Beyonce's "Single Ladies" ... and Tears of Joy

I never thought that Beyonce's Single Ladies Song would bring me to tears...

I have written about my job as a NICU nurse and how much it means to me. We see the best of times and the worst of times. It can be very, very hard. Being a nurse, however, has allowed me to see miracles - and this is not an understatement.

Below is a video of one of the babies that I was blessed to take care of during his long stay with us at the hospital. We are coming to the year anniversary that his wonderful parents were able to take him home and he has been thriving ever since!

To many he looks like VERY happy baby walking and dancing to the song "Single Ladies," but to others we see a Miracle - a former 25 week baby that had weighed 1 pound and 10 ounces and fought for his life being one of the sickest ones in the unit.


I can not help but to shed a few tears and to be soooo proud that I got to know this little man! You can follow his mommy's blog HERE

"Harry Potter... The boy who lived... come to die."

Hi Friends!

You can count on me to bring you the all things Harry Potter! Warner Brothers just released a new trailer that includes parts of BOTH movies that will come out later this year and the middle of next.

The trailer was amazing... enjoy!

(You can find more information about the movies at the office website HERE or the Facebook Page HERE)

The Mystery of "Horse Boy"

The Mystery of "Horse Boy"

Have you ever just played around with Google's "Street View" option? I have. Sometimes when I am extremely bored or feeling extremely creepy, I venture out to find what people's houses look like or if I can see the President through one of the White House's windows. (Nope you can't do that nor can you find out what sits on top of the white house - well besides the snipers of course.)

Anyway, to give us the service of being able to see what areas might look like from the street versus the sky (nice feature since I am inept at translating sky view aka map view to what I am seeing when traveling) Google cars are outfitted with special GPS and camera equipment. Each day they travel the roads, not only capturing roads and houses, but recording everything that the people are doing too. These cameras usually record people doing normal things, unsuspectingly caught in the crossfire of Google's big eye. Occasionally however, these cameras capture out of the ordinary things such as a car on fire, a cult musician taking a bath, or a guy standing on a sidewalk with a horse head.

Yes, I said horse head.

I read an article on MSNBC.com yesterday and apparently a random person spotted this oddity in Scotland. Spotted HERE on Google Street View you can see what appears to be a man in a purple shirt, black pants and what I hope to be a brown horse head mask in Aberdeen, Scotland.

You can read the story at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37910015/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

Interesting... Guess what street he was standing on? Mane. hahaha.

Here are some other interesting finds from Google's Street View... enjoy! (www.streetviewfunny.com)


E.T. PHHOOOONNNEEE HHOOMMMEEE





Lets hope that he locked himself out...




Yep, that bridge is missing a few parts..



Google goes EVERYWHERE

The Reality of Reality TV

The “Reality” of Reality TV



My friends and I were discussing the other day about reality tv, most importantly the Bachelor/Bachelorette on ABC. When the show first came out, it was all about the glitz and glamor and finding love. Okay, okay – we hoped they would find love. Unfortunately when you wine and dine someone with the best of the best, they might continue to expect it all the time. But what truly happens after the cameras turn off?

There have been two weddings that have stemmed from this show out of the 14 seasons of the Bachelor and 6 seasons of the Bachelorette. Yet, it continues to give hope to those who are looking for love… money.. or maybe just instant celebrity status.

In the more recent seasons, however, the episodes have been riddled with drama. Why? Drama brings viewers. But how much of this drama is truly reality?

Reality Steve, probably a much hated man by networks and reality shows alike, has brought the ugly truth to reality shows. He knows some of the people that work behinds the scenes with the show and then gets the real scoop and shares it with the viewers. Initially surprising, he has always been right. Before reading about him, I had always had an inkling that more things might be going on behind the scenes then we were aware of. After reading his weekly columns, It turns out that these shows are completely scripted, skewing the portrayal of ordinary people that have “won” a spot on the show, and only showing what they want the public to see.

Reality Steve …


Okay, this makes sense, it's tv… but it gets more interesting. Anyone that is shown on the series must sign a very, VERY lengthy contract that allows the show to ruin their lives with fake representations. If they decide to tell anyone about what really happens behind the scenes, they and their family will be sued for everything they are worth. Everything. Sounds slightly sinister if you ask me.

