In her book, “Stop Waiting to Die”, Tammy Pack shows that it’s never too late to head in a new direction in life. I enjoyed reading this book which explains how you have the power to take control of your life and pursue your dreams, regardless of your current circumstances. Through her life, the author has gone through quite a transformation herself. She began her journey as a lawyer, ventured into owning a boutique, tried her hand at running a luxury vacation rental service, and ultimately became a real estate broker. However, it’s important to note that she didn’t have all the answers right from the start, and you don’t need to either. In this exceptional book on reinventing your life, Pack courageously acknowledges that she embarked on each new phase without a perfect plan, gradually figuring things out along the way.

“Stop Waiting to Die” is an inspiring read, filled with compulsively readable stories that tell how one woman translated her mother’s wisdom from the South into a life marked by achievement and contentment. As a person who lives in FOMO, I couldn’t agree more. Two thumbs up!

For a big part of this book, I was kind of wondering if maybe I just didn’t get it. But I’m glad I kept reading.

Rachel is a 21-year-old college student, sharing a flat with her coworker from the bookstore, James. Rachel develops this major crush on her English professor, Dr. Byrne, but guess what? She might not be the only one after him. Throughout the year of them living together, Rachel and James get tangled up in Dr. Byrne’s and his wife, Deenie’s, lives. Secrets start piling up, and tension keeps on rising among everyone.

I felt by the time Rachel and James grew up and moved away from each other that the story really started happening and I could see where it was going.

This was a good book. A little hard to figure out at first but I liked it.

I haven’t had a drink in 10 months and no one is more impressed by that than I am.

I didn’t always drink. I would have a drink here and there to celebrate or when out to dinner but I never started drinking to relieve stress until we moved to Ghana.

Trying to get used to living in a country so different from ours was difficult for me. In addition to the general situation, we brought our little puppy, Frankie, along with us. He was a handful. And I’m being nice.

Every day, David would go off to work. I didn’t know anyone and would be stuck in the house with Frankie. It all seemed too much and suddenly, a nice refreshing Gin and Tonic seemed like a really great idea. After a couple, I could nap the afternoon away until David came home and we could go out and grab dinner. And Club beer.

When we started traveling overseas, checking out the local beers became a thing that David and I loved to do. i remember the first time was in Amsterdam. I loved how the city was set up and that on practically each corner you’d find a bakery, a cheese shop, a chocolate shop, and beer. Tables with umbrellas dotted the intersections. Heineken was the beer we’d drink there.

Eventually, we made a Top 5 list of our favorite beers:

1. Club Beer – Accra, Ghana
2. Belekin Beer – Belize City, Belize
3. Fiji Gold – Suva City, Fiji
4. Tiger Beer – Singapore
5. Red Stripe – Strawberry Hill, Jamaica

After we returned from Ghana, I continued to enjoy beers with David almost every place we went but I wasn’t stress drinking until I became a REALTOR. As the real estate market got crazier and the deals got harder, I started drinking. Sometimes every day.

I hated that. My dad and grandpa were alcoholics. I could see that drinking out of stress was a slippery slope. I would beg God to help me stop drinking. I’d wake up with fresh resolve and then, at the end of the day, give in and drink. The more I couldn’t stop, the more I hated myself. I pleaded with God to please help me stop.

On July 2, 2022, we went out to dinner with a couple who were some of my very favorite clients. It had been a tough day. I was so looking forward to visiting with them and just relaxing. I proceeded to drink my face off. I HATED myself the next morning. I was so embarrassed.

David said I wasn’t obnoxious but I couldn’t get past the fact that I drank way more than I should have. I was so mortified and that was the last time I drank. God did a miracle and I haven’t even wanted to drink since then.

I could not have done it without Him. He is still in the miracle business and I’m so glad to have experienced one.

I fondly think of drinking beer on a street corner, with David, in another country but I don’t ever have a taste for alcohol and I’m glad. God is good. Thank you, Jesus!

This past Saturday, I competed for the title of Classic Ms Crawdad Days. And I won!

I was SO excited. I did my first pageant in 1998 and, while I’ve had a lot of at-large titles, I’ve never won a pageant and had the crown placed on my head on stage.

It was awesome! But it went so fast. As soon as I digested the fact that they called my name, the lady beside me through a hug on me so big and so hard I almost fell off my heels. It was great. And a little te3rrifying.

The day was long. I didn’t need to be there for so long but I didn’t know that. In the end, I’m glad I was because I got to visit with the other contestants in my division and they are some pretty special women. To me, that’s been the very best part of pageantry and I’m still friends with girls I competed with in my first pageant.

