Ramblings of a Southern Mama

Further evidence that I am skipping around this list from Blog Everyday in May, today I’m doing Day 8, Wednesday: A piece of advice you have for others. Anything at all. 

I have actually found myself saying this to a few friends lately, all who are in different places in their lives, going through different things.   It is so true – I’ve been there.  When my heart was no longer where I thought it was, all I had to do was see where it was pointing when I was daydreaming.    The other day I told a friend this when she and I sat down and talked about long distance relationships.  I’ve been there, done that and while it was successful for me – it was tough because my heart was so far away with that person.  Her boyfriend is hundreds of miles away, and even though I’d miss her like crazy – her heart isn’t here with us anymore – its with him.  She deserves to have that happy, and be with him and not to have to have her heart away from her. 

Always follow your heart – but always be smart.  Typically your heart won’t steer you wrong.

Because I couldn’t do the real one from Wednesday, I’m going back to the ones I missed in early May.
Because well – that’s how I am – make it up as you go along!

These are 3 of my favorite quotes.

This Disney one has sort of been my motto for the last couple of years.  It was the last thing I whispered to Katie before we said goodbye to our lives in Georgia. It was the thing I told myself every morning when I lost my job at AOD in January.   It also comes from my ending sequencee of my favorite Disney movie “Meet the Robinsons”

I want my kids, my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren, neices & nephews to look back and say “she was a strong lady”.  Everything, EVERYTHING I have gone through from heart surgery at age 5, to being a military wife, and the death of my marriage has made me stronger.  Every step I take, I take because I am not the weak woman I once was.  I take because I know I am strong, and I am worth every struggle.

Embrace the butterflies, I refuse to settle and settle down with nothing less than that feeling.  Yeah, its only been a few months – but I STILL get that feeling every time I see his name pop up on my phone, or see him walk in my house.  I refuse to settle for anything less than amazing – and I am so glad I found it.

So, the last week was lost seriously…end of semester crazy around here.  Now all our students are gone, and its deathly quiet – #dislike!  

This week has been great, and quiet all at the same time.  I haven’t blogged because honestly, I didn’t want to touch a computer after being on one all day at work. 

But, to rewind a week….

Friday the 3rd – took the kids to the Carolina softball game.  They had the best time, and were obsessed with getting autographs afterwards.  The girls are such good sports about signing stuff for the little kids, its so cute!  Jonathan kept yelling for “Miss Olivia” and “Miss Lakyn”.  The next morning Lakyn told me how how precious my kids were.  Yay!

Saturday the 4th
Kenny Chesney/Zac Brown concert with Patrick.  EPIC.  It was freezing – I don’t know how the girls in the skimpy dresses did it – it was so freaking cold (and not to mention rainy).  Thankfully, the seats we had were covered, but that doesn’t stop the wind.  I sang every song, danced and loved being there.  Patrick was such a good sport to willingly go tailgate with 5 women (me & 4 coworkers), 4 of whom were drunk when we got there.  I hurriedly chugged down 4 beers and was quite happy when we went into see Zac Brown.    Photo dump below….

Angie, me & Patrick (poor guy was just trying to eat some chips & we jumped on him)…Angie & Patrick (this is what happens when you leave your boyfriend unattended with your friends – duck faces happen!)……Patrick & I (he likes this photo – its not my favorite)
Middle – Angie, me & Shanna…Shanna & I (before we went in) and Bry & I (happy tipsy girls!)
Bottom – proof we actually did go to a concert – kenny!    and my favorite photo of Patrick & I…  love!

Best part of the Zac Brown concert – when he played Enter Sandman by Metallica.  For those that don’t know, this is Virginia Tech’s football entrance song and I screamed and jumped up and down.  Patrick probably thought I was crazy, and at that point possibly could have been contemplating our relationship (haha!).  It was awesome!   Best part of the Kenny concert – dancing & singing along to every song.  How every song has a memory attached to it – Come Over reminds me of someone, and “Somewhere with you” reminds me of a friend back home, and even Pirate Flag reminds me of Jonathan because he loves that song!

Sunday – quiet day at home letting my liver recover from Saturday night.  =)     It was rainy, so we just layed around and watched TV.  Patrick came over for dinner and we called it a night early.

Hope everyone had a great week!

