Sunday, February 28, 2010

I Heart Faces - Hilarious Outtakes



The contest on the I Heart Faces blogsite this week is for Hilarious Outtakes.
Here are a few of my favorites.
I'm pretty sure she's going to smack me for this one.
But maybe not.



I am calling this one Nanas Gone Wild!
And this one is titled:
She who smelt it, dealt it
(Though I really don't know if that was the case or not)



This is, quite frankly, not that unusal a shot for my brother's family

As you can plainly see by this shot taken two years later:

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Paying it Forward

Before you do anything else, I need to tell you about a blogger that I have been reading for about eight years now. Maybe longer. I’m not sure. I found her when I was reading some sort of article on MSNBC.com that left me giggling.

I never giggle.

Oh, okay. I sometimes giggle. I mostly laugh right out loud. I don’t want the three people who read this blog to think I’m hard-hearted or anything.

Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled program. Go here:

http://blondechampagne.wordpress.com/

I LOVE to read this blog. Love it. LOVE it. L-O-V-E it!! The author writes the way I think. Are you afraid? You probably should be.

I read all about her relationship with her boyfriend-turned fiancé-turned husband. I read about her desire to not become a parent.

I swear… twins separated by birth. And biologically. And I’m a lot older. But still. I don’t want kids either. It is SOOO okay to be a woman and not want to reproduce. I promise.

At any rate, I added her as a tweet friend and low and behold, her hubby added me as a friend (and I added him… it is a perpetual cycle, isn’t it?) and even though we have never ever met… I knew he was in the airline industry. When the earthquake in Haiti occurred last month, we were frantically looking for planes, etc. I tweeted to him and low and behold if he didn’t respond. He doesn’t know me from Adam… but he might have an option.

We already had a plan in place by the time I heard from him (things moved very, very fast in that first 24 hours), so I was unable to utilize Josh the Pilot’s contacts. BUT it was the fact that he would help! Without having a clue as to my identity… other than the fact that I read his wife’s blog.

So I was more than happy to return the favor when they had a need arise. I wish I could have done a greater favor… but I haven’t won the lottery yet.

Probably cuz I haven’t bought a ticket yet. But that is neither here nor there.

When I woke up this morning, I checked the blog (as I normally do) and my heart stopped beating. Because, because, because!!!! Because of the wonderful things she does! (Wow… I just broke right into song. How did that happen!)

The blogger friend I have never met said a sweet, kind, and rather inaccurate thing about me. But that’s okay. I’m going to let her believe what she will!

All that to say… pay a favor forward or back today. It will bless you beyond measure. It is an essential part of who we are in this world.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Re-cap of the Winter 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremonies


7:05 – Why does Shawn White have better hair than me? That is so irritating.

7:20 – Our uniforms are turtleneck sweaters. Really? And knit caps? I think I can get those at Wal-Mart. I really was expecting a little more. We’ll see which country’s team gets the gold for costuming.

7:23 – Visa commercial. “Right at this moment everyone is tied”. Way to be PC Visa.

7:25 – Ahnold passed off the torch? Who’s running California right now?

7:29 – Mary Carillo carried the torch in Iqaluit. Don’t the Canadians know there should be a “U” after the “Q”?

7:33 – Apollo Ohno’s hair – not quite as impressive as Shawn White’s. Just sayin’.

7:38 - Lindsey Jacobellis – might want to use lip liner with that bright pinkish red lipstick.

7:45 – British Columbian Canadian commercial. Actually may entice me to go there.

7:48 – We are the World 25. One month after the earthquake in Haiti. New and Improved. I don’t know half of these artists. Wait! I see Santana. And Vince Vaughn. When did he become a vocalist? Gads, I’m old. This did not impress.

7:52 – Reflecting on what I was doing a month ago with Brent Gambrell Ministries while we were trying desperately to get news of Katie Erie’s well-being. She was in Haiti at the epicenter of the quake. We got her and Tia and Naika home. A month later, we are still collecting supplies. We just sent 42,000 pounds of supplies, food and water to Haiti. We will continue to work in that country.

