Day 18:A Time when you felt Passionate and Alive

This is difficult. I feel passionate about my hobbies like photography. I love when I am hired to shoot a family or a newly engaged couple. I love when my friends let me photograph them as well. I feel alive when I get to use my education at work. I was recently asked to design the renovations of an old carriage house downtown. Taking measurements and deciding how to use existing plumbing and walls made me feel very alive.

I feel alive and happy when I'm with all of my friends. Whether they are old friends from college or my friends here in Savannah. I am passionate when I throw a dinner party or cook for a friend.

I think I would have to say the time I feel most alive is when I get to sing Karaoke. yes I am a Karaoke superstar. Get me on stage with some Joan Jett or Janis Joplin and I feel in my element.



  

Day 17: An Art piece??

REALLY? This is a lame topic. This requires me to take a photo and get it on my computer. I dont have any cool priceless art. I have old signs that I have found in antique shops. I Have a guiness poster framed in my bedroom. I have a gigantic letter C over my bed. In the living room I have 2 antique photos of the 1912 Cambridge University tennis team (I dont even really like tennis). I guess the most expensive piece I have is one given to me for my college graduation. It was by Tiffani Taylor. She is a SCAD graduate and was commissioned to do this piece for me. I love Alice in Wonderland and I'm not sure if she was told this fact but there are images from Alice all over the painting. I love it! What do you think?

Sorry about the quality. I took it with my iphone and uploaded real quick. Didnt feel like photoshopping and making it pretty. 

Day 16: A song that makes you cry

My Dad's favorite song was "the Gambler" By Kenny Rogers and that used to make me cry. It doesnt anymore. Shortly after my Dad passed away I heard this song by Dan Fogelberg. I had never heard this before and it spoke to me and now everytime i hear it I cry. I admit it. I drive down the road and cry like a bebe. See what reaction you have to it.

Day 15: A person you admire

I've been really looking forward to doing this days challenge. I would tell you how great my Mom is and how strong of a woman she is. I could tell you how much I miss my Dad and that he was my role model. I write about my Grandma Wallace and how she taught me to cook and was always sassy and spoke her mind. But I'm going to tell you about my brother.

In 1983 my brother's life drastically changed. He had been an only child for 13 years and for some reason (or so I'm told) very much wanted a baby sister. Well, his wishes came true one spring day as my parents prayers were answered! I'm told that my brother would get up with me in the middle of the night and feed me bottles. Word on the street is that he would sing to me and would always volunteer to babysit. Most teenagers would want to pretend they didnt have a 4 year old sister but I remember riding to the Sonic with my brother on a Saturday night to get a milkshake. I know it was summer and I know it was dark and his friends were all there. I was his accessory. From a young age my mother taught me how to dazzle a crowd and his friends thought I was awesome! (or so i like to remember). Maybe he was just using me to pick up girls., whatever the reason, I just loved hanging out with my big brother.

He went off to college when I was 5. I remember how excited I would get when he would come home and surprise me in the car pick up line after school!! A quick trip to the sonic and then we would hang out all weekend. Into his twenties he would still hang out with me when he came home. We would play Nintendo and watch SNICK and SNL. He would help me with my school projects and I think he enjoyed it.

When I was 13 my brother moved to Savannah to go to SCAD and become an interior designer. I remember when he moved in and my parents and I made our first trip here. I was 13 and thought I was hot shit. I loved to come visit Savannah and walk around, he had opened up a new world for me. He stayed in Savannah and finished his masters as I entered High School. My junior year he moved home to start his own business. My friends and I would go to his house after school and hang out with him. He was and still is funny and sarcastic and would inquire about how many boyfriends I had on a given week.

He is married now and has kids. We live in the same town and see each other regularly. We still joke and he still asks how many boyfriends I have on a given week, still. We arent as close as I wish we were. I think he feels like he has to take care of me since our Dad passed away. Somedays I think he still sees me as a 5 year old who talks too much. But I admire my brother because he is a talented designer and successful entrepreneur. I admire the kind of Dad he is to his kids.I admire that he is humble in his success. He inherited our grandmother's cooking abilities and loves to cook for his coworkers and family. I admire the fact that I value his opinion above anyone else's and I want his input on everything. If there is a big decision to be made in my life I always say, "let me call my brother and see what he thinks". As busy as he is he always has time to talk to me. If I'm ever in trouble I know I can count on him to help me out.