TEN of my favorite foods:

1. Steak Flautas from pretty much any Mexican restuarant
2. Grilled pizza
3. Cheesecake
4. those no-bake cookies with PB, oatmeal and lots of sugar (we call them fudgies)
5. Shrimp (except fried)
6. Bacon
7. Dark Chocolate ice cream w/marshmallows (ColdStone!)
8. Flank steak from our work cafe
9. lime sherbert
10. Chocolate in just about any form

NINE of my all-time favorite movies:

1. Hope Floats
2. Sweet Home Alabama
3. Steel Magnolias
4. Bridesmaids
5. The Hangover
6. Meet the Robinsons (Disney)
7. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
8. Top Gun

Eight Celebrities I’d like to go on a date with…

1. Channing Tatum
2. Luke Bryan
3. Jason Aldean
4. Justin Moore
5. Eric Church
6. Kenny Chesney
7. Tim McGraw
8.  Reese Witherspoon

SEVEN things I’m loving right now:

1. Rereading Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil
2. every second I get to spend with Patrick
3. My students signing my kids birthday cards willingly and happily.
4. being able to bring Jonathan to work with me on Friday
5. country music
6. countdown to football season
7. BlogLovin

SIX places I‘d like to visit someday:

1. Disney World (for longer than 1 day)
2.  Paris
3. San Diego
4. Key West
5. a warm island in the Caribbean
6. Washington DC (to take the kids)

FIVE games I played as a child:

1. Monopoly
2. Life
3. Rummy
4. hide n’ Seek
5. Wiffle Ball in our front yard

FOUR things I’d rather never see again:

1. certain reality TV “stars” (honey boo-boo, teen moms, etc)
2. anything my kids throw up (eww!)
3. a replay of Marcus Lattimores knee injury or Kevin Ware’s broken leg (OWW!)
4. Spiders.

THREE things I’d like to do this year:

1. Roadtrips with my kids, and with Patrick – to go home!
2. Dance with my “sister-in-love” Angela at her annual bonfire.
3. Go to at least 4 USC football games!

TWO facts about me:

1. I had open heart surgery at the age of 5.  I have a nice long scar, but no problems since then.
2. I sing all the time like I am Miranda Lambert at the ACM awards – in my shower I’m a total rock star.

ONE meaning behind my blog name:

1. At the time I started VannClan5 – there were 5 members of our little family.  Clan rhymed with Vann, so it just stuck.

Hey my loves!        

I am skipping Pits & Peaks this week to write about something I am excited about sharing with you all!   Awhile back on a random blog, I was introduced me to the idea of ABC Dates.  What are ABC Dates you ask?   It’s 26 dates in a year (every other week), each date corresponds to a letter of the alphabet.        

Patrick and I are somewhat doing the ABC Dates here in South Carolina as best we can, he really liked the idea – so I’m going with it!  We branched out and I decided to cover the whole state, because well – SC really isn’t that big, and most places in the state are a day trip for us.  Some will require planning, some will be free, some will require a little extra money.   

It doesn’t have to be all dinners and movies – get creative people!        So many couples lose that connection, daily life can often get in the way.  Between us, we have 4 kids, we both have full time jobs, and 2 kids who play sports.  Life is crazy sometimes.  The other night I was fussing about the amount of time we got to spend together in the next few weeks, and he said “right now we’ll take what we get”.  He was so right (shh…don’t tell him I said that!), its not about the quantity, its about the quality.   We have both been married before, which I think gives us a unique perspective, we both know what we do and what we do NOT want.   I can’t speak for him, but for me its about carving out time for each other, outside of being mom & dad to our kids, outside of being Coach Patrick and Ms. Lori.   

That being said, onto the dates!   So far, I’ve decided to do a list for Richmond, VA (my hometown), Atlanta, GA (where I used to live) and of course Columbia, SC where we live now.    Click on the links below for each of the cities.

ABC Dates – Atlanta

ABC Dates – Columbia, SC

ABC Dates – Richmond, VA

This idea came about after Patrick & I started dating, so we put things on the list that we want to do and some we have already done.   Dates don’t have to be fancy!  We have just as much fun making dinner and watching Duck Dynasty as we do going out to dinner.  We even made our own fun out of walking around Walmart (on our first date after dinner) and being silly with each other.    Our 2nd date we went to dinner, and then decided to go to World Market (and then we hit Target). We have this thing about wandering around stores I guess, because on another weekend outing we ended up wandering the mall (including him willingly going into Bath & Body Works and smelling stuff with me).    Its not about buying something, but about the time you spend together.   I learned some silly things on our little shopping trips, like he loves the smell of coconut – and that he will point out every pink thing because he knows I love pink.

Now here is where I need your help!   Patrick & I have come up with lots of the ideas for Columbia.  However, I haven’t lived in Richmond in awhile – so I need help there!  Same for Atlanta, I need your ideas!    If you want me to start a list for another city, let me know and I can start a list!  Just leave me a comment, or send me a note here or on facebook or twitter.