And these are the times I want to be 5 again... with my whole life ahead of me.

I had a conversation with my friend tonight that essentially skirted around discussing his own mortality.

and it makes me sick at my stomach.

I want my friend to get married, and have kids, and grow old, and I know he's being robbed of precious opportunities by a disease he never asked for.

And frankly ... it sucks.

But, I want my friend to be the exception to the rule. All the rules, not just the obvious ones.

I want him to be completely healed tonight so that he can have a fresh start tomorrow. And you know what? That's what I pray for. Or for him to be the first patient to live 50 years with donated organs. Not the 5. And you know what? I pray for that too.

And being around him, reminds me how much I take for granted. And how I get wrapped up in junk that it foolish. Oh, how I need the perspective. God, I think that's enough justification to keep him around forever. And it may seem silly and naive for me to say it like that. But I don't care. It is not some strange disease that is affecting some guy a million miles away. It affects someone I value. A LOT. And I'm ready for it to be stopped.

If you don't know anything about cystic fibrosis, then go read about it -- here and here.

and help me PRAY.

family

I just wanted to write and say that my grandparents are visiting me, and for the first time ever, my granddaddy opened up and shared with me about the fun memories he had in the Navy.

So cute.

I want to keep him in my pocket and hear his stories.

ForEVah.

Love,
Jenn

BOMB.

Well, I've enjoyed working in small town America, that is, until today. From my office, I can still see smoke billowing from the attorneys' office where a local man decided to take matters into his own hands and light the place up like the fourth of July.

This is crazy.

How does Dalton wind up with a bomber?

There has already been on fatality, and one of the attorneys was badly burned.

Various and unsundry part... Y. (Get it Part-Y?)

A few links I'm lovin' this week:

http://www.leslieruthpetree.blogspot.com/ -- Diary of a Southern Drama Queen. I just wanna go to Texas and be BFF with this woman.

http://simplelovely.blogspot.com/ -- This woman keeps posting stuff on her blog that I'm coveting. I know I shouldn't confess that, but I figure I'm among friends, right? She has some beautiful stuff and is giving me a LOT of ideas to make some changes for my room/office/future house!

http://thewordsthatcarrythehope.blogspot.com/ -- I'm still not sure how I found this blog, but I like it. A LOT. (And I'm pretty sure she's friends with my next link...)

http://www.lulledbythetrain.com/ -- I steal songs from her really cool playlist, download them from iTunes and share them with you.

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Had an interesting conversation with friends at my house last night. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

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There was a bomb in Dalton this morning. It was thrown into a law office, and it actually blew one guy's clothes off. He's listed in critical condition passed away. You can read about it here.

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My grandparents and one of my aunts are on their way to see me. We're going to the Elijay Apple Festival this weekend, and then just spending some quality time together. My grandmother also informed me that she's making me my favorite meal for Sunday lunch. In my own home. It's this cube steak that gets fried and then put in the oven in gravy, and we'll be having fresh corn, and green beans, and rolls, and sweet tea, and buttermilk pie, and are you hungry yet?????? (I may not let her leave.)

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Yesterday, it was 80 degrees.

Today it's 60 degrees.

Oi! Yay Fall!

I'm out of material, but I'm writing today anyway.

I try, very hard to stay away from criticizing celebrities, if for no other reason but that they are real people, and no matter what "celebrity" they receive, at the end of the day, they're still just somebody sucking oxygen off the planet. I do enjoy catching up on my celebrity goss... but I also enjoy reading the blogs/myspaces/facebooks/Hi5s of my friends, so I just consider them the friends who never facebook/myspace/call/text me. And I'm okay with that.

Come to think of it, I actually think I did blog about Britney Spears after she shaved her head... but oh well, who's counting.

Anywhoo... since I'm clearly living a boring life (well, not really, but I can't tell you all my BIZZNESS over the world wide web), I thought I'd go for some celeb related.

And then this picture came across my blogroll, and I thought, "Oh my word".



Y'all.

Y'ALL.

Can somebody contact Christina's people and tell them that 1)I've thought she was great since the MMC (and I have the videos to prove it), 2) she can sing the heck out of some songs, but 3) this is so bad that it requires an intervention? I have friends who think pink lipstick looks cute on them, but I don't have the heart to tell them it makes their teeth look dingy. It does, I'm sorry. And while I may have owned a sweater that was alarmingly similar, I wore it with stirrup pants and KEDS and it was the 80's and we all looked stupid. Collectively. So, I'm forgiven.

but Yikes!

And in case you were wondering, today at lunch, a lady came out of the restroom and had toilet paper on her shoe, and I asked our server to tell her so she wouldn't walk around all day like that. Sometimes, you just need to tell folks. Oh, and when they have stuff in their teeth and nose. It's just courteous!

Love,
Jenn

Reading through the lines.

Dear Books,

I... haven't read you in a while. We used to be BFF, and then I got all jaded and bitter and put you away. I stopped enjoying your words, your word pictures, your story, and focused more on the black box that actually talked to me.

But I've missed you.

And daughter Fiction, were it not for those John Grisham novels where I dreamed about having GPS devices in my shoes, I would not have walked away from you three years ago. But you seriously have to be careful scaring me like that. Dreaming that I'm in a chateau in Rome and waking up in my own bed is a cruel CRUEL joke.

So, I'm giving you a second chance. Books, you and Fiction teamed up with my beloved MGG to bring me not one, but TWO bound beauts to read. I'm trusting that you won't disappoint me. Me and Cousin Self-Help parted ways a while ago and I don't want to go down that road again. For a LONG time. Or never again.

Love,
Jenn

Hump Day Music

(I love Hump day... for more reasons than the obvious!)

I'm never going to be a blogger than does a "regular" post. I've tried with WFMW, and Thursday Thirteen, but I am loving music, so I thought it would be fun to share a few more songs! And in case you were wondering, YES, these are all on my iPod.

Here's Volume 1 if you're interested.

• Lost - Anouk. Just a beautiful song.
• Walk Away - Ben Harper. This was a dedication of sorts to me, and I like it.
• Hiphip Chinchin (feat. Brenda Boykin) - Club Des Belugas. I first heard this on SYTYCD, but it was featured on DWTS last week. Get the version with Brenda. Makes me wanna go salsa dancing!
• Technologic - Daft Punk. I actually love the beats -- get to :31 seconds and it's contagious! and then 1:11. :)
• Crush - David Archuleta. I don't care if he is 16. Judge me if you want. I still really like it.
• Autumn in New York - Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. Love Love Love this song.
• Defying Gravity - Idina Menzel & Kristen Chenoweth. Beautiful vocals.
• Good Day - Greg Street presents Nappy Roots. I saw this video in American Eagle (I know, I KNOW), but I still like it. The kids are awesome!
• Goodnight Goodnight - Maroon 5. It's just a great song.
• Disturbia - Rihanna. I just really like his song!!!!!!
• I wanna dance with Somebody - The Side Project. This is a beautiful remake of the original. I STILL wanna dance with somebody.
• Though I'm not Worthy - Kari Jobe. Kari Jobe has one of the most beautiful voices. This song was for the a project -- Common Heart - Dallas. "In your grace I long to stand". Beautiful.

So... what are you listening to?