isn't he presh??!!
-meghan
Sunday, May 30, 2010
you look like a monkey, and you act like one too!
i have another cute nephew with a birthday in may! happy birthday, my sweet jacob. i really hope you have tons of fun being 3 years old. be sure to live it up, one day you'll have to go to kindergarten and face the real world. i really wish i was there to sing the duck song to you today!!
isn't he presh??!!
-meghan
isn't he presh??!!
-meghan
100 monkeys
i'm sick and frantically packing for the move to nashville, but since i started music mondays only two weeks ago i didn't want to skip one just yet. monday is my nephew's birthday, so i'm posting this a day early.
since this is going to be a short post and i'm still going through bands i saw at the sbl concert, i figured i would go ahead and talk about 100 monkeys. out of all the bands they have the most exposure and have a huge fan base, so i don't feel so bad about skimping out on their post.
there are a lot of reasons why i like 100 monkeys, and if you know me at all you've probably heard some/many of those reasons before. one of the things i love about their concerts is their improv songs. they take suggestions from the audience and make up a song about one of the topics. this not only shows how talented they are, but it gives every audience something special that won't be played for anyone else.
when it came time for improv suggestions jerad went from one side of the stage to the other getting ideas. lindsey,tori and i were on the front and were able to yell "ellen degeneres" when jerad looked at us, and we were so excited when he announced that the song would be about ellen!! we've wanted to be able to suggest a song about her for a while (we think if she hears about it she'll put them on her show) and it made the sbl concert that much more memorable since their song was from our suggestion. out of all of the concerts i've been to of theirs, it was definitely my favorite improv.
if you watch the video below you can see me give the suggestion to jerad. the spotlight followed him around and landed on my face right when i talked to him!
-meghan
since this is going to be a short post and i'm still going through bands i saw at the sbl concert, i figured i would go ahead and talk about 100 monkeys. out of all the bands they have the most exposure and have a huge fan base, so i don't feel so bad about skimping out on their post.
there are a lot of reasons why i like 100 monkeys, and if you know me at all you've probably heard some/many of those reasons before. one of the things i love about their concerts is their improv songs. they take suggestions from the audience and make up a song about one of the topics. this not only shows how talented they are, but it gives every audience something special that won't be played for anyone else.
when it came time for improv suggestions jerad went from one side of the stage to the other getting ideas. lindsey,tori and i were on the front and were able to yell "ellen degeneres" when jerad looked at us, and we were so excited when he announced that the song would be about ellen!! we've wanted to be able to suggest a song about her for a while (we think if she hears about it she'll put them on her show) and it made the sbl concert that much more memorable since their song was from our suggestion. out of all of the concerts i've been to of theirs, it was definitely my favorite improv.
if you watch the video below you can see me give the suggestion to jerad. the spotlight followed him around and landed on my face right when i talked to him!
-meghan
Friday, May 28, 2010
j-biz is the shiz.
today has been fun. joy beth is here with her sweet friend lauryn and there are 5 mattresses stuffed into my room for a never ending (until saturday)slumber party. after a joyful reunitation last night we stayed up late acting silly and slept in (not too) late. we spent the day by the pool laying out, reading, listening to music and playing in the water. after that we came home and grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, which were oh so delicious. we then played quelf and hilarity ensued. after that we had the first watching of new moon together. if you know us or like the twilight saga then you understand the seriousness of this. and now here it is 2:30 in the morning and we have spent the past several hours ranting about boys.
i really like it when joy beth is here.
-(barely awake)meghan
i really like it when joy beth is here.
-(barely awake)meghan
Monday, May 24, 2010
the kissing club
in keeping with my attempt to post about all of the bands i saw at the sbl show, today i think the spotlight will do well to shine on the kissing club. i already made mention of this one man band, aka jake miller, when i talked about the stevedores. i think what i said about him was "jake miller is so sick on his guitar i have no words." hard as it may be, i'm going to try to find some.
just listening to jake on tamuawok. (the stevedores) or his myspace is impressive, and seeing him enhances that many times over. if you watched the vid of the stevedores like i told you to, then you've already seen him flip out on his guitar, complete with head thrashing and body spazzing. what came after that during his solo set had a different tone and feel, but was still equally amazing and exciting. he came in jamming to a song about locomotives and went out yelling about dancing all night to the water in the pipes. oh, and he also made a cameo appearance during tin tin can's set on the bongos. anything you can't do jake? no? i didn't think so.
