Who Do You Think You Are?

NBC recently started a new series called "Who Do You Think You Are?" where they follow celebrities on their personal journeys to discover their ancestry. I love this concept, not because I really care who their ancestors are or where they came from, but for the seed it is planting in its viewers. Hopefully this was be the start of the newest Hollywood fad that fans will be quick to emulate.

I have a personal testimony of genealogy. I've had it pretty easy because most of the work for me has already been done. My greatest joy and pride of my ancestry is growing up knowing that I am a bonafide Creek Indian Princess. That's right, that lovely lady in the picture above was Sehoy I, Princess of the Wind Clan, one, if not the most powerful Creek clan at that time. She is my so-many greats-grandmother.

Not only am I a real princess, but later down the line her granddaughter, Sehoy III gave birth to one of the most historically famous Creek Indians, William Weatherford a.k.a "Red Eagle". Red Eagle was crucial in the peace making between the Creek Nation and General Andrew Jackson, whom befriended him and spared Red Eagle's life. And he is my Uncle.

It's pretty awesome being related to Native American royalty, not only that, but KNOWING it is even better. If my genealogy wasn't done I may have never known this. I really hope that this show lights a fire under peoples rears to get them moving on finding out their own ancestry. Who knows what you might find. Maybe....royalty??? You'll never know unless you start looking!

Spring at Bellingrath Gardens

Last Monday as a play date we were lucky enough to go to Bellingrath Gardens. As long as I have lived here I have only been able to enjoy this beautiful place a handful of times. I love that I was also able to enjoy it with my girls. Miss Miriam really is having a good time, I think I caught her off guard in this picture. It's a good beginning picture, I think!

Some of the kiddies enjoying one of the water fountains.

This was the pathway to the Mermaid Lagoon.

I absolutely LOVE hydrangeas! The blue are my favorite color. Interestingly enough the color of the flower is determined by the acidity in the soil. I think it's if the soil has more acid then they are pink, but if it's more alkaline then they are blue. I could be backwards, but that's the gist.

This is the Mermaid statue. So pretty! And what I thought was neat is that she actually has two legs with feet that are mermaid fins, so it looks like four mermaid fins in all. I've never thought of that concept before. It was very elegant.

A beautiful view of Fowl River.

This is an awesome Lion statue that was just the right size for all our girls to get a good pose. The boys had there own pose as well, but since none of them are mine at this play date I didn't post that picture. Don't worry about the cutie sitting on the head, she was being held up by my older sister who had crouched down behind the lion figure so she could safely hold her, but also stay out of the shot.

A beautiful cherry blossom tree.

More hydrangeas, and PINK!

They had a really neat Japanese garden section with this awesome bridge. I love the effect on the water to make it look like a circle.

I am loving spring here! I remember it being my favorite season in California also. Everything turned green there because of all the rain and it reminded me of home. I absolutely love all the different shades of green all around me. The azaleas are in full bloom and flowers are popping out everywhere.

Ah, spring! It's about time.

Easter Play Date

Today we had a really fun Easter Egg Hunt for our weekly play date. Aren't these little ladies just the most adorable things you've ever seen! Unfortunately I can't take the credit for their cuteness. There is the wonderful organization that put together an Easter packet for military families. Theo filled out the form and some Easter angel from New York sent us 3 boxes of Easter goodies, including these matching dresses for my girls. I, and they, absolutely LOVE them! They were going to this party in style!
Miriam was an excellent egg hunter. Check out that full bucket!
Emma did good for herself as well. I think they are getting ready to start excuvating in the sandbox just to make sure they found all the hidden eggs there.
Look at that face! She is sooooo cute! You like that little froggy basket, don't you. It even ribbits when you push a button on it's belly. I got it at Winn-Dixie and they had a monkey one as well which I thought was super cute, but when you push the button it sounded like a baby screaming, no kidding! Needless to say, I went with the frog.
Checking out all their loot.
They refused to look at the camera all at the same time. It was a beautiful day with my beautiful little ladies.

Happy Easter everyone!

Danger in a Jar

I have discovered heaven in a jar! I LOVE peanut butter! It can be a snack, a meal or the answer to a ravenous sweet tooth. I will actually full on saliva crave peanut butter.

Yes, I am aware of how fattening it is. But I'm usually pretty good about limiting myself. I only allow myself a couple of tablespoons a day.

Unfortunately I have discovered something that is beyond my powers of moderation. Peanut Butter & Co.'s White Chocolate Wonderful. And let me tell you it IS absolutely Wonderful!

I ate an entire jar in 2 days! I just couldn't stop eating the stuff. Straight out of the jar, spoon in hand. Every bite I told myself, "This is going to be the last bite.". And then follow that up with another bite.

Whatever weight I may have lost during my half marathon I put back on in just a couple of days indulging in the wonderful taste of this awesomely delicious peanut butter.

It was totally worth it, and apparently you can get it in a 6 pack through Amazon. I'm in trouble!

