Orl@nd0

Did you know that the title of this post is considered "ghetto" Orlando? Me either until last week.  Apparently that's the kind of thing you learn when  you uproot your content little life from Athens,  Georgia and  move to Orlando, Florida. I asked for the password to login to a website last week and the response I received was "ghetto Orlando 01." Um, I'm sorry. What?! Please explain this ghetto nonsense. Of course, the other employees had a good laugh at my lack of ghetto Orlando knowledge.   

I've officially been living in Florida for two weeks now. I'm not technically a resident yet, but I want Disney passes so it'll happen soon! I took a job as the assistant property manager of a student housing complex here in Orlando. I'm still working for Landmark, just not at the corporate office anymore. I'm enjoying it so far, but I'm also having to continue my previous position until they hire someone new. I'm hoping it won't take much longer because I'm tired of doing two jobs already. 

I know that I've only been here two weeks, but I've already made a list of reasons why I hate Florida. Truth be told, I didn't need to move here at all to know that I would absolutely hate it, but ya do what ya gotta do sometimes. 

Let's start with the first thing you encounter: Tolls. Why pray tell, do I have to pay someone to drive on a road?! I think it is literally the most ridiculous thing. I did buy a SunPass for my car this week, but I still have the "avoid tolls" route option turned on for my GPS. The less money I have to give this state, the better. 

Then, there are SO many people here. Traffic is always awful. Stores and restaurants are always packed. It's like you can't move. Y'all know I am impatient as they come, so it doesn't bode well for me to live in such a crowded place. I've had more fits of road rage in the past two weeks than I did in my two years of living in Athens. It seems like God brought me here to teach me patience and I just want to say to whoever is praying for patience for me -- STOP IT RIGHT NOW. 

And, those people that make everything so crowded, are rude as ever. I'm certain there's not a lick of southern hospitality (or manners) in this entire state. Today I went to the mall (Florida Mall, not Mall of Millennia, because frankly I couldn't afford anything anyway so why torture myself??!). The people were so, so annoying. I had to listen to Jesus music when I got out of that place, otherwise I would have been writing this post from the inside of  a jail cell. People will just push by you, even if you're walking at a normal pace, like you're in their way. Others will just stop mid stride like there aren't a million people walking behind them. This literally happened all day long and by the end of the day I had made up my mind that the next person who just stopped walking, I was going to run right into them. Lucky for them, and me, I got outta that place before I got into any fights. I felt one coming, though. Families of 4 or 5 would just walk side by side taking up an ENTIRE walkway and wouldn't move even when you continue to walk straight towards them. Dude, please just walk BEHIND your wife for a minute to let me pass y'all. People would also just stand in the middle of the doorway to stores or in the middle of walkways and, again, not move when you were trying to go inside. WHAT IS SO HARD ABOUT JUST GETTING OUTTA THE WAY OF OTHER PEOPLE?!?! No one says please, or thank you, or yes ma'am, or no sir, or anything else like it. I'm aware that Florida has not been, is not, and never will be Southern, but I need some southern down here. Y'all know I just want to walk around blessing everyone's heart because Lord knows they need all the blessing they can get! 

Lawd have mercy, y'all. It's HOT down here. I knew before I got here that Florida was hot, but it's October and well, I think that means that it shouldn't be 90 degrees every day anymore. I can't even figure out how to dress down here. I want to wear my fall/winter clothes because they're my favorite, but I can't. I'll just burn slap up if I try. I'm over my summer clothes, and most importantly, I'm a seasonal dresser so I can't bring myself to wear those now that's October. I'm all kinds of messed up in the clothing category. Any tips?! 

I'd also like to point out that it rains every single day in Florida so I'm really not sure why this is called the Sunshine state. I take a risk every time I walk outside with my hair straight. Actually,  I take a risk anytime I walk outside because humidity.  #CurlyHairProbs

Last, but most certainly not least, y'all, it is EXPENSIVE to live down here. I went into straight shock when I started looking for places to live. I was paying a measly seven hundred and fifty bucks, utilities, cable, and internet included, to live in Athens. I had a nice apartment, with plenty of room, and felt safe. Here, there's not a thing under $900 and if there is, it's because you'll have precisely 485 roommates or live next door to a crack house. Even if you find something for $900, there's not a single thing included. For anything to be included, you have to pay $1300 + each month. Even then, sometimes only trash and water are included. I could just buy a house at this point. 

