Fight Song

Well, after a near non-post yesterday. I am going to be super vigilant in getting this one up. But first, thank you to Thomas Lee for appreciating the inner geek in me last night. When I learned that the post from yesterday morning didn't exactly post, I hit panic mode. "Quick. Thomas, do you have your ipad I need to post my blog." "Yes, but we don't have wifi here. Use my iphone.." Thomas, I think I love you.

I had to drive over to Jacksonville for work yesterday and I am still living out of a suitcase. And I am running out of clothing options and I have learned that I am not really a fan of king sized beds. I just don't know what to do with all that space. But, I did get to hang out in the same room as one, Tommy Wright. Granted, he was in this room about 7 months before I was. Details. Details. Confused? probably.

Well, logistics aside, I just needed an excuse to play this video. Enjoy this Seminole great.

Just a spoonful of sugar

For Mother's Day Weekend, I did a little role playing. Lea and Millie skipped town for the lights of NYC and Adam just happened to have a business trip in China or Korea or both. So that left Maxx and Rosie all alone. Well, all alone with....ME!

Here is what I learned from a weekend with the Marshall kids....

Reasons I would fail as a mom:

1. Rosie and I watched 20 minutes of Maxx's soccer game...until we realized that he wasn't on that team.

2. I may have accidentally taken a nap that lasted 2 hours, give or take. Supervision is SO overrated. I really like naps.

3. The whole monkey milkshake debacle of 2008.

4. I suggest things like this.

Reasons I would rock as a mom:

1. I went to church 3 times on Sunday. Twice without make-up.

2. I didn't actually let them watch Taken.

2. Two Words: BMX park.

I did make her wear a helmet and sunscreen. Go me.

The Sign

Now that you have Ace of Base in your head... Check this out...


I walk past this sign everyday. And everyday it confuses me. It is located in an area of campus where students in the Film School shoot scenes for their....you guessed it, films. First, it says no parking. I get that, it makes sense to me. (Although there is rarely a day when there isn't a car parked there....but that doesn't really affect me.) The part that doesn't make sense in my little head is the "Do Not Discard Boxes or Trash In This Area". I am not sure which that means....

Is it?

a. If you have a box or trash and you want to put them somewhere... this is NOT the place to put them.

or

b. If you see boxes or trash in the area, you had better leave them there. As in "do not remove items from this area."

It hurts my brain just about every morning.

One Day*

I love Jane Austen. I really do. But let's be real, her books have a lot of characters and some fancy words. I lose track, get frustrated and stop reading. I suppose it is only fair to say that I love the Hollywood interpretation of Jane Austen. I have watched Pride and Prejudice at least a dozen times. (Likely more given that I watched it 3 times last week.) The Matthew Macfadyen** version. Not that Colin Firth stuff. Man, I just get sucked in. Sometimes I watch the whole movie, other times I fast forward to the scenes between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy and my heart gets all fluttery. Oh Mr. Darcy, with all your stubbornness, oh and that big fat house. It is really good stuff. All packed into 127 mins. And I was watching P&P last week for the 3rd time, I remembered that I have never actually read that book. Being the P&P snob that I am, I was embarrassed. Then a strong determination overwhelmed me. I grabbed my copy (yes, I own it- but had never read it) and started whipping through the pages Marshall kid style. You had better believe that I finished that book. And I finished it in ONE day. I am not lying. I literally couldn't put it down. And yes, that is #7.

#7 of 20: Read Pride and Prejudice. (All of it. In a day.)

You will be happy to know that my all time favorite line from the movie is actually in the book. That's right. "A thousand times yes."

*Yes. I used the title of an Akon song. Well, really a Matisyahu song feat. Akon.

**May 14- Matthew Macfadyen in Robin Hood. I'm in.

Airplanes

No, this is not a post about travel. Or that old Leslie Nielson movie. This post is actually about collaboration. If I were following Lea's lead, this would go under things I like in May. But I also like it in June, July and the other 9 months. (Now I am pretty sure that some pregnant lady just found my blog by googling 9 months. To that lady...do yourself a favor...google pajama jeans.) So....I just love collaboration. As my friend Rebekah often says, "Its about working smarter, not harder." Almost all of my projects involve some form of collaboration. And since I can't seem to get enough of this song right now... here you go. My favorite May collaboration. If I could sing I would absolutely do something with Hayley Williams. But I can't, so I will let B.o.B. have that honor. Oh, and I doubt this is a radio edit.... warning that is what happens when you also collaborate with Eminem.

What's love got to do with?*

Were you looking for me on Saturday? I just know you were. I bet you didn’t find me. Actually, I know you didn't find me and it is probably because you didn’t look at the Big Wash Coin Laundry. You really should have looked there. Not only would you have found me, you would have stumbled across one of the greatest projects in Tampa. (oh yes, I was in Tampa for the weekend. My hometown for those who don't know me.) OK back to the topic at hand. Here is what you need to know.... Every first Saturday… Laundry Love.

After knowing about this project from the start, I finally checked it out. I went to visit my friend Jason who is the founder of Current, the organization responsible for Laundry Love. Jason spent the morning introducing me as his “old friend”. I quickly had that corrected to “incredibly hot and attractive friend”. Although in the sense that I have known him since our youth camp days, when he had a gig as a youth pastor and I was a rockin’ intern….I am an old friend. Well, Laundry Love has grown exponentially over the year. They used to go through $200 in quarters on a Saturday. Now, they average $400-500 in quarters, they have more volunteers than they know what to do with, and they have people waiting in line for them to show up in the morning. In an email that Jason sent out the other day, he shared this story:

Her name is Vickie. She's mother to 2 beautiful children. After paying bills she has $90 a month for her family to live on. One of her greatest struggles every month is laundry for her family of 4. To do all the laundry (clothes, linens etc) her family has would easily cost her over $40 every couple of weeks (I'm no math genius, but even I can figure that math doesn't work to provide clean laundry on top of other needs for her family.) She read the article about our Laundry Love Project, showed up with 7 garbage bags full of laundry and found a little reprieve from her burden. I wish I could describe to you how her countenance and attitude changed from when she showed up. She was all smiles and full of gratitude when she left. Hope had found its way to her heart.

I couldn’t help but think… How do I spend the 1^st Saturday of the month? Now, how should I spend the 1st Saturday? This project is about showing people love. Something that we so often keep bottled up on the inside. The answer to why Jason and others do this is so simple.... they love because HE first loved them.

If you are in the Tampa area and want to help with Laundry Love, let me know. I will get you connected with the right peeps. If you aren't in Tampa and would like to help, you can... they need quarters. If you send them a check, they can cash that. The bank will give them quarters. It is just that simple.

*not to be confused with yesterday's post...What is love?

What is love?*

Tips for surviving a road trip with your sister. Emily and I have tested all of the below methods.

GPS Games- Quick. Find the nearest Starbucks. Do you want coffee? No. I just want to know where they are.

Food Pacing- Are you sure you want to eat that sandwich now? We still have 3 hours in the car? Yes. But I am hungry. OR What is that sound? What are you doing? I am only eating 1 chip per minute.

Radio Station Fake out-You really like that classical medley? Yes. Wait...you want us to listen to folk music?

90s Dance Party- *Thank you Haddaway. Extra points for power ballads. (This activity takes about 80% of any given road trip.)

Classic Question Game- If you could visit any city in the US which would it be? San Fransisco, Portland, Austin, Denver or Boston. (20 mins and 12 conversations later) You forgot Honolulu.

In other news, Blog-a-WEEKday in May is back. For rules see here or here.

And for a more inspiring blog, click here.