My babies (but not MINE)

My youngest baby just turned one last Wed - Mr. Brady Dean

(my best friend Jamie's little boy)

He's giving my niece Ava a ride - I told him he is too young to be picking up girls!!

Then my baby girls - both born in August 2007

The blur is Annabelle, my cousin's dog doing a drive by for scraps

aren't the girls cute eating together!??

Isabelle Marie McCaleb - age 18 months (2 weeks younger than Ava)

She is my cousin Nicki's little girl
and sometimes she looks at you like you are crazy (so cute!)

Next is my niece Ava Grace Martin

showing my Mom her "if you're happy and you know it then your face will surely show it"

Little things that make my day

I am easily amused and I think life is more fun when you stop and enjoy or laugh at the little things!

• Silly conversations:

Conversation Friday with a co-workers (an attorney and another legal assistant)

Rita: When I was little my mom used to say "You poor persecuted thing."


Max: Oh, how funny, was that when you decided you wanted to work in the legal field when you grew up?

Rita: No! When I was little I wanted to be PAT BENATAR!!


(she said this with such seriousness - I laughed til I cried)

• Shout outs in other people's Blogs:

(so I return the favor - Thanks Natalie!!)

I would like to introduce you to one of the MANY talented artists I have met in Nashville:

Natalie Stovall

I met Natalie when I worked at 2 Doors Down, a sports bar that used to be on Demonbreun. Natalie & her band played there almost every weekend. If you have never heard her - please please go to her site now and check her out. SUPER TALENTED!

At her shows she does an awesome mix of her stuff & fun covers (my favorite - her version of CRAZY) and is truly a great entertainer! I have had the privelege of seeing her play MANY nights at the sports bar, the Jack Daniels Saloon at Opry Mills, and even at a Predators Game.

Natalie provided me with a new football good luck charm/recipe - go to her blog to check it out!

• I'm going to a Predators Game tonight
• and last but not least - things to make my day:

Getting to have lunch with my Mom!

Brittany and Jamie's Day of Fun

If you are a FRIENDS addict

(then insert Janis voice and remember "Joey & Janis's Day of Fun!")

If this is not funny to you then you should go rent (or borrow from me) all ten seasons of Friends right now!! (Sorry everything can be a FRIENDS quote in my head :) )

Last Sat was GORGEOUS and very "un-February" (temp in 60's)

So, Jamie (my best friend) and I took my favorite little man to the park

Brady (Age 11.5 months)

Highlights:

Seriously cutest little boy ever!!

Allergic Reaction

It all started with a little stomache ache. For 2 days I thought I had a touch of food poisoning.

Next day itchy splotchy wrists - this only lasted an hour.

Next night itchy splotchy arms - 2 hours later - itchy red eyes - legs - back - from the neck down covered in HIVES :(

Look how purple and swollen my eyelids are!

any my neck was very red and itchy!

After 2 hours 2 benedryls I drove myself to the ER and had the best ER experience imaginable.
(except for the $80 co-pay)
They got me back right away and within 20-30 minutes they had an IV in me pumping me with Super benedryl, pepcid (who know that would help?) and steriods.
30 minutes later I was feeling WAY better and the red was now a faint pink and the welps and hives were fading!

Today feeling brand new!

What's your worst/ or best ER experience?

25 Random Things

1. I am in my 2nd year of law school.
2. I have a small birthmark in the shape of a thumb print under my right butt cheek.
3. There are 4 very important kids in my life and none of them are mine.
4. I have a pretty good memory.
5. I read very fast. I've read 4 books in January already.
6. I attend Cross Point Church and LOVE it.
7. Kids impress me more than adults.
8. I am an Aries, and fairly stubborn.
9. My middle name is Michelle, after my mom, and my dad use to swear I was cloned.
10. I have an awesome boss!

11. I am training for the Country Music Half Marathon.
12. I love ice cream, usually varieties that include some form of chocolate.
13. I love sushi.
14. My co-workers are my 2nd family, and I am very grateful!
15. Some of the most talented artists I've ever heard haven't made it big yet!
16. I am fiercely loyal.
17. I love to read.
18. I love cruises.
19. I lost my dad 3 months before I turned 17.
20. My mom is one of my best friends.

