Beach Boys: At the Beach, With My Boys

The first of three beach trips planned for the summer, the Surfin' USA beach trip was a blast! My seasoned beach partners, Jacob and Carson, met Tony and me in Gulf Shores for a weekend dedicated to "Fun, Fun, Fun," (at least 'til Daddy takes the T-bird away). The trip started with a bang--a bunk air conditioner in our condo. A phone call to the realty company at 2 a.m. prompted a 9 a.m. service call. Let's just say cold-natured Betsy was about to burn up! But we survived. The first fun day started with Carson's margarita machine--it's the eighth wonder, I think. The weather wasn't really cooperating, though. I'm not crazy about dark clouds on the beach, and I can stand a light rain, but thunder gets me outta the chair. Not even Rhonda could help us out of this storm, so to the room we went... Live Bait for supper then a trip to the ol' FloraBama... still a dump, but hey. If it's good enough for Vince Vaughn (there for a bachelor party), then, well, it's good enough for Vince Vaughn. We returned the next morning to discover that Thor himself must have paid a visit to Alabama's Gulf Coast. Or maybe they're taping the sequel of "Adventures in Babysitting." A fun-filled day in the sun had to end a little early that afternoon so we could get ready for those Beach Boys!!! Supper at the Pink Pony, then on to the Wharf for the show! I think these two might be auditioning for "So You Think You're a Beach Boy?" next season. A beautiful sunset beyond a less-than-half-filled amphitheater, but don't let it fool you--it was cold!! If their SYTYABB auditions fail, we may audition for Gladys Knight and the Pips... of course, I get to be Gladys. "He's leavin' on that midnight train to Georgia..." and their "Woo-Woo" follows in nicely... And, if none of that works out, we'll just watch Uncle Jesse (John Stamos) rock out with the Beach Boys every chance we get. And when we leave, no matter how bad it embarrasses our friends, Jacob and I may always be "those" people that never know the concert actually stopped. I'd like to give a shout-out to the ol' girl who threw it down about four octaves for her part in Barbara Ann... A Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ran.... Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ran.... Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ran.... ta-ake my hand... Ba, ba, ran... you got me rockin' and a rollin' rockin' and a reelin' Ba ba ran.

Happy Birthday, Big Daddy!

Lordy, lordy, look who's... 64! We gathered at Dave and Missy's for Big Daddy's birthday (May 23) supper. Lasagna for supper with some mighty fine blackberry cobbler for dessert--that's good stuff. The table's getting pretty full these days, especially with one new little Compton (Dave says they're certain it's only one) on the way. The more the merrier!

Will had so much fun helping his Big Daddy open presents! But then, Big Daddy realized Will "must have made a mistake," so Will and his Daddy had to go freshen up, only to return without his shorts. But I must say, he is a little fashionista... Models without hesitation... look at that fancy footwear! He gets his sense of fashion from his Aunt B, who will glady slip some sock feet into a pair of flip flops! Just around the house, you know... That's how we roll!

Saturday in Starkville

What a treat to see some familiar faces this weekend! I went to see my long-lost pals and former office mate at the Gordon family's "new" stomping grounds in Starkville on Saturday. Two hundred shots in less than 30 minutes, lunch, and an afternoon visit made for a fun day!

Lunch with Meaghan and the kiddos at The Grill

Tony came along for the ride :)

I haven't had a chance to go through the Gordon family's fast-paced photo shoot from Saturday morning, but I did grab a few cute ones already.

Sweet Family

Is Murphy trying to tell us he's had enough already?

Wait for it... wait for it...

Are these the sweetest faces you've seen all day, or what?

Stay tuned--more sweetness to come!

We have alot to learn from our dogs.

