Camping with my kickballers

Last night I was finally able to stay up long enough to finish editing all my camping pictures (camping is fun, but exhausting!). We only had to travel an hour to get to this campsite, but thanks to beautiful scenery, the two tunnels, and 18-mile bridge (actually, there were 3 tunnels, now that I think about it, but the tunnel to VAB is one we're used to taking), it felt like we had escaped somewhere much farther from home.

That gap in the road isn't a real-life Speed moment. It's a tunnel!

Loooooong, straight (that'swhatshesaid) bridge.

I don't know what this is, but I thought it was pretty. I guess it's a non-lighthouse? (Or is it?)

Setting up camp.

The neat bridge just a few yards away from us that led to the beach. 

Someone told us these were there to help create reefs. Whatever their purpose, they were pretty neat to look at.

Can you believe this sky?!

Poor little blue crab. :(  Further down this beach, there were tons of seashells.

K pretending to catch our food for the day.

There were antics ...

... and there was a lot of recycling.

Happy campers (Sorry, couldn't resist!).

We are so doing that again someday.

"Nothin' like a good piece o' ass"

This lazy afternoon, I'm watching one of my very favorite movies, Steel Magnolias. It's a sad movie, but it's somehow happy at the same time. I've loved it since I was little.

Plus, it's full of such great quotes. Aside from the title of the blog, there's "He's such a gentleman. I bet he takes the dishes out o' the sink 'fore he pees in it!" ... "He's so confused he doesn't know whether to scratch his watch or wind his butt." ... and one of my favorites, "I assure you my personal tragedy will not interfere with my ability to do good hair."

But now this movie is tied to great memories, too. In the spring of 2009, shortly after K got home from Iraq, he and I went to visit the town where the movie was filmed. It was only 45 minutes from where K was stationed in Louisiana, and I actually had to drive through it every time I went to visit him.

Heather is a big fan of the movie, too, so she and B came with us. We had so much fun!

The house where Shelby and her family lived is a bed & breakfast now, and of course that's where we stayed. K and I stayed in Shelby's room, and Heather & B were next door in the room that Jackson crawls into through the window on their wedding day.

The Eatenton house, where Shelby lived with her parents and brothers

Heather and me

K, me, Heather, & B

Shelby's room, where K and I stayed

Of course it's all pink -- it's her "signature color"!

A picture from the movie, displayed in the very spot the picture was taken.

IT'S THE PINK BATHTUB!!!! I showered here.

This was in Heather & B's room. This is the window Jackson climbed into on their wedding day. It's even the same curtains!

This is where Shelby tells M'Lynn she's pregnant!!!

Just a fun shot of my animal whisperer husband, making friends with the homeowners' dog.

The back staircase of the house

The kitchen, which looks exactly the same as in the movie. I'm sure the homeowners are aching for a remodel, but I'm glad they haven't touched it.

Heather and I had a blast going through the house and exclaiming, "This is where [insert movie moment here]!!!" We reenacted and quoted our favorite lines in their actual locations.

So much fun!

What a good weekend. :)

I get busy ... You get 6 posts in 1!

Time Flies. That's It

How the hell does my life go by so quickly? The last time I posted, I had just gotten home from Orlando. I spent two nights in my own bed before heading north for a conference for work. Got back on Thursday, just in time to get ready for a massive party at our house on Saturday night, which brings me to ...

Mardi Gras -- Let's Not Do That Again

We had our kickball team over to the house on Saturday to celebrate Mardi Gras. We've hosted lots of parties at our place, since we're the only ones who live in a house (everyone else is single & in an apartment), and I worried that this one might blend in with all the others. Considering K spent 5 years in Louisiana and I felt like a semi-resident for about 4 years, we wanted to show everyone what Bourbon Street is all about.

So we found a recipe for hurricanes as close to the authentic Pat O'Brien's flavor as possible (we didn't think ahead enough to just order the mix. Four liters of liquor, and some grenadine, pineapple juice, and OJ later, we had our lethal potion. It was delicious, but it was destructive. As were the Jello shots made with 100-proof vodka.

Two beers, two hurricanes, and two Jello shots later, I woke up on the bathroom floor at 6 a.m. Not pretty. The last thing I remember is stepping into the garage (evidently somewhere around midnight) to watch people playing beer pong. I did make it upstairs to the comfort of my bathroom before getting sick, and K checked on me in between enjoying the rest of the party.

I kid you not, I did not feel right again until Tuesday. I have never been like that, EVER, and I've only even gotten sick from drinking a couple of times (OK, 3).

I never want another hurricane or (100-proof) Jello shot again.

Runnin', runnin' and runnin', runnin'

My little running group is going so well! We're in week 6 of the Couch-to-5k program, and these people who weren't comfortable jogging at all can now jog for 8 straight minutes! This program is great because it goes in intervals, which is a lot easier for someone just getting started. This week, we ran for 18 minutes total, but it was broken up with 3-minute walks (jog 5, walk 3, jog 8, walk 3, jog 5). Much easier mentally.

