Only the Cutest Girls EVER!

We got back from the beach yesterday. While I have 500 pictures to sort through. Yes that is right FIVE HUNDRED!!! I wanted to give you a little piece of sweetness straight from the two cutest girls in the world. You may say I am biased but you haven't seen this video.





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Gone Beaching

Don't look for us....because we won't answer. Taking a much needed vacation. 

Peace out Girl Scout....see ya next week! 

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why hello exercise it's been awhile

So for some reason I got a wild hair up my arse and decided to sign up for a Zumba class for the month of August. It is a four week class offered through my local Park and Rec and it was cheap so why not. Something about having a scheduled class to attend makes me think I will actually go. Unlike that pesky gym membership that would be drafted out of the account monthly only to go unused.

Monday rolled around and I was really excited. I am going to shake my tailfeather like nobodies business. And Monday wasn't too bad. Hey I can do this right??!! I mean I felt great afterwards. Nora my Monday teach was easy on us. Maybe it was because it was at the Senior Center...mmmmmmmm.

But then came Thursday. Erin my five foot, eighty pound peppy cheerleader Zumba teacher. She is straight from hell I tell ya. My back, ass, abs, legs, and neck are all simultaneously throbbing right now. I hate you Erin. Maybe more than Jillian Michaels. At least she doesn't tell me to keep smiling through the pain while I jump and salsa and samba and manage the burning in my thighs from your neverending lunges. 

I really wanted to get a picture of me Zumbaing. But alas it is more difficult to gyrate and photosnap than I originally thought. Way blurry pictures I imagine. So I googled 'fat chick doing zumba' Yeah all that got me was a few dirty pictures of really fat chicks in bras. And these guys....

How freaking cool are they? I mean check this guy out. First...there were no guys in my class. This is false advertising. Second...If I would have known cool dudes like this Zumba I would have signed up months ago! Third....who works out in a yellow bellbottomed unitard? Uh no one I know. 

Once again I question work out attire. A bikini? Camo pants. I got in a twenty minute debate about whether this was the same guy. Because surely two guys on the same google search could show such poor judgement, right? 

All I got to say is I better look bikini chick real quick or I cannot guarantee Erin's safety. 

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A hobo almost stole my stuff

The night from hell. Well that was my original title. But I realized I have definitely had worse. My night from many weeks ago. I get to bed at a decent hour for once. Mainly because I had two beers at dinner which meant that I was tipsy so sleep came easy. Yes I know I am a cheap date. Why do you think Michael loves me so much? Michael unfortunately had more than two when a few buddies came over for the night. Which is really the prequel and an important part of the rest of the story.

So fast forward to 1AM. I hear a yippy dog in the yard barking. WTF? Why is Charlie (my yippy dog) outside? Instantly I knew Michael had let the dog out and fell asleep. Not the first time this has happened. So I throw the covers off and open the bedroom door. A wall of hot air hits me as I opened the door. And I heard crickets. Real live crickets sounded like they were chilling in my hallway. Just chirping away.

My first reaction? Someone has broken into my house and brutally murdered my family and then left the door open in a fast get away. After that half a second passed I knew what had happened. But I wanted to visually confirm before I performed the brutal murder on my spouse that there was zero chance had previously occurred. As I clear the stairs I see my front door. Wide Open. My yippy dogs white fur bouncing around in the front yard. My black dog? No where to be found. My husband. Passed out cold on the front porch. The temperature in the house? About 85. My patience and temper? Way beyond safety levels.

So immediately a long string of curse words stream out of my mouth. After a flick on the forehead (hey it worked!) he woke up cussing.

Michael: “Whajadothatfo?”
Me: “Do you see the front door wide open?!!!”
Michael “I didn’t do that. Why would I do that? Jesus Christ Steph Why are you yelling at me?”
Me: :Seriously???: “you need to find your dog! Because she is nowhere to be found” (because at 1AM she becomes your dog. Not ours. Yours.)
Me :louder: and you need to kill the five million effing bugs fling around the effing downstairs before I effing kill somebody!”
Me: :louder still: “And maybe you should make sure all our SH!& is still here because I am pretty sure some hobo just stole it?”
Michael :Mumble mumble:
Me: “And last but not least make sure your daughter is still in her bed and didn’t wander outside or get kidnapped!!!”

So for the next thirty minutes he stomped around downstairs killing mosquitoes and cussing about how he didn’t do it. All I hear is :Slap, Slap:

I really do know what happened. He let the dog out on the leadline (which is where he found her by the way) and she nudged the not so firmly shut door open after he fell asleep on the couch like he does many nights in the middle of his nightly lock up duties that include letting the dogs out. Then the door stood open for hours or so and the whole lot of the air conditioning went outside into the 100+ heat index of the Carolina night and the other dog chased a cat or something and hence the yipping that woke me to a hot and buggy downstairs. So in his defense he didn’t blatantly do it…but it is still his fault.

Okay so that was 1AM.

