something to think about...

If a doctor, dentist, or lawyer has 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs and some of whom didn't want to be there and others causing trouble, then the credit he gets is deserving. And if the doctor, dentist, or lawyer, treated all 40 of these individuals, without assistance, for nine whole months, with hardly half of the salary he is used to, these professionals might then have some conception of the classroom teacher's job. -Donald Q. Quinn

Weekly Recap

Wildflower's Weekly Recap

<except it's a tiny bit late>

in one word or phrase: learning experience

dreaming of you: Oviedo, Florida

song on repeat: Little Lilly by Widespread Panic

gotta write it down: "one is not born a woman, one becomes one." -simeone de beauvoir

lesson learned: There's only one place that calls me one of their own.

picture to frame:

I can't believe he's getting married in less than 2 weeks! Justin has always been my best friend, so I can't express enough how much it means to me that he found his soulmate and is happy. It's a long way that we've come since we began our friendship in 7th grade at middle school youth group. Family vacations, high school dances, skipping school, costume theme parties, visits to Tuscaloosa and Tallahassee (and Gainesville, pictured here), and many fun nights just hanging out or rompin' through the backwoods with our Jeep Wranglers. He's my best buddy and I am glad our friendship has prevailed over the years worth of distance and irregular visits home and to see one another. He gets bonus points for being a TIDE fan! Back in the day when I was little miss Tarheel, he was always the Bama guy. At some point he and his family rubbed off on me and I was Alabama bound. He's like family to me, and I am so thrilled to be there on his big day. He is marrying a beautiful girl named Megan who was his high school girlfriend before they got back together a couple of years ago. Megan probably took this picture of us... it's at her apartment in Gainesville in October 2006 when Alabama was playing Florida. His heart belongs to her, but his sports loving heart belongs to my Crimson Tide :) She got us some pretty groovy seats, though. Right up front of the Florida student section (yes, wearing our Crimson) and close enough to see her cheer for the Gator squad. There are many memorable times with both of them, and I am so fortunate to have a friendship with both. I wish them my best! :)

highlight of the week: booking my flight home. getting presents from mom/dad, dad's company, kinsey, and nana/papaw.

peaceandlove

baily

Fill In The Blank Thursday

fill
in
the
blank
thursday

Yep, another something new. Every Thursday.
Sorry, have to keep blogging, it makes me happy, and if I have a prompt to write about when my mind isn't on track at being "creative" then I can use it as an excuse to blog. And be happy. But who needs an excuse to be happy? Oh, the quote-lover in me found this quote the other day. "There is no WAY to happiness. Happiness is THE WAY." I dig.




1. One fashion trend I really regret...
My "girls" jnCO's. The flared leg was wider than my hips are now, and there was a pixie dust fairy embroidered on them. True story, I don't want to talk about it.

2. The one thing that always completes any outfit is...
The way you rock it. Confidence is the only thing you really "must" wear. Everything else just kinda works itself out if you treat yourself like a rockstar in it :)

3. I would describe my personal style as...
vintage inspired; free-spirity; and EXPRESSIVE

4. My fashion muse is...
Kate Hudson; Mary Kate & Ashley
obsessed (check) obsessed (check) obsessed (check)
5. If I could own one designer piece of clothing it would be...

THESE Golden Goose Cowboy BOOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

6. I would love to raid the wardrobe of...
Zooey Dechanel
Sarah Jessica Parker
The twinkies
Cameron Diaz
Kate Hudson
7. Today I am wearing...
(day) grey cotton dress, pink tie-dyed headband, and rainbows
(night) shorts, summer top, wedges, confidence

inspirational photography

here's some photography that i dig. i'm really missing my digital camera. kinda sucks only having a couple of months left here & not being able to capture some of the memories/people/places/things. but, thank goodness for my blog and for my new art journals, they tell the same story in a different kind of way.

while my blog tells my story that you can read up on throughout The 'Other' Sister, i'll sweeten the eye with some of the photo-inspiration that gets me going and prompts me to write. it's just what i do, i already know i'm a weirdo.

