Remembering...

Mid-November has not been my favorite time of year for quite sometime, 13yrs to be exact. What should have been the best time of my life...3 weeks before my wedding was rocked with an unforeseen tragedy.

When I was in high school one of the first people I met in Wake Forest was E. E was a couple yrs younger than me but we clicked instantly. She never met a stranger and everyone in town knew her and her family. She was loved by all who met her.

A couple years later I graduated and went off to college, my parents moved to Greensboro and then back to Wake Forest and we continued to keep in touch through letters (this was before email existed) and phone calls and we would see each other whenever I came home on weekends at football games,etc... The church my dad pastored in WF at that time just happened to be the church that all her extended family attended. Once she graduated and went to college she got in touch with me and said that one of her suite mates was dating a guy that I had dated a couple years before, small world. (I knew the girl, we had all gone to church together and been in the youth group together years before)....during this time she had contracted severe mono and had to be hospitalized on a couple of occasions, it looked really bad for her but she pulled through and made a complete recovery.

My parents moved back to Florida for my dad to Pastor a church closer to our hometown and extended family,Chris and I got engaged and she was one of the first people I called, she was sooo excited and could not wait to attend and we made plans to get together one weekend. That weekend never came...I was busy with wedding planning, work and showers. She had school and exams.

My dad came into town for the ordination service for Chris' uncle in Nov 1997, this was 3 weeks before my wedding. I had just moved into a new townhouse and had not gotten the cable turned on yet so we did not have access to the news that weekend and no one had my new phone number since I had only been in the place a week at the most... That Sunday morning we arrived at church in Durham went through the customary introduction and then the Pastor got up to do morning announcements and prayer requests...he began by talking about praying for the ex-boyfriends girlfriend and classmates of hers at Meredith College...at this point I got a pit in my stomach, he continued that if anyone had seen the news about the car accident in Rolesville (this is right next to Wake Forest where I am from) that the girl killed in the accident was the suitemate to the girlfriend...I never heard E's name, although he did say it, but it was already obvious to me it was her and it was obvious to the pastor and those around us that something was wrong.

I don't remember much after that except that Chris and my dad had to take me out of the service...it was an out of body experience to say the least. I am soo glad my dad was there with me that morning because it took him and my dad to get me out of the sanctuary. We spent the afternoon with my dad calling E's extended family to find out what had happened,etc...

Apparently on Sat morning E's dad went hunting and she and her mom were going to the nursing home to visit a family member. They had just left their house not 5-10min before when a lady in a car coming toward them had a heart attack, lost control and hit her and her mom head on. E didn't make it and her mom was severely injured.

The next couple of days were a blur, my dad had to go back to Fl and Chris and I went to the visitation. We got there early and still had to stand in line outside and then wrap our way through the funeral home before getting in to see the family. As soon as I got in the room I lost it, her cousin's wife who is a good friend of mine came and got me and walked with me to see E. Her mom was there in a wheelchair, bandaged up. The funeral the next day was just as hard as it was at Meredith in their big chapel.

It has now been 13 yrs...her mom is still in WF, her dad passed in Nov 2008 from cancer, I attended that funeral as well, such loving tributes to E at his funeral as well. I pray for her mom often as she has lost 2 kids (E had an older bro that passed when he was very little) and her husband. Although I think of E often throughout the year, this time of year is when it really hits home...I know she is in Heaven with my daddy, her dad and brother and our dear former "coach"...they are the FAB 5 up there right now, E knows what that means ;)

Time keeps on slippin, slippin, slippin...

Goodness!! My last post was mid Sept, I honestly thought I had posted since then!! In that time fall baseball has come and gone, tennis lessons are still going strong thanks to the awesome weather we have been having and hopefully this weather will stick around b/c I am soooo not the cold weather type! I am working 3 mornings a week and then there are the church activities and my crafts (find me on FB at The Paisley Magnolia)...keeping busy helps me get over the fact that we have no family or friends here. Then we get one or two Saturdays with nothing to do except stay home and I start to miss my friends. Don't get me wrong, we have "met" people here and gotten to know some people a little but no one that we can just hang out with and I miss that terribly. Being lonely (hubby and kids don't count) just plain SUCKS!

