Hepburn and Houndstooth

1. I’m so excited that it’s finally time for Independence Day!  It’s by far my favorite holiday.  I like to don my patriotic colors and celebrate.  We’re doing things a little differently this year, which normally would disappoint me.  But I’m on a new positive kick… at least I’ll be able to enjoy an adult beverage!

2. Saturday, my mom and I are taking Nick to his first movie!  Thomas and Friends Misty Island Rescue is hitting theatres!  Nick has been obsessed with all things Thomas going on 3 years now.  He is going to love this experience!

3. I have been battling ants in our house for nearly two weeks now.  I am beyond frustrated and am at the point where I’d rather camp in the yard.  At least the ants BELONG out there.

4. I am dreaming of a honeymoon with my husband.  We still haven’t had one and we need it really badly right now!  Sure, I’d love to go to Greece, Tahiti, Cabo, or NYC.  However, I’m definitely ready to “settle” for Chicago, St. Louis, anywhere in Florida, or somewhere in Texas.  I mean, seriously… I’d go on a honeymoon in the next town over at this point.

5. I’ve really been missing Orlando something awful this past week.  I kinda feel like I never gave it enough chance, since I lived there only about a year and a half.  We had a lot of tough times while living there and I think if we had gotten back to a good place, I would have been really happy there.  We had just started forming good friendships and becoming active in a church we both loved… then POOF!  We left.  I want to go back, but my husband doesn’t.

6. Again with the Facebook drama?!  This time, someone posted a somewhat political status that I strongly disagreed with.  I politely and intelligently commented with my opinion, only to be deleted from her friend list.  Wow.  And this was a middle-aged woman.  I don’t understand.  Is nobody allowed to disagree with her?

7. For what is certainly not the first time this year, I have come up with a perfect craft idea.  I won’t reveal it just yet, but I think I’m ready to get serious with my Etsy shop and starting making some extra cash!

8. Harper learned a couple of weeks ago how to blow kisses and now he has rounded it out by adding a perfect lip smack.  It is the cutest thing in the world.

9. I am about to start a new blog series that I’m very excited about!  I’m going to tell (true) stories of dating.  I have some good ones and can’t wait to share! Update: Just as quickly as I decided to do this, I decided not to.

10. I am trying to live life a little differently…to always look at the positive side of things and just refuse to be depressed!  It’s working out great.  I feel really liberated!

1. Please don’t complain about being $60,000 in debt if you just came from a 4-week cruise in the Mediterranean.

2. I have a little summer cold and saying something about it on Facebook was the biggest mistake of my week.  I won’t get into it here, but I am in a rotten mood now because of it all.

3. I do not need toxic people in my life, but they are there at every turn.  I definitely am ready to make some huge changes in my life, starting with deleting people from my Facebook.  For real this time.  After that, I have a couple of letters to write to people I am harboring anger against.  It’s just not healthy to hold it all in.

4. Harper is in the process of phasing out his 2nd nap and I’m really sad about it.  I’m less sad about the quiet time I’m losing and more sad that this is another sign he’s growing up so fast!

5. On the topic of my kids making me sad by growing up, Nick has been at my mom’s for two nights and is at the point where he decides when he wants to stay and when he wants to come home.  When did he get old enough to make decisions?

6. Reconnecting with old friends is amazing.  I have had the wonderful experience this past week of finding an old friend on Facebook and having some wonderful conversations with him.  This reminds me of why I use FB.

7. The only thing better than being addicted to buying something cheap is finding a store where it’s sold even cheaper!  I discovered Saturday that Target sells my favorite nail polish (Sally Hansen’s Xtreme wear) for $1 less than WalMart!

8. I can’t do this anymore.  I have had some serious drama go down in the last hour and I’m shaking from anger.  I need coffee and I need to do dishes.  I can not focus on coming up with more things to write here.

1. I have lost my glasses.  Sunday, I came home from Girls’ Night Out with a fever and, apparently, a stomach virus.  I was sitting on my couch with my bags I remember seeing my glasses in one of them.  Once I got around to putting them on (late Sunday night when my contacts were irritating me), they were nowhere to be found.  It’s Tuesday and I can’t find them anywhere!
After two days of searching, I found my glasses way under my bed. I’m guessing Harper found them, moved them to the bedroom, and they got kicked under the bed.