Well, I could keep complaining about all the things I hate about Florida, like how far away it is from my people, but I won't. I know I'm here for a reason, so I'm going to embrace it as much as possible.  My sweet corporate work fam created a "things to do in your new city" jar and everyone put in suggestions of places for me to try out or things for me to see and do. Once I get good and settled, I'll start pulling out something every week to do. I'll be sure to write a post for each one so y'all can keep up with my Florida shenanigans. 

Sassy as always, 

AK 

The Next Face of Torrid?

Happy Monday, my loves!

I hope y'all had a fabulous weekend. My weekend was low key, which was actually really nice. I needed some down time.

My sweet friend, Brittany, came to visit; she arrived on Friday evening. As I mentioned previously, the landlords decided to get cable again, so Comcast came to set that up on Friday afternoon. The guy who set everything up for my TV was a total dork, bless his heart! It took him about 30 minutes to get everything set up and he tried to make awkward conversation the entire time (even while Brittany was in mid conversation!). Side note: This new remote for the cable box is apparently a "voice" remote and I am not cool enough or fancy enough to own one of these. Anyway, awkward Comcast guy finally got the TV working and bid us goodbye, so B and I dashed out the door to grab some dinner while the rain had stopped. B is more indecisive than I am, if that's even possible, so trying to get her to give any input on food decisions was like pulling teeth. The only direction I received for Friday night was that she didn't want Italian, so I took her to my favorite restaurant, Brett's where we both had buffalo tacos. After dinner, we came home and watched the new TV until we [and by we, I mean me] fell asleep!

Saturday was the Torrid Model Search in Atlanta. I ended up talking myself out of going on Friday, but by the time I was getting ready on Saturday I was already starting to regret that decision, so I got ready and we went anyway! B and I stopped by Chick-fil-A for lunch (her decision!) on our way. We are two peas in a pod when it comes to CFA. I think we could both eat there three meals a day and not be tired of it. Do they have brand ambassadors? They totally should if not. I wanna get paid to eat mor chikin'.

We arrived at North Point Mall and I was still trying to convince myself to go through with this model search process. I stood off to the side watching all the other women for at least 20 minutes. Finally, I decided to get in line and there was no way to back out at that point. They gave me a slip of paper to fill out with my information and answer a few questions. They gave us all numbers (I was 581) and we all sat and waited for photos and interviews. They had a "red carpet runway" set up at the front and music blaring all day. Many ladies did their best model walk and some even got up to dance! It was a lot of fun, really. They took photos of us and then interviewed each of us. The interview was only one question though, so I felt like it was really pointless. But, whatever.

 This entire process was completely outside of my comfort zone so I literally waited until the last minute to apply. I know there is basically no chance that I will be one of the finalist, but I'm SO glad that I actually applied and went to the casting call. I knew that if I didn't go on Saturday, there would be even less of a chance to be considered so I HAD to go or I would wonder "what if" forever. I'll probably never apply again, but it really was a fun experience!

I guess I should also mention that my Mama really missed an excellent opportunity when she named me. Instead of Audra Kate, I should have been Grace. On the way into the mall on Saturday, I completely face planted in front of God and everybody. There was a section of pavement that was uneven and I didn't notice it until I was forcing myself to get off the ground. It didn't help at all that I was in wedges and romper, either. I almost turned around then because I figured it must have been a sign to not go to the casting call. But, even with scraped knees, I went anyway and gave it my best.

The Atlanta sister, Alicia, met B and I at the mall and we all went out of dinner that evening. We went to The Tavern in Alpharetta and it was very underwhelming. My cousin loves that place, so I thought it would be good to try out, but I doubt I'll ever go back. I will say it was cool atmosphere. They had someone playing the guitar and singing in the lounge area, and he was actually not bad. Food wise, though, thumbs down. 

B and I slept in this morning and then roamed around town to find a place for brunch. I wanted Mama's Boy, but it was way too crowded. The line was already around the side of the building so we decided to find something else. We ended up at Mama Jewel's Kitchen, which is another one of my faves. However, today it seemed they were off their A game. I ordered the Ooey Gooey, which is a chicken biscuit with jalapeno peach jelly and cheese. I always add an over easy egg to mine to make it even better! Today they forgot my egg and I also ordered fruit with my biscuit and got grits instead. Le sigh - #firstworldprobs.

