September Letters

Dear creative friends,
What should I be for Halloween? What should Ray be? We need help! We don't want anything too typical (no pirates/fairy/slutty thing) and we don't want to spend $2348782 on costumes.

Dear sister Brie,
I know you read this blog. GET A PINTEREST!!
ps- friends, feel free to encourage her. =)

Dear heating pad,
I love you. A lot. Stay with me.

Dear my hair,
Please work with me. I just want gigantic Dolly Parton hair. Or 1960s huge volume. Or at least some body. Is that too much to ask?

Dear Pumpkin Spice beverages,
You're the drink of the season but I just don't get you. I don't know what the fuss is about. I mean, you aren't terrible but also not great. Maybe I'm missing something. Maybe I'll get back to you.

Dear weather,
Please please get cold! Or at least cool. I want to eat soup and wear tights.

Dear September,
See ya later, alligator!

Guatemala Update

We're going to Guatemala in November. And somehow it's paid for up to this point. And somehow my boss let me take a week off work. And for some reason God decided to let us go. It doesn't make sense to me, but I'm really excited about it.

I think this trip is going to be more than just a trip. What does that mean? I have no idea. All I know is that the other day I read the book of James. James got me through the summer of '09. I read it almost everyday. It kept me going. Anyway, I read it the other day while I was bored at work and I remembered Guatemala. And then I prayed for Guatemala. And then for my husband. And then for our tiny 2 person family. And then for our future.

I don't know what the future holds and sometimes that is really scary to me. And by "sometimes" I mean mostly all the time. I mean, what happens when God takes away your job? Or forces you to stop being so selfish? Or asks you to moved away from the small town you love and grew up in? Or has you give up your dreams of living in a mid-century-modern house and having the best vintage apron collection there ever was? Or wants you to adopt a baby from Africa when you have extremely racist family members? Or transplants you to a country where it's always hot? I don't really know. All I know is when you're loving Jesus things will be hard... but they will also be good.

Allison's fall lineup

I'm currently watching 3 shows.

1. Pan Am. I watched the pilot Sunday night and thought it was pretty good. I mostly just loved all the hair-dos. You know I can't resist a 1960s flip. I think I want to see a few more episodes before I make a final judgement though.

2. Carnivale. I've been wanting to start watching Carnivale for several years now (remember my circus/freak show obsession?) but just started it. It's way creepier than I thought it would be. I can't deal with that bearded lady.

3. The Office season 8. The season opener was WAY better than what I was expecting. I like how Pam went from being one of the only normal people to a crazy. I also like how James Spader was the mean guy in Pretty and Pink.

What's your take on these shows?

music monday: David Bazan

David Bazan is one of those people I've liked for years and years (hello, pedro the lion) but he's always kind of been in background. Recently, Ray and I have been listening to him a lot. He just has such extremely sad/thought provoking/beautiful lyrics. His songs give me a burdened heart.

scary movie fest

Growing up, I never watched scary movies. Until I was about 14 Jurassic Park was the most frightening movie I had ever seen. And while a T-Rex running at you is in fact terrifying, I felt like I was missing something. Sometime in 9th grade my friend, Lauren, convinced me to watch Scream, her fave movie (hahaha). Since then, I've continued to be brave (sort of) and tackle a few other movies of the not-so-sweet and pleasant genre.


A few I've seen that scared me but I liked them:
The Omen (original)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original)
Halloween (original)
Freaks
Carnival of Souls -actually, maybe I didn't like this one. It was really creepy.
Psycho
Rear Window

A few I've seen that were kinda dumb and/or not scary:
Amityville Horror (original and re-release)
the new Friday the 13ths
the new Halloweens
Saw -ugh, I only saw the first one and I hated it so much.

Anyway, it's finally starting to feel like fall, which means it's almost Halloween time, which means I need to watch some scary movies. Give me all of your suggestions!

we love bargains

 The other day we found this table at a yard sale for $5. There isn't anything super special about it,I just really like it. We found a never before used juicer for $5 at the same yard sale. We also recently found a vintage kitchen cart for about $7. The cart needs some love and paint, but I think it'll be a really cute addition to our kitchen. I have a love/hate relationship with yard sales. I feel like generally I only ever see baby clothes, strollers and nicknacks. But, once in a while I find something really awesome.

songs I've listened to in the last 24 hours

I like music, but I'm super guilty of getting in music ruts. I only listened to the Ryan Adams' Heartbreaker album in my car for over a year. A YEAR. I mean, it's an incredible album, but a year is a long time. Ok, it might have been a year and a half. Then the next year I only listened to a Bob Dylan greatest hits album. So, in an effort to change it up I've been listening a variety of jams. It also helps that my husband has been obsessed with spotify lately. And apparently rap... so...

Songs I've listened to in the last 24 hours:
Gangsta's Paradise - Coolio
Amish Paradise - Weird Al
F*ck You - Cee Lo Green (whoa, I thought this blog was family friendly... apparently not.)
Clint Eastwood - Gorillaz
What We Lose in the Fire - Mynabirds
Hate to Say I Told You So - The Hives
That's Not My Name - The Ting Tings
All these Things I've Done - The Killers
Take On Me - MXPX version (10th grade time travel)
various songs played on the pan flute that massage therapists love to play
random clips from various rappers and some of my husbands musician friends

Who am I?

wedding video!

 I got married in April. It was perfect. My super talented friend Nathan made this video for us. I can't even explain in words how much I love it. There are some really beautiful shots of family, friends, big brown, dancing, decor, etc. I hope you enjoy it!

Allison and Ray's Wedding from Nathan Willis on Vimeo.
This is my favorite thing right now.

game of thrones and hair

Recently, my husband convinced me to start watching the HBO series Game of Thrones. At first, I didn't think I would be into it because I'm not always a fan of fantasy. However, I'm a a huge fan of almost any show HBO throws together. Their attention to detail is almost ridiculous. Well, I gave it a shot and loved it. It feels like a slightly dirtier more grown up fairy tale. I love it!

Mostly what I want to talk about though is the hair styles. They are (mostly) so fun! Lots of braids and half ponytails for both genders.

"Fantasy mean about a braid." - Ray

 

Also, lots of beard tails. What do you think? Love the show?  Hate the show? Like the braids?

recording

I don't know if I've mentioned this on here yet, but we have an at-home recording studio in our house. Big Brown Record Town. Appropriate name, huh? The room looks so good and I plan on posting better pictures of it in the near future. Anyway, today The Flamigos are recording. It's been pretty fun... and loud. 

Ray set the drums up in one of our extra bedrooms upstairs. Ladies, please ignore Brett's shirtlessness. 

football shmootball

Well, football season has started! As you may have guessed I'm not a super huge fan of football, but it's definitely my sport of choice from the spectator perspective (except for maybe gymnastics). Anyway, football season is a pretty big deal here in the south so I thought I would honor it with this post!

Here are some really neat football and team-like pictures I found on Florida Memory. They are all from my home town, Lake City, Fl.

Florida Agriculture College football team in 1901

 Columbia College football team 1914

 Columbia cheerleader from early 1900s

 And I put in the baseball picture for good measure. Columbia High School baseball team in 1915.

Aren't they fun?!