 i really want to take photography lessons. i think there's something really cool about being able to take pictures through a wildly artistic perspective. I think I value digi-cams a lot more now that I have suffered through a fire and the losses. i remember being a little girl and swearing on my life that i'd grab my pictures if our house were to catch on fire. REALITY: you don't grab anything but the things that breathe (oh little millie girl) and be THANKFUL for blogs, facebook, and flickr. i guess since i love photos & what all they hold is the reason why i go to this website and find inspiration. Because writer's block is real.

summer time is calling me

My mom called me out on it, and I am officially sorry. I hadn't realized that I haven't blogged since the weekend! That's so unlike me. I'm back.
I know you missed me.
I snapped it back into gear today, talking about my blog swag here, when I saw a Facebook post from my mom.
"Just wondering why my favorite blogger hasn't updated her blog in awhile? Yesterday 9:51pm
Here's why:
The weather in TUSCALOOSA has been rather amazing lately. Last Thursday I thought I was going to be swept away in a monsoon. Honestly, I thought "oh my gah, we are about to be like Nashville." I can't handle that, I'm telling you - don't even want to think about it. I pray for those disaster victims every day because I know what it feels like to see everything you love - that money can buy - sit ruined. Puts things into perspective.
Anyways, after the intense sesh of thunderstorms and scattered showers last week, it's been B E A U T I F U L in T-Town. May, is the best time ever in this state. In June, you're playing with fire if you think you can lay out without a pool or other preferred body of water that can cool you off. By July, you're just plain stupid if you think you can tough it out. It's physically impossible. But right now, in May, it's not the most comfortable heat - I mean, it gets friggin' hot, but you don't NEED a swimming hole, but by the time you get out in your redneck lawn chair and get settled you start to really wish you would have rethought the situation and posted up at a pool. Then you figure a splash in the face with the water bottle will do. Then, splashing your face with your water bottle reminds you of being a kid and remembering how absolutely glorious it was when someone's mom on the soccer team packed the little white cloths soaked in ice that she brought over at halftime. The orange slices were cool, and I used to really dig that halftime experience, but the mom that went COMPLETELY overboard at Sam's Club before the weekend's game needs to pump the breaks and not give me a Hi-C juicebox. I've got my huge ass water jug to satisfy me. Go back to the other sideline now, psycho mom. 
(note: My mom was never a psycho soccer mom. She was one of the 'cool' soccer moms.)
(re:note: Except during try-out week for club soccer. My sister and I both HATE the first week of June for that reason. That's a whole 'nother B L O G I will post about some day!)
Anyway, so I've been outside, in my redneck lawn chair, and wishing I had one of those gallon sized water jugs I toted all through hell and half of Georgia during my soccer years. And I've ALSO wished I had a soccer-crazy mom here to give me one of those perfectly rolled, iced down rags. Get those at Sam's, too?
That's why I haven't been blogging. My body was craving the vitamin E that it so badly needed. Since I cracked on my mom for a second there I have to take this opportunity (while we're on the subject of tanning and vitamin E) to razz about my Dad for a moment. ( Note: Momma knows how she was when she went full force into "soccer mom" mode, so she knows I'm just knockin' on her, Ashley does it too!).
My dad has a perma-tan.
Not kidding, a friend of a friend saw my Dad when he was here after the fire, and asked what nationality I was. "White, she tans really dark, but not to where she looks like she's non-Caucasion."
"Yeah, that's what I thought. I just didn't know if they were from one of the islands or something. Her Dad is like super-tan. And like a real tan, not a fake tan."
"Yeah, he really is ALWAYS tan, now that I think about it. Like Saban."
Except Saban doesn't smile. My Dad does. Especially when he's in the sun.
He swears by Vitamin E, the only natural source being the sunshine. I mean, because of his profession, Dad knows his pharmacology and is ridiculously well-versed on medicines, vaccines, and such.  But he'd be the first one to tell you that sometimes it's not what the doctor orders that makes you feel healthy. Just lay out in the sun. Quit being a hermit crab, you're almost blinding me you're so bright. Right, Dad? (Not you, of course, just the dweebs that don't lay out in their driveways.)