All in all, it was a fun and restful weekend with my B! I'm glad she came to visit, even if I am completely boring! I'm traveling for work this week and I'm excited for it! I'll be in Orlando and Gainesville beginning on Wednesday. It will be so nice to get out of the office for a few days at least. 

I need to start my Toastmasters speech for Tuesday. I'm not allowed to use notes for this one so I'm really nervous. Say a prayer for me tomorrow at 12pm if you think about it! 

Sassy as always,

Audra Kate 

Updates & Ramblings

Remember that time in April when I said I would pick back up the blogging again? Remember how I didn't do that? Well, let's try that again! I'm probably going to be very sporadic with my blogging until our busy season is over at work (September-ish), but I'm going to do my best to pop in from time to time and drop a few lines of ramblings.
I would like to say that I did have good intentions when I tried to start this over again back in March. I have three drafts saved, but never finished them. Story.of.my.life.


One of the drafts I saved talks about my second Toastmasters speech. I will not post it all here because it is b o r i n g and I'd rather not put any of you to sleep. The requirements were to organize a speech with 3 or 4 main points. I tossed a few ideas around with my girl Emily and we settled on the topic of customer service since I've obviously got that mastered. I came up with the 4 S's of Customer Service which are Silence, Sympathy, Solutions, and Sanity. To sum it all up that means, let the customer talk and don't interrupt, sympathize with them and let them know you are concerned, find a solution or two to offer them, and finally, stay calm even when the customer is not. I had a few funny experience stories to include as well. It went well, I think and I won the best speech of the day again! I will give my third speech next Tuesday and I'm excited about this one. I can't tell you here what the speech will be about because I'd have to delete my blog and start over again, but it will be highly entertaining! I can't wait to see the looks on the faces of these Athens natives when I blow their minds on Tuesday.


Work has been busy as ever lately. We currently have 46 properties in our portfolio and I am the customer service "department." That means unhappy residents, and usually their parents as well, call or email me to complain. Some days I feel like I can't return one phone call without having 6 or 7 more in its place. Other days, the phone is very quiet which honestly makes me more nervous!  At times I get overwhelmed  which usually means I need to find a place to hide for a little while. I've asked for additional customer service support but that has been refused so far. I'm breathing, but just barely. I know things will slow down soon, I've just got to get through the next two months.


I completely stepped outside of my comfort zone earlier today and applied for the Torrid Model Search. Talk about putting yourself out there. I can't believe I actually did it. I've also only told two people about it because humiliation. #Introvert.
I am most assured that absolutely nothing will even come of this thing, but I can at least say I applied. There's a "casting call" on Saturday in Atlanta and I kind of want to go, but that's even more outside of my comfort zone! I'll see if I can talk myself into it.


I'm still living in the upstairs apartment and things are going as nicely as ever. It seems that we are getting cable again which means I can watch BIP in real time. Girl's night in the 666! Thankfully, school has started again which means the boys are not nearly as loud as they were. I've been terrible at posting on the Downstairs Update as well, but maybe I'll find some time to ramble soon. There's no real update to speak of, other than my shower head is leaking which is causing the wall to peel. I haven't mentioned it yet and I don't want to really because I'm sure he will say I need to pay for something to be fixed. I pray every morning that the shower doesn't fall in.


I think that's all the updates I have for now. My lobster is coming for the weekend so I've got some cleaning and laundry to do before her arrival tomorrow. Watch for a post about dating soon!


Sassy as Always,
AK

Fun Fact Friday: Food Edition

The other night someone asked me to name some of my favorite foods. I began to name a few things and I immediately knew that the question should have been turned around. Instead of my favorite foods, they should have asked what foods I don't like. That list is much shorter. Hello avocado! Seriously, I can't wait for that trend to be over. And don't y'all even start acting like it's not a trend. Did any of you avocado lovers even think about eating that mushy green grossness, besides maybe a little guac at the local Mexican place, before 5 years ago? NO YOU DID NOT.
Anyway, I thought it might be fun to write a little post about all of my top favorite foods. Because obviously there's a difference in favorites that you could literally eat every single day and things you just like.


When someone asks what my favorite food is, I always say breakfast food. I mean seriously, what's not to love? Eggs? Good! Waffles? Good! Bacon? Good! The only breakfast food I don't like is pancakes. Don't try telling me that waffles and pancakes are the same thing either, because they are not!


My favorite dish is shrimp and grits. Waving that Southern Belle flag proud, y'all!


