(mm)

Miscellany Monday

{one}

Last night the Orlando Food Truck Bazaar came to my little town of Oviedo.  I went with my parents, who had never been to a Food Truck meetup before, and we had a good time eating and experiencing something new for a Sunday night.  I'm really glad that Orlando has really taken to this groovy trend!

We went for the Mama's Fixin's truck for a Southern-style Sunday supper! It was super delicious... and probably the best collard greens I've ever had. 

{two}

I have been without glasses since the fire took them last April.  I know, stupid me - it should have been one of the first things I replaced.  I have a horrible astigmatism and the year without any eye aid turned it even worse.  The doctor was concerned about my left eye... which is the one that has been bothering me non-stop.  Makes sense! Ha. Well, I ordered new RX eye-glasses as well as RX sunglasses. And we all know me... I'm all RAYBAN!

This picture will have to do for now because I don't actually have them yet.   

I got my prescription sunglasses though...
enter: problem!

Now that I've rocked the sunglasses with the prescription, I can not see a damn thing when I take them off to go inside or when it gets dark.  Yay for that.  Needless to say, my parents have called me Ray Charles & Stevie Wonder all weekend because I totally wore them inside.  Good thing we never left the oasis at the resort so I never looked like a moron in public.

I watched the movie '127 Hours' with these on.  Just think of them as hip 3D viewing glasses... and pretend the tv was 3D.  ;)

{three}

I was reunited with the babygirl this morning. She & Jackson & Lola stayed at the kennel while we were gone this weekend. I do believe she is unaware that she isn't human. 

Please excuse her unmodesty!!

I cannot get over how funny her personality is -- everyone that meets her loves her. It makes me so happy that I have done a good job raising her. On June 18th it will mark the 2-year anniversary of me getting her! She means so much to me because she has kept me going through the darkest and toughest 2 years of my life.


{four}

Mom and I started attending the First Orlando Women's Ministry Bible Study last Wednesday night.  We meet every Wednesday to discuss the lessons, have fellowship with other Godly women, and experience God's unfailing grace.  I am IN LOVE with this study!
It was originally created for college students/young adults with the intent to help them find God and go in the direction of Him.  It gives hope through scripture and the scripture gives hope for the abundant life we live if we trust the Lord to be in control.  It is PERFECT for me!  I am already getting so much out of it!

If you are seeking your path in life and feel lost, overwhelmed, or like your mistakes and failures will always hold you back... I encourage you to do this study!  All of those disappointments were instruments of the hand of God and it all works towards the greater good of us who trust Him.  You will feel free of some pretty heavy chains!

{five}

My favorite color always inspires me...
What is your favorite color?

I am such a turquoise junkie!

{six}

Since I am not doing much at Visions Electronics lately, I have taken to pet-sitting! Haha. A lot of my mom's friends are traveling with their kids for summer break & since I am such a dog lover - I get to play with even more precious pups!

How 'bout this cutie pie?

His name is "Tank"

... it is fitting, huh?!?

He's so sweet :)

Hope you enjoyed Miscellany Monday!

 I have not linked up for it in a while but it is always fun & random... which is how I like to keep things usually! Head over to 'lowercase letters' and join the party!

peace&love

baily*  

☮ vinyl records = peace and love ☮

Hello Wildflower Friends!

If you know me or have been reading my blog long enough - you probably know that I have a love for vinyl records.  I've always had a love for old things. 

Ya gotta love The Best Of The Doobies and Grateful Dead's Shakedown Street.

I sure as heck do! :)

Some of my favorite memories as a child are about family history and my personal and Southern heritage - whether it be looking through my grandparents' keepsakes and asking questions about my heritage and the memorabilia they saved for us or reading the old letters and Bible notes in their former books and diaries. I never just wanted to know names of the people in my genogram,or just basic info like their ages at death, where they lived, or how I was related to them. I was always the little girl who was more interested in their personal stories. I remember a large amount of my childhood was spent wishing I could know the people in the previous decades.  Countless hours of my youth went by with me reminiscing with older generation relatives that could recall some of the stories I wanted to know. Like, seriously, one of my favorite things to do was visit the "family cemetary" where many people of my geneology are laid to rest. Creepy? Maybe... but, I respect the past.  I respect the stories. I respect the things that statues, memorials, antiques, and classics respresent.  I'd wander antique shops with anyone who would accept the so-called "boredom" of my slow browse through any dusty, old, store of "junk" (not to me) but what that they called it. Most of my loved ones and close friends usually oblige to my love for vintage shopping and antique browsing and cemetary visiting because of the excitement & passion I have about all things historical. 