Add to that that we are not going back home for Thanksgiving b/c even though the kids and I have the week off Chris only really gets Thurs and Fri so we wouldn't get to spend a lot of time with anyone in such a short amount of time. So that means for the first time ever I will be making dressing for our Thanksgiving dinner. I can make a mean turkey and everything that goes with it but for all my 36 yrs the dressing has been made by either my mom, my Granny or my Mother in Law but this year since we will be in Ga w/o family if we want dressing I have to make it! Fingers crossed it will turn out good, I had my mom give me her recipe, I will let you know what happens.

Christmas will be here before we know it, I am not ready for "Christmas" but I am ready for the break b/c we will be going home to NC for at least a week. I am ready to see friends, family-especially my Addy-O and new nephew James (I call him Jimbo much to my sisters chagrin), ready for some NC bbq, ready for my fave mexican restaurant, ready for the For Sale sign to go back in the yard of our house if our renters decide not to buy the house (they have til Dec 31 to make up their mind), just ready to get out of Ga for a bit and forget about all that we have had to deal with since moving here...I am sooo going to write a book oneday!!

Gotta get back to the craft table...currently taking orders, if you want something customized let me know. Get your orders in soon to guarantee arrival before your Christmas parties and get togethers!! Again, find me on Facebook at The Paisley Magnolia, there are pictures of some of my things.

If I were, I would be...

Cute questions I came across on Southern Belle Simple 's blog via her Facebok page, thought I would give it a whirl!!


If I were a month, I would be October because you get the late summer warmth with the crispness of the approaching fall.

If I were a day of the week, I would be Saturday cause in the South that equals cookouts, tailgates and College Football!

If I were a time of day, I would be late afternoon/early evening just as things are cooling off so you can enjoy a dinner on the patio.

If I were sea animal, I would be a clown fish because everyone needs to be silly every now and again!

If I were a direction, I would be South of course!!

If I were a piece of furniture, I would be a wicker rocker on a porch on a summer day!

If I were a gemstone, I would be a sapphire because everyone else will say diamonds!

If I were a tree, I would be a Magnolia of course, as Southern as Southern can be!

If I were a flower, I would be a blush colored rose because that is what I carried on my wedding day!

If I were a kind of weather, I would be a sunny day with low humidity and a gentle breeze.

If I were a car, I would be an old Jeep Grand Wagoneer w/wood paneling that I would use to get around my southern plantation.

If I were a place, I would be a big ole front porch attached to a true Southern Plantation mansion.

If I were a fabric, I would be a cool, crisp linen

If I were a scent, I would be gardenias and fresh cut grass

If I were a song, I would be Sweet Tea by Cravin Melon

If I were a pair of shoes, I would be a pair of blinged out sandals that match my linen fabric that I can enjoy on the front porch of my southern plantation while rocking in my wicker rocking chair on a crisp, warm sunny day drinking sweet tea of course!!

Now I am supposed to tag more of you to answer these cute questions. Instead of "tagging" you I will just say, if you come across this and read it, answer them and let me know where to find your answers!!

Tennis anyone?

Today was a bittersweet day. After 5 yrs of non stop dance lessons that included tap, ballet, hip-hop and jazz the DIVA has started a new venture. She started taking tennis lessons and I must say she did pretty darn good for never having played before!

As I watched her run her little heart out and hit the ball over the net I half expected her to get in the car afterwards and tell me she was done but she climbed in and talked about how much fun she had and how she can't wait to get back to practice next week!

I am sure we will hit our neighborhood courts for her to practice some before then, especially now that the evenings are cooling off a little. Like I said, it was bittersweet knowing that I won't be watching her dance this year and deal with hair and make-up and costumes and recitals but I am glad she is trying something new, the last 6 mths have been filled with new experiences so why should we stop now?

So...

you know that little audition I mentioned in my last post that Camden went on? Well, even though they said they would call with a "Yes" or "No" answer we were kind of thinking that since it had been 11days with no word that was a sign that he had not gotten the part. We were ok with that, just the fact that the director wanted to see him was enough for us.

Well, I got a phone call this afternoon that Camden GOT THE PART!!! The movie is going to start filming here in Atlanta within the next couple of weeks. I am not sure how many days he will shoot but more than likely it will be one or two days. Once we know when it will air I will post all the information.

He is sooo excited and we are sooo happy for him, even Grace, although a little miffed it isn't her in a movie, is happy for him. They are both ready to go to church Sunday and to school on Monday and tell everybody about Camden being in a movie. Hopefully his teachers will be understanding and willing to give me his school work to take with us so he can do it on-set and not miss anything.

