Courtney S. Barr

Welcome to My Kingdom!
Join me, the Princess, on my Royal Adventures in the Land of Writing!

Saturday, November 29, 2008

ROLL TIDE ROLL: BAMA 36 - AUBURN 0

Okay um do you see the title of this post? Yep 36 - 0!!!! Yep NADA, no POINTS, nothing! Yes Bama played the Iron Bowl today. We have lost to Auburn 6 straight years - no more! NO MORE! Alabama is 12 - 0. Nick Saban came to us last year, everyone knew he has process, that he saw potential and that he is a coach who can capitalize on potential. NO ONE saw 12 - 0 in the second year. NO ONE saw playing for SEC Champ. NO ONE saw #1 in the nation in the second year.
I have always been proud to be an Alabama fan; in the good years & the bad. This is a good year.
ROLL TIDE! We meet Florida next week in the SEC Championship. NO matter how this season ends it has been an amazing year and a nod to the many more amazing years to come!

Friday, November 28, 2008

Thankful...

I know this is a day behind, but forgive me. Being thankful is something I try to be all the time, but life sometimes makes it seem like thanks is not the word you want to use. It is in those moments that I chastise myself for not saying thanks. Just this morning was one of those moments...I was shopping with my mom & sister - yes Black Friday shopping, I know = CRAZY - anyway, as I was pushing a buggy around Wal-Mart (again question my sanity when you are done reading this post :) ) I found myself observing other consumers. There were people searching through bins, straining to see around a stranger whether or not the last Kung Fu Panda DVD had been taken, Dear Santa lists floated around, sale papers littered the floor, there were dads reading off lists, moms on walkie talkies, kids talking about where to head next, the air was full of sounds that just enveloped you. I pulled aside a small stand that held men's sandals and just stopped. Mind you I did not block the aisle or anything, but I did make a little niche to just breathe. It was a rushed situation that I could have let really get under my skin. Don't get me wrong it is stressful with all those people seeming to be after the same thing. But rather than truly hate being up at 5 a.m. in a store that I don't go to at a normal hour between Monday & Friday, I just smiled. I was thankful to have my mother & sister somewhere in that store. I am blessed to be surrounded by strong wonderful women. These two often rise to the top of any list of mine. Though the three of us were tired & already a bit wiped out, being together was quite fun. These times make me very thankful.
SO here is my list - though to be honest this is just a handful of things, goodness knows that I probably overlooked something.
1. My husband - Marcus brings me more laughter & love than I could ever completely comprehend.
2. My family - There is nothing like them. I am grateful everyday that God gave me such amazing parents & siblings. For all the teasing, laughter, & love my life is so full.
3. My dog - Peanut in a way stumbled into our lives and we will forever be grateful for his love. Unconditional took on a whole new meaning with this adorable puppy.
4. My friends - life has taken me on some crazy adventures. Most of those adventures have been too far away from those friends that are closest to me, yet the distance has so often seemed much shorter. Phone calls, emails, notes, blogs, all of these things have enabled me to feel like a 8 hour or 15 hour drive is really a 30 minute hop.
5. My home - to have a roof over your head is sometimes a bit overwhelming, there are so many responsibilities, but they have taught me so much about myself.
6. Music - the beautiful tones of a jazz rhythm section, the deep bass and technics of alternative, the sweet melody of string section, country sounds with banjo and fiddle, there is nothing like being swept away with sound.
7. Books - wow! this one is huge! I mean just this year alone: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, The Hunger Games, Agnes & the Hitman... Books allow me to visualize places, people, events, dreams, and desires. They have made me examine relationships, ideas, concepts, and in their simple complexities they have helped me to grow.
8. Art - this encompasses more than just visual art by artists I will probably never meet. Art has inspired me, taught me, judged me, comforted me, stressed me out, cost money, but it never bores me.
9. Modern Medicine (thanks Tracy)- this one is something I have taken for granted almost all my life. God reminded me that there is a reason he created man with the intelligence to follow his instruction and that he created some women with a gift of understanding the body and all its idiosyncracies.
10. Technology - this one makes me smile. I know, I know simpler times were so wonderful (quoting everyone over 55) but technology is allowing me to make this list public, it allows me to connect with #4 on this list, to see #5 in museums in cities I will never get to actually travel to, it allows me to listen to #7, to do research on #8, and to see or correspond with #1 whenever I need to.
11. Fashion - the body is a beautiful thing, no matter a person's size or color, fashion can connect us all in its individuality.
12. Food - um, I know food is 12... after fashion, but you know the mind just thinks in its own order sometimes :) Okay, food... I like to eat. lol
13. Heirlooms - normally this word is indicative of an object, but for me it is more of moments. My mother helping me make a cake or meal, my sister sharing a dream or idea, my brothers teasing voices, my fathers soft strong hands, shared memories of grandparents lost before I had a chance to know them, stories from my family's history. These are my heirlooms.
14. The Beach - the sand, the waves, the salt, the air... I love the ocean.
15. Traveling - there is nothing like a new place to see or a comforting spot that we can visit over & over again.
16. Sunrise - the fact that God has blessed me with another morning to enjoy all of my list again & again.
I hope you all had an amazing holiday... Happy Thanksgiving.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

