Leaving On a Jet Plane...

We are leaving in the morning to go to Texas.
Houston to be exact.
I've flown in and out of Texas quite a few times, but I've never seen outside of the airport.
This should be fun.
I wonder if I can take home an armadillo as a souvenir?
I think that would be an interesting pet.
What are armadillos anyway?

Funning looking creature.

I'm hoping to see lots of cowboy hats and boots...not the kind of boots you see in SC (you know the ones the girls try to pair with a itty bitty skirt. Taylor swift style.). No I hope to see chaps, wranglers and boots with spurs on them! Open fields and wild horses too!!

I probably won't see any of that.

We're going to be staying in the suburbs and I'll be spending my time helping to paint a baby nursery.

Baby Bambino is on the way and Uncle Sev and Auntie Linds want to help prepare for the little rascal before it gets here.

That is why we're headed out to Texas!

I hope to take pictures and share them soon!!

Adios blog world!
I'm leaving on a jet plane, I'll blog when I get back again =)

I DID IT!!!

I grew some herbs!

They may not be fit to eat once they reach full size, but I did it!!

I really didn't have much faith in myself.

I didn't have much hope in the herbs growing after I was informed that I had waited too late in the season to start them from seeds.

Then, after we had a huge rain storm, I walked outside and realized that my herb pots had been sitting too close to the house and the rain had run off of the roof and dumped right into my herbs, causing the soil and seeds to splatter all along the house siding. I scooped off the dirt, as best I could, and dumped it back into the containers. At that point, I had no hope left.

Though low and behold....look what I saw the other morning!









Those are chives you're looking at!! Baby chives! How cute are they?!

Well, at least I think they are chives, after the rain washed all of the soil and seeds onto the house, I really didn't know what was what after I scooped it up and tossed it haphazardly back into the pot. However, I'm fairly certain those are chives. I guess technically it could be parsley or oregano...technically...but who cares, I got herbs to grow!!

Is that not the cutest little parsley you have ever seen?

So far I have baby chives and baby parsley. Yesterday I looked and could actually see baby oregano poking out of the soil!

Below are my cilantro and dill plants!! I grew the cilantro from seed too. You're impressed, I know you are!!

The dill was already in plant form when I planted it, though I still have just as much love for it.

I'm a proud herb mamma.

Here we have basil and sage. How pretty are those babies??

I have absolutely no idea what to do with these herbs. We all know my cooking skills. I just wanted to see if I could grow them! and I did! I grew some herbs...and aren't they darling?!

Commitment Intervention

This past weekend went by so quickly, they all do.
However, this weekend I was actually productive! (just don't ask my mom if she agrees, she will probably tell you about the times I spent fussing about all the work she had me doing and then she will tell you about my commitment problem).
So, I'm going to go ahead and blog about my commitment problem.
I have a commitment problem.
When I make a purchase, I have a hard time removing the tags. Removing the tag means I HAVE to keep the item purchased. It's so final. After the tag is removed, there is no going back! I lose the feeling of "I can change my mind at any moment!" and move into the "I'm now stuck with it!" stage.
I once kept tags hanging from a brand new couch for 3 months. True story.
Who does that?
Me, that's who.

Mom and dad came into town on Saturday. My dad came to go fishing with Sev (imagine that) and my mom came to hold a commitment intervention. Well, she thought she was coming to help decorate and add the final touches to our new living quarters. Really, she was there to help me remove tags, finally decide where to hang pictures (after the pictures had been sitting on the floor below the spot where I was pretty sure I wanted them for over a month) and pick out items such as rugs, lamps, bedding and towels (because every time I thought I had found the item I needed, I couldn't commit and never made the purchase).

It took me over a month to finally decide on the furniture I wanted for our new living room.
We sold our living room furniture when we sold our house. For over a month I had a futon sitting in our new living room, serving the purpose of a couch.
This proved to be very inconvenient when we had guests over.
Something about four adults trying to share a futon just doesn't work.
Mom, with a huge push from Sev (basically he said "get in the car we HAVE to find a couch and chair today!!"), helped me pick out furniture.
Furniture shopping is hard for me. I'm afraid I'll decide on something and then run across something a day later that I like better. Therefore, I just don't buy anything...I'm always waiting on the best thing to come along. It's really just a commitment problem...have I mentioned I have one?

Saturday we got our new mattress and couch.
Mom made me remove the tag from the mattress, though I still think it's illegal (it says so right on the tag!).
I struggled with removing the tags from the couch.
I just couldn't do it. I was in commitment overload.
Just like with any disorder, you have to handle it one small step at a time people!
Mom finally had me hang all of the pictures, mirrors and decorations that had been adorning my floors. We had a minor set back in my intervention when we hung something and then gasp!!decided we didn't like where we had hung it! I knew it would happen! I'm just now getting over the nervous twitch it caused me to have ;-)

My problem runs deeper than with just house decorations and furniture.
Oh yes, it runs much deeper.
I also have a hard time committing to clothing!
I am notorious for buying clothing and leaving the tags on up until the second I'm actually running out of the door WITH that article of clothing ON!
Mom and I were actually in the parking lot of target when I had her remove a tag from the blouse I had on.
Oh yeah, it's that bad.

