10 days: day four

7 things that cross my mind a lot....

1. FiRe - sorry to be so forward with it but I'm just stating the obvious. We can just get it over with.
2. HunGeR - I will be the first to admit that Millie isn't the only Miss Piggie around here.
3. CHILDREN with sPeCiAL nEeDs - Did you know that October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month???
4. FaMiLy - and as I like to say, it's the one we are born into and it's also the one we create for ourselves with the other souls in the world.

5. BCS StAnDiNgS - and to be honest ( please excuse my language), it really chaps my ass that ALABAMA is No. 8.  Thanks to the fact that both Penn State and Florida turned out to be unallegiant to any sort of power-elite status like the two programs are historically known for being.  A weakened schedule and a reaaaaalllly bad performance in Columbia, SC against a well-prepared South Carolina team who had their best day on Bama's worst.  But still, the Boise State's and Texas-Christian's wouldn't last two weeks in an SEC schedule.  Especially in Alabama's schedule where A LOT of people are tending to forget that every team has a 'bye week' the week before they play us.  Ya, that's totally fair.  Funny how the NCAA didn't catch that one, huh? National Coalition Against Alabama. Also funny how we were #1, and lost to a ranked team, on their home field - not ours, and we moved back THAT MUCH?  It's safe to say that Bama won that title last year so there's no way the coalition will allow for Bama to have the same opportunity that Urban Meyer and his titty-baby Tebow were given... when they had one loss that year, as well. They're keeping Alabama and Nick Saban (who everyone is PETRIFIED of because he's taking out head coaches and getting them fired like their bowling pins or something...) right at #8 so that they can get away with just sending us to the Sugar Bowl and telling us to be happy with the BCS bid.  Spurrier lost to Kentucky after beating Alabama. That ride on Cloud 9 didn't last too long, did it Ball Coach?
WOW - I just ranted, my bad.

6. My mOttO(s):  bE aS yOu aRe and rOcK wHaT yOu'Ve GoT

7.  OHS sPaNiSh cLaSs - Because "someone" has me re-learning that roll of the tongue and that hard-to-grasp set of grammar rules.  It is fun, though, and I doubt it's going to hurt me in my career field.  I'm a millennial chick and should be a little more cultured in language than I am... becausethe times they are a changin'.  Oh, speaking of 'being more linguistically cultured' - I have convinced myself that I need to really invest the time and practice into learning American Sign Language.  ASL is such an amazing way to serve others - the literal meaning of "hands that serve" and a way to live a life of fulfillment.  So, Rosetta Stone?? Or what method should I use? Help!

I want to leave you with this...
I opened up a random craft book at Barnes & Noble yesterday and the page was blank except for THIS. And it was exactly what I needed... it's aWeSoMe!!!!

Enjoy the FREEFALL.

Choose exhilaration over comfort. 

Choose angle over predictability.  Choose potential over safety. 

Wake up to the MaGiC of everyday life.

Make friends with your intuition. Trust your gut.

DISCOVER THE BEAUTY OF UNCERTAINTY.

Know yourself fully before you make promises to another.

Make MiLLiOnS of mistakes so you will know how to choose what you really need. 

Know when to HOLD ON and when to LET GO.

LoVe hard, and often, and without reservation.

Seek knowledge. OPEN YOURSELF to possibility.

Keep your HEART OPEN, your HEAD HIGH, and your SPIRIT FREE.

Embrace your DARNESS along with your LIGHT.

Be wrong every once in a while and DON'T BE AFRAID to admit it.

Awaken to the bRiLLiAnCe in OrDiNaRy MoMeNtS.

Tell the truth about yourself no matter what the cost.

OWN YOUR REALITY WITHOUT APOLOGY.

See goodness in the world.

Be BOLD. Be FIERCE. Be GRATEFUL.

Be WiLd, CrAzY, aNd gLoRiOusLy FrEe.

BE YOU.

peace and love

be as you are

BAILY

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