wings over Meridian.

Air show in Meridian MS.

The Honduras team went to work a stand here, and the weather wasn't looking so promising, but it held out & we had a great day. :)

March Favorites [in early April...]

Let's just jump right in! 

Orly: Gumdrop

I. heart. Orly. First of all. 

I especially heart this color because I have been trying to find one that was opaque, creamy, and lasting for quite some time, but it wasn't until my first ULTA visit that I ran across this one. I love it SO much. It's so springy, yet it was a popular color in the fall too. 

Sally's carries Orly too, incase you're not close to an ULTA (like me - on a regular basis).

*confession: it was hard to pick a favorite nail polish. For those of you who know me, you know why. 

Yes to Cucumbers: Face Wipes

I have watched a few YouTube videos on this product (they also have "Yes to Carrots", but I don't know how I feel about my face smelling like a carrot...) & I wanted to try them out. I like trying new products on my face, but then again it scares me. I read the label on these when I found them, and I don't know if you can see it from this, but they are 98.7% natural. That doesn't ever mean much to me, but I don't like a lot of alcohol on my face because it gets TOO dry. These are working so far, and they smell amazing!

Aaron Lewis: Vicious Circles (song)

This song sums up my month in lyric form. I stumbled across it when I went to download his "popular" song, but I somehow always seem to fall in love with the underdog songs. I can't tell you why, but I love the melody of this, and his voice isn't half bad either. ;)

Favorite food: Tuna Roll

I don't guess I can "technically" say that this is a favorite, but I tried RAW sushi for the first time this month, and I was surprisingly surprised. HA! It was good, and I didn't feel gross for eating it. 

Macadamia Hair Oil

typing out "hair oil" sounds disgusting, but it's basically a hair SERUM that protects your ends, and revitalizes your hair if you use heat on it a lot. No, I haven't been straightening my hair *this marks the end of the 3rd month with no straightener to my hair - except for bangs* but I do blow-dry it some, and I am trying my best to get it back healthy again. 

This is similar to Moroccan Oil, but it's less expensive. 

Favorite Photo

This may be my favorite photo taken on my favorite day. We [church mission team] worked the NAS Meridian Air Show a few weekends ago, and I loved it! They were calling for rain most of the day, but the planes flew, the lemons were squeezed, and the pretzels were made. I had so much fun being out there. It is so refreshing to go and be around people who love the military & respect them for what they do daily. I enjoyed it. I plan on doing a post with photos from it - just haven't had time yet.

My favorite store/addiction right now is this place. 

Let me live here. 

My two favorite accessories: AE Watch Band, Vintage Pearl Necklace

watchband? Not being used as a watchband.

necklace? gift from the best friend with "foralways, unconditionally" on it. Love.

Did you do a favorites this month? Comment with your link. Sorry I'm late! :)

Thanks for reading! Have a great week!

Sunrise in Turkey Territory.

5:30 is an unfavorable time of the day for me. I don't intend to get accustomed to it, although when I do allow myself to crawl out of bed (and sometimes I do literally mean crawl), I am always thankful for the sights I see, the things I hear, and I'll be the first to admit that when the day breaks in Turkey Territory there is no other sound that i'd rather have fill my ears.

 You see, I once was a turkey hunter. Wait - let me rephrase that... I once went hunting about twice a year to suffice the general public's shock when I answered, "No, I'm not really a turkey hunter." This is hard for people to believe because my Daddy's Daddy &My Mamma's Daddy enjoyed were obsessed with turkey hunting, and MY Daddy & brother bleed turkey feathers. That blood clotted once it got to me, but I would go to say that I went. I hated walking around, chasing around a smart bird, trying to avoid sticks, and training myself to breathe as quiet as a mosquito in order to make as little sound as possible. I would be aggravated with myself by the end of the morning, and I would tell myself I'm never coming back.

 However, this year I have had a change of heart. I don't know if i've fallen in love with the beauty of a turkey, or if I just longed to hear the echo of their gobble throughout their territory. Either way, an urge has been brewing inside of me to go with Daddy. 

