Things I Love About Lower Alabama

There are soooo many things that I LOVE about living in LA (Lower Alabama). It is safer and quieter (even in tourist season) than my life in Tennessee. Everything here moves at a slower pace too, which is awesome!

Of course what I love most about LA is the beach! It's so relaxing to just go sit and forget about your worries.

We took this a week or so after we moved. I love how someone made these footprints. Kinda helps you remember just how big God is and that he is always there even when you don't feel like it.

There are such cute little houses here. Of course if there are neighborhoods back home that have houses this colorful too, but these are actually in areas that you WOULD WANT to live in.

I always joke with Kevin saying that I want to live in a purple one. :)

There REALLY are alligators here living in the "wild".

For some reason, we get soooo excited everytime we see these guys. You can be driving down the road and see them from the car on the banks of rivers, lakes, and lagoons.

This guy was 8-10 feet long.

I love seeing the pelicans. The coolest thing is seeing them "dive" into the water to eat fish. I could watch them for hours.

One of my favorite places to go are the marinas.

I LOVE to see the boats. I really think I want to live on a boat instead of a house. That way I will always be on the coast, and can live anywhere I want.

We also like feeding the fish at the marinas.

Mobile Bay is beautiful. This is from the Fairhope side.

This is the lagoon in Gulf Shores. Gorgeous!

Ok, back to the beach!!!! I'm sure that's what y'all wanna see anyway. :)

These little guys are interesting and creepy at the same time. They're the size of spiders and make me think of them too.

Even Rocky gets into going to the beach.

He LOVES being a beach dog :)

And of course my boys like to have fun at the beach too

Thanks for your time friends. Hope you enjoyed the tour of LA. Come down and see it for yourself.

Peace out til next time.

Me In A Nutshell

I was talking to my daughter, Kristin, a little while ago about my blog about my kids being grown.(2 blogs ago) She said she didn't realize how much of my identity was being her and Joey's mom.

That got me to thinking what I convey as "Becky" when I meet new people. Thinking what I say to people that I meet thru work and other places that don't revolve around being a mom. I hope the first things that people can tell about me are that I'm a good person and that I am a Christian. I mean, those are things that people should sense about me without me telling them, right? If I have to tell someone those things, then maybe something isn't right, maybe my fruit isn't showing. Wow, deep huh? This is not even what I intended this to be about when I turned on the laptop.

Ok, now back to my original thought on this. What are the first things that I tell people I meet? What are things that I say to describe who I am? What does it mean to be me?

I still think the first thing that I tell people is that I'm a mom. It's in my DNA, I can't help it. Being a mom is the most wonderful thing I ever did. I love my my kids more than anything in the world. They are also the ones I feel the most connected to in this world.

I also tell people that I am married, and have been married to Kevin for over 20 years. Wow, that's a LONG time. I've been with him more than half my life. That seems crazy to me. Sometimes it's hard to remember pre-married life.

Next in line is probably a that I am from Memphis. I know that I say a lot that I am glad to be moved away from there, and for many reasons I am. I love where I live now, but that doesn't mean that I forgot my roots. I will ALWAYS be a Memphis girl, I can't get away from it. That too is in my DNA. Growing up in Memphis made me who I am. Almost everyone I love and everything I know is from when I lived in Memphis. Growing up, it was a safe place. It was HOME. Not only that, the best music, BBQ, wrestlingand college basketball team are from Memphis. (GO TIGERS!)

