Great Weekend & EPIC win!

I had the nicest surprise this weekend!  I planned on seeing Sheldon on Friday night in Gainesville so we could meet for the Alabama-Florida football game.  I was so full of excitement all week long that by Thursday I could hardly stand to wait another day! That's why I was absolutely ecstatic when I got this text message....

He is good at surprises - he got me good last month in Birmingham when he arrived at my sister's house a day early and unbeknownst to me.  Isn't he the best?!

I got to spend all of Thursday afternoon just hanging out with him and then we ate dinner at his grandparent's house that night.  The next day, he helped me finish my pressure-washing project at my house.  We went out to dinner at my favorite restaurant and then met up with my best friend Justin and his wife Megan, who were going to Gainesville with us for the game.  We joined them at a little hole-in-the-wall bar for a couple of beers and good conversation.  It felt so so good having Sheldon in town for a couple of days :)

On Saturday, we got up, put our "game faces" on, and prepared for our first Alabama-Florida rivalry as a couple.  You see, Sheldon grew up a Gator fan and loves orange & blue as much as I love my crimson.  Megan and Justin are also a mix of fanhoods being as Justin was born and raised a Crimson Tide fan and then went on to attend FSU for school.  Megan is a diehard Florida fan and former Gator cheerleader.  The four of us walking around Gainesville and tailgate-hopping brought a lot of laughs and silly comments from onlookers to say the least.

Mom and Dad also came to the game and had a wonderful Bamafied tailgate. Momma knows how to fix it up right!!

I was glad that Sheldon got to meet Susan (one of my very best friends and a super Gator fan) when she stopped by to visit us at the tailgate. 

We also got to spend a lot of time with his aunt & uncle and cousins who are Gainesville residents and diehard Gators as well. I appreciate their hospitality and allowing a loud and proud Tide fan hang out with them. I love his cousin Carlie.  She and I have become great friends.

After a long day of snacking and enjoying gameday cocktails, it was time for the game.  Despite the quick touchdown the Gators scored on us in the opening seconds of the game, the Tide manhandled the Gators and blew them out for the third year in a row.  Being as I grew up in Florida and have to listen to their unique brand of arrogance all the time, there is a sweetness like no other in a victory over them.  (Sorry, Sheldon - don't take it personal.)  Our seats were great.  We might have had to pay a pretty penny for them but it was worth every cent.  The best part about it was that it was in the same section/row as his family's seats were and we bought ours on StubHub.com and they have had theirs for years and years - what are the odds?!

The final score was 38-10. I love that I have other similar pictures to this with similar scores ;)

We played the kind of football that is reminiscent of vintage old-school Alabama football.  The defense was physical, the play-calling was smart, and the running game was unbelievable. Florida went into the game leading the SEC in rushing with an average of 229 yards per game.  They came out with 15 total rushing yards.  Trent Richardson, Alabama's stud running back and Heisman hopeful, ran 181 yards alone.  Total domination.

It was a great weekend and one that I will never forget.  I am so glad I got to spend it with Sheldon. I am so grateful for him... I know he is the man that God put in my life for me - even if he is a Gator fan.  I guess I'll love him anyway ;)

How was your weekend?

Roll Tide!

peace & love

bjj

Guest Blog: A GENERATION IN MOTION

My friend Melissa is a true child of God.  She has known her struggles, defeated them, and gives the glory to Christ for giving her the blessed life that she leads.  I am so fortunate to know her.  We shared mutual friends at the University of Alabama and at the end of our stint there, we finally met and became friends.  I look up to her in so many ways.  She is a natural beauty and her charm is full of love and grace.  I am glad God put her in my life as a mentor, a Christian friend, and role model. 

Her heart is full of service for others and she praises the Almighty.  There is no other woman more beautiful than one that puts Christ first in her life.  Melissa is an inspiration and I thank God for putting her in my life.  She has been so kind to guest post for me -- she's a blogger of her own -- and she is sharing what great (and sometimes bad) the techno era can be for the modern-day Christian.  Please take the time to read this... it is full of God's spirit and realness.

Meet Melissa:

A big hello to everyone in the Baily blog world! My name is Melissa, I'm a graduate from the University of Alabama, which is where I had the pleasure of meeting Baily. I graduated with a degree in apparel design & besides my love of fashion I also am incredibly passionate about leading the world to the truths & beauty of this life. It was earlier this week when I received a extra special gift from the one of a kind Baily. When she asked me to be a guest blogger on her blog it just made my day! Not only is Baily one of the most talented writers I know, she is also a true gift from God. There are so many people out there that are struggling with the same issues & it takes someone like Baily who can really make a difference in others lives. The way she goes about sharing the struggles & triumphs of her life is absolutely beautiful. Everyone needs someone to relate to & Baily has given the world just that. In my guest blog I will be sharing with you my take on the lives of todays youth & fill you in on a great opportunity these kids have to gain inspiration & do what our awesome God made them to do. Thanks for reading & thank you Baily for shining your light bright & being an inspiration to all!