I wish we were closer all the time. But he is so busy and I understand that.  He is probably going to hate the fact that I wrote about him. He will hate even more if I post a photo of him when we were younger (he is weird like that, I thought his fro was SWEET!) I'm debating if I even want him to read this or not. The blog challenge asked me who I admired most and my brother is the person that I admire and when people tell how alike we are because we do x,y, or z the same...it makes my day!

and now here is one photo so he has something to yell at me for!

Day 14: a Vacation I would like to take

If you know me well then you know I hate to fly. I abhor, loathe and detest having to get on a plane and I have to be drugged or drunk to go on a flight. So, my Xanax and I have managed to go to Los Angeles and NYC. I have spent time in all parts of the country and even drove across country once. I went to Bermuda when I was 13 but that was before I had anxiety and fears.

I've thought long and hard about my dream vacation and how I would do it. I would have to be very wealthy because I want to cruise around the world. I want a massive solar powered yacht to take myself and my friends on a trip that I've already mapped out.

We would set sail from Miami and cruise the islands of St Barts, Antigua, and Jamaica.

Before going through the Panama canal I would visit Caracas. Once going through the canal I would head down the coast to Peru and Chile. My next stop would be the Galapagos Islands and see the exotic wildlife 

I would then head up and hit Costa Rica and some spots in Mexico before heading west to Hawaii. Then its straight on across and slightly south to Australia to visit some friends. I would cruise the Great Barrier Reef and head into South Asia and the South China Sea. I want to see Thailand, the Phillipines, Singapore and Hong Kong. 

We'd have to head back down past Indonesia to make our way to Sri Lanka and India. We would then head slightly south to see the Maldives and Seychelles. We would visit Kenya and then head up into the Red Sea and see Egypt and Saudi Arabia before arriving in Turkey. Then its over to Greece and the Mediterranean to see Monaco, Italy, France and Spain. 

The Gibraltar strait would take us back up the coast of Portugal so that I could head up and tour the Amsterdam, the UK and my ancestors home of Scotland. I would head a little farther north to see the Nordic states of Norway and Sweden. I would end my trip at the destination I am dying to visit. Iceland!! This would conclude my trip around the world and then we would head back into Canada and catch a quick flight home. The End of Coastal Belle's trip around the Coasts of the world!! This may be far fetched but its MY dream vacation remember?  

Day 13: A guilty pleasure

 "JACK DANIELS IF YOU PLEASE KNOCK ME TO MY KNEES YOUR THE ONLY FRIEND THERE'S HAS EVER BEEN THAT DIDN'T DO ME WRONG". -David Allan Coe

I got my first taste of this stuff when I was a teething baby. My parents would rub it on my gums to numb them. That was the 80s, you could do stuff like that. My grandmother would drink it straight from the bottle when she had a cold or sore throat and advised the rest of the family to do the same. 

This stuff was a staple in our house growing up. Now my parents werent alcoholics, they were and still are church going people. But my Dad would come home and enjoy a Jack and Ginger. At some point in time he became a Tennessee Squire. That meant that he was given a 1'x1' plot of land in Lynchburg. We took a trip when I was 15 to check out our plot. It had a little stake with my Dad's name on it. 

The Distellery was really cool, especially when I was only 15. My Dad got to go to a secret members only room and I wish I knew what they did there. We werent able to buy or drink any Jack because Lynchburg is in a dry county. We left with some cool memorabilia and great memories. When I went off to college my Dad felt I was old enough to drink so he started making me Jack and Gingers when I would come home. One day I tried it with diet coke and I was sold. Jack and Diet coke with lime became my new drink of choice. 

I say this is my guilty pleasure even though I dont feel guilty drinking it. It brings back good memories. It does provide a pleasure that some would consider guilty or wrong. I think people that dont drink have issues. 

