august - the month of birthdays

We have so many good friends and family with birthdays in August, and this past weekend, we celebrated our friend Alex's! Alex's wife Lisa really does know how to throw a party.

Here's a section of their driveway that she had set up lounging:

There were a few kiddos running around, so there were toys to play with. Of course, Dirk and I spent much of our time with the toys. Harry Potter decided to take on a hobbit while Saruman referee'ed:

There were some intense ping pong battles going on. Dirk and Marcus vs. everybody:

Here's a photo I snapped of Jorge's son, Jorgito, who has been in the states this summer:

Our friend Iliana is from South America and we introduced her to keg stands at her birthday this past May. She wanted to try it again, and since she was around such mature adults, we decided to help her out...what are friends for, right?

Here's the birthday boy!

Luis told me that he wants to hire me to follow him around one day and take photos of him. Basically wants to pay me to be his paparazzi. I said, "sure!"

Anytime Guillermo was around, there was always an intense game of dominoes going down. So, in his honor, the tradition is staying alive:

I love this group of people. We always have so much fun together, and there's always lots of love and laughter.

crooked letter, crooked letter

Some photos from my trip to Mississippi. I had the best tour guide the state had to offer, too. Our friend Jimmie has lived in Mississippi much of his life and knows the area well: he's the chief of the fire department near Tunica.

This is an old commissary where workers would shop for clothing and food. The only thing is, they would buy these things on credit from The Man (landowner) and would never actually see a paycheck. I read all about this in "Same Kind of Different As Me."


Mississippi recently suffered from some major flooding, and Jimmie took out a lot of the press on boats to tour the area (you may have caught a glimpse of him on Good Morning America, etc.) If your home or cabin received more than 50% flood damage, you are required to rebuild above the updated flood plane. How would you like your double wide to be up this high?!


We drove around the cutest little towns of Como and the Town of Tunica. These places were like pristine southern movie sets:




The Mississippi Delta was reminiscent to me of the midwest (but I have a tendency to find similarities between my home state and EVERYWHERE I visit!) They grow so many crops down there, from rice and milo, to catfish and cotton and soybeans:



I got to walk along the river, there is just so much history in this place!


And drive by some of the casinos:


Jimmie spends a lot of his free time hunting, so he took me to his hunting camp and, when he found out my goal of seeing a bald eagle in the wild, he took me to this spot to try to spot one. Alas, no bird, just a big 'ol nest!



All in all, I was so impressed with what I experienced and saw in this awesome state. I can't wait to go back and do some more exploring!

sometimes I'm jealous of my dogs

This past weekend we traveled to Mississippi to visit some friends. Just the golden girls and me. And we had such a great time. I've always been so inspired by new landscapes, and Mississippi was no exception. I haven't even begun to edit all the photos I took of the river, the delta, the gorgeous fields, etc., but I did spend some time with these photos I took of all the goldens. They have the most awesome life.

We took the dogs swimming at Lake Sardis. Jimmie & Cindy have a black lab, Gypsy, and a golden, Greta. In May of this year, Greta gave birth to her first litter. Hattie was breeched, and Jimmie ended up delivering her, so she decided to stay.


Greta and Sipsey could be twins. They first met 35 dog years ago, and have very similar temperaments. I love this moment I captured of the two of them:


I'll share more scenic shots later, I hope everyone had a great weekend!

pictures from the event last night

We got ready at Bernie and Andrea's loft downtown. Which was good, because I don't do make-up. I am very thankful to Emily and Aimee for putting on my face. To Emily for the mimosas, and to Andrea for the delicious hummus and veggies (little did I know it would be the only food I'd eat all night.)

Old Car Heaven is amazing. I didn't count the cars, but there are TONS....walking around and looking at all that history was awesome. What a fun game to speculate on previous owners!

Luis made me get in a picture. So here I am.

And here he is....this is my favorite photo of the night!

