What I'm Loving Wednesday

But first, you know what I don't love? Waking up at 2:40 in the morning to tornado sirens. Curling up in the closet trying to keep up with what was going on without falling back asleep.....I have never been so glad to hear "All Clear" a little after 4. But boy when that alarm went off at 5, I was positive I was going to die. Look, I'm accustomed to tornadoes. Nashville goes through this all the freaking time it seems like. But seriously? 2am? Come on...I'm already insanely paranoid of them, must we make it worse and wake me up to it in the dark?

So my morning looked like this:

Curled up in a blanket that I kept peering out of -- with tons of other blankets, my purse, laptop,  my Granny's urn, water, shoes, and a jacket. Clearly, I mean business when tornados come to town. 

Moving on....

What am I loving today?

This boy right here, who beat the University of Kentucky record for number of blocks in a game last night and led us to victory over Ole Miss! Go Nerlens! I love these boys! 

That stuff right there! The IRS is insane quick this year, and I get my tax refund on Friday. Clearly, I'll be loading up on way more bottles of wine from my Georgia Winery on the trip this weekend hahaha.

This dressing is like a drug. I am addicted to it. Like I want to go to Zaxby's and just order an entire box of these so I can use it on everything. I have got to find a way to make something that tastes exactly like it.

Um, this Waffle & Omelet Maker is the most awesome thing I've ever seen and I want it. LOVE IT. I'm not really sure why someone that doesn't really cook loves this so much, but....hey, maybe I'll get off my ass and make something a little more often if I have this. 

The fact that my brand spankin' new Mac will be here next week! The Mac nerd in me literally squealed when I placed my order. Yes, I know I need a life. 

And lastly....I'm leaving for Georgia Friday night for girls weekend with my bestie, and so we can head to the winery. I love love love my Georgia wine.  Can the weekend hurry up??

It is 6:00 and I'm laying in bed already watching tv. I might have had dinner in bed too. Don't judge me. I'm tired. 

Sunday Social!

Today I decided to tackle changing out the headlight bulb on the car, because it's been out forever. I've been a total jackass and used my high beams for a little while. I replaced the tail lights last year, and it was soooo easy. Headlight? Not so much. I guess it could be - the problem is it's my drivers side light, which is where the battery and battery casing is. So I can't seem to get my hand down and pull the bulb out because of the casing. I used the rain starting to fall as an excuse to stop & going to come up with something clever to get it out (tweezers? It's driving me nuts). I worked a total of 15 minutes on it and came in and loudly proclaimed I hate cars & they frustrate me, and how mad I was that it smudged my nail polish. Clearly, I was not cut out for any small mechanic work.  It's Sunday! Which means... Sunday Social time!

1. What is your ideal way to relax? 
Not doing a damn thing. No really - I love when I can be a total lazy bum, stay in my pajamas, watch TV and not have to worry about anything. 

2. Where is your favorite place to be? 

I could be totally cliche and say home, and that's definitely one of my favorite places to be. But, really, anywhere I'm with my friends/family/etc. I love being home. I love going up to Kentucky. I love going home to Florida - I have a good time everywhere I go, as long as I have my friends with me. 

3. Who do you consider your biggest role model?

It's really easy for me to say PL, because goodness knows she sure helped me during my childhood/teenage years - and things I learned from her during those years is totally invaluable. But I'd be crazy not to include my Granny, the one who taught me I didn't need to worry about what anyone else thought, and I needed to do what made me happy. 

4. What does your life look like in 3 years?

Who knows....

5. If you could go back and change one decision, what would it be?

I would have cut out some of the negative things/people weighing me down sooner than I did. 

6. What is your biggest accomplishment in life so far?

Going back to school & starting my own business. I may have changed majors (twice), and transferred schools (from local that was absolutely killing me...this work full time, run a business on the side, and go to classes at night was pure hell.... to online UK classes) -- and taken a semester or two off, but still, I'm glad I went back.  

Saturday Ramblings...

I'm in my 20's and it's Saturday night. What am I doing? Coding a client's site & designing a client's birth announcement while obnoxiously having a Merle Haggard singalong.  And my hot Saturday night dinner date was my mom. What an exciting life I lead, try not to be jealous. I get points for almost going out last minute with my sis, right? I really didn't need to drive after the drinks I had at dinner, so we stayed in. Boo.