I consider myself to be a rice connoisseur. But, hold the gravy please! I want my white rice with butter and salt and pepper only. I like white rice, brown rice, yellow rice, Spanish rice, fried rice, etc. I can make a meal off of just rice - give me some Uncle ben's Broccoli Cheddar rice and I'll be set!


Mexican food is comfort food. It's all just so, so delicious. Y'all know the sweet tea at the Mexican place is always the best, too! And, John 7:38 says something about having rivers of living water flowing from your heart, so I'm pretty positive that Jesus was talking about CHEESE DIP which means it's Biblical. Won't He do it!!


I love desserts. Cake, icing by the spoonful, pie, donuts, cheesecake, cookies, and even cobbler. But, there's an extra special place in my heart for ice cream. I have never, ever been too full for ice cream! And I have so many favorites! Cookie dough, vanilla with caramel, birthday cake, cherry vanilla, mint chocolate chip, coffee, peach, strawberry, superman, peanut butter, etc. I personally like to eat my ice cream out of a cup because, again Jesus said to do that. "A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap." -Luke 6:38


I also enjoy good barbeque because my Daddy raised me right. Now, I am not following after his footsteps to track down the best barbecue in the state of Georgia, or forgoing the microwave to eat a cold hash sandwich. But, I do love some barbecue with mild sauce stuffed between two pieces of Sunbeam bread! And, don't forget my bowl of bread and butter pickles on the side!


Because I was my Mama's "sweetheart, darling, baby, sugar pie, cake" I also love Chinese food. Daddy hates it, Alicia refuses to eat it, and VA isn't a fan. So, until Ad came along, me and Mama could only get Chinese when it was just the two of us. And, let's be honest, you know that didn't happen often! To this day, I still tell my Mama when I get to have Chinese food and I always call her to go eat with me if I've ever craving it.


When we were younger, my Mama used to cook almost nightly. We typically only went out to eat on Wednesdays (thank you, Shoney's for 99 cent Kid's Meals!) and Fridays (Quincy's or Ryan's because Nana lived in the big city!) As we got older, Mama started cooking less and less. By the time I moved out, it was miracle if we actually had supper at home! When she did cook, I always asked for her to cook my favorite things. Cheeseburger pie or ribs and rice. My requests were rarely met, but I think that's probably why they are still two of my favorite things!


I really love "fake food" as I like to call it. Chips and dips, meatballs, veggie trays, little sandwiches, fruit trays, and pasta salads. I think this is why I love going to parties and showers so much - it's my excuse to eat fake food!


My favorite snack is pretzels if I'm in a salty mood, or frosted animal crackers if I'm in a sweet mood. Don't even play around with those iced animal crackers mess. As my Granny would say, they aren't even fit to eat!


I could literally eat ranch on any and everything. I think I could eat it from a spoon if that were acceptable. If you've never tried ranch on your spaghetti, please do yourself a favor and spice up that spaghetti with a little hot sauce and ranch on top! You can thank me later.


And, finally, as you know, Chick-fil-A is my love language. When I call my sweet sister during my lunch break, she always asks if I'm going or coming from Chick-fil-A. Every.single.time. (Switched it up on her the day and had Chicken Salad Chick!) I should probably look up how many times a week I get to dunk my waffle fries in that amazing Sweet & Spicy Sriracha sauce, but I don't want to know. I know I should probably feel embarrassed by the amount of Jesus calories I consume, but I just don't. It's the Christian chicken - I'm getting my praise on with every bite!


What are some of your favorite foods? What do you hate?


Sassy as always,
AK

Mastering the Toast - Ice Breaker Speech

I am currently working out of the first Toastmasters manual called Competent Communicator. Yes,
there are manuals. Multiple. Smh.




The first speech everyone does is called an Ice Breaker speech. It's a 4-6 minute speech introducing yourself. There's not many specifics since it's the first speech and the intent is basically to get you up and talking in front of the crowd. Of course, I wanted my speech to be humorous because I feel like that helps when public speaking. I just make people laugh and it takes the focus off of me specifically. Win win. After a little debate, I finally decided that I should talk about being accident prone. Oh, the stories I have to share! I picked the best ones and got to work on drafting the perfect speech. On paper, it was a well written speech but in person it didn't go over as well. I'm much more eloquent when writing versus speaking. Because of that, I got a little lost towards the end and stumbled over the ending a bit. Overall, it went okay for my first speech and the club voted me as best speaker of the day!




