The Birmingham Museum of Art

While we were in Birmingham we decided to spend the morning at the Birmingham Museum of Art.



It was mid-morning on a Wednesday so we had the entire place to ourselves - which was really nice.

They allow cameras but no flash so I took a lot of pictures but because of the lighting and the fact that I wasn't using a tripod and slow exposure they aren't very good.

I was amazed at how big this museum is! Over 180,000 sq feet with a huge variety of pieces and collections.

The Island Girl and Cruella DeVille immediately headed for the Modern Art section while I decided to start with European Art.

I have to say that wandering around that museum, completely alone, was incredible!!!!

Because I homeschool my children and work with my husband, I don't get to be alone very often. Even if they aren't with me I'm in a crowded grocery store or something so to be able to wander from room to room in total silence and solitude was better than swimming in the Fountain of Youth.





Porcelain from the Ming Dynasty



Chippendale furniture



A chair crafted by Frank Lloyd Wright



African Art - a lot of which is very dark and scary



Asian Art, Pre-Colombian, Native American, the list goes on and on.

We stayed for several hours and had a wonderful morning. We could have stayed longer but Birmingham is a long way from Destin and it was time to get moving.

Thank you, Birmingham Museum of Art!

Birmingham's Statue of Liberty Replica

I took the Island Girl and her best friend, Cruella DeVille, (don't ask) to Birmingham so they could attend a John and Hank Green book signing last week and instead of trying to make the 5 hour drive home after the signing we decided to spend the night.

Which meant we could explore a little before heading home the next day.

One of the things we saw online was that Birmingham is home to one of the largest Statue of Liberty replicas in the US.

Sounded like a good place to start our day.





It's a huge replica but because of the giant hwy in front of it, it's hard to get a good picture from the front.

I wish I'd known about this the night before because the Statue and torch are very well lit at night - which I'm sure is really pretty to see.

If you're ever in Birmingham, stop by and take a look - it's beautiful.

So Much For That Resolution

I've always had issues with the "rules of the road" theory.

In my opinion, the DOT is run by idiots. Yes, idiots.

Speed limits are always wrong, one way streets never run the right way, there are 4 lane hwys where there should be 2 and 2 lane hwys where there should be 4, stop signs in the middle of nowhere...

I could go on and on.

So, in a moment of blinding brilliance I decided that one of my New Year's Resolutions was going to be that I am no longer going to heed the rules of the road.

I'll come to a complete stop when I come to a stop sign with actual traffic around it and I will drive whatever speed is safe, being very considerate of the area I'm in, weather conditions, and other traffic.

But I'm going to use common sense - which is often a direct contrast to whatever the DOT has deemed appropriate.

I told several people about my New Year's Resolution and of course they rolled their eyes and told me I was the idiot.

Didn't faze me.

I haven't gotten a speeding ticket since 1986 and really all I'm doing now is stating out loud what I've been doing all along - not following the rules to a T.

My resolution lasted until 5:36pm on January 18th just outside of Luverne, Alabama - which by the way has a sign that says "The Friendliest Town in the South"

I was the only car on a long, straight stretch of Hwy 331 and was driving a safe speed for the conditions.

I came over the top of a hill and saw taillights flash in a bush off to the side of the road at the bottom of the hill.

Damn.

And then the blue lights went on.

Worse than damn.

The Island Girl and her best friend were in the backseat and having earlier been informed of my resolution were howling with laughter.

I slowed down and pulled over in front of him at the bottom of the hill.

He walked up to my window and said "Is there a medical emergency I need to know about?"

I thought and thought but just couldn't come up with anything so I sighed and told him no.

He then proceeded to tell me that the reason I was being stopped this evening was because I was doing 76 in a 55 mph zone.

He asked for my DL and registration and went back to his car.

By now, the Island Girl and her friend are just plain giddy. They taunted me like you wouldn't believe!

I was mad. I haven't had a ticket since I was 22 years old. There was NO ONE on the road and 76 was NOT too fast for the conditions.

And this is obviously a speed trap. He never had to crank his car, the grass where I pulled over was completely gone, worn away by others like me, and it was at the bottom of a hill.

He returned with my ticket and told me to drive safe and have a nice day.

Aaaahhhhhhhh!!!!! (Insert bad worse of your choice here)

And my daughter and her friend continued to tease me.

About 2 minutes after pulling back onto the road I realized that my New Year's Resolution was now defunct.

I can't afford any more tickets and my insurance will go up if I get stopped again.

Which made me even madder.

I ranted and raved the rest of the way home and the more I ranted the harder the kids laughed.

