Please Take Me Back Home.... to The Delta

Ok, so it seems there are tons of songs coming out these days about little country towns and riding backroads. And, of course, everytime I hear one, it almost brings me to tears. I guess if you aren't from the Delta, you don't understand. It really is just the best place on earth. It really can't be explained. But I heard a song this morning, on my 45 minute commute to work... and I got so homesick. O, what I would give to spend a night riding back roads, drinking beer and listening to the best country music, maybe even hit up Roebuck Lake... Please, take me back home.. To Itta Bena!!

Maybe it's the:
the scenery
the small town, simple life
the 2 minute commute to work
the friends and family
the backroads
the hunting
the farming
the rich history
the blues
the food
the miles of fields

I really can't explain what it is that's so great, but everytime I drive home and hit the flatland, I get chills and have the urge to take a picture. Of course, it would look just like the picture I took last time I came home.

One thing I can guarantee, there is no prettier sight than a cotton field in full bloom. It puts the biggest smile on my face every. single. time. O, I just can't wait. You can call me crazy. You can call me redneck... country... whatever you would like. I really don't care!! As Dorothy said, "There's no place like home."


Somewhere between there on a dirt road
When I rolled down my window
She smelled the scent of wildflowers on the summer wind
With just a bite of homeade ice cream
And a glass of Momma's sweet tea
This ol' holler's got a way of makin' friends
She'd never seen a glowin' field of fireflies
Or the twinkle of a star in a southern sky
She fell in love

~Jason Aldean "Country Boys World"

"Country Boys World" ~ Jason Aldean

"Dirt Road Anthem" ~ Jason Aldean

"Country Girl, Shake it for Me" ~ Luke Bryan

"Barefoot, Blue Jean Night" ~ Jake Owens

"HomeBoy" ~ Eric Church

"Honey Bee" ~ Blake Shelton

"Crazy Girl" ~ Eli Young Band

In the Kitchen

New Dip Recipe!!

Simple

Delicious

Black Bean and Corn Dip
1 15 oz. Can of Black Beans (Drained and Rinsed)
1 15 oz. Can of White Corn (Drained)
1 Bunch of green onions (Chopped)
1/3 Cup Apple Cidar Vinegar
1/3 Cup Olive Oil
1/3 Cup Sugar
1 Container of Feta Cheese

Mix black beans, corn and green onions in a bowl.
Mix vinegar, oil and sugar.
Pour over beans, corn and green onion.
Mix well.
Refrigerate for 2-3 Hours.
Add in feta cheese 1 hour before serving.
Or you can disregard the times and serve immediately. (Sof quick to throw together)

Serve with Tostitoes Scoops and Enjoy!

Happy Hump Day

{one} how often do you do laundry?

When Kendol says he is out of socks...

{two} what is your favorite type of cookie?

Chocolate Chip, but let's not leave out Mr. Peanut Butter cookie... delish!!

{three} what would you do with an extra $2000 per month?

First thing I would do is hire a maid. Secondly, I would pay more on my car.

{four} what was/is your favorite subject in school?

Math

{five} have you ever ridden in a hot air balloon?

I have gone up in one at the balloon classic, but it was tied to the ground.

{six} what was your high school mascot?

Mustangs

{seven} if you had the chance to go into space, would you?

Heck yea! That would be awesome.

{eight} how often do you go dancing?

Not near as often as I would like. But, believe me, I did enough dancing for all of us in college!

{nine} would you rather drive or fly?

Fly. I hate to drive. But then again driving is more of an adventurous road trip.

{ten} have you ever been caught re-gifting?

No… I don’t think I’ve actually ever re-gifted.

_________________________________________


And, now for a little Wednesday Worship Time, in honor of Easter!!

I don't know if I will have time to blog again before Sunday, so I just wanted to tell everyone Happy Easter and have a little WednesdayWorship time!! The ultimate sacrifice was made so that you may live freely of your sins!!! How awesome is that??? What an awesome God we serve.

Luke 24: 1-12, 46-47

1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; He has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words. 9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

(46) He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, (47) and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem!!

MONDAY MUST HAVES!!

Let me please just brag for a second on how cute my new 31 Gifts bag is!! I am just a little obsessed with it and can't wait to use it during football season.

Why do I need that small of a cooler for tailgating, you ask?? Well, for one thing, we can transport small foods (cheese, sauces... etc) to Starkville that need to stay cold. Secondly, it is for when we go wandering. I always take a small pink cooler like this, for when we leave our tailgate and walk around to all of the others. So, I decided we needed a festive MS State cooler, instead of a pink one... and it turned out precious. I can't wait to use it.

Also, I have a "large utility tote" that I carrry everything in to the tailgate, such as all of our food, plates, cups, napkins, blankets, jackets, serving dishes... you know anything you might need.  This bag is pretty big and holds a ton, which is convenient when your trying to only make one trip. That is what I am going to have to work on next. A MS State themed tote, as well..Too bad this bag doesn't come in the grey and white polka dot..

Anywho, if you are a tailgater and don't have these two bags... you need to get them asap!! The cooler comes in a white with navy polka dots... HELLO!!! "Hotty Toddy" in red would be presh, for all of you Ole Miss folks.