The vintage cassete case Daddy also had. 

I love it, too!

I mean, every single person and every single thing has a story.  Every generation.  Every era. Every culture. Every group.  And for a music lover, every song tells a multitude of stories that send a message to the people who will listen. Now, don't get me wrong, I am aware that not all music is about peace, love, and happiness.  But my music is.  Well, sometimes it is about broken-hearts and gettin' whiskey-bent and hell-bound but what's more real than love, heartache,loss, and Southern pride?  I say, "Keep on sangin' Willie, Waylon & Hank!" Even country music was way better back in the record playin' days...

Country boys CAN survive! 

Alabama Mountain Music; Hank Williams, Jr. Habits Old and New; Waylon & Willie's Album

SOLID. COUNTRY. GOLD.

Honestly, no one will ever convice me that there was a time in music history that was better than the vinyl record era.  Before video killed the radio star and before MP3s made browing record stores a "waste of time" to most people.  Back then, music was still an art - it was sometimes even a strong political message (and we see that happening now too.) Songs, bands, and musicians were worshipped (in that secular way) because a social movement - powered by music - was changing (and did change) the world.  I see my generation carrying the torch for this sort of environmental, musical, social change movement.

And I DIG it.

For anyone who has been touched by music in the deepest part of their soul like I have... I bet you respect this kind of music and it's place in music history. In my personal opinion, the mid-60s to early-to-mid-70s was the musical era that touched the heart and was about soul and passion. It was before technology "enhanced" it and made it unreal... instead, it was the era when music was made raw and real... at it's best! And best heard on a record player.

Rolling Stones Made In The Shade

Luckily for me, I have a pretty groovy player. Even if it is a replica of what a Crosley wooden record player was like - I love it because it representative of what it looked like back then. And, I love the fact that it only looks 60 years old but has a little better quality than that of an actual one from the 1960s.

I just truly dig it - it is a "belonging" of mine that portrays me and my personality in more ways than one. It says more about me than just this: I'm a weirdo who buys and uses music technology from 60 years ago.

My Confession: I don't own an iPod. I have had an iPod once - but never used it. I am blessed to have the type of Dad who likes to buy my sister and my mom and I nice things for Christmas and Easter and Birthdays. He's probably the best gift-giver in the world.(Can't say that about 85% of men.)  So, the year that the iPod was introduced and was all the craze, my sister and I were naturally knew that we would probably be getting one... and we did - the Pink Mini iPod. The very first one made! (do you remember it?)  Obviously, I am showing how far back this was because I still liked PINK, I guess. You do know that I absolutely do not dig pink very much, right? Well, this iPod had a black and white screen with a nice, frosty,and very pink outside casing. Just funny that it was considered the "mini" but it's size is more resemblant of the iPad now. (It's definitely the Zach Morris cell phone version of the iPod now, haha!)

I had lost several vinyl records and CD's in the fire last year, so I didn't feel guilty for long about claiming the iPod. Even though it wasn't used, it still was ruined in the fire and was on the insurance claim. Plus, I lost a Mac computer AND a HewlettPackard computer that both had a butt-load of songs on them.  The "mysteriously vanishing boyfriend act" was supposed to give me his iPod since he no longer used it, and I actually went ahead and paid him for it (I should have kept a tab for all the things I did for that kid) - but he never gave the iPod to me.(Shoulda been a red flag of his scumminess but oh well!) So, I was still without an iPod almost a year after the fire, but because of my love for vinyl I didn't really care and wasn't missing an iPod much since I never was a huge user of one.  Well, I lost my cell phone a couple of weekends ago (RIP CrackBerry) and I'm a faithful Verizon customer, so I was pumped that I could now purchase an iPhone and knock two birds out with one stone since it serves as an iPod also. These days I am an iPhoner and I LOVE it... even after all those mean things I said when I was on Team CrackBerry!  I take it all back and since I am a trator and joined the iPhone family, I can now say I have an iPod as well. 