Mom and I accomplished a lot this past weekend.
I think the intervention went well.
The final test came when mom had to leave right after we picked out, purchased and placed the rug in my living room. My crutch had left. I had no one to help me make a commitment to the rug. I sat on the couch (the couch that still had tags hanging from it) and stared at the rug. I wrung my hands, I tilted my head from side to side, I squinted my eyes, I thought long and hard about it...and finally....I allowed myself to throw away the tag that was my ticket to returning it if I changed my mind. I made a decision to keep the rug. I was free! It was liberating! I had made a commitment!

Mom called awhile later and told me to keep the tags for the rug, just in case we ran across one we liked better....

**sigh**

I have a commitment problem, I think I got it honest.

I am no food blogger...

Nor will I ever be.
Well, I've already stated that I can not cook.
I've also made it known that I'm horrible when it comes to picture taking....oh I can take pictures just fine, I just forget to upload and share them.
I tried to make this recipe for dinner two nights ago.
Here is why I could never make it as a food blogger.


First, I forgot to take a picture of all of the ingredients that went into making the meal. I had already begun cooking the chicken when I realized that first important step...so I tried to hurry and catch up...


but how dumb and unorganized does that look?! **sigh**
Moving forward, I remembered to take a picture of the chicken during the cooking stage! But look at that chicken!! My chicken even looks yucky and all I've done is tossed it in a pan!

Then I tried to take pictures of the chicken as it was being cut into nice, thin, strips! However, someone (not naming names, but there are only two humans in my house and my arms are NOT that hairy!) kept stealing the chicken...


but then, even when I did get a picture of the chicken I had managed to cut...I realized that some things never change. Like the fact that I can-not-for-the-life-of-me cut meat! I can't do it. The night of my senior prom I actually had to have my best friend cut my steak for me, thankfully she and I had talked our dates into double dating, and she knew my lack of meat cutting skills. True story. I, obviously, still don't have the skill. My chicken just looks sad.


and the finished product!!!

Yeah, I forgot to take a picture of that....
it's why I'll never be a food blogger.
I skipped ahead and took a picture of the root beer floats we had for dessert instead...and even then I messed up the order of float making...I thought the ice cream went first. Sev informed me later that it goes in last, that is why I ended up with such a creamy mixture of foam. Whatever. The End.

PS. You may have noticed that the original recipe calls for GRILLED pineapple...don't judge me, okay, I'm trying!!

This Makes Me Smile

He is not ashamed.
He even sleeps with his tongue out!

Good Eats

I can't cook worth a flip.
I can't.
It's just not in my genes.
I love to look at pretty pictures of foods.
I love to flip through cookbooks and read all about different dishes.
I even look at some blogs that talk all about cooking.
I'm just no good at it.
I've come to terms with that fact. I'm OKAY with it.
So, if you read a recipe on my site or see me writing about some meal I have prepared, take my words, opinions, reviews with a grain of salt.

I came home from work yesterday and realized that I had not planned for dinner, haha..I'm laughing because I actually NEVER plan for dinner. Dinner just sort of happens for us. One of us finally gets hungry and starts to cook something or we each grab a bowl and pour some cereal in it. I've tried to follow the whole "cook every meal in" thing...I've blogged about trying to cook more...I have good intentions, it just doesn't happen for me.
Last night was really no different.
However, last night I had some veggies that HAD to be cooked, they were looking a little limp.
So, for dinner, I chopped up some green peppers, red peppers, potatoes and onions. I happened to have some left over sausage that we grilled last week, I cut it up too! I threw it all in a pan and warmed it up. Then I transferred the pile of chopped up yumminess onto a plate and beat together a few eggs, with milk, I don't know why I put milk in with the eggs I've just heard somewhere along the way that you're suppose to do that. Then I poured the eggs into a pan, I let them cook for a second and then dumped the chopped up goodies on top. Then I sprinkled on some cheese.
I had every intention of folding the eggs over nicely and creating an omelet of sorts, only, my egg didn't fold. My egg kind of creased, cracked and crumbled. Whatever.
I threw it all on a plate and handed it to Sev.
He smiled. He ate. He smiled again.
He called it "a whole bunch of good stuff wrapped in an egg".
It was a hit!

Does anyone out there have any yummy omelet recipes they want to share??