Next is probably that I am obsessed with all music and anything 80's especially 80's music. If I could only have one "media outlet" for the rest of my life, it would be music. I would choose it over television and movies anyday. I would even choose music over my iPhone and Facebook. (just don't ever ask me to do it) :) Every song has a memory attached to it- some good and some bad. Most are good memories though. So much of my life has revolved around music. Before I could even walk very well, my mom started teaching me to dance. I was one jammin little toddler doing the Rollercoaster and Hustle. My daddy and I used to sing together ALL the time. I always believed my dad was the best singer in the world- I still do. His voice was as good as Elvis- which was his favorite music. We would sing Elvis for hours. Then I got older and loved MTV- not this crap that MTV has become. I'm talking about the real MTV that actually played nothing but videos. Almost every song I hear from the 80's takes my mind back to the video. There are also several songs that remind me of certain friends and happy times we've shared. Then I of course sang to and with my kids. We sang ALL the time just like my dad and I did. I can't tell you how many times we turned OFF the radio and just sang. I mean, who would've thought a little boy would want to sing "Away in a Manger" even in the summer. The memories of singing with my kids, or dancing with Joey are priceless. Oh boy, there I go about the kids again. :) Yes, "all" I've been for 24 years is a mommy and I can't escape it, nor do I want to. :)

The fifth thing people usually discover about me is that I homeschooled my kids. I know, there I go about my kids again. :) Did you know that I homeschooled 25% of my life so far? That's really something if you think about it. What an honor to have gotten to spend all that time sowing into the the lives of two amazing kids (and all of their friends) for 25% of my life.... or over 50% of my adult life if you want to look at it that way. I miss that part of my life. I miss spending 24/7 with them and a house full of other young people who were always around. Ok, you're probably tired of hearing about my kids, but like I said before- being a mom is in my DNA!

I guess the next thing that people find out about me is my newfound love for Disney World. Last year was the first time I ever went. Kevin and I took a couples trip. I rediscovered how much I enjoyed riding rollercoasters and other rides. I stopped riding them when the kids were little. Going to Disney World helped me find my sense of adventure again. It gave me excitement that I thought I had lost. DW really is a magical place!!!! And since I have never been with the kids, it is a place all mine. See-a memory or fun time not connected to the kids. (unless you add the part that I would LOVE to go to DW with them, especially now that they're grown. I actually have 2 trips planned there before the end of the year. It's become an obsession for me because it's a happy/no worry place. The days are spent doing nothing but fun stuff. :) Everyone at my work seems as obsessed as I am with DW. Almost everyone has either gone or plan to go within the last year. I've never worked somewhere that SO many people are Disneylovers. I think that only added to my obsession.

There are so many layers of me, but I seriously think those are the first things I convey about me. Those are probably the main things (minus the DW) who make me who I am. Those are the things in my life that I am most proud of- my kids/family, being a Memphian, music and homeschooling.

So, what about you? Do people see your fruit first off without you telling them? Also, what do you want people to know about you? Does the picture of you that you show people represent the "real" you?

Hope you all have a great night, let your light shine, and enjoy the people and things you love most in life.

Until next time.... Peace out friends!

Joey Got His License

Joey has been wanting to get his license for quite a while. since he was 2 I think :) He would've had it WAY before now, but I being a horrible mom lost his social security card. The SS office has been crowded everytime I went by on my lunch break, so there hasn't been time to get it replaced.

I took off work Friday, applied for his SS card, and he FINALLY got his license.

We gave him our truck. He has been putting money into it for over a year to get it the way he wanted it including a $2500 sound system.

He now has insurance and enjoys cruising the strip along the beach yelling at girls with his radio booming. Typical boy. :)

He takes after his mom and has bit of a lead foot, but thank goodness for cruise control when he remembers to use it- only thing that keeps me honest. He also already drives with only one hand, again like me. Now, hope he doesn't text or talk on his phone and drive like I do.

Until next time- Peace out friends!

The Kids Are What? Grown? No Way!

I know Joey is 18, and I should be used to the fact that both of my kids are now {gulp} "grown ups". It's just hard to wrap my head around it sometimes. I mean, I don't feel old enough to have grown kids {not most of the time anyway}. I'm told all the time that I don't look old enough to have grown kids, so I believe that's true {even if it's not the case}. So, how on Earth can it be that both of my kids are "grown-ups"? How does 18 years {and 24 years for Kristin} just fly by so quickly? Wasn't it just last year or so it seems that we were having to watch Disney movies the SAME Disney movies over and over everyday? And no, I don't mean for me!!!! {although I do enjoy a good Disney movie from time to time} It doesn't seem that long ago that Joey used to have a Cowboy Woody with "Joey" written on the boot that he carried around. He loved that Woody so much, that his hand kept coming off. I still have the hand in my jewelry box because I finally got tired of sewing it back on.