I am still a little giddy....

Okay so Friday night we went up to Nashville. As soon as we checked into our hotel, we headed to get some food. We WERE STARVING. After a good dinner at Carraba's my nerves were just jittering, I had to see TWILIGHT. It had been out since Midnight and I had yet to see it. Marcus & I headed over to the Thoroughbred 20 and got tix to the 10:30p showing.
The theater was full and the patrons were very quiet. It was like when you are waiting for something to appear & you think that if you sit very still & quiet it will come faster! :) lol. So the movie started and we all let out our breaths. For the next 2 hours and 2 minutes I was fascinated. The book that I love so much flitted across a huge screen in front of me. I LOVED IT! Billy Burke did an amazing job as Charlie, he added a spark to the role. Anna Kendrick as Jessica - girl you rocked. Catherine Hardwicke nailed "high school". I laughed, I cried, I was swamped with emotion. The audience was somber and only loud when you should be. When James breaks her leg, I jumped ten feet in my seat - ouch! When Edward & Bella are at dinner in Port Angeles & Rob Pattinson's song is playing in the background...OME! Then when they arrive at school and are getting out of his car...OME! Marcus even loved it. I mean actually loved it. He is one to tell me this sucked or change this before anyone else will & he walked out saying: "It was really good."
So after being so giddy I of course could not sleep. But at 7:20 a.m. we had to start getting ready for the Lexicon Movie Event. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!! There were 500 diehard fans waiting outside the theater, we got a goodie bag each of so much cool stuff! Then there were some AMAZING door prizes! Awesome. Alphie & Pel of TwilightLexiconBlog.com did such a good job. This screening of the movie held no previews & lots of SCREAMS! It was good we had seen it the night before. Again - second time around - still love it! Marcus -still loves it. He is still talking about certain scenes from the film. Then as we are walking out of the theater, my phone gets an email from Summit Entertainment - NEW MOON will begin production. OME! OME! OME! Wow. We were a part of the revenue that helped make that decision. That is so awesome.
Saturday night & afternoon we explored Cool Springs & Downtown Nashville! Broadway is an amazing street with all kinds of bars, lounges, all the famous locations! It was a blast!
Sunday morning came quick and we had to head back into Downtown Nashville to make it to the Titans - Jets game. LP Field is beautiful & the fans were great (we are not "fans" of either team). The walk from our parking garage to the field = holy crap. lol you walk on this bridge over the river & the view is beautiful! I have pics & will post soon.... I know I know, I still have pics from Tracy's visit I have to post. They will be on here soon!
Overall - one of the best weekends! BTW I will be seeing it again at least 2 more times this week alone..... :):):):):):):)

Thursday, November 20, 2008

OMEOMEOMEOMEOME!!!!!!