Mothers Day Weekend

Sev and I had a very nice mothers day weekend.
We spent Friday afternoon furniture shopping. We enjoyed dinner at the olive garden and then we came home and went to bed early.
We got up Saturday morning, before any normal person would willingly get up on a Saturday morning, and headed to the upstate.
We got to my parents house, after a quick stop at starbucks for me, just in time for Sev to hop in the car with my dad and take off to the lake for a day of fishing.
I can't stand fishing. It's too quiet of a sport. It's boring.
If I'm going to be out on a lake, strap me to a tube or ski's or a wake board...but pleasssse don't strap a fishing pole in my hands.
Something about waiting, quietly, for some slimy, bug eyed, scaly, fish to bite my hook...does nothing for me!
Now when I was younger, because I'm such a big daddy's girl, I would go fishing...JUST to spend time with my dad.
I hated every second of it, but I would go.
Strangely, the trips never lasted as long as the fishing trips dad took with my brother.
Our fishing trips typically went something like this: Dad would find himself unloading the boat by himself. 5 minutes after sitting quietly with our lines in the water, I would ask him a question "why is the sky blue?". He would tell me to "shhhhhhhush". 5 minutes later I would ask to go to the bathroom, dad would maneuver the boat to shore and try and hold the boat steady while I hopped out and "dad I can't find a good spot...dad what if a snake bites me...dad is this poison ivy?". 5 minutes after we got back out onto the lake I would ask him a question "why is the water green?". He would tell me to "shhhhhhhhush". 5 minutes later I would tell him I was hungry. I would sit and poke at the can of vienna sausages that dad had just handed me. 5 minutes later I would tell dad I didn't like vienna sausages. He would say "shhhhhhush". 5 minutes later I would be watching the little fish swim to the surface to eat the vienna sausage pieces I had begun to toss into the lake. 5 minutes later I would ask dad a question "Why aren't the fish biting?". I would get another "shhhhush" sometimes he would throw in a "you're scaring the fish away!"...which was silly because there were still plenty of fish eating on the vieanna sausage pieces. 5 minutes later I would tell dad I needed to go the bathroom again. This was usually when we would head back to the dock and load up to go home.
I can't stand fishing.
Severyn loves to fish. So Saturday he and dad went fishing while I got to spend the whole day with my mom and grandma.
Sometimes even daddy's girls need there mommy days!
Mom and I had a blast, just hanging out and shopping, talking, laughing, driving, eating and talking some more. Never once did she tell me to "shhhhhush".
Fishing is so overrated.

We slept in on Sunday morning and then went to my church with my grandma. It's one of her favorite things, her kids and grandkids going to church with her. She loves to tell everyone that "these are my kids and these are my grandkids...well no, that one is my granddaughters husband, you know he spent two tours in Iraq, it's sad you know the country is in a bad shape. You know I watch the news every night and it's just bad. These are just half of my kids, the other ones are with their other family. I'll see them later today with my great grandkids. You know I have great grandkids! I worry about the bad shape the world will be in when my great grandkids grow up. Did you hear about.....". Thankfully, everyone at grandmas church is very patient and very sweet. They all appeared to be very interested in who grandma had brought to church and they all agreed that the world was in bad shape. They all looked shocked that grandma could have great grandkids and still look so young, and usually they had even heard about whatever it was grandma had asked them if they had heard about ;)
I'm also a pretty big grandma fan. I love that I still get to spend mothers day with two women in my life that helped make me the woman I am today.

I'm definitely blessed and thankful that God gave me the mom he gave me, I know he hand picked her just for me!
I'm a day late but Happy Mothers Day to all of the mothers out there. I pray you had a wonderful weekend and I hope you got to spend it doing whatever it was you wanted to do....even if you spent if fishing (which I just don't know why you would, fishing is so overrated but whatever)!

The Person I Am

Just some random rambling, if for no one else but me. Just to keep my fingers busy and my eyes open.

It is currently slow at work.

That happens from time to time (ya think!? how else do I blog, the little that I do) slow moments at work.

I. Hate. Them.

I'm too much of a day dreamer. If I can't stay busy, I start to day dream. It's not healthy, at least, it is not healthy when you're suppose to be focusing on work.

Therefore, if there is a dull in my work day, I'll start to day dream, if I start to day dream and suddenly there is something for me to focus on, it is hard for me to get out of the day dreaming daze! **sigh** I realize now that I'm not a very good desk sitting-office dwelling-phone answering-order placing-computer staring person, it's just not me.

BUT I don't know exactly what kind of person I am called to be...so office dwelling person I'll remain, until I figure out what kind of person I am. ha.

ANYWAYS....

Sev and I planted a small garden, a little over a week ago.

We now have two tomato plants, one green pepper plant and one red pepper plant. We have room for a few more plants, but I can't decide what I want. I only want to plant what I know we'll use. I'm thinking, maybe, a strawberry plant.

I also planted some herbs; basil, dill, sage, chives, oregano, flat parsley, and cilantro...I ADORE cilantro. Sadly, I started the chives, oregano, flat parsley and cilantro from seeds and I heard (okay, my cousin actually informed me, after she laughed at me for not knowing) that if you're going to start from seed, you need to start earlier in the season...and start the seedlings indoors. We'll see how well my herbs grow...I have hot apple pie in the sky hopes! (I do not know where that came from, it's been years since I've heard that song...it's crazy how my mind works,lol)

I was also doing so well saving up for my compost! My only problem, I was doing great when it came to saving the scraps...just not so great at finding a compost bin...and you can't let fruit rinds and veggie clippings sit for very long before you get gnats! Therefore, all of my compost savings went directly into the garden. haha. Severyn put up a bit of a fuss, but then, when he realized there was no arguing with me, he just tilled the garden up...soil, fertilizer,fruit rinds, veggie clippings and all.

I looked out the window this morning, after we had a nice little rain last night, and thought someone had thrown toilet paper in my garden!...alas it was the corn husks that had come unearthed. **sigh** I should really save the gardening for someone else! I'm definitely NOT a garden person either.

I attempted this recipe last week.

A baked lemon pasta maker...I am NOT.

It did not turn out, whatsoever, as delicious as I had hoped.

Though, the recipe has received very high ratings...therefore, I think maybe it was just me and maybe the way I made the pasta, that turned out not so delish.

I was sad, I LOVE lemon! (just about as much as cilantro, possibly more). A cook, I'm not. A lemon lover I am!

I purchased this ring, in the below picture, over the weekend.

At first I thought it might be a bit too...I don't know...over the top.

