Happiness is

 

A 60 degree day on the 3rd of March
A "Hello, life is beautiful" kind of day

One filled with children
with love
and with chocolate
Lots
of
chocolate

Where there are hammocks and swings
teepees and chickens
soda pop and fresh baked cookies
cows and horses
and ipods and wiis
beer and spagetthi
ponds and wiener dogs

Where this family that you totally love...
discusses "remember when"s and "that one time"s
And you listen
and you're grateful

for that little kid over there spilling soda on the floor
for his killer score in the Michael Jackson Experience
for the...I hope it's chocolate...stuck to your laundry

the Adele sing along sessions
the underdogs
learning the Thriller dance with your boyfriend's Mom
and all of the laughs
and every single smile

 

Today was Addison's sister and neice's birthday party in Skull Valley. It was beautiful. Just what I needed. Happy birthday to Shauna and Sophia! Love you!
xoxo,
Adie

20 Years of Friendship

Dear Becky Rae McLemore (AKA: Beh, Berky, Bucky, Beckorator, etc),

You have been my Best of all buds, greatest of all pals, friendliest of all friends for 20 years. That's right...TWENTY years. Last week we celebrated turning a quarter of a century old together, and I feel like there is no better time to tell you how much you mean to me.

You know how when someone special walks into your life and you just know they're not going anywhere? Well, when you walked into Ms. Blackley's Kindergarten class wearing your pink Minnie Mouse sweater, with your cute pony tail and your Oklahoma accent, let's just say I knew (in my 5 year old heart) that you were gonna be BIG in my life. I know you didn't talk much, and you were a shy little booger until recess, but. Girl. I knew. I'm telling you. I knew.


Remember how we used to sneak out at night in high school and go to our special spot on Mosher and Prescott Hights to stare at the stars (wait..Sandra (Becky's Mom), and my Dad, if you're reading this, you know we love you and nothing bad ever happened! haha)? When we were each other's only reaaaall friends? When we would turn up Rancid and AFI on the speakers I stole from my Brother when he moved out? When we would jump on my two twin beds that we pushed together? When we would tell eachother goodnight in our "devil voices" and freak ourselves out and beg eachother to stop? When you would giggle incessantly in your sleep and finally, at 4AM, I would say "BECKY! Shuuutt uppppp!" and you would scoff and walk into the bathroom? When we made videos while you pushed me around in a K-Mart cart pumping punk tunes into the camera with headphones? Straight up not giving a fuck? Remember that? Remember when we would eat Slim-Jims on the swing sets in the Safeway shopping center and talk about moving in together when we turned 18....


(uuhhmmkk, here I get a lil more serious)
Remember how, when we were about to graduate High School and we weren't always good friends to eachother? How we totally broke down when you were cutting my hair one day that Summer and we apologized and vowed to love each other forever? Becky, I knew after that that you aren't just my best friend...you are my sister...and we had to do that in order to part ways and embark on our next adventure without the one friend that knew us the best. Remember when my Mom passed just three years ago, and while we lived in two different (very distant) cities, I knew it was you that could help me through despite the distance in your own special way? How I would call you and we would talk for hours as if no time had passed and you would give me reassurance that I was going about everything right and that I could still graduate College and make my Mom proud? Remember how much I love your family just as much as my own, and how many times your Mom gave me guidance and hugs right when I needed them? How your sister would drive us around and you guys would sing Jewel and a few other embarrassing artists?


Becky, remember how you have always been patient with me? Remember how you bring out the best in me even when I'm being an insane butthole? How I've never told you this, but I see so much in you that makes me want to do better, to be better, and how I know that you love me even if I don't do all that? Well, you do. And you are. Seriously, if we were ever going to be lesbians, I think we'd do that together (don't you?).


I love you, Becky Rae McLemore. So I put it on the internet, on my little blog so you can always read this and know I'm always here. 

Love you big time,
Adiebug (because you're one of the few friends that knows me well enough and long enough to call me that)


Below are pictures of Becky and me celebrating our 25th birthdays together (we were born a day apart), and I will cherish them forever and ever and ever. I can't wait to add our 40th birthday party to this, our 62nd, our 70th, our 80th....

Goodnight, everyone. I'll be back soon with some incredible news and a request for each and every one of you to cross your fingers:) eeee! 

I'm almost 25

a June afternoon from DH on Vimeo.

Can I just say that this Summer is shaping up to be incredible? Yesterday one of my bestest gal pals, Danielle  and I went out on the town with her adorable babe Henry.  Right up there is a video we took throughout our day.

Growing up here in Prescott, my pals and I would do little else other than go downtown, walk, talk, lay in the grass, stare at the trees, drive around eating Chex-mix and Jelly Bellies, and wrap it up with a radical sleepover (with ice cream, playing in the sprinklers, watching movies..all the good stuff). Then, we'd rinse and repeat, over and over, almost every day for those three beautiful months. 

I'm about to turn 25, so (naturally) for the past few weeks I've been really missing those days. You know, the ones where you feel like the sun will never set on your day with your friends, when you meet a new boy and your heart skips a beat (Hi, Addison, I'm talking about you here!) and each day seems full of endless possibility. 

Well, yesterday I felt that again! Let's just say that yesterday reminded my quarter of a century old-self of life's cycles. It reminded me that, while I may miss being 15 and meeting the love of my life while playing Gameboy on the square with my best friend, I am now a woman. That's right...A WOMAN...(yikes!) and not only did I meet the love of my life, I fostered an almost 10 year long relationship with him, and we are now living together talking about what's to come. 

Same thing with other aspects of my life. I may miss having endless nights and no responsibility when meeting new friends, but now I can call those pals up, hang out at their houses talk about graduating College, Grad School, their babies new milestones, new careers, engagements, and all of us blossoming into the most beautiful women I know. Honestly, it doesn't get more beautiful than that. 

Anyway, I really, really think Summer 2011 is going to be something special! I hope you all are having a beautiful start to the season as well. This video is something I'm going to cherish for so long! When I'm about to turn 40, I just know I'm going to miss this being 25 business and being on the cusp of adulthood. But at least I'll have this lil video to remind me again...each new page in life is just as beautiful as the last one :)