Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose.

I'm in mourning, y'all.

Friday Night Lights, one of my favorite TV shows OF ALL TIME, is officially over. Actually, it was over a couple of weeks ago, but because of some DVR issues and a busy spring and early summer, I finally was able to watch the entire season over the past couple of weeks.

I don't want to talk about the finale of the show or give anything away for those of you who haven't watched this season yet (Tim, that would be you), but I do want to offer a list of the reasons why I love this show. And if you haven't watched this show, I strongly urge you to get the DVDs and watch. You will thank me later.

And I present to you now the reasons, in no particular order, why I think FNL is awesome:

1. The characters are realistic. From the high school students to the adults, I have known people "in real life" who are just like the characters on these shows. (Also...the students look like students, not 30-something adults playing high school kids.)

2. Each episode has at least one moment that gives me goose bumps...and sometimes makes me shed a tear. Usually these moments involve Coach Taylor (played by the brilliant Kyle Chandler) or his wife, Tammy (portrayed by the awesome Connie Britton). You just need to watch for yourself to see what I'm talking about.

3. The show doesn't have an "off" season. You know how many shows just have a bad season? Not Friday Night Lights. I was worried when our favorites at the beginning of the series graduated and moved off to college or wherever (and there are some other cast transitions that take place that I don't want to give away if you are planning to watch), but the writing of this show is so compelling that we quickly fall in love with the new characters as they are introduced to us.

4. The marriage of Eric and Tammy is realistic and inspirational. They support each other. They fight. They make mistakes. They compromise. They laugh at each other. They are flawed people. At the end of the day, though, you know this is a rock solid marriage.

5. The show tackles realistic issues. From jealousy among players to kids having to deal with more at home than they should, FNL handles them wonderfully and often poignantly.

6. The show is often hilarious. I mentioned earlier that every show features at least one touching moment. I should also add that every show features several laugh-out-loud moments, too.

7. The show is about football, and it isn't about football. Several of my friends have mentioned that they didn't start watching this show because they aren't really into football. Really, the show isn't about the football. Sure, it features some game clips and the whole cast is connected to football in one way or another, but the show is really about the characters. And trust me when I say that when it is all said and done, you won't mind the football parts. :-)

It's so good, y'all. SO GOOD. And I will miss it. (As for the title of this post...if you watched the show, you'll get it. If you didn't, what are you waiting for? Start watching!)

Last Week and This Week (So Far)

Last Week
I didn't post anything after Monday of last week (obviously) because I was so immersed in the Week in the Life project that, frankly, I was tired of documenting each day. After photographing tons of stuff and writing down stuff about every day last week, I just didn't want to write about it again...know what I mean?

Last week was a fun one, though. It included a playdate with some former colleagues/mom-friends at the pool. It also included a lunch date with Tim and Kim at a delicious restaurant. It included some scrapbooking with my friend Blayne. It included the Winnie the Pooh movie (so cute!). It included dinner at a Mexican restaurant with my 9th grade small group. Basically, it was lots of fun.

It also included not-so-fun stuff, like searching for jobs, doing laundry, cleaning, and such.

This Week
This week hasn't been quite as eventful. I went to a job networking thing Monday evening. (Confession: I am CLUELESS and AWKWARD when it comes to networking. Small talk with strangers? Painful.) I've also been trying to figure out Photoshop Elements for my Week in the Life album. May I present to you...a photo collage!


Fancy, is it not?

I also learned how to put "brushes" on photos, like this one:


The "brush" would be "Tuesday." You don't even want to know how long it took me to figure out how to put that on there.

I'm also trying a new diet called The Carb Lovers' Diet. I'm not loving the diet. The first week -- the "kickstart" week -- is a beast. In fact, I haven't stuck to it completely because I was HUNGRY. So I'm doing my own version of this diet, which is some healthy carb eating along with some common sense, like eating a nectarine instead of a pint of ice cream for a snack. I have also -- and this is huge -- cut out diet sodas. I have also greatly reduced the amount of Splenda I drink in my coffee. And I'm drinking a boatload of green tea and water. Fun times!!

A Week in the Life, Facebook, and Scalloped Tomatoes

Brief scrapbooking talk...

To the right of my blog is a button for a scrapbooking project initiated by my favorite scrapbooking guru, Ali Edwards, called "A Week in the Life." The essence of the project is that you create an album that thoroughly documents what a week in you life looks like through words and photos--the mundane, the fun, the routine, the minutia. Ever since seeing the completed albums of my friends from when they've done this project in the past, I've wanted to take on this project.

Basically, anyone could do this project anytime she wanted, but it is fun to do it when other scrapbookers are doing it, too. Next week is technically "A Week in the Life" week for taking photos, but I've decided that this week is going to be the week that I'm documenting because it includes a little bit of several aspects of our life. I'll show you more as I the project comes together.

Now movie talk...