 Now, for the many of you who have gone - I'm sure you have your own way of going about things, and my Daddy does too. I just follow him like a shadow, putting on my mask when he puts his on, placing my boot in the footprints he just made, stopping when he stops, listening when he listens, holding my breath as he holds his, you get it. I mirror his actions... or... I try. 

 Once we got out of the truck, I was putting the vest I borrowed from him my gear on, and I glanced at Daddy on the driver's side of the truck. He seems to be a tad distraught with the mosquito repeller, and he seems to be in somewhat of a hurry. Daylight hasn't broken yet, so we're not technically running late, but we probably should be walking somewhere instead of fighting with a bug killer - it was 35 degrees, but he knows best, so I said nothing. It was funny for me to see him racing with himself and the sunlight. I can honestly say that I haven't ever had to beat daybreak, but sundown? That's another story for another day. Onward.... Sometimes I think he should be part of the Navajo Indian tribe. He can walk through a brush pile & never crack a stick. He can hear like an elephant with a hearing-aid in, and he's always been able to. He can see like an eagle, and he can spit out information & facts about almost anything just like a verbalized encyclopedia.

 We have the funniest conversations (that I'm sure won't be as funny for you because ya kinda had to be there) while we're in the woods. 

I was telling him about the rattlesnake that I stopped & let cross the road last year, and this was how the conversation went:

Daddy, "I'm sure an ole' rat family isn't too happy with you for that."

Me, "Yeah?"

Daddy, "(in a raspy voice, talking as a rat) Well... if she had just ran over him, Mamma'd prolly still be alive.." 

***************

Yesterday, we went to listen for one in the afternoon. I saw something ahead of us in the road & asked Daddy what it was because I couldn't tell yet. (see comment about him having the vision of an eagle), he said:

"Looks like a piece of wild trash to me!" 

Sure enough, it was someone's garbage they had thrown out their window. Geez.

 Anyway, I was thinking of all those things as we made our way to where we would listen, and out of no where, just like someone rang an alarm to wake them up, turkeys start gobblin'. They sound like they're in a 5 gallon drum. The pitch of their call bounces off every pine tree out there. We're in Turkey Territory, and they're awake - ready to play. As I sit & wait on the next one to pipe up and play its tune, I notice the sunlight creeping in on the evergreens, just as if it wants to say hello. There's hardly no wind, which is good, and I'm too worked up to be cold from the low temperature. So we sit, they gobble, we listen & re-evaluate. We did this 4 times. None were successful, but then again they were. 

 All the while of walking back & forth and around in circles, it became clear to me - just as it does every time I decide to wake up before sunrise, of just how awesome God is. He not only created the plants that color the earth, but He gave them light from the sun that paints the most beautiful colors across the sky. He created the creatures of the earth that fill a once quiet patch of land with songs just as the day breaks. I consider myself lucky for every opportunity I take advantage of seeing a sunrise, sunset, or the beauty of the way that animals react around each other without knowing they're being watched by human eyes. 

 Although my morning didn't end with a kill, I enjoyed it, and I look forward to going back. Turkey territory is a new place for my feet to walk on, but I'm willing to allow myself to get used to the feeling of a spring morning sunrise amongst my eyes, and a bright green dewy ground under my toes.

"Waste not the smallest thing created, for grains of sand make mountains.." 

- E. Knight

springbreakeleven.

Well we packed down the car, and left the Magnolia State around 8:53 am on Sunday. Destin bound! 

We arrived around 3ish. We stopped for lunch, and a few breaks along the way, but we still made it down to the pool for a little while.

We ate good seafood.

Laughed.

Painted fingernails.

Shopped.

Soaked up [alittletoomuch] sun.

& photographed.

a lot.

I had a great week, and it made me even more excited about going back in the summer, but realizing that a trip to Honduras comes before that makes me even more anxious to get these last 6 weeks out of the way.