Disjointed Bookclub: Little Women / AKA I was named after a dog.

This past week I finished reading Little Women for the first time. I feel like it's something I should have done a long time ago, but as a late-bloomer-Little-Women-reader I'm glad I finally did. It's a big accomplishment because I think it may be the first book I finished since Hazel was born... (I take that back. Actually, I also read Fat Girl Walking. And Dad is Fat. But still not a lot of reading has taken place....)

As an avid Jane Austen fan, I've been trying to read Mansfield Park, but haven't been able to get into it. I was worried that my mom brain may have changed taste and can't stay interested unless childbirth and babies are involved. However, we went to visit an adorable used book shop in our town and I picked up Little Women, and sure enough I fell in love like millions before me.

Since I do not have a bookclub that I'm in, nor would I complete the reading in the proper time span if I did. I wanted to have a little chat with you, the people of the interwebs, because I'm sure many of you have read this one.

This is a great coming of age book for women, and I wish I had read it when I was junior high/high school instead.

I, of course, tried to choose which character I was most like, but I can't decide. A little of all of them. Is that the point? Who are you most like?

Who's your favorite?! I think Jo is mine, but she also seemed to be the focus character. Is she everyone's favorite? I guess not, because - fun fact! - in a round about way I was named after Amy...

You see, my mom came to the realization that I might have been named after my childhood neighbors' dog. We had two sisters who lived across the street from us, and they were very sweet, but also the epitome of cat ladies (the dog was before any of my memories) as they had at least 23 cats at one point.

My mom says that Amy was their favorite character of Little Women, so they named their dog after her. I guess Amy (the dog) got out a lot and they could be heard calling for her frequently. Well, after hearing it a lot, I guess it came to my mom pretty naturally when she was choosing my name, and my parents subconsciously named me after a dog!

Hi, my name is Amy, named after Amy the dog, named after Amy March of Little women.

I like dogs, and now I know I like Little Women, so it could be worse. :)

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Easter Weekend 2016.

I bet you didn't know you needed to see pictures of Hazel dressed up like a gnome, but I bet after you see them, you'll realize it's exactly what you needed to put a smile on your face this Wednesday evening! 

I'm a little bit behind on posting, but every chance I get I have been out working in the yard, fostering my plant family, and taking advantage of this Spring to the fullest extent. I have done SOOO much planting! I can't wait to share our big yard project soon!

This past weekend, as well as Easter weekend, we had some great weather (even if it was a little stormy occasionally). The flowers and trees have been blooming, and the first cycle of spring blooms is already coming to a close. For Easter we really enjoyed getting outside, celebrating with family, and taking lots of pictures!

 

 Hazel Hollyhock the Wee One (her gnome name) has a very important role in the Springtime. She monitors all the flowers and when they have bloomed long enough, she thanks them for their pretty service and helps them drop their petals. One by One. Though she is a happy gnome, she takes her work very seriously, as you will see...

I posted this next one specifically so you could admire her windblown mullet...

And I couldn't help but giggle at this one. She loves it when we smell her feet and say, "pee-yoo!"

As soon as she saw her Easter basket Sunday morning, she climbed up on the hearth and started peeking inside! Here she's showing off her Little People Unicorn!!

She also got some dress-up accessories from the Easter Bunny (via Uncle Dave and Aunt Lee Ann - thanks!) that happened to match her Easter dress perfectly! So formal!

Norbert was a little bored by the easy egg hunt since they were just spread throughout the yard (he prefers more of a challenge), but he was a good sport about it. 

She got Little People in her eggs too, and couldn't help but hug them when she got them. <3 <3

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Spring Forward, Country Throwback

Lately, I have been pretty obsessed with listening to my favorite "old" country, and by "old" I mean, country that I loved when I was in late high school and freshman year of college. At that point in my life I always had music coming from my computer. I spent a lot of time searching out new artists (many of which have made it big by now! Yay, Lee Brice!), and had the opportunity to see so many great shows up close and personal at the Grizzly Rose in Denver. Eric Church, Taylor Swift, Lee Brice, Chris Cagle... for about $10 a ticket I might add... Those were the days!

