Loveless Barn for a great evening of music.

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across a listing for free tickets to hear the music from the Little House books. Having enjoyed those books so much as a teen (and even now), I thought it would be interesting. Little did I know what was in store.

A crowd of just a little over 100 people gathered in the Loveless Barn. The evening was actually recorded and will be shown on PBS stations starting this summer. We spent the evening being serenaded by Ronnie Milsap, Randy Travis, Natalie Grant, Rodney Adkins, Ashton Shepard, and Committed. I thought Committed was absolutely amazing. (As did everyone else because they received two standing ovations!) I still think they should have won The Sing-Off.

The night was just a reminder of how nice it is living in Music City sometime. When else could you hear a group of such talented musicians in the same show for free?!?!

Under Construction

A new year means a new blog design. Consider this a work in progress... :)

Bringing In The New Year

Photo Credit: The Pharmacy

Well 2011 is a thing of the past. I am pretty thankful to see it go. I am really looking forward to 2012.

I have heard it said that how you spend your NYE is an indicator of how your year will go. This year I hope that is the case. J and I decided to check out a new neighborhood restaurant The Pharmacy Burger Parlor and Beer Garden for dinner. Atmosphere was wonderful and food was good. Upon a recommendation, I ordered a strawberry ginger ale- delish! We were pleased with our dinner choice and headed back to the house to meet up with friends. After catching up with friends at the house, we decided to take a game and head out for dessert. Our faithful Jeni's let us down by being closed. Ugly Muggs, our neighborhood coffee shop was also closed. Decision? Go back to The Pharmacy. We were a little disappointed that the soda shop part was closed starting at 9pm, but we ordered beers, root beers, and fries anyway. We played Bananagrams and enjoyed discussing music, futures, etc. We had the place pretty much to ourselves and throughly enjoyed our time. A few minutes before midnight, we headed back to the house to be with the dogs. When you live in 37206, you spend all major holidays with the sounds of shotguns in the background. We turned on Dick Clark's NYE special with a minute to go and I happily got my midnight kiss. Thankfully, this year was pretty quiet in the neighborhood and we actually got to sit on the couch instead of laying flat on the floor like last year. ;) A NYE of new adventure (The Pharmacy), good friends, and no stress. Hoping my year is full of the same.

I have two goals for 2012....

1. Do something to get me closer to my dream of owning a B&B
2. Live more fully (explanation to come at a later date)

Happy New Years!