Another Song O' the Day

Song of the Day "Lay Me Down" - The Wreckers
Ran across this tonight in a search for something else... have listened to it approximately 447 times.




On that note, another busy week and my mind has been all kinds of elsewhere! Hoping to get caught up on email this weekend.

Song of the Day

"Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On" - Jimmy Buffett
The GC and I always joke that all things in life can be related back to the show "Friends" or a Jimmy Buffett song. So very true. Right now, I find this one pretty fitting.

My favorite lines: "If a hurricane doesn't leave you dead, it will make you strong. Don't try to explain it, just nod your head. Breathe in, breathe out, move on..."

Marietta National Cemetery

"The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example." - Benjamin Disraeli

To celebrate Memorial Day, my cousin and I went to Marietta National Cemetery this evening and spent a couple of hours walking around, looking at the graves of our fallen military heroes. To see about 23 acres of about 19,000 graves is quite an overwhelming feeling. At first, it's a lot to swallow, standing in the middle of a sea of white granite that seems to go on forever, but if you think about what it all means, it's amazing and humbling all at once. It was great to see several other people there, as well, including some current members of the military.

For those of you who don't know, the cemetery has a pretty interesting and extensive history. It was originally proposed as the place for the capital of the Confederate States of America but the owner at the time (Henry Cole) was a Union loyalist and wanted the land to serve a better purpose. Eventually, Cole donated the land to become the final resting place of 10,000 soldiers who died when Sherman burned Atlanta. You can read a lot more about it at the Marietta National Cemetery Website including what's so special about the arch (pictured above).

As always, I took several pictures while I was there. A lot of them didn't come out so great because the weather wasn't super cooperative and my camera seemed to be malfunctioning a bit, but some of them are okay. I'd love to go back one day when I have more time, less rain, and a better camera.

A sea of flags and white granite surrounds you, no matter which direction you go...

It was amazing to check out the dates and ranks of each soldier. We spent so much time reading so many of them...

On the other hand, seeing "Unknown U.S. Soldier" makes your heart sink.

I don't know if you can read it but this one caught my attention, "...his wife Sarah Elizabeth." Nothing like reading your own name on a headstone!!

If you've never been, the cemetery is sort of just beyond Marietta square and surrounded by this old rock wall, sort of in the middle of town. Lots of ivy and gorgeous magnolia trees around -it's really pretty...

The date on this one caught my eye - not sure if you can read it but this man, John Clark, was born in 1766. He was a Major General in the Revolutionary War...


When you first drive in, there is a monument dedicated to those who survived and died at Pearl Harbor...

This is pretty self-explanatory...

Again, it's hard to read thanks to my horrible camera, but a monument dedicated to all of the POWs. There is a flag pole behind it, but I couldn't get a good picture because they were setting up for some sort of Memorial Day program behind it.

I just took this one because I have some Payne's in my own family and because it was bigger than most of them...

Same thing here, just bigger and interesting looking...

Henry Cole, the guy who donated the land for the cemetery is also buried here along with his family...

Before heading to the military cemetery, we visited the cemetery where three of my grandparents are buried. Both of my grandfathers served in the army, one is still alive, but I was happy to see a flag placed at the other one's grave...

Memorial Day

Song of the Day

"Let Me Touch You For a While" - Alison Krauss and Union Station ... I do prefer the live version, but this will do.

Park Pics

I've been working out a lot lately and I decided it'd be fun to take that workout away from the pool and/or living room tonight. So, I loaded up the GC and the Gabs and off we went. Remember the park where I took the Ghost Walk and where my dad and I took our Weird-Civil-War-History-Thanksgiving-Walk? That was our destination. It's got a pretty neat history but I don't feel like typing it up and I'm sort of sketchy on a few of the details. Note: hiking in shoes that are too small for you in the first place when your toe is still pretty much broken is not a good idea. Just so ya know. Anyway, here are the pictures:

old pre-Civil War era cabin... I think it's one of the oldest remaining places in GA

same - supposedly the house where Sherman stayed at some point - not sure how true that is

I think this was a barn...

Just a look up the trail...

Gabby playing in the lake...couldn't get a good one because she wouldn't quit moving

I'm told this is the grave of two Union soldiers but you can't get too close because of brush and a fence.

the lake...

Pat Rocks!!!

