Greetings from (deep breath) Arkansas. Yes, I'm still here, it is still dry, and have resisted fad to date my cousin. I'm starting to get a little ground hogs day-esque because I seem to do the same thing pretty much every day. I've been productive in the job search but I am aching to get to some familiar territory so in just a few hours I am jetting off to OXFORD. (enter Ariel music here) Thank God. We are jetting off later this afternoon and will enjoy a glorious time in my favorite place on earth. Yesterday I enjoyed driving all around town and taking pictures of the downtown area but I am yearning to go some place where my interaction with the public extends beyond the Wal-Mart cashier. I will be sure to update after the weekend. I was sneaky enough to snag a picture of the redneck neighbor's strictly southern truck (pictured left). Sadly, this is the smallest of the "multi-purpose vehicles" and the others with the added nonsense were not there, but this truck definitely has the best accessories. Seriously, what is not to love? First, I love that he has the deer licence plate, I mean who wouldn't? But the best, most ironic part though is the incorrect spelling of "strickly". Was this on purpose? Is my oil rig neighbor witty enough to mock the southern accent or does he really not know? I would love to believe that my neighbor is the next closeted and redneck David Sedaris in his house this exact second creating his own gut busting novel about the crazy stories of growing up in the wilderness of Arkansas while being an unknown and hysterical genius on the sly.... I guess we will see.

In other news, it has been entirely too long since the last, Focus on the Family. Brother Ben is in Houston Ben with some other college friends drove to Houston to see his roommate who is interning at NASA. I hear they are going to tour NASA and the great city of Houston. They will return Monday and I report as soon as I get back. Mother Michelle is getting ready for her big lawyer debut but most importantly she has joined....facebook. I know, who knew the day would ever come but yes the hesitant mother joined the cult last night, spent five minutes on it and has not signed on again. Michelle reports that after her trip to she will spend more time on her soon-to-be newest addiction, so ask her to be friends now.

Well I'm off to get ready for the homeland. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. For Natalie's news this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

Rehab?

So denial has carried me here for awhile but I must say it now legit and official. A huge life change is taking over. I'm going to a place so unknown, so rare, so confusing that the deep insides that previously felt full of intellect and knowledge are unsure of which way is up. Living this double life in two different worlds will soon no longer exist and I will only live in one world. So where am I going? Rehab, ha I wish. Europe? Nah. Denver? Please... I Natalie am moving to...Arkansas. (hi Natalie) Let's all take a moment with some Oprah recommended meditating to realize what I just wrote. No it is not a dream and yes there are mountain folks (scary and serious). I am moving to west Arkansas where dry counties rule, wearing a helmet on a motorcycle is optional (not even playing) and the Wal- Marts are an entire new world of crazy foreign even to me. It is west Arkansas so at least you can see the Ozark mountains everywhere and it is actually kind of pretty (mountains pictured right). I'm living in another college town which brings extra culture, what-a-burgers, brainy professor friends I am dying to meet, and God willing less mountain folks. It is actually a cute town and I've spent the last week trying to find my way around and look for jobs and friends that also love ironic, witty (okay maybe somewhat nerdy) and observational humor. No such luck on the job or friends but I feel like I am making strives. I am applying for jobs with a vengeance and am adapting the Secret's mantra of seeing what I believe will happen. Not really knowing exactly what I want, I'm envisioning ruling the universe with a hot beach bod in a red bikini (pictured left), but if that does not work out I will picture myself happy at my job with an awesome paycheck. Things have been fun but I must admit I miss my Oxford friends like crazy. I mean I've only been here a week and I haven't really "moved in" because most of my belongings are in Oxford still and I will return shortly to get them, but still I miss my little slice of Heaven aka Oxford like models miss food. It really hit me the other day when Philip and I were eating at this "Italian place" (no lie, everything was vegall vegetables with some kind of noodles and Ragu sauce from the can, or you could get french fries...?) and some gays and their friends started singing in their booth and I was soooo jealous! Those are MY friends! Here I was having a boring, quiet, and adult lunch and those folks were singing in the middle of the day. It was a good sign to see some gays singing their little hearts out but I was not positive enough at that point to see the bright side. I wanted my friends, community, and fun life I built for myself but moving is hard anywhere and I'm sure I'll find that here. Luckily I was smart enough to bring my little Millie now to make the adjustment that much better! She running around like a crazy cat and enjoying ruling the house and I of course love having her always! But please don't let all my complaining scare you too much. We have already had Philip's cousin and her husband over for a cook out and Philip met some of our neighbors last night who I am so excited about. Not because I can really see us forging a friendship but they are so odd to me. I'm not really sure who all lives there because there are about 7 cars.. wait HUGE, HUGE TRUCKS there all the time. One ridiculous truck has a huge "strictly southern" sticker on his back window so that's what I've adoringly started calling our red neighbors. Last night Philip found out they all work on an oil rig and have odd schedules. Oil rig? Seriously!?!!? I've never known anyone who has even been to an oil rig much less worked at one. Maybe they can teach me how to dip or better yet trick my sentra like their trucks. Hmm, we shall see. Well I should get back to looking for a job to complain about.