However, the frozen Mango Margaritas from Margaritaville are just so freaking good, it's really hard to resist. I wish their food was as good as some of their liquor. We only went because Mom had her free birthday meal, but seriously, I often wonder how they get many locals to come back because they just aren't that good, and they are totally overpriced.

Anyway- I scrolled through the channels on TV tonight, I'm wondering when the hell Saturday night TV went downhill? There isn't crap on, and Saturday Night Live these days sucks, I have my choice between watching the Shipping Wars marathon on all night or make it an On Demand night (which equals I'm too lazy to go to Redbox and get a movie, and I'd rather pay $4 more.) Where are all the Saturday night movies?

However, Sunday night TV is finally good again --- because in important news, Kourtney & Kim Take Miami is back.

I mean, at this point, do we really even need any of the actual Kardashians? Can't we just call it the Scott Disick show? I'm not sure how it happened, but he went from being the biggest douche on the planet to the funniest bastard I've ever watched.

Purging...

So earlier in the week, my landlord called & said a property appraiser would be here this week. They're refinancing - so the appraiser has to see both inside and out.

Remember my lazy weekend? Yeah - no cleaning happened....which meant I had to jump into cleaning mode this week to make this place look good. Apparently they look in spaces like closets and crawlspaces and such? Guess whose hall closet is the junk closet? Whoops. I tried to make it look semi organized, really, I did!

But I got the idea to do serious cleaning in my closet, and thought "It's time to get rid of all this crap I don't wear anymore!" Not to mention, EVERY morning I get dressed and immediately decide "Ew I hate this!" and change clothes. EVERY MORNING. Seriously, why is getting dressed so ridiculous? I liked it at some point, right? Then I come home from work every afternoon immediately annoyed that there's a pile of clothes laying on my bed.

Armed with a box to send to Goodwill, and a box to just toss, I hauled butt to the closet to take on this project.

Um yeah. What did I take to Goodwill? Nothing. Every damn outfit I played the "Oh, I loved that shirt! Oh, so and so bought me that, why would I get rid of that dress, I'll eventually wear it again!" excuses. How am I going to make room for new clothes if I REFUSE TO GET RID OF CLOTHES I rip off & refuse to wear on a daily basis?

Sigh. Life was so much easier when my mom would threaten to throw away things if I didn't go through them myself.

facts of me...

Should I admit that I've been living in my pajamas for four days, minus two brief trips out on Sunday & today, in which I immediately came back home and put my pajamas back on? Back to reality tomorrow. 

I have tried not to doing a ton of link ups, but I loved this one and loved reading everyone else's ---So, Whitney's doing a great link up today with random facts! (And if you're blogging, head over to Whitney's and grab her link to chime in!)

• I totally used to think that airplanes in the sky at night were flying alligators thanks to my big sister. I spotted one at a young age, growing up in Florida and asked what it was and my sister told me it was a flying alligator. I believed it for awhile --- every time I'd see one, I'd excitedly turn around to my sister and shout "SAM! IT'S ANOTHER FLYING ALLIGATOR!" I was so pissed when I found out they were airplanes! 

Aren't you jealous of our side ponytails?!

• I cannot drive in snow. Regular ole snow, can't do it. I completely panic -- and I'll be in tears & have myself convinced that I'm going to die until I call my sister to calm me down so I can get home in one piece. I will not leave the house again until the snow is gone. See why I live in the South? 

• While I'm talking phobia's, I'm ridiculously petrified of tornadoes. My sister makes fun of me because I keep a safe area in my closet during Tennessee's most active tornado season. I say I'm just well prepared in the event of an emergency, and would rather be safe than sorry. (And I'm fully aware I sound like my mom here, sigh.) 

• My twin cousin & I cry about everything - and I do mean everything. (Which is kind of funny because I don't really know anyone else in our family on that side that cries so insanely easy) Now we usually have the random texts during the week proclaiming something stupid that made us cry. (Emily's best was "I just cried because of the woman on the radio that won today. I mean, she was so happy!")

• And speaking of, my cousin Emily & I refer to each other as twin cousins because we've been inseparable since we were super little. When we were little, everyone assumed we were sisters, and whatever one liked, the other liked, we were practically carbon copies of each other. 

• I silently correct people on some of their Grammar. When I see someone not using "you're/your" properly, I want to punch them in the face. 

