from what i can tell, this appears to be real (Adobe PhotoShop-free).
one of david's brothers is a pilot (his hobby....how cool). after today, the thought of being a pilot crossed my mind for a split second, but then it freaked me out to think about actually flying and being in control of an airplane, so i am now trying to convince david to get his pilot's license. :o) can't say that we'd ever own our own plane, but having a license would be do-able and could be really awesome. his brother flew their parents in for easter weekend. the weather was incredible and the time with my "in-loves" was, as always, such a joy. we went on hikes, took naps, ate great meals, drove through the countryside of kentucky and doded over horses and their fawn (at least linda and i did from the back seat). the weekend was way too short. when david's brother flew in to pick his parents up, he was in no hurry and asked david and me if we wanted to take a "quick spin" over danville. a quick spin over danville?!?! i was wiggin'! i have never been in a small plane before and here was my chance! david had of course, so he easily answered with a, "sure!" i was freakin' out due to excitement. you'd think i'd be all nervous with sweaty palms, racing heartbeat, and butterflies, but i was just too excited. never having been in a small plane before, i was amazed at how safe i felt. i felt more safe in it than i did a huge plane! it was amazing to look down and see where we live and what a DIFFERENT perspective it is from above. as we were flying, i thought about God's perspective and how His is SO different from ours. i thought about how we drive through danville and see it at "ground level" and make observations and assumptions, yet when above, it's all so...almost opposite. it was so cool to see how close things were to our house, that i felt were so far away, and to see things that i had no clue existed....beautiful various landforms. it's as if we have our blinders on in everyday life, and it takes someone snatching us up literally to give us a view from above. so refreshing...it was/is so comforting to know that God's perspective is SO different than mine.
my brother and his business partner own evangeline’s located in tuscaloosa, alabama. just for fun, he will periodically email me their current menu or chef's weekend features, and i received this a couple of weeks ago. the menus are always so fun to read and make me hungry every time i read them. i am gonna have to go with the fresh pan seared mahi-mahi fillet. if you're ever in tuscaloosa, alabama (maybe on your way down to the gulf for vacation), swing by and experience evangeline's...i'll let my brother know you're coming.
• Evangeline's Hearts Salad - fresh hearts of Romaine, Artichoke & Palm tossed with Pine Nuts, jumbo Spanish Olives & extra virgin Olive Oil & Balsamic Vinaigrettenothing like waking up to whitesnake at seven in the morning and getting a mental image of actress tawny kitaen dancing seductively on the hood of a jaguar. i could do without the image, but was smiling and lovin' the song. dude, i was so pumped this morning. been singing here i go again all day long. i googled the lyrics this afternoon because i knew that i had a couple of them wrong (i am notorious for that), and have been pleasantly surprised by the whole song. if i didn't know better, this could be a petra song. come on everybody, you know you want to...squint your eyes, scrunch up your nose, get your air guitar out and sing the lyrics out loud (and you have to make the electric guitar noise with your mouth as well).
i have been a long-time fan of elton john. as a ten-old-year i had several of his tapes and remember my older brother complaining that's all i listened to (which was pretty much true). he tried to heavily influence me with van halen, yes, and u2...to name a few. i didn't really have an option to dislike van halen seeing how our home was decorated with smoking babies with wings and long, blond-haired men posing in spandex. might as well jump. anyway, back to elton. in sixth grade, i wanted to dress up like elton and perform to crocodile rock for my peers for an english class presentation. so what did i do? dressed up, borrowed a friend's blow-up crocodile pool float (remember those?), and danced around the room lip-syncing to crocodile rock. holy heatwave batman! what in tarnation was i thinking??? i guess that's why they call it the clue(less). i was clueless...no wonder i had such a hard time in middle school. i was such a dork. such a dork. to make things worse...i was elton john for halloween as a ninth grader...yes, i said ninth grader. kinda of embarrassing. the school that i attended in ninth grade allowed you to dress up for halloween, so off i went bearing a top hat, bald cap, leopard-laced red jacket (that my mom wore as her going away out fit at her wedding, ha), black parachute pants (compliments of my brother), and white golfing shoes. oh, and i can't forget the huge yellow, squared-rimmed sunglasses. all of the kids at school were like, who in the heck is she? i was so offended. :o) my dad gave me EJ's box set collection for christmas that year (tapes, of course...didn't have a cd player until my junior year in high school), and subsequently various vinyl records to collect over the years. my mom took a friend and me to his sleeping with the past concert in the early 90's, and she let me go up front "by myself." i was in heaven. it was pretty amazing (now that i think about it) being just a few yards away from the man while he played your song on his grand piano. i knew he was really singing it to me. ;o) i have to say though the obsession has worn off to a huge degree, but i can't deny the man that influenced me as a kid. i haven't been so much of a fan of his music since the mid 90's, but the greatest hits volumes are definitely on the nano. he holds a special place in my heart. here's my latest creation:
