it's that time of year...

alright folks, we're officially in the middle of bowl season so i can't help but throw in my two cents. though i am a girl (and you might be thinking, what the hell does she know about football?), I have been watching this season very carefully. so here are my picks:

BCS TITLE GAME (LSU vs. OHIO STATE): my pick is LSU. although they're going to face some trouble from tackles kirk barton and alex boone, i think the tigers can pull off the win. especially since the game will be played in new orleans...definitely a home crowd advantage.

SUGAR BOWL (HAWAII vs. GEORGIA): my pick is GEORGIA. i love what hawaii and colt brennan have done this year (congrats on the undefeated season!), but i gotta go with the dawgs on this one. for one thing, i love a qb from texas and for another, uga's defense this year is unstoppable.

CAPITAL ONE (FLORIDA vs. MICHIGAN): my pick is FLORIDA. this will be an emotional game from the wolverines since carr is leaving, but i just think tim tebow is too good.

COTTON (MISSOURI vs. ARKANSAS): my pick is MISSOURI. of course there's darren mcfadden, but i gotta root for mizzou here. this team's come a long way; besides chase daniel's just too cute!

GATOR (VIRGINIA vs. TEXAS TECH): my pick is TEXAS TECH. gotta pick the hometown team here. the raiders' offense is just too explosive, thanks to graham and crank that crabtree. i also have to show some love for my high school classmate mr. eric morris. go raiders!

FIESTA (OKLAHOMA vs. WEST VIRGINIA): my pick is OKLAHOMA. there's really no excuse for the sooners not to win this game. unfortunatly for west virginia, they've just run into a string of bad luck lately.

guess we'll have to wait until jan. 1 to see how everything unfolds!

here it is ladies and gents...

since i'm a music junkie, a lot of people ask me what my favorite song is. first of all, lovers of music know that it is damn near impossible to pick a favorite song, that would be like choosing a favorite child (i know this may be quite clear in some instances, but not when it comes to music.) anyway, i'm no expert, but i do know these two genres pretty well...so here it is, my top 25 country and rock songs:

rock:
1. Beast of Burden – The Rolling Stones
2. Midnight Rider – The Allman Brothers
3. Suspicious Minds – Elivs Presley
4. Stand By Me – John Lennon
5. Heard It in a Love Song – The Marshall Tucker Band
6. Pretty Woman – Roy Orbison
7. Fooled Around and Fell in Love – Elvin Bishop
8. Honky Tonk Women – The Rolling Stones
9. American Pie – Don McLean
10. Black Magic Woman - Santana
11. More Than a Feeling - Boston
12. Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
13. Peaceful Easy Feeling – The Eagles
14. The Joker – Steve Miller Band
15. Sister Golden Hair - America
16. Last Kiss – Pearl Jam
17. Fortunate Son – Creedence Clearwater Revival
18. Something – The Beatles
19. Born to Run – Bruce Springsteen
20. Layla – Eric Clapton
21. Message in a Bottle – The Police
22. Carry on Wayward Son - Kansas
23. Baba O’Riley – The Who
24. Keep Your Hands to Yourself – The Georgia Satellites
25. Wild Night - Van Morrison

country:
1. Good Ole Boys Like Me – Don Williams
2. Time Marches On – Tracy Lawrence
3. Mama Tried – Merle Haggard
4. Gringo Honeymoon – Robert Earle King
5. Cowboys Like Us – George Strait
6. Jackson – Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash
7. Fishin’ in the Dark – The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
8. If I Had a Boat – Lyle Lovett
9. Alabama – Cross Canadian Ragweed
10. Close Up the Honky Tonks – Dwight Yoakam
11. Rockin’ in the Arms of Your Memory – George Strait
12. El Paso – Marty Robbins
13. Wildfire – Michael Martin Murphey
14. Kiss Me in the Dark – Randy Rogers Band
15. Would You go With Me – Josh Turner
16. I’d Just Love to Lay You Down – Conway Twitty
17. Luckenbach, Texas - Waylon Jennings
18. Forever and Ever, Amen – Randy Travis
19. Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys – Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings
20. A Country Boy Can Survive – Hank Williams Jr.
21. She’s In Love with the Boy – Trisha Yearwood
22. Coal Miner’s Daughter – Loretta Lynn
23. Meet in the Middle – Diamond Rio
24. Redneck Girl – The Bellamy Brothers
25. Something in Red - Lorrie Morgan

sorry if you don't agree, i know i missed a lot. all i know is that these were the songs that shaped my life, well rather, they were the background soundtrack. anyway, you may notice that the majority of my selections come before the year 1980. yes, that's correct. in my opinion, you just can't beat the music of the 1960s and 70s. i can't deny that there's some good stuff out now, but it just can't begin to touch its earlier predecessors. well i won't rant on, we'll save that for another post.