• I'm super punctual -- and if you make plans with me at an exact time and are late, I'm not going to be happy. And yes, I will look at my phone 2 minutes after and whine about how someone is late.  Time is valuable. 

• The hospital closest to my house knows my name from frequent visits -- and they usually know when I come in that it's something my clumsy ass did myself and say, "What did you do this time?" Sigh.

• I have this weird thing about setting the alarm and have to set it for a random time -- if I want to get up around 5:30,  I will set it for 5:23, or 5:34 - but never 5:30 on the dot. This is one of the many weird things my nephew has gotten from me. 

• I've been to over 250 PL shows in 29 states (I think that's what it was at when I looked last!)

• And on the subject of PL,  her logo from "When Fallen Angels Fly" was my first tattoo when I turned 18. My aunt swore I'd regret it & probably not even like PL in a few years. 11 years later, I still love that damn tattoo. She's the only thing I'd ever "stuck with" from childhood to now. 

• And on that note, I have 6 tats - my PL logo, the chinese symbol for "Aunt" on my left wrist, a purple heart with angel wings for my Granny on my right wrist, a music note on my toe, and my sister and I have matching palm trees on our ankles as a nod to our hometown. Finally, my sister and I also got matching chinese sister symbols on our shoulders - I have little sister & she has big sister.

• I have the mouth of a sailor. My niece used to tell me I shouldn't "say those words" haha, and I totally tried not to. (That didn't work out so well!) 

Sunday Social

It is seriously 11:23 and I just got out of bed a few minutes ago. Yesterday I never left the house. Lazy weekends are the best. I am kind of disappointed that I have to run to Kroger today! Although tomorrow is a holiday, so another home day, and I work from home Tuesday, soooo....staying in might start to drive me nuts by then! (Well, I say this, but then Wednesday will roll around and I will whine about how I have to get up and leave)

It's Sunday social time! This weeks questions are all about 3's...



1. Top 3 favorite kinds of food

Southern, Italian & wine - that counts for a food, right? :) 

2. First 3 things you do in the morning

Put my glasses one, check my email, turn the tv on - priorities people!

3. Last 3 things you do at night

Take out my contacts, wash my face, and usually play endlessly with my iPhone until I fall asleep.

4. 3 TV shows you NEVER miss

Modern Family, Dance Moms, Dallas

5. 3 places you want to visit

Italy, Australia, Greece

6. 3 people you can always count on

Rita, my sissy & my cousin Em

Come on Spring!

You know what I hate? Winter. You aren’t going to find me outside making snow angels screaming about how beautiful the snow is. Of course, I’m a southern girl, so – a lot of northerners make fun of me when I panic when the word “snow” comes into play. In our defense, we aren’t really prepared for it the way folks up north are --- and our drivers don’t know what we’re doing. Myself included – last snow day (okay more like flurries) consisted of me rushing out of work early, driving 20 mph on the interstate while people rode my ass behind me and calling my sister while I sobbed, telling her about my freaking out while I passed a ton of cars on the side of the road. (Apparently I launch into drama queen mode during snow days) This week Nashville went from flooding, to tornadoes to ice warnings – good grief! And, you can imagine what ice does if just flurries throw us in a tizzy! Thankfully, like any good Tennessean – I went to the store Monday and got my milk and bread before they sold out. But seriously, can we kick this weather to the curb and spring just hurry up? Besides, I really need to be in flip flops, no one can see how adorable my painted toenails look when I have to wear boots all the time. ;)

And while I’m mentioning things I hate, let’s discuss the inhumane news of the day – Disney has cancelled the 3D release of “The Little Mermaid”. Whaaat? Doesn’t Disney KNOW that the twin cousin & I already PLANNED this out? Rocking Little Mermaid t-shirts and driving to our halfway marks to see this in the theater? I mean – it’s the Little Mermaid! The best Disney movie ever made. We feel jipped. ;)

So, I was hesitant to tune into Idol last night because let’s not lie: I cannot stand Nicki Minaj. But I love the audition period, and I love Keith Urban, so I tuned in. I’m not surprised it wound up being low ratings, really. It wasn’t anything spectacular. Nicki and Mariah’s arguing is already annoying – I was over it the first 10 minutes in! (But I will say: Mariah EARNED her diva status, and everyone knows it! She’ll even readily admit it!) There were some super talented kids on there, definitely – and a lot of not so talented kids on there. I don’t know, am I the only one thinking Idol just really needs to call it quits? I used to be such a faithful watcher, but the past few years I’ve wound up turning it off after the audition periods.

