ALWAYS ENJOY THE JOURNEY AS MUCH AS THE DESTINATION.....

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Going Buggy

Hi Bloggie!
I just had to tell you all about my little ants school play. Kylenns' Kindergarten class put on a little performance for the parents the other day. When I went I really didn't know much about it, I knew Kylenn had a part in it, but that usually amounts to them saying a line in the middle of a choir song, cute but not usually anything too spectacular.
So I went to the performance. I didn't see Kylenn before they started, but when they came out on stage I saw that he was dressed like an ant, complete with feelers! He looked SO cute. They sang lots of songs about bugs, like "Shoo Fly", and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider". He did so good, he was very in to each song and did all the hand motions perfectly!
THEN, at the end they started to sing "The Ants Go Marching". Kylenn and several other children made their way to the back of the stage. I was excited to see what he was going to do when he came out. They did the ants go marching one by one, two by two....five by five, and out comes marching Kylenn, ant costume, feelers, green goggles, and a pink floatie ring in hand! IT WAS SO CUUUUUTE! The whole audience just cracked up when he marched across the stage, and he looked out at everyone with those goggles on and a bashful look on his face. He was the cutest little ant I have EVER seen!

I'm so glad I get to be around for each one of my monkey's events, I wouldn't trade seeing those precious moments for anything Bloggie! My camera died just as Kylenn marched out on stage, of course, but I went home and charged the cam and O.H. got a good video of it that evening when they performed again!

The ants go marching five by five and the little one stops to take a dive...

Your Friend in Texas,
Amanda with an A

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Something old and something new

Hey Bloggie!
Nice to write with you again! Tonight I have a couple things to catch you up on so let's get started...
First, I had the good fortune to meet up with one of my dearest friends. Her name is Dace Chamchot, I have been friends with her for about 13 years, and although I don't get to see her very often we always keep up with one another. Her, her husband Tera (who is from Thailand), and ten-year-old son Amon moved first to Hawaii about four years ago, and then about six months ago they moved to Thailand.
She contacted me a couple of weeks ago to tell me that they were in town and she would like to try and meet up. I said, "YES" of course! I couldn't wait to see her and Amon! We met at the Fort Worth Nature Center, I took my monkeys with me and we had a great time! We looked around the center, and then we took a couple of hikes. We talked alot, and at one point we even plopped down in the middle of a trail and had a pow-wow!
Dace is a first grade teacher in Thailand, and Amon goes to an International School there. Tera runs an organic farm in the countryside, and they are planning a camp for people who practice Moi Thai (sp? it is Thai martial arts) coming up in the fall. Dace is always a calm, gentle person, full of wonder for what makes each person tick, and a wealth of worldly information. We have always been kindred spirits and whenever we get around each other it is as if we have never been apart.


I am soooooo glad I got the chance to see Dace and Amon! Dace is the only person that has ever called me Mandy, and I kinda like it! :)

Then Bloggie, I got a new arrival in the mail! I was so super duper excited! I had been waiting and waiting for it to arrive. I had scoured the internet for hours looking for the best deal I could find. My O.H. (obsessive hubby) told me I spent more time pouring over buying it than I did buying my house....maybe.
MY HAMMOCK!!!! WOOOOOHOOOOOO! It is so awesome! It is an ENO Doublenest Hammock in navy and olive. I had originally chosen purple and forest, but The Hammock Company, the company I finally found the best deal from, called me after I ordered it to let me know they were sold out of that color. Oh well, I love it no matter the color. It is my own little coccoon that I can set up anywhere I like. I can sit in it like a chair, lay back and feel the breeze as I sway back and forth, or wrap all up in it and shut out the world while I just hang there. Then when I want to take it with me, it folds into a little bag the size of a grape fruit. What a wonderful thing to arrive on my doorstep!

Well that's all for tonight Bloggie, I will try to bend your page again tomorrow.
Your friend in Texas,

Amanda with an A

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Treasure gathered in NOLA

Hello Bloggie,
I have a few things I would like to share with you tonight. They are a couple of my favorite things I was lucky enough to grab in Nola last month. I had a ton of fun while we were there, and truly enjoyed everything New Orleans had to offer. The culture is rich, and the locals so much fun. I felt the history alive in the city, soaked in the architecture, and kept my eyes wide open to all the beautiful sights. The word I would use to describe New Orleans is gritty. Mainly because everything about it had texture, the smells, the foods, the people, the surroundings...everything. When I think of the word gritty I think of texture, gritty is the opposite of smooth, full of little bumps and flaws which make it unique and wonderful.

One thing that is a big part of New Orleans culture and history is voodoo. I don't practice or believe in voodoo myself, but I can appreciate that it is part of that areas past, present, and future. Besides, as I love anything spooky, it is right up my alley! SO, that being said, one of my treasures I acquired in Nola was a voodoo doll.
She is so cute! I picked her up at The Jamie Hayes Gallery on Chartres Street in the French Quarter, from the Voodoo Child Doll collection. The tag told how she had a pinch of Gris-Gris (magic potion) inside her and that ifyou wanted to cause someone pain hold her, think of the person, then stick her with a pin (which there was one provided on the back of her head). Hahahaha, it was said with a wink and added to her charm, I love how the tag says, "the better to stick you with"! She now resides on my purse, just incase I need to use a little emergency voodoo action. Watch out foes o'mine, you may end up with a headache...;)

Another treasure is something I was given, I didn't spend a dime on it. While in the Quarter we were delightfully surprised to learn there was going to be a parade. We had made our way there just after Mardi Gras so we weren't expecting anymore parades. We watched as an Italian parade for St. Joseph's Day made it's way through the Quarter, it was a big parade and they threw LOTS of loot consisting of various things, most of which was in the italian colors, red, green, and white. Necklaces, flowers, stickers on our cheeks that looked like lips, feather boas, garters, candy, footballs, waterguns...everything you could think of, everytime I would look up it would be something else.
Then a man walked over to Savannah, my sister Daley, and I and took out some of the cutest little bracelets from a baggie he was carrying. He put one on each one of us, and then said, "My daughter made these for me to give out." Awwwe, I thought they were adorable anyway, but when he said that I fell in love with mine! I could picture this little girl sitting down and making a bunch of bracelets for her Daddy to give out at the parade. That is something my daughter would do, and I have loved the bracelet ever since. I don't know who this little girl was, but she represents the love of a daughter to me and I have worn it ever since...

Another treasured item was definitely my awesome New Orleans hat, I have already pictured it at the top of the blog. Just putting it on my head makes me feel ten times cooler than I feel without it. It says New Orleans on the side in little gold letters, that the letters are small and kind of hidden is something I like about it, like that extra little bit of coolness is only apparant to the people who really want to notice my hat.

Probably my favorite treasure of all though, would be the memories I will always have of the whole trip. I had a great time with all my family, got to learn a lot about the history and feel of somewhere I wouldn't have otherwise known, and I got to travel! After leaving I can definitely say...I can't wait to go back!

Your friend in Texas,
Amanda with an A