FINDING SLEEPING BEAUTY

There is a story that goes something like this ~ there once was a girl of the age of 16 that was killed in a car accident. Her parents were devastated and couldn't bare the thought of her being buried/not see her so they had a special tamper-proof glass casket made for her. She rested above ground on top of a circular cement slab at the cemetery so they could visit/view her anytime they wanted. Sadly, people started to vandalized the casket trying to see if they could penetrate the glass and get to Sleeping Beauty (the name the teenagers at that time called her). Time and time again her parents would repair and clean the casket until one day the casket just disappeared. No one knows if the girl & her casket were stolen or taken and placed somewhere else by her parents. According to the story, the parents have never spoken of the mystery of what happened to their Sleepy Beauty.

My source said that the cement slab is still there along with the grave stone, so of coarse I decided I must go see if at least the slab exists. I didn't find the slab or the cemetery, but I did come across these great finds instead:

Photo: THIS OLD HOUSE/LOVE SHACK

Photo: FOOLS RUSH IN

Note: I did not tamper with anything in the room in which the sleeper-sofa & bra were found. That is how I found it.

I also came across a horse pasture. I will let you in on a little secret. I am nervous around horses. Yes. It is true. You laugh, but I have a good reason. I approximate myself as about 8 years old when my ma brought us down to a festival in the park kind of deal at the University Park. It was there where I came upon a pony in a petting zoo type area. I went up to the pony and petted its nose and it reached over and BIT me in the stomach! This ssssseriously hurt so I went to find an area where there wasn't a lot of people around and lifted up my sundress to assess the damage. Sure enough, bright red teeth marks circled my belly button. Now to the pony's defense, she/he probably thought I was going to feed it a handful of feed or carrots, but instead I was just petting its nose, so I guess maybe my sundress sufficed for an afternoon snack?

Anyhoos.....here I am putting out my hand to this sweet beast to attempt to overcome my fear:


.......after I snapped this photo, he sneezed, and I 'bout pist my pants.

P.S. GOOOO VIKINGS!

ROSIE 2010

Photo: google images

Rosie The Riveter is a cultural icon made famous by the women of the United States working in factories during WWII. Sadly, once the men returned home, these women were expected to step aside and return to their housework leaving the men to work the job(s) and at higher wage then what the women were getting paid. There were literally thousands of "Rosies" of that time, however, it was said that the one that most closely associated with the Rosie The Riveter icon, (who's actual name) was Miss Rosie Will Monroe because she best fit the description of the worker in the famous song "Rosie". She lived in Michigan and worked on B-29 and B-24 Bombers before achieving her dream of becoming a pilot herself. In 1978 Rosie lost a kidney and the vision in her left eye when a small propeller plane stalled on takeoff and plunged to the ground which then ended her career as a pilot. She died at the age of 77 due to kidney failure of the remaining kidney.

In 2000, the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park was opened in Richmond, California. You can visit the official website here.

Rosie 2010

And there you have a snippet of history for the day!

Wishing you all a great week ahead!

The Way It Is

Photo: google images

1. I get a kick out of *SOME* my Midwest friends who make comments about there is no such thing as global warming because they are in the midst of a freeze out. News flash. You live in the Midwest where such temperatures are not unheard as of yet, but in the last couple of years the southern states (including the one I live in) of the US are getting flattened by horrendous hurricanes (caused by what? wanna hint? warmer-then-usual water caused by......global warming.). You wanna use this excuse to bitch about not wanting to purchase better fuel mileaged vehicles. Well if you really like supporting foreign oil then knock yourself out, but really, who cares if you think GW is a farce, how much effort does it really take to do a little recycling, use earth-human friendly products, turn off a light, or reuse your water bottle? (I mean look at all the money you'd save to put into your gas guzzler?) Now you may think my opinion is rude, but I am subjected to your daily Facebook status updates on the subject, so consider us even.

2. Saying "eat a sandwich" to a thin person is just as hurtful as saying "put down the ice cream" to a over weight person.

3. People who say celebrities (such as Sandra Bullock) who have donated a million plus to the Haiti disaster relief do so only for a tax break really need to get their head out of their ass. Some celebrities have compassion too, but even if not, who cares what an individuals motivation is in such a situation - wouldn't you rather the moneys go to charity then to the US government so they can misspend it somehow?