POP QUIZ: What is my Dad's favorite thing to do?

a.) yard work

b.) hosing down pool lanai/back patio

c.) sun bathing

d.) all of the above

The correct answer is d.) all of the above. Seriously, our house is like a playground for him on Saturday's. But sun bathing I think is his favorite. I can just see my parents when they're senior citizens. Somehow, someway, however, my dad won't look like a senior citizen. The man doesn't age. But they'll be tan... and permanently beachside and oily. And in love, they're so cute. But seriously, Dad will be that grey headed old man that wakes up at the crack of dawn, at their Marco Island condominium, to go run around in the sand doing "high intensity" workouts. I'm pretty sure the last time I was inside a gym working out I saw where they offer "high intensity" workout sessions... in the air conditioning. I might be mistaking, because Lord knows it's been a while since I've been in "gym mode." 

But the point is, a sun worshipper such as my Dad, is that man that will retire by the sea, and never lose his tan.

But for now, since he's not retired yet and all, he soaks it all up in the driveway. Of our corner house. I haven't even told you the best part yet.

There are two things that sets aside the truly passionate sun-bather from the total wanna-bes.

1. The truly passionate sun-bather has a chair like my dad's. And the ottomon. (Black, of course. It attracts the sun more.)

WiLL WorK for FOOD

  WiLL HaVE a NeaRdeaTh ExperiEnCE for a PeRMa-TAN

and

2. The truly passionate sun-bather receives a mist stand for the outdoor hose as a gift from one of his daughters.

Mist totally puts to shame the iced down cloths that the psychotic "Team Mom" brought over at halftime. She was probably just trying to get some gossip, so that she can "1 up" the equally obsessed other mom's when it comes that time of year... da na na na... TRY-OUT WEEK!

Don't get sad, Mom. It was fun while it lasted. Now, we all have less risk of a heart attack because of that first week in June no longer being life defining. You took care of business, though. Didn't she Ash?

So there's where I have been. I have been laying out in my chair, which makes me think of my dad, which made me give you the background rundown of his Vitamin E addiction. Then when I thought of Dad, I thought of Mom, and how I loved those iced down rags, and then I told you how my Mom wasn't a bonified psycho soccer-mom, but she was borderline at times. Try out week? Buckle up!

Oh Dad, by the way, those chairs that you got me when you & Mom visited that weekend before the fire... well, you were right, they are good sun-bathing chairs. I should have trusted you all along though, because you and your Hawaiian Tropic tan had your butt in one of them in Ashley & Tyler's driveway the second all the women started fighting over the hand-made curtains. I have a problem, though, and I feel like you are the expert/Dr. Phil of sun-bathing. How do you suggest I go about tanning my back? You might not know, though, because I feel like you always tanned your back while doing yard work. Too bad you can't really catch a tan (to your standards, at least) when you turn loose on the lanai with the hose. Because you'd be pretty sun-kissed by the 4th hose down, and you'd be deeply bronzed by the 6th. That damn UV-Ray protection on the pool screen, huh? Oh, P.S. You missed a spot.

In all seriousness, I'm going to get my blog on and tryyyy to stayyy awayyy from the lawn chair. Scientific evidence proves that addiction is hereditary. I wonder if your crazy level during your child's try-out week is hereditary, too. Probably.

I'm so H A P P Y that it is summatime. I'm loving music, the sun (you got that by now I'm sure), friends, my tanning buddy (Millie), wine on the front porch, the smell of citronella candles, baseball, watermelon, and new flowers popping up on the side of the road. And perma-tans. And soccer moms.

I look forward to blogging about summer! I'll give you a run down on what it all entails except the best part can't be told. Summer time is when all the spontaneity turns lose. And I've got senioritis. And I'm busting out into this new beginning... with a bikini on.