jake got started by playing "the displaced persons song" with ben johnson (100 monkeys) on the bass and zach arlan (drew & the medicinal pen) on the drums. can i just say, i absolutely love this song. it's one of my favorites for a couple of reasons, the first being the guitar break in the middle. secondly, the lyrics by thomas pynchon are really, really well written and continue building until reaching my favorite line. "we were made for song and sin" are the words that close the song, being sung over and over by a gravelly voice deep with conviction. the first time i heard that i thought it a good definition for humans, and to me song and sin translated to praise and depravity. i realize there's a slight error in my revelation - we weren't actually meant for depravity, but for praise. but God knew the fall would happen, and still used our sin to bring glory to His name.
a "message on the moon" later came "linden tree", which is absolutely one of the sweetest songs in the world. when i saw jake perform "linden tree" in birmingham it was done as a solo and i loved it, but the addition of molly mcdonough makes it that much better.
then came "i can't tell," followed by an amazing and heartfelt cover of spencer bell's "nerve damage." getting to hear spencer's songs played is something i always look forward to when going to see 100 monkeys, and i was so happy to see other bands perform some as well. i also really appreciated the seriousness of the moment amongst everyone there. towards the end of the song is when 100 monkeys comes out to join the kissing club, and usually there is screaming and cheering right in the middle of the song. the afternoon sbl concert was different - the lone song of spencer's that jake sings was finished uninterrupted.
after the monkeys came out, missy liu (drew & the medicinal pen) joined them for a party during "water in the pipes," which was an excellent ending to a rocking set.
how appropriate that today's music monday is about the kissing club, as just a couple of hours ago jake posted a new song on his youtube channel!!! it is from his upcoming ep hooks, which is due out in july!
i know it's a lot of videos today, but if you're a music lover you'll really be doing yourself a favor by watching all of them. you can also watch the kissing club's entire set from the show lindsey, tori and i went to by clicking here and skipping to 00:49:00. you're welcome.
-meghan
just listening to jake on tamuawok. (the stevedores) or his myspace is impressive, and seeing him enhances that many times over. if you watched the vid of the stevedores like i told you to, then you've already seen him flip out on his guitar, complete with head thrashing and body spazzing. what came after that during his solo set had a different tone and feel, but was still equally amazing and exciting. he came in jamming to a song about locomotives and went out yelling about dancing all night to the water in the pipes. oh, and he also made a cameo appearance during tin tin can's set on the bongos. anything you can't do jake? no? i didn't think so.
jake got started by playing "the displaced persons song" with ben johnson (100 monkeys) on the bass and zach arlan (drew & the medicinal pen) on the drums. can i just say, i absolutely love this song. it's one of my favorites for a couple of reasons, the first being the guitar break in the middle. secondly, the lyrics by thomas pynchon are really, really well written and continue building until reaching my favorite line. "we were made for song and sin" are the words that close the song, being sung over and over by a gravelly voice deep with conviction. the first time i heard that i thought it a good definition for humans, and to me song and sin translated to praise and depravity. i realize there's a slight error in my revelation - we weren't actually meant for depravity, but for praise. but God knew the fall would happen, and still used our sin to bring glory to His name.
a "message on the moon" later came "linden tree", which is absolutely one of the sweetest songs in the world. when i saw jake perform "linden tree" in birmingham it was done as a solo and i loved it, but the addition of molly mcdonough makes it that much better.
then came "i can't tell," followed by an amazing and heartfelt cover of spencer bell's "nerve damage." getting to hear spencer's songs played is something i always look forward to when going to see 100 monkeys, and i was so happy to see other bands perform some as well. i also really appreciated the seriousness of the moment amongst everyone there. towards the end of the song is when 100 monkeys comes out to join the kissing club, and usually there is screaming and cheering right in the middle of the song. the afternoon sbl concert was different - the lone song of spencer's that jake sings was finished uninterrupted.
after the monkeys came out, missy liu (drew & the medicinal pen) joined them for a party during "water in the pipes," which was an excellent ending to a rocking set.
how appropriate that today's music monday is about the kissing club, as just a couple of hours ago jake posted a new song on his youtube channel!!! it is from his upcoming ep hooks, which is due out in july!
i know it's a lot of videos today, but if you're a music lover you'll really be doing yourself a favor by watching all of them. you can also watch the kissing club's entire set from the show lindsey, tori and i went to by clicking here and skipping to 00:49:00. you're welcome.
-meghan
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
go shorty, it's yo birfday
happy birthday ben!! thanks for being the super sweet little boy scout that you are, you make a terrific nephew. i can't believe you are 10 years old now. oh wait, you're not 10? you're only 7, you say? you're just getting so big, it's hard to keep up. i love you and i hope you have a bentastic day!
-meghan
p.s. how cute is he?? i mean, seriously!
-meghan
p.s. how cute is he?? i mean, seriously!
