Baby, I'm a dreamer for sure.

Because my brain never rests, I have a couple dreams I can share with you.


DREAM 1:

Those who know me can testify to this fact: I have never let alcohol touch my tongue. So of course it can be a temptation every now and then. What strikes me as odd is that in my dreams, when I do partake in adult beverages, I go out of control. In this particular dream, I did just that; the effects of alcohol, even in dream land, turn out to be very odd and unholy.

Also, you need to know that the night before this dream, I had a Twitter conversation with Lo. BREAKING DAWN SPOILER ALERT: We were quoting Jacob and Renesme like they were discussing their relationship after she grew up. Jacob, of course, imprinted on Edward and Bella's daughter, which means he is tied to her in a complicated way. But in essence, he is going to eventually fall in love with and marry this girl. When she grows up, duh. But he imprints on her as a baby, meaning he knows when she is born that this is who he wants to spend the rest of his life with.. That makes it weird. Our conversation was quite humorous.

Anyway, without further ado...

I was in what seemed to be not quite a church, not quite a house, but somewhere in the middle. I started out laying down on a pallet of blankets with a new, unopened bottle of vodka at my side. I screwed off the top and downed half of the bottle before sitting up right. As I felt the liquid poison my bloodstream, I stood up and walked out of the door. I found my friend Bubba. He told me his body was dying but that he could live on in a different body. So, he was somehow transferred to this 3 or 4 year old body. He could still talk, walk, think, etc. like he could as an adult, he just has to grow up again physically. I got one of those child carriers that you wear like a backpack, but on your front, and put him in it. I was walking around talking to him, and in my mind, I decided this is what it was like to imprint on a child. I decided it was completely sane.


As we were walking and talking, we ran into Will and Joseph. (They and Doug were really in Israel at the time.) I asked why they hadn't left for Israel yet. They told me they were going in a couple of days, when Doug was finished with his first three days of stuff. And then I had to explain to them about the Bubba child that was strapped to my chest. Quite embarrassing and hard to explain if I do say so myself. They were weirded out.


DREAM 2:


This dream really has no explanation. I haven't the slightest idea why I would have such a dream...

I was again, at a church, Christian Heritage to be exact. I was outside the Family Life Center under the awning when I ran into Tiffany Groves. Like a normal human being, I stopped to ask her how she was. She asked if I had heard about Daniel (her husband). I told her I had not and asked if he was okay. Tiffany told me that he was in a coma! I was shocked and trying to be sensitive, but I had to find out more details. I asked how it happened and she told me that he drank an energy called Ultimate Rockstar. This brand has six times the amount of sugar as a normal can of any energy drink. As soon as he finished it, he passed out in the coma and has not come back since. I asked her how long ago this happened and she told me he has been in a coma for six months. It was then that I noticed the dark circles under her eyes and the paleness of her skin. She had been running ragged for those six months. It was terribly sad. And really weird.




I also recently had a lucid dream. (You know, when the dreamer can directly control what happens.) I don't really want to share the details of that dream, but I want to tell you how you can have one too... it really works! Bubba and I actually watched a YouTube video about how to do it. The video gives extensive ways to help you be able to manipulate your dreams; I only used one of the tips. I set my alarm, woke up about thirty minutes earlier than usual, and turned the alarm off so I could fall back asleep. As I was drifting off again, I kept repeating in my head "I will have a lucid dream. I will have a lucid dream." until I fell asleep. As soon as the dream started, I knew I was in the dream world and had complete control. It was so much fun to be able to do that! And even though I knew it was a dream, I could still sense things around me as if it was real, like I can when the dream isn't lucid. It actually felt more real than any other dream, if that is even possible. But maybe that was just because of the events... of what I wanted to happen. I can tell you it was a bummer to have to wake up. I was quite enjoying myself.

I haven't tried it since, but I think I will soon.

Fight or Flight.

Yesterday was my day off of work. Because of the migrane I woke up with, I stayed home pretty much the entire day by myself. (Pawpaw was the only visitor I had.) 8 PM rolled around pretty quickly and as it was getting dark out, I searched the channels for an interesting program. I settled on a movie about murderers, of course. About thirty minutes into the movie, I hear some sort of noise coming from my kitchen, to which I turned the volume down so I could get a better listen. It was a repetitive, kind of sawing or scraping sound. I shrugged it off and decided to assume it was something I didn't need to check out. About ten minutes later, the living room light flickered three times, causing my heart to race a little. The light was the only electrical thing that decided to do this so I laughed at the situation as I continued watching the thrilling movie, trying not to psych myself out.