I even had to ask Stephanie 3 (or 4...maybe 5) times "are you sure it's not too much?" before I would commit.

However, I must be a blingy-on-the-verge-of tacky ring wearing person...because I like it!

(note: the ring is actually prettier in person, I think anyways)

I am also addicted to Starbucks...yes, I'm definitely THAT kind of person. It's sad really, the level of my addiction, but everyone has a vice! I'm working on mine, promise! okay not really...but I've thought about it!!

So, there is a little bit of random information on the person I am =) Happy Tuesday!!

Cousins, Camera phones and a Concert in Columbia

Sev and I had a great weekend, well aside from the fact that Sunday afternoon Sev took a nasty little spill off of his dirt bike, and now has pretty nasty strawberry on his arm....other than that, we had a lovely weekend!

Friday night Sev and I grilled steak and corn on the cob for dinner, it was delish. After dinner, I tried to rush around and pick our house up as best I could. We have yet to get everything unpacked, but we were expecting Jon and Steph to come in sometime Friday night.

I went ahead and prepared the first part of baked french toast, a recipe I stole off of my cousins blog. We stayed up fairly late on Friday night, ust chatting and hanging out. For some reason, Steph and I never run out of things to talk about when we're together. We found ourselves crawling in bed @ 2am!!

The next morning, I got up and prepared the praline topping for the french toast before popping it into the oven and then the four of us went outside to lounge on the back deck. We had been on the back deck for no longer than 10 or 15 minutes when Sev went to open the door, to go back inside, and realized.....we were locked out!!

Here we were, Steph and I in our PJ's, and barefooted. For a split second I panicked. WHAT were we going to do!? Then I remembered leaving a window open, just the other day, for no reason what-so-ever only, when I went to shut and lock it I thought "I should leave this window unlocked, it's up high and it will come in handy if we ever get locked out of the house!" (No I can not predict the future, I just got lucky on that one!).

Sev and Jonathan were able to get the window open, then I crawled onto Sevs shoulders and he lifted me into the window. It was a SITE!! We were all laughing and I was so thankful we did not have a camera!! That is...until I realized that Stephanie DID have a camera phone....and she DID take pictures...and that was the moment I cursed camera phones!

We enjoyed or breakfast. I was pretty pleased with the new recipe! It reminded me of a cross between french toast and cinnamon rolls. YUMMY!

Steph and I took our time shopping on Saturday. We met the boys at the mall and shared a food court lunch. Then the guys left and Steph and I continued picking out clothes to wear to the concert that evening. We headed home around 5pm, got dressed, and headed out the door around 6pm. We had a quick dinner at Wild Wings and then walked to Colonial Life Arena, in downtown Columbia, for the Carrie Underwood concert.

Steph and Jonathan right before the concert started:

Craig Morgan:

Craig Morgan walked directly in front of us, on two different occasions. It was pretty neat, I just wish I would have gotten a better picture of him when he was right in front of us. The below picture was after he had gotten a few rows down from us.

Sev and I right before Carrie came out! (I don't know why I have that silly look on my face, but it's the only picture I got of the two of us.):

Carrie Underwood!!! I can't blame Sev for having a crush on her, she really is a beautiful person and her voice is amazing!!

Sevy, blowing Carrie a kiss, hehehe.

We really did have good seats!!

Carrie changed outfits...a LOT! Here she is swinging from a huge tree limb (sorry I didn't get a better picture of the tree limb she was swinging from).

This was probably the coolest part of the concert. She got into the bed of a truck and was lifted out and above the audience. She flew right above our heads, we could only see the underside of the truck, it was pretty neat:

Carrie really is a talented singer. I love how real she is and how she really appears to be grounded in her faith, even with all of the fame. My favorite part of the show was when she sang "Temporary Home" and "Jesus Take the Wheel". I think it takes a lot of guts to sing songs like that, in today's society, and Carrie belted those songs out perfectly, obviously not a bit afraid of what people might think of her! (of course it probably helps that she could sing "I'm a little tea pot" and people would still adore her, ha).

It was a GREAT weekend! We had a blast spending time with our cousins/friends. Sevy said he can now die a happy man, LOL. I wish I had gotten more pictures, but my camera died before the show was over. Sev, however, used his camera phone to capture a few more pictures and videos...and that was when I decided camera phones weren't all that bad.

26 Years Old

I had a mole removed from my chin last Friday.
I actually took pictures and will share, once everything heals over.
I currently look like one of those kids that takes their hands off of the bicycle handlebars, yells "look at meeeee!!" and proceeds to face plant on the sidewalk. Not a cool look at 26 years old.

It's a pretty common known fact that I faint. I faint when getting my blood taken, I faint when I have to have any sort of surgery, shoot...I faint at company Christmas parties when someone is talking about their job as a kidney dialyses nurse. Another thing that is not cool at 26 years old!
While waiting on the doctor to come in and remove the mole on my chin, I was being prepped by the nurse and was given the run down on what to expect. I heard "needle" and "slight prick" and I thought "speak now or forever hold your peace Lindsey!". I mentioned that I was a little nervous about the needle part of the removal process. I casually admitted to sometimes fainting. I tried not to make it sound like a big deal, I just wanted to let her know. The nurse was very sweet, she finished answering my questions and getting me ready for the doctor. She then told me to "go ahead and lay on back honey, the doctor will be in shortly". Thinking this was common practice, I laid back, got comfortable and waited. The doctor walked in and said "oh, you can sit up, this is not a big deal, we can do this with you in the seated position." That's when the nurse leaned over towards the doctor, kind of shielded her mouth with her hand and whispered (loud enough for me to hear) "but.....she's a fainter!" **sigh** Then they both looked at me like I was that kind of girl...whatever that kind of girl is...and whatever it is, it's not cool to be one at 26! and I know this, because short of them both saying "well, bless her heart" I could tell they thought I was a 26 year old weenie.

