2015 Maple Hill Cemetery Stroll

This past Sunday was the annual Maple Hill Cemetery Stroll presented by the Huntsville Pilgrimage Association. This is always such a fun event. I actually haven't been the last few years and I was so glad I went this year. The afternoon was beautiful and it's always fun to learn more about Huntsville and enjoy some great storytelling. 

My friends Margaret Anne (who is from Huntsville) and Lauren (who is not) went with me this year. Margaret Anne actually arranged us all going. Lauren and I got there right at 2:00 p.m. when it started and MA met us a few minutes later. Before MA arrived, Lauren and I went to the graves of Goldsmiths and Schiffmans and also Milton Frank. I don't remember these folks being portrayed before and I had an interest in them for a variety of reasons. The Goldsmiths and Schiffmans have a football field and a school named after them (thanks to their generous donation of properties) and Milton Frank was a renowned football coach at Huntsville High and has a football stadium named after him. He was only 57 when he died - so young! His "wife" was visiting his grave so she was doing the storytelling, not him. I asked her how he died, but she said she didn't know as she had not come across that in her research. 

Since Lauren had never been to the stroll before, we let her pick the most of the rest of the people we visited. We did stop by John Hunt (founder of Huntsville!) who was being portrayed by MA's former history teacher at Grissom. He actually retired a couple of years ago and now she teaches in his place. He did a great job and was very animated in his storytelling. 

We made a stop by one of my favorites, Miss Howard Weeden. She always has great stories to tell and the lady that portrays her does a fantastic job complete with accents as she tells the stories of the slaves she painted. 

One of my favorites this year was new to me. It was Reverend "Saint" Bartley Thomas and his wife from the Primitive Baptist church. He was a black minister and baptized over 3,000 people in Big Spring in the 1800s. Here we were also treated to singing by the Saint Bartley Singers and they were so good! Everyone clapped and some people sang along and this group got the biggest round of applause by far. 

Since Lauren loves cows, we had to make a stop by Lily Flagg so Lauren could learn all about the 1,047 pounds of butter and about as many gallons of milk she produced in one year. Lily went to the 1892 World's Fair in Chicago and when she got home, her owner Samuel B. Moore threw her a big party with 50 different kinds of cake and Lily was at the front of the receiving line. 

We left the stroll a little after 4:00 (it ended at 4:30) and headed home. We didn't even put a dent in all the people being portrayed. There were 72 characters this year and about 10,000 people showed up to learn about our city's rich history. If you've never been before (or even if you have) be sure and put this on your calendar for 2016! It's one of the best ways to celebrate and learn about Huntsville! 

The 12th Annual Liz Hurley Ribbon Run

Saturday morning was the 12th annual Liz Hurley Ribbon Run and honestly at this point, I've lost count of how many years I've participated in this race. Maybe six, seven, eight? I just really don't know. I didn't think I would have anyone to walk or hang out with this year, but then remembered that my friend from church Emily had participated last year and so on Friday night I sent her a text and asked if she would be my walking buddy (that is, if she were planning to walk). She agreed and we set a meeting place for Saturday morning. 

Emily's mom had breast cancer in 2011, but is doing great now and so Emily, her mom and brothers have done the race for the past four years. I parked in the Blossomwood neighborhood and walked over to the school and walked and shuffled through a  sea of pink to find Emily her mom and brother and some of her mom's friends. We started towards the back of the group and finished in about an hour or so. I've got to start walking more because I think I get slower every year! Emily and I spent the whole race talking and catching up. She and I have been friends for a few years but don't see each other all that much. She has kept Pippa for me a time or two and I usually just see her at church so it was good to be able to spend some time with her one on one. After he race was over I grabbed some goodies, otherwise known as breakfast, and then walked back to my car. I was back home before 9:30 a.m. and was able to take a late morning nap before tackling the rest of the days activities. 

I heard there were about 6,000 participants this year. The team than raised the most money raised close to $12,000 all for a great cause - to fight breast cancer and buy some great equipment for the Huntsville Breast Center. I love seeing so many people come together for such a fun event and a worthy cause!

Photos from My Phone - October 2015

It's been a while since I've done a "Photos from My Phone" post; so, I thought I would tackle it today. 

First up is a photo from this past Saturday when I took Pippa to the Dog Wash. I know I've mentioned it before, but the pet shop in Five Points has a dog wash which is super convenient. I can give Pip a scrub and they will trim her nails while we are there and they clean up after us - all for $15. The folks who work at and run the shop are really nice and I like to support local businesses so I'm happy to be a repeat customer. The pet store is called "Goin' To The Dogs' and Cats" and it's located on Wellman in case you want to check it out. They have lots of fun things for pets of all shapes and sizes. 

The first Saturday of the month, I drug out my bins of Halloween decorations and inside I found such a treasure! I had completely forgotten that I bought two Halloween costumes for Pippa. One is a pumpkin (which I haven't put on her yet) and the second is a referee, also known as the "Rufferee". It's a ref's outfit and even has a yellow flag for penalties. It is hilarious and I'm so glad I got it because it has provided me with numerous laughs. This past Friday, Pip managed to get a hold of it and tore two holes in it, but I think I can sew them up and she can still wear it. 

