Bird On A Wire

I'm over at Refresh & Repurpose today with a design board for a little girls nursery!  Check out Bird On A Wire!

Weekend Wrap Up

I debated writing a weekend wrap up, because my weekend didn't include the boys at all. Thanks to all these weddings, I've had lots of girls weekends! I also don't have a single picture to share. I have a few but they aren't for sharing.

On Thursday my amazing mom came up to spend the day and Friday with the boys, so I could take off to Raleigh and spend some time with my awesome friend, Jenny and the other Lanka women, wedding dress shopping! Grandma always comes through for us. She allows us to do so many things and get so many things done, if she isn't doing them for us! Which is why tonight I wondered why the laundry shoot was full. She was just here! AND I KNOW, it was empty when she left!

Friday morning we went to our first appointment. It was fun but, not much personal service, especially since it was a bridal boutique (that is so busy, they are expanding?!). Later we went to Davids Bridal. Pretty good service, not many choices. After that we had a great dinner out at Bonefish Grill!

Saturday we were up and at 'em and on the way to Burlington to check out the Bridal Mart. Lots of choices, but not really any for our bride. We called from there and made an appointment closer to home. On the way to the next appointment we swung into Davids Bridal to show her mom the dresses we liked the night before. Our beautiful bride did find a gown she liked at our last stop. However, the search continues!

I am confident the gown she finds will be amazing and look just as amazing on her! Jenny is the MOST photogenic person I know. She could wear a burlap number and look stunning!

I finished off my weekend having brunch with my great friend, Ashley, and her beautiful pre schooler! She is also exactly two weeks ahead of me coming in at 35 weeks with her second baby girl. She looks amazing and is anxiously awaiting meeting Eleanor Grace! I know, she has great taste in names!! I'm glad someone is using it! FYI, we never discussed names!

Thank you Jenny for flying home and letting me be a part of your big day! It was a very special weekend for her to share and I am so honored she did. A big thank you to her sister Kelly for allowing me to crash her very short weekend with her big sister and letting me stay with them! I had a great time and an education in all things "Girl" from Kellys daughters!

Looking forward to her February visit and shower!!

Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend we spent a nice long weekend on the Outer Banks.
We were home for a friends wedding. Well, a really good friend. And I was in the wedding.

I hardly took a single picture, since we were so busy the entire time. This is why I don't blog for money! I do it for me and I don't have to feel bad that the pictures and memories are for me and no one else. We have quite a few weddings coming up. Maybe I will take some more pics then?!

Friday was a early morning mani & pedi! Always a nice way to get your day started! We left there and went to Duck for a Bridal Luncheon at The Blue Point! Yummy fresh food, an excellent view, great company, and lots and lots of laughs. We left there and made it back in time for rehearsal. After rehearsal we got to rest for a minute and then get freshened up for dinner.

Chad met me at dinner. Always nice to share a meal with new friends and enjoy their company instead of cleaning up spills and pretending that your children really are this well behaved all the time! More yummy food and another great view. This time in Nags Head at Pamlico Jacks! I mean they call themselves "the pirate hideaway". What could be more perfect for two pirate fans, like the hubs and I?!

Saturday morning, I was up and out of the house early to go get my hair did. It was a beautiful morning and it promised to have some chill later! Perfect for this prego! So I just wanted my hair back. Out of my face. Off my neck. But first I had to shove my face full of amazing food prepared by one of the groomsman. You laugh, but Melissa and I took some to the hair appointment. We knew there would be none left upon our return! The old saying "Never trust a skinny cook", is just that a saying. However, Andy did tell me you can trust a skinny cook, if he has fat friends. Oh, ok! After hair is was clean up time. As in clean up ourselves, steam a tie or two and a very important dress. Then it was time to hurry up and wait.
Here is our lovely bride..waiting...dress puffed out to not get wrinkled. Excuse the poor quality, this is from my cell!

Then it was "I DO" time..and introduce to you Mr&Mrs James and Jennifer Michael

(Obviously, I didn't take this picture, but thanks to facebook, I got a few extras)
(The most delicious I've ever put in my mouth)Cake time


Sunset pics on the roof deck. These boys sent my heart racing and my stomach to the floor!! I couldn't take all the jumping running and standing on the roof!! Especially after a few cocktails. And they were wearing flip flops. And do you know that I have two boys, that love to act like boys. These boys inparticular. Eccckkkkk. I couldn't take it. See my face in the corner. Proof enough?!

