Author: Big Mama

Ring the bells giveaway, part deaux

Okay, it appears that my comment function gets overloaded when it reaches 924 comments. Since I’ve never received 924 comments on one post before, I had no idea that it created some kind of issue with the comment system.

However, I don’t want WordPress’s shortcomings to keep you from the opportunity to win a copy of Travis Cottrell’s Ring the Bells CD.

So, if you haven’t already left a comment in the previous post, leave a comment on this post. The first comment will be #925 and we’ll go from there. The random number generator will never know the difference!

Thanks, y’all!
Edition 41: Fashion Friday

So while I was in Nashville last week, there was a real live stylist on the set. And by “real live stylist”, I mean that she actually gets paid to dress people for a living as opposed to just dispensing arbitrary advice on the internet while under the influence of prescription cough medicine.

Anyway, her name was Heather and she was lovely and very fashionable. I told her I had a little blog where I sometimes play the role of fashion expert and asked if she had any wisdom to share. Truth be told, we’d probably all be better off if she’d just take over the entire Fashion Friday thing, but I think she’s way too busy being a professional.

However, she did give me a little gem of color wisdom. Do you ever wonder if one color goes with another color? Or have an outfit that needs a little pop of color but you’re not sure what color that should be?

ME TOO.

Do a google search for the color wheel and you will find something that basically looks like this.

Any colors that are directly across from each other on the wheel are complementary colors. In addition to that, every third color is also a complementary color.

For example, on this wheel, the colors found in section 1 and 19 are complementary because they are across from each other. And colors 1, 4, 7, 10, etc. are also complementary.

You can use this information to create a color palette that you can work with in your wardrobe, decorating your house, or even trying to figure out what everyone should wear in this year’s Christmas card photo.

Everyone else in the world may already know this information, but humor me and make me think it just changed your life.

Now for the questions.

1. Kristi asks: “My sister-in-law is getting married for the second time, as is her fiancé. She is 35 and has always been trendy in what she picks out to wear, although she will tell you she’d rather have traditional anything. She thinks she wants “white” but since you’re the queen of fashion, I’m wondering if you might have some suggestions for her. Low key wedding but she wants it to be memorable.”

First of all, congratulations to your sister-in-law! I’m so glad that she and her fiance’ have found each other.

Secondly, it’s the bride’s big day and if she wants to wear white then she should wear white. The most important thing is that she feels beautiful and special.

I love either of these dresses from J.Crew. They are simple and elegant. The best part is that they come in ivory which is much softer and usually photographs better than a true white.

I also love this matte jersey gown by Calvin Klein.

But, if it were me, I would choose this dress by BCBG.

In fact, I may have to sell P on the idea of renewing our vows. Isn’t that traditional for a 12th wedding anniversary?

2. Mary asks: “I am currently in a great debate among friends on the appropriateness of wearing tracksuits/windpants as casual winter wear. I was told that ‘anything made out of material used to make a kite is not ok’. I tend to disagree. Shouldn’t everyone have some casual athletic wear to use for trips to the store and the like??? And along the same line, what is your opinion of velour???”

I hate to tell you but whoever told you to stay away from wearing material used to make a kite is your true friend. That should be a universal fashion rule.

Another guideline is to ask yourself how much noise you want to make as you walk the aisles at the grocery store. Shopping for groceries is hard enough these days without the distraction of “WHOOSH, WHOOSH, WHOOSH” coming from the canned vegetable aisle.

I do agree that everyone needs some sort of casual athletic wear for the winter, but don’t be afraid of good old-fashioned cotton goods.

Personally, I’m a big fan of yoga pants or something like these jersey pants. They’re comfortable and versatile, plus you can pair them with a lot of cute things like a fleece pullover or a lightweight hoodie. You could even get super tricky and wear them with a vest.

(Total sidenote. Whoever works for Old Navy and decided to call that color “Baby Spinach” should be fired because EWW.)

As for the velour, I was ready to give up on the velour. A few years ago I decided it was perhaps a little too “Jenny from the block” and needed to go the way of Bennifer. However, I am a closet velour fan.

Last year, I gave in to the velour pants. I wore them with t-shirts and occasionally my denim jacket, but swore I wouldn’t go back to the full-on velour suit.

Yesterday I purchased a complete velour jogging suit AND I think I like it.

Even though a part of me feels like I’m wearing a costume.

What does this mean, my love of the velour jogging suit? Am I old and out of touch? Am I giving into Motherhood Fashion?

I’d love your thoughts on the velour jogging suit before I take the tags off the one I bought.