Except... do you think I've set up my iTunes account on this phone yet? Hell no. That's a good job for one of my tech-savvy guy friends to do for me.  

AND DO YOU WANT TO KNOW THE BEST PART ABOUT IT? Before the Mysteriously Vanishing Boyfriend act, one of the last convos I had with him was about me sending him his external hard-drive that has about 8,000 songs on it.  (If you can remember - back in the relationship days - I blogged about how excited I was that he let me borrow this hard-drive that was jam-packed full of groovy rock, reggae, psychadelic, and jam music.  I had hit musical jackpot!  We shared the same taste in music, so it was like this pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  I had been so distraught over losing all of my iTunes from the fire (which I hate to say were mostly pirated and illegally downloaded - except at the time I didn't know the server was illegal... deleted now!)- and I felt so blessed that he had let me "borrow" that external hard-drive.  Well, let's just say this - he ain't gettin' it back.  Not after the way I've been treated, and not if he wants me to write up an invoice of all the money he owes ME.  Hahaha, that'd take a while, wouldn't it "Mystery Man?"

Oh. My. Goodness. 

My own little vinyl heaven :)

So, NO WONDER why I was so stoked when I got to rummage through the rest of Daddy's old records that he kept for me. It's pretty IRONIC though. When Santa brought me my record player for Christmas 2009, Daddy got his two big boxes of vinyls down from storage and let me take a few of them with me back to school.

"Only take a few with you and I promise I will give you the rest of them when you graduate," he said.  "It's not that I don't trust you with them, I just don't want them to get stolen if y'all get broken into or God forbid if a fire happened."

Yes, he said that. God forbid if a fire happened.

I didn't argue with him, but I did want to stress the fact that I didn't think anything like that was going to happen.  I'd been up at school for four years and nothing like that had happened to me, personally so I just let it be but wished I could assure him that I'd take good care of his old records from the 60s and 70s.  But I couldn't have.  Only four months later a fire would come and melt some of those vinyls into big black globs of nothing.  It made some of the albums' cover-art look like roasted marshmallows. All I could think about when we cleaned out that horrific aftermath was "damn, Daddy knew best."

The Best of The Guess Who; Fleetwood Mac Rumors;

Eagles Hotel California; Aerosmith Toys in the Attic; BeeGees Main Course

I had forgotten what wonderful records he had waiting for me when I returned home. Home to a place where house fires don't haunt me and my thoughts, as much, and where random college-aged people don't enter and exit my residence everyday like they used to in my Bama dwellings. Plus, he's got this groovy little cleaning kit that I'm going to polish my records with. :)

If you want to know what I have been doing this evening... take a guess!!! 
Correct answer: JAMMING MY FACE OFF TO THESE AWESOME VINTAGE RECORDS & NOT THINKING ABOUT ANYTHING STRESSFUL & THANKING THE LORD FOR MUSIC THAT HEALS THE SOUL. Duh. 

This. This is what makes me happy.  Being at home - my real home.  Sitting in my re-decorated and re-arranged childhood bedroom, blogging to my wonderful readers, and listening to the music that has spiritually, emotionally, and mentally aided me in this recovery process.  

Just recently began listening to this one tonight (Goose Creek Sympony Words of Earnest).

Then I freaked out when I heard this ensemble cover a Janis Joplin song, Mercedes Benz.

Perf.

I hope I am or can become more like a vinyl record - not considered worthless but considered valuable and artistic and able to leave my own little sport in history.  I hope I am rare, but timeless. Respected by the ones that value things with "a past" and am taken extra special care of. Imperfect - with scratches, pops, cracks, and white noise.  Fireproof - because I nor most of my records were destroyed in last April's fire mayhem. Vintage but classic & cool. And most of all, full of positive messages, realness,talent, uniqueness, and inner-beauty. To me, that is what these vinyls represent when I listen to them and I hope I represent these same things in some ways, too!  