Generation in Motion

So, let's talk about generation Z. You know, the ones who can talk, walk, text, & listen to music gracefully all at the same time....the ones also known as the I generation (internet or instant generation)....Yea, they’re pretty cool. You see, for these kids convenience is a way of life, as they walk around holding the world in their pocket....anything is just a click away. What makes this generation different from any other is the fact that for the first time in history these school kids have the opportunity to connect with the world 24/7. They go to school 5 days a week surrounded by fellow teens, influencing each other throughout the day, connecting on a personal basis with people their age all living in the same world. But as the school day comes to a close they don't just say goodbye until tomorrow like the rest of us remember from our school days....they pick right back up where they left off and start connecting through the cyber world of social networks. This generation has all the resources needed to reach out and make a difference. That's why I truly believe that

to make an impact on the world around them. I mean think about it...they can go to school already knowing what kind of day their friends had the day before and what mood they might be in at first period....based on their Facebook status of course. They have the opportunity to get an inside look into the lives of their fellow classmates. They live and breathe other people’s lives & know who is in need of a little encouragement. Even though this type of communication is not healthy for their young minds it has given them the platform to reach out and the opportunity

out there for all the world to see. It is at this age that what your friends are doing and saying actually has the most effect on what you want to be doing and saying. This generation was given a resource called technology that can be used one of two ways....for good or for evil. Many of these young souls are in constant exposure to the realities of this world as like I said before...they are holding the world in their pocket. This generation wants to be seen and heard.....as they have made it very clear in their growing array of reality shows about let’s see here......Everything!!! I think it is great that MTV is creating shows that our youth can relate to & allowing young people to share their struggles but at the same time I find much of the content of these shows extremely inappropriate for such young souls. Many teens are lost in their everyday struggles and turn to the media as a source for the answers to their troubling questions. Wouldn't it be great for this generation to really be awakened from their fast paced lives and realize that God has the answer to all their questions. Wouldn't it be great if they stopped using Google to look up the answers and started actually looking up to the God above who has all the answers that are guaranteed to be the right ones. We need to do whatever we can to supply this generation with the tools they need to successfully reach the world around them. We need to make it our priority to transform our youth into leaders. They are the generation that can take can take the love of Christ and the message of hope and truly put it

On the weekend of July 28-30, Church of the Highlands of Birmingham, Alabama will be holding its annual Motion Student Conference. With the theme this year being “Awake My Generation”, students from all over the United States will be given the tools needed to do just that. I cannot think of a better way for our youth to spend their Friday and Saturday night than to be gaining valuable knowledge and truths about the life God created them to live. Each and every one of them was born into their generation for a specific reason, making them a valuable resource for our future. God is calling this generation to wake up and shine their light for all the world to see. They are the generation in motion, and they are awesome! xoxo  -Melissa

Melissa is such an amazing girl.  Check out more about Generation in Motion by visiting the link below. You will be moved and feel God's spirit at work in today's youth.

GOD IS AWESOME!!!

                                   

http://www.motiononline.tv/what/



don't forget to visit and FOLLOW Melissa's blog as well...

I promise, you'll love it!

LEARNING to LOVETT

Thanks Melissa, you are the best!

peace and love

baily

Hangout Music Festival 2011

I had a really great time at the Hangout Music Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama this past weekend.  I left on Thursday afternoon and arrived 8 hours later in the beautiful Gulf-coast town.  The festival started on Friday and for 3 DAYS straight I boogied, grooved, and jammed.  It was awesome!!!

I got to see so many friends that I haven't seen since I moved home in December.  I had the opportunity to see 'LIVE' a whole bunch of awesome bands that I probably would have had a hard time getting to if they weren't all at this beachy fest!!! I ate lots of good food, got kissed by the sun, and spent my days jammin' out in a bikini and water-soaked bandana on my head.... it was HOOTTTTTT!!!!

My favorite shows were Widespread Panic, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Xavier Rudd, Madeski Martin & Wood, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Primus, The Black Keys, and PAUL SIMON (he was absolutely off the richter scale!).  We had 'church with Paul' on Sunday night to close out the weekend and let me tell you... it was epic.  He promised us he'd be back next year!

Who's coming with me!?!