7:57 – Movie commercial for Gerard Butler in The Bounty Hunter. Oh yeah. I will be seeing that movie on opening day. Yum. Can I tase him too? Just wondering.

7:59 – They will dedicate the ceremony to Georgian luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili, who was killed in a training run this morning.

8:00 – Audience participation and fireworks start the show as the countdown begins.

8:04 – Okay… the snowboarder was pretty cool. Loved the Maple Leaf.

8:06 – Dear girlfriend of foreign dignitaries. Please refrain from jumping up and down in excitement while the ICO President is entering and taking his seat. It is a little distracting. Thank you.

8:07 – Look! Dudley Do Right. I love him. The Royal Canadian Mounties are entering. My friend Req is probably having an issue with the fact that their arm movements are NOT in synch.

8:09 – Make that Dudlette. The Mounties have girls. I wonder if this will send Snidely Whiplash into a tailspin.

8:10 – Oh Canada. Pretty. But halfway through, I couldn’t figure out the words. Probably because the only French I remember from high school had to do with opening a door. Kickin’ shoes, though.

8:12 – Everyone is wearing a white smock. Why is that? Is there a finger painting competition I don’t know about?

8:14 – Oh look! Native Americans! Oh. Wait. Those are tribal Canadians. Is that one guy listening to an Ipod? Very cool totems.

8:16 – Yay! The Aboriginal people are honored.

8:21 – Bring in the athletes!! They get to come in early so they can watch the show!

8:22 – Albania has one athlete. And about 15 handlers. Same with Algeria

8:25 – Two Flag bearers for Austria. They’re brothers! These guys have nice suits on. So far… classiest outfits.

8:26 – Azerbaijan – WHAT THE HECK? Those pants go on the worst dressed list. Yikes!

8:28 – Bermuda shorts. Really? You realize this is the Winter Olympics. Right?

8:30 – pretty sure if one of these athletes falls down while they are walking and videotaping at the same time… I’m gonna laugh right out loud.

8:31 – The Chinese are carrying two flags. I fear for their families back home.

8:30 - Emotional entrance for Georgia. Cool that they get an ovation. I love that athletes can set aside politics for a few weeks. But that the rest of the world could do the same… and for a longer length of time.

8:42 – The British are Coming! The British are Coming! LOVE the outfits. Might beat out the Austrians.

8:47 – Italy. Hot men. Great outfits. Good food. I need to get my passport updated.

9:03 – The Russian jackets are pretty cool.

9:06 – Green looks really good on the Slovenias. Best dressed list.

9:11 – Turkey. Is it Istanbul or Constantinople? Just wondering.

9:12 - U.S.A.!!!! Okay… the outfits aren’t as bad as I thought. But, I think Ralph Lauren could have done much better. Oh look! The Bidens are here. I wonder if the Obamas are boycotting because Chicago lost the Olympic bid? Hmm.

9:14 – Yay. The Canadians are here. It should be time to get on with the show now.

9:19 – The tribal people have been dancing for about an hour now. Talk about athletic!

9:20 – Hasn’t anyone told Bryan Adams that the skinny tie went out in… oh… say the year of his last number one single? And while I have an affinity for really cool shoes… I’m not sure about Nelly’s.

9:24 – Awesome Coke commercial. Snowball fight in Olympic village.

9:27 – The journey begins. With fake snow.

9:30 – Ooh… is that supposed to be the northern lights? WOW. Huge bear. I mean, H.U.G.E. And all the peoples are strung with Christmas lights.

9:33 – Okay… breaking up the floor w graphics. Ultra cool.

9:34 – Cooler still… the Orca whale graphics. Complete with blow holes. Awesome.

9:35 – This is really spectacular. Salmon to totems to trees. Amazing.

9:44 – Witched canoe, Maple leafs and mohawked fiddlers, oh my.

9:51 – Kinda like Stomp. But not.

9:53 – Toyota commercial. Please don’t stop buying our cars.

9:55 – Nissan commercial. Our cars are better

9:57 – Prairie and Joni Mitchell. “It’s clouds illusions I recall…” I never got that song.