 

All I can say is, thank God for music - especially on Mondays.  Rainy Mondays. And THANK YOU TO DADDY for saving these pieces of music history to pass on to me. People tell me I belong in the 60s or 70s by the way I dress and my open-minded, free-spirited thinking.  I just go back to that decade by dropping the needle and letting those records spin.  I'll never cease in my collecting of vinyl and I'll never lose my love for the style of music I listen to on that very special record player of mine.

Do any of you collect vinyl records or have some from the past?? 

Tell me some of your favs! Tell me some "must gets"..

 and fill me in on any other record lover's news that you may know of! 

I bet you can  guess what my favorite or most cherished album is? They're all actually my favorites... but this one means a lot to me - - -

Janis Joplin's post-humous Pearl

*peace and love*

and good music

☮

baily  

<and Mildred Jean>

She is exactly one month away from turning 2!  

PRAY THAT PRECIOUS LITTLE PUPS LIKE THIS CUTIE DON'T GET THE TERRIBLE 2's.

No way... look at that face! She's the love of my life.



mm

link up here

One.

I'm loving this quote today:

"If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world.  This makes it hard to plan the day." -E.B. White

Story of my life.

Two.

I'm excited that Susan is coming over to watch The Bachelor with me tonight.  You can always count on Sus to love reality TV!!! I think it is just as much her 'guilty pleasure' as it is mine.  And I'm starting to like this season a lot!

Three.

I love the sermon at First Baptist Orlando yesterday.  It was on prayer.  The series, beginning with the New Year, has been "Seek" - a series through Matthew 6.

This is extra special to me, because Matthew 6 is the chapter of the Bible that got me through the overwhelming emotions I faced in the days surrounding the fire.  Someone from my sister's Sunday School class had asked my sister to read a passage to me from Matthew 6.  The sermon series at FBCOrlando hasn't gotten to this particular part - about not being anxious - but to be honest, I can't wait to hear Dr. Uth preach on my favorite passage... (and am totally anxious, but in the good way!)

Anyways, this past Sunday it was on PRAYER and the sermon was awesome.  Dr. Uth is a good teacher and church leader and that is something I respect more than ever.  A huge point that he preached about was that if we do not forgive others, God does not forgive us.  That is why I am such a fim believer in FORGIVENESS and every single person I've ever dated or been super close friends with knows that to be the complete truth.  So when people won't forgive me or won't TRY to forgive me, I am unable to understand it.  I believe the Gospel is about love, and love is all about forgiveness so that is why it is the greatest lesson of all and something that the Lord DOES NOT compromise with.  At the end of the servivce, we were asked to put down on a small piece of paper the names of people that we need to forgive in order to move on and receive the blessings that God gives us when we decide to forgive and love our enemies and to remember the most important part of being a Christian - forgiving others.  I prayed that these people would also forgive me for the things that have crept between us and caused the tension.  I wrote down three references to people that I pray for reciprocating forgiveness from:  C.M., C.S., and P.C.  I felt free - that I had broken the chains that have loomed over me for a long time - some longer than others.  They are all people who mean a lot to me, in completely different ways, but forgiveness issues always kept us away from ultimate happiness - and that is why I hope some of my prayers will be seen now that I have decided to forgive them in my heart.  Freedom in forgiveness is the surest way to peace of mind, I continue to learn. 

Four.

I love this quote, too:

"So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be." -The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Has anyone else read that book... don't you just LOVE it?

Five.

I'm really pumped because JOSHUA RADIN is coming to Orlando soon and I'm pretty sure I'm going to freak out if I don't see him perform. 

He handles my blues oh so well.

Joshua Radin - One of These Days from Paste Magazine on Vimeo.



Six.

Hello NEW FOLLOWERS!!! You are the coolest :)

peace&love

baily

the miscellany today

Link up here

One.