Monday, May 17, 2010
drew & the medicinal pen
so i'm going to try and start doing a 'music monday' post. chances are it won't pan out, but we'll see how it goes.
my newfound love from the spencer bell legacy show is drew & the medicinal pen. i've listened to their songs and watched videos online for about a year, but seeing them live took me from thinking they were pretty cool to thinking they are the freekin bomb diggity. oh how i love DATMP, let me count the ways:
1. their sound can't be duplicated.
2. some of their tunes are mellow while others will have you dancing your little heart out, yet they are all cohesive with each other. there are so many bands out there that have no idea what they are all about, and often the result of that is crap. not the case with drew and co.
3. i have a girl crush on missy and anna. (for the grown ups that read my blog, click 'girl crush' and see definition numero uno.)
4. speaking of missy, i really like it when there's a classical instrument thrown into the mix of not so classical music. she plays the violin oh so well.
5. speaking of anna, all you have to do is watch her for .5 seconds and she'll have you jamming right along with her, whether you want to or not.
6. drew's lyrics are not simplistic, but they also don't leave you standing there going "what the hayfield did he just sing about?" they leave you thinking, and more often than not they are very relatable. and no matter the song, they make you feel something.
7. what can i say about zach that isn't obvious? drummers are always the coolest member of any band. fact.
okay, i'm going to quit counting now. clickity click to go to their myspace and listen to "hey chanae". it'll be stuck in your head after the first go round, promise. tori and i sang it all day long the day of the nashville flood and severely annoyed hillary with it. whilst we were in the car taking good ol joshy home for 4 hours i let her have a listen to it on my ipod. she said "oh, i do like it!" so go ahead, have a listen. the same thing will happen to you.
here's a couple of vids for ya. since i've gone on and on about this song, the first one is "hey chanae." the second one is "fish out of water," and i realize the sound isn't great, but i wanted to put a vid of everybody hopping around and anna screaming. i think i'm going to write a song just for the sole purpose of scremaing at the top of my lungs. enjoy!!
if you're hooked, then go here and skip ahead to minute 45. this is from the concert tori, lindsey and i were at. you're welcome.
-meghan
my newfound love from the spencer bell legacy show is drew & the medicinal pen. i've listened to their songs and watched videos online for about a year, but seeing them live took me from thinking they were pretty cool to thinking they are the freekin bomb diggity. oh how i love DATMP, let me count the ways:
1. their sound can't be duplicated.
2. some of their tunes are mellow while others will have you dancing your little heart out, yet they are all cohesive with each other. there are so many bands out there that have no idea what they are all about, and often the result of that is crap. not the case with drew and co.
3. i have a girl crush on missy and anna. (for the grown ups that read my blog, click 'girl crush' and see definition numero uno.)
4. speaking of missy, i really like it when there's a classical instrument thrown into the mix of not so classical music. she plays the violin oh so well.
5. speaking of anna, all you have to do is watch her for .5 seconds and she'll have you jamming right along with her, whether you want to or not.
6. drew's lyrics are not simplistic, but they also don't leave you standing there going "what the hayfield did he just sing about?" they leave you thinking, and more often than not they are very relatable. and no matter the song, they make you feel something.
7. what can i say about zach that isn't obvious? drummers are always the coolest member of any band. fact.
okay, i'm going to quit counting now. clickity click to go to their myspace and listen to "hey chanae". it'll be stuck in your head after the first go round, promise. tori and i sang it all day long the day of the nashville flood and severely annoyed hillary with it. whilst we were in the car taking good ol joshy home for 4 hours i let her have a listen to it on my ipod. she said "oh, i do like it!" so go ahead, have a listen. the same thing will happen to you.
here's a couple of vids for ya. since i've gone on and on about this song, the first one is "hey chanae." the second one is "fish out of water," and i realize the sound isn't great, but i wanted to put a vid of everybody hopping around and anna screaming. i think i'm going to write a song just for the sole purpose of scremaing at the top of my lungs. enjoy!!
if you're hooked, then go here and skip ahead to minute 45. this is from the concert tori, lindsey and i were at. you're welcome.
