Things I've Learned This Week

Things I Have Learned This Week:

1. Time Management is CRITICAL when you work for yourself. I found myself sort of feeling like I was supposed to be doing something, yet somehow I got everything accomplished. 

2. Yacht Rock is my latest obsession. I blame #BraggJam. Though I have always loved 10CC, The Commodores, Ambrosia, Christopher Cross,Hall & Oates,  etc... I am back on this soft rock kick from hell. Can't. Get. Enough. In particular... THIS song. I probably played it 1/2 a dozen times the other day as I was scooting across town to run errands.

 

3.  I have officially complicated my life... and I am WELL aware of it. Details will come.. and yes, it's in the "love interest" territory.. but .. c'est la vie. I'm having fun. ;-)

4. It's Clinique Bonus Time at Belk. Need I say more? The ugly phase is over. ;-)

5. I have a $183 grocery bill today. Why? It's a whole lot cheaper to purchase food to prepare versus going out to eat. Now that I am working from home, it just makes more sense. I checked out my Wells Fargo budget breakdown.. and... um... er.. I was spending close between $600 - $800 a month in "entertainment." Which when I looked closely - was restaurants/etc.  Yeah.. that grocery bill makes sooo much more sense now.

6. Okay.. now.. I'm just going to say it. It's not cool, but I don't care. I have spent money on super expensive shampoo, I've bought the natural stuff, and I've bought the smell good stuff. I TRIED to make a switch to some other "highly promoted" expensive crap, and my hair has felt like straw. (Which contributed to my ugly phase post.) I finally just picked up my old fave... Pantene Volume and it was like a miracle had occurred. I'm going on the record and saying this is the only shampoo that works for me. There, damn it. I'm done with trying other things. My old standby is perfect. No more ugly duck phases.

7. I have so much more "me" time and I feel complete joy. Did you hear me? JOY. 

8. I thought I would give a shout out to some of my friends in Macon. It was such a delight to pick up this month's Macon Magazine and see 4 of my friends right there listed as part of the 5 under 40. I don't think they could  have picked four more incredibly wonderful people. What do we all have in common? We're all Leadership Macon graduates! Dominique Johnson (is a minister, as well as one of the advisers to my Leadership Macon class,)  Chris Tsavatewa (is a professor at Middle Georgia State College & serves as the head of the community board I serve on for Star Choices, and I consider a newer friend (his wife is awesome too!,)) Jonathon Dye (is a very dear friend and the Communications Director at Macon Arts Alliance and now someone I work with doing the Art Matters Journalism bit,) and of course, Stacey Harwell (she is Jonathon's fiance and a minister at Centenary & a dear friend.) These four are soooo dedicated to our community and I am genuinely thrilled they were selected.

Dominique Johnson, Steward Vernon, Chris Tsavatewa, Jonathon Dye, Stacey Harwell

9. Is it just me.. or are you over summer? I figured out this week that I have a threshold for handling humidity and I have officially reached it. Bring on pumpkin spice, bring on the bold/Autumn colors, and bring on the cool evenings. DYING here, people.

10. Finally... I'm okay. Really! Maybe doing better than I have in a very long time. 

With that.. let me show you a little of what I have been up to:

Lynn, Scott, & Bill (& me.. though I'm taking the photo) at the Cox Capital Theater watching the Grammy Winning - Blind Boys of Alabama at Bragg Jam.

My friend and curator of the museum, Jeff, celebrating his 50th bday!

Need I say more?

Chilling with my mom at her Gallery

Hanging out at Macon Arts Alliance's opening for "Figures" with Glennean (artist,) Steven (dir of Main Street Macon,) Molly (PR guru,) Jonathon (mentioned him earlier,) and Melissa (dir of The 567 for Renewal (a gallery))

Friend & Coworker, Tonya, at Jeff's Bday party

Me about to facilitate the Board Retreat for Middle Georgia Art Association

The insanely talented artist, Eric O'Dell, with one of his paintings. Click on his name to learn more about his wildly successful career. :-)

Lynn with Dewayne Kendrick (artist,) Deonna (arts advocate,) and Franodo (great friend.)

