Thought:

Picture this:

Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

After 3 mins a middle-aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 mins later:the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the till and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:A 3 year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly, as the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced them to move on.

45 minutes:The musician played. Only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32.

1 hour:He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.

The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be:If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ....How many other things are we missing?

Grandma Alice Impersonations:

So, my Mom and Dad were out at my Grandma's house over the weekend helping her go through some of her things. They found some old wigs that my Grandma used to wear way back in the day. I took it home thinking it would make a good Halloween costume this year and really excited that it wouldn't cost me anything. Jayden started playing around with it and before we knew it we had my robe and glasses out to make the get up whole. The kids and I were laughing so hard that we had to go back over to my Mom's and Dad's to show them our creation/impersonations. It was funny!

Mckelsie and I look so much alike.

My dad thought I looked like my Mom's cousin, Kay. We laughed so hard....and I kind of do! I suppose it could be the curse of being named after her! A sneek peak of what I'll look like when I'm older.

Mckelsie

Jayden looks like such a pretty old lady! Naturally red lips, pretty eyes.....he's going to hate me when he gets older!

Hahahahahaha......

Home Video Impersonations

Jayden impersonating Grandma Alice.... we were laughing so hard I almost peed my pants!

I was so cute as a kid! My mom was looking through some pictures the last few days and found these. I obviously was cute at some point, probably the reason my kids are so dang cute.... along with their Dad's good looks! =0)

Question...

If there were 3 people (alive, dead, real, imaginary) that you could have lunch with and discuss things with ... whom would you choose and what would you talk about?


1. My children, fully grown. I would love to jump to the future to have lunch with my children when they are grown. I would enjoy hearing about their lives, understanding their views on everything and know that they felt that I had done the best possible job as their mother raising them.
2. My good friend, Janalynn. We rarely get the time to get together with both our lives so busy. I can talk to her about anything and feel so uplifted when we're done. She's the kind of person that is a "kindred spirit" and even better I can swear a little bit around her!
3. Someone, anyone affected by Slavery. I find the Civil War period very interesting and I think to have a conversation with someone from that time would be so cool. I'd like to know their views of this world and how they found the strength to get through it.

You are given a disposable camera with 8 shots. You're assignment is to use those 8 shots to describe yourself as completely as possible. What do you photograph? What are your reasons?


First would be pictures of my kids. They are the most important thing in my life right now. Next would be pictures of my family, parents for sure. I think I would then take a picture of a beautiful doorway guarded with flowers or a peaceful garden getaway. The beach would have to be in there somewhere with a pair of flip flops. Perhaps a scene of a beach, looking towards the water sitting on a beach chair and off to the side a great big COKE. I would love to take pictures of various couples, hopefully a union of my own someday. The smiles that you get of people together that genuinely care for each other or that are even in the puppy dog stage are so cute. I would have to have my girlfriends in there too, after all friends help shape the people we grow to be. I stopped counting...so not sure if that would be just 8.

Child Labor...

I gave Mckelsie and Jayden an ultimatum the other day... pull weeds (and get paid $2 each) or not live another day. They pulled weeds.

Both of them actually did a really good job and I ended up very proud of them. They did take about 10 breaks each but got the playground free of weeds (for the most part). I almost didn't think that they would follow through but money can make you do the darndest things for sure. Mckelsie has more determination than Jayden but I was proud of them that they stuck with it and got the job done.