Visitors

About three weeks ago my sister Molly, her husband Jacob and their little girl Maggie came for a surprise visit! I was at a local college event passing out sandwiches with our marketing director and when I returned Corey informed me that there were some people in the dining room who wanted to see me. I truly could not put my finger on potential visitors and as I rounded the corner it still didn't register. Until I saw Maggie. See, living in California while your sisters and their families live in Alabama isn't ideal for seeing your nieces/nephews grow up. So this was a particularly wonderful surprise (even though it turns out that she likes Corey more than me:). She has grown since the last time I saw her of course, and she will be even bigger when I see her again. They were able to stay for almost a week which allowed time for us to do and see so much. Dodger's game, Sea World, Tom's Farm's the Falls at Mt. Baldy and lots of eating out...(these pics are on Facebook, so if you've seen them just keep scrolling down:)

It was such a refreshing time for me. A little bit of home brought to the West Coast. I love my life here so I'm not complaining, but it would be a lie if I said that I did not get lonely or that I don't miss my family and the South. Needless to say, I was very sad to see them go. But I know that there will be more visits and I am looking forward to sharing some of our life with family and friends to come. The thing about living so far away is that it makes that time you do have sweeter somehow. I just want to thank them for traveling to see us (and helping us put up new menu boards at Chick-fil-A:). It was a blessing and a joy.

Musicals Anyone?

So I sort of have this new obsession. I seriously love Glee. If you've never seen an episode, I would say you're missing out, but you may not agree and that is certainly okay. I know that it's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's mine. I suppose this stems from my childhood. I think I can trace this love for musicals back to Newsies. My sisters and I watched it over and over again. To this day I know every line to every single song. I made Corey sit down and watch it with me (we had to break it up into two different viewings because he fell asleep the first time...he actually fell asleep both times so I just gave up). Needless to say he did not enjoy it. This was probably due, in part, to the fact that I was singing at the top of my lungs the entire movie. The Disney movies we all grew up watching are also a good excuse for my love of musicals. Sure there's a scary villian in every one, but that's overshadowed by the incredible soundtrack they all have. Let's face it, Corey and I both have multiple Disney songs on our Ipods. Whenever we have a little one (by that I mean child) in the car with us we shamelessly crank up the Disney music hoping to please them, while secretly loving the fact that we can listen to them again. I also think Sister Act II is partly to blame for this. I distinctly remember having a spend-the-night-party and watching all the performances from that movie over and over again (fast-forwarding from scene to scene on the VHS, of course). Modern day musicals I just can't get enough of; Enchanted (sure the whole animated to real life thing was kind of hinky, but the songs in this movie are brilliant), Mama Mia (one of my all time favs) and all the High School Musicals (I know, I know). Maybe it's the fact that you can break into song at any moment when you're in a musical (not that I've ever experienced that) or that their voices are perfectly flawless or that musicals are in a large majority, severely cheesy. Regardless, there's something simply delightful about watching a good musical. I would give up one of my extremities to be able to sing and dance, but I guess the Lord thought I needed them all. I think that's why I have grown to love Glee so much. It's a week to week silly, little musical with amazing music that you can immediately download from I-tunes. I don't agree with some of the content so I wouldn't recommend it for young and impressionable children, but it's very clever and witty. Corey actually watches it with me now too and even though he constantly protests that it's ridiculous I know he enjoys it too. Anyway, the season finale was excellent. This is an excerpt from that episode. Seeing as how it's almost seven minutes long I would understand if you don't care to watch it, but I will, over and over again ;)

FOX on Demand - Glee

Give musicals a try if you never have. You might just find you love them too.