*also look for the top 25 countown for the 80s and motown!!

dear lord.

returning to shallowater always has its way of bringing back my haunting past.

haha okay, that was a little overdramatic...but seriously, my mamma showed me this picture today to remind me of my days as the south plains fair rodeo sweetheart. hahahaha. just had to share this so you could get a good laugh at my expense.

let's just thank heaven that she can't seem to locate the video of me tapdancing in this outfit to "i want to be a cowboy's sweetheart."

**in other news, go pick up this month's edition of texas monthly! it's bum steer awards time and lubbock received 5 awards! plus, shallowater is featured in the hometown motto section...

when you were young

this year for christmas i decided that instead of buying something my parents will never use, i would actually make their gift (how sweet i know...) i'm working on using some of my favorite photographs of bill and sheri to make a mixed media portrait on canvas to commemorate all their time together and the formation of this family. because my parents have been together for 33 years, (thanks to a chance encounter at the tastee freeze in 1974) i literally had to pour over hundreds of photographs. i could be a little biased, but i think my parents were pretty good lookin' back in the day! see below:

stud. p.s. i like your scruff dad. hot baylor twirler.

the thing that i realized while i was working on this project was that yes, my parents were once 22 too. i think it's very common to think that the people who raised you are just your "parents", but they were young once upon a time. they got in trouble, they had dreams, they went to concerts. before my daddy was a shotgun cleaning, conservative, law-abiding judge, he was an honery old boy causing hell in his beat up old chevy truck with a little bit of boston and skynard playing in the background. before mamma was a member of the school board and pta, a professor at tech, and raising three kids, she spent her spring breaks in florida and dreamed of being a star on broadway. it's strange how i forget these things. and it's scary that inevitably, my own kids will do the same.

subdivisions = death

earlier this morning i had to go to town to run a few errands and i decided to take an alternate route. driving through the country on farm-to-market roads has always been a favorite pastime of mine, so i thought i'd check out FM 179 this morning. back in the day i used to take this road all the time, but since i've been in college, i'd say it's been at least two years since i last drove on it.

well i know that things can't stay the same forever, but come on, did they have to rip up all that open land to develop these shoddy, generic real estate developments with names like "moonridge estates." sick. what's even more appalling are these developments which claim to offer prime "ranch land." sorry people, having 4 acres, a fence and a little place for your pony to trot does NOT qualify you as owning a ranch.

i suppose i'll just have to get used to all of this. it seems the days of cotton fields and wide open spaces are disappearing...

i give you my full permission to smack me upside the head if you ever find yours truly living in one of these cookie-cutter, "planned communities" on the outskirts of a metropolitan area.

open letter to jessica simpson

dear miss simpson,

it has come to my attention that due to your fledgling career and depression over seeing your ex-husband happy, you have taken it upon yourself to forge a relationship with tony romo. i realize that it's not easy seeing your movies go straight to dvd, it's not easy having johnny mayer dump you, and it's not easy having ken paves as your best and only buddy - but PLEASE STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM TONY ROMO! you're ruining the cowboys' season:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=7&entry_id=22802

besides, carrie underwood was better than you anyway.

billygoat

this video was taken recently of my favorite little boy in all the world: kallan kuehler. sorry baby kallan, you know i love you to pieces, but this is just funny.

besides, this little goat is getting you ready for the bull riding circuit...

weak in the knees...

so earlier tonight i had coffee with jason, a dear old friend of mine. as we were catching up over the pitfalls of graduating college, our mutual love (and disdain) for politics and the genius of bruce springsteen, jason began to update me on his newest love interest. while britney "deadringer for rachel mcadams" (well hell, i sure hope she bears more of a resemblance to allie hamilton rather than her trainwreck of a namesake) sounds like an absolute doll, i would like to give her my most genuine, well-intentioned warning that jason is the ultimate bachelor and will never commit. i give it three more weeks...possibly a few days, if jason gets cold feet about giving the obligatory christmas gift.

however i could be wrong about this one. it seems little miss britney's been playing hard-to-get, apparently so much so that even jason, player extaordinaire, is coming to me for advice...hahaha i like this girl so much already. anyway, he pleaded with me to tell him what he could do/say to get her attention.

several scenarios played through my head: a) there's the john cusack standing with a boombox over your head playing peter gabriel's "your eyes" b) you could stand out on the bough of a ship with the wind blowing through your hair - king of the world anyone? c) even better, kill two birds with one stone and pull a tom cruise. two great options to choose from - a young maverick, clad in navy whites slips a quarter in the jukebox, "you never close your eyes anymore when i kiss your lips..." or you could recite "we live in a cynical world..."

