The Memorial Day Event

Yesterday we held our Memorial Day ceremony at the state's veterans cemetery.  I was ultimately in charge of the event.  Talk about stressful for two weeks on the job.  Other than a few hiccups, nothing noticable occured. 

Governor Mike Beebe gave the keynote address.

This is called a Two Bell Ceremony and is a Naval tradition to honor those lost at sea.

The Air Force handled the rifle detail.  I almost broke my neck running from the pavillion, where the ceremony took place, down to the water where the gun salute was to take pictures.

I'm exhausted and managed to get some horrible blisters on my feet.  My dress shoes were comfortable at 6:45 a.m. when I first put them on but by 10 a.m. I was miserable from running around.  Regardless, it was worth it.  I learned a lot and hope the event will be even better next year.

We got great media coverage and around 500 people of all ages attended the ceremony.  It was a great salute to our fallen soldiers, veterans and service men and women.

After the ceremony we attended a cookout at the governor's mansion.  

Once I got home a had a lovely comatose-state nap. 

Memorial Day Prep

The state has two veterans' cemeteries. One in North Little Rock and one soon-to-be-opened outside of Wynne, AR. On Memorial Day the NLR cemetery will host a ceremony to honor those who have fallen defending our country. For a majority of my two weeks at the new job with veterans affairs, I have been working on the event. It's the largest Memorial Day ceremony in the state with Governor Beebe giving the keynote address.

We have been gearing up for the event with lots of preparations. On Thursday volunteers and members from the Army and Air Force came out to place American Flags on the each of the graves. I took pictures for our website, Facebook, etc. I also took a few with my phone because it was such a beautiful and meaningful sight.

It's hard not to cry thinking about the men and women who have served in the armed forces to protect our nation, some even laying down their lives.

The most emotional moment of the day came when one of the volunteers put a flag on the grave of his son who was killed in Iraq.

Perhaps one of the best things about this job is being in an environment that serves as a constant reminder that freedom is not free. It has come at a huge cost for many.

Take some time on this Memorial Day, and every day, to think of those who have served and are serving our country in the military.

Burlap It

I bought two chairs from Habitat for Humanity a loooong time ago and they have collected dust in our garage since. Seeing that I got the both of them for $5, I wasn't too concerned about getting to them.

Here is one of them before the makeover. Ugly but had potential. They were NASTY so required lots of scrubbing, sanding and more scrubbing. Painting was the easy part.

Of course it was difficult to refinish the chairs with "Princess Needy" in the way.

The finished, weathered-looking product. I recovered the cushions with burlap, my new favorite material. The cushions are not perfect, I need to work on them some more but they will do for now. I'm no perfectionist so I'm not too concerned.

Here they are together.

I'm very happy with how they turned out.

Still on the subject of burlap, I got new burlap lamps for the green cookbook shelves in breakfast nook. It's hard to see the one on the left but it has a chicken on it.

Did I Ever Tell You About the Time I Thought I Missed the Rapture?

Well guys, the rapture did not happen on Saturday as Mr. Camping had predicted. Big shocker, huh? He claims that the Bible lends clues as to when the end will come. Apparently, he missed the part of the Bible that notes people will unsuccessfully predict the end throughout time.

Funny story: Dad called me at 6:05 p.m. on Saturday (Camping predicted a rolling rapture - 6 p.m. in each time zone) and said, "Hey, have you seen your mom?"

Since the topic of the end times has been thrown around a lot lately I have been reminded about the time I thought I missed the rapture. For those of you who know me, you will finish reading this story and think to yourself, "That is typical Kendall".

It was about three years ago. Beau and I had been married for a few months and were living on the third floor of an apartment complex in Maumelle. My office closed early on Fridays so my normal ritual on those days was an afternoon nap. It had been a busy week so I was exhausted and somewhat delirious (although had this event occurred when I was fully rested, this story would probably sound the same.)

I had just dosed off when all of a sudden I heard a crazy, loud trumpet sound. It wasn't to a song like Taps, instead it was like someone was blowing just as loud and hard and they could over and over and over again. I sprung out of bed because in my head was, "Oh. My. Gosh. This is it!!!!" Looking out the window I saw nothing, no trumpeter, no cars, no people, N-O-T-H-I-N-G. Our complex was super busy so at any point during the day there was normally non-stop activity; people walking their dogs, sitting on their porches, getting in and out of their cars, etc. The stillness really increased my belief that it was the end.

The whole time I was frantically searching for signs of life the alleged trumpet was blowing non stop. Mind you, it sounded like a nine year old was playing but it was a trumpet sound, nevertheless. I kept thinking, "Surely God would have picked a better trumpeter." But the next thought was, "I don't think the Bible said it would be Louis Armstrong either." After a minute of seeing nothing and hearing nothing but trumpet, I started to worry that I had missed the boat which was pretty disheartening considering I am sure of my salvation. So I decided to call people who I believed would go in the rapture.

I, again, feel the need to say that I was really, really delirious at this point.

The first person I called was Beau. No answer. I tried to tell myself he was busy at work and probably couldn't talk. Next I called Courtney. Again, no answer. I really started to panic especially since the trumpet stopped as I got her voicemail and the apartment complex was still eerily calm. Then I moved to my Dad and got nothing. I was on the borderline of an anxiety attack at this point. Then I began scrolling through the contact list on my phone until I read, "Mom". Because if anyone was going to Heaven it was her. Right before I called it occurred to me that there was a chance she would not answer and it was for one of two reasons. One: she was busy or Two: she was registering for Heaven's softball team. Either way, her not answering would send me into full hysteria. So I laid down, took a deep breath and told myself, out load, "Left behind or not, either way I'm going to need a nap." So nap I did and after about thirty minutes, one by one, Beau, Court and Dad all called me back. I think I only had the nerve to tell Beau what happened because I felt so stupid.