{  View from my spot for the Taylor Swift concert - 2007  }

{  Erich Church concert 2007/2008?  }

{  Becky and I with a sweaty Lee Brice circa 2008  }

This has been my Spring Fever this year. This music takes me straight back to 2007 (ha!). And even though I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE where I am at in life (self, wife, mother), I can't help but long for the "Old Days" ( I keep putting that in quotes because I know it sounds ridiculous). I miss the freedom of not having major responsibilities, of not having a defined path ahead. Everything was unknown and wide open!! I miss that feeling. It was a time of self discovery, falling in love with some of the best new friends in the world, having amazing adventures with some of the best old friends, and all around tom-foolery.

You're the Love I Wanna Be In - Jason Aldean

Alabama - Cross Canadian Ragweed

Watchin' Airplanes - Gary Allen

Wagon Wheel - Old Crow Medicine Show (Get outta here, Darius Rucker! I like you, but you should'a never touched this song.)

Small Town Kid - Eli Young Band

Baby Let Me Be Your Man - Brian McComas

Sumpter County Friday Night - Lee Brice

How 'bout Them Cowgirls - George Straight

Twisted - Colt Ford

Rock This Town - Brantley Gilbert (for some reason I can't find any of his early stuff on YouTube to add to the playlist. Bummer.)

Livin' our Love Song - Jason Michael Carrol

Everytime I Hear Your Name - Keith Anderson

Dirt - Florida Georgia Line

{  YouTube Playlist HERE  }

These songs are a time capsule of my thoughts and feelings in those days. I love that about music! Music as memories is something I come back to time and time again. Here is an excerpt from a (rather sappy) post I wrote in 2011.

"I think about the person I was, the people surrounding me, the boys I thought I loved, and the carefree air of my thoughts and actions. 

A song can pop onto the radio and suddenly I  am taken back to the eleven year old me who is just falling in love with country music and is completely consumed with her love of horses and horse shows and being at the farm on beautiful summer evenings. The memories are like a flood and the emotions come right along with them. There’s no way of stopping them. I’m almost blinded by the present and dropped back into the past.

Music isn’t always needed for my reminiscing though. Sometimes a cool summer sunset or the chirp of a bird will take me back to being really young and the memories of long summers spent at my childhood home with my mom. They always seemed magical. And these are ones that can be particularly frustrating because they are the ones I would like to relive more than any, but they're the hardest to remember, coming in snips and pieces.

And once I start thinking about childhood, I miss it more and more. Reading books with my dad and listening to the stories of his childhood. Waking up to my mom playing the piano in the living room. Popsicles and smashed flower art on the deck. Painting the concrete wall with water with my sister. My grandmas. My grandpas. So many things I miss…

But the truth is, I will never get back to those times or situations, and must learn to remember them with a smile, then return to the present and live this moment to the fullest because one day I KNOW I will look back on it with the same longing. 

I don’t agree that living in the past is a bad thing from time to time... Spending some time laying in bed looking out the window thinking back on your life helps you appreciate how far you’ve come. It reminds you of who you were and who you are now; the differences and similarities. It can re-frame your take on the present and help you see that there’s no need to be so stressed out about your current problems because they are so small in the grand scheme of your life. 

Remember the happy and the sad, because who wants to forget their past? It’s at the core of who we are and sometimes we need that reminder to keep us firmly on the ground."

And it's important to keep listening to NEW music too, so that one day a song that you're currently listening to will be "old," and take you back to NOW. My new one I threw in this playlist is Dirt by Florida Georgia Line.

Hazel's age is so sweet right now, and I'm really trying to soak up all the moments that I can, because I KNOW, I KNOW, I KNOW I will come back to the memories of these days for the rest of my life.  

Even now, listening to 

Bright Eyes - First Day of My Life or 

Killers - Human 

make me tear up thinking about those first days with Hazel just a YEAR ago.

We all have our moments, but I am so fortunate and blessed to have the moments that I do!

And just so you all know, it was really hard to pare this playlist down to a handful of songs and not just hit "select all" in my media library. (Wink, wink, 3SW... some things don't change!)

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