PeaceANDLove

Baily J

i want to be her right now.

i do actually miss being a little florida girl.

i wouldn't mind this view for a week or so.

relaxing? fo' sho!

you, right there... you're my favorite place ever.

rum point. grand cayman. heaven on earth.

i would probably make myself an island girl. and maybe eventually I could be even (skin tone, speaking) with butch.

i need to plan one of THESE for this summer.

a trip to a lake house with friends.

i'd even do the river. i'm in alabama, i'll take what i can get. especially since there's not a huge risk of alligator and shark attacks.

this HAS TO happen. jaxapalooza 2010. 2009 was AMAZING, but we can outdo it.

attention boriquas (oviedo ladies), let's get to it and do it.

sitting beachside at a tiki bar drinking hella-delicious mango lemonades with the most awesome group of girls in the world? Well...... don't mind if i do!

adult cousins. mom/dad/aunt/uncle's bar tab.

grove park inn piano bar.

yeah, where all the rich and famous stay. the wine and cheese crowd.

summer reunion = rip roarin' and whiskey bent.

pardon our inner redneck, we don't do wine and cheese.

can't wait for this summer's reunion. ash and ty will be there. and chace will be thrown into the reality-tv show life of our crazy (but amazing) family.

Ow! Ow! I love summer :)

Get your bikini on, grab your huge ass water jug (and good luck at try-outs), or get your dorm room "sphere chair" out in the driveway and grease up because it'll go by fast.

and you know what that means....

F O O T B A L L season!!!

(when Saban debuts his high def quality perma-tan)

.

the wayne newton of college football

Hello Lovelies!

I can't wait to see my favorites. Two years has been way too long, girls.

I'm drowning in the absence. I wonder how many times I'll go see it in theaters this time?

And with Aiden showing up with his cutesy little self, I have a feeling I might be able to relate to the ever-winding and unpredictable road that Carrie travels in search of her soulmate.

Better late than never? I know how you feel, girl.

Oh, Miss Bradhsaw, you've taught me so much...

The most fabulous journalists wear newspapers.

And I always dig the flower power. Ha! As if SJP/Carrie needs anymore power.

She's pretty bada$$

and i'm pretty obsesssed

and you write like hemmingway to me. xoxoxo

peacebailylove

coinstar&colors

Title: Coinstars and Colors

By: one of Baily Jones' ater-egos "The Philosopher"

Series: Philosophy Of Life On Days I Forgot To Take My Meds

Kathleen came over and picked me up to do a very "Baily/Kathleen" thing. We ate food (a reg), and she made me eat healthy because that's just how she is. She reads "Shape." Then we went to Publix. She did pick up a few groceries, but the main reason we went was to use the "Coinstar" system. Broke + Weekend = a miserable, no fun weekend.

I got 24 dollars 98 cents back. Then it took away 8% for a service fee (because this machine works so hard in the 37.4 seconds it took to count my half-ful sandwich baggie of coins) and I was left with 22 dollars and 98 cents. I wish it would have just taken the 98 cents as another "service" tip or rounded up or something. I mean, wasn't the sole purpose of me doing this to make use of the change I had lying around my room, car, and at the bottom of my duffel bag purse? Gee, thanks for this giant wad of coins, Coinstar. That's 1/2 a beer at Happy Hour.

Kathleen laughed at my misfortune. Then I saw the floral department. I had started my day off in an ill mood (that's another story) and I saw a new variety of spring flowers, and the small price, and I convinced myself to buy them within like .4 seconds. With my Coinstar money of course. Hello! My name is Baily and money burns holes in my pocket. I was economically aware, however. Instead of buying two small bouquets, which would cost me 6 dolla bills, I bought one large bouquet, which cost me 4 dolla bills, and split it in half. I had fun playing with them when I got home, and finally I snapped out of A.D.D.-ville and realized I'd spent wasted way more time on these bargain flowers than I should have. Then I lost something, and I've wasted a seriously pathetic amount of time on trying to find it. So basically, other than knocking out a couple of random things on my to-do list, I've produced these 2 flower arrangements and not much else. Oh, here, I wrote some letters today on my new (duh) stationary that I'm obsessed with. Here are my quick pics sent via the CrackBerry so continue to disregard my photography skills until that glorious day when I get my personal claims check from State Farm and I can replace my beloved digi-cam.

