A Year in the Life

We live very close to the high school my children attend.  And because we live so close, when they are underclassmen, they walk to school. (unless it's raining or really cold)  It builds character & they can say their parents made them walk to school, uphill, both ways. We walk to all the high school games, the PTO open house, and any other function we need to attend at the school.  One of the cool things is the path we walk.  In the dark it is a little hard to traverse with 5 inch heels, but during the day it's beautiful.  This was just me stopping to smell the roses, and enjoy the view.  Celebrating Life! ~ashley

You know when you can just see Him everywhere?  I had that today.  My dad love sunsets and they remind me of how great God is.  All the colors coming together and then the look when there is just a smidge of light left.  So beautiful.  Here are some pictures I took, I love it because in them I can see the Great I AM! Celebrating Life! ~ashley

My friend Cathy has the greenest thumb.  Her yard is immaculate and she grows the prettiest flowers.  She is a master gardener & you can tell because her yard is mac-daddy.  I appreciate people who grow things because I kill everything.  I would love to have that talent, but when I try to grow stuff it just dies.  :/  I'm also am highly allergic to poison ivy & every time I dig in the dirt I get covered in it.  Boo poison ivy! Cathy's boys, David & Joe are good friends with Hop & Harry.  Hop said he and David made the mistake of offering to water her flowers for her last summer.  He thought it would it would be just a few live plants like we have at home.  Not with a master gardener...lots of living plants that need water in the very hot Alabama sun. Cathy and I did a tablescape for our community's annual Dogwood Festival luncheon today.  Actually she did most of it,...

Everyday I fight.  No, it's nothing serious or life-threatening.  I fight my own vanity.  Part of me wishes the big hair from the 80's would just come back in style.  I can totally do big hair, and I don't really have to try too hard. Here is the real me.  I'm a riot of curls....  What's so sad is that it takes minimal effort for me to get my hair to do this.  A little mousse, about 5-7 minutes with my blow dryer, and some hair spray.  How you see my hair on my profile picture to the right is how I want my hair to look everyday, but today it's raining and humid.  Since it's just going to curl up anyway as soon as I step outside no matter how much I straighten and spray it I just went with the real me.  It's Au natural.  Lovely isn't it? Hopson likes my hair like this.  Crazy man, he wants me to look wild and untamed I guess.  He also like me with no make-up on, (I have very little on ...

Early this morning we were hit, again.  Hit by something so violent; so uncaring; so deadly; but at the same time so violently beautiful.  When you think about the destruction 'just some wind' can do it's amazing and terrifying all at the same time.  It has been unseasonably warm these last few days.  (today it was 73 degrees!)  And here in the south, that is a recipe for potentially bad weather, but I don't ever remember having it happen in January. 3 AM this morning I woke up to a keening sound outside.  It's pitch didn't change.  It droned on for about 10 minutes until I heard the sound that will drive fear into any momma...the tornado siren was going off. where he is pointing is a potential tornado on the ground I immediately turned on the TV to James Spann, to see if we were in the path of a potential tornado. You can see the storm that is getting ready to hammer our little city in the picture above.  We were give...

I was picking up Elizabeth from dance to day & look at what I found... It's a Dogwood Tree & it's starting to bud!!!  Yes, I realize that it's only January 21st, and winter will probably raise it's very cold head at least one or two more times, killing the very tender buds on this tree.  (thanks for the buzz kill all you Debbie Downers)  The reality for us living in the southern United States is that it's only a few more weeks and spring will be here.  Yea for the south!  I love spring, I love spring, I love spring!!!   I'm so glad that it will not be cold and dark and gloomy with naked trees all year, it's just too depressing by half.  It's amazing that just the whisper of spring leaves me smiling, giddy, and looking forward to warmer, longer, and colorful days ahead. Celebrating Life! ~ashley  

Today I was coming home from Georgia & visiting my sister.  I was just driving & not thinking about where I was going and realized that I missed my turn.  The GPS did a quick recalculation & I'm so glad it did!  If we hadn't been going in the wrong direction, we would have missed this...  Clarity There's a song by Jason Morant called Love Song that comes to mind when I see creation shouting out the glory of God.  Believe it or not, I took these pictures with my phone.   When we finally made it back to the right road we saw the next picture. The Heart Elizabeth & I had a beautiful drive home.  The sun was beginning to set off to my left & God painted a beautiful one for us.  My dad's favorite time of the day was sunset & so is Hopson's.  I think of them both everytime I see one.  A Bend in the Road    This was a bend in the road. As we ca...