And here is Auntie 'Lissa with my dancin' machine. Jacket & tie no longer required. (Q told Chad they were wearing their president outfits. Because they looked just like our president....well kind of)

And here are the lovely bride and groom "leaving the reception". When your dad has shed blood sweat and tears restoring a corvette, you don't really get to leave!

Pooped babies

It was a tummies full off yummy food, a fun band, feet sore from dancing, reconnecting with old friends and their parents, assuring them that yes, my children really are this cute and well behaved all the time (ahem), talking with children drinking that I used to babysit, eyes swollen from crying (that may have just been me?!), beautiful, chilled, October kind of night. FILLED.WITH.LOVE

You may not remember...

but I will never forget.

I have dreaded writing this post as I know the importance of what is to be said. It will be long but bear with me, there is a lot to say. All of it relevant. ALL OF IT IMPORTANT!

I will never forget the day one of my very best friends called me to tell me that the Drs think she might possibly have "The C word".

"THE.C.WORD?!" I squealed. "What kind of c word?" I had to sit down. My head was spinning. I must have heard her wrong. There was too many horns, too much traffic. The T was too loud. It's breaks were screeching to a halt. I was too tired from a long week at work.

"Lymphoma".

I did hear her right.(me gulping back the tears)"What do we need to do?" "Where do I need to be?"

What I was supposed to do for her, I don't know. We were both pretty fresh out of college living it up in big cities (just a train/plane ride away from each other), trying to make rent and still enjoy our new lives and all it had to offer two little beach girls. All this and trying not to owe our new friend VISA, our first borns. Visions of us as kindergartners, girl scouts, spelunking, camping trips, learning to drive, college parties, road trips, flying across the country to visit each other all swirled through my head, faster than some of the hurricanes we endured growing up.

Thankfully "the C Word" I so dreaded my lifelong friend having turned out to be another C word. Cat Scratch Fever. You can laugh now. After being completely amazed, relieved, and questioning the education of some of the best Drs in this country, she too can laugh.

Unfortunatley "The C word" for so many is not Cat scratch fever. And they won't be laughing about their misdiagnosis. Instead their diagnosis, is real. So very very real. And every day is still so scary. Their questions are unanswered, their future unknown. Little kids, big kids, it doesn't matter. Cancer knows no boundries. Chances are you know someone with some type of cancer. You might even know someone with Leukemia or Lymphoma. That is because every 4 minutes someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer. Every 10 minutes someone dies from one of those very same blood cancers.

Well my lifelong friend, Jennifer Perkins, is here to help you.

She wants to help you get answers. She wants to be able to show you the crystal ball with your future inside. She wants to take the "scaries" away. And here is how she is going to do it.

The Leukemia Lymphoma Society of Eastern North Carolina has a contest. A BIG contest. A huge FUNdraising contest! Man & Woman of the year!
http://www.mwoy.org/nce/what/
Contestants are nominated by their peers. (Someone else thinks she is pretty fabulous too!) For 10 weeks this years 7 women and 6 men will raise as much money as they possibly can. Jennifers goal; $15,000. I have no doubt Jennifer will raise $15,000 in 10 weeks. (She once sold over 500 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies. She's always been driven!) With all honesty, I would love to see her win. However, if she doesn't, I will be even more excited because that means someone else raised more! It's a win win for the LLS. It's a win win for your heart!

LLS has invested more than $680 million in research, including $68 million in 2009. $.75 of EVERY dollar spent by LLS goes directly back to their mission.

This is Kaden.

Kaden is this years boy of the year. He is just one of the 900,00 americans living with blood cancer. Kaden has been living with leukemia since he was diagnosed at age 2. AGE 2. No body should know or have to endure the pain Kaden has been through. No parent should have to watch their child endure the poison that is injected into their veins. He takes chemotherpy daily.