So do the Bachelor or Bachelorette have any say with who they let go or keep around? Probably not. Recently, they haven’t even gotten to choose who they will select to get the final rose – as long as it brings ratings. This was seen with Jason Mesnick, Melissa Rycroft, and Molly Malaney. Jason told the producers within a few weeks after the show started filming that he truly was falling in love – with Molly. Knowing this, the producers coerced him to continue to pick Melissa and act like he was in love with her. In one of the biggest scandals in Bachelor history, he even proposed to Melissa while Molly knew everything. A few months later, they brought the three of them back, Jason broke up with Melissa on live television and proceeded to marry Molly a year and a half later. Did Melissa know about this before and was she paid a sum to go through with it? Perhaps. Odds are she was contracted to do everything and only got the public sympathy afterward.

If you would like to check out Reality Steve for this new season, he can be found at http://realitysteve.com. He has already called the winner/lack of winner for this season in addition to the two big scandals that will precede the final rose. (First scandal to air this upcoming Monday.)

So why is this relevant right now? Jake and Vienna just called it quits. Jake was the last bachelor and is remembered for picking Vienna, the one girl that was the LEAST compatible with him and was known for her over the top, ridiculous behavior. But, it was the most unexpected selection that Jake could have made so it brought in more ratings. Reality Steve called it saying the selection was an arrangement with Jake when he heard about it several months ago.



So much for finding True Love on “Reality TV”

The Trials and Tribulations of ... Grass.

So Justin and I have not had much luck with our grass in our back yard. When I say back yard, I don’t mean sprawling acres… I mean 160 square feet. It can’t be that hard to keep a small patch of grass alive, right? Wrong. Although my husband is a landscape architect, (which I thought plants should be second nature) Justin admitted that grass was not his specialty. To his credit, he can save plants that I had deemed dead and wanted to throw away.

So let me explain. Our first spring, we had thick plentiful grass. It took a little while, but the grass seed turned into grass and we were happy. Then like clockwork, June turned into July and it became blazing fire hot outside, and our grass was reduced to ash and weeds. Yes, ash.

Our second spring we decided to go the sod route. Justin’s dad came down and the boys spent 5+ hours working hard to make our back yard look less like a pig pen (it had been reduced to thick mud) and more like a green beauty. It was successful!! Until two weeks later. Apparently female dog urine burns the grass. She would go in the same spots – which didn’t bother us too much. We could deal with it. What we had problems with was the mowing.

When you have only a 160 square foot back yard, the HOA pays to have a landscaping company come mow it/cut it. We had some issues with over cutting and had gotten into a habit of locking our gate so we could cut our own grass. Their motto: If we cut it super short we can get paid the same amount but come a lot less. One day I forgot to lock and we went on vacation. In a matter of three days, our grass was cut to ¼ of a centimeter in length and it died. Sad times for us.

So now we are brainstorming. We do have dogs and have had issues with burning. We need something tough that can handle anything and everything. So what have we come up with? Fake grass!

After having a few family suggestions, we have started looking into synthetic grass. Our initial talks with Southwest Greens Nashville have been great! They have special grass called “Envy Lawn Pet Turf.” Super durable and drainable, this type of “grass” prides itself with being dirt free and that puppy loving insects can’t thrive in it! The grass comes in various styles such as: Bluegrass, Ryle, Fescue, Blends, Centipede, and Zoysia.




There are also several “green” benefits of this fake grass – which the hubby loves! Top reason – conservation of water. Without living grass, we wouldn’t need to use thousands of gallons of water in an attempt to save our faltering grass. We also wouldn’t have to use fertilizers or pesticides … and we wouldn’t need to use gas to cut the grass or have the emissions from the leaf blower and grass cutters. Additional benefits? We’ll save money on the endless amount of seed/sod/and everything else we have bought in attempt to have our green beauty outside. Goodness!

The company’s representative is coming to the house to meet with us tomorrow and I will let you know how it goes. Maybe we will have a forever green grass after this! Yippee!

