In Cast You Didn't Know...

I found this to be quite interesting. Seeing the states colored according to political affiliation really puts this election in perspective – to see how close could actually turn out to be!

No surprise here. Georgia is a notoriously Republican state. Again, WAY closer than I thought it would be in a notoriously Republican state.

Just For Fun...

Welcome to Hoschton, Georgia...

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of photographing a friend of mine and her husband in Braselton, GA – about an hour north of Atlanta. On the way to the location, we drove through Hoschton and there were scarecrows EVERYWHERE! At first, I thought they were a little creepy, but then quickly realized they were probably all there for a reason.

Hoschton, GA set a Guinness record for the most scarecrows in one place. Their goal was 4,000 scarecrows...and they ended up with 5,441!!! You can read the article here: (click here).

Although our weekdays are usually filled with regularly scheduled activities such as homework, bath time and reading; we thought it would be fun to take a break from our routine and drive up to Hoschton to see the scarecrows. As you can see, Callie goes with us nearly everywhere that we can take her. Here we are at the golden arches for a quick on-the-go supper.


I'm not sure why Callie was sniffing Mason...perhaps she thought he smelled like french fries.


So, Bear goes with us nearly everywhere as well.


No, my photos are not out of chronological order. Mason and Callie fell asleep ON THE WAY to see the scarecrows. I guess work and school tucker them both out.


We finally arrived in Hoschton after fighting rush hour traffic (my bad!). I never knew Mason was so good at climbing fences...


...but up and over he went. I was there to help him, but Mason assured me that he could do it himself. I sometimes forget that he's not a baby any more...but that is another blog post.





Each scarecrow was tagged with an official "Guinness Book of Records" tag with its own number on it. We didn't view even one quarter of the scarecrows that were up around town.


After safely scaling the fence, Mason had a good time looking at many scarecrows up close.


He had a good time posing for photos and climbing up and down the fence time and time again.





I have never known him to ham it up for the camera before, but I was loving it, of course!


The sweatshirt he was wearing made him blend right in with these scarecrows. A veritable "Where's Waldo".


Hoschton received a lot of criticism for doing something as frivolous as setting a world record for the most amount of scarecrows instead of giving back to charity or feeding the hungry. I think sometimes you just have to have fun with something and if that something brings a community together...I'm all for it! Besides, how else is a small town supposed to gain publicity for their annual Fall Festival? Thank you citizens of Hoschton for bringing a little fun into my otherwise routine weekday!

In a Galaxy Far Away...

Okay, so the Eiffel Tower isn't in a galaxy far, far away; but this photo was taken, what seems like, a lifetime ago.

My first semester at community college, I had an instructor that was putting together an educational tour in Europe. I had never been and it seemed like an amazing adventure! Art, culture and out of Missouri. What more could a girl ask for?

We started in Amsterdam where everything under the sun is legal. It was a bit of a culture shock, but the museums and the beer were fantastic!


After the Netherlands, we traveled to Germany. This photo was taken in Koln, Germany. The cathedral is way more beautiful in person, despite the restoration project that was going on while we were there.

Our group traveled from Germany to Paris and from Paris to England. London is where I fell in love with public transportation. Ah, the subway – what a lovely break that would be from Atlanta traffic!

Leave it to P-Dub:

I love the Pioneer Woman's blog. I read it every single day. I look forward to her new blog posts and recipes. Now and then, she has blog posts that just make me laugh...and today she wrote about a webisite called yearbookyourself.com. In a word: hil.ar.i.ous!

Here is me in the 1960s. Oddly, it isn't too much unlike the hairstyle I have now – minus the teasing and hair spray.

Holy "One Day at a Time" Batman! Come on, sing it with me! You know the words!!!


Ah, the 80s. Wow, that hair is poofy. How much more of a fire hazard could I be?


Just when I thought I couldn't be ANY MORE of a fire hazard! Geez...and this hair-don't isn't far off from what my hair looked like for my ACTUAL senior photos. Good thing I don't have any of those just lying around!

Goof off at work for a minute...I won't tell! Click here!

My son...

...will certainly hate me later in life for this one.

Google Analytics is Watching You...

I want to give a special thanks to my friend, Ben, who introduced me to Google Analytics. Although I am aware that people are visiting my blog, it's kind of fun to see the actual statistics. It's interesting to see the jump in visitors after I post something new. It's even more interesting to see a jump in visitors when I haven't posted anything new.




This tells me where you're all coming from. Most of my visitors are repeat offenders (yes, by offender I mean you visit and don't post a comment. Tisk.). This pie also tells me that most of you are coming from other blogs where my link is posted. Thanks for the curiosity...keep it up!


















Absolute strangers are looking at my blog, too. In another page, there is a statistic that tells me that there have been visitors from 7 countries. Did they stumble on me by accident...probably. Nonetheless, they were here! That might explain the comment I got from the "Are You Serious?" post earlier in the week.

It's Almost Here...

Halloween is coming soon! I look forward to it ALL year...it is, of course, the only day of the year you can be whatever you want and not catch any slack about it.

I had been asking Mason what he wanted to be for Halloween for a couple of weeks. I do this 1.) because he's 5 and indecisive, and 2.) because if you don't get your costume ordered or picked out, you don't get to be what you want. Well, we received a Pottery Barn catalog in the mail last week and on the cover was this FABULOUS shark costume. Yes, you read it...FABULOUS! Photos really do this costume no justice.


These are the faces I get any time I take Mason's photos. Is it a boy thing, a Mason thing or just a 5-year old thing? At least he looks like a scary shark.


You must be thinking, "Pottery Barn? She must have paid a fortune for this Halloween's costume." Nay...I did not! I have a friend that works at Pottery Barn and, to those of you that don't know about this benefit, they receive a 40% discount and are always willing to share. See, now you're thinking, "Holy cow! What a great costume...and she got it for a STEAL!" This is the treat bag. I figure, I am already saving a small fortune on this costume...it may as well be complete.


Wowzers...what a scary face!


It only took me tickling him and threatening the biggest zrbert of his life to get this face. Happy Halloween! Pumpkin patch photos to come...stay tuned...

Garden Festival – New Life Academy Style

Fund raising doesn't always have to be a drag! There were a lot of activities for the children...

...face painting (always a hit)

...paint a flower pot

...paper butterflies

...and the whole reason for the "garden" theme! Each grade level planted plants and seeds in their planter boxes. They were asked about what plants need to survive and got to get their hands dirty.

The food that is produced by the school will be donated to a local food bank. The school really hit the nail on the head with this project...not only are the children learning about taking care of something, but also how to give back to the community.

Chef Brian enjoyed grilling hot dogs and getting to know some of the other parents.

A Nintendo Wii was raffled...what a great prize!

...and of course, Mason had a blast!