Mild Green Mojo Chips by Late July - They are good!

A picture of a dead shrub which I had a heckuva time getting out of the ground. I had actually asked my male cousins to come by and help with it but when they didn't show up week after week, I decided to have another go at it. I guess I had enough stress or aggression to get that bad boy out of the ground. Persistence pays, my friends. 

This coral fungus was on a felled tree branch on the Alms House Trail on Monte Sano which I hiked on Labor Day. I thought the fungus was so pretty. It looked like it should be in the ocean, not on the side of a trail. 

Here we are, the 2015 Halloween Party Planning Committee. G is our leader. I wasn't told to make a scary face, but instead look half asleep. 

These "surprise" or "spider" lilies pop up in Five Points in late August and early September. I have always loved them and never had any in my own yard until this year. I had one come up in the flower bed in the back yard. 

I have the College Gameday Bobbleheads in my office and a few weeks ago I came in and found a note on my desk from the janitor. She was dusting and something bumped into Desmond and he fell and his arm broke. I was sad, but not devastated - this is a sign that I'm growing up. I was proud of the janitor for confessing that she was the one who broke the Desmond. She actually stopped by that afternoon before beginning her shift and asked if she could pay for the damages. I told her no, it wasn't a big deal and not to worry about it. One of the guys at work glued Des back together for me. Sadly, he will never have full use of his right arm again. 

That's it for this edition of "Photos from My Phone". Until next time. 

Updating You on Stuff That You Probably Don't Care About

There's not much news to report from the weekend. Friday I went to a football game and Saturday I finished cleaning out the attic at my parents' house. On Sunday I went to church. That's about it. So, here's some updates on things you probably don't care or didn't know you care about. 

I'm two months into the fall semester of school and so far I am really enjoying it. I'm taking one full class and a half class that's required for the program; so, the load the semester hasn't been too bad. The full-time class has been great. The information has been very interesting and I've enjoyed learning about different styles of management and how to deal with different personalities, etc. I've done well on all my quizzes and assignments so far and right now have an A in the class. We have our big assignments, term test and group project due in the coming weeks so the majority of the grade has yet to be determined. I've laid out a schedule for myself so I can stay on track with everything. The next three weeks in particular are jammed packed with reading and assignments and quizzes so I'm glad I don't have too much going on socially and plan to keep it that way. 

The one thing I've disliked most about this class is the book we are reading for our case study. I just cannot get into it and am finding it to be exceptionally boring. So, I've made a day-by-day schedule of what chapters I need to read to be finished by November 1 so I can contribute to the group project which is due in late November. I'm hoping that if I just sit down and start tackling the book per the schedule I've made that I'll enjoy it a bit more. So far I've just been reading about how the company got started and it hasn't peaked my interest in the least. 

The one hour credit class, which is an intro to the MBA program, has been fairly easy. I've had to read some articles from Bloomburg Businessweek and discuss my thoughts about the articles. The quizzes for this class have been about our thoughts regarding the program and we had to complete an ethical leadership program. So, it hasn't been bad at all which has been great because the fall seems to be the busiest time of year and I was concerned how I would balance everything. I have decided that I will only take one class in the fall next year as well since I seem to have so much going on. I plan to take two classes in spring and summer, but haven't decided what those will be yet; although I need to figure it out soon because registration for spring classed takes place in a couple of weeks. Crazy!

The addition at my parent's house is complete. I did not do a very good job of chronicling it as it was being built, unfortunately. My granddad moved in a week or so ago and I wish I had taken a picture before he moved in because you would have been able to see it clean and nice and neat which isn't always the case when someone is living in a space. My dad is super thankful to once again have a bed to sleep on after sleeping on an air mattress or a couch for the last few months. 

We are almost finished with gathering and pricing items for my parents' upcoming garage sale. Y'all, this is my last garage sale of 2015 and for that I am thankful! We got the last items down from the attic last weekend and I started pricing things. We have a few more things to go through and price this upcoming weekend and then we should be done with everything except the actual sale which is taking place on October 24 from 7-11. I've put an ad on Craig's list with pictures so I'm hoping that helps bring out some people. We will have bicycles, a wheelchair, a hospital bed, dishes, games, puzzles and various and sundry other items for sale. I have a few items in this one as well and am hoping to clear about $50. I'm setting that as my goal. Fingers crossed. 

I think that will do for the random updates for now. Hope everyone is having a good week! 

It's the Holiday Season

In case you didn't know, there are (at the time of the writing of this post) 80 days left in the year and 74 days until Christmas. So, if you haven't started your Christmas shopping or at the very least your Christmas list, now might be a good time. 