"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day."- Frank Sinatra said that. 

Day 9, 10, and 11:photos

I collaborated the photo days since I have missed a few anyways. my apologies to those who care to follow the rules.....I do what i want!

Day 9: a photo you took

 When you are an amateur photographer it is hard to choose just one photo. I chose this photo of a caterpillar because well how often do you see caterpillars like this? I was in my home town with my mom 2 years ago and was going through a creative period. I decided to wake up with the sun to go shoot some nature. I found 2 caterpillars at Kalmia Gardens in Hatsville, SC as the sun was rising on the creek. Now is the time to mention I am not a morning person and have only voluntarily seen the sun rise when I had an early flight to take or because I needed to get home before my parents woke up to avoid being grounded in high school.

 

Day 10: a photo of you taken over 10 years ago

Back in 1997 my cousin got married. She asked me to be her maid of honor and she has a small family wedding. This is my family. Pretty sure this is the most recent photo of the 4 of us which is very sad. I have lots of photos of my brother and me. When my Dad passed away my mom, brother and I started taking photos together at ever event we went to so there are lots of those. I wish there were more recent photos of the 4 of us but this is it. I also love my skinny 14 year old body. If you know my brother please dont tell him you saw this photo, he may just disown me.

Day 11: a photo of you taken recently

This is my best friend Jeannie. That face we are making is our tribute to the other member of our best friend threesome, Elizabeth. She just got engaged and wasnt there to hang out with us in Charleston. Whenever she is missing we send her kissy faces via our fb photos. This was a fun night and I was having a great hair day. I enjoy this one

Day 8: a thank you letter to someone who has changed your life

I could write a sweet and sentimental letter about my mom or dad and how they raised me to be the woman I am today. I could write about my brother whose opinion I value more than anyone else's. I could write a letter thanking my friends for accepting me the way I am and always being there for me. But all of that would be too ordinary for me. I want to write a thank you note to my ex boyfriends. This is clearly written to one person in general but to a whole slew of men who have each taught me something in life.

Dear Ex bofyriend (fill in name),

I want to thank you from the bottom of my good heart (it has put up with your crap for ___ amount of time) for teaching me so much over the course of our relationship. I have learned patience from waiting on your call. Patience also became my greatest virtue when you stayed out with your buddies and didnt make it home on a given Saturday night. Patience was my middle name when you couldnt decide what you wanted to have for dinner and I was about to eat my hand. Yes, you taught me Patience and I thank you for that.

Thank you for helping me realize that flowers are only given randomly to girls in movies. I thought that might happen sometimes in real life, just on occasion and spontaneously. Thanks for clearing that one up. You also helped me understand that its okay that you never open the door for me. Well you opened the door in the beginning but thanks for teaching me that there was a time limit on that good deed. I shouldnt expect so much of you, I apologize for that.

You always spoke your mind which I appreciated, especially when you were drunk and decided to air our dirty laundry in front of all of our friends. I want to thank you for letting everyone know our issues so they could give their opinion on the matter.

Thanks for almost getting me killed those 184 times in the car when you drove like a bat out of hell or got lost in the ghetto. Thank you also for getting so drunk that you left me in a bar when you saw your buddy in the bathroom and forgot I was sitting at the bar with your friends.

Thanks for always dancing with me at weddings and other events. It was so nice to show all of my friends how graceful you are on your two left feet. I especially loved this when you were wasted and decided to "grind" on me in the presence of my entire family, that was a wonderful night!

I want to thank you for always telling me exactly what was on your mind and what we could work on in our relationship. Thank you also for talking about this with the girl next door and sleeping over because she was upset. I appreciate you taking other girls out when we were at separate schools I'm sure they were lonely and you were there to make them feel special, that was SO nice of you.

And last but not least, thank you for continuing to call and text even when I've told you multiple times that I'm so very over you. I am flattered that I was so great that you still love me and want me back. I really love to hear this at 2am on a Saturday when you are wasted and I hear it from multiple ex boyfriends. I'm honored, but I want you to know that I learned so much from the first time around that I earned an A+ in being your girlfriend and really dont need to repeat the course.

