this is my very first blog ever…so bare, with me….i’m a little nervous….
don’t judge! …mka 🙂
so this might not be charlsie….
BUT…this might just be one of her very best friends. and definitely one of her very best dates. after all, we’re on our number 4…officially.
currently, charlsie is killing mosquitoes with her bare hands. so, i….molly allen, have decided to take over her blog. wow…what a privilege.
so tonight’s topic is…people getting married. we are in st. simons getting ready to celebrate the wedding of ashley and otis. it’s so wonderful. when two people decide that it is right and perfect to get married and spend their lives together. especially two people like otis and ashley. because they are one wedding we all definitely approve.
but, the big question for the blog viewers is…when should charlsie and i have a “DTR”. for those of you who don’t know what that means….welcome to the 21st century. it means to “define the relationship.” let’s say that charlsie and i have basically been going on dates for the past 25 years of our lives. but exclusively, we have been dates for the past 4 weddings/wedding events. does that constitute a conversation??? should one of us taken the reigns and picked up the tab at mullet bay tonight???
ok…yes, i’m just kidding. but you know that it is quite a feat when two friends…who, keep in mind, have been through many different situations in life, can come together and still want to be each other’s dates to weddings…even if boyfriends are in the picture.
THAT, my friends, is a testament to TRUE friendship. so…here’s to charlsie kate paine and molly kathryn allen..and the many years of friendship that are to come and have been…and to all the good friends around. way to go!
Posted in Favorite People | 3 Comments »
Let’s say you were at a club, this club could be located in any city, but my imaginary club would be located in Miami.
And let’s say on this particular day Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake both happened to be in Miami, they run into each other at their exclusive hotels, and decide to hit the town together, because they are colleagues and friends. They of course bring their body guards and entourage so the tabloids wouldn’t have them dating by the end of the weekend. Nelly and Justin have sushi for dinner and discussed the latest Hollywood gossip, over sake bombs and crazy rolls.
The convo would go something like this:
N: So, who do you think Cami is going to take to the Shrek 3 premiere?
J: Shut up Nelly.
N: Haha, I think you should hid in the red carpet crowd and when she and her new flavor walk by you can rip your shirt off and start yelling about how you have better abs than that guy and how she is nothing without you. That would be awesome.
J: Oh yeah? Well, for that, I’m going to challenge you to a dance off. I’m not going to listen to you disrespect me like this – after all – I’m the one who broke up with the She-Ogre, even if she has been looking extra awesome lately.
N: You are on! I can dance you into the ground any day of the week JT! Name the place and time!
J: Right now! Tonight, here in Miami. Let’s go to the nearest club and have it out.
So there you are, dancing around with your $15 cosmo, when Nelly and Justin stroll into the club – stop at the bar and buy ten shots of tequila for themselves and the people sitting at the bar, hit the floor and start dancing.
You see them at the club, and they’re acting real nice. You see them on the floor, and you’re watching all night.
Timbaland is going to be so mad he was in New York when this went down.
Posted in Music | 2 Comments »
Since it is summertime, it is time to talk about books. I’m going to Puerto Rico with my family tomorrow, and I need to go to the bookstore tonight and get some new books – let me know if you have any suggestions real quick. In the interest of fairness, I’m going to tell you what I’ve been reading lately. Don’t laugh at me, I read random books.
Illusions, by Richard Bach – The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah. This is a book Todd sent me a long time ago, that kept getting lost in the shuffle of other books. I really enjoyed it, I’m not even sure exactly how to explain it. But what I walked away with from this book is that the way we think and perceive the world can either limit our abilities and experiences or can magnify and increase our abilities and experiences. That reality is fluid and dreams are important. It isn’t a very long book, and the writing isn’t complex. But there is something weighty and heavy about it, something that caused me, while reading it, to put it down for a few days and think before picking it back up again. Bach also wrote Johnathan Livingston Seagull, which I would also recommend. If you are going to read them both, read Seagull first.
The Secret Sharer, by Joseph Conrad.
This isn’t really a book so much as a story. The book I have also included Heart of Darkness, which is something I always planned on reading and haven’t. But I really enjoyed the Secret Sharer, it is the story of a young Sea Captain, his first voyage as a captain, and the boat has been at sea for months with the same crew when he takes over. The Captain rescues a man who has escaped from a passing ship where he has been accused of murder. It is a story of finding your identity and how strongly empathy can touch you once you see yourself in another person.