I had a dentist appointment this morning. Dentists rank right up there with doctors, needles and things that make me faint. However, going to the dentist is just one of those things you know you have to do...so I just do it.
The dentist informed me that I needed to have one of my fillings replaced. Then I heard him say the word "small needle, slight prick" and I thought "forever hold your peace Lindsey!!" I was NOT going to let the dentist think I was a weenie! Then he says "and I see here, on your chart, that you have a tendency to get squeamish around needles"...ugh. They have offered to give me nitrous when I go back. They don't want a 26 year old "fainter".

After my dentist appointment I ran to Plato's Closet. I have had a stack of clothes, riding around in the trunk of my car no less, waiting to be dropped off at a consignment store (I first typed convenient store...haha..."yes would you like these old, size 10, women's, shoes to go along with your gas purchase?" geesh...) for forever now! The girl behind the counter looked at me and informed me right away that they only accepted clothes that were less than 2 years old and from teenage clothing stores such as abercrombie and fitch, hollister, forever 21 and express. Well missy, I might be 26 but I still own clothes from some of those stores!! ha!...............
........She bought 3 pieces of my clothing...3 out of the over 30 pieces of clothing that I brought in.
Apparently, a 26 year old (that incidentally looks like she face planted off of her bicycle) is no longer "cool" when it comes to teenage fashion.

**sigh**
Hello, my name is Lindsey. I'm 26, do not have very good fashion sense and I'm a fainter.

but it's WEDNESDAY and we're only 2 days away from Friday!! and no matter how old you are, Fridays are soooo cool ;)

Days of the Week

I'm so glad Monday is over.
I HATE Mondays.
I'm usually a little bit sad when Sunday comes around, because I know I'm that much closer to Monday.
Today is Tuesday, and while it's still a good ways away from Friday, it's still not Monday!

Am I the only one that hates Mondays?

Oh, I try to remain positive when Monday comes around. I try to remind myself that I'm thankful for a good job to wake up to. I try and tell myself that this Monday is going to be different and I'm going to have the best week...EVER! It hardly ever works. Mondays stink!

However, today is Tuesday, so I'll stop whining about Mondays! Tuesday means I only have 4 more days until the weekend. This weekend we are going to a concert (Sevs first ever concert). Steph and Jon are coming to spend the weekend with us and attend the concert with us. We're going to see Carrie Underwood. Severyn has had a crush on her since before I can remember. I'm excited to enjoy this coming weekend!
but it's still 4 days away, today is only Tuesday and Tuesdays are only one day away from being as bad as Mondays!

Can anyone tell, I live for the weekends??

Last weekend we celebrated my brothers birthday with a camping trip. If you want to see pictures of the camping trip my family took, you'll have to visit my cousins blog. Steph is the only one that took any pictures last weekend. I didn't pull my camera out for numerous reason. I was busy riding all day Saturday and there is something very difficult about riding and taking pictures. Then I spent the better part of Saturday evening under a tarp, trying to stay dry, and not feeling all that glamorous or picture worthy. Regardless of the lack of pictures, we had a great time. My only complaint, Monday came way to quickly!!

I hope everyone has a great week! Tomorrow is Wednesday and Wednesdays mean we're half way to the weekend!! and I LOVE weekends :)

1025 East Prince Road

It's not something I do often...cry.

It's just something that I don't like to do. I don't know why. I just don't.
My mother will tell you that when it comes to crying, I'm pretty dang stubborn.

Well I couldn't find a tissue quick enough when I heard this song first play on my radio.

Miranda Lambert-House That Built Me (click link).

For those that don't know me very well, I had the hardest time accepting the fact that my parents had sold "my home" a year after I moved to Hawaii. It was the home that my brother and I spent our entire childhood in. It's the house I learned to ride my bike at. The house that I got ready for my first day of school in. The house that I woke up, entirely too early, on Christmas mornings in. The house that I spent every summer swimming in the backyard pool. Just about every single one of my childhood memories involves some part of that house.
When I came back to SC for the first time after I had moved to Hawaii, after the house had sold, I made it a point to go by our "home" one last time.
It just felt right.
The man that bought our house must have thought I was a loon, some crazy girl blubbering on about his house being her childhood home and could she please see it one last time. If he thought I was a loon, he didn't say it (thankfully) he just let me in and let me walk through the house one last time.
It was the last time I would see the inside of the house that built me.

Listen to the lyrics and if you've ever had to say goodbye to a childhood home, maybe you'll cry too.

We Stuck Our Big Toe In...

and then proceeded to submerge our feet!

...then our legs

...and some, of the more daring, even submerged their entire body!

and it was COLD!!



