Stuff That Makes Me Feel Smarter

Methuselah


The world’s oldest individual tree lives 10,000 feet above sea level in the Inyo National Forest, California. A staggering 4,765 years old, this primeval tree was already a century old when the first pyramid was built in Egypt. The tree is hidden among other millennia-old Great Basin bristlecone pines in a grove called the Forest of Ancients. To protect the tree from vandalism, the forest service keeps its exact location secret, but this one looks like it could be Methuselah.


Read More http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/03/old-tree-gallery/2/#ixzz0iYqlTdGz

The House That Built Me

Lyrics by: Miranda Lambert and Adam Shamblin. Not only is this BRILLIANT songwriting but it is so remeniscant of how I feel about the house I grew up in. I never looked at it "building me" until I heard this song. But it did. I don't listen to country music much anymore... but if every country song was written this well- I'd never listen to anything else. Enjoy- oh and Mom- grab some tissues.

I know they say you can’t go home again

I just had to come back one last time
Ma’am I know you don’t know me from Adam
But these handprints on the front steps are mine

Up those stairs in that little back bedroom
Is where I did my homework and I learned to play guitar
I bet you didn’t know under that live oak
My favorite dog is buried in the yard

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness inside me might start healing
Out here it’s like I’m someone else
I thought that maybe I could find myself

If I could just come in I swear I’ll leave
Won’t take nothing but a memory
From the house that built me


Mama cut out pictures of houses for years
From Better Homes and Gardens magazine
Plans were drawn and concrete poured
Nail by nail and board by board
Daddy gave life to mama’s dream

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness inside me might start healing
Out here it’s like I’m someone else
I thought that maybe I could find myself

If I could just come in I swear I’ll leave
Won’t take nothing but a memory
From the house that built me


You leave home and you move on and you do the best you can
I got lost in this old world and forgot who I am

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness inside me might start healing

Out here it’s like I’m someone else
I thought that maybe I could find myself

If I could just come in I swear I’ll leave
Won’t take nothing but a memory
From the house that built me

Dance Like No One Is Watching

This is what we do in the mornings- and sorry for the crazy motion sickness movements- You know this song- Sexy Bitch? Quite the classy title I know- but this song is like crack to your ears. I literally cannot stand still when this song is on. Neither can the kiddos...

Bret Michaels said it best....

"Give me something to believe in..."

I believe that these two books can change your life. They have changed mine. In the words of my SC relatives- "You skeered?"

Jason's Deli

I have never met Jason but man- I love his deli. Several years after I moved to Nashville, I heard of this place called- Jason's Deli. I thought- "Wow, could Jason not have come up with something a little more creative than that?" Then I remember thinking- "what a po-dunk place that must be!" But alas- I have since discovered the organic oasis that is the 'deli a la jason'. Oh- Jason... I could bathe butt-naked in your salad bar- shower in your all-natural seasonings- and frolic feverishly in your FREE frozen yogurt. If I hadn't married KYLE- I would marry you, JASON and proudly announce my name to the world as: Brandy Deli.

I'm the girl with the kaleidoscope eyes

I have this thing with the sky. Sunsets, sunrises, clouds, the moon, the stars, meteor showers- all of it. I have seen each of these occurances- to such a stout degree of beauty that almost leaves me fearful. It's just so vast- and open. It's the doorway to our world. Like an instinct- no matter what we believe- it's the direction we look when hope isn't hanging out on ground level. It's our only peephole into the universe. It reminds us just how small we are. That our tiny little lives are mere blips in the water. Rings of energy begun by something or someone else.
One of my favorite sky scenes is the reversal of sky and cloud color. Typically, you will find a blue sky with white or gray clouds. Then you have the complete opposite, usually at sunset. A white sky with blue clouds. Beautiful.

This pic was taken outside of Riley's window last Sunday. I was about to put her to bed, when we stopped to enjoy this scenic moment together. She seemed to stare out the window with a deliberate intensity that could only rival her mother. She got really still- and then fell asleep in my arms.

I hope to never forget that moment as long as I live....