what’s your connection?

The Appalachian Mountain range dates back 480 million years. Its coal is the residue of peat bogs formed in tropical coastal swamps when there was a single supercontinent, Pangaea. This makes my home one of the oldest mountain ranges on Earth. I was home around Cumberland Gap, Tn and its surrounding areas in Virginia and Kentucky and was flabbergasted by the drastic change of landscapes. Some mountains are totally gone. Others looked so scraggly and pitiful from both mining and logging. See examples below:

Seriously, how sad is this? I did some research and saw that Houston has more of an impact on these mountains than the area that the mountains are actually in. Enter your zip code by clicking here to see your mountain top removal impact.

480 million years to build and just a few baby boomers to blow it up. I get so sad when I see what we do to the planet sometimes. There has to be better solutions out there loves- and people willing to stand up for what is right. We start by doing that locally.

–BV–J.

just try it. once.

close your eyes and just listen to the music.

to me, life is a symphony. it’s meant to be enjoyed in the moment. it’s not supposed to lead up to some dramatic ending. it’s all the small moments. to simplify your life takes a lot of diligence.

now, just try it… listen to each moment. enjoy each instrument and its unique sound.

you just did a form of meditation! this does not mean that you don’t believe in Jesus or God. i define it as letting go and being with God. in peace. you aren’t stuck in the past with all of its tragedies nor fixed anxiously on the future. you are just enjoying the moment that Life has given you. you are meant to be happy.

now, try this when doing the dishes or laundry, writing a paper or doing that spreadsheet at work. study what you are doing and the quality of your work- only focus on what you are doing. these simple changes can transform your life.

well it happened.

I was debating posting this but I think it’s a good thing to bring to light one time and one time only in my blogosphere. I got my first hater comment which I am not divulging because it was simply mean. My heart was pounding as I read the cutting words. At first all I felt was emotion. Then I looked at the facts. I want to connect with other people. I rarely write anything negative. I am generally enthusiastic about life and music and art. Why did I let that person rob ten seconds of my life? When my heart was pounding and anxiety was taking place, I was allowing someone else to have power over my well being. This is what anger does. Anger stems from hurt. Hurt stems from fear that I am not good enough. And that is just Unf*ckingacceptable.

Running in a rat race still makes one a rat. I don’t feel like I am above or below anyone else on this planet and there is no need to figure out the comment. Maybe that person feels great with pride or crappy because of remorse but that is none of my business. I am my own business, and I have no business blocking my Given light.

Why can’t we all just get along?

 

 

soul refreshing.

People from Detroit or Houston or wherever might feel this same way, but I must say there is something distinctly soothing for the soul in the Appalachian mountains. Especially in Autumn, my heart soars. I feel so cozy, comfortable and happy. In curves and the smell of wet leaves. In giving deer the right of way instead of honking at a busy intersection. In remembering to stop and smell the last blooming roses.

 

 

 

 

<—– self portrait on f/22!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Even when I got a warning shot for trespassing (I was taking pics of a tobacco barn which will be posted later), I felt like the coolest motherf***er alive. I was in the Appaeffinglachians. Where there really aren’t any rules and the people are wild. Besides some of the religious and cultural differences, it’s my kind of place.**

 

 

**sometimes I curse. I joined the military to drink and curse and when I was honorably discharged I only dropped the drinking part.

red lobster wasted

Master Manipulator of Cheap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am filing this in Hillbilly Philosophy because I am about to tell you my game plan for ripping Red Lobster off for endless shrimp-fest or whatever it is they call it. I swore a couple of years ago that I’d never go to Red Lobster again after my shriveled ass pitiful dry crab-fest but my friend wanted to go and I instantly wanted to rip Red Lobster off.

 

 

First of all you need a cool waitress. You also need to be a happy person and get the waiter or waitress to like you. I lucked out and got a waitress who complimented my charm necklace. I looked at her earrings and was startled- she was wearing the same threader earrings that I cherish and LOVE with all my heart. I instantly knew she was awesome.