At 3AM A HUGE THUNDERSTORM ROLLED THROUGH. If you live in the area you know what I am talking about. I mean thundering shaking my walls and picture frames, lightening ever other second and somehow my toddler slept through it but I didn’t. So I finally get back to sleep after the hail attacked our house. By the way Michael fell back asleep on the couch while killing mosquitoes. Wow. I cannot make this stuff up. He was still not in bed. Although that may have been a conscious decision to pay me back for the head flick.

At 5AM I wake up to Lily SCREAMING bloody murder! I walk in and Michael (who actually woke up! Praise Jesus!) is putting a new pull up on her. She had managed to wake up, pull her pull-up off and pee all over herself and then bed. And then we wonder why she is screaming. So smarticus Michael brings her into our bed instead of changing the sheets. Brilliant. I finally get her back to sleep after she kicks and jumps on me for a half hour at 5:30. My alarm went off at 5:38AM.

FML.

Why does this crap happen to me!?


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That Opossum is SICK!

I am on this really annoying listserve for my neighborhood. It is some lame attempt to form a homeowners association in the middle of the country where seriously most of the hilbillies could give two flying flips about the stuff they send out.

Like getting volunteers to mow the front of the neighborhood. Uh why don't the people that bought the two houses with the front of the neighborhood on their land mow it. Seriously people. Why don't I, from the far back of the neighborhood push my lawnmower up to the very front of the neighborhood and mow your lawn. Yeah when that happens call the National Guard because that means aliens have attacked my house and possessed my family with non-lazy fat asses.

But that is another story. I got one this week with the subject: Sick Opossum!

When I opened it up it talked of seeing a sick opossum in the neighborhood and the lady tried to call animal control but they don't come out on patrol until 8:30AM. I forgot that crazed animals stick to an 8-5 schedule.

I was later telling Michael about the email in the car.

Me: I got an email from the Neighborhood crazies that there is a sick opossum in the neighborhood
Michael:perplexed look on his face: What did they mean sick? Did it have a cough?
Me:blank stare: Did you really just ask me if it had a cough? Seriously?
Michael: Well I'm just saying I don't understand. How did they know it was sick? Or were they all like 'That opossum is SICK!' :aka badass, and insert gangsta hand motion:
Me:bursting into laughter: 
Michael:seriously: What?

So apparently we have a bad ass opossum in our neighborhood. Or a coughing one. We really aren't sure. Maybe we should email the crazies back for clarification. The bad ass opossum could be a bad influence on the kids. The coughing opossum could try to steal some cough drops from some kid at the bus stop. Funny I just thought the animal was rabid. I guess great minds don't think alike!



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Seth and Paula's Wedding

We were lucky enough to attend a friends wedding a few weeks back. I finally went through the pictures and all I can say is WoW! I got some good ones! 

Seth and Paula got married at a beautiful little chapel at Belmont Abby College. A gorgeous campus. They followed up with a reception at one of the campus halls. The room had a warehouse feel. With these gorgeous windows and this warm light. It was quite the little get together. A small wedding. Same as our if not smaller. (~100 people) 

We took the time to hang out with some of our great friends while Lily partied it up a Will's Birthday party, eating cupcakes and swimming with the family.  This is Jenna, so pretty! Aren't her teeth really white. She won't give up her secret even though I begged on facebook. 

The blushing bride. 

Dave and Jenna 

Me, Brooke and Jenna. You can tell this is when it started getting hot. It was like a sauna in the hall. A disadvantage to those pretty windows.

One of my favorite shots of the night. The mother/son dance.

Dancing it up!

 I love this picture because you see three little scenes occurring all at once. To the left you see the bride oogling over the little boy. Front and center Mee Maw is breaking it down with the groom and in the back you see me and the girls shaking our groove thing oblivious to it all. All of these pictures were taken the first weekend of owning my new lens. Which I would say took some great pics that day! 

A good example of that warm light I have been bragging about. This picture had minimal editing. 

An even better example. Mother of the groom and Daughter

Paula and Jenna goofing off. 

It wouldn't be a party if this white guy wasn't shaking his butt and backing it up at something. This is the cha cha slide I think. He had no idea what he was doing. And that made it that much funnier.

I didn't even know my husband knew the chicken dance. But he lead it along with the groom.

Bock Bock Baby

 Brooke and her grandfather. I love this picture! 

I had to dig for a few pictures Michael snapped of me to prove I was there. Then I realized Scott's Mom Marie took these as she was admiring my camera. Bam Proof I was there. I took about 150 pictures that night and these were the only ones I could muster up.  I love being behind the camera. 

And the best for last! Muah!

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First Steps in the Sand

I have been having such a hard time getting my writing done lately. I don't know exactly what it is but from what I can tell it is just typical "Mom trying to keep up with a Two-Year Old syndrome." Most days I feel guilty sitting in front of the computer for any legnth of time and by the time she goes to bed I am exhausted. Or need to get my house stuff done. Including but not limited to watching this week's True Blood episode.

