That's it, get out!

i can't tell you how many times i heard that very phrase as a kid. and believe you me my mom definitley followed through! there were many a time, i was left on the side of the road, sometimes with siblings, sometimes without. granted...it was a bit scary, but it obviously didn't traumatize me. if anything it made me BELIEVE my mama meant what she said.
so today i read this story about a New York mom, Madlyn Primoff that was arrested for kicking her girls, age 10 &12 out of the car because they wouldn't stop fighting. she pulled over, put the kids out, & she and the grandmother drove around the block. when she got back, the girls were gone. (here is where our stories start to differ, MY mom would have kicked some serious tail if we'd dared to move). anyway, she finds the eldest child, but can't find the youngest (again, butt whoopin for leaving the sibling). turns out the youngest kid was "found" by a passerby that bought her icecream then waved down a cop. umm, REALLY?!?
#1. why did the kid talk to the stranger???
#2. why did the child GO ANYWHERE with the stranger??
#3. why did the stranger take the kid for ice cream? (sketch)
#4. why did the kid accept the ice cream???
i mean, really that's grounds for SO many spankings, lectures, & groundation it's ridiculous!
anyway so Madlyn calls 911 to report her (dumb) kid missing, the cops are all, oh, she's here. when she goes to pick up the kid she's tossed in jail overnight for Child Endangerment, WHAT?!?
i know, i know, a lot could happen while she drove around the block, blah, blah, blah. but speaking from experience, a lot can happen when you walk to your friends house down the street, when you spend the night at a friends house, when you go to school, when you ride the bus, the list goes ON. i give the mom (Madlyn) props for following through on her threat instead of making empty threats so that her kids grow up to be holy terrors. i'm sure many of you will disagree with me on this, and that's ok. you're entitledto your opinion. i would never do this to someone elses kid...that's not my place. but dude, my mom did it and we turned out ok. i mean obviously the place of deposit has to be taken into thought but really people, jail?

Punch Bug!

(we had to pull off the road to get this one!)

Husband & I have started 2 new "Photo Op Games". One is to collect photos of license plates from all 50 states, but THIS one plays off of one of my all time favorite games: "Punch Bug!" Not to brag or anything, I'm pretty awesome at getting Punch Bugs. In all honesty I'm pretty sure the only reason Husband agreed to this Photo Op Game is because now i'm more concerned with trying to photograph a bug rather than punching him really, really, really hard ;)

Here are a few of our trophy's thus far:

(one of many failed attempts)

growing up Africa...

many of you know of my love affair with Africa. i would move there no questions asked if the opportunity were to arise. i can only imagine be able to offer such an opportunity to my children. i recently discovered Tippi Degré through a friend of mine, Maddie.

i instantly fell in love! Her parents, Alain Degré and Sylvie Robert, moved from France to Southern Africa in newly independent Namibia living in the freedom of nature as wildlife photographers and film makers! y'all, seriously i would do this in a HEARTBEAT! i mean i want this life myself, living in the wild, but to be able to offer such an experience to my child? WOW!

thanks to my friend Maddie, it has become my mission in life to find this book & purchase 2 copies, one for her & one for myself (any donations would be accepted ;) ):

*Most pictures borrowed (stolen) from Maddie's blog

Tippi Degré grew up living in close contact with wild animals, including elephants, leopards and ostriches, who treated Tippi as one of their own.
The animals allowed Tippi to cuddle them, dance with them, and ride on their backs.

Tippi Degré grew up and spent ten years travelling round Africa with her parents French wildlife photographers Sylvie Robert and Alain Degré. Tippi’s mother Sylvie, 52, gave birth to Tippi in Namibia in 1990. Sylvie said, “My daughter was a very lucky little girl. She was born and raised almost completely in the wild. “It was magical to be this free in nature. It was just the three of us living wild with the animals and not too many humans. “Tippi always said that this was her gift. She was in the mindset of these animals, believing they were her size and her friends.” Tippi’s friends included a leopard called J & B, and an elephant named Abu.

