Going Home.

Tomorrow at approximately 5:56 pm, I will be taking off from ILM airport flying to Mississippi for a weekend getaway. I'm so PUMPED!!! Like I said earlier, I haven't been home since Christmas '07. So, you can imagine my excitement.

Here's my itinerary:

Friday evening I will land in GTR at 8:04 pm waiting on my parents to greet me. I'm going to talk them into eating at Little Dooies in Starkville for supper. They have some good BBQ. Nothing like MS barbeque. Hopefully they will be in the mood for it.

On Saturday, Mom, Dad and I are driving to Meridian to see Chris, Suzanne and Audrey's house. I'm also going to check-out where my brother works. Then we are going to my Grandmother's house to see her later in the afternoon. She will be 93 years old in September. I hope to see 93. It will be great seeing her and her house. I just love it! It was built in the 1800's and it was actually my Grandfather's house that he grew up in. I never met my Grandfather...he passed away in the early '70s. Saturday night, I'm hoping to see Leigh and her little one's. It all depends on how long our day is. I really hope to see her for at least an hour or so. Again, I haven't seen her since '07. Thank goodness for Facebook!

Sunday, we are cooking out burgers and kabos. Chris, Suzanne and Audrey are arriving early in the AM. They come late Saturday night depending on how tired Chris is. He won't be getting off work until 8pm.

The weather is suppose to be in the mid 70's and sunny. Can't beat that! I'm so ready to go home, and I'm sure it will be hard to get back on the plane Monday afternoon to fly back to Wilmington. Then get back to work mode, nasty.

I will miss Brody and Brian, but they can have themselves a boy's weekend. It will be good for Brian to have the house to himself. Until next time!

My poor baby.

Today was a very big day for Brody Bear, but I didn't intend on that happening. Brian took Brody to his groomer's, Olga's Dog Spa, to make him even more handsome. He HATES going to the groomers mind you. He shakes and shivers uncontrollably. By his reaction, you'd think that we were abandoning him forever.

So anyway, I picked him up around 1 pm and we were driving home and I noticed he kept squinting his left eye. His left eye was really runny and I noticed a film on his eye. I called Brian letting him know that I thought something was wrong and that I was going to take him to the vet, just in case something was wrong. Its a Mother's instinct I suppose.

I took Brody to his veterinarian, Wilmington's Animal Hospital, to let Dr. Stacy Ward take a look at his eye. While checking out his eye, she noticed he had several pieces of hair in his eye. She had to put a yellow dye to make sure that there wasn't an abrasion. Unfortunately, he had two small corneal abrasions. I have to put an ointment in his left eye three times a day for 5 days and take him back to the vet if I see it's not getting any better.

I feel so bad for him. He's a dog, he can't tell me if he's in pain. All I can do is use my judgement. He's my baby and I don't want anything happening to him. I want to protect him as much as I can.

I'm So Excited, I Just Can't Hide It!!

I booked a plane ticket to Mississippi! I had no intentions of going home, but yesterday I noticed on the work schedule that I'm not working on April 6th, which is a Monday. By not working on Monday, I have a little bit more of a weekend. The wheels started turning in my mind. Why not see what plane tickets were to fly home for the weekend. Mind you that I haven't been home since Christmas '07. It is WAY OVER DUE. Grant it, my parents have visited me since I've been in Wilmington, but I haven't seen my brother since my last visit home. Too long, I know! I'm really pumped about seeing him. I'm just ready to get back into God's country.

I really do miss Mississippi. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE North Carolina. But like Dorothy says, "There's no place like home." For me, MS will always be "home." You can't beat it. The food, hospitality (which means, just about everyone you pass on the road, you wave), pastures, agriculture, blues music...to just name a few. Mississippi is truely a gem, and you don't realize it until you are gone.

I remember growing up, I just couldn't wait to move. I wanted to be somewhere other than Mississippi. I didn't want to be like my parents. Living just miles from where I grew up. I just knew that there was something bigger and better than slow talkin', sweet tea drinkin, country music listen' Mississippi.

I have had the opportunity to live in Tennessee, Georgia and now North Carolina and nothing compares to the great Magnolia state. Now, Wilmington is beautiful. It's full of arts, kind people, historical downtown, the beach, great seafood restaurants, but I haven't yet found a great "honky, tonk...aka juke joint" bar to where they play good ole' blues/country music. Like I stated in a earlier post, Clarksdale is great place for blues music. Well, let me take that back, the Delta all together is great for the blues. If you ever travel to MS, please stop by the Delta. I do miss it!

