the one about blue ridge, ga

The trip to Blue Ridge was a success! We had so much fun and it was the perfect time for me to get away and take a break from Tuscaloosa. Exams had just ended, the post-fire exhaustion was hitting hard, and I was in dire need of some fresh air and relaxation.

The weather was a little wet and misty, but we didn't mind. We hiked trails surrounding the Toccoa River and had fun laughing at the dogs make their way across the swinging bridge. They were pretty funny! The rain never "bottomed-out" on us, and other than it being slightly chilly, it made for 'okay' hiking weather. My knee and back held out, but I was lucky to get to soak in the hot tub that was on the porch, I think it helped.

It's back to reality now, though. I wasn't back into the grind of things for long when I found myself wanting to be back on top of that mountain. Here's some pics we snapped.

Enjoy!

Peace&Love

Baily

it might be cold, but the sun still burns

It seems like I have so many things to blog about and catch my readers up on, but I can't seem to put them in any sequence of importance or make a wortwhile post of them.  Besides, my dear sister informed me that my blogs were too lengthy.  So, first and foremost, let me apologize for any wasted time I may have caused you.  I am even more apologetic if my ramblings have caused you to fall asleep at the computer desk.  I just suffered a two-week period of midterm hell, and I know without a doubt that a Hewlett Packard laptop is no memory-foam pillow. On that note, I will use this post to fill you in on some of the happenings in my lately uneventful life.
I ditched the dirty blonde hair and dyed it chocolate brown.  It is quite the contrast, and I haven't had my hair this dark since I was 16, but at least now my eyebrows match my hair color.  Speaking of eyebrows, part of the do-it-yourself makeover I gave myself, I waxed the thick little boogers. Well, I attempted to. I have one and two-thirds worth of eyebrows.  Looking at the glass half-full rather than empty, I consider this better than the one very definitive "uni" I was growing.

My very relaxing spring break has gone by way too quickly.  Ashley, Millie, and I drove to Orlando on Saturday with hopes of sunshine, beaches, and tropicana tans.  Instead? Quite possibly the coldest and most overcast week in March I have ever seen in Orlando.  Perk? Shopping! 

Saying that my whining and complaining about the weather went unnoticed would be a lie. After Ashley flew back to Birmingham and my mom and dad were left with my pale ass moaning about my lack of sun tan, my dad arranged a business trip to Miami in order for my mom and I to tag along.  Four hours, two magazines, one beer, and a rooftop pool later, I'm a lobster. No complaining about this one though, I asked for it!

Nothing out of the ordinary, other than the wicked spells of spring break weather, has gone on in my life lately to fill you in on.  My projects, aside from finishing up the semester of school and preparing for my summer internship, consist of a new advocacy project for the National Down Syndrome Congress, helping my family plan my Mamaw's 80th birthday party, and applying to jobs. 

Usually, the month of March consists of me being a crazy, lunatic, and completely obsessive Tar Heel fan. My faithfulness to the beloved basketball program surpasses any other engagements in my life during the month of March, in USUAL years. But, their lack of winning nipped making it to the big dance in the bud.  For all of those years I made fun of teams making it to the post-season NIT, I now have my foot in my mouth. Watching March Madness on CBS Sports is making my eyes hurt at this very moment.  I can't bear the pain!

Wait, I do have one other project on deck.  Tomorrow, before we trek back to Orlando from South Beach, I plan to suffer the uncomfy-ness of laying on my stomach in the horribly painful beach chairs provided at the rooftop pool so that my back can match the fire-engine red that my front side daunts.

I'm already dreading my showers for the next few days. Ouch!

Peace&Love
Bjj
The 'Other' Sister

A "break" from "Spring Break"

One of my very first posts on this blog was about going back to the place I call home. I talked about how much fun I had on a girl’s trip to Jacksonville Beach and how it appeared that the more things had changed, the more they had stayed the same. Later, I posted about my trip home over the holidays and how I missed my sister being there with me. In that case, the more things changed, the less they stayed the same. As a married, career-woman, and a soon-to-be graduate student, she wasn’t there for the holidays and it made for a pretty lonely winter break at the “Jones household.” I often write on here about how I am a stressful mess of a undergrad student at Alabama. I realize I go on and on about finding my place in the world and how I am prone to anxiety attacks when it comes to finishing up school, searching for jobs, and making sure I don’t miss out on opportunities for success, adventure, love, and life in general. But you have to understand, it IS pretty stressful times these days. The economy, the unemployment, the decision whether or not to go to grad-school, the friends, the family, the jaded heart, the need for making a difference, the advocacy and volunteer work… the list goes on and on. There is one perk to being a college student and it comes every March.
A little thing called spring break.