There is alot we can learn from our dogs. They really don't want much. If you feed, water, and bathe them, they really take care of the rest on their own--except for one thing--they need us to love them. Rewind to about two nights ago. I'm trying to study for a midterm and Minnie is about to drive me crazy. She jumps on the bed; I put her on the floor. She jumps again; I put her down again. I'm getting pretty aggravated over the whole ordeal because all I want to do is study, and I feel like she should understand that. We go back and forth for nearly an hour until I realize that there can't be much harm in what she is doing. When I finally give in and let her stay on the bed, she immediately curls up right on top of my notebook. Now what? It's easy. I pick her up and move her. So she curls up right in front of my notebook. Even better. Now when I'm trying to look at the words on the page all I can see is two big ol' eyes peering over the page at me. Minnie eventually got up and moved right beside me. She curled up and went to sleep. Talk about a reality check. I realized that all my puppy wanted was for me to pay attention to her for just a few minutes. All day she is stuck inside the house with Monkey Dog and the Taco Bell dog (both of them are stuffed). She flings them around, puts them on her bed to sleep by her, and has a downright good time with them. Still, all day long she doesn't have anybody to play with her or pet her or call her silly names. Then I come home and completely ignore her for something as nonsensical as British literature. Some nerve I have! I further realized that I don't spend enough time paying attention to the small stuff--like Minnie. Granted, she's small, but she deserves just as much of my attention as my computer or my guitar or my books or anything else. I kept thinking about it all for a while. Obviously, I still am, and that's why I'm writing this. The small things are easy to overlook. For example, we never realize the power behind a smile from a stranger on the street or a note from a friend who only wants to say "Hi!" There are two types of small things, and they should be handled very differently. But how do we know the difference? It's hard to tell. There's the small stuff that you "don't sweat," and there's the small stuff that you "don't forget." There must be a certain satisfaction that comes with knowing the difference. Taxes, bills, diets, traffic lights... we, or at least I, tend to pay more attention to those things than we do to friends, family, pets, and our own well-being. Things get mixed up and we often focus on the wrong "small stuff." There's a song called "Don't Ask Me How I Know" that has some pretty valid points. The song advises, "Sell your truck while it's still running," and "Don't drink the water in Mexico," and "Don't rush off the phone when your mama calls / You ain't that busy." It all sounds like good advice to me. Sometimes we have to learn from the mistakes of others, and sometimes we learn from our own. I mean, my mama died before I realized that, like they say, we don't always get another chance. So, it's important to recognize the small stuff. Try to see the difference in what matters and what doesn't. I guess we all have to decide on that for ourselves, but don't forget that today is tomorrow's yesterday, and the things that we pour our hearts into should be things that will actually matter tomorrow or--even better--several years down the road. That's the way I see it.

The Beginning

I'm not very familiar with Blogs, nor have I ever read any, but I just thought it might be fun to create one. I'll assume that the point of having a Blog is simply to ramble on about things that aren't necessarily important to me, and things that are of even less importance to other people. Since I prefer my opinion to others' most of the time, this seems like an ideal outlet to make that opinion known.

I'm joking. I'm not sure what I'll write here, but I am certain that I'll figure something out. I

might share my views on politics... religion... love... Then again, anybody who knows me knows that I probably won't. Maybe I'll just wait until something crosses my idle mind in the middle of the night. Whenever or whatever I post, it should all be taken with a grain of salt because it is, after all, an opinion.

Just so you know a few things I'm interested in, I'll tell you.

My favorite hobby is music: I love listening to it, playing it, watching it on television, watching it be performed; I thoroughly enjoy everything about music including the business aspects of it and I especially enjoy its true purpose: entertainment.

I also enjoy taking pictures. I am not good enough at it nor do I know enough about it to say I enjoy photography, but I love taking pictures. Pictures of animals, flowers, people--they're all fun.

If there is anything that I might come close to arguing about, it's music, but I'd rather not.

I have a Chihuahua named Minnie whom I love very much, and I'd be glad to post a picture if anybody wants to see her.

I think replies or comments are allowed, so feel free to make them.

Check back often; you never know what you might find.

My thought for the day: Life is good.

That is the way I see it.