Another ten minutes passed and all of a sudden, my entire house went black. From my seat, I could see the houses across the street from mine; they all still had electricity. The other two occurances that happened just moments ago flooded my mind with every possible hostage/torture/homidice situation that I have ever seen in a movie. "Oh no, oh no, oh no..." I repeated in a low, horrified voice. I fumbled with my phone for a moment before I could get it to dial a number, any number. I selected Bubba's number quickly and darted my eyes toward the kitchen door frame, although I could see nothing. In my mind, whoever had caused that noise earlier was about to stand in the doorway and let it be known he was there. Finally, Bubba answered. I couldn't really get my thoughts together of what I wanted to say, so I ended up asking if he was busy at that moment. As I waited for the answer, I felt a little ridiculous for not just saying what was going on in my house and in my mind. I got it together and told him in broken sentences that I was terrified and couldn't see anything. He would ask me questions, but I didn't know what to do or say. My words wouldn't come out right.

He finally just resolved to come to my house but I couldn't sit there and wait for a deranged psychopath to kill me with inevitiblity. I felt around on my couch and found my purse sitting there, thank God. I told Bubs I was just going to come to his house. I found my keys in the front pocket and darted to the front door. As I opened the door, I just imagined someone coming right up behind me. This put a little more fire under my step. With no shoes on, I slammed the door behind me and I frantically walked into the rain to my car. Hands trembling, I fumbled with the keys until I found the right one. It was one smooth motion once I got the key into the lock; I hopped in the car, shut and locked the door, and cranked the engine before I took in another breath. My dark house looked so out of place on my street of lit up ones. I drove out of there as fast as I could.

On the way to the Johnson's, I noticed that, of course, I was out of gas. If this wasn't a scene of a scary movie, then I don't know what is. I drove for a bit and pulled over at a gas station that I am well familiar with. For my bare feet, I scrounged up a pair of flats that happened to be in my car. I only pumped $10 into my car before deciding that was enough, I wasn't waiting around like the stupid girls in movies to see if it would turn out the same way. If movies have taught me anything, it's to be smarter than their characters.

Finally in my car and on the way to my destination, I called my sister to let her know what happened, as she would be returning home soon. I had to leave a voicemail because there was no answer. I turned on Christian radio to calm down my nerves a bit. I was a little shaky from this entire episode. One line of a song stuck out to me; it kind of nudged me that it was what I needed to hear. The lyric said "you just call My name and I'll be there." So, I did. I prayed that everything at the house was okay and that I was truly freaking out for nothing; better an embarrassing freak out than a real life horror scene. Half listening, half praying, the next song truly made me feel better. At the moment, I can't remember what song it was, but it kept repeating "do not be afraid". It was the only thing I heard and I really felt God saying it to me.

My sister called me back when I got to the Johnson's and I told her the story and advised her to wait until her boyfriend got to the house before going inside, to which she agreed. In the end, it turned out that everything was okay in the house, praise the Lord.

I am very thankful I can tell this story in slight embarrassment and humor. After the fact, the whole thing is quite funny, but if it happened again, I would react the exact same way. And don't pretend you wouldn't have thought or done the same.

It really is Halloween time, isn't it? ;)

The $500 Movie Ticket.

I just had a NaNo freak out! There are about 24.5 days left until the month of November begins and I have no clue of what I am going to write about. I am starting to question whether I actually want to do it now or not. I made it through last year, but my story failed to even keep my attention, so it wasn't worth trying to resuscitate. I haven't even read the bulk that I wrote since day 30 of last November. Maybe I'll pull that out and try to convince myself to do it and be better this year.

I neeeeed a story to tell. It's so hard to come up with a fresh story from the recesses of my mind. I feel like every story possible has already been told, even though that's a lie. Only after the fact of reading an interesting book/story do I think hey, I should have and could have written that first.. psh, another lie.

Someone give me a brilliant story for my NaNo novel and if I use it, I will dedicate the entire book to you! Such an honor. ;)


I've lost count of how many movies I've seen in theaters this year, but the last known documentation was 47 on August 31st, and I've seen quite a few since. Let's say I have roughly seen 50 movies this year. IF I paid the full, average price of $10 per ticket, I will have spent $500.00 on movie tickets alone since January 1st.
That. Is. Ridiculous.