OME! It is here. THE WEEKEND! THE EVENT! THE WONDER!!
It is TWILIGHT weekend.
I am more than excited, more than ecstatic, more than ready to see this on film. Not only am I glad that it is finally here, I am tense, nervous, giddy, delirious, everything all balled into one. Marcus & I head to Nashville tomorrow evening. We plan to see the movie when we get there and then of course again at the TWILIGHT LEXICON MOVIE EVENT! So ready.
I am just overwhelmed with emotions. This has been one of the most crazy, roller coaster ride filled obsessions!
From the first Monday that I opened these books to right now my life has changed. There are reasons to love Twilight without becoming crazy about it, there are reasons people don't like it, for me I found Twilight at a point where for some reason my mind & body had become a bit depressed. Actually a lot depressed. I had been struggling with being a bright happy person for a while. On the outside most people who barely know me would never have been able to tell, but those closest knew. Then I found a love story that made me laugh, made me cry, swept me away in the old world epic love challenge that we so often lose in today's prose. I am a person with a very imaginative mind. I developed these images and not only did they enter my daytime reading, but my dreams. Their story captivated me and then there is the author. A woman who wrote for herself this love between two people so heavily battered with obstacles yet forces of nature could not separate their 'lives'. This woman dreamed, wrote it down, and found herself waking not to her normal reality, but to millions of fans. The whole being that is Twilight enveloped me. I was able to escape but while escaping, the story pushed my own doldrums out the window. It helped me to wake up, start writing again, start being me again.
Marcus was the most supportive during those down months and when Twilight came along rather than being condescending of this new obsession he helped me nurture it and he supported the craziness. I found he enjoyed talking to me about something that made me smile. He laughed when I would giddily find information about the fourth book and then when filming began, well he definitely had to laugh at my internet stalkerish ways of all blogs about Twilight and everything about the actors.
He smiled when I hooked my sister, my mother, friends, people I barely know, and even when I got him hooked.
So Twilight is a movie, Twilight is a book, Twilight was a dream, Twilight is a love story, Twilight is a safe escape, Twilight is my personal sanity when the days go gray. It now falls into my "saving Courtney's sanity" booklist. This list already has Little Women, Taming of the Shrew, Doomed Love, Old Fashioned Girl, any book by Carolyn Keene, any book by Jennifer Crusie, Harry Potter, Emma & poems by Lord Byron. All of these books are something that I can pick up, read, devour, enjoy, cry, laugh, love, and embody for a small snatch of time....

Monday, November 17, 2008

The Barr B&B Event Recap

OME! This weekend was just one of those great weekends. Tracy & Mike came down on Friday from St. Louis. There just are not enough visits in the world to satisfy time spent with them!

Friday evening their arrival was around 6 p.m. The Barr B&B was more than ready & excited. Thankfully we all had the foresight to think one word: Pepitos. Tracy loves Pepitos. Cheyenne, Aubrey, & Olivia met us there for dinner. It was great. We laughed, ate, and just enjoyed visiting with wonderful friends. After dinner Tracy, Mike, Marcus & I headed to the house. We stayed up for a little while, but the long drive was getting to Mike & Tracy so we all called it a night.

Saturday morning came quick and after breakfast we all got ready for the day. Tracy & Mike had some papers they needed notarized and my husband helped out in that area. So we went in to his office and then Tracy & I went shopping. Nothing major - just Alumni Hall & Sam's club. Yes I know, Sam's is not the precious perfection of Costco, but she suffered through my quick run for some groceries :) After lunch it was time for Tracy & Mike to get ready for their evening.

Marcus had been able to score tickets for Mike & Tracy to the Miss. State game. They were so excited! Tracy was practically bouncing when they headed out the door.

Rob came down as usual & the three of us watched what began as a very sluggish - poor perception of Bama football in the first half but became a great game in the second half. Bama 35 - Miss State 7. Roll Tide!
Sunday brought on a morning of yummy breakfast casserole, Tracy & Mike went to church, Marcus & I goofed off. Then when they got home from church we had a yummy lunch of leftovers and lots of talking. After lunch movie & nap time came kind of quick. lol. Dinner though was hilarious. Marcus & Tracy are dangerously silly when they spend time together. I mean imagine a cheep-cheep joke about KMart, ICE ICE BABY, bro & sis love, choreography for camp Anawana, singing those well loved & lost camp slogan/songs, toe jam bread, and the heartfelt words: You broke my heart 'Cause I couldn't dance You didn't even want me around And now I'm back, to let you know I can really shake 'em down... Yes that was our evening. All that in just a few hours...yeah - Crazy Tasty!

