Happiness and Cheer

Well, maybe not really, but I love "Christmastime is Here"... especially when sung by the Peanuts gang (though Mercy Me has a pretty good version I heard on the radio the other day as well).

It doesn't take my long to start sucking at the whole blog thing. I made it a good 3 entires this time. That's probably a record.

Things have been crazy lately, as always. Lee was sick, but he finally, um, expelled (that is puked up) the rope toy he ate, so he got to feeling a lot better after that. Since then, the puppies like to try and kill each other. It's not pretty, that's for sure.

Let's see, this post needs a direction... a topic if you will. Sports, that's what I'm going to choose right now.

Apparently, there is some code out there that says "if Brittany likes and is rooting for a team, said team shall automatically suck and not do so hot". It's gotten to be pretty bad.

Examples:
Dale Earnhardt, Jr - sucked it up this NASCAR season (though half of it was probably due to his cracked out step-mom giving him torn up engines). It's so bad that now he's gonna be on the same team as Jeff "look at me in my pretty rainbows" Gordon. It's a tough blow to take.

Vanderbilt - one of these days, their football will not suck. I have eternal faith in this (and this faith, unfortunately, may be their eternal downfall). Either way, GO DORES (and next year, lets try not to miss game winning field goals against UT)

Tennessee Titans -Vince Young, I know you are young and still have a lot to learn, but let's pick up the learning pace... I NEED another SuperBowl game in the near future. At least they did win the game I managed to make it to this season (we won't talk about the fact that it was the Falcons)

Nashville Predators - It's early in the season, so hopefully my negative fanship effects will go away as the season progresses. But I was really hoping they could pull it out against the Wild on Saturday night.

Ole Miss - Well, I guess I don't have too much of an effect on this one. They really haven't been doing so hot (and haven't been a real threat) since the 60's. But that's ok... new coach, new season, new era. Hotty Toddy and I'm ready for The Grove 2008!

So there you have it. Maybe one day all the stars will align and my teams will kick some NASCAR, SEC, NHL, NFL/AFC butt again. Or maybe I'll wise up and pick some better teams. But we all know that's not gonna happen. =)

Everything's changing

I don't blog well. I admit this. I get pumped up about a new blog for a week or two, and then I get lazy again. It's not that I don't think about it... I actually come up with insightful, witty, generally amazing (Hah!) topics to write about on here during my lengthy drives to and from work everyday... but then the work day hits full force and the blogging life is sucked right out of me.

Speaking of work, things are a-changin'... apparently, you should all add the title of "bookkeeper" to my job description. I swear, by the time I leave this workplace, I will be fully equipped to run a business of my own. Since I started here in Feburary of this year, these are the things I've done:

-Agent Assistant/Backup Receptionist
-Advertising & Marketing
-Bookkeeper

I'm thinking about getting my real estate license just so I can actually have had all the jobs possible in the building.

How did this bookkeeping thing come to be? Well, the girl who was in the position (who I shared an office with) got fired and went psycho (well... more accurately, went psycho, got fired, went MORE psycho). I witnessed the direct aftermath of the firing and it was not very pretty... we're talking 5 year old temper tantrum (but with the addition of the f-work, NUMEROUS times)... as in kicking things, yelling, and throwing things. Not so much becoming of a 27 year old with 5 kids (yeah I said it)....

So, here I am, trying to learn how to do a new job with no one but my office manager to teach me (who of course, isn't here today)... why must I be so responsible and dependable that superiors move me up and around (haha)? I mean, it's a good thing in some ways, because I'm getting more and more experience and I'll have a pimped out resume and all... but hell, I just wanna make my pretty little ads and print flyers sometimes!

In other news, one of the puppies, Lee, is sick. We're pretty sure he ate a rope toy or a blanket... those dogs are awfully cute, but I'm pretty convinced, not the smartest guys ever. I think he's on the road to recovery though as he's drinking water and even ate a few "cheerios" (i.e. some dog food that actually bears a striking resemblence to one of my favorite breakfast foods), so keep good thoughts going his way!

Yay for the weekend and get pumped... Thanksgiving is in less than two weeks... I LOVE the holidays!

What I learned in Arkansas

Clay and I went to Arkansas this past weekend. Well, long weekend really: Sat. 10/20 - Wed. 10/24. It was pretty wonderful, if for nothing else but that we got the heck outta town for a few days. We headed up to/over to/down to (whatever you wanna call it) Hot Springs, Arkansas, which I had never been to. I learned quite a few things on this trip, but here are some highlights (and pay attention, some of them could be pretty useful if you're ever in the area!).

1) If you go to Crater of Diamonds State Park, you probably won't find any diamonds. But, apparently the way to do it is to go every day... and take lots of lawn chairs and umbrellas and radios, and bring your own buckets, boots, shovels and screens. Apparently consistency is key. Because half of the people there, I'm pretty sure live in that county and hunt for these diamonds as a source of income.

2) Murfreesboro is about 25-30 miles away from Nashville... this holds true for Mufreesboro & Nashville, Tennessee as well as Murfreesboro & Nashville, Arkansas. I enjoy that fact, just because it's kind've odd.

3) We've always heard that the closer you get to Bentonville, Arkansas, the better the Wal-Marts are. This obviously makes some sense, but until this past weekend, I had NO idea how true it was. They had men's suits, entire clothing lines for golf wear (that was pretty nice), and (probably the most important thing) an AMAZING beer selection. You don't usually think of Wal-Mart and beer together, but they had it going on. Usually, the only thing you'll get at Wally World is your standard Bud, Bud Light, Miller, Coors, Natty Light, and if you're lucky a variety (but never seasonal) of Sam Adams. This one, had Pumpkin Harvest (the new seasonal variety of Blue Moon), and at least 2 varieties of Fat Tire (which you can hardly find in Memphis at all). It was kind've amazing. Plus, a decent wine selection. It doesn't take much to amuse me... quite obviously. But, I wish the Covington Wal-Mart had that kind've beer selection. Sure would be nice...

