The Sassy Steel Magnolia
  • Option 1
  • Photobucket
  • Photobucket
  • Photobucket
  • Photobucket
  • Option 1
  • Photobucket
  • Option 1
  • Option 1
  • Option 1
  • Archives

  • March6th

    oh how I’ve embarrassed thee, let me count the ways

    Posted in: circus, freedom.

    I’ll be the first to tell you that I make an idiot out of myself on a regular basis. And by regular, I mean daily, albeit hourly. It’s not purposefully done, no sir, it happens most times without me even realizing it until after the fact. I’m that good at it. Really good.

    I’ve embarrassed myself so many times (as I’m sure each of you have as well), I could not even begin to count them all. I’ve said the wrong thing, said entirely too much, laid my heart on the line, not laid my heart out what so ever, drank a little too much here and there, screamed when I probably shouldn’t have, gotten words/people/places so confused that Webster himself couldn’t have even gotten me untangled, cried in public, had my face turn uncontrollable shades of crimson, thrown a chair (or picture frame, or fill in the blank) across a room, laughed at inappropriate intervals, fallen flat on my face and my ass – literally yet obviously not simultaneously – in public when it was the very last thing I needed to do at the time, woken up the morning after with the moral hang-over from haties. And … 0h my word – I could keep going, but honestly I don’t need to. You get the point. You’ve been there. Right?

    The thing that’s taken me the longest to learn is letting go of the embarrassing moments I’ve had in my time. For days, months, even in some cases years, these moments would stick with me ….. and would absolutely horrify me. I would shudder when these thoughts crossed my mind. Thinking to myself, Oh Lord! What was I thinking?? How could I be so stupid?! That is probably the one thing (fill in the blank here) remembers when they think of me. That one last thought, alone, can drive a person mad and cause you to lock a piece of yourself away. (Believe me. I should know.) Some of these thoughts and moments have haunted me since high school.

    Correction: some of these thoughts and moments used to haunt me since high school. Much better. You see, once I started letting go of the aftermath, the embarrassing moments — well they didn’t start to slip away, because they’re definitely still happening on a regular basis, but they did lose a good bit of their power, or hold, over me.

    Don’t get me wrong, there’s still the initial shudder and groan when I realize what I’ve just done, said, texted, etc. That, like the bright red shades my face turns, will never go away. The main difference is now I see these moments are simply that ….. moments in time. They pass just like all the others and who am I to keep bringing them up over and over again in my head?

    Besides, they all turn into solid, entertaining stories eventually. And isn’t that what life’s about in the end – a great story to be told? I like t0 think so. Embarrassing moments and all. *even the ones captured on film……

    You can’t take life too seriously. You’ll never get out alive. – Van Wilder

    –

    top photo

  • December7th

    music snack : closing up the shop

    Posted in: Dancin, freedom., Music Snack

    The last 3 years I was in college, I worked in a Salon & Spa on the Oxford Square – the center of the Town of Oxford. I have many many great memories from my days at La Rousse. I worked there since they opened November 1, 2004. It was just a handful of us back then. We all fit around one dining room table for our Christmas party that first year. They were my surrogate family – La Rousse had become my 2nd home.

    Having a 3/4 job in Oxford (I wasn’t full time but always worked more than part time) meant I was usually there when a majority of the students had already left campus for Holiday. I didn’t mind hanging around for most of my breaks because A. I was making money. and B. I secretly loved Oxford the most during these times. The time of year when Winter was creeping across North Mississippi, the sun was setting much earlier, the Square would quiet down and become almost still with the students gone and the dinner crowd barely starting to make it’s appearances. And there I’d be in the shop, Toni finishing up her last client and me getting things ready to close up for the day.