<—- love these earrings!

They remind me of a skating rink.

 

 

 

 

Basically, you can order up to five types of shrimp. Red Lobster will give you salad. Eat it lightly (which I did not but the Ranch there is so good). Biscuits? Save for later! You don’t need the carbs now! You have some shrimp to down.

I personally use part of the basket for shrimp tails.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, load up on shrimp. Eat the shit out of all the shrimp you can possibly fit into your gluttonous mouth. Do it for America.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When on shrimp order #4, ask for the last shrimp order and a to go box. Oh, and more biscuits. You will get at least this much food to take home:

 

I tipped the waitress well for being the best waitress of my life and wrote her a sweet note.

Winners!

pinnacle.

It’s not my intent to conquer the mountain and pass myself by. I’ve been finding so much peace and wisdom here. The paths have a lot of rocks and remnants of past seasons, but they go up and forward, toward the burning sun. I will climb over, find a way through, dig a tunnel or simply stay and turn any mountain into a goldmine. With the grace of God of course. I saw God all around me today and felt His warmth in the trees and blacktop roads and local smiles. I heard God today in the bird’s song and murmuring water and laughter of my kindred friend- the kind of friend who knows you best. What a perfect day.

 

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my how seasons change

Jesus used a mac. I read it in the Bible. PC's caused riots (James 5:4).

Oddly enough, I can’t steal the internet from anyone and my external hard drive isn’t formatted for a PC. If there are typos, it’s because I haven’t used a keyboad like this since I was hunting in the Oregon Trail.

Steve Jobs changed my life because the iPhone changed my life. It wasn’t just a phone. It was a navigation, gaming, networking and art system in one!!!! I would tell the skeptics, the iPhone changed my life. None believed me until they bought it and then they said to me, “I thought you were crazy but you’re right. My life is so different now.”

Steve Jobs, I know that you are in heaven setting up God’s airport extreme. You are also showing him the new iPhone 5 aren’t ya? Just had to go with 4S to play with us didn’t ya? Play on player. Play on. Please watch this amazing speech and be glad for every sweet breath you inhale. Please pay attention at the 5:07 mark.

It’s funny because he talks of connecting the dots and I meditated the other day and got the message that this trip is meant for me to connect the dots in my life- from where I was born in Kentucky to being with the love of my life in Texas and everywhere in between. I’m learning all kinds of stuff. I just found out last night that my father didn’t graduate from high school. All three of his kids have degrees. However, my father taught me more than any degree ever can. Like respect. Honesty. How to change a tire and shoot a twelve gauge by age twelve. To laugh during hard times. How important it is to spend time with the ones you love. My father always stuck, even through the hardest times of my life. He never left me. He stuck. I am learning that my hardy Appalachian roots have helped me grow strong and resilient.

I feel like I am going through a really creative part of my life and can honestly say that I do what I love. The camera in my hands sure feels like true love. So does helping children. And veterans. And battered women. Learning more so I can continue to evolve and become a more productive member of society. As long as I live, I will climb. Even when I get knocked down, I will still do what I love and climb. Even if I’m dirt poor and at the bottom, I’ll climb. It’s the climbers that change the world for the better. We all do share something in common: we will all die. It’s not fun to type, but it’s true. Don’t we owe it to ourselves to live up to our highest potential right now? It’s not just the top of a mountain we reach for, it’s who we find on the way to the top.

In the next couple of days, I will go to some place with either a phone signal or wi-fi and get to posting some photography. I’ve had great adventures but technology is a bit lacking in this part of the world. It’s a good thing. I’m loving life in the slow lane, in the dirt roads and in the curves.

Bear with me as I live life in Appalachian bliss. I’ve even missed the smell of the air this time of year- grass, wild onion and wet leaves. Stay hungry and stay foolish my friends.

no warrior left behind.