The Grand Tour – by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Steverman.
As it turns out, I like to read children’s novels. This book is by two authors I used to read as a child – they write books about magicians, and dragons. This book is about two young socialite girls from england who have just married and are traveling around Europe enjoying high Paris fashion at the turn of the 20th century. The best way I can describe it is to say it is a Harry Potter crossed with the Davinci Code. The two girls and their husbands get caught up in a plot involving ancient artifacts from across Europe and a pagan rite to create a ruler to unite all of Europe. I know it sounds silly, but the history is well researched, and the ruins and places they visit are real. Seriously, if Harry and his crew were the main characters in the DaVinci code. I really liked it.
The Midnight Disease – The Drive to Write, Writer’s Block and the Creative Brain – by Alice Weaver Flaherty
This is a book I borrowed from Ivy. I haven’t read the whole thing, I don’t have the psych background to really grasp a lot of it, but it is about hypergraphia – which is when you have the uncontrollable desire to write, and essentially the opposite to writer’s block. The book also talks about writer’s block and a lot about creativity. I found the definition for creative that the book gives to be interesting, two requirements – it must be novel and valuable. If you have a novelty that isn’t valuable, it isn’t creative, and if you have something valuable but not novel, it isn’t creative either.
The book also talks about motivation and your vocation. One part I liked was the word Workaholic – and how some people assume that workaholics are driven by anxiety and that the workaholic works to relieve the anxiety and not because he enjoys his work or is trying to reach a goal. But that it is almost impossible if you have a true vocation and your work is part of who you are, to always work for pleasure or for a goal – that terror and anxiety are going to be your motivation from time to time. There is a lot more in the book – in just this one chapter I’ve been quoting from, about hobbies (which are often just work for fun) that are a release for people, and how paying a writer for his work can sometimes kill his motivation, or make him sloppy. The book examines the ebb and flow of a writer’s words, seasons, hormones, age, fatigue, depression, illness, alcohol, drugs, music, deadlines, procrastination, etc. It even talks about how the graduate student is likely to have writer’s block and hypergraphia at the same time – being completely blocked on an important paper while writing heavily in the realms of email and blogging. Wow. Sounds familiar.
Anyway, the book is full of quotes from famous writers, and written by a neurologist who teaches at Harvard Medical school and who seems sincerely interested in the topic. Most of it is over my head, but I felt like I learned something. Writing is a mysterious past time.
Posted in Books | 1 Comment »
One of my day dreams is that I am famous and part of my job is to be in terrific shape. I don’t want to be famous, I just want "working out" to be in my job description to a point where I could justify devoting a great deal of time and money to my workout. For some reason the only job I can come up with that would allow me to do this is being famous. I don’t want to be required to train for a sporting event. I want to work out for the sheer purpose of looking great.
I would own a gym that would have lots of trampolines, round ones, long tumble track ones, bouncy ones, taunt ones. And they would all be in the floor. And mats all over the place. I would also have a big padded floor with a mirror in the middle. Basically I would have my own gymnastic training center, but it would used exclusively for tumbling, bouncing, and stretching. We might have some treadmills, but probably not. Since this is my fantasy, the training facility would be situated next to some wooded trails on rolling hills. And if I’m really feeling rich in my dream, at least one side of my gym/warehouse would open up like a garage door, revealing said woods, you know, for pretty days in the fall and spring, or even summer depending on where my fantasy is located. Sometimes is it Georgia, sometimes Colorado. Sometimes elsewhere.
Since I’m rich and famous, I would have a couple of people who worked for me, probably part time, but maybe full time. I would want a tumbling coach, nothing too fancy, I don’t want to do crazy things, but just someone to watch and offer suggestions and help. Maybe bounce on the trampoline with me.
Oh, and there would be a sweet stereo system that blasted lots of fun music. People could bring their iPods.
I would also have a yoga instructor on staff. Once again, I don’t need the best in the land, I would be happy with a college student who taught yoga on the side. My roomie in college, Betsy, was (is) an aerobics instructor and she could kick my butt all day long.