However, after we lost feeling got used to the water temperature, it wasn't THAT bad. Honestly. Though we did get a few strange looks from river by-standers.
Here are pictures of Kennedi, Kyle and Matt on our way to the river. See the green tubes in the back? See the smile on their faces?....they know what fun is! .....or maybe they just really trusted me, and honestly believed me when I said "come on guys! It won't be THAT cold! Cross my heart!"

So, I might have to work a little bit harder for their trust in the future, but they all admitted to having a great time :-)
It took about 3 hours to float the river. We saw a few turtles and thankfully no snakes (perhaps they knew just how cold river water is in April!). The best part of the entire adventure was when we made it to our destination and climbed out onto the shore. I knew we were a site to be seen. I knew that before we were out of the water, the look on the faces of the by standers told me that. I just didn't realize the audience we would have when we finally made it to land. As we filed into a single line and began to walk up a steep flight of stairs to the parking lot, we heard music. We stumbled up the last part of the stairs, each of us dragging a large tube and a life vest, and found ourselves directly behind the back of a singer, performing in front of a fairly large crowd. Apparently, there was some sort of river festival going on. I think we ended up being one of the main attractions! All eyes were on us! We couldn't help but laugh and Kennedi even wished out loud that we "could at least be carrying something cool, like a kayak and not these crazy tubes!" as we made our way across the front of the audience and up the side walk to the truck.

We had a great weekend with our friends and like every weekend, it went by way too fast! It's back to a week full of unpacking and organizing for me. Sev and I did manage to find a good deal on a brand new washer and dryer on Sunday! We had a big day, we did some shopping at Lowe's and then made a quick stop by Sears, we even considered stopping by Home Depot but we opted out for lunch at Apple Bee's instead....we know what fun is!!! ......**sigh** when did I start sounding like my parents??

Day Dreaming...

I do that. A lot.

Day dream.

I used to get in trouble for it in college. Wait. I still get in trouble for it at work! I suppose some things will never change.

This is just a random post. why? because I haven't posted in a few days...mainly because I lead a really boring life and I've already blogged enough about all of the packing/unpacking that is my current life.

I wore capri pants to work today. BIG mistake! Not only am I so white that it looks like I have on white stockings...but I just went to scratch my ankle and realized, I really need to shave! really. I'm so bad about remembering to shave in the winter (**gasp** did I just admit that?) No, I'm not a hippy, tree hugger...I'm lazy. Honestly, just lazy.
So, while I really need to work on getting a tan and stop being so lazy, I'm still REALLY enjoying this spring weather!! I really believe that the weather can make a persons mood. I'm typically, deliriously happy in the spring. Plus, tulips bloom in the spring, and tulips make me happy.

Maybe my mood is elevated even higher by the fact that it's Friday! Lately, I feel as if, I'm living for Fridays.
This weekend, Sevy and I, have two of our best friends coming into town. We love getting to spend time with Kennedi and Kyle. They have a wedding to attend tomorrow afternoon, here in Columbia, so they are spending the rest of the weekend with us! We have tentative plans to float down the Congaree river. Please note I said "tentative" we may get out there, put our big toe in the water, chicken out, toss the "floating down the river" idea to the side, go home and be lazy! It's how we roll ;-) (okay, I've just really been wanting to say that, lol).

I really want to plant a small garden this year. I realize it's getting later into the "planting season" but I think Sev and I are going to attempt a small garden as soon as possible. I'm really craving some fresh veggies, herbs and maybe some fruit! I've done a little bit of research and I'm even considering starting my own little compost pile, we'll see how far my idea goes. I'm GREAT at planning things, even better at starting things.....I'm just not so good at finishing things. It's how I roll. (okay, I'll stop that now).

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!
I found my camera last night and I'm really planning on taking pictures of the new place and posting them soon!! I know I say "I'm posting pictures soon!" all of the time, but really I have every intention to do it....it's just, well, read above paragraph. Again, it's how I roll (okay, I lied).

Happy Friday!!

I Can. Not. Find. A Thing!!

because we are currently, really, living out of boxes!

I thought that I couldn't find anything when we packed our stuff and put most of it into storage...but now, I really can hardly find a thing.

Sev and I began our move on Friday afternoon. On Friday morning, I was sick and ended up having to go the doctor so on Friday afternoon, Matt and Sev handled as much moving as they could.
They were able to get the master bedroom furniture in the new house along with a couple of boxes. On Saturday morning I was still not feeling well, but I had my hair straightening appointment that I refused to miss! (remember, my hair was SCARY!! well, that and I knew it would be way to difficult to try and reschedule...so I just sucked it up and went). I got to my appointment at 10am....I left there sometime between 5 and 6pm!!!! Not only was I tired of sitting by that point, but I was feeling pretty puney.
I left, with head full of straight hair, and met Sev, Matt and my mom at the new house. My mother, bless her sweet heart, had already started cleaning! It is times like these when I wonder how children grow up without a mom. Mom cleaned, I unpacked boxes and the boys worked on building the storage shed out back. Finally, my body had had enough. Mom and I went to get dinner while the boys went to get the spare bedroom furniture from Matt's house (wow, that sounds weird to me..."Matt's house"). By the time mom and I got back from eating, the boys had already put the spare bedroom furniture together. I tried to dig through some boxes to find sheets and blankets. I managed to find two sets of sheets, for each bed and a handful of pillows. I could only find two small lap blankets for the spare bed and I did find the comforter for the master bedroom. Matt went home and Sev, Mom and I fell asleep fairly quickly. Mom insisted on letting Ali sleep at the foot of her bed, so we allowed him to sleep there. I'm pretty sure she was rethinking that decision when Ali decided that he wanted to bark at every little, strange, new house, noise! Mom was a trooper though and she was up and at em' early on Sunday. She rounded the troops, gave orders and we all got to work!
She and I unpacked, hung pictures, cleaned, got two car loads of stuff from Matt's house, furniture shopped, unpacked, and cleaned some more. The boys helped get the big furniture items moved and set up, but for the most part they worked on the storage shed.