I didn’t think that I would like the movie ‘Warrior’ but I’ve heard a lot of Oscar buzz hype regarding Nick Nolte’s performance. Plus, I owed it to my husband for making him see ‘How Do You Know’ with Reese Witherspoon (trust me, you didn’t want to know). Not only did Nolte hit beautiful notes on both emotional restraint and outbursts, the rest of the cast did an exceptional job as well. To me, this movie wasn’t as stimulating as ‘The Fighter’. It was missing an edge that only David Russell’s genius artistic directing skills can master. Christian Bale’s performance in ‘The Fighter’ is one of the best supporting roles of all time in my opinion. But this isn’t just a movie review.

This movie touched me in a way that ‘The Fighter’ couldn’t. Tom Hardy, who plays a former Marine, portrays an individual suffering from PTSD. Not once in the entire movie is PTSD mentioned but Hardy gave a heart-wrenching performance and you could see the pain and rage in his eyes. I immediately thought of a friend who was honorably discharged from a secret squirrel combat job. He and I used to go to lunch together, sing 80’s songs at the top of our lungs with the windows rolled down, support one another because we were both wanting more out of life, and we would pick apart each other’s girlfriend/boyfriend. I’m so glad that he got to meet my husband before he left for the other side of the world. I’ll never forget telling him that if he ever gets lonely, just to look up at the moon and stars and realize that his friends and loved ones were looking at the same moon and sky. He laughed and said, “Good one master poet Jamie, I’ll have to feed that one to my girlfriend.” He called me last year and told me that he had one last deployment and then he was getting out and he wanted me to come to his wedding. Yes, he was engaged and I was so happy for him.

That was the last time we talked. To my friend, if you are reading this, please know that I still pray for you every night. My husband and I miss your laugh. I miss your voice. I miss having lunch talks over coffee. I know you must have seen some things that no human being should ever have to experience. Sometimes there simply are no words and that is alright. Please know that I’m still under the same sky, waiting. –Your forever friend.

I’ve been dreaming a lot about a cruise ship lately. It’s docked. In this recurring dream, I go on this ship but don’t know where to go. I think that this is God telling me that it is time to pick a direction. I often get passionate about ideas and then never follow through. Plenty of ideas, not much organization. I’m going to take my road trip, re-connect with loved ones, get my spirit stronger, and pick a direction. I have a feeling it will be to the VA hospital. To visit the mecca of warriors.

Let’s be a little nicer to people. Everyone is fighting a battle and we have no apprehension of their circumstances.

No veteran left behind…

Prepare for a rant but for a good cause. I had a hip injury and could have medically retired from the USAF but flight medicine didn’t have their stuff together on Tinker AFB, OK. I was so distressed with flt med’s incompetence that I feared for my health to stay in the USAF any longer than necessary. The VA rep on base told me that I would get disability compensation 4-6 weeks after discharge. Instead of retiring medically, I opted to be honorably discharged on the last day of enlistment. I had been apart from my hubby for over a year and, even after seven years, Oklahoma never felt like home to me. I felt like staying in a day longer than necessary would degrade my soul because I was so sick and tired of being sick and tired.

I am a lucky woman because I am married to a husband who currently supports me- and don’t worry, because I am supporting him while he is working and going to school full time. I wish I had that while I was in school and he deserves the best care a woman can offer because he has a saint’s soul. Being a trophy wife has the wonderful perk of his insurance. Otherwise, I would be screwed because the VA hospital cannot see me without having to pay the most expensive co-pay. Why? Because they choose the co-pay based on your last year’s income taxes (when I was active duty) and I made too much money to get free healthcare. I will not get assigned a doctor until I get my disability rating. Only then can I receive free healthcare through the VA. There are many perks that I am missing out on by not having my rating. For instance, Texas housing tax breaks, free driver’s license and plates, free entrances into parks.