2. You could never have told me this would happen, but I am homesick.  For Orlando.  I miss some select people, our church, the shopping, and the energy.  I don’t miss the weather (TOO sunny),  the tourists, or the traffic.  I certainly don’t miss being 500 miles from any family.  I feel a nagging to move back, but that may never happen.

3. I’m having a problem with my left eye.  It has been stinging nonstop for hours and sometimes it gets so intense, I can’t open it.  Besides the fact that it’s completely annoying, it’s a bit worrisome.

4. Nick is attending his second Vacation Bible School this week, and he is so loving it!  A friend of mine is teaching him and he loves her, which makes me so happy.

5. Several of my family members are either expecting babies or are trying to conceive.  This has me itching to start on that last member of our family!

6. Saturday was my Girls’ Night Out with my girl Amber.  It was so much fun, and we even met up with my old friend Tyler.  I also bought a Little Black Dress that makes me look great!

7. I mentioned in #2 that I miss our church in Florida.  That is an extreme understatement.  I am trying to make my relationship with God more of a priority again, and I feel like I need to be at that church.  I have a lot to pray about.

8. Lady Antebellum is coming to a local music festival called Bayfest in October.  I am so excited and so ready for that weekend!  Their CDs are almost all that play in my swagger wagon.

9. Speaking of to-die-for concerts, I entered a Twitter contest to win Kris Allen tickets last week and won.  Great news, right?!  Wrong.  The show was that night and I wasn’t able to get it together to go.

10. I would just like the world to know that I despise when someone uses the word “touche’” incorrectly.  If you don’t know how to use it, don’t be ashamed of that… just don’t. use. it.

1. Memorial Day weekend was so great!  We had a big family party on Saturday, recovered Sunday, then cooked out at home Monday.  I am really not ready for Dustin to go back to work today!

2. Saturday served to celebrate many family events, one of those being Harper’s birthday party.  He is now one and we have now found ourselves talking about trying for one more kid.  We definitely aren’t doing it until next year, but we are leaning toward doing it at least.  I am ready to complete our family!

3. With Harper’s birthday behind us, I’m ready to plan mine and Dustin’s birthday parties.  This year is my big 3-0 and I’m going to make it awesome!  I have several themed parties floating around in my head and I’m going to choose a direction soon!

4. Through the beautiful magic of Hulu, I have discovered Drop Dead Diva (on Lifetime).  It is one of my favorite shows now!  I am almost caught up on Season 1 and Season 2 starts Sunday!  I hate being stuck here at my dad’s without cable, so online episodes save my life!

5. I feel so surrounded by unhappy people lately, but I am determined to not be one of them!  Prayer has been my saving grace.  It really keeps me grounded and focused on what’s good and I give the rest to God.

6. My always-chipper Harper has been such a crab lately.  All I can figure is that the teething is really getting to him.  His teeth are coming in so quickly now that they’ve started (4 so far).  I feel so bad for him.

7. I think I have decided what I want to do for a career.  Now I just need to figure out how to get started, and quickly.

8. At Saturday’s party, I had the opportunity to spend some time with a distant cousin I hardly knew.  Through the wonders of Facebook, we keep up with each other in the smallest way, but I think (hope) things have shifted to a closer way of keeping in touch.

9. Nick is so creative and imaginative and it makes me so proud.  He can turn anything into playtime.  Watching your kids grow, learn, and discover is really the best part of being a parent.

10. Marriage is a journey and a difficult one at that.  I am so happy that over the weekend, Dustin and I had a chance to reconnect and actually spend some time together without changing diapers and playing referee during playtime.  Long conversation is absolutely essential in our relationship and I’m happy we got some of that!

WARNING: This post contains information that may be too graphic and just too much information for your taste.

1. My whole life, I had very mild PMS and periods.  Then I had kids.  Now, I have crippling cramps and with each child, the bleeding has gotten heavier.  I get weak and nearly pass out at times.  I woke up in the familiar pool of blood this morning.  Oh joy.

2. When I was a kid, any time my mom left the room I wanted to know where she was going and what she was going to do once she got there.  So often, her answer was, “I just need to pee, Rhonda!”  I couldn’t understand why she was annoyed.  Now, Nick is the same way and it drives me batty!  Sorry, Mom!