3. Caroline asks: “Is there a way to gently break it to someone (a good friend) that florals and stripes, stripes and plaid, or floral stripes and plaid REALLY don’t match? And also, said person really wants to be a fashion designer and is working towards it. Often her colors don’t match either!! Should I say nothing?”

Yes, you should say nothing.

If Project Runway has taught me anything over the last few seasons it is that fashion and taste are very subjective. It doesn’t always make sense and often beauty is in the eye of the beholder and/or designer.

How else do you explain the fact that anyone ever wore acid-washed jeans?

Or the prom dress that Molly Ringwald designed for herself at the end of “Pretty in Pink”?

That’s it for today.

Y’all have a great Friday.

I’m looking forward to a weekend curled up with my cough medicine and various decongestants.
Crazy hair and just plain crazy

Remember last week when I was sick?

Yeah. I’m still sick.

I thought I was getting better last Friday and then I came down with a raging sore throat on Saturday afternoon. It was the kind of sore throat that makes you want to pull your head off your body just so you can feel better. And also eat lots of ice cream.

By Sunday morning, I was a mere fraction of my normal self. As much as I loved Nashville, apparently it didn’t love me back. Unless it shows its love by making a person so ill that you come face to face with your own mortality.

I vowed that I would go see the doctor on Monday morning, but then I got really caught up with all the laying in my bed and doing nothing after I got Caroline off to school. It seemed like a lot of trouble just to be told, “You are allergic to ragweed. Go buy some Zyrtec.”

So I didn’t go to the doctor. I also didn’t go to the grocery store because, clearly, I was on the verge of death and couldn’t be expected to grocery shop in spite of our dire toilet paper shortage.

However, Tuesday found me facing the cruel reality of a field trip to the zoo with Caroline’s Kindergarten class. I don’t mean to be controversial, but I’m not really a fan of the zoo on even the best days. A large majority of the zoo property stinks, not to mention that the monkeys’ feet gross me out. It’s like seeing your old great uncle without his socks on.

Or maybe that’s just my family.

Anyway, I had promised Caroline that I would go to the zoo and I didn’t want to disappoint her in spite of my impending hospitalization for pneumonia and the fact that I couldn’t really talk above a whisper. So off we went to the zoo at 9:00 Tuesday morning on the big yellow school bus.

I’ll be honest. The school bus was really the highlight of the trip. In fact, when the school bus started off, all the Kindergartners screamed like they were on a roller coaster. I screamed too, but mainly because the bus brought back some painful memories from my freshman year in high school when a boy may or may not have convinced me to put a little bit of Skoal in my mouth while riding in the back of the bus.

It wasn’t one of my finer moments.

We actually had a great time at the zoo, but by the time it was over I knew it had pushed me that much closer to needing a lung transplant.

So yesterday morning, I finally headed to the doctor for an official diagnosis and good drugs.

When I arrived I had to fill out a form explaining why I was there, so I wrote “Husband says I can’t keep complaining about being sick if I won’t go to the doctor. Also, want heavy-duty cough medicine that will knock me flat out.”

I scored all the way around because I was diagnosed with a sinus infection and borderline bronchitis plus an ear infection. That’s the kind of diagnosis that will allow me to complain for days.

I also got a prescription for heavy-duty cough medicine that will make me forget I have a cough and a name. I’m going to save a little bit to take on election day or maybe just for the next debate.

But the best of all was that yesterday was Crazy Hair Day in Caroline’s class and I sent her to school looking like this.

And who can feel bad looking at that?

It’s the best medicine of all.
Ring the bells

Over the last week, Caroline has become a huge Travis Cottrell fan. Every time we get in the car she asks to listen to his song “2000 Years” and tells me “IT SOUNDS LIKE THUNDER, MAMA!”

In fact, on the way home from Luby’s Cafeteria on Saturday night (oh yes, we are living wild over here), she asked me to tell her all about Travis. So I told her about his lovely wife Angela and his three kids and how one of them is in Kindergarten just like her.

But that wasn’t enough.

When we got home she wanted to see a picture of Travis and his family, so I pulled up their picture on his website and we spent the rest of the evening listening to his music.

I believe this is how groupies are born.

Or maybe stalkers.

Anyway, the highlight of the evening was when I played her a few songs off his new Christmas album, “Ring the Bells”. I can say with all certainty that hearing Travis sing “Frosty the Snowman” may be one of the highlights of her life so far. I mean it’s one thing to sing about Jesus, but Frosty? Oh that is serious business.