Sylvie and her husband Alain Degré have compiled a book about their lives called Tippi: My Book Of Africa. Sylvie said, “She had no fear. She did not realise she was not the same size as Abu and would look into his eyes and speak to him. “Tippi was just 18 months old when they met and it was a special time. “Their friendship was incredible.”

Sylvie Degré insists that she always put Tippi’s safety first, she said, “Wild animals will either run away or attack you if they are frightened. You must always be on the watch. “Tippi was hurt only twice. First a meerkat bit her on the nose. “Then, in 1994, she was at a water hole with a baboon called Cindy.
“Cindy attacked Tippi’s hair and pulled out a handful out of jealousy. That was terribly painful.”

Sylvie, Alain, and Tippi moved to France in 2000, but the family visited Africa in 2006.
Sylvie said, “When we returned to Africa in 2006 Cindy ran up to Tippi and played with her hair, grooming her. It was quite beautiful.” Sylvie added, “My daughter will always be African. Hers is like Mowgli’s story, but Tippi’s is true.”

Tippi Degré grew up surrounded by wild animals in Africa and learned to hunt with the San bushmen of northern Namibia.

Tippi is now 18, and she is studying for a degree in cinema at the Sorbonne in Paris, France.

Great Tippi Degré stuff from Amazon

Tippi of Africa

Tippis Welt

Le Monde selon Tippi. La...

Tippi aus Afrika. Das Mä...

Tippi aus Afrika

nicest thing...

All I know is that you're so nice,
You're the nicest thing I've seen.
I wish that we could give it a go,
See if we could be something.

I wish I was your favourite girl,
I wish you thought I was the reason you are in the world.
I wish my smile was your favourite kind of smile,
I wish the way that I dressed was your favourite kind of style.

I wish you couldn't figure me out,
But you always wanna know what I was about.
I wish you'd hold my hand when I was upset,
I wish you'd never forget the look on my face when we first met.

I wish you had a favourite beauty spot that you loved secretly,
'Cos it was on a hidden bit that nobody else could see.
Basically, I wish that you loved me,
I wish that you needed me,
I wish that you knew when I said two sugars, actually I meant three.

I wish that without me your heart would break,
Yea, I wish that without me you'd be spending the rest of your nights awake.
I wish that without me you couldn't eat,
Yea, I wish I was the last thing on your mind before you went to sleep.

Look,
All i know is that you're the nicest thing I've ever seen
And I wish we could see if we could be something
Yea, I wish we could see if we could be something



~kate nash "nicest thing"

i love her & i love her music...thought i'd share. you should look her up, download her, and appreciate the greatness of her music--no, really. go. now. you won't regret it.

what if i suck...

so i've been honored...asked to write one of the hardest things of my life. i'm writing a reference letter for a couple that i consider some of my best friends. i've already composed 7 different drafts. i'm not happy with one of them. it's not because i'm struggling to find things to say about this couple...it's that i have too much to say. i feel like i'm not being concise enough. i'm sitting here crying because i have so many good things to say about these people. how they've been there for me every step of the way since i've moved to this place. they unknowingly stepped into an empty part of my life filling in for my friends and family that, due to distance, can't be there for me in the ways this couple can. i have learned from them. lessons i may not have wanted to learn, but they so patiently taught me anyway. i'm so excited that they are on their way to becoming parents. it's so much more emotional than i had ever thought it would be. i can't help but thinking, if i'm this excited & this emotional about my close-as-family family getting their own child, i can't even imagine the emotions that are going to ransack my mind & body when my family offers me the title of Aunt as well. y'all, seriously, i'm NOT a crier...but i've been sitting here crying for the past 1/2 hour trying to put all these good things into a concise, professional, fun letter to let others know what great hands this kid will be placed in. i think i'm a bit nervous at letting them down. i know i'm over analyzing this, i know that, but i want this to be a perfect reflection of what perfect parents i know they will be. ok, seriously, i'm wiping up the blubbering & heading to bed...'night...

Our Prayers Are With You Italy...

91 dead, 1,500 injured in central Italy quake...

