Hi there! Thanks for stopping by! Let’s get right to the point! For those who don’t know, gumbo is a DELICIOUS stew that originated in southern Louisiana. It’s chock full of…well…quite possibly everything! It usually contains a hodge podge of chicken, sausage, seafood, rice, vegetables…basically whatever floats your boat! The first gumbo I ever had even contained turtle feet! (Not that turtle feet float my boat.) They weren’t half bad!

I’ve been considering starting a blog for a while now. A LOT goes through my open mind and I’m not very shy about sharing it. Good, bad, wicked, funny, politically incorrect, sentimental, inspirational. I say the things most people won’t. Sometimes I even say the things people shouldn’t. Sometimes it all goes together. Sometimes it doesn’t. My brain is a delicious hodge podge stew! Get it? 😉  I could seriously use an outlet! My friends are usually my target audience. But many of them have children…who can now read their parents’ Facebook pages. LOL So, here we are! Expanding!

The problem was I just couldn’t think of a catchy, cute, appropriate title! That is, until today! As I sat in my office, glued to my computer screen full of periodic elements and numbers, it just hit me! Open minded gumbo! I like it! And that, my dear friends, is how this blog was born!

So, what shall we dive into first? Politics? (Rick Perry likening homosexuality to alcoholism. Naw, not today.) Friends? (Maybe later.) Marriage equality? (Let’s wait.) My time in Iraq? (Maybe tomorrow.) My Disney addiction? (Oh, that’ll be sprinkled in places it doesn’t even fit! LOL) Me? Alright. I guess that’s fair.

My name is Valarie Shakespeare. *sigh* (and now the questions) YES! That’s my real name. NO! I don’t know if I’m related to William Shakespeare yet. I’m a novice to genealogy, but I’m working on it. YES! It may be unusual to you, but it’s no where NEAR unusual where I’m from. (Yes, I ended a sentence with a preposition. I consider myself a grammar nazi (there’s that political incorrectness) but from time to time, I WILL skate the grammar rules.) NO! I was not teased in school and to my knowledge, neither was anyone else in my family. Remember. My last name was common in my hometown. I’m from a small city in southern Alabama called Andalusia. (Yes, like the horse.) Born, raised and educated in sweet home Alabama.  That’s right! I’m a Bama girl! Sweet as molasses,  feisty as a fox and don’t cross me or I’ll be as mean as an angered rattlesnake!

I love God, the ocean, my awesome friends, family, Broadway and Disney!

I moved to my dream state of Florida in my 29th year. LOVED EVERY MINUTE! I WILL reclaim my Florida residency someday.

I moved to Iraq as a contractor 2 weeks after my 32nd birthday for 2 1/2 years. That was an amazing experience! Now, I reside in Texas. Or rather, what they TELL me is Texas. Feels more like lil’ Mexico. (Anybody ever been “out in the West Texas town of El Paso?” Yeah, you know what I mean, then! LOL)

I’m single (for any good man looking! But there ARE basic requirements!) I have no children and no desire for children of my own. (I’m sure that’ll be a blog later.) I have beautiful children in my life who I love as if they were my own. That’s good enough! I consider myself much better “auntie” material!

So, that’s a little about me and how this blog came to be! (Ha, ha! I rhymed!) Till next time. Tomorrow should be good. It’s Friday the 13th!