Just so I don’t completely sound like the negative nancy in this post, let me just say: it’s a HOLIDAY WEEKEND this weekend! I’ve gone over in my head a million times on how to take advantage of the long weekend, but vegging on the couch seriously sounds like the best option. I’m allowed to be lazy on holidays, right? I did start looking at my “Crafty” board on Pinterest so I could maybe start a few projects I’ve really been thinking about - maybe it’ll jumpstart me into hanging up the frames and stuff I got for Christmas? They are still sitting in the boxes!

Happy Almost Friday!

Happy Birthday K-Man!

11 years ago today, my mom & I beat my sister and brother in law to the hospital to welcome this sweet boy in the world. At 6:04 am, Kadin Michael showed up as loud as could be -- and immediately became the most important boy in my world. Because Mom was the first person to ever hold Paige, my sister made a point to make sure I was handed Kadin as quick as possible. My sweet boy even wore his "My Aunt Loves Me" outfit home from the hospital.

My sweet Kadin has grown so fast, and has gone from being this sweet faced baby to a little boy whose  going to be in Middle School soon.  Time has flown by.....there are so many days I want to go back to when he was this tiny little man, but he's grown into such a sweet boy that I cherish my days with him now.  I have never missed a birthday or a holiday --- or any big event for that matter -- with this kid and I never will.

There isn't a day that I have Kadin that he doesn't tell me that he loves me, or thanks me for taking him somewhere (or buying him something), or his newest was, "I wish this moment with you could last forever!".  Almost weekly, we joke at how he reminds of us me instead of my sister -- his finnicky eating habits, his grades at school, his quirky little habits -  he's so much like Aunt Nicole it's crazy! 

Happy Birthday to the sweetest, cutest boy on the planet that I love more than anything in the world!

Sunday Social

Sunday Social is all about introductions today, so I thought I'd chime in! 1. What is the name of your blog? How long have you been blogging? Girl & Her Camera, which is pretty self explanatory. It was just a good idea to have my own personal blog for some random images, to keep my business and personal photos separate.

I've lost count -- off and on for years. Seems like I'd start and then stop, start and then stop, etc. 

2. Why do you blog?

Mainly to document  -- I actually used to be pretty fabulous about writing everything down and keeping scrapbooks of my photos, but it's just so much easier to blog it and always have it to look back on. Plus,  it was a great way to keep up with some family that isn't on Facebook, etc, and ensure they can log on and see what the kiddos are up to. My family is so all over the place, it's a great place for everyone to be able to see what we're up to!

3. What is the first blog you ever followed?

Is it terrible that I don't remember? It would go way back to the Livejournal days- no wait, Teen Open Diary days!

4. What is your favorite post you wrote in 2012?

Since I restarted the blog in 2012, there isn't a massive amount of posts to choose from :) 

5. What are your blogging goals for 2013?

I don't know that I really have any - I'm not a blogger that is trying to advertise or make money off the blog, I'm blogging to document...so I guess, blog more? 

6. Top 3 favorite blogs to follow?

Galloping Around the Cosmos - of course! My twin cousin, who will be back to blogger soon whether she realizes it or not :P

Kentucky Blonde - I love reading her blog! It helps that she has a love for Kentucky Wildcats!

Little Baby Garvin - you have to check out her blog at the very least to see her creativity with chalk boards -- amazing! 

The end is near....

I can't be the only one who feels like this week is lasting forever, right?! I cannot believe it's only Wednesday (don't get me wrong - I've been waiting for tonight to get here since Modern Family came back tonight!). Here I was, all ready to get back to my normal routine - but I wasn't really ready for the incredibly long first full week back! Thank goodness Friday is near....

However,  I have been so crazy productive this week --- it's been nice to have free time lately to GET other stuff done! I'm done with my work out, made dinner, and ready to veg for the night and it's only 6:15 - total success!