    We listened to a lot of John Mayer, Billie Holiday, the Love Actually / Bridgette Jones Diary Soundtracks, and of course a good bit of Motown. When I was at the shop closing up by myself (which wasn’t an odd occurrence), the first thing I would do after locking the front door is run back to the back and turn up the music. I would sing and dance around while sweeping the floors and checking the day’s balances. (And it also wasn’t an odd occurrence the off chance someone would catch me while passing by on the sidewalk. Didn’t phase me one bit.) These were some of my favorite moments in Oxford. I wasn’t worried about school work, or dance practice, or anything. Things were just …. right.

    So for today’s Music Snack, here’s one of my favorite songs that takes me back to these, my beloved Oxford memories. Aretha was always a favorite when it came time to close up the shop. Enjoy!

    Aretha Franklin – You Send Me

    My dear La Rousse has since now moved to a new location and has grown immensely. From the starting days, it’s just Toni left. I pop my head in from time to time whenever I can make it back to Oxford. No matter what and no matter how long it’s been, I always look back and smile. On the friends I made, the memories which are forever in my mind, the freedom of basking in the music and the moment because I can, and those times when things were just …. right.

    -•-

    The Music Snack comes out every Wednesday to put a little rhythm in your week. Requests are always welcome, so don’t be shy!

  • July4th

    The 4th of July

    Posted in: freedom., History, holiday

     

    I Pledge Allegiance

    to the flag

    of the United States of America

    and to the Republic for which it stands,

    one Nation under God,

    indivisible,

    with liberty and justice for all.

     

    -

    * happy independence day *

    -

  • July1st

    certain unalienable rights

    Posted in: celebration, firework, freedom., History, holiday

    We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

    - The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

    America, you’re still The Beautiful to me.

    { happy birthday weekend }

    photo: flickr

  • January27th

    Let. It. Go.

    Posted in: escape, freedom.

    Do you hold grudges?
    Do  you hang on to squabbles a little longer than you should?
    Do you sometimes go a bit beyond plane old stubborn?

    _____________________________________________________________

    grudge • [gruhj]

    –noun 1. a feeling of ill will or resentment: to hold a grudge against a former opponent.

    ________________________________________________________________

    Nearly all of us at some point have held a grudge against another. We’re human. It happens. Sometimes it’s just hard to let go of situations, people, things that have hurt you in some form or fashion, ourselves, the list goes on and on. But do we realize what holding a grudge can do to our self?

    Holding a grudge is like walking around with a brand new Hermès Birkin bag filled with muddy rocks. It’s not smart. It’s not attractive. And it’s definitely not good for your bag, your back, or your image.

    So why do we do it? Why do we walk around carrying the excess baggage while, most often, those who lie as the objects of said grudges [ minus when it is a grudge against ourself ] walk around free of care, guilt, muddy rocks?

    I’ll be the first to tell you, I was once a woman of many grudges. I put all my troubles, angst, everything as blame on others. And I refused to let it go. For a very long time. And you know what it did? It only made things – and me – worse.

    I had convinced myself that what was done to me was so unbelievably unforgivable and detrimental that I must never forget it – any of it – and I must let everyone know the wrong doing in the event the opportunity presented itself. Recipe for disaster.

    Until finally I just gave up. I gave up and cut the ties with nearly all [still workin on a few] of the ugly, muddy, grudges I’d come to carry throughout the years. I just ….. let it go.

    And I can not begin to tell you how free I now feel.

    There is nothing so terrible, wrong, heinous [or any other adjective you insert in order to make holding on to your grudge seem ok] that you can not simply let it go. Some grudges do take a little longer to let go than others – just how long is determined by you and only you – but each and every one of them are entirely worth letting go.

    Letting go doesn’t mean being naive, it means you’re releasing those feelings of anger, frustration, hurt, angst, you name it, and releasing the power the object of your grudge has over you. You’re taking back control of your life. Of your thought stream and your energies. Don’t you want that?

    “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”

    -Buddha

    I think it’s time.

    Don’t you want to feel free again?

    -•-

    photo credit: 1, 3, 2,

« Previous Entries
Return to the Homepage