From the beginning… I promise this was from the beginning of this school year. Ignore the wrong dates. I’m a qualified teacher really I am. To the end. It was an absolute adventure. And my most ambitious and longest school year yet is finally over. Although we’d finished most subjects, we officially ended it all […]
The Resurrection of Long Butt: Finding a Better Swimsuit.
When a fashion trend troubles me, I find myself studying it intensely, attempting to mentally work out a solution. How could we keep this look but ditch everything that makes it absolutely horrendous? These questions plague my mind in dark, subconscious corners until I concoct a solution. That’s how, in 2009, I found myself publishing […]
The Alabama Skimm
I’ve mentioned before how much I like The Skimm, and there’s been a lot going on here lately, so I decided to give you guys a bit of my own homestate Skimm. Alabama’s been talked about a lot lately. First, our Governor had a, well, a situation that ended up giving us a new Governor […]
An Alabama Fairytale.
For those of you who live in Alabama, you may have had enough already of this story. Or maybe you’ve been avoiding it and waiting for the overview. But I’ve had a lot of people – locally and not – ask me “what exactly happened down there?”, so I felt it my duty, since I […]
Unearthing a More Colorful Brain.
“1 is red – right, mom?” This matter-of-fact question Noah asked Monday morning while doing his math (in my dirty dressing room floor as I hung up clothes) turned his school day on end. What followed was a fascinating day of me interrogating him while becoming more and more intrigued with his brain as he […]
The Best New Crafting Bling: Fimo Slices.
It’s been way too long since I’ve made a craft project worthy of sharing. Today’s is brought to you by purchasing the wrong product, because sometimes you discover something fabulous by screwing up. Such was the case with Fimo barrels. I loved making Fimo beads when I was a kid – the rolling into a […]
Drought Updates from Lake Purdy.
On November 4th, right before it was announced that we were in a Stage Four Drought Emergency, I took a trip to our water supply, Lake Purdy, to see what it was looking like. November 4: A few days later, I went back to take sunset pictures. November 11: For more of the sunset pictures, […]
Hands-On Alabama History: The Native American Trips.
We’ve still been keeping busy with our Alabama History project and field trips, but I’ve been waiting to catch up on posting about them until I could share some fun news: a dear friend, Carla Jean Whitley, jumped onto our Alabama History bandwagon a couple of weeks after we started. She is an author of […]
The Day The Tide Turned Brown.
The history of Alabama Football is nuanced and deep in its tradition. Why, for instance, would our mascot be an elephant, yet we’re called The Crimson Tide? It came from a simple phrase used by a journalist. In 1907, there was a particularly momentous game – the Iron Bowl, in fact – that was played […]
40 Spectacular Spots for Birmingham Photo Shoots
It’s getting to be the season for family photos, and I often have photographers message me for new ideas on Birmingham backdrops for family or commercial photo shoots. We all know that the Botanical Gardens and Morris Avenue and Railroad Park are great, but people want new ideas. And I like to give the people […]