I hope all is well back in the civilized world. For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

pop quiz

So at the painful hour of 5:15 the alarm hatefully rang and woke me up proving that Spring Break 2009 had officially come to an end and the last 9 weeks of school was upon us. I was happy to be home to see my wild kitty but the wonderful week of sleeping in made it even harder to get up before the sun. I came back to school and the kids were crazier than ever. A week at home with out in school drama gave them too much time to create gossip over texting, facebook, bebo, and other communications devices so the halls were swarming with he said/ she said before 7:20am, way too early for such nonsense. My homeroom was extremely talkative and loud. Maybe it was because I was removed for so long or maybe the students were really too loud but I could not take it so I did what any good teacher does. I gave them a welcome back quiz. I decided I would not stress over making them listen. I went over notes and definitions, gave great examples, took questions from some students while some continued to whisper and pass notes. Finally I said in my best teacher voice, "okay, put everything away and take out a pencil and paper and separate into your test seats". Panic struck the room because this is the last day before grades are printed for report cards and a bad quiz grade can really hurt students! Many students gave me the usual groans, pathetic faces, but one very talkative student named Tyeisha responded loudly, "how you gonna give us a pop quiz on the first day back from spring break?" I looked at her with the most evil teacher smile I could give and responded softly back, "welcome back". Small and precious victory. Now that the students were scared they were quiet which is worth more money that I shall ever know.

In other news, yes spring break is over for good. In my last weekend in the boondocks (aka Arkansas) I went to the Wiederkehr winery in further West Arkansas. The winery is located in Altus, Arkansas where the famous Paris and Nicole began their adventures in The Simple Life. The winery began with a tasting where the t-shirt wearing employees looked less than thrilled to be working. People from far and wide watched the movie Sideways before attending and were proud of their wino questions while the employees irritatedly answered with snobby faces. I guess when one has been working in a winery for a while one may get tired of faux wrangler wearing wino's but I was surprised with the obvious frustration from the employees. Finally it was time for the grand tour of the winery. An employee in a orange Nike T-shirt with matching jogging pants gave the tour and was equally ready to be finished as the other employees. There were surprisingly a lot of folks on the tour and they fell into one of two categories. First were the folks who were really eager to be there so they could learn facts about wine and impress their friends and two the group who read wikipedia before they left and had prepared questions to feel important...well I guess there were three because I fell into the group who thought the whole thing was a sham. I felt badly for the first two groups because the tour provided hardly any knowledge and when anyone asked a question the tour guide belittled them...sad. But on a positive note, the wine and the little restaurant were very good. The restaurant (pictured right) used to be the Wiederhehr home back in the later 1800s and now is a restaurant where the waitresses really dress like the picture! The trip made me think fondly of the long ago trip to Europe with Ray and Lindsay and all of our great experiences...Thank God now I actually have a tolerance and did not serenade anyone on a train ride after a little wine.

Well I best get back to work! I hope everyone has a wonderful week. For Natalie's News this has been Natalie-Corinne.

spring break recap

I blinked and it is already Friday of Spring Break. Where did all this time go? I shall try to recap. After the fun trip to Atlanta we went back to Nashville for a couple of days with the family. While in Nashville mother Michelle and I went on one of our epic shopping trips and visited almost every Target in the middle Tennessee area to find certain dishes. We are known for our day long shopping adventures that always begin with the goal of a short trip to the mall and always end up with a day long adventure that brings us to do crazy things such as go to the Old Town Pottery Outlet with a uhaul attached to the car that neither of us can turn properly. No stops with a uhaul on this trip but shopping was no less adventurous and successful. After Nashville I made a tour on Highway 40 West to Arkansas. I must say I have underestimated West Arkansas. Forever I thought (like most do) that the entire state of Arkansas was filled with toothless Republicans who would try to get me to join their Baptist church. But I have been mistaken. Although this city is aching with out the presence of milk (who knew there were still dry places?!...hello Prohibition is over and who ya kidding.. give that tax money to some schools! Arkansas is the lowest in education by mistake!) surrounding areas are not half bad. In Arkansas I have experienced such excitement such as: sleeping until 8am, riding an exercise bike during the middle of the day while watching the View, buying oranges off the side of the road, and wait for it wait for it, driving around the square and going to antique stores. Although the average pace of this place is around 15mph it is a nice break from the craziness that is my life. I can tell that I am starting to get a little stir crazy though. I have not felt bored but I noticed that I was creating little projects. For example, yesterday I was determined to have fiesta night. I went to dollar tree and bought fun cactus margarita glasses, little pin wheels and lanterns for decorations. I bought tons of ingredients to make my Mexican fiesta. It was really fun but I realized that another week of this and I would be going a little crazy. There is hope though. Today I traveled to another town that I really liked and later we are going to a winery (where I will steal as much wine as possible). Apparently there are a lot of wineries in Arkansas..who knew? Maybe this little oasis of a winery will be the Napa valley of the south. We shall see.