Apparently, Caroline isn’t the only Travis Cottrell fan. “Ring the Bells” was released yesterday and is already at #4 on ITunes most downloaded holiday albums. He’s even ahead of George Strait.

Not to mention that CCM reviewed it and called it “the goose-bump inducing holiday record of the year”.

If you want to hear the greatness for yourself, then you can listen to a few full-length clips from the CD on his site.

I’m just proud to say that I used to podcast with him.

I have been so fortunate to listen to Travis sing at various events and the thing that amazes me the most is the way his music reaches everyone in the audience, no matter their age or background. He truly has a rare gift.

The soundtrack for Big Mama’s Christmas ’08 will be “Ring the Bells”. It is pure greatness.

This is your chance to win an autographed copy of “Ring the Bells”. I have ten autographed copies to give away and, trust me, you do not want to miss out on your chance.

If there was ever a time to comment for a chance to win, then today is the day. I’d LOVE for EVERYONE who reads this post to enter for a chance to win their very own copy of “Ring the Bells”. You have nothing to lose and giving yourself the best Christmas EVER to gain.

IF YOU ARE A FAN OF CHRISTMAS, THEN YOU WILL BE A FAN OF “RING THE BELLS”.

And if you want to, you can tell me the best present you’ve ever received for Christmas. Or you can just say “enter me in the contest”.

See how easy it is?

So go. Leave a comment. I’ll close them on Sunday night and announce the winners on Monday, October 13th.
Now I just need to pack my bags

A few days ago, I received an email from Shaun Groves with a form that I needed to fill out for my trip to the Dominican Republic with Compassion. The form required some information from my passport so P got it out of the safe for me, and when I opened it up I gasped in horror.

It is, without question, the worst picture that has ever been taken of me and that is saying something because I am highly unphotogenic. I got the passport back in 2001 before P and I went to Sicily with my family. Caroline wasn’t born until 2003, so I can’t even blame sleep deprivation for my pasty white skin and horrendous hair.

And, really, I can’t even discuss the plaid sweater set that I’m wearing. It’s just too painful to think I ever thought it was a good idea.

Anyway, filling out the form made me think about my upcoming trip and I realized I’d never shared why I decided to go.

Back in early June, Shaun sent me an email asking if I’d be interested in going to the Dominican Republic with Compassion. I talked to him on the phone, we discussed the trip, I promised to pray about it and let him know.

P didn’t really think it was a good idea, mainly because he was worried about my safety, and I just didn’t feel like it was the right thing for me. I emailed Shaun back, told him thanks for the invitation, but I just didn’t think this was the right time for me to make the trip.

The first Sunday of August, P went to church without Caroline and me. He came home and told me about the service. Our church had just participated in something called Royal Family Kids’ Camp, which is a week-long camp for abused and neglected kids.

He told me about the stories the camp counselors shared during church and was moved to tears just retelling them. He said it made him think about what he was doing to help the least of these. I felt something in my spirit begin to question if I was supposed to email Shaun and ask if it was too late to go on the trip.

But I pushed the feeling down and decided I was just caught up in the moment as I heard the heartbreaking stories.

Gulley and I left that Tuesday to take the kids on a road trip to Bryan. On Wednesday night, I got on her mama’s computer to check email. I scanned over everything in my inbox and then saw something that caught my eye.

It was an email from Shaun with the heading ARE YOU SURE?

I didn’t have to open it to know what it said. I mean chances were good that Shaun wasn’t emailing me to ask if I was sure about the shoes I’d bought the day before. Sure enough, the email said there was still room on the trip and asked if I was sure I didn’t want to go. He needed an answer by Friday.

As I lay in bed that night, my mind was racing with all the reasons I didn’t think I should go. Finally I just said, “God, I will go if you are calling me to go, but you’re going to have to make P okay with it. I can’t go if he doesn’t want me to go.”

Gulley and I drove back to San Antonio on Thursday afternoon. When I got home I continued to pray about whether or not I was supposed to go. Honestly, I knew the answer, but I was scared. It is so outside my comfort zone.

I walked over to the desk and opened my Bible. My eyes immediately fell to the page and the verse I saw was Psalm 139:9, “If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”

Okay. I get it.

Thursday night after I got Caroline in bed, I sat on the couch with P and told him everything that had happened. He listened and then said, “I’m still completely opposed to you going. I don’t think it’s safe.”

I told him to just pray about it and to keep in mind that God doesn’t always call us to do what’s comfortable. He said he would absolutely pray about it and I knew that he would.

