One Of The Things I've Noticed...

...about my 11 year old daughter, is that she is always singing. Her favorite songs, however, are not even on the current top 40. Here's a list of her top songs:

• Jenny (867-5309)
• We Are the Champions
• Play That Funky Music White Boy
• Lonely Boy
• Sailing Away
• Jessie's Girl

You may have noticed from the list that one generation has heavily influenced the other. But wait, it works the other way around too. For I currently have my own list of favorites, some of which I am not proud to admit:

• Shake It- by Metro Station
• 4 Minutes- Madonna (OK, technically she's from my era, but the song is not)
• Poker Face- Lady Gaga
• Hey Soul Sister- Train
• I Gotta Feeling- Black Eyed Peas (Fergie is hot, I'm sorry)
• Fireflies- Owl City
• When I Grow Up- Pussycat Dolls

What is one of your favorite songs from "back in the day" and one from today?

Saluda, NC...

...is a beautiful little mountain town, complete with antique shops and dazzling waterfalls. I am grateful for an opportunity to visit the family cabin of William and Martha Fanning, our hosts for 4 days in western NC. The mountain air and flowing streams really did our family wonders in terms of relaxation. However, I began to notice some strange changes to my girls. Hmmmm, probably just hormones.

What a Beautiful Evening...

...it was tonight as I watched the sun go down in a 70 degree paradise. This is my favorite time of year in SC. Just having thrown the Frisbee with the dog, I settled into the hammock and viewed the blackening silhouette of the trees against the fading blue of the sky, specks of starlight beginning to appear. As the frogs squeaked and croaked in the distance, the fireflies began to come out of the tops of the trees slowly descending closer to the ground, yellow caution signs flashing. A squirrel played noisily in the fallen leaves of the woods to my right and a owl hooted from somewhere in the distance, still deep in the shelter of the trees. To my left, Jenna was practicing piano in our living room, a disjointed version of Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Leslie was in the kitchen preparing the family meal for the evening. Bats occasionally fluttered over my line of sight and the hammock creaked as it rocked gently back and forth.

Then, slowly descending on a silk string, a spider landed in my lap and I popped out of the hammock like a spider monkey on crack. As nice as it was, it was over for me. That squirrel was starting to get on my last nerve anyway. Still, I do love this time of year. Well, my allergy medicine awaits. Good night dear friends.