My goal this week is to somewhat re-vamp PLN - and that's it! And then, Monday is this handsome boy's birthday:

I cannot believe he's almost 11 - seems like just yesterday I was in the delivery room crying! I was the first person to hold him after my sister and brother in law, so I totally believe that's why he's MY boy ;) He's got a party Saturday with his class from school, but first thing in the morning, Mom & I are taking him to iHop, and then to Lowe's for his Build & Grow session. Then our family party for him is Sunday. He is so stinkin' cute on his birthday, and I love watching him open his presents! So this weekend is ALL about my little K-man! 

I've found some great blog challenges on a few of your blogs and on pinterest -- I've got to jump on board, but without needing to blog every day. Is it cheating to do the 365, but post a roundup of it each week? And, a basic 365 or should it be the monthly challenges that require certain things to shoot?

Tomorrow is the UK-Vandy game! A big game here --- LET'S GO BIG BLUE!

Weekend Ramblings...

I saw this on Pinterest tonight and fell in love:

This list is so great, and made me think of how some of these truly work. I can't tell you how many bad days I've left the office and immediately turned on my favorite song in the car to jam to -- and usually I forget what I was mad about and move on. Let's just say the "Cook a Meal from scratch" is so never going to happen in this house though :) 

Speaking of Pinterest....I've been looking up 12091021 things on there for decorating and crafting ideas. Since I've made the decisions to cut back on some work and have more "me" time this year, I am going to finish decorating this place, and change it up a little bit. I cannot believe I've lived here 2 1/2 years and still haven't fully decorated. Not to mention, I have major organization that needs to be done - especially in the kitchen. 

I spotted this, and thought it might be super awesome for the cupboards, and make my own labels to match the color scheme of my kitchen.

I was thinking of doing this for the hallway  -- especially the quotes. The hallway is where I keep Granny's urn with a framed picture of her. I was thinking this whole wall that I keep that on would look so great with family portraits and quotes.

While on pinterest, I discovered Craftgawker -- has anyone else seen this? It's an insane amount of awesome craft projects to do. It's also addicting like pinterest -- I discovered it today and spent two hours on it. I can already tell what my 2013 is going to be full of....

Shrek the Halls

I'm back to the internet world! Okay, not that I was ever really without internet, but..my Macbook crashed! Yes, again! It crashed in November, and I had to replace the hard drive. I couldn't complain, it was still on the same HD from 07, so 5 years - not too shabby. I bought a new Seagate drive at Best Buy, and it's been running like a champ since. That is until the other day when it refused to boot up after I shut down one night.  And it turns out, that brand new drive was dead already!  Best Buy couldn't refund me since it was past the 30 day mark, so I sucked it up and went to MacAuthority, got it taken care of-and then shipped the dead drive to the manufacturer along with the notes from the technician.

So, I can finally catch up (and I can start revamping the blog! The new look is up, but I haven't finished everything I wanted to put up!)! Sunday, Sam, the kids, John and I all headed up to Opry Mills and then Opryland Hotel to scope out the lights, just to see if they'd done anything different this year, and to take some family pics since we had Salem in town. In the midst of taking pictures we spotted Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, and Alex the Lion - because they are all part of the Dreamworks packages that Gaylord did this year. Bummed that he couldn't meet Kung Fu Panda or Shrek because we weren't package holders, I promised Kadin after pictures I'd take him over to see Shrek the Halls on Ice!  As we went up to get our tickets, Kadin took my hand and said, "I wish this moment could last forever!!" - pretty sure I melted at that point. Love this freaking kid!

Just a few pics from Shrek the Halls, they did SUCH a great job on it this year! And fabulous to know: we went December 30th, and the last day for it was January 1st. The entire gift shop was 50% off all the merchandise. Excellent time to go - they still have a huge amount of the merch left. Instead of souvenirs, I took Kadin to dinner and then Walmart to let him pick out a wrestler he wanted. Because you know, I'm a sucker, and he knows Aunt Nicole will buy him anything he wants. (And it actually played out like "Kadin, I need to stop by Walmart real quick to grab some party supplies for NYE".."Sure, can we go look at the toys when you're done here??")

One of the first exhibits. 

This shrek was SERIOUSLY ginormous! 

K-Man with Puss N Boots! He got so excited he just had to put his arm around it. 

Kadin going down the ice slide! He was so cute when he first started sliding down. 

I kept telling him to hold his feet up to make him go faster, but he didn't understand.

Absolutely terrible, obligatory self inflicted picture with cutie pie!

One of the last exhibits -- even the babies were represented so cutely :)