-meghan
Saturday, May 15, 2010
the music lives on
i'm late getting around to posting this, but i got back from texas to alabama one day, went to tennessee the next and then the flood happened.
last month i went to texas to visit my family for a few days, collect an ugly lamp to decorate my new apartment with and to get my face rocked off at a monumental concert. now that i'm back (and FINALLY blogging about it) i have to say it was an overall wonderful trip. i got to see my nephews a lot, which is good cause they are real, real cute. i have said hideous lamp here with me awaiting it's journey to tennessee, along with a gold statue of what i can only assume is a prostitute (she's holding tons of money in her low cut dress) and other knick knacks that are so outdated you wouldn't be able to find them anywhere but your grandparents' house that was decorated in the 60's.
and, as expected, the concert was completely amazing. evro, drew and the medicinal pen, tin tin can, the stevedores, the kissing club and 100 monkeys really put on an excellent show. (click the links to watch the entire concert.)
tori and i arrived in gilmer friday afternoon and immediately headed to la finca. after sharing a delicious chicken chimichanga with queso and plenty of chips, hot sauce and green sauce, we went back to my house and decided a (very long) nap would be a good idea. the concert was in the afternoon and we had plans to leave early enough to get a good spot for the show, right up against the stage. we were so excited about the bands and the concert in general we were practically buzzing and that alone could have kept us up all night. but when you throw in the fact that my cousin lindsey, who is one of my most favorite people in the world, ever, was coming over later that night to stay with us, it was obvious that sleeping after she got there was out of the question. i climbed into my bed at my parents' house that i love oh so much and went to sleep for almost five hours.
i woke up right before lindsey got there from longview, only to get in my car and drive back to longview for lindsey's concert ticket that she forgot. we did lay down for a little while eventually, but as soon as a storm passed through verry early saturday morning we left for dallas, stopping only for whataburger.
let me just take a minute and explain to you how big a deal this concert was. this wasn't just any old show, not a regular stop on the tour 100 monkeys has been on lately. this was a spencer bell legacy show. spencer bell was a musician and artist that 3 of the 5 monkeys were friends with when they were younger. on thanksgiving day in 2006 spencer was diagnosed with adrenal cancer (ACC) and passed away 11 days later. he was only 20 years old. adrenal cancer is very rare, making it hard to diagnose and hard to treat. since then spencer's friends and family have been putting on shows to raise money to put his music out and to help fund adrenal cancer research at the university of michigan.
the afternoon began with some words from dr. gary hammer, who heads up the ACC research at UM. his passion was very moving and hearing him speak about what we were all there to support brought about a sense of unity that can't be explained.
to avoid a super long post with lots of videos, i'm only going to talk about one band from the show in this entry and save the other 5 for later.
the band i drove from alabama to see was the stevedores. spencer was a stevedore, along with shawn, ben, jake and adam. they released only one album, tamuawok., while spencer was alive. they have all gone their separate ways now, and the only place to see the stevedores is at one of these legacy shows. before dallas i had actually seen them all play except for adam. ben is the drummer for 100 monkeys, so i've seen him in concert several times. last november in nashville i got to see shawn fernando play with the monkeys (on the trip i fell in love with the city!) and jake miller, aka the kissing club, has been touring with the monkeys and i got to see him in birmingham right before dallas. seeing them separate is a wholly different thing from seeing them perform together as the stevedores.
i've heard people go on and on about how unbelievable the stevedores are live, and now i get to be one of those people! ben johnson is like a different person when he's drumming for them while performing lead vocals. seriously, i have no idea how he does it. shawn fernando's energy as his hands dance back and forth across the keyboard is so crazy you can feel it, and his laugh for 'advice' can make anybody's day. dustin monk (of tin tin can) was absolutely amazing to fill in on bass for adam, who couldn't make it. he is made of so much win for learning their set and never missing a beat. and jake miller. jake miller is so flippin sick on his guitar i have no words.
just like anybody that has seen them, they blew my mind and i could talk about it for hours. trying to blog about music i really love makes me wish i were a better writer (this post has literally taken me several hours to write) so i could really do justice to the artists and their performances that i find so prodigious. i feel like a video can tell you how scrumtrulescent they are better than i can, so here you go. there are a few reasons why i chose this specific video:
1. it's from the concert that lindsey, tori and i were at.
2. legit, i strained my voice yelling after this song and was hoarse for 2 days.
3. shawn fernando laughs crazy during it, which is what spencer did.
4. it's really intense.
if you don't really like to rock out but still want a little taste of scrumtrulescence, skip ahead to 3:25.
