Today, Friday June 11, is Cow Appreciation Day nationwide at Chick-fi-a. If you dress like a cow you’ll receive free food! Full costume gets you a combo meal; “partial cow look” gets an entree. For easy dressing tips, look here.

We had a mix of Halloween costumes and kids with white shirts covered in post it notes colored with black spots (an idea from the website). I took a black eyeliner pencil and colored noses.

It’s not too late to take your herd today for free food!

Somewhere between 11 and 13 (could that be 12?) must be the point where you balk at dressing like a cow for free food, because my 13-year-old son wouldn’t do it, but my 11-year-old daughter did (although she kept rubbing the black off of her nose).

Today is my 2-year bloggiversary!!!

I spent a beautiful afternoon at Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountain National Park, relaxing and taking photos of the family, landscape, and assorted insects and creepy crawlies along the way.

Toward the end of the loop, however, we came across this:

and not 30 minutes later there was this:

Maybe I took the “get the shot” mentality a little too far when pursuing the bear, but I certainly wasn’t the only one. The camera-toting crowd seemed to feel safety in numbers, or maybe we bought into some group mentality that those wild bears wouldn’t think of us as afternoon snacks. Whatever the case, I got the shots (although they’re really not very good, which means I didn’t go too crazy chasing the bears, right?).

Please leave a comment and say hello on my bloggiversary, and check out this beautiful shot from today on my photoblog!!!

Today is Jocelyn’s 17th birthday, and her sister Amanda is surprising her by coordinating an “Anything England” birthday blog fest in her honor! I originally intended to use a Jane Austen theme, but decided to tie in something that I ponder each morning over my 1/2 chocolate muffin (yes, you can eat chocolate for breakfast) and cup of hot tea. I’m assuming Miss Jocelyn isn’t doing school today, so I’ll offer her (and me) a little history lesson on a yummy and decidedly English beverage:

Who was Earl Grey and why is there a tea named after him?

English Tea Store.com tells me:

Wikipedia says:

The legend usually involves a grateful Chinese mandarin whose son was rescued from drowning by one of Lord Grey’s men, although this blend of tea was first made from fermented black Indian and Ceylon teas. As green tea is much more popular in China than black tea, it seems somewhat unlikely that they would have had a recipe for what we now call Earl Grey to bestow on visitors, though over the years many other varieties of tea have been used. In addition, Lord Grey never set foot in China. Another version of the legend has the son of an Indian raja being rescued from a tiger by one of Grey’s servants.

What about Lady Grey? How did she rate her own tea?

It appears that no one really wants to talk about Lady Grey, except to say, “Lady Grey is a light, refreshing tea, pale gold in colour and infused with the flavours of orange, lemon and bergamot.”

This is quite a contrast to the fiction that I’ve invented and embellish day by day. My imaginary tale involves neither a Chinese mandarin nor an Indian raja, but rather an elegant and unpretentious earl (picture Jeremy Northam in Emma) commissioning a distinctive tea, with a warm and cozy curl-up-with-a-good-book-and-drink-a-cup sort of flavor and fragrance. One day he turns to his wife and says, “Yes, my dear, you shall have your own tea, too,” (Maybe this is the sort of thing Mr. Knightly would say with a charming smile after, “Try not to kill my dogs.”) and Lady Grey Tea is born.

Miss Jocelyn, I hope you have a wonderful 17th birthday, surrounded by friends and family. If I were there with you, I’d offer you a chocolate muffin and a warm cup of Earl Grey. You’re a sweetheart and I look forward to meeting you and your family very soon. I hope you enjoy perusing the blog posts in your “Anything England” birthday party!

Tonight a new reality TV show premiers on Country Music Television after the CMT Awards. It’s by the folks who do American Idol and it’s called Can You Duet; the goal is to find a hot new country music duo.

My cousin is a makeup artist for the show. I am so proud of her! Because of her inside connection, our family drove to Nashville and attended one of the live shows with a table reserved in our name. We strolled past a sidewalk full of people lined up outside the venue - Nashville’s famous Wild Horse Saloon - and walked right in the door. VIPs for a day!