My intention is not to whine. I’m just saying that I gave nine years of my life to something far far bigger than myself. I did my best, gave 100%, bit my tongue daily and worked ridiculous hours. Why aren’t veterans being taken care of like they should be??? I had to dig to find out. I contacted the VA for months. I called over 50 times and never got to speak to a representative. I emailed the VA and was supposed to get a response within five business days. Three weeks later, I got a vague response that the VA was still ‘working on my claim’. So I called the Tinker AFB VA office and explained my situation. After two days of an expert digging, the Tinker AFB rep called me back with bad news. Evidently, all Agent Orange claims must be processed by Oct of this year because it was mandated by the President. My claim, along with every other non-agent orange claim, is on an indefinite hold could take longer than a year to process. One would think that the VA would pass this information along but I guess that’s asking for too much.

While I had some savings, it was not enough to get through nine months of living expenses. Supposedly I will get back-paid but that doesn’t help me now. I am lucky enough to be educated and have a roof over my head and a wonderful husband. But what about those people who aren’t as fortunate? Or what about those people who aren’t able to go to such great lengths to get answers? What about those enlisted troops who had both legs blown off and can’t afford to go a year without their entitled disability compensation?? Why are America’s wounded warriors being left in the dark for so long??

If you ever see a homeless veteran asking for money, please give. I personally don’t care what he or she spends it on. I know they had to put up with a lot of sh*t in and out of the military and deserve every single penny. This is a beautiful country for I am free and I don’t regret a single day that I served. It made me one hell of a tough cookie and I needed that. I just want justice for all who truly know the sacrifice and dedication it takes to keep our country free. Because to veterans, freedom has an ashen taste that the ones who haven’t served will never experience. The least these vets deserve is a seamless transition into healing the visible and buried wounds.

I am lucky to be in the light today. Let’s give light to our vets.

If you happen to be active duty and plan on getting out, I HIGHLY encourage you to click here to view the VA’s disability ratings. You served and deserve it. Know your entitlements. Feel free to comment or email if you have any questions. Thanks!

Cheers lovelies!!! Have a beautiful day. =)

How green is green??

My husband and I were at Whole Earth Provisions which is like a REI+Spencers+hippie+dipster+hipster store.

Tom’s shoes are all the craze. I tried on a pair that looked like this…

I can look awesome and artsy for only $55- but wait, they are all biodegradable and green and sh*t and you’re actually buying a pair of shoes for an African child!!! I looked at my husband and in a daze said, “I MUST have these.” I felt the Tom’s craze even though I think they are the ugliest shoes in the world on my wide feet. I heard the children on my feet squeal in pain as I tried to convince myself that they looked amazing. I remember when that type of shoe was one of the only styles that my family could afford. I was thankful for them because one year I didn’t even have new school shoes. And now I have over 100 pairs of shoes in my closet and I was going to drop $55 for this pair in a daze when I realized something amazing: I DON’T NEED THEM.

So there I stood in the Galleria of Houston with all these rich @ssholes who probably would have died on Everest had it not been for the sherpa calling every single shot and then describing the trip as a triumph of the human spirit while bragging to friends. I looked at my husband and said, “Let’s get the hell out of here.” Just so you know, it costs roughly $1.50 US to produce these shoes, where the impoverished factory workers in turn markup to $5 per pair to sell to distributors, who in turn mark it up to $25, and so on and so forth. For me, being green means abstaining from buying crap that you don’t need. Don’t get me wrong, what Blake Mycoskie is doing is great: for every pair of shoes that TOMS sells, it donates a pair to a child in need and that is a wonderful thing. But I can go out myself and volunteer in my old shoes that are working just fine. Feeling like I am making a difference is worth so much less to me than actually going out and doing the legwork for myself. But that’s just me.

Lastly, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted and I apologize. I’ve been ill with an upper respiratory virus. I’m finally better and will be posting more frequently. Keep your chins up my homies because I love all of yuins!!!! <— thank God my calling wasn’t to be a grammar teacher