Pie in the sky...

Well My Magpie may be heading into a new business venture. I always wanted to be my own boss and I love all things sweet and beautiful so in the same spirit as Gigi's cupcakes I am thinking of a new business called Magpies - you guessed it I am pulling out Grandma's recipes to try my hand at designer tarts. Up for starters:

Chocolate meringue
Lemon meringue
Blackbird meringue (blackberry)
Gingerbread meringue
Coconut Marshmallow meringue
Snickers meringue

These little pies are 3 1/2" x 4" (including meringue) and are approximately 4 oz of heaven in a flakey crust with delightfully tall peaks of traditional or marshmallow meringue served in an sustainable organic paper cup. We hope to sell Magpies individually, in 4's, and by the dozen. There are many more flavors in the works! You can even submitt requests and suggest recipes. Pricing at $2.50 each individually, $8.50 for 4, $24 for a dozen. We should have ordering information up soon! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Pictured to the right below, "Lemon" :)

Help Me Raise Funds

Well, I have finally done it - I have made the commitment to take a trip for 12+ students and adults to Costa Rica next summer. It is something we can't afford but a goal I had been planning to reach eventually and the opportunity has presented itself. So, I'm asking anyone out there that might be so inclined to help a bunch of smart kids from Coffee Co. and their poor teacher raise $$$ to help toward the cost. If you are feeling generous visit the chip in link in this post and actually CHIP IN! We have a meeting for interested persons Thursday Sept, 2nd at the Coffee Co. library if you are thinking this might be your year to splurge. Please come out and hear about our trip and consider joining us. Find out more here http://www.eftours.com/Student-Travel/MyTeachersTours/teachers-tour.aspx?salestour=596121 Hope you'll come hear more!

You Can Pick Your Friends and You Can Pick Out Chairs...So, Help Your Friend Pick Out Chairs...

So I need new kitchen chairs and bar stools.  These are the 3 I like I need help picking out the best looking option.  My table will be painted antique white to match.  Please give me input as to your favorite and why.

Be What You Were Created To Be

"Use what talents you possess: the woods would be silent if no birds sang there except those that sang the best." ~Henry VanDyke

 I loved to draw, sing, cook, take photographs, decorate...  I would call myself an excellent mimic. I see beauty in many different things -a superb observer.  I always have been.  If I can see it I can usually do it.  I believe most people can but many never try.  I sometimes wonder why I'm not the best or the first at things but there is something to be said for being versatile and enjoying many different things.  That's who I was created to be.  Why not enjoy it? Bicylce pic by me - Icey Willow by my cousin Heather

Sultry Summer Softball

Dang it's hot!  Our church has signed up for a softball league this year that runs through September.  It's the best way to trick me into exercising and it makes for good fellowship as well.  You really learn to work as a team and that is important if you are going to be working for God.  I'm still not sure that the short stop isn't trying to kill me when he throws 85 miles an hour at my glove but I'm doing better now - trying to keep my eyes open at least...  We have lost the first two games we played which is not good for the morale of more competitive people on our team.  It really burns them up even though we didn't loose by much either time.  I'm just thankful the Lord allows me to move as fast as I do for the shape I am in.  I would venture to say my spirituality is in about as good condition as my body unfortunately.  As I have begun to realized the importance of exercising the outside of me I have also realized the spiritual side of me needs more exercise too.  I have spent several years chasing professional success, put quite a lot of energy and sacrifice into my tweening children and at  the age of 35 I'm coming to grips with the fact that I need to focus on what matters most to me.  My pursuit of career has been fruitless really, I'm not well off by any means and I work really hard for little recognition, so starting now - starting today, I am reprioritizing.  I will put God first.  I will put myself second.  The things I can control about myself like what I eat, the nurture of my soul, how I care for the person I am will get the focus of my attention.  My family will be second - Chris before the boys because he needs me too.  Then will come others and lastly my job.  I have realized as of late, I cannot control anything but myself so why invest so heavily in trying to impress others or change others actions or thinking?  I'm not saying I won't do a good job where I work, I'm just saying that my life is passing me by while I am investing in fruitless endeavors.  So, softball it is.  Bible study it is.  Family time it is.  Work when it has to be.  If it's not good for me I'm not doing it.  This is the first summer I have actually had time to think and it may have been the best therapy I could have paid for. SO bring on the sultry summer softball that I don't have time for.  It's what is best for me right now.   P.S. Come watch one of our games -we'll even let you play~!  PUMC Softball Schedule

Enjoy Your Life

Beautiful music is like water to a weary soul.
Edify yourself by taking in creation and doing the things you love to do. I heard an exerpt from a sermon not long ago that said - start dancing- don't ask others to join when they see you dancing and enjoying your life and doing good things they will start dancing too.  You will feel more refreshed and more able to run the race. Psalm 45:1 "My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite verses for the king"  I think the Psalmist was referring to a gift that God had given to him. Take time to enjoy creation, it was made for you.  Start Dancing!