Josephine (Station manager of GPB Macon - Georgia Public Broadcasting) and me at Bragg Jam.

Scott and I hanging out in downtown Macon

I went to see The Wedding Singer at Macon Little Theater. My friend Georgia portrayed Linda, and her husband, Brian, was Robby Hart! They did an incredible job!

That little nugget made a cheesy chicken casserole with me.

Two newer characters in my life. Two great friends- Brent Milner who owns the Milner Group of Georgia (Allstate agency) and Derek Huff - handles financial securities/etc with Allstate. I am doing some PR for them, and of course, we are actually all good friends.) Lynn and I hang out with them from time to time. :-)

Me - having lunch at Harpin's in Macon.

That crazy little "power couple" - Stacey & Jonathon with me - at Bragg Jam. #dyewell Yes.. they have their own hashtag. lol

Eleta & Alex Morrison at the Macon Arts Alliance exhibit opening reception. Alex is the King of downtown - as in the head of the Urban Development Authority. Super nice couple.

The fabulous Carey Pickard and Chris Howard. Chris & I were in Leadership Macon together. He is also my main contact at Cox Communications for promotions. :-)

The group I lead at the Board Retreat. Helping artists & arts organizations become the best they can be!

One of my dearest friends, JJ Hobbs. Click on that link and get blown away by incredibly cool she is. She and I were at The Wedding Singer together.

Molly & I at The Hummingbird during Bragg Jam. Check out her blog please - Make It Work Molly

Lynn & Eric (minister at Centenary) at Bragg Jam

Lynn, Craig Hamilton, and I at The Hummingbird at Bragg Jam. Craig is another PHENOMENAL and widely successful artist. Just how successful? Well.. he is the one who worked for DC Comics and created Aqua Man. Seriously. Just google him. You'll be blown away. ;-)

Deonna, me, & Jonathon at an exhibit opening at Macon Arts Alliance

Dean Brown (the wildly talented lead singer for Dean Brown & the Dub Shak,) and Lynn

Stopped by the say hi to Jason Frost - just one of the most talented artist/graphic artist around. He just will NOT smile for a pic. lol Check out his stuff HERE.

Stephanie & I at Bragg Jam

Molly & Scott

Just hanging out at a party with Representative James Beverly. ;-)

Hanging out with Paul Harpin (owner of Harpin's) and Molly

Enjoying art with my friends Melissa & Molly

The graphic artist, Jason Frost, with incredibly talented digital artist, Craig Coleman. Craig was showing one of his unique pieces.

Molly & Katie at the Tubman

Travis at Jeff's bday

Molly at Jeff's bday

As you can see - I have not been writing as much, but I have been out living, grabbing inspiration, and loving life.

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!!

Taking Life With a Grain of Salt... A Wedge of Lime...

The past two weeks have been a whirl wind of good times coupled with relaxation, with a dash of stress and concern. 

*smh*

Needless to say, my writing is sporadic... and I am trying very desperately to do something about that. As you may have read earlier this week, I do plan to do a little five-part blog post. That will start on Monday, but until then, let me share with you a little of what is going on in my personal life.

As you can see in the top pic, my cats are adjusting to the heat the only way they know how, by finding a nice, cool dark spot in my closet, way up high, right on top of my clothes. *sigh* I promise those t shirts were folded very nicely before those two made an appearance.

Speaking of cats - Zen has decided he also likes to crawl into the laundry basket. Oh.. let me just add - he is quite the mouser. Yes... he caught a mouse in my apt. I don't even want to know how that little guy got in, but I know he won't do that again. About midnight last night I found Zen walking through with a mouse hanging out of his mouth. I ran screaming thru the house, grabbed a broom, got him to drop it, and banged the poor mouse numerous times on the head screaming - Die! Die! Die!.. then I swept him out the door - only to see him scurry off. *shudder*

Salvatore feels much better. He has been dealing with some blockages in his urethra. Finally off his meds. 

My plants are doing well!

My Gerber Daisies look awesome. Most have bloomed!

I may very well be in love with this little fella.