This year, I won’t be spending the week with daiquiris and sun-tan oil in Destin or Key West, I won’t be skiing atop the Rocky Mountains, and I won’t be attending the ACC Basketball Tournament. At first, I was planning on going to Austin, Texas with one of my good friends Kayley. It was going to be loads of fun. The South By Southwest Music and Media Festival is being held the week of my spring break (March 12-20) and her mom, who works in special needs education, was going to show me around the city of particular interest to me. I am fortunate to have a friend like Kayley, and I do plan on going to Austin with her at some time, but not spring break.

I have decided to spend the week in that place I call home. Not only is it going to be full of rest, relaxation, quality time with my parents, but (here’s the best part) also with my sister for the first few days. It is almost like I get to make up for the lost time with her over the holidays, except during our favorite time of year! Spring time in Central Florida is the most delightful :)

Being as she graduated from Samford University in May 2007, it has been a while since she has had a spring break. Even though she is only coming down for a few days and not the whole week, her job as a RN in one of the nation’s finest hospitals doesn’t allow for many mini-vacays for her either. Especially with it being just the Jones’s. She spends most of her down time with her husband, like any normal wife would. But he’ll be at the Sales Meeting in Atlanta that is allowing me to steal her and go head homeward.

Say what you want, but this is the most excited I have ever been for a spring break. Some have wondered why I am spending my “last” spring break in my sleepy little hometown instead of raging on the beaches of Mexico or getting all tropical in the Bahamas or something. I guess the way I see it is this… my “last” spring break was last year. I’m not a senior at Alabama, I’m a fifth-year senior at Alabama. Spending the week with my best friends in Orlando and Key West last year was the perfect farewell to the intoxicated and sleepless versions of spring break. Not to mention, the expenses I sacrificed and the experiences I gained in sunny Los Angeles and Pasadena (while watching my soon-to-be alma mater win the BCS National Championship game) a couple of months ago was a MORE than perfect way to bid farewell to my college life. Now, I just want some good ole R&R and the usual steak dinner that awaits me upon my homecomings.

Not only will the rest and food and quality time with my parents and sister be great, but I will also get to see my hometown friends. I guess I am at that age where people are moving on to bigger and better things. Like me, my friends are on the fast-paced track to the real world. Some of them who went to the University of Florida and to Florida State University relocated back to the Orlando area. Others moved on, like my two very best girlfriends Mandy and Justine. One is a graduate assistant for the women’s soccer team at Adelphi University in New York and the other is working in the fashion industry in Los Angeles. I will make it a point to spend as much time with my friends that my “spring break” schedule allows for because I realize that this may be the last time that a lot of us are in the same place. Some are getting married this summer, some – like I said – are living cross country, some will lose touch, some will move on and only make it home on rare weekend occasions like I find myself doing. Each time I go home, it is a sweet thing but a bittersweet thing in actuality. I am fortunate beyond belief, however, that my family and friends and community have stayed so close over the course of these five precious years.

I hope everyone’s spring season is off to a good start with safe travels and warm weather and good health. I am looking SO forward to my week in Orlando.

May we always have a special place in our hearts for the place we call home, the family who makes it home sweet home, and the friends who make it worth the long ride down the interstate!


Peace&Love – I’m homeward bound!
-BJJ- the ‘other’ sister

My Spring Breaks, each one is one to remember! :)

Spring Break 2005 in Key West, FL (my senior year of high school) with friends: Alex Gramatikas (FSU), Susan Abascal (UF), Shannon Dougherty (Santa Fe), Rachael Todd (UCF), Heather Romot (UCF), Kate Barton (UCF), Me (UofAla), Ashley Long (UCF), Kinsey Peddle (UCF), and Justine Positano (UCF)

Spring Break 2006 in Destin, FL (my freshman year at school) with friends/Tri-Delta pledge sisters: Elizabeth Kirkland (Nashville, TN), Me (Orlando, FL), Leigh Rebrovick (Nashville, TN), Kathryn Cook (Anniston, AL), Brittany Fuson (Nashville, TN), Ashley Aitken (Tuscaloosa, AL), and Wendy Walters Burford (Birmingham, AL)

Spring Break 2007 at the ACC Basketball Tournament in Tampa, FL (my sophomore year at school) with family and then-boyfriend: Daddy, Ashley, Mom, Me, and Cole Johnson. *My sister got ENGAGED to the love of her life this same weekend! So fun!*

Spring Break 2008 in Destin, FL (my junior year at school) with friends and then-boyfriend Christopher Moorer.

Spring Break 2009 in Orlando, FL and Key West, FL (my <first> senior year at school) with friends: Will Pappas (Montgomery, AL), Me (Orlando, FL) and Bess Pickett (Charlotte, NC) and many, many more...!!

Spring Break 2010 home sweet home in Orlando, FL............. CAN'T WAIT! :)

"Behold, my friends, the spring is come;  the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love!" -Sitting Bull