RAINBOWS

I have been listening to some fun, light tunes this afternoon and immediately the sun began shining in my room...
and my daughter just chirped, "I LUUUUVVVV this MUSIC"

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW...

And today I read a few blog posts from a smart little girl (14) who looks at life so much the way I did at her age..
I turned all my lack of control in my life into a whirlwind of "flying by the seat of my pants".

I always came out unscathed. knowing LOTS OF ANGELS must be watching over me..
cause there is nothing to explain why I am still alive..
always pushing everything to the n'th.

DARING people to love me,
DARING anyone to cross me....

and all along...
I have found..

people WILL love you..
and they WILL cross you...

and the closer you get to the end of your RAINBOW..
the more they will want to see you fall...

but when you get right in and start chatting with strangers about what is REALLY bothering them..

they are wishing all along they had the guts to just put aside where they are and GO FOR IT.

This year 2011..

a lot of families are gonna be in places where they can
hunker down...or they can leap...

I've seen alot of ups and downs in others..
watched players who were on top fall,
watched big developers crash and burn after taking their last cruise on that big yacht that cost them
their families in order to obtain...

and then I see a man who has all the money in the world and little time in life to live,

Last night I had a dream,
that I moved back to the country..
into the antebellum home that sits deserted,
windows barren, floors falling...
and crawled into a big four post bed,
the same one my grandparents once left deserted after the death of their child,
when they decided to give up and let LIFE happen however the chips would fall.

There were only four rooms and a kitchen, a garden, and our kids were
running all around...And it felt like HOME.

And when I woke up this morning,
it all seemed so real. I even wondered where I was.

And I thought,
Here I am at the end of another year,
2010...
when in 2000 I think none of us even thought there would be a world,
and I looked at my husband, snoring, exhausted after a crazy week
beating his head against the wall to determine how to make the world unafraid of the GULF MESS.

And I thought...
we are so blessed...
we both are intelligent...but a bit unpredictable...which sometimes leads to lack of common sense :)
and we both have a country edge, living in a place where everyone I think could use a few days MUD RIDING..
but we also have a spirit of change that I have no doubt will help us set sail which ever way the heavens have
in store for us....

tomorrow we head off for a Colorado Christmas...
leaving home and Alabama behind..

I think of Annabel's post about wondering "who is that in that airplane" and I know somewhere in a journal I had
similar thoughts.

I remember flying over little box like houses, thinking that each family there has a little problem, or a drama, or something
and it certainly made mine feel MUCH SMALLER.

I didn't have blogs when I was growing up, I always wrote when I was sorting it out,
and somehow, I feel certain a best friend/role model (Mendy) will see that those books are destroyed :)
although she has no idea what little nuggets she might find :)

the power of words...
such an incredible force..
but thats a blog for another day.

TODAY,
I wanna focus on whats at the end of the rainbow..
and I know that ONLY GOD can know..
and really, if we focus on him,
the hurts placed on us by people will all melt away

He has put me on a path that has been so glorious,
filled with friends, and laughter,
and careers I could not have imagined myself :)
and book ideas, and scribbled songs on napkins,
and travels across the world
and children who are becoming life-long friends
and another to keep us young at heart..

Yeah, I'm seeing a bit of rainbow right here where I am
and if feels pretty good.

I wish you all whatever it is that you are looking for to appear right where you are!

Merry Christmas and the best of all years I pray for you.

Blessings!

Allison Puccetti Adams

New happYmess PAINT PARTY CLASSES SCHEDULED

SIGN UP NOW FOR HOLIDAY happYmess PAINT PARTIES
Create a ONE OF A KIND GIFT and have FUN~


NOVEMBER 24 (Wed before Thanksgiving) $35
KIDS CLASS k-6~ 11-1 PM (canvas included) ABSTRACTED TREES
TEENS CLASS 7-12th~ 2-4 PM (canvas included) ABSTRACT FUN

*NIGHTLY CLASSES (ADULT): (byob) TOPICS to choose from BELOW
Limited to 15 per class ($25/person)
MONDAY Nov. 29TH 6:30-8:30 WATER AND WINE
Tuesday Nov. 30th 6:30-8:30 ABSTRACT
Wednesday December 1 6:30-8:30 NATURE
Monday December 6 6:30-8:30 TRAVEL
Tuesday December 7 6:30-8:30 CITY-LINES/HOMES (bring photo of yours)
Wednesday December 8 6:30-8:30 BEACHY THEMES
Monday December 13 6:30-8:30 CROSSES
Tuesday December 14 6:30-8:30 SHOES/HATS/PURSES
Wednesday December 15 6:30-8:30 PETS
MOM/DAD AND ME CLASSES: ($60 for two includes canvas/materials)
Monday Dec. 27 5-7 and Tues Dec 28 5-7 ABSTRACTED/NATURE

OUR UNIQUE CLASSES ARE DESIGNED WITH NEARLY A DOZEN OPTIONS TO CHOOSE FROM FOR EACH CLASS~ WE DIRECT YOU EVERY STEP OF THE WAY~ NO TWO WILL BE JUST ALIKE.

See “TOPIC OF CHOICE” for the week you choose. Fun, home-studio atmosphere. Non-alcoholic refreshments complimentary and byob.
CALL NOW TO REGISTER: (205) 914-2400
(REGISTER for 4 and get a 5th class free)

*Price includes use of easels, smock, paints and a gift of a color mixing kit
You provide a canvas (any size) you would want to give as a gift to someone special or keep for yourself)
11X17 canvases available for $10.00 each (please call to reserve)

114 Richmar Drive in Crestline ~ 205-914-2400
Home of Allison Adams~ with artist Kristin Drew
Allison is author/illustrator: Birmingham Sketchbook and The 12 Days of Christmas Giving

ANOTHER GREAT SEAFOOD CO. REVIEW-SUNDAY BRUNCH

See photos of our BRUNCH ITEMS
and a great review

click HERE to read the review~

they gave us 5 stars!