Peace and Love

b a i l y

Oh yeah... and one night I got tagged by those crazy paint dancers!  It was like a game of "tag your it" with paint and I was one of the chosen ones! Holla?!? I don't know, I thought it was nifty.. It came right off in the shower (once I finally got to one) so it was no worries. And Jackie joined me in the fun and let me tag her after I was tagged. Oh, besties!

While I Was Gone...

Hello!!! I am back from Gulf Shores and trying to get back into my routine that doesn't revolve around the most amazing music festival ever.  While I was at the Hangout Music Festival, I had planned on posting this awesome guest-post that my friend Jennifer wrote for me.  However, cell phone reception and internet were random, weak, and unreliable so I could never get the darn thing posted or get in touch with someone that could do it for me.  Therefore... I am a little late in sharing this with you.  Sorry, girl.

I'll write more about my weekend soon.  Until then, meet Jennifer!

So while Miss Baily is having a grand time at The Hangout (I’m so jealous by the way) she’s asked me to come and guest blog for her! And can I just say I’m so excited! I tried once to blog but felt so incredibly boring so I’m super excited to get this opportunity to blog for Bai!! 

To start off with let me introduce myself: my name is Jennifer, I’m 24, a graduate of The University of Alabama which I have an incredible love for (I really believe Alabama will always be my one true love), I’m a mama to a fur baby Sadie, my little lady,  and I’m a lover of music (especially counrty, southern Rock, and 70s), pink, and all things girly!

I’m sure when you saw that I  graduated from Alabama you immediately assumed Baily and I met at school and were maybe sorority sisters or something like that right? We’ve probably had this six year friendship going on, total bffs, been through it all together right? Well you’d be totally wrong! Want to know how Baily and I actually became such close friends…... This blog you're reading.

I have a rather boring job. (Only 2 more months left then I start law school!! Yay!) I enjoy blog hopping and reading about people I’ve never met… makes me feel a little stalkerish but hey I get bored!I have to say it’s completely amazing I never met Baily in college because of 2 people.
One being Brett, meet Brett:

(Brett and my brother, Jabe)

Brett and my brother have been best friends since they were about 5 year olds. Guess who else is great friends with Brett? Bai!

Along with Brett, one of Baily’s roommates from college just happens to be a sorority sister I was close too, Jenna. Who would believe that I actually went to Baily’s apartment more than once and NEVER met her! Not counting the many parties and other things that would have put us in contact. I had known who Baily was for a while, she went through rush at Bama and with me being a year older I studied her face for about 2 weeks straight (sorry ADPi <> ladies we didn’t get her!) then I saw pictures on facebook of her through mutual friends.. so I always knew who Baily was.. I just did not know Baily.

One day I stumbled upon her blog, I decided to facebook her, facebook messages turned into tweeting each other which eventually turned into exchanging numbers and texting. All of this led to a friendship I am so thankful for.

I’ll be forever grateful for the Lord putting Baily in my life. I guess it was all timing. Who knows if we had met at Alabama we might not have been friends, but now I honestly don’t know what I’d do without knowing Baily is my friend. She’s one of the absolute best friends I could ever ask for. Baily always listens, always answers my texts (and let just say they are alot, I'm a bit of a texting whore), and always understands. I’m so blessed to have her in my life… and you know what if it wasn’t for this blog I wouldn’t! Isn’t it crazy how you can connect with someone?

Now all we have to do is handle this whole meeting thing… which I feel certain will be taken care of by the end of the summer!!!

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I hope you enjoyed meeting Jennifer. She is such a blessing to my life and a huge reason why I believe in blogging!  I have made the best friends through this wonderful world of blog writing and reading and I have so much to look forward to in meeting everyone in REAL LIFE! Yay!   (Thanks, Jennifer... I love our friendship!!!)

peace and love

bai

Write more soon!

my trip to Tuscaloosa + another groovy way to help!

Hello blog-world, friends, family, and fellow prayer warriors! 


Let me especially thank that last group for the support you've sent to Alabama by praying for strength, comfort, and direction for the future.  I think it is safe to say after visiting the Heart of Dixie this past weekend that God has wrapped his arms around that state and is sending so many volunteers & servers to spread His love and I hope that love continues to bring peace and comfort to the many people who are still suffering, lost, heart-broken, and in disarray... as they will be for quite some time but with the spirit that is alive and well in that special place, I see GREAT things in store for the future of Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and the entire state and it's beautiful, gracious people!  I am SO glad I went this weekend. 


Seeing the devastation was the most uncomfortable experience of my life. With our load of donations from Central Florida in tow, Dad drove and I squirmmed around in my seat in every effort to find a place of comfort as I looked at my 'second home' in a complete and utter, tragic mess.  There wasn't much Daddy and I could muster up to try to explain what we were feeling.  All we could keep saying is, "it's nothing like it is on the news, which is bad. But being here and seeing this is WAY worse."  We just kept saying that over and over... needless to say, we know devastation on a completely new and heart-touching level. 