(Description of the layers the company will prepare, in addition to the layer of grass)



(Pictures of Synthetic Grass)

Happy 39th Birthday Southwest!!

Why would I be celebrating Southwest's 39th birthday? Well because of its return of 39 dollar fares (one way) of course!!

From now until Thursday night.. well Friday at midnight you can purchase tickets for 39 dollars if your destination is 0-450 miles away, 79 dollars for 451-1000, and 119 dollars for 1001+ miles. Southwest also does not charge extra for baggage or seat assignments.

Sounds good to me... now I just have to figure out who to visit and when... (I am hoping my grandparents and aunt in PA!)

Want to visit Southwest's website? Click here!

Anyways just wanted to pass on this information.. Have a happy day!!

Seattle Livin'

Hi friends!

I would like to share some pictures with you of our recent family trip to Seattle Washington. This was the first time I had ever been – and I loved it! It definitely sits near the top of my list of favorite places to visit.

If you go to Seattle....

You have to visit the Space Needle







The Parks … (Iron Works and Freeway Park)








Wonderful Restaurants!!





Interesting Places!






But what I loved the most out of Seattle? Family!!

Noels parking job on a road that was a 85 degree incline…



Garrett wanting the icing off of Jamie's hand... while doing the "robot"

Nail Painting... Not for the Faint of Heart

Someone please tell me that I am not the only one that can’t paint their own nails.

It’s not like I am not prepared. I have a whole caboodle (remember those?) of different paint colors, bottom coats, top coats, fast dryers, sparkly colors … the whole works. There are twenty-seven bottles to be exact that I have come to accumulate over the years. I even have this small tiny little fan to dry my nails with. And no – those fancy polishes don’t paint your toe nails by themselves even if they cost 20 dollars. Don’t let anyone try to trick you.



So my problem is not that I don’t have those other essential items to paint my nails. Besides having enough fingernail polish to paint an army of five year olds… or a room full of beauty contestants… I have the toe spreaders that splay my toes so far apart that people might confuse my foot with a hand. I have fingernail polish remover that could potentially be used to render someone unconscious and those dreaded nail files. They give me the shivers just thinking about them. I usually mentally prepare myself ahead of time, get everything together, breathe… and then get started.

I can reach my feet… but my legs get in the way of my arms trying to get to my feet. I swivel, lean over, try to bend in weird positions. So as I balance on four toes of one foot and maybe have a good angle of my third from the left toe on my right foot, I get too much polish on the 0.02 cm long brush and I end up painting three toes at the same time. It is inevitable. I would probably paint the nails better if I just dropped the bottle of nail polish on the floor and let the splatter paint my nails.

(I would like to preface that these are not my feet - merely a representation what my feet usually look like when I paint them. I just wouldn't take a picture of it.)



So I have asked the experts about what to do when I have gotten more polish on my dog then my actual toe nails and they say that finger nail polish remover should be my friend. Well while getting asphyxiated trying to dab away my mistakes with a cotton swab, I manage to get the ONLY toe that was painted correctly. Yes I missed the nail painting 101 class that little girls got in the third grade.

It really is a sad, sad story.

So what do I do? I go to the nail shop. Nope, not the one that I get my hair done at. Those ladies speak English. Because of this, I think they charge 40 extra dollars. English is expensive!

I go the “fancy nail” or “exotic nails too.” One of my friends shared a video with me on you tube of a comedian talking about her experiences with nail salons. You think she is being funny, but all of this is sooo true.

Goodness. I don’t know which is more stressful. Painting my nails by myself, or having them done by a middle aged Asian man that pointed at me three times and laughed while talking to his friend speaking a language I didn’t understand. Shaved my legs? Check. Don’t have any fungus or weird abnormalities. Check. What are they laughing at?? Oh probably my nail painting job from three days ago. Maybe I forgot to remove some of the polish from the back of my leg.

Check out the video and enjoy…

Muggle... and Proud of It! (Well actually I would prefer to be a Wizard...)

**Nerd Alert**

So many things are happening in the World of Harry Potter... and this girl [points to self] is soooo excited!

