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Last night was the inaugural Birmingham Girl’s Club meeting, headed up by Sherri Ross Walters! I was expecting awesomeness, but what I experienced was far, far beyond that. A little over 30 of us showed up, eager to see what this group would be all about. We went around the table and gave a brief snapshot of ourselves and individual projects. The coolest thing about the gathering was that nobody was cooler or more important than the next… everyone felt invited and respected. All ages were represented as well. All that was required was an open mind and passionate spirit. There isn’t a full-on agenda yet for the group, but Sherri is well on her way to finding how we can all help each other. We actually spent part of the meeting writing down ideas about just that – how to make this group effective and meaningful for all involved. If you are a lady in the ‘ham, you must keep up with this group. It will definitely inspire you to follow your dreams while having a group of cheerleaders constantly by your side! Every city should have a resource like this one.
This weekend is going to be a busy one. I am heading to Atlanta tonight to see Mr. James… been close to two weeks since I’ve seen his face! Tomorrow we will attend the first ever Yard 54 brunch, then we go straight to Nashville for Twelve on Sunday. James and I are also going to spend quite a bit of time working on preproduction for our upcoming short film to be shot in mid-April. Next week holds some big decisions (we will finally know our story!) and meetings that we need to prepare for. Also, during our artistic team meeting this past Thursday we came up with some great ideas that need to be modified within the scripts themselves. Soon on the docket will be storyboarding, shot lists and production schedules. It’s all a fun process, so we are trying to enjoy every minute of it. Thanks to everyone who has shown us support so far.
There are some other big things on the horizon that I am hopeful to share over the next few weeks. Please send good energy and thoughts as you can spare them my way. As my friend Misty Herron would say, I feel like a duck… calm on the surface but paddling like hell underneath. 
Inaugural Birmingham Girl’s Club Meeting
The founder of Birmingham Girls Club, Sherri, with the brand new logo!
My nieces have changed my world. I don’t think I quite appreciated the innocence and spirit of a child until they came around. I always said that I felt like I had had enough of babies and kids growing up as the oldest child of four. I remember changing diapers and carrying them around on my hip at a very young age. I was babysitting by age 10 or so and was thoroughly trained in the responsibilities of looking after another human being. But now I feel like it is a much different experience being around little ones. Last night Lily kept asking me to play with her in the sweetest little voice, and just having me by her side made her whole world. When mom put her down to sleep, we could hear her on the baby monitor saying… “I love you, I love you, Goodnight Mimi! Sweet Dreams Mimi! Goodnight! I love you!” After about ten minutes of this heartbreaking chatter, mom let me go and bring her back upstairs. The whole way back I told her how special she was and how much we loved her. She can now understand most of what we say, and it is the sweetest thing to see a child comprehend that they are completely adored. My other two nieces Anna and Lucy are in Disney World right now enjoying all things magical and fun. Keep the pictures coming Christy!
This weekend is the one year anniversary from the first day I met James. I still remember it like it was yesterday – this really nice, energetic, passionate soul sat down next to me at a group dinner at Rojo. We exchanged Instagram handles.. and the rest is history! hahaha I did get to spend a little more time with him that weekend before he continued on his documentary adventure around the south. After he left we talked every single day until he returned home to Atlanta about a month later, where we then had our first official date. Sometimes I think time flies by… but when I think about all that we have done in the last 365 days I realize we have taken advantage of every single moment. We already have so many memories. Thanks James for coming into my life and making it shine.
Speaking of us, as most of you know we are taking on a short film project together in the coming months! You can follow our blog here, or stay tuned to news on our Four x Facebook page. We are launching some pretty exciting things next week that I hope you all will want to be a part of. Most of all, I can’t wait to share the three short stories I have been working on!
