Are you a good mix?

I know everyone has heard at one time or another "Oh, you're just like your mother/father". But have you ever really considered which part of you corresponds to each parent?

I know for sure that I get my gift-giving ways from my father. He strives to make sure everyone has something at Christmas, including his co-workers. For that matter, he makes sure everyone at least gets a card for every other special occasion throughout the year. Unfortunately, I also get my money-managing skills from my dad. Not in any capacity is he bad at finances, but he's already figured it all out. I havent. Oh well, I'm working on it.

From my mother I get my tenacity. My will to survive. The will to make sure that I'm comfortable with whatever is happening in my life and change it if I feel the need to. I also get my savvy-ness. Mom has always instilled in me to find a way to get out of any predicament. Don't always wait for Prince Charming (not the Ohio one)to come and save you. I've also figured out that whenever I'm trying something new, I try to figure out an escape plan. I know its silly, but hey, it makes me feel better and its come to good use before. It kinda drives Alex crazy, but I rarely "live on the edge." I have learned to turn off the cell phone when going camping now.

From both of my parents I get my cool-headed attitude. Those who remember me from my younger days are saying "Ummm riiiggghhhtttt". Hey, I was a kid, we were all a little tuned up tight. My parents never saw a need in getting bent out of shape about anything. What's the use? The problem won't solve itself if people are going crazy. Cooler heads always prevail.

Have you ever seen the families who do get bent all out of shape when things happen? Isn't everyone in that family, even the dog, stressed to the max? If people would just chill out, quit yelling, take a 5, things might become a little clearer. And this goes out to all the "screamer moms" out there, kids get used to it, then you're losing your voice for nothing. Believe me, I saw my aunt do it for years. My cousin literally thought his mom was deaf because she was always yelling at him.

Do you think you're a good mix of your mother and father?

Canned in a positive way

When I was thinking of my post for this week, I considered talking about my past weekend experience with Bonnaroo. I won't go into all that, but let it be said I had to take Monday off to crash for a while.

But as I was reading my Twitter updates this morning at my desk, I saw an interesting post by NPR talking about the rise in Canning since the current economic status hit us. For some reason I couldnt get the URL link to work correctly, but I found a similar link that talks about the current canning revolution.
I know that some of my fellow bloggers are canners so I pose this question: Do you see a huge difference in your shopping bill when you consider the things that you have canned over the summer months?

I have been interested in learning the fine art of canning in order to savor the summer tastes of squash, tomatoes, and maybe even a pickled okra. Another question posed to my cunning canners: What are some other things you enjoy canning? My mom was never very interested in cooking, but she did do some canning in the summer when my grandfather would bring extra crop from his amazing garden over to our house. Many a day I remember standing in the kitchen, helping my mother stuff Ball jars full of squash or cooked tomatoes, trying to get every little air bubble out, and lugging around the heavy metal pressure cooker.

Who knows. Maybe if I get a few extra squash plants from my Grannie Miller or my cousin Glenna I will have to try my hand at canning again.

Hope you all have a good weekend! I will be disconnecting this weekend so hopefully I will have a few stories of that experience next week!

How refreshing to find a new outlook...

This last weekend was an excellent weekend starting Friday morning. After I had an uneventful and efficient drive to Fayetteville, GA in the a.m., Alex and I made the trip to Atlanta to see the band No Doubt with my best friend Sara, her husband Chris and our very good friend Cory. Easily one of the most impressive shows I have ever seen, and it was relatively inexpensive tickets (after Ticketmaster fees- $15).

Here is a picture of me and my handsome guy, who is constantly making me smile:


My best friend Sara and I waiting for the very popular attraction at the venue, the bathroom:


The fun didn't just end at Friday night. Alex and I returned to Atlanta on Saturday afternoon to take in the wonderful animals at Zoo Atlanta. Which is the artsy name for the Atlanta Zoo... I see what they did there. Sadly, no pictures were taken, we were having too much fun watching the gorillas.

The reason to be in Atlanta all along was to celebrate the Retirement/ Graduation party for Alex's best friend's mother, Mrs. Linda Andrews, Ph.D. Before I wax poetically about this wonderful woman and the reason for this posting, one more picture of me and my guy at the Twisted Taco for the party:


Miss Linda has an outlook on life, and its basically this: Live Your Life. You will never have this moment again, so make the most of it. She intends to take every moment she has available and make sure there is something happening. We asked her what her future plans were, and just within the next 3 months she will be going on a Mediterranean cruise, doing speaking engagements for a week in Japan, graduating in August with her Ph.D., and considering a move to Quatar (yeah, the Middle East) depending on her interview for a job with the Rand Company. Did I mention she just retired from 30 years teaching and trying to convince the GA Department of Education that gifted children needed more attention?

I must add in here that she also raised two very awesome children, Lauren and Stuart who are both very successful and talented human beings.

I would take a breath if I were her. But thats the grand difference between us. She is determined to make something of every minute that God gives her, and she admits that she's still going to make as much money as she possibly can. I respect that. Money makes our lives a whole lot easier and if I can make money responsibly and according to my morals, its going to happen.

I intend to take her outlook on life and form it to fit my own situation. Things might have to be left behind, I might be uncomfortable from time to time, but I need to start living my life, especially while I am still unmarried and without children. Don't worry, I won't stop living when these life events happen. The outlook will evolve to include those new special people in my life, and they will hopefully benefit from the decisions that I make right now in my life.

Okay. Post went long. I hope you're still with me. I hope you have found your outlook on life and have achieved everything you wished and maybe even more.

I'm going to go start the rest of my life. Talk to you later.

I'm still alive!

I know there's no excuse for this much of an absence from Blogger-land! I really have been busy though...

First of all, I've been working, and also looking for more work. 20 hours a week at the Career Development Center isn't enough, so I'm looking at other possibilities on campus to get more of MTSU's money. Luckily they would rather hire students for temp positions because they can get away with not giving us health insurance. The people I work with are always keeping their ears tuned for other positions around campus, and I have a couple of leads. Hopefully I'll find something for the months of July and August since the Career Center has no money in its budget to hire me for those months.

For some fun news, I found out yesterday that I was accepted to work as a Brand Ambassador for FuseTV at Bonnaroo Music Festival! This is a major event for Middle Tennessee and brings people from all around the world to listen to some top bands. I'll be working 38 hours over the 4 days, so by the time I get paid I should have a good chunk of change. Cant wait! Hope to bring you back some pics, I'm sure I'll have a most interesting time.

This summer also consists of me taking 2 classes, luckily only one of them started this week. I thought Finance was going to be a tricky subject, but as long as you have a calculator with the Finance application, life is golden. The tricky part is listening to the teacher, who's Chinese (been in America only 6 years), and very proud of his American name which is Kevin. Too funny...

So tomorrow I travel to Atlanta to spend the weekend with my handsome Prince Alex. We shall enjoy seeing No Doubt in concert along with my best friends Sara, Chris, and Cory. A cocktail party on Saturday will round off the weekend and on my way home on Sunday I will be dropping off Alex at the airport for his business trip to Anaheim, Cali. Traveling for everyone indeed!

I hope you havent missed me too much. I promise to blog sooner next time!

P.S. Karabeth- Not like you dont feel the exact same way, but I can't wait for Princess to have the much awaited for Fennec!