10:00 – I get why everyone is wearing white smocks. It makes a great canvas for all the lighting and visual effects. HORSES!

10:03 – Ooh. Storms. Those are cool effects. Morphed into mountains. Oh. Look! Skiers and snowboarders. And Shawn White loves it. All is well.

10:11 – A Beatnik? Really? Oh-kay. I need him to push his glasses up. I can say that because I wear glasses and I am constantly pushing them up on my nose.

10:16 – Recognizing Nodar Kumaritashvili. Classy.

10:17 – Furlong welcomes us to Vancouver. Thanks. Ok. Three minutes later, he can stop talking now. Where’s the torch?

10:26 – Turned it over to Jacques Rogge. Are we there yet?

10:31 – Governor General Michaelle Jean opens the Olympic Games! Whoo Hoo!

10:32 – K.D. Lang.

10:39 – Olympic flag enters. Donald Sutherland. LOVE. Him.

10:40 – Anne Murray and Bobby Orr.

10:42 – Olympic hymn sung by operatic singer with HUGE hair. Seriously huge. Like Mall Hair huge. I think Donna Summer had that hair back in the day.

10:43 – Fan on the Olympic and Canadian flags are not quite working.

10:45 – Anne Murray is frightened of the hair. So is Bobby Orr. Donald Sutherland doesn’t look scared. But, he’s an actor. He can fake it through the fear. Heck… I’m in Nashville and I am afraid of the hair.

10:46 – Moment of silence for Nodar Kumaritashvili. Lowering the flags to half mast. Wonderfully appropriate.

10:48 – Oath given. No doping and no drugs. Okay. Judge Oath. They promise to be fair and just.

10:50 – Nissan commercial. Our cars are better because they are 100% electric.

10:53 – The flame comes in with Rick Hansen – paralympian. Passes it off to Catriona Lemay Don, speed skater. Passes it off to basketball player Steve Nash. Passes it off to Nancy Greene, the most successful Canadian woman athlete. Then on to Wayne Gretsky. Not a huge surprise.

10:57 – Wayne is waiting to light something. But there isn’t anything to light just yet.

10:58 – Thinking there is a mechanical failure. Wouldn’t that really SUCK?! Everyone is looking at each other with confused faces. Gotta admit… this makes me giggle. Just a little. Reminds me of a few technical problems I have had before.

10:59 – Something is rising. But not quite the cauldron.

11:00 – Ahh… something is rising from out of the ground. Maybe this is it? Kinda reminds me of the Superman set. Hoping no one falls in the big hole in the ground.

11:01 – Torch is lit!

11:02 – Ceremony is concluded. Wayne is heading outside to light the real cauldron.

11:07 – The Bidens: Joe- “It takes a lotta guts man, a lotta guts.” He wants to see the downhill skiers, she wants to see the women’s hockey and bobsledders.

11:09 – The Great One is in a truck heading across town.

11:12 – Switching out torches. Gretsky’s arm is getting tired too.

11:14 – Gretsky heading to the outdoor cauldron. Look… it still looks like Superman’s home!

11:15 – Ahh. Finally. All the lights are burning bright.

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Snow in Middle Tennessee




So... we don't get much of the white stuff typically here in the middle Tennessee area. Soooo... when we were forecast to really get hit over the weekend, well, the salt trucks got out early and brined the roads in preparation for it. Everybody and their dog went to the local grocery stores and cleared the shelves of milk, bread, eggs and toilet paper.

Because, apparently, that is all that one needs to survive the apocolypse that is snow in Middle Tennessee!




The weatherman/women/people (what is the PC term for that?) were right this time. We got about four inches of snow...

It stayed around for awhile. The temperatures never really got much over freezing for the weekend. Many county school systems are still out too. Of course, we are not very well equipped here to deal with such things. So... from Friday until Monday, I stayed nice and cozy warm in my house.

Eating bread and eggs and drinking milk.



Heh.



... and then on top of the snow, we got ice! About a 1/4 inch.


Ice - Ice - Baby!!!


This would be why we all ran to the grocery store on Thursday night!




But nothing can explain this:




So, I won't even try.