I would want my friends to come work out with me. I get bored by myself. It could be lots of fun.
I would have a poweraid fountain, and lots of luna bars and pria bars and fresh fruits.
And those big fans. And shoes would be prohibited, along with cell phones.
We would do handstands and backflips to our heart’s content.
It would go something like this –
Posted in Working Out | 1 Comment »
When I walked out of my house yesterday morning I swear I heard someone whistling at me. You know the whistle, the whooo-wheet- whoow, the whistle of a compliment or a catcall. I looked around. There was no one in my yard to have executed such a whistle. Five seconds later a mocking bird broke into a repetitive song sounding very much like the whistle I had just heard.
The mockingbird was hitting on me!
The month of June this year is going to be quite full of itself. There are five weekends in June, which means that you could technically attend five different weddings this month. I was only invited to four weddings during June, and I’ve already missed the first one, and I will also miss the last one. But it is possible.
In addition to being full of weddings, June has two full moons. This past Friday night was a full moon, and June 30th is a full moon. I have crazy dreams during full moons. I don’t recall the moon on Friday night, but on Thursday night when we were at the baseball game the moon was orange and almost full. I’m always surprised by how much light a full moon provides, and in turn, how pitch black a night can be without a moon. You would think at 26 years of age I would have come to terms with this natural phenomenon.
I heard this weekend that the smoke from the forest fires in South Georgia had blown as far north as Macon and turned the moon all crazy colors of red. Which is really scary. I believe the fires are under control now, but I’m a little worried about all the displaced wildlife. With the drought and all the lost habitat in the swamp, I think that Loch Laurel could become a popular vacation destination this summer for alligators.
My yard smells wonderful. The gardenias and magnolia are blooming. Gardenias are so pretty and smell amazing outside. But if you pick more than one of them and bring them inside, the fragrance is overpowering and sickening after a while. One blossom can make your entire house smell amazing. I prefer the smell of gardenias when there is a hot breeze blowing around. It reminds me of happy summer night times of drinking beer and laughing.
Posted in summertime | Leave a Comment »
This weekend marks the beginning of summer as far as most people are concerned. It is the first year of my life that I haven’t finished up a semester of school to start summer. It is strange.
I’ve had some amazing summers. Summers that might never be matched, although I like to believe that things are always only getting better.
Right now I’m sitting in my parents backyard, under the pergola. The ceiling fans (even though I guess they aren’t technically on a ceiling) are blowing away the mosquitoes and the dogs are frolicking with their stuffed toys. And I am thinking. Libby and Elizabeth are coming over shortly to get into the hot tub, we’ve ordered a pizza and I’m drinking my first beer of the day out of a frozen mug. Briscoe is trying to lick the condensation off my mug. Bella is chewing on a bone. Bo is rolling on the asphalt. And I am thinking.
Blue hydrangeas, especially ones that have been growing in sufficient shade to reach the perfect shade of blue, look beautiful when you use a miller lite bottle as a vase. I know you don’t believe me, but I’m serious.
As I was leaving eckerds today (on a side note, eckerds has been bought by another company, rite aid maybe? and at the end of June there will be no more eckerds) I got into my car and I was looking at my cell phone while I cranked up the engine.
As I turned my head to grab my seat belt, I was startled by a man who had approached my window. Anyone would have startled me, but this man had one eye (the other eye was mangled) and a scruffy beard and was quite frightening. I jumped, and waved him away, backed up without putting my seat belt on, and tried to get away as quickly as possible. I was shaking. I was frightened. And I was sad.
Because I was across the street from the VA hospital, all I could think of was that this man didn’t always look so frightening (he was old), and was probably a vet, and it is memorial day weekend, and he probably gets similar reactions from everyone he comes in contact with. I thought of how I would feel if everyone was frightened by my appearance. And how much stock I put into my appearance. It made me realize how vain I really am and how much I allow the world to decide my self worth by my appearance. I shook all the way home.
This is the first weekend since sometime in February that I haven’t had any plans. I have had a couple of weekends where I did what I wanted to and didn’t have any obligations, and made my own plans, but there was always somewhere I SHOULD have been instead of where I was. A party I was missing, a friend’s birthday, etc. The next weekend where I don’t have any plans is in the middle of July.