After dinner we watched Made of Honor then slipped off to bed.

It is sad to think that when I get home tonight, they won't be there. Even more sad to realize that if I wanted to call them for dinner it would be a call more about the planning of when in the next year dinner is possible. I hope that they both know how much they mean to us. Friends are such a special part of your life and lucky for us these two are the kind of friends that break the barrier classification into family. Our reservation book is always open to these guests and next time we will be sure to provide a karaoke machine for Marcus & Tracy, goodness knows they would be in hog heaven! :):):):):):):) I will post pics as soon as I get everything uploaded!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Reservations for Two at the Barr B&B

Woohoo! One of my favorite people in the whole world will be coming 'home' today!
Tracy & Mike are going to come down from St. Louis tonight and spend the weekend at the Barr Bed & Breakfast.
They are leaving the cutest member of their family at home though, dear little Isabel will be having a wonderful Grandparent filled weekend back home.
I cannot wait until they get here!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

A great husband...

Okay, time to do a little bragging. My husband is amazing! Seriously. Tonight we were in the kitchen making dinner. Marcus had been home all day thanks to the Veteran's Day holiday so he was excited to have some company. I had placed the laptop on the island so I could see a new recipe I had emailed myself when I remembered I wanted to show him a picture.
Vanity Fair magazine did a story on the cast of Twilight for their December issue. I have been reminding myself to check the date for release, but had not yet found out exactly when it would hit stands. Anyway, I show Marcus the pictures (the ones you see below) and then I noticed it said that the mag would be available on November 11. Um, hello, that is today. Well after Nina & I barely got all the copies of the Entertainment Weekly cover issues from Saturday, I worried that I would not get a copy of this one. So what does my husband say? "oh well, it is just one article." NO HE DOES NOT SAY THAT HE SAYS: "Should I go into town and see if there is still one there?" I look at him at first with shock then I look at him in awe & thanks. He is literally asking me if I mind or want him to go into town at 6:30 p.m. just to grab a magazine. I LOVE HIM. Both of us cannot go due to needing to finish supper. So with a smile, a kiss, and a lightweight jacket he leaves. People, he goes first to Walgreens, they don't have any. CVS = nope. Rite Aid = nope. He heads on into Midtown and goes to Barnes & Noble. He gets the last copy. Yeah, he does.




Okay Marcus has always been more than supportive of this obsession. Since he enjoyed the books and looks forward to the movie, I think it helps. But really it is my obsession. Yet he still bought me a trip to New York to meet the author (though I had surgery & missed out :( ), he is going to Nashville with me to just see the movie with other Twilighters, he supports my Twilight dinners, he obviously supports purchase of merchandise from posters to rings to bracelets to clothes, he talks about the books with me without any patronizing or condescending tones and he lets me freak out without calling me crazy all the time :). But this small thing. Going to find a magazine that has two pictures and a short article for me - it meant a lot.
He also told me at lunch today that he does not want me to go to the midnight showing. See he has to work on Friday and would not be able to function at work if he goes to the midnight showing. I told him I was trying to get my mom to go with me and well he said no to that too. At first I was about to get peeved, then he said "I want to be with you when you see it for the first time." How could I argue? It was really sweet. So I will see the movie for the first time in Nashville with 380 other Twilighters and my amazing Edward-esque husband. This just means my sister cannot tell me anything about it before I see it. lol!

On the Vanity Fair photo shoot topic - they posted some outtakes. I love them! Check them out below! (all pictures are from VanityFair.com) You can see they had a good time on this shoot.

Sorry just had to brag about him today...

Sunday, November 9, 2008

WOW!