I've only "known" Pat Austin since last August, when she left a random comment on my blog around what was undoubtedly the worst part of my year, but in that time she's become a really good friend! She's listened to me rant about everything from men to politics to the bad luck I had last summer. She's linked my blog, given great life advice, made me feel less alienated during the '08 election season and she turned me on to Lindsey Buckingham pre-Fleetwood Mac. But the best part about it all is that she encouraged me to write more and while I don't do much of it here lately (I promise that is gonna change really soon) it has led to some great changes in my life and given me the little boost of confidence I've needed to work on some projects I kept putting off.

I could never thank her enough for that! The only thing I can do is point you to her blog And So It Goes In Shreveport which is amazing and point out that some pretty important people are starting to take notice! As I mentioned the other day, she is going to be contributing to Robert Stacy McCain's new blog and now Hot Air is even starting to take notice of her brillance! I'm pretty sure she'll be way too important to talk to me soon, but I just wanted to say thank you and congratulations to one of the best people I've ever "met" online!!!

Dog Torture

Please note that Nancy Pelosi was not briefed on the tactics used during the torture.

And yes, I'm not posting anything substantial again. Busy...

Life

"Simple morality dictates that unless and until someone can prove the unborn human is not alive, we must give it the benefit of the doubt and assume it is. And, thus, it should be entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." - Ronald Reagan

That pretty much sums up my thoughts on today's news.

New Blog

Robert Stacy McCain (aka The Other McCain) has a new blog: Not One Red Cent, the goal of which is to "Fight the National Republican Senatorial Committee's betrayal of the conservative grassroots!" It's really great - way over my head with real political issues, of course, but I know my readers would love to check it out! Right?

Best of all, my good friend Pat will be contributing! She's freakin' awesome! Check it out!!

Second best of all, no McCain's named Meghan will be contributing...at least, I'm pretty sure!

More Gabby Goodness

I know I keep promising good posts but I'm having a craptastic day and I wanted to test out my new camera phone.

Margaret Thatcher

Quote of the Day: "The trouble with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." - Margaret Thatcher

Too bad she can't run for President! Today's story at Women of the GOP focuses on the lack of women in the Republican party (playing off the recent Politico piece), and for some reason I ended up spending a lot of time thinking about Margaret Thatcher after I wrote it. And well, yeah, Sarah Palin, too. Also, still thinking about what I want to say about leadership and the Republican Party - just haven't put it to paper, or uh, blog, yet!

My little GOP Pup!

Unpacking, Politicking, and Shameless Self-Promotion

Quote of the Day: "How can a government $9 trillion in debt take over anything, including health care? They can't afford to take over a kid's lemonade stand on Main Street USA." - Rush Limbaugh

Well, a little over a week in the new house and I'm not at all unpacked. I'm slowly but surely working on my kitchen. My darling little GC spent some of this last weekend with me and we moved some furniture around, and I finally found my sheets and got those washed and on my bed, but that's about it. I have made some progress though! For example: the bar area is only about a third as cluttered as it was, say, a few days ago:

It'll get there soon...I hope.

Anyway, I've been doing lots of things lately:

For work, I'm finally updating Women of the GOP daily. Just wrote about Candice Miller, a Congresswoman from Michigan who is fighting against the closing of GITMO. I just posted a big piece about media coverage of the tea parties and the truth about the demographics at Critical Politics. I've also been doing some local news for the area where my company is located and we're getting ready to start a new website focused on liberal bias in education which I am really looking forward to working on!

Last time I posted, I mentioned that I'd be writing for Smart Girl Nation » The E-Zine of Smart Girl Politics. You can go there and read lots of great conservative stories! Currently, my story on Angie Harmon is up there on the home page and I'm finishing up a piece about how Meghan McCain DOES NOT represent all young Republicans. If you haven't already, you should really check out Smart Girl Politics. I mean, look at who this week's featured member is and tell me they aren't smart! (hee hee)

And while I'm rambling on about what I'm up to, let me suggest you check out Patriot Games. Stephanie of Patriot Games Media does a weekly radio show on Blog Talk Radio and next Tuesday, yours truly will be a guest. I'll be talking about Republican women! That should be fun!

That's it for my rambling for today - I've got two more substantial posts planned for tonight or tomorrow. One on leadership and the GOP, the other on Shepard Smith and why he lost my viewership. Stay tuned!

Smart Girl Nation

I know I've talked about Smart Girl Politics (if you haven't joined, what are you waiting for?), but I don't think I've mentioned the new SGP e-Zine: Smart Girl Nation that has just launched. Check it out! There are lots of great columns and articles and yours truly is going to be writing for them, as well!

The week so far...