I might have a few plans this weekend. Maybe tomorrow night or Sunday. But nothing that has been in the works for more than a day or so.
It hasn’t rained in a long time. It worries me. And there is a chill in the air at night right now. Last night we sat outside at dinner and I was cold. Which seemed weird. Normally once it really gets hot, it stays hot and there is enough humidity to keep all the hot air in at night. But without the humidity, it is cool at night.
Cool enough to get in the hot tub? Or the SPA as Trav is trying to make us call it?
MAYBE! Yay! Elizabeth is here! Happy Memorial Day Weekend and Happy Summer!
Posted in summertime | 2 Comments »
I’m noticing that the pictures of Briscoe I posted below have a sort of serious tone to them. Most of the time she looks like she is smiling. She really is the cutest dog in america. So I apologize for how sad she seems to appear, I will have to take some happier looking photos of her later.
Having a dog is awesome. I had my feelings hurt by a close friend earlier this week and I was sad and after playing with Briscoe for a little while I didn’t care anymore and I felt a ton better! Everyone should get a dog.
In other news, my sweet friend Betsy got engaged last night to her cute boyfriend Brad! Yay for them! I can say with full confidence that they are going to have good looking chil’ren.
I went to the Greenjacket’s game last night and I am happy to report they won. Dollar beers were enjoyed by all.
There is a new petsmart commercial that involves a bulldog and a bulldog puppy and we have it tivoed and we watch it a lot. It is really awesome. I melt everytime I see it.
Jennifer’s engagement party is this weekend which is really exciting.
Yay! It is friday! Get excited!
Posted in Thoughts | 1 Comment »
Posted in Briscoe | 3 Comments »
I went to Nashville this past weekend for my sweet friend Sarah’s bachelorette party. We had a wonderful time. Friday afternoon I drove to the ATL and rode the rest of the way to Nashville with Cristina and Ben, who were going up for Steeplechase. Cristina lives in a townhome in buckhead with her brother. I met her at her house, we loaded everything up into Ben’s car, and left my car and Cristina’s car in the parking lot. The parking lot was not crowded, and there was nothing to indicated that any of the parking spaces were specifically assigned to any particular townhome. Shoot, there were barely lines drawn.
Cristina told me that it didn’t matter where I parked, as there were not designated parking spaces.
I rode back with the bachelorette girls, and yesterday afternoon when I arrived at my car there was a note on it that said:
"Whoever owns this car, I am calling to have it towed. Paula Somethingorother Apt. B-1" (the townhome I was parked in front of). The note was dated Friday 5/11.
As I am searching for my keys and feeling chastised for no good reason, a woman emerges from Apt. B-1. We’ll call her Paula.
Paula: Is this your car?
Me: Yes! I’m so sorry about the car, my friend lives right there and she indicated that it was okay for me to park here and we’ve been out of town all weekend. But I’m moving it.
Paula: Well, you know you can’t just park anywhere. This is my parking space and even though I don’t live here all the time I don’t appreciate you parking in my spot. (throws her hands up like she is exasperated)
Me: Well, I apologize, but the spaces are not marked and there are no signs indicated that some parking is for residence and some parking is for guests.
Paula: There is plenty of parking down there, you could have parked down there. (pointing in front of her neighbor’s house). The spaces in front of each unit are assigned to that unit.
Me: Like I said, I had no way of knowing that this was not an acceptable place to park.
Paula: Well, it better not happen again, I had to park elsewhere this weekend, which I don’t appreciate.
Me: DON’T WORRY.
Now, what I want to to know is, did she really let the fact that I parked my car in front of her house ruin her whole weekend? I get the feeling that she did. She was waiting on me to come back to my car. Plus, I think she might have had to walk an extra ten to fifteen feet because of my inconsiderateness. She was older, but she didn’t look crippled. Plus, I apologized immediately and was as polite as I could possibly be. I just wonder, did it make her feel better to yell at me about it? Obviously nothing I could say was going to make it better. How do people get through life if they let trivial things like parking spots eat them alive inside? I hate being repremanded, it hurts my feelings. Especially when I wasn’t doing anything wrong.
Regardless, I’d have been mad as a hornet if she’d towed my car.
Posted in Thoughts | 5 Comments »
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the thin line between optimism and delusion... 