If he enjoys this and wants to continue then I guess our next step will be finding him and Grace too, an agent. There are sooo many here in the ATL area that I don't know where to start, it makes my head spin!!

Go ahead and request your autographs now and put them away for safe keeping in case you want to Ebay it someday!!

Get your autographs while they're free...

If you know my kids then you know that the DIVA dreams of HOLLYWOOD and California and getting that Big Break! If you know Camden, he is all about the video games and sports. So you may be surprised when I tell you that today Camden had an audition for a movie that is being made here in ATL for Cartoon Network.

I saw a posting for 8-11 yr old boys last week and took his pic and sent it in not really expecting to hear back from them, but you never know unless you try, right? A couple of days went by and then I got a phone call from one of the casting directors who had shown Camdens pic to the films director and they liked his "look" and wanted to see him. Camden was super excited, the DIVA was super miffed to say the least. This was the first, real audition we had been to, Diva has tried out for The Nutcracker with the Carolina Ballet several times and then there was the fateful audition that was really a John Robert Powers sales pitch but this was a full fledged audition and he did great!! We are just waiting to hear back if he gets the part, I pray he does get it, it would do so much at building his confidence and I think he would have a lot of fun.

I'll keep you posted when we hear something!

Taking a swim...

Tonight we celebrated the DIVA's baptism at church!! She did so good, not one bit of nervousness came through tonight while she was up in front of the church with Dr Cox. We were so happy that my mom was able to come in for the weekend and celebrate with us, the only thing better would have been if my dad was still on this Earth and was able to preside over her baptism just like he did with Camden several years ago. Although he was not here on Earth with us I know he was looking down with a big smile on his face tonight.

The bottom pic was taken before church when I told her to do a cannonball into the baptism..sadly she did not do it :( LOL!! We are sooo proud of her!!

Childhood friends...

I am so excited! My childhood friend, Shannon Moon is coming through ATL next weekend so we are going to try and get together while she is here!!! I have not seen her since she was in my wedding almost 13yrs ago!!!!!!!!!!

We grew up in Lake Wales together, first starting out at First United Methodist Pre-school (who in LW didn't go there?) and then we went through the youth group at First Baptist LW and after my family moved to NC I would go back during the summer to visit family and friends and always end up at her house for a couple of days here and there. What fun memories!!

She now lives in Kentucky with her husband and kids so we keep up through letters, emails, Facebook, etc... Can't wait to see her, I am sure there will be kid pics to post!! This should help me get out of my funk for a little bit!

Working through my frustrations...

So,as I have said before, this move has not been the greatest! With this time that I have on my hands I came up with a way to vent my frustrations and pour out my feelings..a new blog! I have been working on it for a little over a week now, set up a new FB page for it and a Twitter acct. too. Because I want to remain somewhat anonymous I will not be publicly announcing the name of the new blog and if you come across it I would hope and pray that you not reveal the name to anyone if you figure out that it is me. (Chris doesn't even know the name of the site so don't try to get it out of him either) It is just a way for me to get out all these feelings that I have going on, so far I have been met with positive comments from people who have come across the blog and FB page. It has helped me deal with all the emotions better that a move like this brings,especially when you have no one around that you can talk to in person. Who knows, maybe one day I will turn that new blog and it's posts into a book!! LOL

Such a comedian...

One thing I hate during the breaks from school is when I have to go grocery shopping with kids. I end up so frustrated by the time I leave b/c they won't stop touching each other, picking things up, begging for this and that and just over all irritating one another that. I feel like all I do the whole time we are there is constantly stopping to get onto to them with stares from others shoppers.

This week was no different except that after I had had ENOUGH towards the end of the shopping trip Camden proceeds to say out loud for all to hear "It's so hard to get a good crowd thses days!"

UGH! Can't wait for Aug 9th to get here so I can shop in peace!

A Bit of "HOME"

I was soooo excited to get to spend just a little bit of time today with my friend Whitney and her momma from NC!! They have been here for the ATL Markets this week and we were supposed to get together last night but the DIVA had other ideas like "let me hurl all over the downstairs bathroom an hour before mom leaves and let mom spend the night up to her elbows in Lysol and PineSol cleaning it up"...so I spent the night cleaning a bathroom and watching Wife Swap...What...a way to spend a Friday night, a home and high on disinfectants!!