Don't you love my turquoise vases? I found them The bedside vase was found here and the one with John Lennon and his words of groovyness was found here. (I frequent these places, on the reg!) I was very excited about my psychadelic colored bouquet. When we were standing in line to pay, Kathleen goes "those flowers really are pretty, they like, look like you. You know what I mean? You can tell Baily picked those out."  I liked that. I guess bold and funky girls can be a lot like bold and funky flowers... add a little color to your life. These walls are still bare and the space in this room still swallows the matter of my possessions, but the flowers have made me feel a lot more at home and they've also made it an enjoyable room. I hope that girls like me do that in life. I know that I can be a little coo-coo (or a lot) and I know that I can irritate the snot out of you, but I hope I make my presence an enjoyable one or that my personality is welcoming and makes people feel "at home" because that's what I think of myself, a down-home girl with some spunk and a little sass.  Ok, maybe a lot of sass, or too much sass, but everyone has sass, and that's not the point, nevermind. (See how distracted I get? I still haven't found what I'm looking for, by the way). I just hope I bring color to people's lives and not that dark/grey kind of feeling that none of us wants in our lives.  I know that the sugary-sweet type of girls add the pleasantly pretty pastels to life that we all enjoy. The vixen type of girls that we all (top)secretly love but don't admit to loving because she's a celeb-skank or hot mess or whatev, well they add the bubble gum pink and reds. Oh, and the bleach blonde color, too (come on, 'fess up, who doesn't have a favorite bombshell skanky blonde?) The Billy Bob Thorton-era Angelina type girls add the steel greys and smokey blacks that we all enjoy as long as it's not a total emo over-kill. The surfer girls add blue hues and the ranch wives and daughters add the green beams. But girls like me, hopefully add the colors of my bargain bouquet. Summer-lovin', musicfests, and coulda woulda shoulda been there at Woodstock type of girls. I'm not really an Earth-Tone type, because those girls don't eat meat, or white bread, or sip fabulous martinis in cocktail dresses. See what I mean, I come in all various sorts. One day I'm tiedyed out in a cotton maxi dress with gladiators and listenin' to music with friends and taking it easy and the next day I'm rockin' a sequined mini-dress with booties and dancing to Van Morrison. Then the next day I'm probably a crunchy granola type and wearing a bandana in my hair or making Millie wear one around her neck. (or both, I know, super lame). Then another day I'm jocked out in spandex with super-flattening sports bra and a pair of workout kicks. Then sometimes I'm just a sloppy blob in wife-beaters. Did someone just say I wear wife-beaters every day? Shut your mouth.

But seriously... have you ever wondered what you bring to other people's lives? If life were a picnic, what item would you be? If it was a garden, what flower? (I've written an entire blog on that by the way). What about, if life was a circus, what animal or act would you be? I get incredibly zoned in on an idea sometimes and think I'm a bonified philosophical genius, but then I realize how stoopid it sounds when I try to explain my philosophical ponders (apparently I'm such an incredibly deep thinker and wayyyy to smart for y'all, that's why I lost you about 5 minutes ago). Haha. Oh well, maybe some of you are groovin' with me. 

Q:: If life were a circus, what animal would I be? A:: The circus freak.

Well, I just wanted to tell my story about the Coinstar trip -and my 98 cents- and share the picture and story behind my funky little bouquets with you. Then somewhere along the way, I lost track of my purpose and became a philosopher who's bat shit crazy. My apologies.

peacelifeloveHere's the words of groovyness that John Lennon said when he was a dreamer and 'imagine'd a bunch of cool things. "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

baily

blue bonnets

Hair blowin' in the wind

Wonder what you pretend you are

When you run

Bandana on your head

Your face is turning red

You throw it down to the ground

When you are done

I'll think of you

When the blue bonnets bloom

When the blue bonnets bloom

I'll think of you

You always seem to make me laugh

When you ask, "what is that?"