Yesterday, the very FIRST trailer of the Deathly Hallows was released in addition to NBC having a tv special on the theme park - which OPENS next week!

ALSO - the new movie comes out in a 164 days.. yipee!!! If you don't want to count out 164 days like I have on MY calendar.. that equates to NOVEMBER 19, 2010

To aid all of those Harry lovers out there that want a one stop shop for all things Potter, I have included the links here in my blog.


First, some pictures - courtesy of mugglenet - of the park... so excited - we are taking a girls trip in OCTOBER!
(and as you can see, there has been some very L-U-C-K-Y people playing in the park...)









Here is the FIRST MOVIE TRAILER of the Deathly Hallows Part I ...



This was the NBC TV SPECIAL on the makings of the park...




I found most of these lovely things on mugglenet.com .. The Worlds #1 Harry Potter Site.


Also - I am again working on my fan fiction story.. two more chapters down. They haven't been posted as I am still cleaning them up. I will probably work on them during my eight days off later this week. But keep an eye out for them - www.cottoncreations.blogspot.com
I promise ... this story WILL BE FINISHED this SUMMER!! Yay!


Have an enchanting day!

Our Nashville Safari!

Justin and I had the day off yesterday and we decided to adventure in our neck of the woods. Both of us had really wanted to visit Nashville’s Zoo, but hadn’t had the chance. So around noon we got on our safari gear and headed five miles south to the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere.



We got to see the tigers, elephants, birds, and giraffes, but our most favorite spot was the Meerkat enclosure. Much like a little village, there were these little animals scurrying around. Some were digging, some were grooming each other, some were sleeping, and one was keeping a look out… Just like what I saw on Meerkat Manor on the Animal Planet! (Does anyone remember this show?? It was one of my favorites while I was in college. The show made them seem just like people!)

Anyway we could have just watched them for hours…





Another reason I especially liked our visit was to be able to tour the Grassmere House. When I first heard the name. “The Nashville Zoo at Grassmere,” it sounded as if it was a satellite zoo from a larger one. We had no idea there was actually a plantation house on the zoo property, hence the name Grassmere. (The house/planation got its name from the original owner of the home who enjoyed reading poetry by William Wordsworth. Wordsworth frequently wrote about a lake in England, named Grasmere.)





After taking the group tour we learned that the Croft sisters (the eldest passed away in 1985)who had lived in the Grassmere house, made an agreement with the once standing Children’s Museum down town that if the museum paid their taxes and such, they would will their house and land to them – with a few conditions. One, that the house must remain standing and two, the land must be used to teach the public about animals.

Turns out that the house and land had been in their family since the late 1700’s! Their family had been a rich one, and the Croft sisters’ parents had both a house in Cuba (where they had a concrete business) as well as in Nashville. Their parents died in the 40’s and the sisters came back to Nashville to live. Unfortunately, when Castro came to power, the family’s money was taken for the government, and the sisters had not yet moved their money back to the states.

Neither married nor had extremely profitable jobs, and they began living in poverty in the late 1960’s. It was around that time that the city of Nashville came to them and offered 1.6 million dollars for their land – and they turned it down. ( That was a lot of money now… and a whole lot more back then!) They turned the offer down because in the agreement, the house would have to be demolished.

The sisters strongly believed in the preservation of history and kept all of their family’s heirlooms in near perfect condition. They also relished in the company of animals. They were known for nursing abandoned animals as well as injured animals back to health. It is said that they also believed in proper burials for the perished animals and kept a large cemetery for all the animals they lost on their grounds… which later became the zoo.

After the sisters’ deaths, an animal preservation was created but failed a few years after. In the late 1990’s, keeping the womens’ wishes, the zoo moved to the property – making sure the house could also be seen by all of the zoo’s visitors. Such an interesting story… we probably spent as much time at the house and its grounds as we did the rest of the zoo!

Here are some more pictures of our safari adventures…



The Garden at the Grassmere House




Justin in the Orchard at the Grassmere House




and now in the garden... Before the sisters were born, the house had a large, functioning farm. When they were older, they used only a few fields but grew enough fruits and vegetables to live on.




So pretty there!





And now the actual zoo...


























Such a lovely day!