To this day I have no idea where the trumpet sound was coming from but I'm pretty sure it was some kid who had just started practicing and has no clue he was responsible for my rapture panic.

She's Got to Stop Watching the News

Guess she's bought into the end of the world hype too.

In case you have been under a rock, you know that some crazy guy in California predicts the world is ending today. Actually, I think it is something like 200 million are going to rapture and the rest will stay on earth where there will be natural disasters until the world is enveloped by a fire ball in October. I'm not a follower, I just read a news article about it three minutes prior to this post.

I'll be back tomorrow for a post-Apocalypse follow up.

The New J.O.B.

Love, love, love it.

I know it has only been my first week but I can already tell that this is a great fit for me. I think the fact that I believe in what I am working for, serving our veterans, helps make the job enjoyable.

The experiences I have gotten this week have been amazing. I got to attend a joint committee budget meeting at the state capitol, a governor's appointed veterans commission meeting and tomorrow I will attend the state's veterans coalition meeting at VFW headquarters.

This week and probably next I'm housed at the veterans cemetery but after that I will be at Fort Roots, now home to the Department of Arkansas Veterans Affairs. Fort Roots was built in the early 1900's and was a military base for both world wars. There are a lot of buildings on the campus housing different offices and even a medical center.

Here is an example of what many of the buildings look like:

Here is a picture of one of the buildings in the early 1900's:

I have learned this week that I need to learn military jargon. A majority of my co-wokers are from the military. When they drop terms I nod as if I know what they are talking about and run to Google for assistance.

My Movie Reviews

I've seen several movies in the past two weeks and thought I'd share my non-movie critic reviews.

Court, Irish and I saw Water for Elephants the other night. Although I did not read it, the book, I heard it was amazing. The movie, I'm afraid, does not live up to the book's standards. While the story is good; set during the Depression, a Polish vet student leaves school after his parents are killed in a car accident. He jumps on a train that happens to be a circus train and is able to become the company vet. He winds up falling in love with the owner's (the bad guy) wife and and Rosie the elephant (my favorite actor) is thrown in there too.

The movie itself is gorgeous to look at. The set and costume people really did an amazing job. The biggest disappointment is the lack of chemistry between Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson's characters. I found myself thinking, "You guys are in love? Coulda fooled me."

Not being a Twilight fan, I blame it on Pattinson as I adore Ms. Witherspoon and would never accuse her of bad acting.

Mom and I saw The Conspirator together. If you are not into history, do not got see it because you will be bored to tears. Luckily, I love history so I found it to be very good. It is also pretty historically accurate. The movie, directed by the gorgeous-for-79-years Robert Redford, is about the trial of Mary Suratt. Suratt was the only woman convicted and tried for the conspiracy to murder Abraham Lincoln (and attempted murder of the Sec of State and VP). A young attorney, who fought in the war for the Union, Frederick Aiken is assigned to defend Suratt. The story centers around Aiken struggling to defend someone who potentially aided in the murder of his president and then his struggle to see she received the fair trial she deserved (instead of there being a jury made up of her peers, it was a jury made up of all Union soldiers; and witnesses tainted by the prosecution.)

You're probably asleep reading this, aren't you?

I also saw Something Borrowed with Kate Hudson and Gennifer Goodwin (whom I love). I went by myself, which I think everyone should do on an occasion. The movie was cute, a good chick-flick. I will say that it did not end the way I thought it would.

I'm super excited about a few movies coming this summer, mostly The Help. Read the book and watch the trailer. You'll be excited too.

Maiden Voyage

We broke 'er in this weekend, the camper that is. We stayed close to home at Lake Catherine (one county away). It was a lot of fun and very relaxing. Sleep is way better in a camper than a tent, by the way.

My friend Chassity and her dog Rashad came for a visit on Saturday.

Pretty sure the sun never came out but we had fun regardless.

What is that blur? That would be Mamie. She has never been to the lake before but was quickly fond of it. Not being a lover of baths she was not too crazy about getting in the water; that is until Rashad who is part Walker part Lab made a break for the lake in an effort to chase the geese and ducks. At first Mamie would follow him to the water's edge and stop until his return but after a minute or so something snapped in her and she flew in the water, running/swimming way past the depth of her head. She was insane, diving, swimming, running and rolling in the water for about 15 minutes. The above picture captures it well. Like Jesus, our dog can walk (or sprint) on water.

Rashad, who is several years older that Mamie, quickly realized he lacked the stamina to keep up with "Miss Baywatch".



Afterwards, we took our nasty, muddy, wet dogs for a hike to a small waterfall. They were too busy for photos.



Beau and the kids at the top of the waterfall.

Again, it is a small waterfall but still pretty.

After the hike, my parents and later Beau's parents joined us for burgers and brownies. The dogs also enjoyed burgers, or at least the scraps.

Because she was so nasty from her lake romp, Mamie got a bath in the camper. Once she was dry we didn't hear much from her as she passed out for the remainder of the evening. She never really regained consciousness until Tuesday. Needless to say, camping is a fun activity for pups.

This is what we woke up to Sunday morning. Loading up and leaving was lots of fun in flood conditions, especially since we forgot to pack rain gear.

From there I left to celebrate BF Irish's birthday. We saw a movie (Water for Elephants) and ate dinner. The whole time in the theater I kept thinking, "Is that a campfire I smell?"