I've never wanted to be anything except a Momma. and a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader. Cut me some slack on that one though- I was 7-8 years old All I have been since I was 17 years old is a Mommy (yeah, yeah wife too, but this isn't about that at this time.) The last 24 years of my life have been devoted to being the best Mommy possible to the most amazing kids in the world. What now? How do you move on when you're not needed as much as before? How do you go from every breath making sure they are ok, to barely seeing them, and mainly just speaking to them on text and Facebook? How do you change from having the identity of "Kristin's/Joey's mom" to finally being merely "Becky"? It's really different going from where you know the entire family of all of your kids' friends to not even knowing their friends.

I'm learning to "let go". I really am! It may not sound like it from the last paragraph. I don't ask a lot of questions. I show Joey that I trust him and his decisions. {and I REALLY DO trust him-he hasn't given me reason not to}. I don't give him a curfew, and when I have asked him to come home earlier than midnight, he has. I am always here if he needs to talk. I wait for him to come to me instead of demanding to talk to him. We actually still talk about things in his life daily {of course it means I stay up a lot later}. I am so glad that we homeschooled because we may not have the relationship we do otherwise. There are times though that he thinks I am ridiculous when I worry about him. Hey, I'm new to this kids being grown thing. He IS just 18. I think it'd be a lot easier if I had my close friends around instead of living so far from them. We're all going thru the same thing- going from homeschooling and them being totally dependent on you for everything to basically just being on call for them...kinda like PRN work- let go and be there on an as needed per request. The key that I've found is to pray, pray and pray for my kids... And still pray more. I pray for myself to let go and not try to hold them down either. I also trust in the way I raised them. I know their upbringing. I KNOW they know right from wrong. I worked for the last 24 years to make sure they did.

My biggest goal is for them to know that I love then no matter what. Nothing they can do will ever make me not love them. I may get mad at them from time to time. I may get frustrated. But I will ALWAYS love them. I hope that they both know that.

Hopefully, some of you can relate to this. Let's all pray for each other and each other's babies oops, I mean grown kids. :)

Until next time- Peace out!

80's Hair Bands ROCK!

I've been to two (more) AWESOME concerts in the last month. They are both groups I loved as a teenager (and still love today). They were part of the 80's Hair Band Movement.

I've loved Def Leppard since 7th grade. I had posters of them all over my walls, and almost wore out the Pyromania casette tape. I have now seen them twice in concert. Once was the early 90's, then the other was June 18, 2011. Here are a few pics. from the show.

The whole show was AWESOME! Joey went with me to the concert and said they still knew how to rock. Guess if they can pass for an 18 yr old who likes his music, it means that they're really good. :)

I had such a crush on Joe Elliott when I was a teenager. Now he's just old. (sorry Joe)

One armed drummer, Rick Allen, is better than most 2 armed drummers. It's incredible how he has overcome what has happened to him, relearned how to play with just one arm and his legs, and can rock it out with the best of them. And I commend Def Leppard for not giving up on him, but being willing to no longer play music if he wasn't able to play. Now, that's loyalty!

Thank you and good night!!!!

Now on to the 2nd 80's band I've seen in the last month. I got to see Poison rock the house last week- 7-7-11.

Poison came along in the late 80's- after Kristin was born. They wore a lot of make-up back then. Thank goodness they're "normal" now.

Here are pics from that show:

I had no idea that Bret Michaels played the mouth-harp (aka the harmonica)

Very easy on the eyes.

CC Deville can still bring it!