At least being on the N side of ATL Whitney had to come by my house on her way up 85 so we were able to grab a quick lunch and catch up! If anyone else from "home" wants to come down and visit my door is open!!

Bringin back my Wordless Wednesday

Do you ever wonder...

when you see the eHarmony or Match.com commercials on TV if you and your spouse were sign up for it would it match you with each other? Chris and I discussed that tonight...we have just enough differences and similarities that I will let you decide what the answer to that question would be. LOL

It would be a cool experiment to try sometime.

And the Winner is...

ME! I was able to snag tickets to the free preview screening of the movie "Despicable Me" from Entertainment Weekly magazine for last night. So, the kids and I headed out to Phipps Plaza in ATL and since it was not too far from Chris' office he was able to meet us there after work.

I don't tend to care too much for 3D movies, mostly because it gives me a nauseous headache but thanfully last night I was fine and the movie was REALLY cute!! There were lots of laughs throughout the movie and there were even several heart tugging moments but over all it was funny!! The kids loved it and were wanting to know when they could see it again, since we have still have free tickets to the new theater in Alpharetta that just opened we may just head out there this weekend!!

Thanks Entertainment Weekly!!

That job I mentioned

in yesterday's post....I got it!!!

Hotlanta...not all it's cracked up to be

We have now been residents of Atlanta for just over 3 mths and I must say...I want to be just about anywhere other than here!

When we moved here I had all these grand ideas of how things were going to be and instead it just plain stinks! The hubby's company immediately slashed hours from 40 hrs a week to 32hrs which also brought a 20% pay cut. It's not hurting most of the others in the office b/c they have all been there 15-20yrs and they don't have kids that they need to feed and clothe much less just coming off a 9 mth stint of unemployment and job hunting and still paying part of a mortgage on a house in another state!! So, we are back to job hunting for something that will actually be 40hrs a week, with no pay cut and excellent benefits! If any structural engineering companies out there are reading this please shoot me an email if you need a Cad Manager and are located in the Greater Atlanta area, Raleigh Durham area or even Florida as we have friends and family there that would make that move easier than this one.

July 4th was hard for me. This was the first year in many yrs we were not with family or friends or at the lake, etc... celebrating. We had nowhere to go and no one to hang out with on Sun. while all our neighbors were celebrating with their own parties or off at their friends.
Saturday night the we did take the kids to the church festivities and fireworks. They had a lot of fun while I just sat there wishing I was somewhere else. If I got this low about 4th of July I am going to hate to see how I am at Thanksgiving and Christmas and even Halloween! Praying that someday soon we will have some friends that we can hang out with here, I am tired of the loneliness that a move to a new state and new city brings:(

I have been trying to find a job here, so far no luck. I did interview last week for a position that I pray I get and I pray I hear something from her tomorrow.

We do have renters in our home in NC. Praying that they buy it soon as that would be a BIG RELIEF for us! I found out that they have let a stray mother cat and her kittens into the home. Is it wrong of me to have them take them to the pound? I don't want to be mean but if you feed a cat it will never leave and it is sooo hard to give away cats these days. I don't want to drive up there oneday and there be 15 cats in and around my house, because it is still my house and they are just renting. Who knows what diseases,etc...a stray cat carries and I don't need the house infested with fleas on top of everything else. Especially if they decide not to buy the house then I am stuck cleaning up and dealing with whatever the cat may have done inside the house. UGH!

Sorry this post has been such a downer but I just needed to get this off my chest. I pray that no one else has to go through the stuff that we are going through. I pray for the economy to pick up, jobs to be in abundance, pay to be good, and for all who read this to have friends close by at all times!

Whole Foods Johns Creek and The Budget Mommy

If you live in or around the Atlanta area be sure to enter this great giveaway from The Budget Mommy (www.thebudgetmommy.com) The Whole Foods in Johns Creek has donated to her a $100 coffee, wine and gourmet snack basket to be given away on May 26th. Start entering and Good Luck!!

If you are Baptist(or any other denomination that does this) then you know that...