coming from someone who was the victim of a recent horrendously mortifying display of the public romantic gesture, i suggest doing something discreet and personal. though *gaylord (*all names have been changed as to prevent further humiliation) thought having a waitress hand him an acousic guitar in the middle of waco's swankiest restaurant so that he could serenade me with an original ballad was a good idea at the time, he failed to recognize several key factors. first of all, *gaylord you aren't even a musician! second, don't get your dating advice from bret michaels courtesy "rock of love" or even worse, mystery from "the pick-up artist!" third, a mass of people in a restaurant should not be clapping because they think you are PROPOSING when we aren't even dating!!!

sorry, just had to get that off my chest.

don't know what will work for britney, but for all of the gents looking to woo a simple girl like me, driving around in your pickup truck and hearing you say, "shannan sowder, i'm your huckleberry" will work wonders. you see, i did some research, and the phrase made famous by doc holiday (or val kilmer - you decide) means "well ma'am, i'm just the man you've been looking for!" aw...sweet perfection...

it's a wonderful life

i know, i know...second post in one night - i must be really bored; but really, i had to say something about this.

i was flipping through the channels while i was lamenting my solitary confinement in waco, when i came across the opening credits for "it's a wonderful life." of course i've seen the movie a hundred times, it's one of my family's favorites, but i decided to sit down and watch it. i mean, heck what else do i have to do?



well i just finished watching it and i truly forgot what an amazing film it is. if you haven't seen it in awhile, you should do yourself the favor of watching it; if nothing else, it will get you in the christmas spirit. i can't help but think what a wonderful world it would be if everyone led his or her life like george bailey.





i also can't help but think about bedford falls and how amazing it is to live in a small community where everyone bands together in times of adversity. yesterday, shallowater, texas experienced this when we lost our first hometown boy in iraq. for a town of 2,086 residents, the loss of brynn naylor was a crucial blow and it has touched an unbelievable amount of people in a remarkably short time.


my daddy called me yesterday with the news after he had been one of the first people called to go visit with brynn's parents. my daddy's pretty much as tough as walker texas ranger, so when his voice started to crack, i knew something was wrong. he told me about the events of brynn's death, he told me that he loved me, and he told me that we can't waste one day of living.


i just can't believe all of this.


brynn had been in iraq for 15 months and was scheduled to be home in five days. five days. his family had plans. they were going to take a big trip for christmas. brynn was finally going to be able to do the things he loved. and now, his mamma will always associate his death with christmas.


i don't really know what else to say, i don't know if there is anything to say. i guess i'm just all too aware right now of the ultimate sacrifice that our military makes every single day. whatever your political leanings may be, none of that matters right now; none of it matters at all. our boys and girls are over there DYING so that we can live the way we do. this war has a human face and i think it's our job as civilians to never ever forget that. really, it's the least we can do.

a new beginning

well, to be honest, i've been reluctant to do this whole blog thing again, but seeing as though i'm stuck in waco, texas all alone until sunday, i figure that this is as good of time as any to get started again.

the truth is, i don't know if anyone ever actually reads these things, but there's something cathartic about the whole experience for the blogger. and i miss that. i realize that it's going to be difficult getting started again. it's like those old friends that you valued so much, but as time passed you by, the friendship went neglected and then one day you find yourself running into them on campus. both of you utter some sort of awkward salutation and you both offer a few excuses as to why the relationship has suffered and then you promise to stay in touch, even though you both intuitively realize you probably won't.

well i believe that most things in life are all about timing. and right now, due to several circumstances (i.e. the ending of my SEVENTH semester), i have the time to write.

the reason i'm still in waco two days after taking my last final, which by the way becomes a ghost town once baylor students depart in a mass exodus, is that i am attending the wedding of holly jones and britt duke tomorrow. even though all i seem to hear about lately are bridesmaid dresses, cakes, and honeymoon destinations (yes, i am only 22 years old - a young 22 at that! - i am reminded daily of the fact that I have not found "the one" due to all my friends getting hitched), I am still very excited about this wedding. for one, george's is catering, for another, this wedding is going to have a cool granola, common grounds vibe to it. and who doesn't love to come together to celebrate love - as paul, ringo, george and john say: it's all you need.

however, i'm paying a hefty sacrifice. it's currently 6:23 p.m. on a friday night and i'm sitting on my couch watching vh1's "best week ever." and although i'm about to start cooking a mean chicken cacciatore, complete with a glass of cabernet sauvignon and some miles davis, i am painfully aware that i'm all alone.

cue john mayer's "love song for no one"