-meghan
last month i went to texas to visit my family for a few days, collect an ugly lamp to decorate my new apartment with and to get my face rocked off at a monumental concert. now that i'm back (and FINALLY blogging about it) i have to say it was an overall wonderful trip. i got to see my nephews a lot, which is good cause they are real, real cute. i have said hideous lamp here with me awaiting it's journey to tennessee, along with a gold statue of what i can only assume is a prostitute (she's holding tons of money in her low cut dress) and other knick knacks that are so outdated you wouldn't be able to find them anywhere but your grandparents' house that was decorated in the 60's.
and, as expected, the concert was completely amazing. evro, drew and the medicinal pen, tin tin can, the stevedores, the kissing club and 100 monkeys really put on an excellent show. (click the links to watch the entire concert.)
tori and i arrived in gilmer friday afternoon and immediately headed to la finca. after sharing a delicious chicken chimichanga with queso and plenty of chips, hot sauce and green sauce, we went back to my house and decided a (very long) nap would be a good idea. the concert was in the afternoon and we had plans to leave early enough to get a good spot for the show, right up against the stage. we were so excited about the bands and the concert in general we were practically buzzing and that alone could have kept us up all night. but when you throw in the fact that my cousin lindsey, who is one of my most favorite people in the world, ever, was coming over later that night to stay with us, it was obvious that sleeping after she got there was out of the question. i climbed into my bed at my parents' house that i love oh so much and went to sleep for almost five hours.
i woke up right before lindsey got there from longview, only to get in my car and drive back to longview for lindsey's concert ticket that she forgot. we did lay down for a little while eventually, but as soon as a storm passed through verry early saturday morning we left for dallas, stopping only for whataburger.
let me just take a minute and explain to you how big a deal this concert was. this wasn't just any old show, not a regular stop on the tour 100 monkeys has been on lately. this was a spencer bell legacy show. spencer bell was a musician and artist that 3 of the 5 monkeys were friends with when they were younger. on thanksgiving day in 2006 spencer was diagnosed with adrenal cancer (ACC) and passed away 11 days later. he was only 20 years old. adrenal cancer is very rare, making it hard to diagnose and hard to treat. since then spencer's friends and family have been putting on shows to raise money to put his music out and to help fund adrenal cancer research at the university of michigan.
the afternoon began with some words from dr. gary hammer, who heads up the ACC research at UM. his passion was very moving and hearing him speak about what we were all there to support brought about a sense of unity that can't be explained.
to avoid a super long post with lots of videos, i'm only going to talk about one band from the show in this entry and save the other 5 for later.
the band i drove from alabama to see was the stevedores. spencer was a stevedore, along with shawn, ben, jake and adam. they released only one album, tamuawok., while spencer was alive. they have all gone their separate ways now, and the only place to see the stevedores is at one of these legacy shows. before dallas i had actually seen them all play except for adam. ben is the drummer for 100 monkeys, so i've seen him in concert several times. last november in nashville i got to see shawn fernando play with the monkeys (on the trip i fell in love with the city!) and jake miller, aka the kissing club, has been touring with the monkeys and i got to see him in birmingham right before dallas. seeing them separate is a wholly different thing from seeing them perform together as the stevedores.
i've heard people go on and on about how unbelievable the stevedores are live, and now i get to be one of those people! ben johnson is like a different person when he's drumming for them while performing lead vocals. seriously, i have no idea how he does it. shawn fernando's energy as his hands dance back and forth across the keyboard is so crazy you can feel it, and his laugh for 'advice' can make anybody's day. dustin monk (of tin tin can) was absolutely amazing to fill in on bass for adam, who couldn't make it. he is made of so much win for learning their set and never missing a beat. and jake miller. jake miller is so flippin sick on his guitar i have no words.
just like anybody that has seen them, they blew my mind and i could talk about it for hours. trying to blog about music i really love makes me wish i were a better writer (this post has literally taken me several hours to write) so i could really do justice to the artists and their performances that i find so prodigious. i feel like a video can tell you how scrumtrulescent they are better than i can, so here you go. there are a few reasons why i chose this specific video:
1. it's from the concert that lindsey, tori and i were at.
2. legit, i strained my voice yelling after this song and was hoarse for 2 days.
3. shawn fernando laughs crazy during it, which is what spencer did.
4. it's really intense.
if you don't really like to rock out but still want a little taste of scrumtrulescence, skip ahead to 3:25.
-meghan
Friday, May 14, 2010
nashville here we come
i just finished filling out apartment applications and have the check ready to be sent in for the deposit!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we found great, affordable apartments to live in that is busting at the seams with families - we visited 3 times and every time we were there we saw kids playing outside. and alison, the assistant manager is kind of awesome. i called her earlier today and told her we were filling out our paperwork online to send in and she let me know that they only had ONE 2 bedroom apartment available in the complex. when i called her again at the end of the day to tell her we were sending the deposit and we did want the apartment she said "oh good. people kept coming in and looking at it so i already kind of set it aside for yall."
i'm so excited to A. not live in a college town and B. not live in a complex full of college kids in a college town and C. not put up with crazy parties in my parking lot during football season.
now that i'm all set to move i just need a few things.
like one of these
and some of this
and definitely one of these
complete with stylish case, of course.