Monday nights for the most part equal visitation, where groups from the church go out and visit those people who have recently visited that particular church on one or more occasions. You would think being a ministers daughter I would have remembered this tidbit. As you also know, we have recently moved to Atlanta which means finding a new church. Having visited in the past and having friends there we have been attending North Metro First Baptist, Big Daddy has been attending since last Sept when he moved down ahead of the kids and I for his job and the kids and I have been attending since the end of March when we FINALLY joined Big Daddy in the land of the "Dawg" (that just makes this Gator shudder)

Anyways, we have been attending the church for sometime now and the thought had never crossed my mind that one quiet, rainy night there would 2 ministers ringing my doorbell just after dinner. For one, we never filled out a 'visitor' form for this very reason.

Somehow they found us!! As Big Daddy was making sure the kids were bathing and getting ready for bed and I was on the phone with Little Momma (my sister who is with child #2) the doorbell rang, Tebow (yes, for those new to the Paisley Magnolia, we (I) named our dog after "Superman" Tim Tebow) went nuts and who does Big Daddy find at the door but 2 ministers from NMFBC. Now let me just sayagain, we have been in our house a little over a month and there are still boxes in the "Christmas Tree" room that have not been unpacked, the dinner dishes were still in the sink and once I get home in the afternoons the clothes come off and the comfy pj's go on so there we were in our pj's...I have never been so embarrassed!!

So, this incident has now taught me that on Monday nights I must stay in my clothes until at least 8pm and it would be a good take out night so as not to have a dirty kitchen and it is time to get the cardboard out of the Christmas room...check back next Monday and see if it happens!

Another Preppy Giveaway

You MUST go to www. lwhelan.blogspot.com and enter her giveaway for a fabulously preppy apron!!
Follow her on Twitter, "like" her on Facebook (lwhelandesigns) and invite your friends and check out her Etsy store (love me some Etsy and her drink cozies)...the more you do the more entries you get!!
Good luck all you Paisley's out there!!

Getting acclimated...

that is what we are still in the process of doing here in Georgia. We have been here since the end of March, all 4 of us under the same roof.

We had to put the kids back in public school since there were only a few weeks left in the school year. The kids have adjusted well, both immediately had to take Ga's version of the end of year testing and both seem to have done very well on it. I am disappointed that they will be losing out on foreign language classes here due to "budget cuts". Both kids have been in spanish classes since kindergarten and now they will not be able to take them again until at least middle school if not later. All the private schools I have contacted for next school year are already booked so unless I opt to homeschool the kids will be back in public school come the end of summer.

We are getting plugged into things at North Metro First Baptist in Lawrenceville. The kids have made new friends and I have been attending the Thursday morning Ladies Bible Study with Jenna and have met several ladies through that.

Chris has spent the last 2 weekends at our home in NC getting it ready for our renters that are moving in next week. I pray that they are able to buy it very, very soon as I have come to realize I am not cut out to be a landlord!!

The first month of summer vacation will be spent tearing up the asphalt between ATL and Wake Forest. We are going back for the DIVA to dance in her dance recital at the end of May and then they kids are in camp at the end of June on beautiful Lake Gaston!

We are looking forward to experiencing all that HOTlanta has to offer this summer as well, from baseball games to festivals and more.

I am in the process of setting up a new website, as soon as it is ready I will post more about that on here. I love being able to be home with the kids but I need to start bringing in some money right now too. Since we are away from family that can help with the kids I am having to find something that will pay enough to cover daycare.summer care expenses and still bring in some money and that is hard to come across right now so I am looking into doing something at home on my own. Pray that this is the answer we are looking for.

P.S.

It is my Birthday today..WOOT WOOT!!!

Fantastic Mother's Day Giveaway from The Preppy Mafia

Head on over to www.thepreppymafia.com and enter for their Mother's Day giveaway!!! Be sure to follow all the directions so you can get the maximum number of entries!! Good Luck!!!

Fabulous Giveaway from Shopaholic in Alabama

Head on over to Facebook, Twitter and "like" and "follow" Shopaholic in Alabama!! She has a great giveaway today thanks to Caroline Grace Jewelry!! They are giving away a gorgeous silver charm necklace valued at over $300!! You can also go to www.shopaholicinalabama.blogspot.com to find out how you can earn up to 8 entries into this great giveaway!! Good Luck!!

Thanks Shopaholic and Caroline Grace!!

Well, Hello Strangers...

We have finally moved to Atlanta and I am no longer playing mommy and daddy because we are all back under the same roof...WHOO HOO!!!

So much has happened since the last time I posted and I promise to fill you all in SOON!!