I am way behind when it comes to watching movies; this afternoon, though, I watched The Social Network and really enjoyed it. The performances were really good (I see now why Jesse Eisenberg was nominated for so many awards), and the story was definitely intriguing.

Now food talk...

I brought back a bunch of tomatoes from Florida, and they are DELICIOUS. Tonight I made Ina Garten's Scalloped Tomatoes, and while it was really yummy, it isn't something I could eat a lot of. I also have a theory that it is one of those recipes that taste better the next day...

Trip to Florida #2: A Visit to the Grandparents' House

Three days after I returned from The Walk, I got back and the car--this time I took Amelia--and we went to Florida to visit my parents. Darryl was out of town last week, so it was "just the girls."

(It dawned on me when I was coming back home this past Saturday that I had driven though/eaten lunch in Eufaula, Alabama three Saturdays in a row!)

Anyway, Amelia and I went down to my parents' house on Saturday and just hung out for a while and ate some good food. The rest of the week was busy with one activity after another; we packed a lot of fun into one week!

Sunday we went to my parents' church, where they had a cookout afterward to welcome the new preacher and his wife. Amelia was all decked out in her patriotic attire.


That afternoon, Amelia and her Nana made a flag cake. (Truth be told, it really ended up being Nana's and my project. Amelia was too interested in tasting the frosting.)

See?




We also attempted to take Amelia fishing off the neighbors' dock, but they weren't biting. I like this pic of Amelia with Mr. P, whom I've known ever since I can remember. He used to help me fish when I was a kid.

Monday, the 4th, we went to the beach in the morning. Here are a few pics of that.




That evening, we went to see the fireworks. Here's a photo of Amelia with her cousin Cameron.

That thing Amelia is holding is a firecracker she made in her summer daycare class. She had saved it for several days and was so excited about opening it, and then she ended up losing it. She was verrrrrrrry sad. I was sad for her. :-(

Tuesday we went to an aquatic center that had a play area/pool for kids. We had such a great time there and it wasn't too crowded. Amelia enjoyed pretending that she was the swim teacher and that we were her students, so she kept making us swim laps while she told us, "That's it, girl. You're doing it! Next time, use big arms." (Can you tell she's been in swim lessons for a while?)

We also tried fishing again that morning, and this time, Amelia was successful at getting her first fish!! She didn't want to touch it, though. I can't really blame her.

Wednesday, Amelia, my mom, and I went shopping and had a good time...but I didn't take any photos of that.

Thursday, we went back to the aquatic park because we had so much fun the first time. It was much more crowded the second time around, but we still had a great time.


Friday, we went to a local farm and picked tomatoes. This photo is TERRIBLE of me (no makeup, ball cap, and about three chins), but oh well.


That afternoon (and one afternoon earlier in the week, but I can't remember which one), Amelia and I visited Darryl's side of the family and Amelia had a good time playing with her cousins. Ashley (my sister-in-law) took some photos of that, so I hope to have a couple of photos to show soon.

Saturday, Amelia and I came back home. We had such a great week visiting with Nana and Paw-Paw!!


(Edited to Add: The reason this blog has Tuesday's date on it is that Tuesday is the date I started this post and then procrastinated with finishing it.)

Falling Off the Face of the Earth...And "The Walk"

Hi there.

I really didn't mean to just fall off the face of the earth unexpectedly like that. One day led to another, and before I knew it, several weeks had gone by. My reason? I've been insanely busy. Since I last blogged, I've been to Florida and back TWICE.

When I quit my teaching job (that is still hard for me to type), I decided that I still wanted to invest in the lives of teenagers in some way, so I signed up to be a group leader for a group of 9th grade girls at my church. The idea is that I will be their group leader until they graduate from high school, and I think that's a cool idea.

One of the first "activities" we participated in was a 4-day trip to Panama City Beach called "The Walk." I co-lead our group with a recent high school graduate named Jennifer, and I adore her. Here's a photo of our group. (Forgive the "flash bulb" eyes...I'm too lazy to "correct" all those eyes at the moment.)


Yep. They are all tan, thin, and beautiful. Ah, youth.

What I learned about ninth grade girls this week is that they aren't the tidiest people on earth, and they do disgusting things like eat the cream out of Oreos and put them back in the box. They also spend A LOT of time on their hair.

BUT.

They are also very sweet, and when they aren't leaving towels everywhere and eating cream out of Oreos and fixing their hair, they ask these kinds of questions:

--Why did God give us free will when He wants everyone to follow Him?
--Why did He allow Satan to exist if He knew what Satan was going to do?
--Why did God make Satan an angel in the beginning?
--Some versions of the Apostles' Creed says Jesus descended into Hell. Did He really?
--Will we know our relatives in Heaven?
--Why were animals sacrificed in the Old Testament?

Goodness.

Oh, on a less spiritual note, we also participated in a flash mob. I don't think this video quite captures the "energy" of what we were feeling at the moment, but it was so, so fun. :-)