People walk on the street as they leave their homes after an earthquake, in downtown Aquila April 6, 2009. A powerful earthquake struck a huge swathe of central Italy as residents slept on Monday morning, killing people when houses, churches and other buildings collapsed, officials said. (REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi )

And You Shalled Be Named...

TATOR-TOT

As many of you know, my brother-in-law & sister-in-law are in the process of adopting a precious bundle of joy from Taiwan! I’m both super excited & a scoch jealous of them for this. Adoption has always been something I’ve looked forward to in the process of expanding my family one day. I’ve wanted this since I was little, way before the Brangelina-eclectic-family-craze. (Let me insert a disclaimer here: my brother/sister-in-law are NOT following a craze, they are adopting out of the purest love & a desire for a child of their own.)
So I’m super excited they get to experience the joy of adoption which is awesome & I get to live vicariously through them on this venture, which is super awesome! There’s just the most miniscule part of me that is jealous that they are at that point in their lives. I mean, by no means am I ready to actively seek the expansion of my own family, but seeing the joy on their faces makes me wish a little we were at that point ourselves—but only a little, don’t read any further into that my friends.
Back to the excitement! So the brother/sister-in-law have begun the tedious journey of the adoption application process, and boy is it a doozey! I’m not going to delve into their personals here, but anyone who knows anything about adopting knows how in depth this whole process goes. I on the other hand only have to hear about these things lending an ear here & there, etc. (sweet deal!)
But I’ve hit quite the conundrum…what are we going to call this kid until, to quote my sister-in-law, "he/she" gets here??? I’ve been racking my brains since the moment I discovered I was to be an aunt as to the perfect gender neutral name. I refused to be cliché with a “Squirt” or “Peanut” or anything of the like. In desperation, I resulted to calling "he/she" Lil’ Raney until I could dream up THE PERFECT NICKNAME for my niece/nephew-to-be. I’m sure there are those of you out there rolling your eyes right now, as if the right nickname is not a big deal. But oh, you are so wrong! The wrong nickname can ruin a kid, set them up for a life of failure, of endless teasing, oh, the horror! I cannot be responsible for the ruin-ation of Lil’ Raney. So I thought, and thought, and thought…I mean we’re going on months here that I’ve known this kid will be in my life some day and I can’t think of an affectionate yet awesome term of endearment other than Lil’ Raney?? What has become of me?
Fear not, internet! For last night I was mulling over possible names for this kid, and it hit me like a mac truck sliding on black ice down I-65 this side of Mount Eagle!
Tator-tot!
I know, I know, blank stares, right? It’s ok…you probably need a little back story here. When I was first enlightened in the situation surrounding this decision for brother/sister-in-law it was a lunch date with the Sister-In-Law. We went to Sonic…this is where I learned all about everything and couldn’t have been more blessed to be a part of, excited to help in any way possible, and eager to do my part. The point? I’m getting there. What are the 2 most amazing things on the menu at Sonic? Onion Rings & Tator Tots, duh! Well you can’t call a kid Onion Ring…what if "he/she" has some body odor issue? Then it’ll be forever reminded of this issue every time Aunt Tricia comes around, sadness, I can’t be liable for heartache caused to that dear little being! No, no, instead I opted for Tator-Tot. How cute is that?!? I mean really, it may take you awhile to warm up to it, and I’m ok with that…to be honest I didn’t even really run it by the parents before I chose "his/her name. But I love it and I plan on getting it put on as much baby stuff as I can when the time comes! Now it IS important that Tator-Tot is ALWAYS hyphenated, because otherwise people will feel the need to shorten that poor kids name to TT…and that’s just a road that leads to no good. However, if Tator-Tot remains hyphenated, the name can only be shortened to “T” which is totally cool ‘cause that’s the first letter of my own name and will, by association, make the kid that much cooler!

So little Tator-Tot wherever you may be (conceived or not) I love you so much & can’t wait until I meet you! You are blessed already with the most amazing and loving parents any kid could ever ask for. You’re going to have such a blast growing up…just wanted you to know!
~Love,