However, plenty of those movies were seen for the price of $1 or $3 at the cheap theater and there have been many occasions the ticket was free (friends in high places). Still, movie ticket prices are outrageous, but that doesn't keep me from seeing them. #cinemafangirl

Officially Autumn.

The first day of fall certainly warrants a blog post. I have been waiting for today since the first scorching hot day of the summer. Are we in agreement that the summer was unbearable? Yes, we are. ...I thought so.

I'm not typically a morning person - usually I will not talk to you until I completely wake up, which takes a couple of hours - but I am feeling particularly happy today. I think because the events of today have been quite comical, and I have only been awake for less than 2 hours.

Ash woke me up this morning so that I could braid her hair. She told me my alarm had been going off for a long time and that she herself was almost late for work. This gave me the idea that I was running late. In a hurry, I checked the time; it said 7:30 on my phone but my brain registered that it was 8:30. So, like usual, I let myself lay in bed for 10 or 15 more minutes. I had planned on getting up early to straighten my hair, but at this point, I threw my hair up in messy pigtails. I rushed out to my car and was on my way to work, running just a few minutes behind... like normal. I walked up to our office door and almost unlocked it when I noticed that there were no lights on in LensCrafters and they are always here before the doctor's side. I checked my phone to see if someone tried to contact me because they were late and that is the point that I noticed it had just turned 8:03 am. Not 9:03. I was one whole hour early to work. There was nothing I could do but laugh. I felt a little dumb. And a little embarrassed.

But I quickly absolved my embarrassment by treating myself to a Pumpkin Spiced Latte for the first day of fall. How convenient is it that Starbucks is just across the parking lot from my work? I am one lucky optometric technician. ;)

I enjoyed the latte in Starbucks for a while before retreating to my car to finish it off while listening to The Cab. (BTW, they have a new album "Symphony Soldier" that is to die for. I am in love with the entire album and have been able to listen to nothing else. You must go out and buy it!) While sitting in my car, a few drops of the orange colored latte dropped onto my light green scrubs. I had a napkin so I dipped it in the cup of water I had with me and scrubbed the two spots until it was only semi-noticeable. A few minutes later, I did it again - this time, it was more like splashes of latte. I then happened to notice a random pair of nicely-folded-and-ready-to-be-worn scrubs in my car. I just had to chuckle at the situation.

Nothing went "right" this morning but everything turned out better than I had wanted/planned. I think it was God who orchestrated this entire thing. It's Friday. It's Fall. It feels fabulous outside. He sure knows how to make me happy. :)

Happy Friday, lovelies!

Locks of Love.

Kind of hard to see, but
this was the night before.



Cousin It.



12 inches.



New hair.



Half a century.

Daddy is 50 years young today! In celebration, here are 50 things you probably didn't know about him...

1. He is the youngest of four.
2. He is an engineer for SRS.
3. His transportation is a motorcycle.
4. He is the funniest person alive.
5. He calls me Bucket.
6. He has taught himself to play many many instruments, including guitar, banjo, piano, drums, etc.
7. His mind is incredibly creative; he used to help my siblings and I with projects and such.
8. His middle name is Alan.
9. He played soccer in college as a goalie.
10. He filmed hours and hours of our lives as we were growing up.
11. He graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
12. He used to DJ for all of our school dances. (The high school pageants, too.)
13. He gave me my middle name. (Brooke)
14. He  is the parent from which my siblings and I learned our sarcasm/humor/quick wit.
15. He's a trekkie.
16. He looks exactly like his father did.
17. He is relatively a quiet person (I take after him).
18. He helped coach the softball teams I was on.
19. He used to rock a mustache.
20. His favorite movie is The Blues Brothers.
21. He watched all of the Harry Potters so he could go with my siblings and I to the Deathly Hallows
part 2 midnight premier.
22. He is an avid reader.
23. He has two brothers and one sister.
24. He broke both arms when he was little. (I think he fell off of a tree.)
25. He can fix anything.
26. He gave his physical genes to Cody and Brandy.
27. He is a runner.
28. He rode the dragon on his motorcycle. (a winding, narrow, curvy road in the mountains)
29. He will "hit the deck" at every rapid.
30. He chews on toothpicks until there is barely anything left.
31. He is the master griller.
32. If our old (long time dead) dog, Scotty, was a person, he would be my dad.
33. He once burned me with boiling water on accident. (we were making macaroni and cheese)
34. He was the tooth puller and fairy.
35. He would call every single one of our pets "Biscuit."
36. He taught my siblings and I the Smartt family secret.
37. He knows how to turn a phrase for a paper. (He helped us plenty of times.)
38. He has done (possibly is still doing?) the Caveman Diet.
39. He used to play "Everybody Dance Now" on the stereo for us in the living room so he could
watch/film us dancing.
40. He tried a Krystal at the Krystal Headquarters in Chattanooga before it came out.
41. When he was little, he used to lay under the record player to watch the gears turn.
42. He wears contacts. (In fact, he is the one that contributed to my bad vision. :P)
43. He built us a fort in our backyard.
44. He is very handy with tools.
45. He is an incredible artist.
46. As a teen, he had perfect helmet shaped hair.
47. He had a red '68 or '69 Camaro. And I think he had it until Brandy was born; they traded it in for a
Ford Aerostar aka The Pimp Van.
48. His first worked at TVA before moving us to North Augusta to work at SRS.
49. He tans very quickly.
50. He used to put all of our drawings on the wall in his old office behind his computer. It was
completely filled.