With the help of the LLS, his parents have access to an award winning website loaded with patient services. Webcasts & teleconferences with experts. Financial aid, peer counseling, co-payment assistance, and a school re-entry program, just to name a few. Organizations like this are priceless. But they can't survive on patient feedback. They need you. They need your money. Kaden needs you. And Jennifer wants you to donate through her. http://nce.mwoy.llsevent.org/pledge/index.cfm?mid=JENNIFERPERKINS

However, she isn't just looking for money. There are many ways to donate. You can buy a cookbook (that was completely printed from donations). You can donate an item for the silent auction (this is done the final night and in the past has determined that years winner!!). She will also be awarding prizes every week to one of that weeks donators. That means a fun prize EVERY week could be yours!! She is hosting 2 yard sales. You can get us items. There is also (Drum roll please) THE.GOLDEN.TOILET. http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Jennifers-Golden-Toilet/297132418140?ref=ts
Yes, you heard me. A.GOLDEN.TOILET. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epScXs2wm_o
In 10 weeks this toilet will be very famous. I'm hoping!

I will keep you updated on her fundraising progress. For starters a very special soon to be 3 year old is "allowing" his birthday party to be a FUNdraiser. An Easter Egg Hunt. Complete WITH a visit from the Easter Bunny!

A picture..

is worth a thousand words.

Therefore, I don't need to type 1,000 words to describe this amazing new piece of artwork that I am privileged enough to own. This new awesome photograph hangs in my kitchen.

You know kitchen artwork is extremely hard to find. Unless of course, you want some fruit pictures!
Well my friend JLa (the infamous Jenny from previous post) took this picture years ago when we were roommates. It is our silverware dumped in the drawer! I LOVED it then and I have been begging her for a copy, literally, since the day I knew I was moving out and wouldn't be able to see it everyday. I always got pumpkin bread in it's place. What will I beg for now in order to get pumpkin bread?!
For some reason, I just love this picture. I do not know what it is about it. And just so you know, Pottery Barn also sold a series of 3 in their catalog recently that was exactly like this!! She is so talented, she is way ahead of Pottery Barn!

As her going away present she gave me a copy!!! And now it finally hangs in my kitchen, where everyday I am reminded of her talent (and her incessant picture taking!) and of course (and most importantly) her! Thanks JLa!!

Well, as for my picture taking, I've never claimed to be the photographer!! It's hard taking a picture of a picture!

Happy trails to you...

Until we (see you at Christmas)!

This is me & my friend Jenny or JLa or J or Auntie Jenny or Auntie JLa (as Q has grown to call her). She is one of my very best friends and is one amazing girl!
Jenny and I met the night before we signed a lease (for an absurd amount of money, that we had to hire a real estate agent to find us) and committed to 1 year together! That was Halloween night 2000. NINE (holy cow, 9!!) years later we have moved away, moved around, moved back, moved away, moved around, moved back and now, she is moving again!
This time she is moving to Denver, CO! Almost all the way across the country. We will miss her terribly but she is starting a new adventure, a new chapter. So I must admit, I am not sure but I may just be a bit envious of Auntie Jenny's new adventure! Exploring a new city and meeting new friends, finding a new hangout and a new bar (stay away from places named "Clarkes"). A new group of Red Sox fans to cheer with. She might even find some people that like the same light blue jersey wearing ACC team that she likes! (This blog will not name the likes of one such team!!)
I even hope she finds someone that likes the Pirates (Arrrggghhh!) and will make her sweet tea when she is missing home! I hope this someone finds her pumpkin bread as amazing as I do and begs her to bake it!
But what I hope for the most is that she enjoys her new journey, 'cause afterall, Life is a journey.
Safe travels Auntie JLa! We are, without a doubt, planning a trip to Denver!!

Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights. ~Pauline R. Kezer

Here's to friends!

So this week Q went to a sleepover at AK's. A's mom and I are trading off Tuesdays! I miss him though! It's a good week for him to be there, it's Sales Meeting week at work, which means...EXTREMELY long days at work! So I didn't get the date night with my CP (that was the original goal), but I get to get up early, stay late and work, work work! Oh well! Hope things are going well at the K's. I imagine they are, I haven't gotten the call yet! I hope he doesn't expect to spend the night with A when he is 16!!!
Which also brings me to another thought...I hope that he & A grow to be great friends and can always count on eachother, chat, bounce ideas off eachother, get advice from and keep eachother out of trouble and in line! Boys & girls need that! I have one. BG and I started kindergarten together and graduated college almost together (me first:)!)! We have been through some of lifes toughest challenges together. Always there for eachother. We don't talk everyday, we don't need to. (He is a guy you know!) It is TOTALLY possible and I can only pray that Q has that in a girl-friend. Here's to you friend! XO