Below is my first speech. In written form. Because no one wants to see the video of me actually speaking. ha! Enjoy!

When I was thinking about what to talk about for my ice breaker speech, a million things filled my mind. Maybe I should talk about my family. Or maybe I should talk about where I’m from.  Or even all the things I like or enjoy doing. Then, it hit me. The one thing that really defines me the most, and paints a true picture of who I am is a small little fact about me that could sum up my entire life.

I am accident prone.  Or an accident waiting to happen. However you’d like to say it, that statement perfectly describes me. I’ll give you some examples that start back when I was 4 years old.

I am the youngest of three girls and it seems that the accident prone gene skipped right over both of my sisters and I got a heaping helping of it! Because I’m the youngest, I always wanted to do everything my sisters did, which they both hated! I would wear their clothes, steal their toys, and play with their friends!

 One day my middle sister and her friends were pushing each other down a giant hill, and they would roll to the bottom of it over and over again. They seemed to be having so much fun and I decided since my sister was doing it, I had to have a turn! I got to the top of the hill, my sister’s friend pushed me and I began to roll to the bottom. But, I guess at the age of 4 years old I hadn’t learned how to properly roll down a hill because by the time I reached the bottom, my collarbone was broken.  My sister says it was not her fault and I should have just left her and her friends alone.

A few years later, my oldest sister, my cousin, and I were all jumping on the trampoline and playing wrestlers with my cousin’s Ultimate Warrior Pillow Pet. Small town life, y’all. We had to entertain ourselves! My sister said “I’m going to win. You lay on the trampoline and I’ll fall on top of you with the Ultimate Warrior.” Since she’s the oldest, I of course did what she said. In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have let her win, because when she and the Ultimate Warrior fell on top of me to win the match, they broke my arm. I say “they” because to this day my sister blames my broken arm on the Ultimate Warrior and says she had nothing to do with it!

After that, the broken bones and major injuries subsided for the most part. That is until about three years ago, and it seems that it has all gone downhill since.

It was Christmas Eve and I had just left church with my family. It was raining that evening, but I needed a couple of last minute gifts because I am also the world’s biggest procrastinator. The only place open at that time was Walgreen’s so I found the closest one and headed inside.  As soon as I walked in the door, I ended up on the floor. I was wearing heels, the floor was wet, my shoes were slick and there was no wet floor signs in sight! I tried to get up quickly in hopes that no one saw my terrible tumble, but I couldn’t move. I was stuck in the middle of the floor in Walgreens with a torn ACL. How in the world I can manage to simply fall down and tear my ACL, I will never know. It’s still torn, by the way and I definitely should not be wearing these heels right now.

I moved to Athens from Augusta shortly after this incident. I had barely been here a month when I noticed that I couldn’t put my earrings in one morning. I was having my headshots for our work website taken so naturally I was trying to go above and beyond that day. As I was putting in my earrings, I noticed that my left earring just continuously fell to the floor as I tried to put it in. Finally I grabbed my earring and ran to the bathroom to look in the mirror as I put in my earring and realized that my earlobe was split! After years of wearing heavy earrings, my poor ear had enough and the piercing split open completely. I will spare you the visual because it’s not a pretty site, but my earlobe is still split and sort of resembles Ms. PacMan. If you ever see me wearing earrings, please note that it involved tape and lots of dedication!  

Of course, these few incidents that I have described for you are the worst of the worst and there are plenty of other incidents that have only hurt my pride. I’ve been known to slip over a patch of spilled soap in Target. Or break my sister’s dining room chair and end up on the floor. Or you know, just fall over my own two feet! At this point, I think my family and friends have even looked into bubble wrapping me on more than one occasion. Maybe one day I’ll be less clumsy but for now, I think I’ll just keep adding to my accident prone injury list! 

Sassy as always,
AK

Mastering the Toast

A few months ago, my old team from work (I say old because unfortunately for me, I have since been moved to a new team with a new boss. I'll spare you all the complaining.) joined a cult group called Toastmasters. If you've never heard of Toastmasters, I'll take a moment to fill you in on this new found level of Hell.

I'll start by pointing out that in our specific club, the majority of the members are above the age of 45. There might be about 6-8 of us who fall below that. During our first visit to Toastmasters, we thought we were lost and had found an afternoon game of Bingo with the retirement home.

Personally, I would advise you to stay far away from anyone in Toastmasters. They will do their best to recruit you on a regular basis and will not stop until you join their group. They will tell you how much fun it is and all the great things you learn. But, they won't tell you how serious they take this group and how much torture it will be.