There are not many words other than WOW to describe yesterday's game. I mean, it was WOW. Actually come to think it was: WOW, INTENSE, CRAZY, UNJUST, AMAZING, TERRIFYING, & HEART ATTACK INDUCING!!!! My goodness, BAMA, I had gotten slightly adjusted to the concept of being able to breathe during a game. :)

No matter it ended great! Bama 27 LSU 21. We are going to the SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME IN HOTLANTA!!! Yep, we are! I can't think about it without grinning. Right now I have to remember we have 2 more games before that one: Miss State & Auburn. Neither will be a cakewalk due to their want to knock us down a notch.

This weekend my sister & her four kids came down to visit & watch the game. I LOVE to have the kids here. Just having them roaming the house brings a kind of weird calm. I mean sure it is chaotic compared to our average weekend, but it is a wonderful type of chaos. My sister is doing well, though she might be stretching herself in a thousand directions. Yeah, Nina, you might be :). But I know I don't walk in your shoes so I can't see your view, but I do love you. Hearing about your day can make me dizzy sometimes, but to be honest I probably would not know what to say if you told me something different. As for the kids, they are definitely growing up. Jon - a word to the wise - TIMING is EVERYTHING. :) You know what I'm talking about.

Saturday morning Nina & I went over to a friend of Marcus' to see some art that she had for sale. Yeah, I found a painting, I bought a painting... Marcus was floored to say the least. I am glad to say though that five minutes ago he told me he really thought the picture looked amazing in the dining room & that he enjoyed razzing me about it yesterday. Sometimes I wonder if he truly does get his kicks picking on me!

Then Saturday night I took Christian, Anna, & Jessica to see HSM3. The girls had already seen it but loved seeing it again. Nina took Jon to Eagle Eye, they both raved about it. I must say that in our movie, the women screeched everytime Zac Efron was onscreen. The men in the theater whistled everytime the girls came on screen (they really did not mind which one, they just whistled). Crazy. It was good though.

Today Mom & Dad came up to visit with the kids and we had a great relaxing Sunday. It was so much fun. The weekend will tire you, will wear you down, will make my dog like a ragdoll he is so tired, will make you grumpy, but it will also make me smile, make me laugh, make me miss my 'kids' even more, and will make me appreciate every Saturday & Sunday that I get to experience. Anyway, here are some pics! Nina - steal them from mine & put them on yours :):):):):):)

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Getting Ready for a Fun Filled Weekend!

Woohoo! Bama plays LSU this weekend. This is a big one. It may not have the makings that they thought it would at the beginning of the season but symbolically it is huge.
Saban returns to his old stomping grounds and lets just say that he may not be given a fruit basket & hug on arrival. His mantra for the past week has been: It is about the players and the game on Saturday, not me. Yeah he can say that all he wants, but the media says: Dude, it is SO about you. We will be here cheering our Tide on. IN FACT we will have the kids! YIPPEE!! My sister is coming over from Atlanta and bringing her four kids. I have not seen them since the Georgia game and Marcus has not seen them since Labor Day. He is very excited. It is great how much he misses them. We wanted to get my brother's sons, the twins Coy & Colton but their mom is taking them to the beach this weekend and my brother's girlfriend's little girl, Hannah will be camping with her grandparents. We will have to make sure to have all seven sometime soon.
Well I had another evening in Birmingham with my TWILIGHTER friends; Lucy & Darlene. I have got to tell you, there is nothing like people you bond with over a book series. No, seriously. Book clubs have a lot going for them. Not only do you meet people who obviously have a common interest, but you meet people who are real. Most people who read books, especially fiction, allow you to see into their personality just by the genre they are choosing to read. Their book choices are sometimes a choice outside of their common books, but on the whole you get to see a little bit of what peaks their interests. And when you are with a group that shares a common interest a person feels more comfortable expressing their ideas & opinions. I am so comfortable with these women. I did not know them from Adam's housecat six months ago, they don't work with me, I did not go to school with them, they are not wives of my husband's coworkers, or any of his coworkers. These are women who found a common interests and then, we found we enjoy each other's company with our without the books. The books brought us together, but our own personalities are what keep us emailing, calling, and visiting. I will forever be grateful to Twilight for that.
Anyway, we ate at Carino's at Patton Creek - YUM! So good. Our poor waiter, I think at first he thought we weren't going to eat due to our chatting he came to take our order 4 times - we still weren't ready. Although I had decided what I wanted first and you know what, HE CALLED ME DECISIVE! Goodness knows he doesn't know me well. LOL I told Marcus about that and he laughed. Poor boy, the waiter then at the end of the meal saw us with a plastic bag, rocks, and driftwood on the table. As I was driving home and revisited the evening, I realized if he overheard us talking about tattoos, Werewolves, Vampires, Witches, Hunger Games, he might actually have thought we WERE witches! I mean rocks, wood....cackling women... ahhh. We also gave him a tip on getting lucky - yeah I think we may have terrified him. :)

