Weekend with the girls

My college roommates and I had a GREAT time this past weekend. My voice is hoarse from all the talking. We shopped, ate yummy food, played fun games, and reminisced about college fun. It was great to catch up on their lives and realize that in many ways, we could just pick up where we left off 8 years ago at graduation. It is a blessing to have lifelong friends like them! Here are some pictures from my trip:

The four of us in our new shirts; we went shopping Friday and found some great deals!
Playing with the babies and waiting for dinner:
Eating out at Pei Wei, a yummy Chinese restaurant:Sara and me:
Mary and Kirstin:
Kir and me trying on matching shirts at Old Navy:

The new additions to the group; Ada, Sara's 13 month old:
Luke, Mary's 9 month old:Abby and her 5 month old, Ellie:

For comparison

Here is a picture (posed similarly) of the 5 of us this past weekend. We haven't changed much in ten years, wouldn't you say?!

Roommate Reunion

My roommates from college and I are getting together for a reunion this weekend (finally!). We've seen each other here and there over the years since graduating, but have never done an intentional get-together. So now, we're doing it! I'm headed to St. Louis in a few hours where we will undoubtedly laugh a lot and have tons of fun. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone again -- it's been 10 years since we lived in room 510!

And no one needs to comment on how young I look in this picture. Don't I know it!!

40 years!!

My parents have been married for 40 years today! What a blessing they have been to me and my siblings and what a wonderful example of what marriage should look like they are! I love them so much and am so happy to be celebrating this milestone with them!!

And on a related note, happy birthday to my dad!! He is 61 today! :)

E-Mealz Review

I've recently subscribed to E-Mealz, a website that puts up weekly meal plans and grocery lists based on the sales at various grocery stores.

Link here:

E-MEALZ Easy Meals for Busy and Frugal Families

or in my sidebar -->

I signed up for the Publix Points system plan since we are on Weight Watchers, and it posts 7 meals (entree and at least one side), the recipes, and a detailed grocery list complete with prices and items marked that are on sale this week. Nick and I have enjoyed the meals we've had so far and it is has been SO nice not to have to come up with meals on my own - I get so sick of that! It is pretty cheap, only $15 for three months of recipes. I figure if I don't want to continue after that time, I still have three months' worth of meals that I can refer back to and have again.

Check it out! And if you join, be sure you put me down as your referral! :)

Soggy night at the baseball field

If you know me, you'll know I'm not the hugest sports fan. Take it or leave it, for the most part. And when it is played in an outdoor venue in late June, I tend towards the latter for sure. However, I can never resist a good deal or a night out with friends and our good friends David and Renae got a four pack of tickets, four hot dogs, four drinks, a $5 gas card, and a program for just $15 a person, so we decided to take them up on it and go for a night out of baseball fun.

I checked the weather yesterday morning and it was supposed to be ONE HUNDRED AND SIX degrees heat index, with a high of 97 and a 30% chance of storms. So I packed the sunscreen, dressed light, and prepared for a night of sweating.That was until the 30% chance turned into a 100% chance. We got to the game right before the start time to see them doing this:and the sky looking like this:Never a good sign. With my lack of love for baseball and my fear of thunderstorms, the night was not going well for me.
We waited for a little while in our seats, deciding not to try to get hot dogs right before the skies opened up.But then it finally started to rain so we went down a level (we were in the nosebleed section) under shelter and got our dinner and even found a picnic table on which to eat it.

Didn't need that sunscreen after all!
And it rained and rained and rained and rained and rained....you get the picture:
Finally it stopped and they began playing, a mere two and a half hours after it was supposed to start:
The only upside (besides getting to hang out with fun people, of course) was that the temperature dropped 25 degrees and it was nearly cold!!

We finally left at 12:30am while they were in the top of the 7th inning. Our team didn't do so well and was losing 10-4 when we left so it wasn't that great of a game. We got home around 1:30am. YAWN! That might be my last baseball game of the season!

Back to reality

Alternate title: I will never finish all this laundry

I'm back to the every day schedule. It is always hard to come back from vacation. However, the nice part is that I'm still on summer break from school so I'm still technically on vacation. There is just no beach out my front door.