Disney Princess Half Marathon

This past weekend I accomplished something that I never would have thought possible. I ran my first half marathon! That's 13.1 magical goodness because I ran it in Disney's Princess Half Marathon. For my first half it truly was a wonderful experience that was only enhanced due to the fact that it was at the happiest place on earth.
The only non-magical moment was that I had to get up at 3:30 A.M.!!!! We had to be in our corral by 5:30. The sun wasn't up and it was FREEZING! I didn't want to wear lots of layers since you warm up pretty quickly by running. There was over 14,000 people running! We all had different race starting times, but we had tags on our shoes that took only our time. It even texted Theo to let him know where I was in the race, my pace and an estimated time of arrival at the finish line. It was so high-tech!
Herding all the ladies through to the starting corral. I didn't get any pictures of the actual starting line since I didn't have the camera and Theo wasn't allowed to go back with me. The Fairy Godmother from Cinderella was on a platform and did the countdown for each corral. I was in Corral C, so I didn't have to wait too long. When they released each corral they had a countdown from 5 and then they set off fireworks.
What was really cool was that they had Disney characters set up throughout the route. We would be running along and suddenly these ladies would make a B line towards these set ups and get in line to get their pictures taken with the characters. It was really funny, but I didn't stop because of the fear that I may not start back up. They made the 13.1 miles very entertaining.
We stayed at the Shades of Green. It's a resort that is in the park...so nice! They have this really neat Mickey statue in the lobby. This is after the race, and yes my eyes are closed. We would have gotten another shot, but my camera went haywire. It probably stopped working because of my awesomeness from just finishing a half marathon.
We got to go without the kids, which at first I was terrified of doing, but once we got there we turned into a couple of kids ourselves!
Theo...my knight in shining...glasses???
I have no idea what is up with my expression. I was making a goofy face and Theo snapped the shot before I realized it. I can still pull off that hat though.

Dear Mission Space ride,
I hate you.
Love,
My equilibrium

Italy

This was actually the night before the race. We walked all over Epcot. Walking all over Epcot the night before a half marathon = bad idea. It was my own fault, that place was too cool to pass anything up.

Me, at the end of our trip. I wore my medal all over the park that day. Theo and I are already planning next year. We found out that he can run with me, just mens times aren't recorded. Even though I still don't have complete use of my leg muscles 3 days after the race, it was SOOOOO worth it!!!

Illiterate Librarian

Sounds like an oxymoron, right? I would have thought, but this is one situation where the Alabama education system's reputation proceeded itself.

I'm not trying to Bama bash. I can't, I am the product of an Alabama education myself. But I hung my head in shame for my home state when I was at the library on Friday looking for a particular book.

I've been reading the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" books and I am up to book 4. (I realize they are a teen book, but they are a fast read and I have a thing for Mythology. I'm not afraid to admit it.) When I got to the library I couldn't find the book on the shelf. I wasn't even sure what the title was, I just knew the author and the placement of where it should be. When it wasn't there I took my 3 girls and their books up to the counter to see if the librarian could find it for me.

I explained that I didn't know the actual title, but I told her the author's name and spelling of it. She typed, then asked, "Is it "Battle of the L-A-B-?-?-?-N-T-H"." I inserted the question marks, because my girls started climbing on the security gate and I figured, "She's a librarian, I just know she is not spelling something out to me.". Just from the letters that I picked up on I guessed, "Labyrinth?". "Yeah...yeah, that looks right.", she responded.

Seriously? Come on Alabama! I try talking you up SOOO much whenever I'm talking to anyone about you. It's so hard to keep it up when things like this are happening. Don't be afraid to set that bar higher!

I seriously love my state and feel blessed to be an Alabamian. I'm just going to have to accept the fact that all of us can't be as edjumacated as I is.

Be Prepared

If you have any boys of the Scouting age, or if you were once a Scout yourself, then you are familiar with the motto, "Be Prepared". That phrase has been turning over and over in my mind since the earthquake in Haiti. Now with the devastation in Chile the words have returned.

I once lived in earthquake country for a short while, and it was a time of constant paranoia. Everyone was always talking about "The Big One" and how it was due at any moment now. I was petrified and couldn't wait to be transferred back to my safe Hurricane country, the South. I know that's a little tongue in cheek, but I always say you can run away from a Hurricane, but you can't run from an earthquake.

My religion has been very vigilant about preaching the importance of being prepared. My whole life food storage has been on the front burner of family issues. My mother canned food, my dad started a garden and as a family we would clean and fill MANY water bottles to store. It is important to understand that if there is a disaster that hits close to your home you are responsible for your own survival. With this perspective we should all have a back up plan on how we can feed our families in case something terrible happens.

I thought it was funny, but also a little alarming, when a friend of ours was giving a talk one Sunday about preparedness and how we should have at least $300 in cash for such emergencies. I don't know how he got on the topic of it with the bank teller, but when he explained that he needed it for his emergency stash she matter-of-factly stated that she has a debit card and therefore is in no danger of being without money. Did she not realize that if there is no power, then there is no working ATM's and therefore is no money?

Having at least 6 months of food storage is ideal with cash on hand in case ATM's aren't working. There is so much information on the internet how to achieve this. Here is one LINK that is an excellent resource to use. Regardless of your religious background this link is very informative and educational.

Even if you are one who doesn't live in an area prone to natural disasters it is still a good idea to have storage. Our country is slowly emerging from a recession. How many people lost there jobs, their homes? How many wondered when their next meal was going to be for them, and for their children.

Be prepared, two simple words that can save your life.