A million times

And you know

Little things that you do

They are the things that get me through

When I'm up to my hips in snow

Another night, I'm working hard

Another night, another bar

A million miles outta touch

Say your prayers, say my name

Keep it fresh on your brain

And don't forget I love you this much.

-Cross Candadian Ragweed-

this has always been one of my favorite songs. before the fire, i had it on vinyl. it's funny how a song can take you back to a certain place in time. the acoustic is eerily nostalgic for me, and the lyrics have more substance than just words to a melody. to me, it makes me think of a certain time, a certain person, and a certain personal conflict that i was going through. i was faced with two options during this certain time. there were two people that each had pieces of my heart, a little place in the history of my life, and opportunities for second chances. i went to oz record store to clear my head, and came home with a cross canadian ragweed vinyl. i listened to this song. i just dropped the needle on some random track and told myself to listen to the words and see if it helps me in some way. yes, i'm weird like that and when my indecisive nature rules over any other means of making the right decisions, i turn to my music. painters paint, singers sing, and music lovers listen to the music they love. on this day, i bought the vinyl on happen-chance, and let it speak to me. i had never heard this song before that day, but i played it a lot. come to think of it, i think it was the record that was still on the turntable when the fire destroyed it. when i heard the words to this song i knew exactly what my life was doing and what my heart was feeling. i pictured the one person that would actually say these things about me. the person that likes the little things about me. and probably the only person that digs it when i wear my bandanas in my hair. i smiled when i heard the words, and to this day the song just soothes me. maybe we all should stop to listen a little closer to what our songs are actually saying to us. it helped me get my mind straight and it helped me follow my heart instead of making another decision i would eventually someday regret, big time. i should have known, someone once told me that

music is what feelings sound like.

peaceandloveeverlasting

baily

Wildflower's Weekly Recap

<on the reg>

in one word or phrase: strengthened

dreaming of you: insurance claim check

song on repeat: you got the love by joss stone

gotta write it down: lyrics to the song above.

sometimes it seems that the going is just too rough

and things go wrong no matter what i do

now and then it feels like life is just too much

you've got the love i need to see me through

when food is gone you are my daily meal

when friends are gone i know my savior's love is real

your love is real

every once in a while i say Lord i can't go on

every once in a while i get to feeling blue

every once in a while it seems like i am all alone

but you got the love i need to see me through

lesson learned: (1) i like costco more than sam's club; target more than wal-mart

(2) a girl is lucky if a man loves her even after all the mistakes, bad judgements, and poor decisions she made. when he loves even her flaws and doesn't turn away from her when the going gets tough. usually, there's only 2 men in a girl's life that this regards: jesus and our daddy. but for some, for girls like me, we have that kind of love from someone else, and we ought to never take it for granted.

picture to frame:

highlight of the week: getting my mattress/having my own bed

weekend to-do list: (1) quality time with chace

(2) paint my desk magenta

(3) book my flight to orlando for justin core's wedding

(4) first baptist trussville w/ash.ty.chace.

(5) oak mountain state park w/millie.tripp.chace.

(6) mourn the loss of casey (mad crush) on american idol but root for my girl (janis reincarnate) crystal

enjoying the ride, and not worrying about the destination

peaceandlove

bailyjj

oviedolove

I'm hardcore missing Oviedo right now.

I think it hit me today that my visits have become very few and far between this semester.

I'm really excited about going home for my best friends wedding, just wish I could make it down there soon for a relaxing weekend.

The one's where I get to ride to the beach in the Jeep with the top down.

Grill a steak with Daddy on the lanai on Sunday nights.

Meet a friend at The Black Hammock for some Coors Lights.

Watch  the chickens cross the road. (Literally)

Listen to the swamp music.

Smell the orangeblossoms and citrus blooms.

Don't mind me, I just saw the music video to ":08 Ride" by Luke Bryan and I saw my favorite little fish camp getaway. Where summer nights turn into summer mornings when I'm with the best friends in the world and sitting by an "airboat only" lake that is alligator haven. It's an Oviedo thing.

photos found @ Black Hammock Facebook page

Peace&Love

Bai