-meghan
i'm so excited to A. not live in a college town and B. not live in a complex full of college kids in a college town and C. not put up with crazy parties in my parking lot during football season.
now that i'm all set to move i just need a few things.
like one of these
and some of this
and definitely one of these
complete with stylish case, of course.
-meghan
Sunday, May 9, 2010
mama didn't know what she was diggin herself into
happy mother's day!
bethany,
i can't tell you how much fun it is to get to see you be a mother. it's crazy! you are a wonderful mommy to sterling and hopefully one day i'll handle the transition to motherhood with half as much ease as you have. i'm sure i'll be that crazy new mom that freaks out about everything, and when i do remind me that you didn't stress over every little thing and sterling made it through his first year better than fine!! i love you so much and can't wait until sterling is older so i can tell him stories about how wonderful his mom is! truly, strength and dignity are your clothing.
vicki,
moving from texas was so hard for me and having an "alabama mom" made a huge difference. thanks for taking me in, and thank you for raising 3 wonderful girls that i've gotten to live with for the past few years, i don't know where i would be without them and without you.
lisa,
don't worry, i'm not gonna get all mushy on you. i just want to tell you that you seriously amaze me, legit. i don't understand how you do all that you do, every day and all day. i could never dream up a better sister in law if i tried, you are definitely one of those people that are irreplaceable. and i love you. you're tearing up aren't you??
mom,
i really, really love you, a lot. i don't tell you enough. and i miss you, always. the past couple of years i have caught myself doing more and more things that remind me of you. i probably complain or make a joke about it, but really i love being like you and looking like you. you are so beautiful and so sweet and i've never doubted your love a single day in my life. that is a luxury that every person in the world should have, knowing that their mother loves them, but they don't. i wonder how many days i wasted taking your unconditional love for granted? i'm so sorry for the way i used to be, so selfish and defiant. and thinking i knew better than you, what a joke! not to sound like an old person, but if i knew then what i know now i would not have been the same person i was when i was younger. i would have listened to every word you said, obeyed and done everything you asked me to. i can see how your patience and commitment to me then kept me out of getting myself into more trouble. only the grace of God would allow you to put up with me, and only He knows how you were able to! you have taught me a lot about the kind of mother i want to be and hopefully one day i'll learn even more from you while i'm raising children.
proverbs 31 asks "an excellent wife, who can find?" joe bill, that's who.
-meghan
bethany,
i can't tell you how much fun it is to get to see you be a mother. it's crazy! you are a wonderful mommy to sterling and hopefully one day i'll handle the transition to motherhood with half as much ease as you have. i'm sure i'll be that crazy new mom that freaks out about everything, and when i do remind me that you didn't stress over every little thing and sterling made it through his first year better than fine!! i love you so much and can't wait until sterling is older so i can tell him stories about how wonderful his mom is! truly, strength and dignity are your clothing.
vicki,
moving from texas was so hard for me and having an "alabama mom" made a huge difference. thanks for taking me in, and thank you for raising 3 wonderful girls that i've gotten to live with for the past few years, i don't know where i would be without them and without you.
lisa,
don't worry, i'm not gonna get all mushy on you. i just want to tell you that you seriously amaze me, legit. i don't understand how you do all that you do, every day and all day. i could never dream up a better sister in law if i tried, you are definitely one of those people that are irreplaceable. and i love you. you're tearing up aren't you??
mom,
i really, really love you, a lot. i don't tell you enough. and i miss you, always. the past couple of years i have caught myself doing more and more things that remind me of you. i probably complain or make a joke about it, but really i love being like you and looking like you. you are so beautiful and so sweet and i've never doubted your love a single day in my life. that is a luxury that every person in the world should have, knowing that their mother loves them, but they don't. i wonder how many days i wasted taking your unconditional love for granted? i'm so sorry for the way i used to be, so selfish and defiant. and thinking i knew better than you, what a joke! not to sound like an old person, but if i knew then what i know now i would not have been the same person i was when i was younger. i would have listened to every word you said, obeyed and done everything you asked me to. i can see how your patience and commitment to me then kept me out of getting myself into more trouble. only the grace of God would allow you to put up with me, and only He knows how you were able to! you have taught me a lot about the kind of mother i want to be and hopefully one day i'll learn even more from you while i'm raising children.
proverbs 31 asks "an excellent wife, who can find?" joe bill, that's who.