3. I really wish every cable network would get on the Full-Episodes-Online Bandwagon.  I don’t have cable while staying at my dad’s and I’m dying without my pals Tori, Dean, Giuliana, and Bill.

4. When Jason Mesnick dumped Melissa on national television and I found out by reading Reality Steve that it was probably all staged, I was done.  I vowed to not watch the next season of the Bachelor.  So I didn’t watch Jillian’s Bachelorette or Jake’s Bachelor.  Now, stuck here with no cable, what else can I watch?  I tuned in last night to Ali’s Bachelorette, only to turn it off before the rose ceremony even occurred.  So boring and she is so phony.  If you’re like me and know that these shows aren’t at all reality, but you like to watch the trainwreck anyway, I suggest reading Reality Steve‘s spoilers, then tuning in to watch it all happen.  It adds a new dimension to it.

5. I did a shopping trip Saturday for two weeks of meals.  It was so much fun!  I scouted out the weekly ads online, paired that with the few coupons I had, made an organized list, and headed to Target and WinnDixie.  I saved so much money and will definitely be doing it again!

6. I have been trying some new products lately and think I’ll do a post to share my experience and opinions.  I think it’s fun to try new things and I love when I find something I’ll use or eat for life!

7. I am too excited that tonight begins the American Idol finale.  I hate for it to end, but am so ready to see my boy Lee sing and then tomorrow, win!  As Nick would say, WHOMP WHOMP!

8. Next month, my good friend Amber and I are having a Girls Night Out.  I have never needed one so badly in my life!  It’s going to be a good one, I can tell already!  A special thanks to my wonderful husband who lets me have these little indulgences.  Sadly, not all husbands are as understanding.

9. I have decided to part with some childhood collectibles, because they are gathering dust in my closet and I need money!  It was a difficult decision, but once it was made, it felt sooo right!  I will probably make a minimum of $200.  Now, I just have to get myself motivated to do the work of listing them on eBay!

10. I am having a hard time believing that Harper will be a year old Friday.  It seems like I was just pregnant.  Also, we may be done having kids, so it’s pretty emotional for me!

1. Tomorrow, my stepson will be here for a week, and I am not mentally ready for another preschooler to be under my care!  That’s today’s mission… get prepared!

2. First thing in the mornings, before I can open both eyes, before I’ve had coffee or coke, before I know where I am, who my parents are, and what my name is… Nick is ON ME.  In my face, loud, asking for things and forcing games on me.  WHY?!?!

3. I had a friend suddenly, without explanation, unfollow me on Twitter and block me from following him.  Could be an accident, right?!  Wrong.  He also removed me from his FB friends.  What?!  I’d love to just let it go, but that’s not my style.  I’m hurt and confused, so I sent a message asking why.  I am the type who really needs answers.

4. I am still failing at Bobbi’s Healthy Train.  I know I can do this, but I just feel so… lazy.  Laziness is a sickness that not only keeps you from working out, but also from taking the time and energy to plan healthy meals.  I’m back on 100% today, committed to one soda a day, lots of water, and smaller portions.

5. Harper has learned to point at things and yesterday added a new word to his vocabulary – SEE!  While pointing!  So cute.  The best part of being a parent is definitely watching the children learn!

6. I had an at-home hair coloring incident last week that resulted in reddish brown roots (with my black hair).  There’s not much I can do at this point but just live with it until the black fades some.  I keep hoping I’ll start a fad!

7. I am at a weird point in my life where I feel content, but am experiencing regret for the first time in my life.  It’s as if overnight, someone flicked on the realist switch.  I miss my enthusiastic idealism.

8. I signed Harper up for a cute baby contest sponsored by a local radio station.  I mean, I know I’m biased, but hardly any of these babies are as cute as him!  Help us out and rate him a 10!

9. I’m so excited about something I’m making for a friend.  It’s a surprise, but he’s going to love it!!  Once I give it to him, I will do a blog post on it, complete with pictures about the DIY project!

10. I alternate between experimenting in the kitchen and cooking old favorites.  Last night I made one of my best spaghetti sauces ever (old favorite).  Tonight is creamy chicken taquitos (experiment), with a few modifications to prevent me from buying a bunch of ingredients that I can instead substitute from my pantry.