Princess Anna in Disney World
Mimi and the Bean
Dang, I have a cold. Lucky it isn’t anything worse, but I still feel like a slug stuck in bubble gum. But there is some good news – I have lost 8.5 pounds! James has lost 10. Crazy to think that we are both basically halfway towards our goals. In the moment time seems to pass slowly when you are counting calories, however looking back it has actually gone by pretty fast. We are both looking forward to our maintenance phase so we can start learning how to eat again on a normal caloric budget. One thing we’ve both done well is to not call our new way of eating a diet, instead we’ve both embraced it as a lifestyle change. We have discovered the joy (and frugalness) of sharing entrees instead of getting our own. We both love having a variety of foods so sharing gives us the opportunity to try more while eating less.
Yesterday was James’ birthday! We had a great time this weekend celebrating the occasion. I’m not kidding when I say that a strikingly large number of my good friends were born in the month of January. Almost every day there is another person I know well to say happy birthday to. On another awesome note, we’ve officially entered into Aquarius, my own birthday sign. In a little over three weeks I will be 34! Turning another year older always makes me think about my life plans and dreams. Last night I made a rough grid of what I’d like to accomplish or have happen to me in the next 10 years or so. I know you can’t predict the future, but you can definitely steer it in the right direction.
More good news: We’ve all made it past the most depressing day of the year – Monday, January 21st. This online article from has some good advice and tricks to help get you through these dreary days. Before we know it, spring and summer will be here again to brighten our worlds.
Right now the Sundance and Slamdance Film Festivals are going on in Park City, Utah. One of my bigger goals is to one day have a feature film in one of the two. I know in order to get there, I must write my book first which will hopefully either fully fund or partially fund that film project. I think it’s a good plan, and I know I can do it. I’ve been writing really well the past few weeks, but I know I must keep pushing forward on a consistent basis. Sometimes while writing I think about how much more there is still left to do, and I get overwhelmed. So tonight I am going to break it down into mini goals and milestones. I want to be finished with it by the end of the year, no matter how much work and time it takes me. I will fully dedicate myself to this one project above all other personal initiatives for 2013. Because once it’s finished, I feel like it will be a total game changer for my life path.
can i help you?
A birthday party for James, Jesse & Liza!
the falcons game!
It’s Thanksgiving week! This time of year we are all reminded of the things and people who make our lives whole. Since it’s Monday I’m going to kick it off with a LIST OF THANKS.
This holiday season I am thankful for:
1. Naps
2. Long runs in cool air
3. Cold pillows and warm blankets
4. Cute nieces
5. Family time
6. Adventures with James Martin
7. Baby Kitty hugs
8. Highlighters
9. Ideas
10. Reinspiration
11. A variety of good movies to see
12. Yellow leaves
13. Floor heaters
14. Bangs and bobby pins
15. Black boots
16. Opportunities
17. A pretty amazing 2012 thus far…
Three of my favorite things: James Martin, yellow leaves and hipster glasses.
Baby chicken cake pops for Lily’s barnyard party by Jamie Golden! Find her on Instagram or Twitter: @jamiesrabbit and order some for yourself this holiday season. They come in so many flavors and your imagination is the limit for design! Can only be described as rich cake goodness.
Lily Bean is 2! Present from James.
Happy Labor Day!
I got to announce some fun news this weekend – I was lucky enough to win a finalist slot as best local blog in Birmingham Magazine’s “Best of 2012″ issue! A big congrats to Trish & Angie over at BirminghamMommy.com for winning the grand prize, they are a fine bunch indeed with lots of great content. Some of my favorite people in the ‘Ham for sure. Also, congrats to Alexis at samechicdifferentday.com for also making it as a finalist!
There’s another reason why you should pick up Birmingham Magazine this month – James & his partner Dan have a nice write-up on The Burger Coalition inside as well! Complete with awesome photographs by the amazing Wes Frazer. If you live in Birmingham or Atlanta and love a good burger, then you should sign up for one of their coalitions soon.