In other news, Papa Pete and Mother Michelle had a wonderful night at the Blue Bird Cafe in Nashville last night for Pete's 39th Birthday. Although there was a slight problem at the Blue Bird. The family ordered beer (of course) and the waitress neglected to bring a glass. What? When did beer drinking become so looked down upon? Are we not human? Bring a glass? Who wants to drink out of a bottle that's all wet and and creates drinking wrinkles around the mouth? Treat us like humans and bring a beer glass. This is Natalie and I approve this message.

Well I am off for lunch to meet some new Arkansas folks. As I look over the above blog I'm disturbed with the amount of "milk" references. More subjects in the future, I promise! I hope everyone has a wonderful start to the weekend! For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

Nancy meet Satan

So I usually keep my opinions to myself (I know, I'm laughing too) but I am highly frustrated with Nancy Pelosi's recent gallivant to Italy. While I know it is important for government officials to meet with leaders from around the world, her trip along with other democrats accomplished nothing. Her meetings with the Pope were in my opinion a publicity stunt and he did not even allow her communion. Salt in an open wound for the vast majority of Americans who are struggling to make it while she's out cruising the world on tax payer money (holy Lord, who let Rush Limbaugh in here?!). Sadly, this is just another example of how our leaders are so out of touch with the real America. In my lifetime (excluding Bill... I still love him) I feel that almost every politician has been bogus and are really own out for their own pocketbooks...Debbie downer indeed...this is too much reality for a Monday morning. Let's move on.

This weekend was so exciting for many reasons but one of the highlights was that I got to see brother Ben play baseball! His team played at The University of Central Arkansas, a surprisingly lovely campus. His team played all weekend and we got to see him play Sunday afternoon. He looked great on the field and I was such a proud sister. Unfortunately we did not get to hang out with him too much because they had to get on the bus quickly and go back to school but I was so excited to see the young chap... and I didn't even have to do any of his laundry! Conway is a really nice city and I really enjoyed the downtown area. It is so cute, the streets in the downtown are painted and old train stations have been made into banks and restaurants etc. Really quaint, artsy etc..who knew?

Lastly, as I made the trip back to Oxford I was greeted with friends and fellow Oscar enthusiasts watching the Academy Awards at my house. It was the usual music crew who I love dearly because anything and everything is an excuse for an elaborate party. There was tons of food, drinks, and even forms with all of the categories and nominees printed as ballots so we could play along as the Oscars were on! Honestly I saw a lot more movies this year than ever but I really only care about the fashion. I love seeing what everyone is wearing; although I wish the stylist was not so popular because as much as I hate to admit it, I love a terrible dress on an A-lister. This list the popular trends seemed to be the color red, asymmetrical designs and mermaid dresses. Some of my favorite dresses of the night were Anne Hathaway (pictured upper right). She may have lost the Oscar, but she looked great doing it! Secondly, as much as I hate to admit it, I loved the dress Miley Cyrus wore (pictured left). Nothing says diva to me more than that beautiful dress, perhaps that's why I'm such a fan. Lastly, I had to add Beyonce because she can do no wrong in my book (pictured right). Although I like her dress in kind of an ugly/beautiful kind of way, her body is rocking and I was glad to see some curves on the red carpet!

Well I need to get back to work, I hope everyone has a wonderful Monday. For Natalie's News this has been Natalie-Corinne.

delta blues

Weekend Update:

This weekend I traveled to Helena, Arkansas to attend the Arkansas Arts and Heritage festival, formally known as the King Biscuit Blues Festival. Right after school on Friday I hit the road and made my way to the dirty delta. I was lucky enough to get to stay three blocks away from the festival in the historic Allin house (pictured right). After a brief tour of Helena by car we walked to the festival around 7pm. There were excellent blues artists everywhere playing on small stages and on the side walk. Treasures for sale from exotic locations such as Africa, the Caribbean and Louisiana covered the sidewalks of the downtown. As we walked further down the main street, the tempting aromas of fried deliciousness such as rib tips, catfish and alligator made me totally forget about my vow of being vegetarian and I ate as much meat as possible...and loved every sinful bite. After some grilled catfish we went to the top of the levee and listened to the music. The weather was perfect and the music was amazing. Saturday another lady staying at the Allin house made a huge amount of food in this little antique oven. We feasted on meat yet again before returning to the blues festival. Saturday night was much more crowded. Being a natural VIP, I met a lady named Loretta who knew everyone in Helena including the owner and operator of John and John BBQ. He had two huge smokers put together with all different types of BBQ and was nice enough to give us a free sampling of most of it... so once again, those poor little animals, I hate them again. But honestly it was totally worth it. The picture above was taken from Helena and not of John and John BBQ but their smokers looked exactly like that. Anyway after the marathon meat eating session, we sat on the top of the levee and watched Bobby Rush (pictured right), and he was awesome. People of all over and all different ages danced and enjoyed the music and atmosphere. Around midnight we left and went back to the Allin house. This walk back was the only time I felt a little scared in Helena. Earlier I heard stories of crime issues but I felt very safe there, but we went off the beaten path just a little and I would not recommend doing it again! But the weekend and blues festival were so much fun and I am so glad I was able to join in!

Well I need to go prepare for my next group of... angels :).....Right. For Natalie's News this has been Natalie-Corinne.