21. One of the smartest people I've ever known is my uncle, who can't function normally because he suffers from alcoholism and social phobias. It's truly a tragedy.
22. I don't always believe things are coincidences - when things go according to God's plan - they aren't accidental.
23. My favorite colors are all shades of BLUE.
24.My favorite seasons are summer and fall.
25. I love football, especially the Titans.

Good Monday

Normally I am not a fan of the Mondays... But I had a very lazy weekend, so this one is not so bad. Plus it is a half day for me. Woo hoo!

I love half days at work! Especially when they are before or after a weekend. The attorney I work for thought the office was closed today for MLK day so he took the day off. So he said I could work half a day "if I wanted." If I wanted??? Who wouldn't want half a day!?

And also great news - one of my dear sweet co-workers is loaning me the books I need this semester for law school. Yea again!! That saves me $700 - had I bought them new! What a blessing! :)

And this morning I found a reasonably priced cruise to go on this summer.

Also - my best friend and mother to this cute baby boy - has an interview with my law firm - for a legal assistant position.

Monday - not looking too bad so far!!

You matter

Growing up I attended a medium to large size church. In this church, I felt like I didn't matter. (to the pastor) Don't get me wrong, I had an awesome Youth Pastor and really great Sunday School teachers. But, the pastor was a different story. I was a member there for 9 years and the pastor never knew my name. I had even introduced myself to him numerous times, still acted like we had never met each time I shook his hand. In '98 my aunt was diagnosed with cancer and received treatment at a hospital in the same city as my church. Numerous times I put her name on the "hospital board" at the church to receive a visit from the pastor - never happened. Numerous times I added her to the prayer request list that was to be published in the weekly bulliten - her name never appeared. Numerous times I introduced my pastor to my grandmother who was in town visiting my aunt at the hospital and each time I would retell the story and the pastor acted like he had never heard of her before. It was beginning to feel like I didn't matter.



I realize he had a large congregation and shook hundreds of hands week to week. But, somehow I just don't believe that hearing the same story 4 Sundays in a row of my aunt who had Leukemia was new news to him... It just didn't matter!


Fast forward one year later. It is now 1999. My dad is diagnosed with cancer. I am 16 years old. Each week I would add his name to the prayer request list and no response (my dad wasn't a member - he lived in Nashville, I lived in Jackson, TN). My dad battled cancer for exactly one year, and then we lost him. 3 Sundays in a row my mom and I talked to the pastor after the service about losing my dad, each time again he acted like he had never seen us before. No letter, no follow up, nothing. He had 2 teenage girls, members of his church who had lost an aunt and their father in back to back years - and the pastor didn't even care enough to commit our conversation from the previous week to memory... I was really hurt by the church. Luckily I kept my anger directed just at this church, not all churches and not God.



Fast forward to present. A year ago I started attending Cross Point at the recommendation of my friend Tiana. Loved this church from day 1. Felt like this church was everything I was looking for in a church. It was almost as if their goals for a church were taken directly from my heart. Plus the pastor seemed to care.... Really care about people. And I would not consider this a small church. It has 4 services on Sundays. It's not huge - but it's not tiny either. Beginning of December I left a comment on the pastors blog (http://www.withoutwax.tv/). Just a simple comment voicing my view on teaching your kids about Santa Claus.



And guess what - the pastor emailed me. Me, personally. I have never personally met him. I have not yet joined his church... It didn't matter... He sometimes gets hundreds of comments A DAY. But, he cared what people had to say and he took the time to respond. And you know what? That matters! It means I matter... and to a person attending a church - you want to feel like you matter... Not necessarily that your opinion posted on his blog is that important... but at least you know that in a time of crisis - this is someone you could ask to pray for/with you and know that YOU MATTER.



He read my comment, took the time to email me, and went and read my blog... Me, one of hundreds...

Thanks Pete - you made my day!