Mom left last night at 9pm. I left Matt's house with one last car load at 10pm. Sev and I dug through some boxes for our pj's, shower supplies, and alarm clocks. We were fast asleep by midnight.

This morning I woke up in a new house, I dug through a box at the foot of our bed for something to wear to work and I headed to work...I found out that I am about 5 minutes closer to work, that moving is not much fun and that moms really are hero's in disguise!

A Home, An Update, And Allergies!

Gosh time sure does fly!

A HOME:

I just realized that I have yet to come on here and post about Sev and I finding a new place to call home!!

Well we did. We found a place and we move this coming weekend.

We are excited and stressed...as with any move.

We are downsizing, not by choice but by "we finally found something we both like, can afford and it happens to be small!!"....like really small. However, I told Sev, I think I can be a minimalist for a year or two. I like this place that much. We'll see just how well I can put my organizational skills to use! I'm going to have to make the most out of every space. I'm sure this will bring posts along the way!

I'm also relieved that our house search is over! For a year or two...I can't stay in one place long :)

After our house sold, Sev and I talked and, we decided to rent. It just made more sense. We don't want to be in Columbia any longer than we have to. We want to have the ability/flexibility to get the heck out of dodge move as soon as Sev completes his degree.

What we didn't expect was how expensive it is to rent in Columbia! Geesh! Therefore, we took forever and a year to finally find a place we loved and could see spending he next year or two of our lives.

We fell in love with a little area in Columbia, called Shandon. It is the oldest and most historic neighborhood in Cola. The streets are lined with huge trees. The majority of the houses are brick, small and surrounded by flower beds. Every afternoon the side walks are filled with people walking their dogs. It's and old neighborhood, but it has charm! I could see the potential and I immediately made it my mission to call that neighborhood home! I'm so excited to decorate, organize, call this place home and have friends and family come visit!

AN UPDATE:

Sev and I spent last weekend in the upstate. We had a wonderful Easter! We got to see my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and nephew. I adore my nephew. He is loads of fun and I treasure the times we get to see him. I met him when he was 2, and like all kids, he grows so fast! He is already 10, in the 4th grade and "almost as tall as you aunt linds!" (quoting him). He rides dirt bikes so we spent time talking about dirt bikes. He loves reptiles so we spent time drawing pictures of lizards, and naming his latest rubber lizard "taco". We looked for turtles in the pond, fed the horses carrots, had a scavenger hunt for his Easter basket, and he and I rode in the "trunk" of my mother-in-law's suv, on the curvy road to Saluda, NC....he thought that was just AWESOME!....I thought the ride would never end and got car sick! LoL.

In a nutshell, we had fun and I can't wait to see he, his mom and dad again! Hopefully soon, Sev and I are trying to plan a trip to MT, in the upcoming year, to visit them.

On Easter Sunday we got to enjoy lunch with my side of the family, at my grandmas house. I LOVE my grandmas cooking. This year I loved my cousins keylime pie too!...which I cut a big piece of to take home...and then left it at my grandmas! Ugh.

I also got to spend time with the sweet baby boys in our family. This year I even found it in me to share an Easter egg! This is rare, as I'm known for stealing the eggs...not sharing them. Can you see the egg I shared??

I was sad when our weekend came to an end, but happy that it was spent with family!!

AND ALLERGIES!!

Columbia is currently a sea of yellow. My black car looks yellow, the grey roads look yellow, the blue sky looks yellow...pretty much any surface, on any item, that goes outside, for any length of time...is yellow!!!! I don't believe I've ever seen pollen this bad!! It is EVERYWHERE!! and it is giving me one heck of an allergy attack! Bring on the rain!!!

That is all on allergies...I just thought it was necessary to post about the pollen, since it seems to be all that I can sneeze think about these past couple of days.

Spring has Sprung

Please ignore the dead grass, the weeds that need to be pulled and the fact that the flower bed really needs a fresh layer of pine needles.

I took this picture a few days ago, this morning every one of the tulips had bloomed! Tulips are my favorite flower and seeing them bloom just brings a smile to my face!

Sev and I are going to look at more potential homes this weekend. I'm tired of looking, but we can't really stop looking until we find something...though I have threatened to just live in a cardboard box!! It's stressful, but my fingers are crossed that we'll find something soon!!

I met with Marcy yesterday (the lady that does Japanese straightening) and she was GREAT! I'm happy to report I scheduled an appointment with her and my wild hair days will soon come to an end! She was also very professional, very sweet and very reasonably priced! Woohoo!