-meghan
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
nashvillest
just found this website about nashville and encourage everyone to look at it.
http://nashvillest.com/2010/05/03/so-nashville-is-flooded-how-can-i-help/
and another:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/flooding_in_tennessee.html?camp=localsearch:on:twit:bigpic
-meghan
http://nashvillest.com/2010/05/03/so-nashville-is-flooded-how-can-i-help/
and another:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/flooding_in_tennessee.html?camp=localsearch:on:twit:bigpic
-meghan
my world is a flood
a lot has happened lately that i wanted to share, but it has all been trumped by the flood in nashville.
hillary, tori, vicki, ashley and i were all in nashville this past weekend. the winter girls and i drove there thursday afternoon and then ashley came in from missouri the next day. friday was fun and productive. we woke up friday morning and apartment shopped and settled on our original #1 choice. that night we met a friend from college that now lives in nashville and ate some yummy tacos, (after i got yelled at by the taco nazi) and saw the movie date night. all around, it was a great little friday.
saturday was a different story.
we woke up and it was raining, and as it turns out that was expected. by the weather people that is, not by any of us, a group of 5 people without a single umbrella. by chance tori had a rain coat with her, but other than that we were holding sweatshirts and t shirts over our heads. hillary had a preview day at the school her and tori are going to attend, and after she was finished we headed to one of our favorite spots, pancake pantry.
after our bellies were full we headed back to our hotel, and just about got there until we came upon a river going across the road, blocking us from going the final mile to our destination. luckily we had a gps and simply went around the road and came out on the other side. we could still see the flood on the road and couldn't believe that so many people were driving through it!! we decided to park in a parking lot right next to the flood and watch people get stuck. we were not disappointed.
not only did we watch people get stuck, we saw a truck plow through the flimsy police tape we watched a policewoman put up to "close" the road, pushed a car up an incline into a parking lot and picked up the driver, josh, of said car. even though josh lived about 30 miles away, we said we would drive him home. we had no other plans for the afternoon and he couldn't get in touch with anybody to come get him. we put josh's address into the gps and toke off towards murfreesboro.
this is where we ran into the problem. to get to murfressboro from east nashville the straightest and quickest way is to get on I-24. well get on I-24 we did, and sit there for an hour we also did. every now and then cars would pass us going the wrong way on the shoulders of the highway and we wondered what they thought they were doing. somebody even caught our attention and said to turn around, and then laughed at us when he realized there were 4 of us in the back seat. finally a cab driver hops out of her van, starts talking to truckers to get them to shift a little and single handedly makes an exit ramp out of the entrance ramp right next to us. our gps readjusts and we decide we'll just get around this little problem and get josh home. that's when we hear on the radio that apparently I-24, along with other roads are very heavily flooded.
we were about to turn around and head back to our hotel, after dropping josh off at the hotel were his car was parked. hillary and i heard another route to murfreesboro on the radio and we were confident we knew what to do. the man talking was very clear in saying that you have to go the wrong direction first, then when you are far enough out you can turn back onto a different road and head back in. we knew it would take a bit longer, but josh still needed to get home. we do this and finally get josh to his apartment and then head back the same way we came to our hotel. all in all, we were with josh for about 4 hours.
when we got back to our hotel we watched the news and saw how bad the flooding really was, and understood why people from home were freaking out when they knew we were out driving. we saw images and video of I-24 and knew why we sat there for so long and why cars were going the wrong way. there were cars FLOATING just a few miles ahead of where we were sitting. oh yeah, and a portable building was also floating down I-24.
when i finally talked to my mother i told her to turn the tv onto any channel and she would see how bad it was there. WRONG! it took her a while to find anyone talking about it! finally on the weather channel they made mention of it. MENTION. while people not in the area weren't hearing much of the flood, we heard and cared of nothing else. we learned on the morning of may 2 that the record for rainfall in the month of may had been shattered. we learned that there wouldn't be church sunday morning, that it wasn't safe to travel to church and many churches had been turned into shelters.
there is much devastation in nashville. i, along with hillary and tori were shocked at how little people talk/know about it here, only a few hours away. we love nashville and already consider it "our town" and leaving was sad for all of us. i've seen twice now that there is a great need for clothing at the shelters. the entire town needs to conserve water, cutting use by at least half. there are many ways to get updates on whats happening in nashville, one of them being this twitter account.
if you want to help but aren't sure how and going there isn't possible at all, the american red cross is always a place you can donate to and know that your funds will go to those in need. i realize the devastation doesn't rival that of haiti or hurricane katrina, but there is a town of people that are hurting and in need, people that have lost everything except for whats on their back.
i understand now that seeing the same 2 or 3 images over and over again on tv is completely different from seeing a woman standing in front of you crying because her car is under water. hearing about people being stuck in a town is completely different when you are the one stuck, unable to go more than a mile down the road either way. this is the first natural disaster that has reached me in a personal way and i hope that recounting my experiences will make it personal to the people that read this. my heart is broken for the people in nashville, and even more than before, i feel like i can't get there soon enough.
read Hillary's blog for pictures and videos of nashville.
