the eve of america's birthday.

Thursday, July 3, 2014


My stomach is bloated from eating too much watermelon, and that's okay because it's July - and that's how you should eat your way through the month of July. Tomorrow is one of my very most favorite day's out of the year. I love America's birthday more than my own. I love that the whole nation comes together despite our differences and we celebrate our country that let's our freedom ring from sea to shining sea.

Tonight, I kicked my feet back in silence until I began to hear a loud booming and knew it was the sound of a magical firework show ringing in the celebration of the 4th. So, I jumped out of my seat, threw on my flip flops and I ran down the block over to Palisades Park and with the warm sea breeze cooling the summer night, I leaned over the railing to view the coastline of America and watched magic happen in the sky miles down the coast in Malibu and it made me smile. Everyone around me was silent. It was a good quiet moment to take in what we have been given as American citizens. What love I have for this country and for our soldiers who fight selflessly for us. May tomorrow be a beautiful day!

hilton head island, south carolina in photos.

Thursday, July 3, 2014











"country roads, take me home to the place i belong."

Thursday, July 3, 2014



It's the same thing every time, except harder. I hate leaving home. I absolutely dread it. I truly get anxiety rather than excitement boarding a plane home to Georgia because I know it's just a matter of time, and SHORT time mind you, that I'll have to board another plane and leave my sweet home. I cried about ten times two weeks ago on a Sunday. The Zoo was really kind about it and let me. He knows I can't hold it in and sometimes, a gal just needs a good cry. As dramatic as it sounds, my heart aches when I leave my parents and my sisters and the south. I wish to be near them every day and I always feel as though I am missing out on memories and special but casual nights on the back porch sipping my Dad's homemade lemonade while chatting with my family about life and past stories as we watch the heat lightening and the lightening bugs while the cicadas fill in the background noise. It's those precious moments with my family I miss, and I know they still have those nights from time to time with everyone still in the South and I just wish I could join in on the fun.

I am happy with where I am, but there is always home and nothing can quite match up to it. I do dream and pray that one day we'll make it back there. But for now, visits will do and when I do come home, I make the seconds of every day count.

This time around, my mom and I got caught up on all things Margarett Mitchell and toured her Atlanta apartment where she wrote "Gone With The Wind." Mitchell is a very fascinating and outstanding person and I admire her so much. I love learning new facts and quirks about her and I love seeing how she resembles Scarlett O' Hara. I was also able to view the original Scarlett O' Hara Portrait that hung in Rhett Butler's house in the film and my was she a pretty sight to see! I was in awe and couldn't quite comprehend the fact that that was the actual painting that I was standing in front of. We also went on another ghost tour of my hometown (I always go on my hometown ghost tours. I love learning of every ghost in town!) and made sure to eat at all my favorite joints and eat all my fixin's that I've been missing. Can I just name a few? Thanks.... Fried alligator with remoulade, fried green tomato sandwich with tomato jam, fried cajun pickles, a varsity chili dog, publix fried chicken, minnie's chocolate pie, shrimp & grits, beignets, shrimp creole, jumbalaya & gumbo and we held our traditional low country shrimp boil. You wanna know how much weight I gained? I'm not saying a word but it's comical and impressive. and not surprising.

And to top it all off, Hilton Head Island was a dream this year. Every year is, really. It's better than Christmas, better than anything in this world and it always goes by fast. I loved being with family. I love my family so much. The weather was perfect, the Atlantic - don't get me started on how much I have missed that warm Atlantic salty sea!!!! After living in California, I now love it more than I did before! It's so relaxing.

I was also able to swing by my sweet hostess city of the south, Savannah, and check out my favorite markets & antique stores, add to my matchbook collection and give a kiss to my favorite homes and Forsyth Park. It's always a treasure to be swallowed up in Savannah' s spanish moss.

To keep from loosing my mind, I'm just going to post nothing but photos above of our family trip in Hilton Head (which marks our 18th year on the island.) I think I've said enough already that photos will do the job!


"summertime and the livin' is easy. fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high."

Thursday, July 3, 2014


"Summertime and the livin' is easy. Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high." That is my favorite line from Billie Holiday's "Summertime" and every time I am home in the deep south during my favorite month of June, I hear this line play over and over again in my head and it takes me to another place in time. When I look at these photos on the island with our palm leaves I hear this melody. No one else will fully understand it but me.

Livin' use to be easy in the summertime with not a care in the world. I now live vicariously through my cousin Estelle and when I'm with her and when I'm back home, I feel like a young girl again and all my cares are set free. We were up to "trouble" when these photos were taken, and I remember laughing so loud and hard as my heart was beating running down the boardwalk into the sizzling sand dragging our palms leaves in hand. Estelle was behind me capturing the moment and trying to not loose it. I'll always try my best to never loose the child in me and the adventure and the naiveness that a child can hold. Life is too precious to take it so seriously. Though I am back to reality and far from home, I dream about it and have these photos and memories to hold on to. And it makes me smile, and I can see the fish jumpin' and my how high the cotton has grown back home in the deep south...

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