SO WHAT ARE YOU UP TO NOW?

THIS MONTH WE ARE GETTING READY FOR
a fun low pressure, family filled week with Thanksgiving gaining on us and Christmas JUST AROUND THE CORNER.

I have written a book called THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS GIVING

available for a peek at THE BLOG (CLICK HERE TO GO THERE)

and have had booksignings in Homewood, Livingston and Vestavia.

SIGNED BOOKS ARE AVAILABLE AT OUR STORE~ CRESTLINE SEAFOOD CO. as well as NEW ARTWORK~

A portion of the sale of each book goes to local charities.

If you are in Crestline, hope you will stop in~

Chad just got a thumbs up from Birmingham's own B-METRO MAGAZINE

Click here for the article about SOME OF THE BEST GUMBO IN TOWN~

HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Allison

T shirts available

create & buy custom products at Zazzle

THE ALABAMA GULF COAST

A recent painting of Alabama Gulf Coast CRABS to inspire

while the oil rolls in, the spirit of the gulf lives.

For the MEN on Father's Day

A Note To All MEN on Father’s Day

Today I went water skiing for the first time in 30 years.

It was almost like riding a tricycle. All of the times when I was only twelve, a boyfriend of my mom’s would take us to the river and teach us to ski. The things he would shout, “bend your knees, let the boat pull you up!” came flowing back to me.

Looking back I think, he didn’t have to be so good to us. He didn’t have to pull us up and down sloughs in his boat from early sun-up to dusk. He didn’t have to teach me to back the trailer down the hill while he hooked up the boat. He didn’t have to let me drive illegally.

But he did. And he made a tremendous impact in less than a year while he was with us. He was one of the sweetest men I knew, but looking back, too weak a spirit for our family or for my mother.

I looked him up when I took my Sr. Trip in High School. He was happily married living in South Florida. I was glad he had found a great life outside of Livingston. Mom broke his heart. Think it was the brown van in the driveway that drove her crazy, it had painted designs on the doors. We loved driving it, Danielle and I, up and down the driveway. I think my sister must have been ten then.

I look back at that time, now 44, and cherish the sunset afternoons on the river. My sister and I skiing on his shoulders, my mom watching and I think then she was even skiing.

After we docked today at the lake, I came in, made a post on fb, my latest obsession, and thought, I’ll write “Pete” a quick note. I knew he was most recently a PE coach for a Bradenton High School. “I’ll tell him how much it meant to me, all those days with us.”

And there it was, in Person Search. Died, 2008.

Because of him, I can waterski, I know I could drive a truck, I could trailer a hitch. It is the little things that men take the time to share with us that make us who we are.

I have always been an independent “woman” type all my life and those who know me are quite perplexed with the gentleness I express when talking of Pete. I have run off QUITE a few boyfriends AND a questionable husband or two. (not all mine) But I write this to remind all of the boyfriends, husbands, and even friends of women with children, YOU can make a difference.

How often do you take the time to throw a ball (Jim Pate taught me to pitch when I was about six and I played until I was at least nine, he’d yell at me just as loudly as his boys “catch that ball!”. I loved that he didn’t treat me differently. Back then I think I was always on the “shirts off” team when we played sports. I was one of the boys.)

There are few others who affected me like Pete and Mr. Jim, as I called him. Mr. Jim was at Ann Kathryn’s graduation from kindergarten, he and “Miss Betty”. Not because of Ann Kathryn, but because their grandchildren are in her class. And it was just as special. It was like having family there.

My daddy, Tom Puccetti, treated me like an adult. At 5 he made me wire my own stereo, I had a dirt bike in the first grade, we’d ride his motorcycle all the way to Meridian where he worked. He would let me drive the tractors at the farm that is now Chemical Waste Mgt in Emelle. He taught me to ride a horse. I think he is the reason I can write, as I would go with him to teach his college English classes. In the fourth grade I would take the exams, sitting up in the corner window. He says I made A’s. I have no idea, but I read every English book he left in the garage when he left after I entered the fourth grade.

Without these influences, I think I might have been one of those gals to “sit on the sidelines”, to not take a risk. I might have been a person without a voice. I might say, whoa, I don’t know where to begin. I would watch them ski, I would be about like when I rolled down the mountain in Vail...not having a CLUE what to do. Too bad mom never had any snow bunny influences in my childhood. I might have been a graceful bunny instead.

Chad and I are making efforts to expose our children to everything we can, so that when they grow up they can become well rounded, adults, not afraid to take chances or “try that again”.

Brent was a natural on snow skis in Breckenridge, Shelton tubes, but we will be sure to put her on the skis at least once. We have no doubt Ann Kathryn will do it all. She tried to get up today on Chad’s feet. She is only 5.

I never want them to look back and say, “Mom, why didn’t you tell us about this?”

So MEN, this is a cry from the little girl inside who was lucky. And yes, we can learn it from our Mama’s, but it sure is refreshing to have a strong figure to look up to.

Blessings and happy Father’s Day to all those who are and who will be a light in a child’s life. We in Alabama have over 600 foster children, and countless others without fathers to believe in. Bored one afternoon? Look into how YOU can be the light in their eyes.


Allison Adams June 2010