Needless to say, I am a little home sick. I will probably get there and not want to come back. Pitiful. I just love my parents house. It's on 25 acres of land with a 3 acre pond right outside the house. I enjoyed going fishing and swimming in that pond growing up. It takes about 20 min to get into town. Perfect. My daddy built our house when my Mom was pregnant with me back in 1980. When I go home, I will have to take a pic of it to share. It's just lovely.

I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends. It will be good to catch up with everyone, especially my 92 year old Grandmother. Can you tell I'm pumped!!!

Airlie Gardens

Sunday was such a lovely day that I decided to walk around Airlie Gardens. For those of you not familiar with Airlie Gardens, here's a brief history:

The property known as Airlie was part of a 640-acre land grant from King George II to the Ogden brothers in 1735; by the 1800s much of the original acreage had been transferred to Joshua Grainger Wright. It was not untill the arrival of Sarah Jones, wife of Pembroke Jones, that a formal garden was created. The Joneses were wealthy industrialists noted for their lavish entertaining. They used Airlie as a means to accommodate their guests and parties.

Sarah Jones began planting the property in 1901 and later in 1906 commissioned German landscape architect Rudolf Topel to transform the tract into a picturesque garden. Airlie reached its peak during the 1920s, at which time it was reported that over a half million azaleas and 5,000 camellias were in the garden; many of these plants still bloom and thrive in the garden. The 67-acres of today’s Airlie are all that remain of the original 155-acre estate.

The Corbett Family purchased the Airlie property from the Joneses in 1948 and used the gardens as a primary residence. Local business owners with strong ties to the community, the Corbetts would open the garden to the public several seasons throughout the year, especially in the spring during azalea bloom. In 1999 the family sold the property to New Hanover County. Today, Airlie is a local treasure as one of the last undeveloped land tracts along Bradley Creek. The gardens are undergoing restoration and are now preserved for public use.

If any one comes to Wilmington, you definitely need to check it out. Here are a few pics that were taken. I have more on my flikr page at, http://www.flickr.com/photos/30862989@N05/.

What A day!!

That's all that I can say. Not only work being hellishes (if that's even a word), but I got into a car accident on 3rd street today. That's right, a car accident that involve, technically 3 other vehicles, and myself. Sadly, it was my fault. I took the long route home from work today to drive through the downtown area...I really wanted to listen to my iPod before going home. I was minding my own business, and I suppose I looked down...honestly, I can't remember, it all happened so fast. The next thing I know, there was a Crown Victoria stopped and I slammed on brakes, but it was too fast and...BAM, I hit the crown victoria. That car hit a PT cruiser and that car hit someone else. The car of the front end left and me, the victoria and cruiser stayed behind. My vehicle got the worst of it. I mean, that bad boy is totaled. Stuff started leaking out and they even called the fire department. The other two vehicles involved only had a couple of scratches...it wasn't too bad on their part. But man, mine...not pretty. I'm just thankful my airbag didn't pop out. How i tdidn't, I don't know. I was going about 35+MPH!

Of course, they had to tow my car away. The tow guy told me it was about $4,000 in damage. I'm glad no one was hurt. My wrist is feeling weird...all numb and tingly. If its not any better tomorrow, I will have it checked out. I'm sure I will be feeling the affects of it tomorrow. I'm just so mad at myself for this happening. I suppose that is why its called an "accident."

Anyway, just wanted to give an FYI for anyone who may be reading my blog. It sucks that I wrecked my car, but thankfully no one was hurt. That is all that matters. Its nothing a bottle of wine can't fix!

Two New Purchases

Last night while I was waiting on Brian to get home, I was browsing the internet and checked out my favorite store, http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/. They have the CUTEST stuff! Anywho, I've been needing some new everyday earrings for all the dresses that I have been purchasing lately. I'm not the proud owner of cute earrings. Honestly, I don't know why. I thought these were cute and I they have other cute ones that I wanted, but I spent almost $40 on just two pair. I really didn't to spend too much money on just earrings. Anwy, I liked them and just thought I would share a couple of pics of them. Can't wait until they arrive!

Oakdale Cemetery.