"Toastmasters International is a world leader in communication and leadership development. Every Toastmasters journey begins with a single speech. During their journey, they learn to tell their stores. They listen and answer. They plan and lead. They give feedback - and accept it. Through the community of learners, they find their path to leadership."


The Toastmasters mission statement is : "We empower individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders."

Basically, Toastmasters is a club to help improve your public speaking skills. During the weekly meetings there are many roles that must be filled. The roles rotate around to different members of your club so that you get a chance to do everything. So far, I have participated in the roles of Grammarian, Invocation, Jokemaster, and Speaker. I'll break those down for you to understand a little better.


The grammarian chooses a word of the day and presents it to the club during the meeting. The goal is for each person with a speaking role to incorporate the word of the day in whatever they are saying. The grammarian keeps track of those that successfully use the word of the day to give a report at the end of the meeting.


For the invocation, you get to help start off the meeting. The goal is to lead the group in a positive reading, prayer, exercise or thought process to get everyone thinking on a more positive note. After that, you lead the group in the Pledge of Allegiance.


Jokemaster is pretty self explanatory. After the invocation, you lighten the mood with a few jokes!


Speaker is also pretty much self explanatory. When you fill the role of speaker, you are giving a speech!


The absolute worst part of Toastmasters is Tabletopics. The Tabletopics Master comes up with questions that are usually centered around the theme of the meeting. For example, two weeks ago the theme was EGG-tastic so the Tabletopics Master came up with questions relating to eggs. During the Tabletopics portion of the meeting, the Tabletopics Master chooses different people to answer each question. Those people do not know what the questions will be ahead of time and they do not know they will be called on to answer a question either. Tabletopics are designed to helps train members to quickly organize and express their thoughts in an impromptu setting.
Y'all. It's HARD. Sometimes, there are fun questions that don't require much thought, but then there are weeks where the theme of the day is Global Warming and I want to crawl under the table and die.

So far, the role of Jokemaster has been my favorite. For obvious reasons. I called my niece Alabama to give me some of her best jokes, because she LOVES to tell jokes, and they did not disappoint. These are the ones I used.


Q: What's the difference between a guitar and a fish?
A: You can't tuna fish


Q:Why can't you give Elsa a balloon?
A: She'll let it go


Q: What do you call an old banana?
A: A Nana


Surprisingly, the tuna fish joke was everyone's favorite and received the most laughs.


I've only given one speech so far and that was the Ice Breaker speech. For the Ice Breaker, you speak for 4-6 minutes and tell something about yourself. It can be anything, but something to let your audience get to know you better. I was nervous, and I lost my train of thought during the closing paragraph so it wasn't as good as it could have been. Everyone told me I did a great job, especially for my first speech, but I was still upset with myself. I should have practiced more!
Overall, I have to say that giving a speech was not as uncomfortable as I imagine it being. This time at least! I'm scheduled for my second speech in June and I'm having the hardest time coming up with a topic for it since it can literally be about anything. I'm too indecisive for this!!

I originally wanted to create a new blog to post all of my toastmaster speeches, but I decided since I can't keep up with any of the blogs I already have, I shouldn't start a new one. Since I'm reviving Heapin' Helpin' of Sass, I thought that I would start sharing them here. However, since this post has become rather lengthy, I'll post my first speech in a new post over the next couple of days, so be on the look out for that!

Happy Wednesday, friends!


Sassy as always,
AK

Guess who's back?!

Y'all. I haven't written anything on this blog in ages! I'm most sure that people have stopped reading since I have stopped writing. But, today I was reminiscing over a few old blog posts and I feel like I am doing a disservice to the world by not blogging. I mean, I am absolutely hilarious! My family has a knack for story telling and I was abundantly blessed with this gift, especially in writing. It seems that I am hiding my light under a bushel and I've been taught in Sunday School "NO!" I shouldn't do that.


In my absence from A Heapin' Helpin' of Sass, I have started a second blog that tells of my current adventures in living upstairs. If you're not currently following along on that journey, you should be. It's sometimes made up adventures, but rarely do the real and fake ramblings disappoint.


I guess this point of this particular post is to say that I'm baaaaaack! I'm going to make an effort to begin blogging here again. I probably won't start where we left off, but I'll do my best to keep you up to date on all the fabulous adventures of my life.


It's going to be a ride, so hang on!