Home Sweet Home.

Allergies going haywire.

Waking up scratching a new bug bite.

Coming home @ 5am from a night out.
Mom waking me up @6:30am with a TO-DO list much like this one.

Yep. I'm home. Home sweet home. Finally. It feels good to be here. The 5.5hr drive went by in a quickness. Being back feels as if I've never left...probably because things don't change much here... which is probably the reason why it's taken so long for the Mississippi gulfcoast to recover after Katrina. The beachfront is slowly being revived. Long gone are the majestic plantation homes that the hurricane waters washed away. In its place, colorfully-sided beach homes stand on stilts. The ginormous oak trees that line the highway are no longer eerie skeletons of their former selves. Although I do miss the way things were pre-Katrina, I am quite optimistic of what the gulfcoast could be one day. I can't wait. Until then, I'll just savour the view during my run on the beach.

Falalalala.

Wow! Champ was totally right. I really am digging Pandora Radio. It's internet radio that creates a specific station according to your taste preferences. And since I'm really into slow music-played-on-a-guitar-by-some-girl right now, I immediately chose Schuyler Fisk as my choice artist. Fisk actually started off her career as a teen actress. She is probably most recognized for her role of Kristy in "The Babysitter's Club." Anywho, over the Christmas break at my mom's cable-less home in Mississippi, I got the Netflix trial for 2 weeks so I could watch Dexter and unlimited movies over the internet. I decided to use that opportunity to watch those quirky movies that I know I would never rent or watch in to the theatres. The movies I watched were so random that even if I did remember the titles, you probably wouldn't know what I was talking about. Actually only one movie really stands out from the bunch. It's called "I'm Reed Fish," and it's about a small town guy that's trying to break out of his father's shadow. There's a part of the movie were Schuyler Fisk does an impromptu performance, on her guitar of course, that instantly made me a fan of her. Here's the clip. Enjoy!

Spoiled.

Dear John,

This is my first letter to you. I find you (the movie) just mediocre, but you (Channing Tatum) oh so handsome. John, you yet again wow me with your shirtless scenes and your endearing smile. Your acting on the otherhand needs some improvement as evident by your work on G.I. Joe. I promise your acting abilities will not deter me or the millions of other females and their boyfriends from watching your upcoming films. I promise I will continue to swoon over you to whomever my movie-watching companion may be. I'll see you soon.

-Linda

I love brunching on Saturdays. There's nothing better than being able to wake up late, crawl out of bed, and grab coffee and food at Empire Cafe with some good friends. What better a way to kill a couple of hours before Ny's flight to NOLA than to watch a movie. Dear John, the film that was adapted from the Nicholas Sparks novel by the same title, was my ultimate choice, of course. spoilers ahead..

The movie started out with John, an army solider, wounded in battle. He speaks of his last thoughts before he blackouts. Of course knowing that this is a Nicholas Sparks' creation, we assume John is referring to his love, Amanda Seyfried or Savannah as she is dubbed in the movie. Their world-wind romance starts off sweet and awkward. Ugggh. I'm so jealous at this point. (Oh how I wish it were me that Channing was falling for!) They continue to write as John is on his tour of duty and she is attending college. But of course, all fairy tales have their troubles. Although he is torn for his love of Savannah, he reenlists to serve our country after 911. Soon after, we find out that Savannah hasn't been writing to John on a regular basis. He's devastated when he finally receives a letter from her telling him that she's moved on and soon to be married. John continues to tour all over the world to forget his heartache. He's brought back home because his father has had a stroke and is dying. (John and his dad have a strained relationship and hardly ever talk.) Before it's too late, John decides to write a letter to his father telling him everything that was unspoken betweeen them. We find out that John's thoughts after being wounded weren't about Savannah at all, but of his father! The tears I was trying to hold back are now flowing. The movie ends with John trying to resolve his friendship/relationship with an already married Savannah.

I left the movie somewhat disappointed saying I'm not a fan of Nicholas Sparks since I also feel as though "The Notebook" was just good and not great. But as I did research on the movie, I find out that Sparks wrote "The Message in the Bottle" which is one of my favorite love story-turned-movie of all time. He also wrote "Nights of Rodanthe" and "A Walk to Remember" which both made cry my face swollen. I guess I am a fan afterall. Oh boy, do I feel bad for the person that watches "Last Song" with me.

Cancelled.

I don't have many hobbies that I actually like to tell people about especially since most of them are just excuses for me to sloth around some more, but I really do love to travel. I'm sort of an addict really. It's so bad that I once had to borrow a car during a "visit" to Houston. Unfortunately for me, I'm still in Houston when I should be in Mississippi for Tet. Oh yeah, did I mention.. I'm from Mississippi? Long Beach, MS that is. The texts and phone calls from my family and friends this morning are totally making me feel homesick.. almost enough to drive my butt 6hrs and probably more due to the weather just to see my Mom and Dad sing at their yearly mini version of "Paris By Night." The drive there would be worth it to see Tuyen home from her first month of living in Naples, FL. The weather would totally be worth it to just to bullshit with Thu and Shortie for one of their rare Valentine's alone. The tiredness would definitely be worth it to see Ella and Gracie (pictured below) go ape-shit for beads at the local Mardi Gras parade that passes by their front yard. Man.. I really am homesick. To go or not to go?

Oh, inspiration, where art thou?

Blog? Why you ask? I'm not even so sure myself. As one of my favorite sayings goes... "when you really don't know, you REALLY don't know." Hoping to find out.