Happy Birthday, Fah-jah!

I love you so much!!

Blood & Music.

The deep crimson hue of a half a liter of blood is quite pretty. I watched that amount of my own blood flow from my arm through a long, clear tube and into an IV bag. It was my first time to give blood. I hadn't planned on doing that for my afternoon off, but Ash did and she asked me to come along. I was pretty excited because I have always wanted to donate. The tube sat on the length of my arm as it transported life juice from my body; I could feel the warmth of the blood. It was rather neat. I could definitely feel the change in my body as I sat in that chair. It's been a couple hours now and I can still feel the after effects. It's not bad, just uncomfortable; I'm a bit woozy. And they gave us a free T-shirt! That's always a good thing, and the shirts are actually really cute. Win-win, eh?

You know, the iPod song shuffle survey thing...

How am I feeling today? Ordinary - Candlefuse
How do my friends see me? Forgiven - Sanctus Real
What is my best friend's theme song? Enchanted - Taylor Swift
What is the story of my life? Good Girls Go Bad - Cobra Starship ..haha
What is the best thing about me? Miracle - Paramore
What is today going to be like? The Broken - Coheed and Cambria 
What is in store for this week? The Moment - Safteysuit
What song describes my mom? I Don't Need a Soul - Relient K
What song describes my dad? Just Like Somebody Else - Big Daddy Weave
To describe my grandparents? Beautiful Words - The Afters
How is my life going? Enjoy the Silence - Anberlin
What song will they play at my funeral? Last Flight Home - All Time Low
How does the world see me? Thinking About You - Norah Jones
Will I have a happy life? Next Year - Corey Smith
What do my friends really think of me? Burn This City - Cartel
How can I make myself happy? Promise the Stars - We The Kings
What should I do with my life? Crank Dat Soulja Boy - Soulja Boy
What is some good advice for me? She is Love - Parachute
How will i be remembered? From the Bottom of my Broken Heart - Britney Spears
What is my signature dancing song? The Party Scene - All Time Low
What is my current theme song? Perfectly Lonely - John Mayer ..haha, great.
What does everyone else think my current theme song is? Word of God Speak - Kutless ..dang.

LIFE STORY:
Opening Credits: One Sweet Love - Sara Bareilles
Waking Up: The Real - Nevertheless
First Day At School: Brighter - Paramore
Falling In Love: Endless Love - Glee version
Fight Song: One Time - Justin Bieber ..haha
Breaking Up: Forgiven - Alan Lastufka & Luke Conard
Prom: You Got It Bad - Usher
Life's OK: World of Warcraft Ruined My Life - All Caps
Mental Breakdown: Left All Alone - There For Tomorrow
Driving: Decode - Paramore
Flashback: Love Like Woe - The Ready Set
Getting Back Together: Other Side of the Door - Taylor Swift
Wedding: Lullaby - The Spill Canvas
Birth of Child: Brink of Disaster - Mae
Final Battle: You Make Me Sick - Pink
Death Scene: This is How I Disappear - My Chemical Romance
Funeral Song: Party Foul - Family Force 5
End Credits: You'll Be In My Heart - Usher singing the Disney song from Tarzan

What song describes my mood right now? Shackles - Mandisa
What song do I listen to when Im depressed? Somebody to Love - Anne Hathaway
Happy? Billionaire - Glee version
Scared? Yule Shoot Your Eye Out - Fall Out Boy
Bored? Banana Pancakes - Jack Johnson


Movies seen in theater: 47
DvDs bought: 72 (it changed!)