Anyway, the rocks & wood were from Lucy's trip to Forks, Washington (LA PUSH BEACH!!!) Yep she went with a huge group of TwilightMOMS and was kind enough to bring us back all kinds of goodies! Oh I could barely breathe. So awesome. We of course discussed the book, the movie, interviews, clips, pictures, all things Twilight. We also discussed a thousand other things, laughed, smiled, and just plain ole enjoyed ourselves. It was a blast. I cannot wait for our next evening out. Oh & Darlene - here is a shout out: NOW SIGN UP SO YOU CAN COMMENT!!! I love that you read my blog, thanks. Lucy - YOU TOO! :)

Halloween, Homecoming & A New Leader of the Free World

Okay. Well the last week has been full of activities. Halloween was nice. Normally we do something frightening, i.e. a scary house, scary movie, concert, something. This year? Not so much. Marcus does not like scary movies. Scary house, sure. So we had a few options for our viewing pleasure: Journey to the Center of the Earth, Prom Night (scary movie), or Kitt Kittredge: An All American Girl. Yes I know Kitt Kittredge. Yep he chose the little girl movie. LOL. No really it was too much to pass up seeing a film with such greats as: Stanley Tucci, Joan Cusack, Julia Ormond, Chris O'Donnell, and of course Abigail Breslin. We found ourselves watching a movie that could be very indicative of times to come. The movie is set in the depression era and the viewer follows a little girl who dreams of being a reporter. Because times are tough her father loses his business and leaves to find work in neighboring Chicago. Kitt & her mother begin to take in Boarders. This is where the story gets even more interesting. The movie made me smile and cry. Perseverance, hope, determination, friends, and family is the mantra and I would say it is a mantra we need today. So for 2008's Halloween we watched a kid's movie, ate some shrimp boil with corn, onions, potatoes, sausage then we just vegged out. By the way the shrimp boil was delish! Easy as pie too. :)

Saturday Bama played Arkansas State and we finally had a blowout. Ark. St. 0 - Bama 35. YIPPEE!!! Tuscaloosa was crazy though! Hank Jr. had played Friday night and people were everywhere for his concert. The game always brings Alumni but with our year going well it brought twice as many. The sororities decorated as usual and I liked a good many of the designs. Their theme this year was A TIDE NATION: UNITED WITH PRIDE. Mary Ann, James, Rob, Regan, & Riley joined us for lunch and game festivities. It was a lot of fun.


Sunday found us being as lazy as possible. We cooked some baked salmon, shrimp, and some veggies. It was yummy!!!
Well as you all know yesterday we elected a new President. President Obama. Yep, Obama. Well I can honestly say that I did not agree with many of his positions. I also was not overly fond of McCain, but to be honest between the two I did like more of McCain's policies. But I woke up this morning discovering that this is who we as a people elected. Okay. So now I need to support our leader. To hope that he will plan well for my future, my children, & grandchildren. I pray that he finds the truth in his decisions, that he sees the realities of our struggles now & in the future of his term. I agree with Obama that this will not happen overnight, that it may not happen in his term, but I hope that whatever foundation he lays or builds on is one we will look back on and be proud of. If I don't agree with my president that is okay, it is my right,I can promise that had McCain won I would not have agreed with all of his policies as well and I would have had to say the same prayer for his term in office. We vote on these people to lead us, we vote on these people to help us, we vote on these people to listen to us, to try to understand us, and to find whatever is best for our nation. Pray with me that so many of us who voted against Obama will find him with traits worthy to support over the next four years.