4. I have been told recently I set my standards too high for men. Why not? Why wouldn't I want to be with someone who holds me up then pulls me down? I have settled before and that got me nowhere fast. My heart is worth any high standard I place upon it. When I start whining about being single is when you can give me the too high of standard speech....which will be n-e-v-e-r.

5. I think the whole O'Brien/Leno dealio caused by NBC is just a shame.

Just another installment of "just gonna say it".

Enjoy your day everyone!

SQUIRREL!

This week I:

1. Nearly killed a raccoon. I awoke to this awful racket in the middle of the night. It came from near my kitchen window. My first thought was: "I am going to die." This is usually always my first thought when I awake in the middle of the night from a noise. I crept into my kitchen and peeked out the window. No burglar. Just a raccoon standing in the corner of the foyer with my recycling bins in a disarray around him. I tapped on the window. He arches his back and looks at me through the glass. "YOU!" I poked towards him with my finger. "DEAD." He seemed to understand the message because I haven't heard/seen from him since.

Photo credit: google images

2. I renegotiated my 12 month lease for my apartment. They wanted to increase the rent, I told them if they did, I would move. After a little back n' forth, they agree to a new lease with no rent increase. This means: I have 13 months to get my ass in gear, but so far 2010 is showing some promise, so it's looking good.

2. I started and finished the quick read Firefly Lane that is being passed around in our office book exchange. I thought the author did the book an injustice by adding the love triangle. I never felt Johnny was good enough for Katie from that point on, however, I also felt Katie was far too needy and needed a backbone. I was put off by the fact Katie was always too busy/tired to spend time writing while she was healthy, however, when she is laying there dying of stage 4 cancer that has spread to her brain causing her to be forgetful/zombie-like/weak that she suddenly had the all the strength (and memory) in the world to write in a journal about her life with her best friend (aka emotional vampire Tully). With that said, I would still try another book from Kristin Hannah.

3. My new-but-used book from amazon: 1000 Places To See Before You Die arrived earlier in the week. I paid 4.96 with S&H included and this book doesn't have a mark in it! I paged through it at the gym this morning, however, I didn't get very far. Ireland is looking more and more like a country to visit though. If you haven't tried purchasing used books, you should!

Photo credit: google images

4. Watched UP last night. SQUIRREL! Yeah, it's a children's movie, so what? And yeah, it was a Friday night, so what?


5. One of my teammates and I traveled for a tattoo expo earlier today. Neither of us got any ink. It was a pretty small convention but some great talent to be found. I passed out some serum samples from job number 2 then we found the closest sushi restaurant to where we gorged ourselves silly. I even had a piece of fried cheesecake while Miss Brooke knocked down two mixed drinks. There goes the calorie count for the day! DOH!

6. Worked 55 hours between job 1 & 2 and still got a workout at the gym in everyday plus got all my chores/errands done, plus finished a book, plus watched a movie! On a roll I tell ya!


7. My cowl arrived today in the mail. I had ordered this a couple weeks ago, but since it was coming from the UK it took a while to get across the pond. L.O.V.E it! Here is Miss Julia's blog here on blogspot.

And there you have it, the week of January 11th - 16th 2010.

I hope you are all having a fabulous weekend!

OH MARILYN

Photo here.

"A wise girl kisses but doesn't love, listens but doesn't believe, and leaves before she is left."
~*~
"I'll make your heart jump like it was on cocaine."
~*~
“I'm selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I'm out of control and at times, I'm hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best."
~*~

~ Marilyn Monroe

GEORGIA ON MY MIND

Historic District - Savannah, GA

It is a new year and mine started off with a new adventure as well. I hit the road for Savannah, GA no later then 6:30am on New Years Day to beat the football tailgating traffic I was concerned I was going to hit if I waited any longer. So before the crack of dawn, I headed out pullin' a Thelma & Louise without the Thelma.....and well without the dying at the end part. (Thelma had to back out from the trip a few days before)