My Niece came over and spent a little time at my pool with me. I'm totally digging her bathing suit!

Enjoyed a little coffee talk with my friends Stephanie & Andre

My cousins from Indiana, Courtney & Betsy, came through Georgia and visited with us. 

Here is my Uncle Bill and Aunt June from Indiana. We met up at the Pickle Barrel in Gray, Georgia. 

That little stinker. 

If you have not gotten by Roasted lately, you really should. Nothing like a Mediterranean Lunch

enjoyed a little time with my sister in her new house. 

There are some perks to living in an apartment complex. 

My roomie and I took off last Friday for the Golden Isles... the southern coast of Georgia. Took about 3 1/2 hours and we ended up in St. Simons Island, Georgia. We wondered the shops in the village - just to shake off the stiffness from driving those back country roads through Georgia. 

Here I am.. chillaxing on the pier on the Atlantic in St. Simons. 

Here is Lynn doing the same exact thing. LOL There were a lot of fishermen out... 

Packing for a trip is not for the faint of heart. 

After a walk about, we stopped by Iguana Grill on St. Simons. I opted for the coconut shrimp and a baked potato. Later we got ice cream cones to carry as we walked around. 

The beautiful light house in St. Simons. 

More of the beachy shops on St. Simons. Georgia is simply beautiful, isn't it?

Two dear friends enjoying a road trip!

Beach Selfie

Enjoying the view from the pier. Yes, the Atlantic is a little darker than the Gulf. :-)

We felt like we could just let the stress of the week disappear. 

Next we popped down the road about 20 minutes and drove on Jekyll Island, Georgia. We made a way around the historic district to the most beautiful hiking trails to driftwood beach. 

Jekyll Island's Driftwood Beach is really quite a fascinating place. See the land in the distance on the right? That's St. Simons Island!

It's almost magical. 

There were hundreds of hermit crabs scooting into the sand near this spot. 

If you look head.. you can see the light house. :-)

We headed out to go shopping in the historic district. 

The walking trails leading to the shops and the historic homes (of the Rockafellers, Vanderbilts, Carnegie's etc.)

Jekyll Island, Georgia

We drove past Jekyll to Brunswick, and down about 30 more miles to Kingsland, Georgia to see my friend, Lisa. We met up with her at her home. 

Later that night she took us into St. Mary's, Georgia for dinner. We had a great time.. but headed back a little early to get some sleep. It had been a long day!

The next morning, we headed to Amelia Island, Florida to get a little beach time in. It was Lynn's 38th birthday, and we could not think of a better way to spend her birthday. 

Lynn relaxing on the beach, scrolling FB, drinking her iced caramel macciato (sp). 

The sea gulls discovered my cheeze its. 

We were at the beach from around 10am until 2pm. Soaking up the sun... playing in the water... just refilling our soul! But hunger called.... 

We met Lisa at Cedar River restaurant on Amelia Island. I had the best shrimp scampi of my life! After lunch, we headed back to get ready for Lynn's birthday night out in historic downtown Fernadina Beach, Florida. 

Here is Lisa and I at the oldest bar in Florida - The Palace Saloon. This place used to be the stomping grounds of pirates!

A very cool place - with a great band! They played covers from the 90s. 

Lisa & Lynn

Silliness

On Sunday, we got up, packed up, gased up, and headed up I-95, about an 1 hr 1/2 to Savannah, Georgia to see our friends. 

We met our friends at this adorable little beach shack of a restaurant out in the marshes on the way toward Tybee Island, called Bona Bella. 

Was great to see PC & JJ!

I ordered the Banana's Foster French Toast. 

We had soooooo many laughs.... 

Here you see the whole group - Lynn, PC, JJ, Me, and Cindy

After a lovely brunch, we headed back to their house and chatted for an hour or so. Later, we hated to say goodbye, but headed north-westward for Macon.

I could not be happier with the way the trip turned out. I needed that. I came back to Macon, only to continue the fight for our funds to be reinstated in the city/county's budget. It looks like we may be okay.

So many changes will come this summer, and I am looking forward to making the next 1/2 of the year the best 1/2 of the year.