Sign of a good show--- ears are ringing when you leave..LOL... I remember those days. :)

Thank you Def Leppard and Poison for coming to Orange Beach, Alabama and reminding me how to rock it out 80's style.

Until next time friends- peace out!

You Have To Eat, Right?

I decided that I would make a blog featuring foods that I've eaten and love since moving to Alabama. Keep in mind that I do NOT eat seafood (yuk!), so you will not see any of that here.

I guess I will start with appetizers... yummy....

Our very favorite appetizer is the fried dill pickles from The Hangout. They are the best we've eaten. The Hangout is also one of our favorite places to go. Great food, not too pricey, and great view because it's right on the beach.

This is the 18 cent Senate Soup from McGuire's Irish Pub. Yes, it's really just 18 cents, and really yummy.

Alligator Bites! Yes, REAL alligator. Tastes like chicken (yes,seriously!) Joey loves it dipped in Ranch dressing.

Spinach/Artichoke Dip with chips at Derailed Diner. Even Kevin who keeps saying he hates spinach dip couldn't stop eating it.

This is the appetizer we got at the Hard Rock Biloxi. It was awesome and filled us both up.

Onion ring tower.... yummo!



Now on to "real food" (like appetizers and desserts aren't "real food"- who am I kidding?)

These are from a little place called Antonio's on the beach in Panama City. They were awesome!

This is the Chef Salad Kevin got at Lambert's. It was so big that he ate on it 3 times and still had a lot left. Finally just threw it out because he was sick of salad.

I eat a lot of salads with chicken in them-either grilled or strips like in this picture. This particular salad was at Red Robin's in Pensacola. I LOVE Red Robin.

Tacos at Bravo Taco.. We have recently discovered this place, and was pleasantly surprised. Great prices and everything tastes so fresh.


Now, on to the nachos......

This is the Garbage Nachos at Tacky Jacks. They are fantastic! I also love Tacky Jacks because all locations are on the water and have a very laid back atmosphere.

These are the nachos from McGuire's. They are HUGE!!!! It's only $9.99. I ate til I was full, and took 3 to-go boxes home FULL.

Joey's nachos at North Shore Grill. I LOVED that place and am so disappointed they're closed now. The oil spill did them in. :( They had the best burgers on Pleasure Island.


Speaking of burgers.....

This is the 3/4 pound burger at McGuire's. You can get your burger up to 50 different ways- even hot fudge sundae burger. Not a flavor I would try personally. This burger is so big, I can only eat half.

A1 Peppercorn Burger at Red Robin. Other places with great burgers are Bahama Bob's, Lester's, Jake's, and Lulu's.

Other "real" foods.........

Jake's is one of our favorite places to eat. Our favorite waiter's name is Dustin. Be sure to ask for him and tip well if you go there. :)

We were excited to finally find some good barbecue. Being from Memphis, we have very high standards for BBQ. The photo above is Moe's. The photo below is Rib Shak in Perdido Key.

Voodoo Ribs from Reggae J's in Panama City. Joey said these are the best ribs he ever ate, followed by the ones at Jake's.

This root beer is brewed in kegs at McGuire's and is the best root beer I'veever drank. You must try this if you go there.

Now......on to the best part....DESSERT....ice cream!

Dippin Dots

Key Lime shake at Stacy's Drug Store. The shake was good, but the lady who works there is not very friendly at all- kind of rude actually.

Mint Chocolate Chip Shake at Summer Scoops in Summerdale, AL.

Banana Split at Scoops a block from the beach...This is our favorite ice cream spot.

Here are a couple of things we didn't try, but look very good.

Chocolate suckers for Breast Cancer.
Below is hamburger shaped cakes in Panama City. Don't they look like real hamburgers?

And last, but not least.... every marina has fish feeders. We love feeding the fish, and I LOVE the marinas. They are beautiful and very interesting places within themselves.

Hope I didn't make you all too hungry. Have a great day and Peace Out!