I walked in the door and the Island King was none too happy about the $200 ticket in my hand.

Which prompted him and the kids to tell me that maybe I was the idiot for thinking I could just disregard things like speed limits.

I called my Dad and asked if he had any connections up in Crenshaw County and his response was "How fast were you going?" lol

Turns out that he has no connections in Crenshaw and according to my Mother he wouldn't get her out of a ticket once so even if he knew someone it wouldn't help.

Sigh.

So to use my resolution failure as a learning experience I am now going to say to all of the people who rolled their eyes at me and told me I was an idiot -

You were right. Absolutely, positively correct.

I should never have made that declaration out loud.

First Monday of 2012

My friend, Sayre, has invited her blog friends to write a post for this First Monday of 2012.

She says "Christmas is over and now the process of changing over to a new year is in progress. It's a time for looking back and looking forward (hence the name January - for Janus, the God who looked to the past and the future). For this First Monday I'd like to hear about one accomplishment from the past year, and one thing you want to accomplish in 2012!"

I thought about this for a while, trying to decide what my biggest accomplishment from 2011 was and I tried to come up with something big and important that I accomplished last year and fell flat.

Which was depressing at first.

Until I really started thinking about it and while I may not have accomplished something major, I've accomplished a lot of small things.

Which in the end have made me a better person - I hope.

It also motivated me to do something more in this New Year - something more notable.

After all of this went through my head I realized this post has motivated me to really work at accomplishing the things I consider important.

But, as I was thinking all of this I realized that I have accomplished something that may sound trivial to others but has been a huge success for me.

I suffer from TERRIBLE road rage. Lose my religion, wish I could drive a tank down the street shooting all of the idiot drivers kind of road rage.

And since the kids are in the car with me most of the time they get to observe their mother's yelling, cussing, horn honking, bad behavior.

At the beginning of 2011 I decided to get a grip and stop letting traffic affect me like that.

It took a while and I'm not saying that I don't fall off the wagon every once in a while but 95% of the time I am able to remain calm and sane.

Even the kids have noticed that I'm not a mean, crazy lady on the highway anymore - which is a wonderful thing.

So I guess that's the most notable accomplishment from 2011.

Like I said, small and trivial for some but a giant step for me.

As for I intend to accomplish in 2012 that's a two fold kind of accomplishment.

I am going to quit smoking and get into shape.

No more cigarettes, no more junk food and lots of exercise.

It's going to be hard but I KNOW this is the year I will finally do it.

I'm just praying that the lack of nicotine and chocolate won't send me back onto the road rage path.

Wish me luck.

Now go over to Sayre's Smiles and see what others have already and are planning to accomplish.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to Each and Every One of You!!

Stay safe but have fun this weekend.

2012 IS going to be a great year for all of us!!!

Bellingrath Gardens Christmas Lights

Even though I'm not that far from Mobile, I've never been to Bellingrath Gardens.
I've heard many times what a beautiful home and garden it is and I've always wanted to go but just never made it over there.

Until now.

On Monday, my parents, the kids and I drove over to Mobile to visit with my Uncle and cousins.

And planned to go see the lights at the Gardens while we were there.

I looked at their website and knew we would be in for an amazing display of Christmas lights.

We visited with our family, had an early supper and off we went to see the lights.

We only had one small problem.

It was raining.

A light but constant rain with some pretty good showers coming in every 15 minutes or so.

But, we'd come a long way and weren't going to let rain stop our adventure.

Damn the torpedo's, full speed ahead! We were going in!



It was spectacular!!!



Acres of gardens decorated with lights of every kind.













They have a beautiful lake in the middle of the gardens that they call Mirror Lake. There were light displays in and around the water - which would have reflected beautifully if it hadn't been raining.









The path around the lake was filled with sea creatures.





I would have loved to have taken more pictures of that area but it was raining really hard at that point and I didn't want my camera to get too wet.

There were gingerbread girls and boys that the kids declared creepy but I thought they were really cute.





The house was open for touring but we decided to come back another day for that. According to my cousin, it's filled with the most beautiful antiques she's ever seen.



The only thing we didn't get to see was the nativity scene. It was near the end, raining really hard and my Mom, the Island Girl and the Oldest Island Boy had already abandoned us to wait in the cafe.

I wanted to see it but we were soaking wet and facing a 3 hour drive home so hurrying on to the cafe didn't sound like a bad idea.

We had a wonderful time, rain and all, and can't wait to come back in the Spring to tour the house and see the gardens in full bloom.

If you're ever in Mobile I would say that Bellingrath Gardens is a must see.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

We hope you all have a Wonderful Christmas!!