-meghan
hillary, tori, vicki, ashley and i were all in nashville this past weekend. the winter girls and i drove there thursday afternoon and then ashley came in from missouri the next day. friday was fun and productive. we woke up friday morning and apartment shopped and settled on our original #1 choice. that night we met a friend from college that now lives in nashville and ate some yummy tacos, (after i got yelled at by the taco nazi) and saw the movie date night. all around, it was a great little friday.
saturday was a different story.
we woke up and it was raining, and as it turns out that was expected. by the weather people that is, not by any of us, a group of 5 people without a single umbrella. by chance tori had a rain coat with her, but other than that we were holding sweatshirts and t shirts over our heads. hillary had a preview day at the school her and tori are going to attend, and after she was finished we headed to one of our favorite spots, pancake pantry.
after our bellies were full we headed back to our hotel, and just about got there until we came upon a river going across the road, blocking us from going the final mile to our destination. luckily we had a gps and simply went around the road and came out on the other side. we could still see the flood on the road and couldn't believe that so many people were driving through it!! we decided to park in a parking lot right next to the flood and watch people get stuck. we were not disappointed.
not only did we watch people get stuck, we saw a truck plow through the flimsy police tape we watched a policewoman put up to "close" the road, pushed a car up an incline into a parking lot and picked up the driver, josh, of said car. even though josh lived about 30 miles away, we said we would drive him home. we had no other plans for the afternoon and he couldn't get in touch with anybody to come get him. we put josh's address into the gps and toke off towards murfreesboro.
this is where we ran into the problem. to get to murfressboro from east nashville the straightest and quickest way is to get on I-24. well get on I-24 we did, and sit there for an hour we also did. every now and then cars would pass us going the wrong way on the shoulders of the highway and we wondered what they thought they were doing. somebody even caught our attention and said to turn around, and then laughed at us when he realized there were 4 of us in the back seat. finally a cab driver hops out of her van, starts talking to truckers to get them to shift a little and single handedly makes an exit ramp out of the entrance ramp right next to us. our gps readjusts and we decide we'll just get around this little problem and get josh home. that's when we hear on the radio that apparently I-24, along with other roads are very heavily flooded.
we were about to turn around and head back to our hotel, after dropping josh off at the hotel were his car was parked. hillary and i heard another route to murfreesboro on the radio and we were confident we knew what to do. the man talking was very clear in saying that you have to go the wrong direction first, then when you are far enough out you can turn back onto a different road and head back in. we knew it would take a bit longer, but josh still needed to get home. we do this and finally get josh to his apartment and then head back the same way we came to our hotel. all in all, we were with josh for about 4 hours.
when we got back to our hotel we watched the news and saw how bad the flooding really was, and understood why people from home were freaking out when they knew we were out driving. we saw images and video of I-24 and knew why we sat there for so long and why cars were going the wrong way. there were cars FLOATING just a few miles ahead of where we were sitting. oh yeah, and a portable building was also floating down I-24.
when i finally talked to my mother i told her to turn the tv onto any channel and she would see how bad it was there. WRONG! it took her a while to find anyone talking about it! finally on the weather channel they made mention of it. MENTION. while people not in the area weren't hearing much of the flood, we heard and cared of nothing else. we learned on the morning of may 2 that the record for rainfall in the month of may had been shattered. we learned that there wouldn't be church sunday morning, that it wasn't safe to travel to church and many churches had been turned into shelters.
there is much devastation in nashville. i, along with hillary and tori were shocked at how little people talk/know about it here, only a few hours away. we love nashville and already consider it "our town" and leaving was sad for all of us. i've seen twice now that there is a great need for clothing at the shelters. the entire town needs to conserve water, cutting use by at least half. there are many ways to get updates on whats happening in nashville, one of them being this twitter account.
if you want to help but aren't sure how and going there isn't possible at all, the american red cross is always a place you can donate to and know that your funds will go to those in need. i realize the devastation doesn't rival that of haiti or hurricane katrina, but there is a town of people that are hurting and in need, people that have lost everything except for whats on their back.
i understand now that seeing the same 2 or 3 images over and over again on tv is completely different from seeing a woman standing in front of you crying because her car is under water. hearing about people being stuck in a town is completely different when you are the one stuck, unable to go more than a mile down the road either way. this is the first natural disaster that has reached me in a personal way and i hope that recounting my experiences will make it personal to the people that read this. my heart is broken for the people in nashville, and even more than before, i feel like i can't get there soon enough.
read Hillary's blog for pictures and videos of nashville.
-meghan
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