Cousins are different and beautiful flowers from the same garden

Well yesterday was a long day. I went to the dermatologist and had a chunk of my face cut out I took a picture but will spare you... Then I had a visit with a cousin I had not seen since kindergarten. He moved to Ohio in 1st grade but his father recently died and he was home to have the gravestone set. Lannie Gilliam III is his name and I have fond memories of games of chase on the playground at PES with Lannie. My other cousin Heather Pool (Tucker) she's really a Gilliam too was supposed to come pick from out garden but her company lasted too long and she didn't make it. Cousins are a strange thing. They are family you don't think about often but someone with whom you possess the same genetic code. They can look like you yet hold completely different family values. Nature versus nurture I suppose. Cousins are a glimpse of what life might have been like had you chosen a different path. I love my cousins though I am not really close to any but Heather (she's a 6th cousin). My mother loves history, family history especially, but I must say nurture is the key to who you become in my opinion. Nature is only the starting place. The woman on the far right is Linda, my cousin Heather's mother. I look more like her than my actual mom I think and could pass for a double for Heather's grandmother! She was also a tall woman - notice I am the giant in the family. Well, I have grass to mow and okra to pick. See you soon!

"I have a magpie mind. I like anything that glitters!"

I was thinking today about what it is I really like to do. The truth is I really like to do lots of things. I am passionate about life and so many things that I never can seem to pick just one. Careers, flowers and veggies in my garden, houses (if I had more money). I'd have one of everything there is if it was possible. My husband is lucky I guess -I've only ever wanted one of him. Regardless, I find this manic state is not really beneficial financially. If I had stuck with one thing maybe I'd have made a fortune by now? I really am not bad at most things I try and I guess that's what confuses me. Are we designed to be really good at just a few things? If so I don't know what I am really good at. These are the things I'm not bad at: music, art, website design/technology, teaching, building, leading others, photography, talking, organizing/analyzing things...These are the things I'm really bad at: math, details, money, exercise, keeping a journal or log of stuff.... So I guess I should concentrate my efforts in the arts. I probably should have gone into PR or website design but those were not well paying jobs when I was in college - heck the Internet didn't even really exist for the public. I don't mind teaching and I don't want to quit but I get bored with it easily because I don't get to see a finished product. I want to LOVE what I do. I really liked working in construction because I could finish a project and say - I did that! I'd build a house every year if I had the money & time. So... I guess I need to ask God for guidance for my "magpie mind." I think they call it ADHD now'a days. It is a gift in that I'm not afraid to try anything but a curse as well. I like who I am I just don't think it's practical for someone who needs to make a living ~

What's HOT in the Outer Banks of NC...?

WE WERE! So, the heat index in Cape Hattaras, NC was around 100 to 105 every day we were there. My husband was so hot his shirts were soaked through most of the day. We joked and said we ate a lot but just sweated it off. The abstract photo is of the Wright Brothers Monument in Kitty Hawk. The trek up to the monument was really long and there was no shade at all at the top. We also did Festival Park, Ocracoke, Teache's Hole (Blackbeard's lair), Jockey's Ridge State Park, Hattaras National Seashore, Pea Island, Roanoake Lost Colony site and Play, and we really enjoyed the town of Duck. The most memorable evening was a clam bake on the beach. We bough local caught seafood and a prepared remoulade and had a feast. The boys cooked Nathan's Hotdogs and smores. It was nice to hear the waves crash and the boys giggle as they chased sneaky little bluecrab with a flashlight. The dunes at Jockey's Ridge in Kill Devil Hills were amazing. The name Kill Devil Hills came from the colonial days when shipwrecks containing barrels of rum washed the spirits ashore. The locals would scavange pricy booty and hide it in the massive dunes. The locals said the rum from the wrecks was so pure and strong it could kill the Devil - thus the name kill Devil Hills. Naggs Head got it's name from the wild ponies (descended from horses aboard spanish ships wrecked off shore) that were made famous in the movie nights in Rodanthe. The sailors could see the outlines of the wild horses against the light of the many light houses along the OBX. It is actually called the graveyard of the Atlantic because of the trecherous coastline. Our 730 mile trip began with a stop at Biltmore in Asheville, NC , but we decided not to go since it was $60 per person!!! On the way back we went through Virginia to Jamestown just to pack in a little more historical flavor. It was so nice to get away. We are thankful for the blessings of a vacation and a safe return!

Kanon Rylee Creek..and his beautiful mother Lana...

Lana is my good, and much younger friend, :) and she and her husband Jason are the proud parents of this brand new cutie pie. He's such a doll and so good too - barely even cries! I'm secretly really happy and honored that they gave him the middle name Rylee which is the name of one of my twin boys who will be 12 in November. Gosh time flies - it seems like this was me just a year or two ago and it's already been almost 12. Their little family makes me happy! It's good to see good people having children who will grow up in an environment that gives them the oportunity to be good people too. These pics make me smile!

I'm 35 as of the first week of June...Funny I don't feel 35...

OBX 2010...The hottest place on the planet....

We looked at an atlas and this place is literally on the same latitude as North Africa. Whew!