Crossroads

I read a quote today by this man who said that he had his best ideas when he was working in his garden. This of course made me think of my grandmother who absolutely loved to be out in the garden, even in her late sixties and early seventies. She'd prod all of our lazy butts out of bed at 6 in the morning in the summer so that we could get our work done in the garden before the hot Georgia sun blazed us indoors. We all had "garden" shoes - caked with red clay - and little rough spots on our hands from pulling weeds. On a recent visit home I stood at the edge of that very same garden and watched my dad plow up weeds from between the rows. Granny and I used to pull the weeds that the digger couldn't reach - the ones growing right beside the individual plants. I couldn't help but see the two of us in my mind's eye - right there - so many years ago.
I find myself at a crossroads now. I have a career that I could stay in until retirement - I could move anywhere in the country as I move up in my field. I could give Sarah the cultural life I didn't have. But there is something nagging at me now.
My grandmother's home sits desolate and quiet now, in stark contrast to the place that it was to me and to my family before. It is so sad to look at it in such disrepair. It desperately needs some TLC. The one thing she loved as much as the garden in the summer was her house. She'd managed to build that little house herself and it was her sweat and hard work that made it such a great place - not it's market value.
I have an opportunity to go back to GA, to pick up right where I left off in the ER, to live in that little house and fix it up, make it home again.
I'm at a crossroads.
Too bad I don't have some weeds to pull to sort this all out.

I wanna be a photographer...for NKOTB.

I took all of these and over a thousand more at the 5 New Kids on the Block concerts I went to. Really had a ton of fun with my camera, and met some new friends. How does one become a real, honest to goodness photographer? I'd like to set up a website to post my pics to - where they're protected - and people can order copies but not right click and steal them from the site. Anyone know how to do this?

RIP Michael Jackson

Kind of sad to see a musical legend like him go. No matter what you thought of him, he was talented and perplexing. About to make a come-back and now he's gone. Life is fragile.

Oh how to lose the "baby" fat?

Before I had Sarah I was a relatively trim person and always had been. Now I wasn't a size zero and could never be, but I was an 8-10. I was 126 pounds when I married, but Grad school put on about 12 pounds and I'd gained 2 more by the time Sarah was born. I'm now 45 pounds heavier than that. I hate the weight but I'm not sure how to lose it. Exercise is difficult because I have this straight neck and constant pain in my upper shoulders and neck. But, I'm going to start walking - that's the least I can do. I like food but I'm already eating less. I need to work on my choices some. Most of all though, I think it was just the double whammy of having a child and turning 30 the very next day! By the time Sarah is 5 - this year on September 7th - exactly 3 months away - I'd like to have lost the weight. 45 pounds in three months? Let's see...

My tiny addiction to Hard Rock Cafe

I have a tiny Hard Rock Cafe obsession. I've been to several of them and have started an actual collection of their pins. HRC has very cool pins and if you are in to collecting anything at all, this is a neat thing to collect. Pretty inexpensive too! I'm trying to figure out a proper way to display them at the moment. Here are some pics from some of the cafes! Yesterday we revisited the Washington DC cafe - and the weekend before I snapped a pic of the Baltimore cafe. You visiting a HRC soon? Let me know! Pics in order are: Gatlinburg, TN; Atlanta, GA; Washington, DC; and Baltimore, MD. I have other pics but they are on old film instead of a digital format.