So I knew I had to come up with a new strategy. My first strategy involved talking my husband into a new Macbook Pro. When I realized I did not have a leg to stand on since my shiny iMac is only a year old I decided to search for other alternatives. So I went old school. I got a notebook that was still laying around my house from college. No seriously. It was untouched. But definitly not a mature style. I dream of a fancy leather bound notebook with flawless penmanship scrawled inside. The reality of it is that I have a faux mod superstar notebook that looks like a high school sophmore should be toting around with water stained ink scribbles collected in a jumble of words and shorthand.

All this week I carried this around. I wrote a few days at lunch. I wrote on Saturday while laying on the beach watching my daughter play in the water and laughing. It was nice. I felt very.....coffeeshop hippie? Below is a recount of a few moments on the beach with the family. Just a few memories I want to make sure I don't forget. Who knew you could do that without a fancy computer? We are so new age spoiled.

July 31, 2010

I am sitting here watching Michael and Lily splash in the waves of Wrightsville Beach. All I can hear are the waves crashing and a little angel voice giggling "Up and Down! Up and Down!" Michael is pulling her us and over the waves as they crash on the beach. A new favorite game apparently. He looks tired. She looks thrilled! The weather couldn't be better. A welcome break in the 100 degree heatwave we have had for a month. Today hovers around 80. A perfect day for the beach.

I finally talked Michael into taking us to the beach for the day. We live less than two hours from Wilmington yet we never make it out here. Today is Lily's first steps in the sand. The last time we took her to the beach she was only three months old and it was the weekend before I ended my maternity leave.

It has been nothing short of a perfect day.

I have never seen a child eat so much in one day. I know the sun and waves wears a girl out but she literally has not stopped asking for breakfast in between every water break. Of course every meal is breakfast. I don't know why lunch and dinner get slighted.

The ocean always makes me realize how small we are. Now it makes me realize exactly how small she really is. I look at her standing in front of the vast water and I just imagine all she has left to accomplish. So much more than I have, I hope. But more than that I have the strong desire to protect her. From what? I have no idea. But she really does look out into the ocean with no fear. Maybe she will face life with that same attitude.

We rented a movie last night called "Remember Me." While the movie itself wasn't all that impressive, the message was clear. Live each day to your fullest and never take for granted your loved ones. Because you never know what tomorrow brings. Their tomorrow happened to be September 11th.

Today is one of those days. The days where I could close my eyes and take a picture of this memory to keep forever. This particular memory would involve Michael trying his damnest to get a seagull to come near us so Lily can see it. He is actually waving a piece of bread frantically in the air and saying "hey bird!" like the animal understands him. It is quite entertaining. All the while Lily is giggling and 'jumping' for the bird. He tries so hard to make us happy. Even at the exspense of his embarrassment!

By lunch time we have lost one beach toy to the unforgiving waves. The waves have been rough all morning. Fun for boogy boarding. No so much for an unexperienced toddler. Of course I am so freaked out by the ocean in generally sweeping me and Lily away that she never gets in above her knees.

I cannot believe I let Michael take a picture of me in a bathing suit. People have divorced for less. Of course I wasn't brave enough to take the cover up off except for boogy boarding breaks.

Later that night I asked Lily what she did that day. She talked of water play, up and down, throwing seashells in the water, the birds and the break, and sand castles built ontop of Mommy.

When I asked her what her favorite was she said the beach and the water.

And as she passed out in the bed later that night she grabbed my face between both of her hands and said "We go to the beach tomorrow Mommy?"

It was definitly one of those fairytale days. The days you don't soon forget and try as you may cannot recreate. We all slept so hard that night and so late the next day. That is when you know it was a good day. When you have so much fun that you can't take anymore and you just shut your eyes to end it on a good note. Little did I know the next morning I would wake up with a sunburn that kept the memory alive for more than a few days. Apparently you should put sunscreen everywhere...not just the places you can reach.

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Will's First Birthday Party

Last weekend we headed to Gtown for "Baby Will's" (as Lily refers to him as) birthday party. How awesome was it that the party was a pool party!!! Lily loves to swim. Lily loves cake. So all in all this was an event we couldn't miss. 

I have taught her well. The best pool play involved floating around and being catered to. Wouldn't you agree? 

Daddy and Lily had fun teasing Mommy. Mmmm let's throw things at her while she tries to take a cute family photo. Good Job Daddy! This is when I realize that Lily got none of my genes.

If you can get someone to push you around while you are floating it is even better. Lily apparently has Daddy wrapped around her finger!

On a side note this was the first time I got to use my new Nikon camera lens. I have been impressed so far. I will say I have to do A LOT more leg work. This lens is not a zoom lens by any means. As in no zoom at all.  But it is a tad bit lighter which is what I really wanted. It doesn't stick out as far as my standard lens which means it is harder to hit things with, etc. Not quite as light as I expected but a noticeable difference. The picture quality and focus is awesome. For 200 dollars definitely worth investing in. I think this will become my go to lens. I have not taken it off since I received it. I have not had the chance to do any portrait shots with it. But the few test shots I did of the inside rooms have showed an amazing difference. I normally struggle with indoor pictures in my house as it does not have a lot of natural light. Overall very satisfied to date. 

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