Lindsey's Birthday

While we were on vacation we celebrated Lindsey's birthday! I knew we needed to surprise her since she was the mastermind behind surprising her husband last year for his birthday (which we also celebrated on vacation that year). So about a month before, I started thinking of ideas. She likes pink, hot pink. Zac Effron (I'll have to admit he's not bad to look at). houndstooth, high school musical. So I found a lady who does edible cake images. My idea for the cake was to have a picture of Zac and him saying "Happy Birthday Lindsey." Ben found a pictures for me and we also found a font that it like the high school musical letters. I incooperated all her other loves into her presents and such. I called a week before we left and put in the cake order. I was pretty sneaky. I managed to double check her favorite cake and icing combo by talking about my birthday cupcakes. Thanks to ben hurting his toe, we were able to sneak out of the house twice! Overall, I think she had a good birthday, minus the trip to urgent care.

Here are some pics from the surprise!

The cake

Lindsey coming in to see what was so important upstairs

Seeing her cake!

"He's saying Happy Birthday to ME!!!"

Make a wish!

I hope you had a GREAT birthday Lindsey!!

Great Weekend!!

I can honestly say its been a very good weekend. I love the fallish temperatures. Up until this afternoon, we have not turned the television on since Thursday night. Thats pretty good for us and it means we've been outside because its sooooo nice!

Friday night after work we went over to a friends house and relaxed by their outdoor fireplace. We made smores, talked, and bugged her son and his girlfriend. He has a new girlfriend and I think its his frist (he's 16), so we were totally giving them a hard time, it was fun! It was nice to just sit around and do nothing for once. The fire was nice and warm, made me want some hot chocolate or apple cider.

Saturday I found some cute pumpkins for my fall decor. They were all half off at Hobby Lobby. I got two to sit on the mantle and 3 little ones that are sitting on the table right now. Since we've moved into this house I'm obsessed with decorating. I wish I had more decorators whatever because our house is bare walled and un-accessorized. Guess that just means theres less to dust!! I really want to find a fall wreath for the door but I haven't seen the right one yet. If I had more time off, I'd go all out with my decorating. I can't wait til Christmas!! I've already been looking for somethings to put around the house! Back to fall, we also got some mums to put on our porch. I just need to put those in pots. We totally copied off our friends and got one of those outdoor firplaces. They're fairly cheap and put out good heat, so why not. Last night we invited Lindsey and Heath over and cooked hot dogs and roasted marshmellows for smores. It was fun except for the mosquitos. I will be so happy when they go away.

Today I went with Lindsey and Courtney to go eat and do some shopping. We celebrated Courtney's birthday at Coltons and even got her free ice cream! My hair is nice and tangled from riding with the top down but it was well worth it!

I think the fun of my weekend has caught up with me because I'm incredibly tired now. Tomorrow starts my new work schedule, I hope my brain can remember where to drive to in the morning. I'll have to post pictures later of all my pumpkins and our outdoor stuff. Hope everyone had an equally great weekend!

Fair Fun

Forget the whole going to be before 9 thing. I'm sleepy, but lay down, no sleep.

Last saturday, a group of us all met up at the fair for some good food, rides and laughter. I enjoyed way too much of the food. Between all of us we ate corn dogs, fried twinkies (the piece i got was actually good), cotton candy, funnel cakes, pizza and popcorn. Of course you can't go to the fair and not eat any of those things, it would be just wrong!

We rode several rides. I'm not much of a ride person, but I did do a few. My favorite is always the sizzler or scrambler. Thats the one I would ride with my dad when I was little. It's a little rougher to ride when you get older, let me tell ya. The world was spinning for a bit after I got off.

The funniest and grossest part of the whole occasion was the fact that it seemed we were attracting the pukers. Yes, the pukers. While Lindsey, Courtney and Ben were in line for the predator they had to hose it off and then run it once empty to dry it off. The guys were atleast nice enough to tell everyone to step back a little. Eww!! Then we moved on to the Gravitron. While we all were in line there, someone did it again. Then again before the ride and on the ride. ICK! By the way, that was all the same person. I dont get the whole get sick and then think its smart to continue to ride rides.

The fair was fun. The petting zoo was a big hit too. Lindsey and I got some carrots and went around and fed all the animals. Its fun feeling like a kid again.

After the fair, we tried to go to IHOP. They were packed. So the only other place open 24 hrs is McDonalds. We waited in line atleast 20 mins and that was just so they could take your order. After that we waited atleast another 20 to get the food. There was a guy in front of me that ordered 40 chicken nuggets, 9 double cheeseburgers, 13 orders of fries and 13 drinks!! This particular Mcdonald's has security. I thought that was crazy for a McDonalds, but if they didn't people would probably get really nasty about having to wait that long for food.

Here are some pics from the night (yes they're totally out of order):

Me and Court on the sizzler

Greg and Lindsey-their faces are priceless!

