Well, look who finally showed up...

I've been stalking my magnolia trees (I have three) since I saw others in the neighborhood start blooming. I even (embarrassingly) grabbed two of my neighbors to proudly show of the start of "all my blooms" which actually turned out to be just the start of the new leaves. Really should teach me to keep it to myself till I learn more...I'm sure they were like "who is this crazy girl that wants to show me the leaves on her trees?" Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

Since that time (of proudly showing off all my new leaves...) I've been watering/talking to my trees daily looking for signs of blooms and not new leaves, and all I got was more leaves. I started to freak out on Ty convinced that our magnolias weren't working, or we had a type that didn't bloom, which just wouldn't do...since one of my "dream house stipulations" was to buy a home with magnolia trees. He said I was acting crazy and needed to be patient...he must not know me well, because 1. I am crazy and 2. I am not patient.

So this cycle continued till finally I found one little bloom, all round and pudgy, clearly NOT a new leaf;) So I followed it closely over the last week, till BOOM, Tuesday morning I found this:

She's fabulous, no? Sigh. I've always dreamed of living somewhere with magnolias, so this is kind of a big deal in my world;) I blame it on watching Steel Magnolias one too many times...

Well in exciting follow-up news, this morning I found THREE new pudgy blooms! Really not new leaves, promise. Maybe, just maybe, they'll bloom in time for our special visitors next week!

Preach It

Bear with me friends whilst I wax poetical;)

So yesterday morning, I went on a run. Shocking - I know. I caught my shadow at one point and was like, "Who is that? Clearly not me, it looks like Shrek lumbering through trees."

Note to self: If your shadow looks like Shrek, perhaps running more should be on the menu? Yes? Okay then.

So back to the story. Most of my run went something like this (in my head):"Ugh this sucks...run faster...ugh I can I hear myself breathing (turn volume up)...ugh look it's the skinny blonde mom troupe again (did they lap me?)...I'm glad I wore two sports bras..." And so on.

THEN - On my way back, when I was right about here:

Jay-Z's new "Young Forever" song came on the ipod mix...and it was like a little sermon right there on the lake. No really. Maybe it was the fact that the song opens so beautifully, or maybe it was because I was already so delirious from the run at that point - but it was one of those moments where I was SO STRUCK by the moment I was in...And all of a sudden when Jay-Z said:

Fear not when, fear not why,
Fear not much while we're alive,
Life is for living not living up tight

And I was like, "Can I get an Amen!?!?" Maybe not to the part about all the pretty girls always being in my hood, or to all the pretty ass cars, but to the rest;)

I do believe inspiration can find you in the most random of places, so for me it was Jay-Z and the lake. I finished out my run and even added on some jumping jacks I was so enthused. Yes, jumping jacks. I ran out to this little pier and just had to jump out my excitement. I told Ty I did jumping jacks and he laughed. I don't blame him, last time I did jumping jacks I was in seventh grade.

Even then I didn't really do them, let's just say I was "abundantly blessed/endowed" by that age already and I was horrified at the thought of jumping up and down in front of boys who were already asking me if my parents had bought me implants for my thirteenth birthday...ugh kids are mean, aren't they? Anyhow, that's another blog post entirely;)

Moral of the blog post is that I hope you all find a little inspiration when you least expect it and just let it wash over you!

Peace out.

P.S. I'm not gonna lie, maybe I felt a little like Rocky doing the jumping jacks.