Bonaventure Cemetery

Other then the rain that was slowing up traffic on the Interstate things went pretty well. My first stop was the Bonaventure Cemetery because I figured after that stop, I wouldn't need a car for the rest of the weekend, since everything else was within walking distance. It was gray and chilly with a few raindrops here and there. I ended up staying for nearly 4 hours taking in the absolute beauty of this place. It was only the last 30 minutes or so when the sun popped out and warmed things up a bit. Before leaving, I ate lunch at Conrad Aiken's tombstone, but I had a Diet Dr. Pepper instead of martini. (A hot chocolate spiked with Doc McGillcuddy would have been much better though. :p)

I did hear some chatter & laughing but I am fairly certain it was not any ghost from any dinner party rather some visitors from up north. (Shout out to M&M!!!) A couple things one must know about the historic district of Savannah: one is that they have a crapload of one-way streets the second being their parking sucks. Although I did get turned around a time or two due to the one-ways, I lucked out on the latter because after checking in, I found out that I was going to save mucho $ because the city was not charging for parking meters the entire holiday weekend! WHOOP! The hotel room was nicer then my apartment and even had an IPod docking station...and still does because I figured if I swiped it, they would charge me double it's value. ;O) I finished the day by walking around the historic district being complimented by men and women alike on my supa-fabulous boots.

My supa fabulous/cheap boots (Kohls)

One thing you should know about me if you ever go on holiday with me is that I wake up insanely early for being on vacation. Whether it's the bed, the pillows, or whatever, I just wake up early. I didn't have too much time to wait before it started to get lighter out before starting on my trek around the vintage shops and touristy sights. I have to say that River Walk is waaay over rated, it's just a bunch of unworthy souvenir shops (minus the Peanut Shop which was pretty awesome to pick up GA pecans, jams, and "Good & Evil" pickles.), but it was cool to see people playing their instruments and singing on the water front.

My shopping finds: cookbook, clutch, wooden ring, and vintage suitcase

I saw the Waving Girl of Savannah, sat at the park where they shot the bus scene from Forest Gump (although there is no bus stop there.....goooo Hollywood!), and took photos of the Mercer House which is rich with history but most notably known for the book: Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil. The only thing I didn't see up close was the Garden Girl who appeared on the book cover since they moved her from the Bonaventure Cemetery to the Telfair Academy of Arts. The TAA was not far from my hotel, however, they would not allow cameras so I didn't give them my fifteen bucks.

The Mercer House

I left bright and early this morning because I did everything I wanted to do yesterday and wasn't really looking forward to the 4.5 hour drive back. So here I sits looking through my photos from the weekend and catching up on emails and blogging. I hope you all had a great holiday weekend as well!!

P.S. My new year "goal" is: a little less talk and a little more action. So far so good...........

Cosmo Mariner: Destination Unknown

Have you ever heard of the poet Conrad Aiken? He was a young lad from Savannah, Georgia who semi-witnessed (he heard the yells/gun shots rather then actually viewed the murder-suicide) of his parents when he was just eleven years old. Family moved him up north to raise him and he grew into a Pulitzer Prize winning poet. He later moved back to Savannah as an adult and lived in the house next door to where his parents died until his death.

The story goes that he and his wife would go to the Bonaventure Cemetery to visit his folk's grave and drink martinis while watching boats pass by on the water. One in particular, the Cosmo Mariner, struck a cord with him and as he did a little research on the boat's name, he found it listed as "destination unknown". This now is what reads on his grave stone, a bench that he picked out for visitors, so they could also sit and watch boats pass by while enjoying the surroundings of the cemetery.



The Bonaventure Cemetery history runs deeper then that however. It once was a plantation to the Colonel John Mulryne and his family. One evening as he hosted a dinner party, a servant whispered in his ear that the roof of the house was on fire. John stood up and calmly asked his guests to take their dinner plate and glass and follow him out to the garden. There the servants followed with the table and chairs as the guests ate by the light of the fire rapidly burning down the home. Mr. Mulryne stood up and made a toast to his guests and then threw his glass at an old tree. His guests followed suit and smashed their glasses as well.

It is said that if you sit a the Bonaventure Cemetery at night when it is very quiet you can hear the shattering of the glass and laughter of the guests. All that is left of the home is a corner of the foundation.

Or something like that.