1. How is it possible to be lonely in a house with four other people, in a world with millions of people.  I don’t know, but I’m here to tell you it is certainly possible.

2. Harper is kinda walking.  He takes these weird “shuffle-steps.”  They are just tiny baby steps and only 1 or 2 at a time.  Come on, kid.  If you’re going to walk, pick up your feet and GO!

3. Nick is at a stage where he’s really digging privacy and independence.  He likes his bedroom door shut.  It gets too hot in there though, so today I put the baby gate up.  He is still trying to shut the door.

4. It has been a struggle to keep the house clean.  My mom came over last week and helped.  When we finished, it looked great.  However, I have to pick up after the kids, wash dishes, and wash clothes all day (every day) to keep it looking that way.  I am thinking of creating a daily schedule, as so many SAHM moms have done.

5. I love my pregnant friends.  I just don’t get the whole sonogram-as-profile picture on Facebook or Twitter.  I am guilty of occasionally putting a pic of my kid if it’s particularly cute, but I leave it there for a short time, because I’m aware that people want to see who I am at a glance.

6. I have been so affected by the whole oil spill ordeal.  I live near the Gulf Coast and before we had a heavy rain, I could smell the oil from my house.  The thought of the helpless wildlife dying, fishermen out of work, and our beautiful coastline ruined breaks my heart.  I could do a whole post on this and all the repercussions of an oil leak (and I might).

7. I just wrote something that I used on last week’s TT.   Ummm, quick substitute… Nick only wants out of his room when his baby gate is up (to prevent Harper from going in).  His gate requires me to lift him in and out.  If the gate isn’t up, Nick could stay in there for hours at a time.

8. I am having one of those days where I really want to take the kids to a sitter and float in a pool with a cocktail and book all. day. long.

9. It takes me all day to make these posts.  My kids do not let me complete a thought.  It is 4 pm and I started this at 10.  So ridiculous!  Now, I can’t blame the kids entirely.  Sometimes, I can’t think of anything note-worthy, so while I sit here racking my brain, I give the kids time to interrupt me.

10. I am having a really hard time with the loss of friendships.  As it is, I don’t have many.  Then I lost the internet friend I wrote about before.  Now it seems I lost my best friend.  I know what you’re thinking.  It must be me.  But it’s really not.  I won’t put my (former?) friend out there and tell the story, but trust me when I say the lost of my best friend was through no fault of my own.

I remember the first time I met a guy online.  Jed* was 7 years my senior.  At 21, I had never dated anyone older than me and was intrigued.  Jed was so cool.  He was a DJ!  He was fresh out of a long-term relationship, which to me meant that he was emotionally mature, but not ready to date seriously.  After meeting in an AOL chat room (no, this actually wasn’t 1985) and IM’ing for a few days, Jed and I met up at a local bar, where I had lots of friends present.  He was every bit as cute as his picture and ten times as sweet as his chat personality.  We started dating quickly, but it only took a couple of weeks for things to start a downhill slide.  “Fresh out of a relationship” was apparently code for “still dating” and “so cool” turned out to be more like “what an asshole.”  We are still acquaintances today, but when I look at his Facebook profile, I can’t remember what I saw in him and what we ever had in common. I met a few other men online.  Some turned out to be nice guys and still friends of mine today.  Some turned out to be complete jerks, and while I got myself into some weird and potentially dangerous situations, I was lucky to never really get into trouble.

Years later, while engaged to a guy named Craig*, I joined the message boards at a popular wedding planning website.  After a few months of dealing with drama on the boards, I left.  Then at 24, pregnant with my first child, I found myself joining the sister site for newlyweds.  Even though I was becoming a single mother, I found a lot of welcoming ladies on the baby boards.  It was there that I met two girls who are probably the best friends I have ever had.  Tasha and Nicole** are nothing short of amazing.  I am so fortunate to have them in my life.  I can’t imagine anything that could happen to drive us apart.

I met my husband online.  We met on a free dating website and were 100% together within a month from “clicking.”  Even though we started out our relationship 500 miles apart and it being apart was very challenging, our bond was always easy.  I never doubted that we would somehow come through it.