This is what I get every single morning - a bunch of Boxer kisses, limited leg room, and lots of wiggling little nub tails.  These dogs crack me up and make my life full of smiles and good laughs.  I can’t tell if Lola (center) and Jackson (right) are sick of Millie (left) living here in Florida with them.  They seem to be getting along great, but then again Millie is hoarding a lot of attention to herself and I’m beginning to think “Aunt Lola” has about had enough of it! Ha!

Two.

I am going to spend a great deal of the day shopping online for furniture so I know what I want to go look at in person when I blitz Orlando’s furniture stores later.  I have been looking forward to ordering a piece of furniture to call “mine” ever since the fire.  It has been fun and all to shop and buy a new wardrobe, but I wasn’t your biggest shopaholic to start with… I am pretty tired and exhausted from replacement shopping – it isn’t very therapeutic anymore.  I’m going for the coastal/sea-board cottage-y look… what do you think??
I'm crushin' on this Stanley Furniture 'Coastal Living' collection...

I just find it so Southern, so coastal, so clean, so happy, so what I need!!!

Three.

Please pray for my ‘Papaw.’  He had to be taken to the hospital yesterday.  He seems to be doing fine, and they just kept him to run some extra tests and stuff, but pray that it was nothing too serious!!! He’s probably the coolest grandfather I know, and he reads my blog so – HI PAPAW!  Get to feeling better! I love you!

Four.

Michelle and I had a BLAST at the All-Star Acoustic Jam last night.  I am so glad we got to do that & we saw some pretty amazing entertainment, if you ask me.  I heard SO MANY of my favorites that I don’t even know which one I would say was the best.  I do have to say that at the end – the encore part of it all when the entire line-up all came out together – they played my absolute favorite HANK WILLIAMS, JR. songs – ‘DINOSAUR’, then it spun off into some Vanilla Ice, then to some STEVE MILLER BAND’s ‘JOKER’ (which I wish my sister was there to enjoy!) and then somewhere in their little encore mix was THE BEATLES’ ‘HEY JUDE’ and I seriously got goosebumps!!!  It was like the the very best (and live) country-fried, party playlist ever!  I had a really good time - thanks Michelle! :)

 

so of course she caught me doing my infamous wildflower dance...

Before the show started I had to tell her...

 "now... my Sis makes fun of me because when I hear music

I just go into my own little world and throw my hands everywhere and wiggle

so I apologize in advance if I embarass you..."

Click here to visit Michelle's fantastic blog & leave her some love!

I promise you will adore her.

(And check out the pretty cupcakes she made this weekend...

I may or may not be scarfing one two down right now.)

Five.

I’m doing my first blog swap with Teaching In Heels.  It’s an accessories swap and I’m so excited – I think you should probably mosey on over to her blog and sign up for it yourself.  It should be a good time! Click here to join the swap!

Quotable

I believe humanity was born from conflict. 

Maybe that's why in all of us lives a dark side. 

Some of us embrace it.  Some have no choice.  The rest of us fight it. 

And in the end, it is as natural as the air we breathe. 

Some point, we're forced to face the truth... about ourselves.

-Penelope Garcia

Peace & Love

Baily

Miscellany Monday

(link  up here)

 

UNO.

 I missed Millie so much this weekend.  I don’t like being away from her because I’m so used to her traveling with me most of the time.  My friends joke about what gypsies she and I are.

She stayed at home with “Big Butch” while “Granna” and I went to Alabama.  This is what she usually looks like 95% of the time I'm in my car... (I take her EVERYWHERE!!)

 

Sassy-Pants usually rides like this. Duh... isn't that what besties do?

DOS.

I’m the newest obsessor of this Low-Carb (or so they say) entrée at Cracker Barrel.  I couldn’t stomach fast-food while Mom and I were traveling last night, so we stopped there for a good Sunday dinner.

I had:

Grilled Roast Beef with sautéed mushrooms & onions.

Hasbrown casserole.

Green beans.

Fried apples.

YUMMMMMMMMM!!!!

 It was such a better dinner than a 'value meal'.... the thought of a drive-thru made me nauseus.