I learned what types of food you liked and guess what, new boyfriends like those recipes too. I learned not to call you too much and not to nag. Those have come in handy. I also learned to always treat you like you are the most perfect man in the world and through this I learned how to get you to do what I want which might be, boyfriend, the greatest lesson you taught me. I thank you for this!

Love,

Day 7: 5 things you could not possibly live without

Well Friends and Family are a given so I'm going with material goods

I ABSOLUTELY can not live without my iphone 4. Yes I wanted to throw out which model it was.

I cant live without internet. The need to stay connected with everyone makes it an addiction

It would be hard to live without tv. I am addicted to this as well and its my favorite form of mindless entertainment

I dont think I could live without a car. Not necessarily my car but a car in general. But I would hate to not be able to escape when I wanted to.

The last thing I couldnt live without is my thyroid medicine. Without it I'm a crazy fat mess. I am so tired and anxious without my meds. If any of you have hypothyroidism then you know exactly what I'm talking about. Its good stuff and makes your hair shiny and your metabolism boosted.

Day 6: The moment you wish you could relive

There isnt an exact moment I would want to relive or even a day. I will pick the shortest time span to relieve and that would be the summer before my senior year of college. I had just completed a year of partying and making bonds with the friends that I will have for the rest of my life. My two best friends and i moved out of the ZTA house and into a house in the college ghetto. Our house didn't look like a lot from the outside, our landlord promised to repaint but that never happened. There was a hole in the floor in the kitchen and we had mexicans for backdoor neighbors. Jeannie's mom gave us a front porch swing that I painted for us. We threw all of our mismatched furniture together and made it into a fun house. Jeannie and Elizabeth will kill me for posting a picture and admitting we lived there but the memories make it a mansion in our minds.

My parents agreed to let me stay in Rock Hill for the summer so that I could pass math. I took Maymester and was supposed to get a job but that didnt happen. Jeannie took classes too and Elizabeth worked at a local restaurant. When we werent in class or at "work" we had a plan for everyday of the week. We celebrated Wasted Wednesday, and Thirsty Thursday. We hung out at the Kappa Sigma house every day pretty much. There was a slip and slide night in the house a few doors down, yes INSIDE the house (with baby oil). Oh and we got a puppy! Jackson, who is now 6 years old and is laying next to me right now. Here are some pictures from that summer and shortly before/after.

         

         

When I wasnt in Rock Hill this summer I was in Savannah where my parents had just moved. The excitement of the new city was fun. I would bring Jack home and my parents loved to play with this new puppy. My mom and I would go shopping and my dad and I would play golf. I remember spending a few weeks at home before school started back. Everytime I would leave to head back up to school my dad would ask if I had any money and I would always say "No Dad because you always give me some". and he would hand me a $20 bill and tell me not to spend it on booze which is exactly what I would do when exiting the interstate onto Cherry Rd! 

Life was easy that summer, I didnt have to worry about bills or about my future. I had another year to safely be tucked away in the confines of Winthrop's campus with my best friends. I had a year ahead of me of partying and going home to see my family whenever I could. I never took that for granted and dont regret not going home more but if I could relive that perfect summer I think my dad and I would play a few more rounds of golf and have a few more Jack and cokes (Jack and Ginger in his case). 

Day 5: A Favorite Quote

This might be the hardest blog challenge yet. I cant pick just one quote. I have so many great and inspiring quotes. I think I will turn this post into a bulletin board of my favorite quotes

                                                         Ben Franklin said that!

Day 4: Favorite TV shows

I am kind of a TV junkie. I like to spend my summers playing outside until well into the evening. I choose however, to spend my fall nights watching my shows. I enjoy comedies and lots of stuff that is currently on TV. I like Grey's Anatomy, Glee, Gossip Girl, and Chelsea Handler. There are also those shows that I own and watch over and over again. Everytime there is a rerun on I watch it. These are the shows that people are true fans of and the ones that I will now list. Here they go....