That place -- that special place -- where I have spent the last 5.5 years of my life and where I called 'home' from August 14, 2005 - December 1, 2010 (straight thru without ever coming home for a summer or anything) was and is forever changed.

Here are the photos I snapped while we dropped off the donations & supplies!

Here's the view from my front porch that I last lived at in University Village...

the neighborhood across the street (Rosedale Community) and the neighborhood adjacent to my last apartment dwelling (Forrest Lake) were completely destroyed and where several residents and UA students lost their lives.  Words cannot express my sympathy.

This was a humbling experience and I can't even imagine what it was like in the immediate aftermath and days following the huge tornado outbreak crisis.  It was AWFUL, and I was there a week and a half later.

The state of Alabama still needs your prayers!!!

Like always, though, I was able to see beauty even in the most tragic and ruined of places.  There is a spirit, an emotion that is so present in that town, and I know now that it's not just championships on the grid-iron that fuel that town's fire... that place is not only moved by the grumble of Bear Bryant's voice but the grumble of mother nature's fury and the path it left behind -- each bringing inspiration to future, but marking it's major spot in history - and both bringing a town, a state, and people of every race, religion, and background together...

and if that's an all-around beautiful thing and what the true spirit of God's word is!!!  I can't wait to see what God has in store for the future there and everywhere.  Sometimes (and I know this first-hand), you have to lose the life and the things you knew in order to find the life and the things that awaits you... and when it is something like a fire, or a tornado, an earthquake, or another form of nature's fury, you can find trust that it was constructed by the man upstairs for a purpose.  Somedays it will be hard to see that because the destruction can overwhelm us, but rewards await he who is faithful. 

Trust me.

I want to send a VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU to everyone that helped me in my relief efforts by bringing supplies, food, clothes, money, neccessities, and etc. to me so that I was able to make use of my pre-planned trip to Alabama and turn it into a service opportunity.  It is comforting to know that I am amongst friends, family, and a community that is so willing to help out others that are complete strangers... and on a personal level, it means a lot that they know how special Tuscaloosa is to me.  It may not be where my roots are - I am back living there, now - but it is where my branches formed, where I sprung to life as a young woman, where I fell, stumbled, and got back up again and where I learned to embrace myself as Baily.  I am proud and gracious that the Lord made me a server because I was gung-ho on giving back to the place that helped shape me and to the people who gave to me when I was in a time of need and suffering.  I love you Tuscaloosians!! And fellow Central Floridians - thank you for helping me shower T-Town with that love!!! I'm lucky to have been "made" by the experiences I've gained in both places.  I couldn't ask for anything better!  Orlando to Tuscaloosa LOVE!

Thanks, Dad for your help that day and for the moral support you always are.

Except, I think this experience - seeing "ground zero" in our favorite little college town - was just as shocking and life-changing for him as it was for me.  I am glad to have a Dad who taught me how to care for others first!  He is the most unselfish man I know and my Mom is the most unselfish and giving woman I know so it's no wonder they were a perfect match :)

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Do you want to know how you can give to the relief efforts in Tuscaloosa in a REALLY nifty way?!?  CHECK. THIS. OUT.

This awesome blog is hosting a Blogger Baby Shower for the little tiny victims and their mothers in Tuscaloosa.  As a mother-to-be with a little sister who lives in Tuscaloosa (sound familiar!?!) she and other blogger-friends of hers are hosting this fantastic virtual party and I invite you!!!

Here's how it works:

Simply visit the baby registry that they have set up at Amazon.com.

CLICK HERE

Then, pick out what you'd like to donate! 

Amazon will automatically send and deliver the package to a church in Tuscaloosa who has volunteers that are assigning the supplies with the correct needs of each mother and baby.

By doing this, we are able to help the hundreds of mothers who are in desperate need of these basic neccessities in order to care for their infant.  Knowing what it is like to be displaced, without a home, and amongst destruction after losing everything - I can only imagine what it would be like to have to care for and worry about the needs of an infant baby being met when it is so often a struggle just to get back on one's own two feet. Pray for these mothers and pray for these babies!!

Items start at just $8.99 at this super-cool e-baby shower, so there is something for every budget!

Plus, by purchasing something to donate, you are automatically entered to win some pretty cool prizes (like a $50 giftcard to HomeGoods by The Insprired Housewife and a $25 giftcard to At The Picket Fence)

Props to these ladies for hosting such a wonderful baby shower and service project!

May God shower them with many blessings!

Peace & Love

Baily