4) Corn Dog 7.... there is one at the Hot Springs mall. The last time I had one of those, was probably in the late 80's at the Rivergate Mall in Goodlettsville. How I missed that fresh squeezed lemonade.

5) and last... Steve & Barry's. A store I had never heard of. Apparently, they started up North doing mostly collegiate apparel, but now they have just about everything clothing wise. I might start driving wherever I need to drive just to go to this store. The prices were unbelieveable. I bought a knee length black pea coat... for $14.95. I got 3 pairs of dress pants and Clay got 2 pair of jeans and a pair of khakis for $7.50 a piece. 3 sweaters and 3 button down shirts all for about $7 a piece. And a pretty awesome black hooded sweatshirt with stictched gold vanderbilt across it for $8. It was heaven on earth for the girl who hates spending money on clothes. There's one in Jonesboro, Arkansas (closest one to Memphis) and one in Nashville (Hickory Hollow Mall I think) and Knoxville. They are all over, just not in this are too much yet. Either way, I was excited and will probably make the drive to one of them next season just to shop.

And that's it I suppose. I mean, we learned all about the bath houses and stuff at the National Park too, rode a Duck, played some putt-putt at Pirate's Cove, took traditional baths and had massages as the Buckstaff and took lots of pictures too, but who wants to know about that when we can talk Wal-Mart beer and cheap (but nicely made!) clothing?

Christmas Music

"Christmas music? But it's only mid-October!" Yeah, I know. But, I have an unusual love of Christmas music. I have no shame that I often listen to the stuff all year round. I just can't help myself!

The best part about it... it's always uplifting. I mean, can you seriously tell me that you can listing to a Christmas CD and not be in a better mood? It's my first line of defense for a bad day at work or somewhere else. I just pop in an Amy Grant Christmas CD, Manhiem Steamroller or the soundtrack to "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and BAM! instant happiness. It's a wonderful little trick actually. Though, I have to remember to keep my windows rolled up... because, as much as I love it, it is a little odd to see some girl jammin' out to stuff about sleigh bells and snowflakes and roasting fires when it's, oh, say 105 degrees outside. But the outside temp. never stops me... that's why we have A/C in our cars. So that I can make it frosty inside, and forget all of my worries in a winter wonderland (ok, sorry... that was really bad... I apologize for that one).

So here are my favorites, when it comes to Christmas music. You should probably keep them on hand for when the mood strikes (although, they are probably all available in the holiday section of your local Wal-Mart, which obvioiusly has ALL christmas decorations displayed prominently since it's after Labor Day).

- "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (soundtrack)
- Christmastime is Here, Linus and Lucy and Hark, The Herald Angels Sing... seriously, what is Christmas (or Christmas music!) without these???

- Amy Grant Christmas CD's
- Um, ALL OF THEM. I'm a little obsessive, but to my defense, I have been since I was about 4. I love them all... from the original with "Tennessee Christmas", "Sleigh Ride" and "Emmanuel" to 'Home for Christmas' with "Breath of Heaven - Mary's Song", "The Christmas Song", and "Grown Up Christmas List", to 'A Christmas to Remember' with "A Christmas to Remember" and one of my favorites on Chris Rice's CD "Welcome to our World". LOVE IT... every bit of it!

-Manheim Steamroller
- Just buy them all... it's glorious

and who can leave out the Mariah Carey Christmas album.... oh the days of Lambuth (we weren't "Christmas-10" apartment for nothing).

So that's my story on Christmas music. Get excited for it... it's coming! But, don't forget all of the wonderful holidays between now and then. I mean, if it has a Charlie Brown special for the holiday, it should NEVER be forgotten! (and on that note, if anyone needs to borrow "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown", "Happy Thanksgiving Charlie Brown", "A Charlie Brown Christmas" or "It's the Easter Beagle Charlie Brown"... just hit me up. You know I have them.)

Numero Uno

Well, I have a livejournal. I used to have a Xanga. Before that, I'm pretty sure I had some other kind of online journal. But, I feel kind've left out without being in the blogger world. Both of my brothers have them, a number of friends have them... so here I am. Not that I have anything of any real importance to say, generally speaking, but here I am nonetheless. My hope is to make this have a bit more substance than the previously mentioned sites. But, we'll see how that goes...

I guess I'll start with the blog title, as I feel that is almost a requirement. "Never Alone"... in my context, taken from a BarlowGirl song. It's something that I struggle with sometimes. It's sometimes really hard to remember that we are never alone. In the literal sense, it's not very often that we are physically alone. There is usually someone else around (whether we know them, like them, or want them to be there). But more so, God never leaves us alone. Even when things really suck, and we might feel like He's gone... He's not. We might forget it, but He's not. He's always there and we are never alone.

Also, in the a little bit less religious sense, I have to remind myself that I'm never alone because of my friends and family. Sometimes I might feel left out or left behind, but it doesn't mean that I'm on my own. I feel so selfish sometimes feeling like I'm alone, because I have so much: a wonderful, loving husband, a beautiful family full of many parents, brothers & sisters, grandparents, aunts & uncles & cousins, countless friends and two sweet little (ok not so little) puppies who are PUMPED everytime I come out the door! I'm blessed, and I've gotta do a better job remembering that.

I suppose that's enough for now. Work probably wouldn't be thrilled that this is how I've chosen to spend my Wednesday morning at work. Oh well! =)