Arrested Development

I'm gonna blame this one on my intense love of Jason Bateman. Dating all the way back to the Hogan Family in the 80s. This is one of the funniest shows to ever be on tv and I'm sad its gone. I still own all the seasons and watch them on rainy weekends.

How I met your mother

Another all star cast of very funny people made funnier by great writers. This is my current favorite tv show. It reminds of my friends when they are on their A game. I relate to this show and the crazy antics and bets they have. I would probably sleep with Barney Stinson if he told me he was an astronaut and I knew in real life he wasnt gay.

Sex and The City 

I know I recently wrote an entire post about this but Sex and The City is one of the best shows geared towards women. Because lets face it, not many shows are. Its relevant, poignant and damn right funny! This show as I have mentioned before teaches us about friendship, fashion, love, and how to get what you want.

Saturday Night Live

I have stuck by this show for 16 years through thick and thin. I fell in love with the coneheads, the spartan cheerleaders and even the ambiguously gay duo. Wayne's World quotes were a regular around my house and my brother and I would stay up late and try to watch the entire show when he would come home from college. Recently the show hasnt been as funny. I miss the days of Mr Peepers, the Church Lady and Brian Fellows. Betty White brought this show back to life recently and here is one of my favorite new clips from one of my favorite old segments. I still have faith in this show.

Day 3: Favorite book

I'm not a big reader. I love all of the Harry Potter books and Twilight Saga. I guess you could see I read like a middle schooler. It takes a special book to captivate me and those are the ones that I couldnt put down. Classic books that I read over and over are To Kill a Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby. i would have to say my favorite novel at the moment and the one I keep recommending to people is Girls in Trucks

I love chic lit. I love witty writing and I especially love stories about my home state of South Carolina! This is a great book.

Blog Challenge Day 2: Favorite Movie(s)

It wasnt long ago that my best friend, Jeannie, started blogging. I have been doing this for years but as you, my faithful followers know, I am TERRIBLE at writing often. Its so easy to start jotting down your thoughts and ideas and then it becomes a once a week or once a month occasion that you have something interesting enough to share. Jeannie started a 30 day blog challenge and I am going to participate. I just spent all weekend with her and my other friends from college and as always it was entertaining. I am working on some new ideas and I think in 30 days I will have another 30 days worth of material.

In case you too are mentally blocked feel free to participate. So day 1 is about your favorite song, since I just blogged about this a few days ago and I like to make my own rules, I am going to skip this. I am starting with day 2 about my favorite movie(s).

Animal House

"My advice to you, is to start drinking Heavily"- Bluto

If you havent seen my favorite movie of all times then I dont know that I want to be friends with you. This movies sums up what college should be. Raunchy parties, nights you cant remember with friends you can never forget. This was one of my Dad's favorite movies and I was allowed to watch the entire thing when I was in middle school. We would watch this everytime it came on tv. We watched this and 15 days of Bond. 

Caddyshack
"Hey, everybody, we're all gonna get laid!"- Rodney Dangerfield

Again, a classic movie that has spanned generations. Everytime I watch Bill Murray take a bite of that baby ruth I crack up. This was another of my Dad's favorites that he forced me to watch, much to my mothers dismay. She thought it was raunchy, which it is. I do love a raunchy comedy.

The Goonies
"You idiot! That's my mom's most favorite piece"- Sean Astin

This movies was the start to many young careers. It also entertained me endlessly as a child. My niece and nephew love it so much that I bought them their own copy last christmas. The adventure these kids take is one that all children have dreamed of. I wanted to go find Chester Copperpots gold when I was little. Its an innocent time when riding your bike across a county was acceptable and safe. 

Weird Science
"I can be a real bitch if I don't get what I want"- Kelly LeBrock

This is another classic 80s movie that continues to make me laugh everytime. I wish I could have been a teenager in the 80s. The music, the clothes, the HAIR. I love the 80s. I love 80s high school movies, I love John Hughes and I choose this to be my favorite of that genre. 

Meet me in St Louis
"I can't handle 20 men alone, I admit it"

My mother searched the internet to find me this movie this past Christmas. This is a classic musical and a classic Christmas movie. I watch it over and over an still love it.