Then there’s Lars*.  I met this photographer when he submitted a wedding to my planning blog and I discovered his amazing talent.  While talking about photography and blogging, we became friends.  We called each other, emailed, IMed, and texted almost daily.  I considered him my real, true friend and now, nearly a year after our first contact, he is all but eliminated from my life.  How could this happen?  Well, it’s business.  I guess for him, it always was.  In an effort to protect his identity and privacy, I won’t get into the specifics of what happened.  In a nutshell, I was promised something for my blog, then he took that away and gave it to another blogger.  I am a super forgiving person and I let him know that I was unhappy with what he did.  All I wanted was an apology, but what I got was laughter.  He laughed at me.  I was honestly and truly upset and he laughed.  That quickly, it was over.  I have since tried reaching out to him and I have gotten nothing in return.  It’s hard to accept, but that’s what I have to do.  We are still Facebook friends and follow each other on Twitter, but that’s where it ends, I guess.  I can only assume that he didn’t view our friendship the same way as him.  I guess it was always just business.

*Names were changed to protect the losers.  Um, I mean, the innocent.

**Names were not changed because these ladies deserve all my love.

There are times when I want to blog because I have so many random thoughts floating through my head.  However, a lot of those times, I can’t find a direction for a post.  Inspired by the “Ten on Tuesday” feature of The Bastows, I’m introducing Tuesday Ten.  Here I will just do a sort of brain dump of things on my mind or things happening in my world.

1. Anxiety is enveloping me today!  I am determined to go to cosmetology school in the fall and am on edge trying to figure out how to make that a reality.  Between that and looking for a job, I’m a damn mess!

2. Nick decided today that he wanted to go outside and start a leaf collection.  I went out to help him, only to find that he was taping a pile of dead, crumbly leaves onto his paper.  We took a walk around our property collecting different leaves and flowers and it was probably the highlight of my entire day.  That little boy is so smart and I love to have a conversation with him!

3. My two best friends are amazing women who stand by me no matter what.  They really get me and that is hard to come by.  Unfortunately, they also live in different states.  And… I’ve never met them.  That has to change really soon!  One of them lives in Alabama, so there is no excuse to not meet soon!

4. One of the best things I’ve done with my life is get married to my love of 3+ years, 18 days ago.  I feel so complete and I know that I am better for being his wife.

5. I am trying so hard to grow my hair out and it is absolutely killing me.  If I see someone with cute and sassy short hair, I think mine needs to be short.  Then I’ll see someone with long, flowing tresses and I know I’m doing the right thing by growing mine.  Any time I get the itch to chop, I pull up old pictures of me with longer hair.  It looks so much better that way!

6. Every day, I wake up and think, “This is the day I will start taking pictures of my outfits.”  And (almost) every day, I spend all day in my PJs.

7. I need to start spring cleaning.  Like, yesterday.  So I will start it tomorrow (right after I take a picture of my outfit. riiiight.).

8. One good thing about being unemployed (other than being able to stay in my PJs all day) is getting to spend more time with Harper.  Before, he was 100% a daddy’s boy.  They spent all their time together while I worked.  Now, I get in on the action and I’d say he’s 12% mine now!

9. I tend to take on too many projects and right now, I am finally going to admit it.  I am in over my head.  I can’t succeed at a billion things.  I need to pick a couple and do them really, REALLY well.

10. There is one thing I’d like more than just about anything right now and that’s a box of wine.  Yes, a box.  I need an entire box because I live in a dry county and I don’t know when I’ll make it to the store again! Also, Wine Cube chardonnay from Target is pretty good!

Friday night, my best friend Ashley and I had our long-awaited Epic Girls’ Night.  Really, it was most of a day.  In the afternoon, we had lunch at Chili’s, complete with Presidente Margaritas.  We then shopped for hours for new outfits to wear out that night. I’m really annoyed that I didn’t get a picture, but here’s what I was wearing…

Top: maurices

Leggings: Charlotte Russe

Shoes: Charlotte Russe

Eyeshadow: L’Oreal

Necklace: maurices

Clutch (not pictured): Charlotte Russe

After wearing ourselves out with retail therapy, we got dolled up and headed out to the Hard Rock Casino Biloxi.  We didn’t really have a plan in mind, other than to drink our faces off and catch up.  We definitely did both.

Unfortunately, I still have not replaced my lost camera, so only took a couple of shots with my phone’s camera.

My new eyeshadow in action

Our new Charlotte Russe shoes!

The Best Friend

And this is why I wore control top panties.