Getting all dressed up and spending time with old and new friends in such an interesting environment was so much fun! It was a break from the ordinary, and a memorable evening for sure!

a preview

I've taken a month to adjust to our new home life schedule, and I've turned over a leaf. I've been saying "yes" "yes" and "yes" to any and all invitations that come my way. Including one to an event benefiting ovarian cancer research tomorrow night at a place called Old Car Heaven. I'm going to also mention that it's a theme party, and thanks to an old dog park friend, Jessica, who works at the coolest vintage consignment store in Birmingham, I've got a fun new ensemble to wear.




Just putting this out there, but I think I may add a petticoat to my daily (non-scrub) attire. FUN!

And, just because I adore you, here's a few photos I snapped from my front porch last night. The golden girls and I spent some time admiring the glorious sunset.

lately

Have I mentioned that Dirk got a Jeep? It's pretty cool:

We've taken it out a couple of times, and last Sunday we decided to go Jeepin' around and we decided to freak ourselves out by visiting one of Alabama's Haunted Places: Bass Cemetery.

The oldest grave we found was from the 1700s. This place had a totally creepy vibe, and I was really anxious to get out of there. I haven't had the guts to write about it or even edit the photos because people have said that a lot of times shapes and ghostly things will show up in their photographs!

Okay, so remember Indiana Jones? Our neighbors' dog who comes over to play and sleeps on the front porch, etc.? Well, awhile back our neighbors decided to move...to Idaho. A week before they left, Mrs. Neighbor came over to our house asking if we'd seen Indy and telling me that he had been missing for two days and she was freaking out because they were moving in a week and she didn't know what to do. I kind of let her have it a bit, in a nice way, because they let Indiana roam all over the place (we live a few blocks from a very busy road), and he has NEVER had tags and sometimes not even a collar! So I said to her, "That really stinks, but if somebody DID find him, they wouldn't be able to contact you because he doesn't wear tags!" She kind of brushed it off and went about her way. And we didn't see her or hear from her before they left, and we just assumed that maybe Indiana was gone forever. We grieved him, mostly because of the lack of closure, not knowing whether they'd found him and he'd moved to Idaho, or if he was still roaming around, or if he had been hit and crawled into the woods to die. Then, on Saturday, I saw some signs up the road with Indiana's picture saying "Lost Dog" and giving a phone number. My heart dropped. This means that they left him here. Ugh.

Then yesterday I was doing something in the backyard and I looked towards the cul de sac, and here comes Indy, trotting up the driveway. I freaked out and started screaming "INDIANA!" I ran into the house screaming "INDIANA!" and Dirk and I ran outside and poor Indy was a little frightened by our behavior. He came inside, we gave him some treaters, and we came up with theories as to where he'd been and how he'd been surviving for two weeks out in the wild. We drove up the road to get the number on the sign, and we tried calling repeatedly for a couple hours. Finally, at nine o'clock last night, someone picked up. "Brenda?" Dirk said. "She's not here right now, who's this?" "This is her neighbor in Birmingham and we wanted to let her know that Indiana showed up at our house today." "Oh, well, this is actually Brenda, and we gave him away." "You gave him away?! Well, do you have the name, number, or address for the people that you gave him to?" "No, but if you drive up the road, take a left on Old Leeds, their house is down the street on the left." Wha?!

How could you abandon this sweet face?!

So, what we figured happened is that Indiana's family moved to Idaho. Then someone found him, saw the sign, and called them to tell them they found him. Our ex-neighbors must have just asked the people who found him if they wanted to keep him?! And then he tried to find his way home and there was no one there and came to our house? We were heartbroken and had no idea what to do next. Do we keep him? Do we drive over to these mystery people and knock on their door and ask if they want him? After some frantic phone calls to family members, Mama's advice was the best: put up some "DOG FOUND" signs around the neighborhood and if the family he was given to wants him they'll call and get him back.

And, now he's gone again. Escaped through the back gate. Will he return? I kind of hope so. Secretly. Because I love him. He reminds me of Otis. Just constantly by your side. Not demanding much attention, but loving it if you're willing to show him affection. Sweet Indy.