Rose Monkey... where'd that come from??

Well, it's an hour until my first class here at Southern... and I am camped out in the hotel with Ava, nice and warm while it's cold and snowy outside. Speaking of snowy, I went to Indiana last night, because that's where the closest Super-Wal-Mart was, and I had to call a friend just to say hi from Indiana. Indiana just seems so... cold... snowy... non-Southern... faraway! Obviously I'm showing my lack of an exciting life by saying this, but it's true.

So when I was talking to my friend, she asked what's with the name Rose Monkey? Wellllll, when I was tossing the idea of keeping up a blog, I couldn't think of a clever name. And that transported me to another time and place... 6 years old, on vacation in Arkansas with parents and grandparents... and going through a phase in which I named anything that came into my life Rose. In fact, had Ava come along back then, I'm sure Ava would have been Rose Bird. (That softens the blow a little bit, doesn't it, Ava? I mean I know Ava's not the most manly name around, but Rose?!) At some point on that trip, someone bought me a stuffed monkey wearing a pink dress - who became none other than Rose Monkey!

That story just illustrates how my odd little brain links random places and events... and really I could do no better coming up with a blog name than just going with the classic Rose Monkey.