It was a peaceful few days in Atlanta with James, and I got up bright and early this morning to head back into town for work. We are taking on a few mini challenges for the month of September…nothing too big and scary, more for well-being purposes than anything else. Our first challenge is to give up alcohol for 21 days, which should be fairly easy to do. Within those 21 days we will also be doing 7 days as vegetarian, and 2 as vegan. I am really excited about that the most, as I’ve never tried to be completely vegan before. However I do follow a few friends on Instagram who are completely vegan all of the time, so I may be hitting them up soon for meal ideas. It’s also become a lot easier to get vegetarian and vegan friendly food in general at restaurants, and we have several here in Birmingham that specialize in both. My favorites are The Golden Temple and Bottletree Cafe. I love the idea that you can have a well-rounded meal with no meat. I was a semi-vegetarian for about 2 years (I ate fish on occasion) and it was much easier than you would think. It was also during a time where I calculated my nutritional intake, and I always got more than enough protein on a daily basis from natural sources. Our last challenge of the month is to do two days of fruit/vegetable juice, at least 1,200 calories worth. In fact, we do that this Wednesday & Thursday as a mini-cleanse. I am looking forward to it! We’ve already started thinking about doing other fun challenges in the months ahead, just to keep things interesting. Something I’d like to do is eat purely local food for a certain amount of time, inspired by the film Eating Alabama. The filmmaker and his wife take on a 360 day challenge of eating nothing but local food, and it turns out to be much harder than anticipated. You should check the film out if you get the chance, it has a great message and is appropriate for all ages.
I’m just going to make today’s post one big cultural plug and end with Artwalk!! This is my second favorite festival in Birmingham, which just so happens to be this weekend. It’s in the loft district downtown with more local art than you could ever imagine. There will also be live music and great food. Did I mention that it is free??? Pop in and walk around, it won’t disappoint.
Yay!! I made it as a finalist in this year’s Birmingham Best issue of Birmingham Magazine. Congrats to Birmingham Mommy!
Hanging out at a local coffee shop in ATL with James.
OMG – sooooo, I’ve been waiting all morning to post in case Christy had baby “L”, but looks like it will still be a few hours yet until my new niece comes into the world. My mom and dad are in Columbus with her and her husband, giving her plenty of back massages in the meantime. I get to meet baby L tomorrow night, and I plan to stay through the 4th so I can get some good lovin’ time in. I know she will be precious. My prediction: brown hair, blue eyes, 7 pound 6 ounces!
It was another great weekend in Atlanta. Friday night James surprised me with a “reverse date”, where you basically go on a date backwards. So we had drinks first, dessert second, and dinner last at three different spots in town. We were so full by dinner though that we didn’t quite make it to the appetizer round (and we kinda cheated by having a few snacks at the first place). It was a fun way to explore new restaurants in the city that I haven’t been to yet. I think my favorite out of all three was Sauced, as it had a 70′s retro feel to it.
I had terrible dreams last night… not sure if it was the storms passing through or just a funky trigger of some sort. I dreamed that there were multiple tornadoes all around Birmingham, and that the city was on fire. It was dark and gloomy, and there were lost injured animals everywhere. What the crap does that mean??? Maybe I ate something bad before sleep. 
It’s July!!! Of course I checked out my monthly horoscope on Susan Miller’s website the second they were up. You should too if you have about 20 minutes to spare, b/c that is how long it will take you to read it…hahaha. She is my favorite and the only forecast I will take the time to read. This month is going to be nuts – Chattanooga this weekend with friends, Louisville next weekend to see Lee Ann, then Indianapolis the last weekend for the Indy Film Festival. We got more good news over the weekend for Crush, which we will announce as soon as we can! It’s going to be a fun July.
A surprise reverse date! We had drinks first at Sauced, dessert second at Harper Station, then dinner at Parish. Photo by James
Banana Pudding at Harper Station – vanilla wafers topped with coffee ice cream inside of melty marshmellow, and fried bananas on the side. Photo by James
Killer Rabbit – awesome drink at Sauced in ATL.
Tour de France! A temporary tattoo on James.
Momma Paula and James