And, I'll just throw this one in, for heck of it. Because it's my favorite bag that I have.. for obvious reasons!!! This is also the large utility tote. Perfect for storing your wrapping supplies, toting everything to all of the 1,000 Christmas parties you will attend, toting your presents... and for storage until next year, for all of those things you don't necessarily want to stuff in a box or stuff you purchase on sale after Christmas, after everything's already packed up for the year. Hence the reason mine's filled to the top!!

Anywho, when my cooler came in, I got a little excited and just had to share with yall.
 
P.S. Can anyone tell that I miss football season and Christmas!
 
P.S. If you would like to purchase something, I have a super fantastic saleslady named Krista!! Here is the link to her website: Thirty One Gifts

Thankful Thursday

When you arrive back to work from just having eaten the best bacon cheeseburger and spicy fries from Five Guys and you see a homeless man digging through the garbage can for his lunch, it makes you realize just how thankful you should be for ever little thing in life.

Working  in downtown Jackson, you see all kinds of homeless people. Sometimes they are scary (such as telling you that you aren't a christian bc you won't give them 50 cents to catch the bus or give them a cigarette), but sometimes they are just hungry. My office is on the same corner as Chik-Fil-A, the Marriot, McAlisters and Subway, so there are always homeless people digging through our garbage cans for their lunch, bc they know they will be able to find some left overs. This used to break my heart every time, and it still does, but it also presents itself with a way to help them. Everyday after I've finished my lunch, I make sure to put any leftovers I have neatly back in the bag. I then place my bag next to the garbage can or on the rim of the garbage can. That way I know that someone didn't have to dig for their lunch, it was just there waiting on them to get hungry!!

I haven't seen anyone in a few weeks digging for lunch, but today I did and it just made me stop and think of everything I have to be thankful for.

Then I get back to my desk and see that Meagan Rae has posted one of my favorite Sugarland lyrics.

"And if I count all my blessings, I get a smile on face."

Isn't that the truth. We are so incredibly blessed, even if we are having a tought time and don't realize it.

A few random things I am thankful for today:
*my job and how busy I've been lately
*the lunch date I had with Kendol
*my runny nose and headache bc it means I'm still alive
*the sunshine
*my family and friends
*music
*the pants I have on (even though the hem is taped in) bc it means I still have clothes to wear

No matter how big or how small, I'm thankful for it all!!!

And last but not least, I am thankful that this work day is over and it's almost Friday!!

Over the Weekend

Relay for Life Edition

Over the weekend, we spent most of our time preparing for and pulling off a successful BBQ fundraiser, to raise money for Relay for Life.

The whole process started on Thursday, when we headed off to Sam's to prepare for Saturday's events. Little did we know, how much more food we needed. We spent the rest of Thursday night cutting up 50 lbs of potatoes and boiling them in a crawfish cooker for potatoe salad. (that should get a you a pretty good visual of how much 50 lbs of potatoes is)

On Friday, the boys started smoking the 6 boston butts for the pulled pork plates, while Stephanie, Mrs. Sandy and I headed out in search of purple t-shirts, enough white bread to feed an army and of course, the most important cooking essential... beer (for Friday night, not at the event). Needless to say, at Kroger, when we purchased 12 loaves of bread and some beer, we got quite a few looks. Not to mention, the guy checking I.D's told me that I looked 15 and  that my I.D. just HAD to be my older sister. To which I responded, I definitely can't use my sisters I.D. if I wanted to (meaning we look nothing alike bc she is dark, blonde and 5 inches shorter than me) to which he responds, "O, she must be ugly or something!" BAHAHA. "No, No, No.. She is very pretty. We just don't look alike at all." Also on Friday, I cooked 4 boxes of brownies and baggied them up with purple ribbon.

Then it was time for the big event. Little did we know how successful this would be. We weren't even good and set up before people were buying plates. I don't know about you, but I don't eat pulled pork or grilled chicken at 10:30 a.m., but to each his own. We had 100 pre-sold plates that we never had time to get done before the crowd came. If we had been able to get these plates prepared before people started coming, the whole process would have gone off without a hitch. (P.S. Thank you to Miller's old accounting firm for buying 50 plates and thanks to Tyler for getting 50 orders for the fine nurses and doctors at UMC)  But, never fear, our super team got all of those plates delivered, plus the crazy amount of walk up's we had. All in all, we raised over $1,000 for Stephanie and Wally's Relay for Life team, not to mention the $300 made off of the Super Bowl squares. I would say it was a SUCCESS!!!

Tips for a successful BBQ:
~Get there earlier, so everything is in perfect order
~Get all pre-sold delivery orders done before it starts
~Make more pulled pork!!!

I can't wait til next year!! I have a feeling, it will be even more successful than this year. It's so rewarding, knowing you are doing something that benefits such a great cause.

P.S. The main Relay for Life event is on April 29th at 6 p.m. for anyone who may be interested in attending. Sadly, Kendol and I won't be able to attend, but that's bc we will be at the BEACH!

Here are the very few pictures that got taken, since we were so busy.



Chicken boys manning the grill.. Hey Cody, that maroon sure looks good on you
(He's an Ole Miss fan)



Kaitlyn and I getting things ready

Stephanie and I before we got started.

Look who came to visit!! Sweet Hayes.

Our awesome team (minus a few) celebrating a job well done at Philips on the Rez!!
Wally, Myself, Stephanie, Kendol, Krista, Cody and Miller

My challenge to everyone today is to get out there and get involved in something new!! It's so rewarding and worth every second of your time.


In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
~ Matthew 5:16


Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
~ Hebrews 13:16