I wanted to let you all know about an opportunity to help Agape of North Alabama when doing your Christmas shopping, or at least your online shopping and actually, you can do this year round. If you shop on Amazon (and why wouldn't you?) you can automatically make a donation to Agape by going through Amazon Smile. Instead of just typing amazon.com in your address bar, type smile.amazon.com. Once there, you can select a charity of your choice and obviously I ask that you choose Agape of North Alabama. Then, you shop, add things to your cart, check out and automatically 0.5% of your purchase price is donated to Agape. 

Now, 0.5% isn't all that much, but the more people who shop and go through Amazon Smile the more money is donated to this great organization. So, please spread the word and remember Agape when crossing off your Christmas list (or any other list for that matter) by shopping on Amazon. Thanks and happy shopping. 

The Enchanting Rose Mug Exchange #7

Today I've got another great guest post from Erika. I think you'll enjoy hearing about her mug exchange and may even want to participate the next time The Enchanting Rose hosts one. Happy reading!

Hello!  Since I don’t have a blog, Natasha was kind enough to let me post about a mug exchange I recently participated in.  Stephanie, who blogs at The Enchanting Rose, hosts a teacup/mug exchange periodically and it sounded fun, so I decided to sign up.   I discovered Stephanie’s blog by happening upon Kitty’s blog. Am I the only one who has no idea why or how they originally discovered some great blogs???

I sent Heather in California a package, and it was so fun choosing items to include.   We also share some similar interests, and it was such a fun way to make a new friend.  Please visit her blog Blue Jeansand Teacups and tell her hello!  

Jodi from Virginia sent me a lovely package!   I don’t think I did a great job of completing my profile, but Jodi chose a mug that has “Erika” written all over it!  The colors are soft pastels, and it has peonies on it, which are some of my favorite flowers!   And the best part?  It came in the most beautiful box!!!    It also perfectly matches the throw on my ottoman.

Jodi also included an adorable quilted coaster.  It has such pretty shades of blue and green.   She also sent me a bar of homemade soap which I will certainly enjoy.

A great variety of teas, hot cocoa, biscotti and caramel wafer cookies were also inside my box of goodies.   I am saving most of them until the weather gets a little cooler, but those caramel wafer cookies – they were calling my name - I had never tried them before and they are deeee-licious!

Thank you Jodi!  This mug exchange was so fun, and I am so glad I decided to participate.

The Last Concert of 2015

I saw the Foo Fighters on Monday night and y'all, it was so good. My brother has always said I'm the biggest Foo Fighters fan he knows, which I personally consider a huge compliment. So, when they announced a tour and tickets went on sale back in February, you'd better believe I took advantage of that pre-sale and ended up in the nose bleed section. I was in the building, people and that's all that matters. 

My cousin Lauren accompanied me for the show which was in Nashville at Bridgestone Arena. We made plans over the weekend to leave town at 3:30 p.m. so we could get to Nashville in time for dinner before the show. That morning, I was scrolling through Twitter when I notice that my friend Grayson said he was pumped about the show and so I contacted him and his wife Margaret Anne (who is one of my closest friends) to see if they wanted to ride with me and Lauren. They had gotten tickets at the last minute which is a long story in an of itself. MA and Grayson got to my house a little after 3:00 p.m. and we soon headed over to pick up Lauren and made our way north. 

We got to Nashville a little after 5:00 p.m. and met MA's sister and her boyfriend at Five Points Pizza for dinner. MA's sister had the tickets that MA and Grayson were going to use that evening. Is this story getting confusing yet because I feel a little confused and I was there. Anyway, we ordered pizzas and sodas and enjoyed a yummy dinner together before parting ways. We found a spot to park downtown and walked to the arena. Grayson and I bought t-shirts because we each were in desperate need of a new t-shirt (she types sarcastically); but, it was the Foo Fighters and truth be told I've had a Foos shirt on my Christmas list the last couple of years so it's justified. 

As luck would have it, MA and Grayson's seats were in the section right next to mine and Lauren's seats which worked out perfectly because we were able to find each other very easily after the show. Gary Clark, Jr. was the opening act and he wasn't too bad. I'd never heard of him before so I was pleasantly surprised. Gary wrapped up his set a little after 8:00 p.m. and the Foo Fighters were scheduled to come on at 8:30 p.m. 

The Foos came out right on time and put on a fantastic show. They played for about two and a half hours and played songs old and new. There were a few songs I had my fingers crossed for that didn't get played, but that's the way it goes. I suppose they can't play every song or else we'd be there all night. Really, that would have been okay with me. Dave Grohl was hilarious as always and seriously big props to that guy for playing this tour with a broken foot. He had a "throne" designed so he could still play and sing while keeping off his foot. I had a great time at the show and cannot wait until they go on tour again, hopefully some time soon. 

We made it back to the car around 11:15-ish and were back in Huntsville around 1:30 a.m. We were all exhausted but everyone did a great job of keeping the conversation going so that no one would fall asleep. I think this is the last concert for me for 2015 which is kind of sad. You never know though, in a weird twist of fate I may end up at another show of some kind; but if the Foo Fighters is who I end the 2015 concert season with than it was a good note to end on.Can't wait to see what the 2016 concert season holds!