We didn’t talk about it at all the next morning and I just kept praying that God would lead us in the way we should go. Then around lunchtime, P walked in the back door as I was fixing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Caroline and said, “If you truly feel like God is calling you to go on this trip, then I think you should go. I’m okay with it.”

And there you have it.

I emailed Shaun and told him I was in and was excited about it. Not nervous, not scared, just thrilled to see what God is going to do.

The trip is now a little less than a month away and I have times where I start to feel anxious about it. I’ve never been that far away from Caroline and for that long, but every time the fear starts to rise up God is so faithful to remind me that He is my protector, my strong tower, my strength and my shield.

He has called me to go. And so I will.

Not because it’s comfortable, but because I’ve been called.

“Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”
I Corinthians 1:26-27
Edition 40: Fashion Friday

I’m on my flight home from Nashville and, while I had such a great time, I am so ready to see my people. It’s only been two days, but at my very heart and soul I am a homebody and there is nowhere I’d rather be than tucked into my little house with the two people I love the most.

But, while I’m up here at 36,000 feet, let’s talk about some fashion issues. I’ll answer a question or two in just a minute, but first I am in need of some help.

This is a picture of Vicki Courtney and her video producer, April, that I took during the shoot. I mean not actually DURING the shoot because that would have gotten me thrown off the set and been the end of my big career. Which would totally kill me now that I know the miraculous properties of air-brushed makeup.

Anyway, there’s Vicki and she looks great. What I need to discuss is her necklace. It’s not really her necklace, but rather a necklace the stylist borrowed directly from Kelly Minter’s jewelry box and this picture does not do it justice.

I’m not going to lie, I am totally obsessed with this necklace. I asked Kelly where she got it but it is basically one of those stories along the lines of a friend’s second cousin’s sister’s mother-in-law bought the necklace for her SOMEWHERE in Atlanta.

That totally clears it up.

And when you google all that, amazingly enough, you don’t really get any results that let you know where you can purchase the necklace.

I spent the day in Nashville hanging out with the lovely Annie (internet friend turned real life friend) and I told her all about the necklace, made her take me to several Nashville boutiques where I searched for an identical necklace and other fall fashion finds, and finally realized that only the internet can help me now.

So if any of you have ever seen this necklace or know where I can find one for myself, I would greatly appreciate it. I will even pay American dollars for it. Not that those mean all that much these days.

Okay, now for a few questions.

1. Virginia asks: “Do shoes have to match your handbag these days? I just want one handbag I can carry with EVERYTHING and that is big enough to stick some snacks in and a couple of diapers. Do you have a suggestion for a bag color? Please help.”

No, Virginia, shoes do not have to match your handbag. At least I hope they don’t because it is a rare day that my shoes and my purse actually match.

I’m a big fan of having one bag because all this business of changing your purse like you change your underwear is just asking to leave your wallet or, even worse, a pack of gum in the wrong bag.

I’ll never forget helping my family clean out my Mema’s house after my Papa died and finding all her old purses stashed in the closet. Every single one of them had at least three tubes of lipstick that she probably hadn’t seen since 1946.

Personally, I am looking for a great bag in a jewel-tone. They are really in for the fall and the color will work with just about everything. Here are a few that you might want to check out.

2. Caitlin asks: “I am looking for a simple red dress, about knee length, that covers the shoulders for my sorority’s rush in January. A red dress has been nearly impossible to come by. Know of any good ones?”

Oh, the red dress. It is a tricky proposition.

First, you have all the various shades of red. There are reds with blue undertones and reds with orange undertones. It is enough to make your head spin.

Second, the shoe issue. The last time I owned a red dress I am sad to say that I wore it with white hose and red heels. I’ll blame it on the fact that the year was 1994, but really there is never a good excuse for white hose. Unless you are an RN. Or one hundred years old with bad veins and need the support.

You didn’t mention if the dress could be long-sleeve or had to literally just cover your shoulders, but if it can be long-sleeved then I really like this one and it would look great with a really pretty long necklace. Or maybe this one. Or this. Or this.

Hope that helps. Just remember to stay away from white hose.

3. Pam asks: “How do you know all this fashion stuff, like animal prints are becoming classic and can always be used in moderation?”

Pam, I’m in no way a fashion expert. I just play one on the blog.

All my fashion advice should be taken with a grain of salt because I am in no way qualified other than the fact that I like to shop.

Some people knit, some people do papier mache. I shop.

Someone should put that on a t-shirt. I’d buy it.

Y’all have a great Friday!

Oh, and it’s Sophie’s birthday today. You might want to go wish her a good one. She makes 29 look so good.