They're just 3 weeks out from running a full 5k, which is awesome. The group is loving it and is really please with themselves (as am I!) for their progress. One of the girls said on Monday, "These intervals are so much easier! Why didn't my gym teacher have us doing this? I could've been running this way instead of huffing and puffing and having to stop all those years."

I can't take credit for the training program, but I'm glad they've got the motivation to get moving. Amazing!

Staying in VA

We're officially staying in VA another year. We announced the exciting news to our kickball team at the Mardi Gras party on Saturday (just after the first Jello shot). I'm hoping the people we're renting our house from let us stay in it another year. Fingers crossed!

Job Prospect

Last week, kickball friend sent me a link to a job opening at her place of work. I think I'm about half-qualified, but she assures me I'll be just fine and an amazing applicant. I wasn't sure about applying, since making a move toward getting out of a job (no matter how frustrating the job is) is really scary. But the friend met my coworker/friend at our Mardi Gras party. Coworker knows how frustrated I am, and I guess that came up. Kickballer told her about this opportunity after I'd exited the party. Coworker brought it up with me this week and said she thinks I should apply.

That same night, I talked to Heather, who told me the same thing. "What's the harm in applying?" she asked. Touche.

So apply I did. Last night. Half-heartedly. Very scaredly.

I have no clue what I want.

That Last Sentence Isn't Entirely True

What I want is to stay at home. Sleep in my own bed. My soft, fluffy, cozy, super comfortable bed. Wash my face at my own sink. Dry off with my own towels. Lounge on my own couch, watching my own TV. Gaze out at my own back yard (which has daffodils and hyacinth in full bloom in the flowerbeds!).

But not tonight. Or tomorrow night.

We're headed to PA this afternoon to party with K's friends for St. Patty's Day.

Turns out my shiny newly aversion to Jello shots and hurricanes applies also to large quantities of beer, which are what is in the cards for this weekend.

Especially when we're driving 6+ hours to consume such large quantities of beer.

When gas is $3.45 a gallon.

When, because of conditions in PA, we'll be traveling in K's gas-guzzling SUV instead of my little coupe.

When daylight savings time is really going to make Sunday that much more brutal.

My head hurts already.

Glam time. It's on!

K and I head out this afternoon to glorious Tejas. As I was packing for the trip last night, I kept reaching for dressier shirts and fun necklaces and bracelets and bangles.

I never wear fun necklaces and bangles. Pretty much just when I'm really going out, which hardly happens.

And then I realized what I was doing. See, girls in the VA Beach area just don't dress up. I miss getting to go out with the girls in OK & TX. It meant wearing really cute (or really hot) dresses, heels and dangly earrings. It meant getting dolled up and fixing your hair and having one of the girls do fun eye shadow for everyone. It meant freezing your ass off on the way to wherever we were going, but feeling so good about looking damn good that you really don't care about the cold (in short increments).

It meant laughing over drinks and having so much fun just being silly and being girls.

The last time I did that -- a really good girls' night -- was July 2010. At ER's bachelorette party. Pathetic.

But this weekend? We're staying with Heather & B, and I am SO excited! Just to get to hang out with one of my closest girlfriends and be silly girls.

I may find myself a bit over-accessorized for the majority of the weekend, but -- wait, who are we kidding?! I'll be in Dallas.

Where there's no such thing as over-accessorized or too girly.

I!! can't!! wait!!!!

The perfect subject for my new camera flash

K and I exchanged Christmas gifts the day before we left for OK & TX. Good thing, because it meant I got my shiny new auxiliary flash just in time for seeing ER and my favorite little girl in the history of the world.

She's 5 months old now, and she is seriously the most adorable thing I've ever seen. I took eleventy billion pictures of her, but wouldn't you?!

Baby Evie with her best friend, Clara

Love these big blue eyes. ER is crossing her fingers that they stay blue, since she and her husband both have brown eyes. Blue eyes run in ER's mom's family, though, so there's a chance!

Doesn't that smile just make you melt?!

I bought her this little stuffed animal. He's so soft! 

This picture makes me laugh. :) 

Such funny faces!

Evie was doing this constantly! She was so close to crawling!

LOVE Evie's face in this picture. 

I definitely showed these pictures to my entire family over Christmas. Good thing they all know ER, so they all asked about Baby Evie anyway. Not that I wouldn't have busted about the photos regardless.

Like I'm doing now. :)

NYE: The Aftermath Edition

 When the party goes 'til 6 a.m., the next morning is not gonna be pretty.

The only reason this table is so uncluttered is because the night owls decided to play a game of A$$hole ... sometime after 2 a.m.

Our neighbors noticed their melting snowman looked spot-on for the first morning of the New Year, so they added this sign. (K and I were glad we didn't wake up feeling like this guy looks!)

Snapshots from NYE

We hosted a little party at our house last night. I got the idea (well, I got the idea to steal the idea) late yesterday afternoon to make a photo wall, since I've seen pictures on FB of a few different friends at parties that had them. It looked fun.

I'm SO glad we did it! It was a hit (especially after midnight!).

The party ended at 6 a.m.

Not bad!