 I fell in love with this birdhouse at "the old country store" after dinner - but, I didn't buy it.

 I think I might DIY it before Spring comes!

When we made it to Tallahassee we rested well for the night.

Add it to my list of many nights at the Fairfield. (I lived in the T-town one after the fire.)

Then, this morning we got up SO early &  trucked it into O-town. 

My Monday started so long ago it seems!!!

 We ran into one of the best displays of Florida's loud & proud tacky tourism! This picture doesn't even begin to do this place justice.  Even Momma and I had to stop for a second to browse & take it all in... and that doesn't happen with the woman who somehow goes through life at a mile a minute without ever seeming to slow down.  I think I was on her nerves but road-trips with Mom are kind ofintimidating... she goes into "Sgt." Momma-mode when she's behind the wheel.  But seeing this spectacle made us both roll our eyes and laugh but at the same time I know that we totally dig our "adopted" home-state. (NC natives; FL transplants). 
 

 Even this b!ga$$ place didn't have ANYTHING with a Baily/Bailey on it.  I used to HATE when people misspelt my name when I was younger but I would DEFINITELY make an exception IF ONLY I could find one.  I usually settled for the middle name - Jordan.

We made it home safe & now I'm snug as a bug in a rug

with this sleepy-head.  The Eye-Boogie Queen!!! bleh.

TRES.

The Arizona shooting massacre this weekend really bothers me.  I just cannot understand why people refuse to value other people’s lives.  I’ll never understand why one troubled soul will go to extremes like this to trouble so many other people’s lives that are affected by this. 

It seems like every time this happens – Columbine, Virginia Tech, anything… our nation says we are going to unite,

come together as one, and end the violence. 

But when will we actually do it?

The world seriously scares me. 

But, things like this make me even more grateful to the God that gives me strength and safety and I pray that He heals these victims and their families.  I also hope that the Lord intervenes in the lives of other troubled souls who at-risk for creating another tragedy. 

They don’t call His grace amazing for nothing!

  QUATRO.

Speaking of quatro {4} …

I got that many NEW BOOKS this weekend!

I love wandering around bookstores with a Chai tea and just browsing… looking for nothing in particular.  That’s when the book chooses me – and this time, four books chose me!!! Yay.

Good Things by Mia King

Names My Sisters Call Me by Megan Crane

One Amazing Thing by Chitra Divakaruni

Going Away Shoes (short stories) by Jill McCorkle

I can’t wait to start reading them… I read like 2 or 3 books at one time, that’s why I never can just buy 1 book.  It’s just the ADHD in me!

Oh yeah, I bought another book of short stories at the DOLLAR STORE.  Cha-ching!!! $1 for Country Living’s

Barefoot Summers: Reflections on Home, Family, and Simple Pleasures

has anyone read any of these?!?

CINCO.

Auburn and Oregon are playing in the BCS Championship tonight.

I so badly wish that the Tide was back in that game again this year!

Most SEC football fans will cheer on the Aubbies tonight.  I, however, will not.  Absolutely not.  Never.  When I say Auburn & Alabama fans HATE each other – I’m not joking.  It would be nice for our conference to win a 5^th consecutive national title and maybe shut up some of the people who try to argue the SEC’s football prestige, but when it comes to Auburn, Florida, and Tennessee, I refuse!!!

There will be those stupid “War Eagles” said, duck quacks noised, and the Bamafied “Roll Ducks Roll” shouted. 

All I’m saying is that tonight’s game will be a good one – as far as it being a well-rounded match-up between two elite teams.  But, I probably won’t be in a good mood because I feel like Auburn is going to put on a show.  Their SEC heritage will outdo Oregon, in my humble opinion.  I just hope that if the Tigers win & the NCAA allegations are finally completely out there, that they put an “S” in front of Cam Newton’s name when they go to mark the asterick beside the 2011 champions in the records book. ;)

Enjoy your Monday, enjoy the game, and have a good week!

Peace and Love

Roll Ducks Roll

BAILY

p.s. this is my facebook profile picture for the day...

millie says...roll tide!

phots @ google images