Rossi, the host, is my cousin’s cousin, but not my cousin (other side of the family). We really enjoyed getting to meet him. He was super sweet, especially to my kids, which is the nicest thing I can say about anyone. He entertained the crowd with a performance of “Great Balls of Fire” while the judges were voting. My kids thought his was the best performance of the evening!

I don’t know if this contestant will become famous, but my girls thought he was pretty great (see the dreamy look in 11-year-old daughter’s eyes - HA!).

Afterwards, our family went backstage and met Naomi Judd, who was one of the judges.

We’ll call this my “just to prove I was there” shot:

Outside after the show:

Can You Duet premiers tonight after the CMT Awards and then can be seen on Friday nights at 8/7 Central Time.

If you’re like me, you suspect that non-bloggers think you’re a little nuts when you talk about your bloggy friends. Although most of us haven’t met, I consider that I have many true friends that I’ve become acquainted with through blogging. Today Miss Lily and I MIRLed (met in real life) Brenda!

Brenda was one of the first ladies I connected with when I started blogging. We have lots in common: we were born and raised in the same state, we live in the same state now, and we were born seven days apart (same year). If you notice, Lily is sucking her thumb in the picture, which means she was quite comfortable with Brenda. Lily isn’t a constant thumb sucker; she’s an “I’m going to snuggle up for a moment and suck my thumb” kind of a girl. For the most part, she just does it when I’m holding her. Brenda and I had such a nice visit, and she even bought Miss Lily a nekkid dog (that’s “naked” dog for non-Southerners, and a plain hot dog, for those who need more clarification).

You know what’s really cool? Next week we get to do it again!

It was wonderful meeting you, my friend!

Today is my one year bloggiversary! This year has brought many changes, not the least of which involve blogging: making new bloggy friends, learning the ins and outs of blogging, starting to design templates, etc. Blogging has been a blessing, but I’ve learned that it’s important to keep it in perspective. Yesterday I announced my new homeschool-only blog, and then later pulled the post when I realized: a) There was really no content, yet, and who wants to read that (read what?)? b) I don’t have time to devote to it at the moment. I just got ahead of myself because my header was finished and in place, but a header does not an (empty) blog make.

I want to share with you a contest at Mums the Wurd where you have two chances to win some of our precious Love-Me-Knots bows!

Don’t forget tomorrow’s Moments in Motherhood!  See you then!

My daddy is one of the most generous people I’ve ever known. When I got my driver’s license at 16, he started driving the company truck and handed over the keys to his prized blue ‘73 Mustang convertible. The boys were quite impressed with my ride and immediately wanted to know what kind of engine it sported. Clueless, I asked my dad, who told me it was a 351 Cleveland. I really didn’t know much more than I had in the first place, but I sounded very in the know when I said it.

My daddy loves to tell the story of my asking him if the Mustang was a hot car. “I don’t know, you tell me,” was his answer. He had a pretty good idea that I had been testing the capabilities of that 351 Cleveland (I plead the fifth). Boy, it was a sweet car. As you can imagine, my driving experience peaked at an early age and has gone downhill from there.

I used to say that I was a large van on the outside but a BMW Z3 on the inside. Somewhere along the way, my affections shifted to apple green Volkswagon Beetles. When my fourth child (first daughter) was born, I said that when the boys were grown and gone, I would have a little convertible and my daughter and I would cruise in it. Unfortunately for her, 4 kids have come along since then, so she’s lost her coveted spot as the passenger in my ragtop fantasy.

The kids have started a new car game. If you spot a new bug you get 1 point; 5 points for a new convertible; 5 points for an old bug. Additional elements are often added to the basic game: 1 point for a convertible of any other kind, Corvettes, PT Cruisers, or whatever happens to be the car du jour. Lily just hollers “buggy, buggy!” a lot. There was some serious competition on our 2-day graduation trip; I’m amazed at how quickly they were spotting cars.

As promised, here are pictures from our out-of-state graduation ceremony trip:

My cousin Queen Shenaynay and her daughter (also my cousin, of course) fa-so-la-la of The Beehive.

If you want a good laugh, read fa-so-la-la’s ideas for the title of her college application essay. For the final, finished product, look here. She was admitted to the school of her choice, and we are all understandably quite proud if this fine young lady!