Sometimes...

I seriously wonder where folks get the nerve. That is all.

This is for your enjoyment!

Please see the email letter below. This is the kind of stuff that folks at my office receive on a daily basis from people who want to become famous by performing on the Opry stage or having their music played on WSM. What in the world?!? Names have been altered for privacy purposes. Also, I have not corrected any of the spelling or grammer mistakes. I feel the mistakes only add to the letter. Enjoy the read!

This Is B**** B**** In Hohenwald, Tennessee. I am going to be coming out with a albulm here really soon. i am going to try to get my recording in at the Ryman. i recently talked to Kelly at the Opry and she told me to record a cd and send it to her via Email but i want copyright laws against it where no one can use my music..what i am looking into is that if i do get in i want to donate alot of my (money) to People that needs it. alot of people are selfish, and nicole that won't get us nowhere. it's good in making it big, but the question is, is the money there for people that really needs it...i would like to have wsm as a sponsor and some of them i have here locally...my father played with several of people like Lester Flatt and Earle Scruggs..... I recently visited The Ryman and wandered what it was like to be able to stand on the one stage like my father and several others...i tried to learn how to play guitar when my father was living but i couldn't cause he was too fast for me, he also said it would come to me later all i had to do is watch him and stay on it....i have a website i am working on now so i will have one when i get started. it is under construction.. it is www.***.com. My home Phone is 1-9*1-*9*-3*8* my cell 1-9*1-*2*-8*3*.. my father passed away when i was 13 he had Tumor Cancer of the brain and i never knew my mother, my dad raised me from when i was 3 mnths old till 1991....plz feel free to contact me for more info...

Dance it like you mean it...

It is at the request of my best-good friend that I write this blog. Erin Whitney Burnett, I salute you.

What words can I type that would properly pay tribute to my friend? What stories can I tell to accurately portray the impact that EB has had on my life. I’m…just…not… sure…

I start here. Picture it…2001…Georgetown College…cold rainy May (what?) day…auditorium basement classroom. The events of this evening led me to know that Erin and I would be friends forever. My camp team and I had just entered the gray and dingy classroom to spend yet another countless hour developing features for this crazy camp we had all just given our summer to called Centri-kid. I was out of place, nervous, uncomfortable, and sick to my stomach. Basically, I was wondering what I had gotten myself into and what kind of excuse I could make up to get myself out of this whole camp thing. My dear soon-to-be-friend Erin came in the room and sat down right next to me in the circle. Well, to make a long story even longer, Erin taps on the sleeve of her jacket and says, “I love this little guy!” Well, I thought that was a creative, not mention hilarious, way to pay tribute to her jacket and the appreciated warmth that it gave her! I knew we were going to be friends. I made a big fool of myself because I cracked up laughing right in her face after the comment. I couldn’t help it…I thought it was funny. I find humor in the small things.

I could stop right there with that story, but I won’t. What fun would that be? Here are just a few more reasons why I love that Erin Whitney is, as Forrest would say, my best-good friend.

- She has a grandpa named Wayne Leroy who loves to carry his camera and take/be in pictures. Also, when he goes to have the pictures printed out…only triple prints will due for him!

- Erin’s mom, Pegs, makes the best chocolate peanut butter snack treats in the world. Erin makes sure that she brings us some each time she comes to visit the Maples.

- In my former non-tech savvy days, Erin taught me how to use an iPod.

- Erin loves to watch her clothes “sud” up in the washing machine. She actually checks to make sure her clothes are “sudding” properly with the detergent. She also likes to smell her clean laundry as she folds it.

- Erin likes the slice…especially the flying slice.

- Erin can remember what outfit she wore to school on the 54th day of second grade or how long her hair was on the 16th day of her sophomore year of high school or what her sister said right before their 17th trip to Disney World or what year I got the new yellow comforter for my bed or what the father’s day card said that she got for her dad when she was 22 years old. It’s insane how she remembers details.

- Erin loves Cinderella…well, really anything that has to do with Disney World. When I say the word love, I am NOT understating her feelings for Disney World. I think she’s been there more times than I’ve been to the dentist and I follow the twice a year cleaning rule.

- Erin listens to me when I vent. She will also vent along with me sometimes. We love how smart we are about certain areas of life. We just don’t understand why other people aren’t as smart as us sometimes.

- Erin is going to write a book one day. It’s going to be called “He doesn’t want to date you unless he says, “I like you! Do you want to date?” I can’t wait!

Well, I guess that’ll due for now. I do hope that I have adequately expressed to my many readers how much I love and appreciate my dear friend, EB.

Erin, did I write a proper tribute blog? Alicia, your blog will be next. I can only do one per day. That’s my limit.

What the heck?!?

I got the flu last Tuesday, February 5th. This medicine became my friend on Thursday morning, February 7th. Today is February 11th and I still have symptoms of the flu. I think I've served my time being sick, don't you? I'm ready for this crazy illness to go away...and stay away.