The best thing about warmer weather in Birmingham is that Pepper Place Farmers Market opens. We go every Saturday we’re in town, and this weekend was no exception.

The market just opened for the season. Years ago we were just one of a few folks who headed out there every Saturday, but it’s since become hugely popular here. Which is a good thing for the farmers.
 
Today we bought a bunch of strawberries, because Truman would choose to eat strawberries over any other food on earth. We also bought tomatoes from one of the few vendors who had ripe ones to choose from. …read more

Last night , I witnessed the sweetest moment between my daughter, Bailey, and her boyfriend, Greg. I immediately wrote about it and sent it off to my friend. This friend, like me, is a little disillusioned by love, and I thought she would appreciate hearing about someone who is getting it right.
Greg lives with us, because his mother packed him up and turned him out about 3 months ago. He is a great kid, although I’m pretty sure that since he’s only been here a few months, we are still getting the very best of him. Bailey and Greg have …read more

A great kiss.
It’s sort of the universal language of expression, and doing it “right” is a matter of just following the right cues.
Everyone can use a little guidance, though, and my friends at Binaca, known for their super-strong but sweet breath products, shared some fun tips that I know will help all of you out on your very next date.
Get comfy first. There’s nothing more disruptive than writhing to readjust mid-kiss.
Make it short, sweet and lace it with a little passion. If this is the first kiss you’ve shared with someone, start slowly, gently and with lips only slightly parted.
…read more

I read today that Jamie Foxx will not allow his 14-year-old daughter to date because she looks older than her age.  Here’s the quote that I read:

Hollywood star Jamie Foxx has banned his teenage daughter from dating after the press confused the 14-year-old girl for the actor’s latest flame.
According to contactmusic.com, the actor/singer admits he’s become overprotective of his young daughter, Corrine, because men often think she’s twice her age.
“She’s not going to date until she’s married. She’s so beautiful…I was coming out of a restaurant with her, I guess the paparazzi didn’t know who she was, and the paper …read more

Am I alone in hating these Nivea lip balm kissing commercials?

I know, I’m despising them for one very simple reason: I’m not getting kissed like that. I don’t know if I’ve been kissed like that in a very long time. In fact, I can sit here and quite fondly remember when I was kissed like that, by whom, and how much I absolutely fell in love with him when he did kiss me like that. And it was like, 9 years ago.
But I’m not being kissed like that NOW.
I haven’t been in a long time.
Damn these friggin’ romantic-y mushy love …read more

It’s a defining moment of any romantic relationship. But don’t you sometimes wonder how humans learned to derive shared pleasure from locking lips?
Suite101.com has a thorough article covering the anthropological origins of the kiss:
So who invented kissing? Anthropologists think kissing’s origins are to be found in primitive times when mothers chewed food and transferred it directly from their mouths to their babies’ mouths, a method of preparing baby food that is still practiced in some cultures today. Another theory comes from the Ziller Valley of Central Europe where pre-chewed tobacco was exchanged between males and females. The man would hold …read more

Is it a little like the kiss under the mistletoe? I’m not certain.
Hmmm.
I’ve heard it said that it’s best to go to that New Year’s Eve party with someone you’d want to kiss when the clock strikes twelve because word has it that he might just be “the one”. Does anybody know who started this tradition? In my country, it being a conservative one at that, we really don’t practice the kissing on the lips part when we welcome the new year. It’s unacceptable to kiss someone outside matrimony. But, of course, things are a bit lighter now. Some …read more