What a week! I was going to write about it but I don't even remember half of it at this point. Sunday, was my birthday party and I got some nice gifts from the family. After that, I went to buy rugs, and after that I moved into the new house! The GC spent Sunday night with me and we spent several hours trying to set up my internet and cable - no luck. That became a three day issue and all I can think to say on the matter is that Comcast really needs to hire English speakers or quit outsourcing. At some point, the script is useless.

Anyway, couple the last week of school with way too much work to catch up on with the fact that I couldn't get online and you have the hell that has been my last few days. I finally got both cable and internet (and hot water for that matter) yesterday around 2:00 PM and finally finished all school work around 2:00 AM. I'm free...sort of.

Lots to do this summer but am looking forward to it! And lots of blogging to catch up on...

P.S. Picture is of my homemade (by my mom) birthday cake - white cake with cream cheese icing. Yum! I added the red sprinkles!

Pork Flu

Ain't this the truth...

Quote of the Day - Ann Coulter

I didn't have the energy to watch the entire thing but I did manage to catch a few minutes of Joy Behar vs. Ann Coulter on Larry King's show last night. Coulter is obviously much more intelligent than Behar, regardless of what sort of political views either of them hold, but my favorite exchange of the night was this:

BEHAR: OK. All right. I want to know if you want to be waterboarded, because Sean Hannity has volunteered to be waterboarded, but I don't see him sticking his head under the faucet yet.

COULTER: Well, for one thing, about half of the male hosts on Fox News have been waterboarded on TV. I've seen worse on "Fear Factor." And, no, I don't want to be waterboarded.

BEHAR: Are you sure?

COULTER: Do you want to be aborted, because I think you support abortion?

I know a lot of my fellow right-wing extremists don't care for Ann Coulter because they find her a bit abrasive. Personally, yes, I do think she can be a bit "out there" at times, but I don't think she's all that out of line. Often, I find her saying what many of us feel but would not have the guts to say among certain company because it's just not politically correct to do so.

Ben Harper

Song of the Day - "Walk Away"

Moving, Birthdays, Politics, and Other Stuff

Quote of the Day: It is easy to take liberty for granted when you have never had it taken from you. - Dick Cheney

I swore I wasn't going to do a "I'm too busy to post" post, again, but...

I just made out my "to do" list for the next few days and until Thursday, I am just booked solid! Tuesday and Wednesday are my last days of school and I have so much to do - tests, projects, papers, finals, etc. I've got about 2 1/2 days to get caught up on work I haven't done this last week because of the moving situation among a million other little side projects here and there.

Speaking of moving...tonight was supposed to be my first night in the new house but for a number of reasons, that didn't happen. I did spend much of the week taking load after load of stuff over there in my car until Thursday when my dad and the GC finally helped me move the rest of it. I've got the storage building emptied out and all I have left to do is clean up my "area" (when I moved back here, I never actually got my whole bedroom back, just a 5x8 or so space) and pack that up. Tomorrow, we'll go pick up the new washer/dryer and connect it (I say "we" but I'll probably just watch) then I'll come home and work work work on well, work. Sunday, my family insists on throwing me a birthday party and then I have a meeting for school that night but between that will be more work work work. Which brings me to...MONDAY! I actually plan to spend Monday night in the house, finally, and as my friend Roxy sad, "It really will be your birthday present!" Yeah, I'll be the big 2-8 on Monday and I've been joking about this move being the best present I could get! Of course, I probably won't have any time to unpack once I'm down there, instead, I should have just enough time to figure out all the cords and boxes Comcast sent me so I can get my internet going and finish my stuff for school.

On Thursday, I may very well sleep all day.

But that's where I am - exhausted, sore, and overwhelmed. I feel awful because I've been neglecting everyone! I can't wait to get caught up on email, reading friends' blogs, and updating more often. I also can't wait to get caught up on my "to read" list, netflix, SGP stuff, etc. I have a lot going on this summer but time management should be a lot easier because I'll be back to living ALONE!!! <--- my favorite word!

I also can't wait to start writing more about politics again - there is so much going on in this country that you better bet I am just dying to sink my teeth into! One thing I do plan to watch closely is who our dear leader puts on the Supreme Court. I was pretty freaked at the news that Justice Souter would be leaving in June. I got a lot of response from friends that it wasn't that big of a deal, replacing a liberal with another liberal. All I have to say to that is that I'm 100 times more comfortable with a liberal chosen by GHW Bush than I am with one chosen by the Big O and company.

That's pretty much all I wanted to say - every day, I see so many people are looking at my blog and I hate nothing more than visiting a blog and seeing it hasn't been updated in days or even weeks, so I imagine most others feel the same way! I'll be back very soon, I promise!