Just put on a little lipstick...

"Tramps like us, baby we were born to run." - Bruce Springsteen "Every Spiritile is handcrafted in Atlanta, USA from American made copper, glass and wood. Finely ground colored glass is handpainted on copper, then fired by kiln at 1500 degrees. It’s like drawing with sand, Houston says, then toasting it on a very hot fire..." With quotes printed on the side of every tile, "Spiritiles visually share the brilliant moments that make up your unique story. As gifts, they share brilliant moments with the people you love. They can wall hang or stand alone, and will never fade or tarnish." In Nashville you can find these at Thousand Faces , which just happens to be one of my favorite stores!

We have a group of friends that we gather with every few months. Most of those friends are from college and/or camp and we've known them for over 20 years. It's so much fun to get together and laugh and catch up on each others lives. Our last gathering was held at our house. We had dinner and watched Beverly Hills Cop in the backyard. We all remember Eddie, way before Dr. Doolittle! Great times - great memories - great people! We have got to get an offical name for this group!

My friends and I grew up at Mid South Youth Camp . I think my first full week was when I was about 7yrs old and I went up until the summer I married. Of course we only lived a few miles away, and my mom's best friend was camp nurse and my cousins were counselors, so we started going a bit earlier than some other kids.  When I think back, so many of my favorite memories of growing up happened at camp - hikes with ghost stories, swimming, egg toss challenges, tug-o-war, talent shows and those evening sing-alongs and devos. I still have many of my camp friends in my life today and we often sit and talk about the nutty things we did through the years. What fun memories!  My children went to camp for several years and now my grand-girls are continuing the tradition. Anna Belle, Morgan, Michael (Linda's son) and Griffin (Lisa's nephew) went to Jr. camp this past week. Mid South has started Jr. Camp for those not quite old enough for overnight yet. The kids went to camp du...

Today I was reminded once again, that we need to be grateful for each and every day.

On Sunday, June 10th - I became a 4 year cancer survivor. I know there are several ways to calculate your survivor anniversary. Some people count it from the day you hear those horrible words "you have cancer", others from the day they found the lump, or had a scan. Those few weeks before my initial surgery were hazy fear filled days. If I tried I could probably go back and pinpoint the exact date, but instead I count mine from my surgery date, June 10th, 2008. That was the day that Dr. Whitworth was able to remove all the cancer from my body. I am so thankful to all my doctors and their medical teams. They have done a fabulous job of taking care of me, recommending the best treatments for my specific type of cancer ( triple negative ), counseling me on genetic testing and helping put me back together after the chemo was complete. Yes I have plenty of scars and those serve as a daily reminder of the big C, but I am also reminded that t...

While we were in Savannah, we toured the First African Baptist Church . Our tourguide was Johnny. He is one of the college aged men at this church and he does a great job at telling the church's story. I will not do it justice, but here's a little of what we learned. This church was built on this site in 1859 primarily by slaves who would work on the plantations during the day, and were given permission to come to the construction site at night to build their church. They made the bricks down by the river and then had to bring them to the property. If you have ever been to Savannah, you can imagine having to walk up that hill carrying these huge blocks. The church is so well built it has been designated as a hurricane shelter. The auditorium has beautiful stained glass and the handiwork on the pews and all throughout the church are inspring. Many areas of the floor have holes in them and it was explained that underneath the church is a tunnel that led from the chu...

Our 29th anniversary is later this month, but we decided to get away a little early to celebrate. We chose Savannah/Tybee because it's beautiful and it's within driving distance, and of course Bryan offered to drive his new car. We had a great time and the weather was absolutely perfect for our whole stay!

That's right, my hometown of Henderson has Art in one of it's alleys! This monthly gathering began last year and it's always fun to attend when I'm in town. I always run in to fabulous people who have known me my whole life and who make me smile. The saying is true - There's no place like home!

They know what their Mom likes! Chassi and I had a wonderful Mother's day. Jenni, Josh and Bryan made us a delicious brunch with pancakes, hash brown casserole, omlettes and strawberry tiramisu. I was blessed with a wonderful Mom and I have a wonderful Mother-in-law. I love my family!

Oh, Opryland - what wonderful memories this holds! We saw this recently at " Nashville Pickers " and although I would love to have this in my yard, I understand I don't really need it to keep those memories alive. So many awesome memories of youth group trips, family trips, senior trips and then season passes once moved to Nashville as a family. We must have ridden this skyride hundreds of times over the years. Thank you to whoever had the forethought to preserve this treasure, and congratulations to whoever takes this home!