Back to the Beginning Date

Good Thursday morning!

I have just one more Christmas pic to share in the Gallery today (as if you haven't seen enough). Tomorrow I have a very special photo to add...

The Hope Quartet - A long, long time ago, in a land far, far away, there were four friends who sang together. They called themselves The Hope Quartet. They were very, very good and they even cut an album. This Saturday, January 2, 2010, The Hope Quartet will be in concert at Lakeview Baptist Church in Oxford, Alabama at 7:00 p.m. (Feel free to break into our house during this time. WARNING: Copper and Sparkle aren't attending the concert, so they'll be watching... and waiting.) It has been 30 years since they performed together, so the Faulkner Five are really looking forward to this event. It will be good for the kids to see their Dad in "action." (There's also going to be pictures from their youth flashed across the screens. That's going to be fun for me.) If you're in the area, stop by. I'll bet Mikie would be glad to autograph something for you!

Special Guest - Just one more day until the Big Reveal. I have some more hints for you, and then tomorrow you will know if you guessed correctly, or not.

7. She loves to travel.

8. She loves to read.

9. Last month's Special Guest's husband (Dale Patrick) worked on staff with her husband at a former church.

10. She loves the beach.

11. She loves chocolate. (This confirms it. My Special Guest IS most definitely a woman.)

Guess away, folks. You'll know for certain tomorrow.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY - GOALS

I have many more "little" goals. I've shared some of them with you in past posts.

I want to go zip lining before I'm 90. I really should do this one sooner than later. Since I have to wear a harness across my backside, as time marches on, so does my bottom.

I still want to swim with dolphins. I now realize I'm going to have to put out big bucks to accomplish this, because standing waist deep in the ocean for hours waiting for dolphins to COME TO ME is not getting the job done.

I would like to create 500 scrapbook pages this year. I usually do between 350 and 400, but I would like to "up" this goal and keep up with the numbers... so I've started a check list.

Much like my "No car accident before I'm 50" goal (which was annihilated this past summer when the big gold van rear-ended a car), I still have the "No ticket before I'm 50" goal. I've been stopped on five different occasions over the years, but I've always gotten off with a warning. (I tend to cry very easily when I see blue lights in my rear-view mirror. And just so you know I'm not pretending, it really does upset me to the point of tears when a police officer gets out of his car to reprimand my driving skills. Those tears are real, people.)

Tomorrow I'm going to be a little more serious and share some thoughts and memories from the past year... and some hopes and dreams for the year to come. I love all the television shows on New Year's Eve showing the best pictures taken, the most bizarre news stories, etc. Anything called The Year in Review catches my attention and holds it for hours.

Check back tomorrow for "A Simple Life... Year in Review."

Blog Linkage - I think I'll be adding to this as the day goes on. I'll be keeping up with my favorite blogs, and I'm sure they'll have funny, meaningful, insightful thoughts about the year that was 2009. But for now, I have just one.

Click on Big Mama under My Blog List and read today's post. She's very candid and funny and thoughtful about this past year. It's a post worth reading.

Back to the Beginning Date

This date is for you and your spouse. Can you remember your very first date? Did you go out to eat? Did you see a movie? Did you go to a sporting event?

Whatever you did on your first date, plan to do again. Go to the same restaurant. Try to remember what you ordered and eat the same thing. If you went to a movie, go to the same theater. If you walked around a lake, or had a picnic or, double-dated with friends to relieve some of the awkwardness the first date can bring, re-enact those moments as much as you possibly can.

Spend a little time going down memory lane. The first date you had with your spouse was the beginning of a chapter of your life you may or may not have anticipated at the time.

It's also fun to see if your memory of the first date is the same as your spouse's. (Mikie got a lot of the minor details WRONG, but he definitely remembered the restaurant... Milo's.)

Oh, and one last thing. See if you can still fit into the outfit you wore on your first date. No? It was just a thought. Obviously, a pretty bad one.

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve. Come back tomorrow to meet our January Special Guest (and her family). Her pic will be with us all next week, and the interview will last until next Tuesday. I'll also have "A Simple Life... Year in Review," a few ramblings, as well as Weekend Happenings. Be safe tonight.

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting and Quirky Belinda (I decided I didn't like the "Slightly Off" moniker, even though it is pretty dead on.)