What I was hoping to achieve at this pageant was to just have a good experience. To have fun and meet new friends. Last year, I competed in a pageant that wasn’t like that. It left a bad taste in my mouth and I didn’t want my last pageant experience to be a bad one. Because, after that weekend, I was never going to compete again. Last year, I was so stressed from work which compounded the bad feelings I took away from the weekend.

This time, I did things easy. I did my own hair and makeup. I love, love, love Jill and her talents are way up there but I didn’t want to bring her away from her business for the entire day. I thought I’d try it on my own for once. Boy did I miss her when it came time for the eyelashes! I did my own pedicure.

I did my own nails. You know, I got a package of glue on Nails for $6 at Walmart and they look fabulous! I did have to have David help me with the second hand after I stuck a finger to the other nail. But it took us about five minutes with no noxious fumes. And, if I can get them off (LOL) I’m hoping my nails aren’t destroyed for three months like they would be if I had gotten a gel manicure.

I did not diet. LOL! I’ve been trying to keep our food intake on the healthy side but, for the first time in my life, I do NOT want to be pageant skinny. I do not want to be a frail old lady who gets taken out when she falls and breaks a hip. I’m sturdy. It’s who I am. I’m going to start owning it.

The pageant was extremely well run. There were over 130 contestants from babies up to me. I was the oldest contestant in the pageant. It moved along smoothly and, while it seemed to take forever for our group to be on the stage, there were no holdups.

I am excited to hold the title and to reign, along with the other nine titleholders at the Crawdad Days Festival May 19-21. I hope to see you there!

While I can’t predict the future, I do spend a lot of time researching the market and seeing what economists are predicting.

One thing to keep in mind is that our current market is drastically different from our market in 2006-2008. We have an extremely low supply of inventory in the majority of the country (meaning there are more buyers looking for homes than there are homes for sale) which has driven up home prices.

Secondly, homeowners have a substantial amount of equity.

I pulled this from the Homeowner Equity Report on CoreLogic’s website: “In the third quarter of 2020, the average homeowner gained approximately $17,000 in equity during the past year. This marks the largest average equity gain since the first quarter of 2014.” This creates peace of mind for anyone who may need to sell (in the fact that it’s not likely many sellers are underwater on their mortgage).

There are also higher standards for loan qualification today than there were in 2006-2008.

Lastly, there are a lot of buyers on the market right now who want to take advantage of our historically low interest rates.

I want to help my clients to make smart real estate decisions so with all the madness in the market and the “headlines” out there that might scare people into thinking we’re heading into another housing bubble, I thought it would be helpful to share these details.

If you’re considering leveraging the equity in your home while also taking advantage of low interest rates, let’s chat! I can put together an equity analysis based on your home’s current market value vs what you owe and we can take a look to see if now is a good time for you to make a move!

Montauk by Nicola Harrison
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I LOVED this book. Once I got going, I couldn’t put it down. It’s one of my favorite books for the year.

Set in 1938, Beatrice is a society wife with a husband who drinks and has affairs. Harry says they should summer in Montauk and he plans to leave Beatrice out there during the week while he goes back to the city to work. Beatrice wasn’t raised in this world and she finds it a little off-putting. She wants more to her life than frivolity.

On a trip back to the city where she plans to surprise her husband for their anniversary, she finds that she is the one who is surprised when she passes an unknown woman in the hallway of their building and then finds evidence of their affair.

After that, Beatrice goes back to Montauk where she finds meaning and friendship with the woman who does the laundry for the resort guests and the man who runs the lighthouse.

This book has such great characters and a great story line. You will not want to put it down!

View all my reviews

I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book started a little slow for me but I love Sophie Kinsella and I’m glad I kept going because I ended up loving the book!

Fixie works in her family’s department store. Although she has two older siblings, they aren’t really interested until their mom takes a vacation with their aunt. Then they want to step in and change everything. Fixie is called that because she’s compelled to fix things. She’s never been able to stand up to her siblings and she frets while the store starts doing worse with their ideas.

She also thinks she’s in love with a guy who is really just using her. He treats her so bad I wanted to shake her at one point. But, like most of Kinsella’s characters, there’s a huge growth in Fixie where she not only fixes what goes wrong with the store but she fixes what’s going on in her personal life.

Loves this book!

View all my reviews

Sorority by Genevieve Sly Crane
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Well. This was such a different book for me and it had a completely unexpected ending. I’m sitting here like, wow. Hmmm.

But it was good! It’s not a whole story, exactly. It’s about the members of a sorority and, while they are connected by that, it’s almost a group of short stories. I’ve not been a member of a sorority but it strikes me that it’s probably a fairly realistic representation of that life.

I liked it a lot and would recommend others to read it.

View all my reviews