I stayed up late last night working on my latest cake creation. It was a task that proved to be harder than usual. Matt and I have begun the process of taking all of my kitchen items out and putting his items in. It's a slow process (we both work full-time and only have about 1 hour in the evening to pack and unpack) and therefore we have a lot of items strewn around the kitchen, laid out on the counter tops and sitting in boxes. Basically, I don't know where anything is and I realized just how frustrating not know where anything is can be! I managed to make do and fell asleep around midnight. I've decided to put all cake making on hold until we have found a place to live and I can unpack...I never really thought much about the layout of a kitchen, but that seems to be one thing I'm paying more and more attention to as we house hunt. "Gourmet kitchen" Yes please!

Here is a picture of the cake I made last night:

That's all for now!! Have a great weekend!!

On An Upbeat Note

I realized I've been kind of whiny in my last few posts.
So this post is going to be about the things that are currently making me happy.

Someone please look at my cake blog http://4theluvofcake.blogspot.com/ , notice anything new?! How cute is the new design!! One of my best friends, Kelly, is a graphic designer...and I pretty much adore her work. I finally broke down and asked her to work her magic on my cake blog, I flat gave up! I can design a cake but heaven help me when it comes to computers!! My computer designing skills go as far as the "paint" program that comes standard on any computer...yeah, it's sad.
I love it! Let me know what you think. Also, check out her blog http://www.kellykguk.blogspot.com/ , she can design just about anything for any occasion!

I don't know if any of you have seen me in person lately, but my hair is between "oh my gosh, did you see her hair..that is sad, bless her heart!?" and "runnnnnnnn it's a wild, crazy, hairy thing!!" Uhm, yeah, it's pretty bad. I have had my hair Japanese straightened since...well, since the first year I lived in Hawaii, so almost 5 years now. I can. not. express. how amazing the transformation was! I vowed then to NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER not get my hair Japanese straightened. It was worth every, single, little, very expensive, penny!! My long time friends and family can vouch for this. When I moved back to Columbia I had a hard time finding a very reputable, professional, years of experience hair stylist, that offered Japanese straightening. I went through two, very sad, process with a hair salon in downtown Columbia, that while they DID straighten my hair, they also managed to break off lots of hair around the nape of my neck and in the bang area. It was sad, but thankfully I have VERY thick hair, and could cover it up easily...so I actually went to the salon twice before I finally decided enough was enough and I NEEDED to find a better salon!! It has taken me months of research but I think I have finally found her! http://www.straightasstring.com/ . I have an appointment with her tomorrow and, fingers crossed, I will FINALLY be on my way to a much calmer, smoother, silkier, non-frightening for small children, hair style!!

My mother bought me a few bags of tulip bulbs last fall and Sevy graciously planted them. Today, we have the most amazing tulips around Matt's mailbox. I LOVE spring, it is my favorite time of the year! I'm ready for green grass, flowers in bloom and birds chirping!! For me, it's the most inspiring time of year!

Just Some Stuff

Tell me that is not cute! That's little man, Ali. He likes to hide under beds and stick only his head (and tongue) out.



Currently I am:


* Uploading cake pictures to my cake blog!

* Hanging on to the last strands of my sanity!

* Drowning in boxes and packing materials.

* Getting sick and tired of looking for a place to call "home".

* Trying to be patient and understand that everything will come and happen when it's suppose to!

* Getting tired of people telling me to be patient, lol.

* Watching mindless TV shows (like Dancing with The Stars, that I'll admit I watched last night and lost 1hr of my life on) just to keep my mind from going crazy with planning...or not planning.

* Designing a cake for a 1 year old, the son of a SMC college friend.

* Going through my camera and uploading, deleting, and storing pictures...I think I just heard a "it's about time" somewhere in the distance.


Here is one of me and the only other female rider, Kellie:

Ohhhh and look at this one!! This is a perfect example of what my world currently looks like!!! (Disclaimer: No furry, long tongued, creatures were harmed in the taking of this photo).

Okay, that's enough random stuff for today!!
Happy Tuesday!!


oh and ps. I'm sick of hearing about the new health care bill...it makes me sad for America :(

Still in the Process of Packing

Sev and I have officially moved out of our old bedroom. We did that this past Saturday. Oh, how weird it is!
We moved all of our bedroom furniture into storage Saturday, along with the rest of our dining room furniture. I managed to minimize my closet down into a small, itsy,bitsy, teeny,weeny space and put the rest of the clothes, shoes, purses, belts...etc.etc. into storage.
I feel like I know the true meaning of "like sardines in a can"! Though, I can't complain. I have a bed to sleep in every night and a roof over my head!
We are still in the process of packing up our kitchen and all of the items we had stored in our attic, garage and office. It's a slow process, mainly because I demand that I have a say in where everything goes, how it is packed and how it is handled...it's the OCD....but the process is slowly coming along.
I have managed to loose my camera in all of the disarray, but I know it's not packed up, just stuck somewhere (presumably in a place that I deemed "safe" at one point) and waiting to be found.
I hope to find it soon, I have pictures I want to take and pictures that I want to post.
Matt is getting the cable and internet hooked up today. We cancelled our service with time warner last week. They came out last night to turn it all off...just to come back out today and turn it back on for Matt. Seemed pointless to me, but whatever.

It is a very weird feeling to no longer be home owners. I feel a bit sad and then again a bit of relief.
This weekend we're taking a break from it all and going to spend some time with my dad.
I'm sick of house hunting...it is seriously, slowly, driving me crazy (and no I wasn't already crazy). So I hope this weekend will help to get us refreshed and ready to start it all over next week.

Happy Wednesday!