I DID IT!!!!

Well, I did it!! I began growing my hair out over 2 years ago with the intention of donating it. Matt made it interesting by saying, "I've heard girls say that before. No one ever makes it." Ah-Ha, a challenge!! It got longer and longer, and I was just about ready to donate it, when Matt proposed!! I have had short hair only 2 other times in my life, so I didn't want short hair for my wedding. It wouldn't look like "me". So I waited. Which means that I've had really long hair for nearly 2 years!! AAAHHHH!! I was ready to cut it! So I decided to go ahead and donate it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, and while I was at it let's try being a redhead!! Here are the pictures!

this is Sharissa getting my hair ready

going...


going...

GONE!!!

my new do as a redhead!

I'm donating 9 inches to Pantene Beautiful Lengths!!!


Watch out world!! There's another sassy redhead on the loose!

If you are wondering why I chose Pantene Beautiful Lengths instead of Locks of Love, I will let you know. Locks of Love is more well known, so they receive many more donations. They are underfunded and understaffed, and cannot afford to process and pay for wigs to be made for all of the donations they receive. Pantene is a large company with plenty of money to use their donations. Locks of Love is a wonderful organization making wigs for children that suffer from alopecia, but I didn't want to contribute to their backlog. Plus, Pantene Beautiful Lengths will make a wig for anyone who has lost their hair from cancer treatments, regardless of age.

Watch it

We are two people who are so blessed to be able to share and celebrate this joyful time in our lives. This especially resonates with us...

This is one of those days...

That's how my horoscope started out today. Yep. "This is one of those days when you must make your own way without relying on other people for help or advice." SWEET. You know that you have a challenging day ahead when you wake up 30 minutes late, get snippy with your husband for no reason, have no options for ways to shave time off your morning routine, arrive 20 minutes late to work only to have the elevator doors open with your boss standing there greeting you "Good morning" knowing full well what time it is. This is one of those days...

I've had a bit of a tough time lately. I've been cranky and anxious for a multitude of reasons. Hopefully some steps I am taking will alleviate part of the problem, if not most of it. We've gotten a lot done around the house towards settling in, which is a load off my mind. My sweet husband is very helpful working right beside me to get things in order. He's been wonderful, really.

We got some FABULOUS news from my friend Betsy, who was in our wedding. Betsy and her husband Bradley found out Tuesday that they are expecting a GIRL!!! This is particularly exciting because all of my really close friends with babies all have boys, and it's been a very long time since I got to shop for girlie stuff!! Her name will be Rubye Kate, after Betsy's grandmother Rubye. I am so very excited!!

Other than that, we've been trying to relax at home when we can. Sometimes we actually manage to do that...
Isis and me curled up on the couch

Hurley doesn't like sharing her mommy, obviously.

A Better Place...

I tried tonight to find the letter to the editor of the Knoxville News Sentinel that I wrote 4 years ago. It talked about being disheartened. I remember so vividly, I couldn’t understand how millions of Americans could turn out in droves to re-elect a president who had done so much harm. So many people were/are without health care, early childhood education, a good/fair start. It was a great heart-felt letter, eloquently worded. I was very proud, but I can’t find it.

As this election approached, I warned my husband about being too excited, too confident. He said, “We have this in the bag.” And I said, “I’ve been through this before. I’ve knocked on doors, and had the numbers. But polls don’t mean anything. VOTES DO.” I was too scared to get excited.

I sit here in shock, bawling my eyes out. I had a conversation with my friend Joe today about the stark choice that American voters face. There seemed to me to be a stark contrast between going forward, ‘to a new place’, and going back 40 years. The hateful venomous speech in rallies exacerbated by Gov. Sarah Palin were so offensive and detrimental to our progress, I can’t even put into words my shame or distress. My heart breaks that the people I know to be so loving and genuine in their belief in the gospel; yet they align themselves with such blatant hate and shame. I looked at my African American friends tonight; we were both in disbelief and all I could say was, “We are going to a better place.”

In this country, in our hearts, our HOPE, is going to a better place. Thank you, Jesus. Love for all of your children will shine. This country, The United States of America, is going to a better place. All I can say after all the heartbreak, we are going to a better place.

I am young. I haven’t seen the worst of what my home contributed to the history of this great land. Truly anything is possible. I can never understand what has been endured by others at the hands of my ancestors, but I can understand that “YES WE CAN and YES WE DID”. Thank you, Jesus, bring our time of healing and hope.

originally written at 2:38am November 5, 2008

Jill, Matt, Meghan and Daniel

Amecia Lynn Reeves when the victory news came in, my favorite pic from the night

Tay-Tay and his friends

YES WE DID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tay-Tay and me

And then we DANCED!!!!!

Fall is...

The Blacks have been busy indeed since we returned from our honeymoon. We attended the wedding of my friend Rachel from grad school just a couple of weekends after we returned. It was a fun time and there were lots of spirits enjoyed by all but me (the DD).




































We also had the opportunity to celebrate more than a year of remission for our friend Karson that night (busy day in Knoxville). We missed the Race for the Cure that morning by attending the wedding, but we didn't miss dinner with the Beatys and the "cancer posse" at Downtown Grill.




























Those who know us know how much we LOVE football. We were so busy with wedding planning and Matt moving in that we had NO TIME for football before the wedding. We decided that we wanted to go to a couple of games this year. We decided to go to 1 away game for each of our schools, and to make those trips to stadiums where neither of us had ever been!! It worked out very well. We went to Clemson and watched Georgia Tech win there, and then we traveled to Fayetteville and watched Ole Miss win there!!!!

Picks from Clemson:






















Pics from Arkansas:

















VERY BIG PIG!!!!!


Anywho, we also really got into Halloween this year. I'm not normally big on dressing up for Halloween, unless I'm divinely inspired with a fabulous costume idea. This year was the most fun I've ever had. Matt and I spent date night the Friday before Halloween shopping for our costumes. I must say, we both had lots of fun. For Halloween, we never located a good party, so we just drove around town to our friends' houses and went trick-or-treating all night!! I think we look great, don't you??





















I wanted to post this fun and uplifting post tonight. Tomorrow is election day and we are excited and very nervous. I'm sure you will hear more from the Blacks after Tuesday!!! Godspeed and GO VOTE!!!