I'm currently working on the following projects for the summer:

• Deep clean and organize each room in my house - I plan to dedicate a week to each room and get the clutter cleared out and organized, as well as cleaning all the nooks and crannies that get ignored during my weekly cleaning.
• Organize my pictures - This is a project I continually put off because it is so overwhelming. My pictures are saved on my computer in various places labeled things like "random" and "stuff" and I need to get them in one place, get rid of duplicates and ones I don't want, and label them correctly. Ugh.
• Quilt - My grandmother has a quilt that she never finished before she lost her vision and I'd like to finish it for her.

But right now? Today? Laundry. I'm on load 6 and have at least that many more to do. In fact, I just heard the dryer buzz so off I go!

Last day at the beach!

After moving houses, we've settled in to a pattern of beach in the morning, naps in the afternoon, delicious dinners (in and out of the house) and lots and lots of reading. I've read three books so far this week. Ahhhh!

On Tuesday, Emily and Dave went out to dinner to celebrate their anniversary. Then Wednesday night Nick and I went out together for a date of our own. We ate yummy seafood and then walked down the pier (where we saw the parasurfers). Thursday night we intended to go out for dinner altogether, then play mini golf and eat ice cream. We did make it to dinner, but a sudden thunderstorm squashed the mini golf plans. We still managed to get some dessert to have later on. The thunderstorm sure made for a pretty sunset, though:


And today, the last day at the beach, my plan is to sit in the sun and read before I have to start packing our stuff to head home. Sniff!


Here are some more pics:



Heading out to dinner (yes, totally nerdy in our matching shirts!):

More beach fun

A parasurfer; very fun to watch!View from porch - so pretty:

Alexa wearing her ice cream:

At some point I need a picture of me to prove that I'm actually here...

VAPORIZE 2010

We are at the beach this week with our friends. We've christened the trip "VAPORIZE" which stands for "V and P's Oceanside Retreat Incorporating Zany Escapades" (because we are nerdy like that). Nick and I even had T-shirts made with our slogan. Little did we know that we would really have zany escapades...

While it has been a good couple of days so far, we had a bit of an adventure today. We got in on Saturday and the house we were staying at was quite warm. Thinking it would just need time to cool down, we cranked the air and set about unpacking and enjoying our first night on the shore. Sunday we headed to church, and by Sunday afternoon we were ROASTING. The house was so hot that going outside in 90 degree weather was pleasant by comparison (at least there was a cool breeze from the ocean). We called the realty company and they couldn't send someone out until today, so we put fans in every room, took cold showers, and went to bed. This morning after a nice morning by the sea, we discovered that the a/c was not fixable - they need two new units. Thankfully, the realty company has been more than kind to us (our contract says that a/c is not guaranteed -- little did we know when we signed it that it would even be an issue!) and offered to let us switch houses. They handed Emily and me several keys to different houses on the beach and let us go check them out. So we reenacted "House Hunters" and went exploring different beach houses to find a replacement. Unfortunately, we were really picky in choosing to begin with, so it was tough to find a new one. We finally did, and then packed up our whole house in 90 degree heat and moved everything down the beach. But in the end, we like our new house even better in many ways. But by far, the best part is that the a/c works and we are no longer sweating! PHEW!

Here are a few pics so far; more to come as the week progresses:


Nick and Alexa chatting in the cabana. Wherever Nick has been this week, Alexa has not been far behind him - she is constantly asking "where's Unca Nick!!?"
More quality time for A & N:
Dave and Nick playing Bocce Ball on the beach:
Emily and me enjoying the sunset on our new back porch overlooking the sound:
Our view from the back porch:First house (aka the Hot House):
House #2 (AHHHHH):

Amanda and Chris are married!

Thursday and Friday of last week were dedicated to wedding craziness for my sister and new brother-in-law, but everything went well overall and they are married! We are so happy for the newlyweds.

A few pictures:

Before the rehearsal:
At the rehearsal dinner, Will goofing around:


The almost newlyweds:
Pre-wedding picture of Nick the usher and Molly the matron of honor:
Father/daughter dance (AWWWWW!!!):

Me goofing off, but what a pretty cake!:
No smashing cake in each other's faces; they knew better than that!:

June!

I had to do a beach theme for June - - so....beach umbrellas!!

Happy 8th anniversary!!!

8 years ago I married the man of my dreams and am even happier today than I was that wonderful day! Happy 8th anniversary to my sweetheart!