The whole gang=Jamie, Lindsey, Me, Court, Acea, Greg, Ben

Ben and I and our love child. Its an inside joke.

Goofing off w/the camera. "I can't see my head."

Lindsey and Court on the ferris wheel

Me and Ben on the ferris wheel

fried twinkie

It was all good here, then someone puked.

Long Day

I hate the days where I go to work and its dark, watch the sun come up, drive home from work, watch the sun go down, its dark before I get anywhere close to home. Today sucked even more because the machine wasn't working so I sat and did nothing from about 7:30 til 1pm. I got up at 4am for that. Somedays I dont like my job, but I guess we all have those days.

I finally found out the results of my nerve conduction test today. It only took a month and 10 phone calls to get them. The good and bad part is that it was normal. SO I guess that means I don't have carpal tunnel? I dont really know. The nurse asked me if I was still having the symptoms. Yes, they're not as bad right now, but it comes and goes. So she said she'd tell the doctor and go from there. I assume I wait for a phone call, which means it'll be a while. I'll probably have to wait til its gets unbearable again and have to make an appointment to go in. Maybe its just stress, that could cause it right?

Sadly, I will be in bed soon, before 9 pm even. I have another long day of work tomorrow. I can't wait. It's also hard to type when the dog insists on cuddling and laying her head on the laptop. :)

Pottery

While on vacation we visted a place called Art, Glass, and Fire in Manteo, NC. We ended up going two days to paint because it was so much fun! At the shop you could paint a piece of pottery, do glass fusion (bowl, suncatcher, jewelry, etc), mosaics, and silver jewelry. The first day we went Heath painted a sign, Ben made a silver charm for a necklace (picture and post later), Lindsey painted cute dog bowls for Charley and Oscar, and I painted a bowl and did a charm for a bracelet.

The second visit I copied off Lindsey and painted dog bowls for Sam and Lilly. She painted a platter/plate that is super cute!

Now to pictures:

Lindsey's super cute doggie bowls!

My doggie bowls. Sam's isn't that neon green in person.

My bowl thing

And last but not least, Lindsey's really really cute plate!!

More posts to come but I have to get up at 4:30 tomorrow, so its bed early tonight!

Pictures!!!

Ok finally I've got all the vacation pictures ready for your viewing pleasure! Enjoy!

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First set of pictures if from 9/7/08. We got up and watched the sunrise over the ocean. It was pretty even though a tad bit cloudy. We found a few interesting things washed up on the beach. You'll see the horseshoe crab and the fishermans knife in some of the pics.

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These pictures are from our horse tour we took. You'll see the big sea turtle we saw washed up. It was really sad. No telling how old it was. The bird you see standing with its wings out was drying itself off. The guide told us that if it didn't, then it would drown. Also, I included the Carova post office, yes its only PO boxes.The buildings are old livesaving stations and the lookout tower.

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These were taken at Jockey's Ridge State Park. It's basically at really large sand dune, well many of them. From the top of the dunes you can see the ocean and the sound. Many people come out to fly kites, hang glide, roll down the dunes and some people even bring old boogie boards to "surf" on the sand. It was a neat place to go and check everything out. The only thing that irritates me about these pictures are the two spots that were on my sensor. I guess I'll have to photshop those out.

Create a Free Slideshow

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Posts to come:
Lindsey's Birthday Surprise and Fair Fun

Pictures: Day 1

I found a way to do it, so heres day 1 (9/6/08) We arrived to our hotel after Hanna passed through. Ben, Lindsey, Heath and I ate and then headed to the beach.

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Sorry they are so small, I have to pay some amount to have them bigger, I'm not doing it. I'll post more later, but now I must get ready to go have lunch with the in-laws and then the fair this afternoon!

Ice cream keeps me up late

I have the urge to type something but its really late and I technically should be in bed. Ok I am in bed, with my laptop and the dogs and Ben. I should've skipped the ice cream. Not a good idea if its after 9pm. It was really yummy peanut butter brusters ice cream. I love that place!

I would just like to make it very clear that I was in NO WAY saying in my venting blog that I didn't appreciate anyone who had listened to me vent or whatever. I was having a bad day and what I was saying was somewhat directed towards a person (who doesn't read this) and I just needed to vent. So I wasn't saying that I don't appreciate those who have listened. Trust me I do, more than you know. I'm sure I will continue to vent on those same people, so just get ready. For those that left comment, thanks for the support, offers to listen. You might be surprised one day to have a email from me in your inbox, you never know. :)

I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to post all my pics from vacation. I tried to narrow it down to my favorites, but really I like alot of them. Me being the photography nut, I took alot. I figure Lindsey and Heath got annoyed with all my picture taking.Sometimes I just cant help myself. I need to find a slideshow thing to use to put them on there, but it'll still take forever and a day to upload them to there, so I'm not sure what i'll do. In the meantime I'll leave you with a few pictures. Enjoy!

First night at the beach, very pretty sky.

Lindsey and Heath enjoying the ocean air.

Sunrise our first morning at the beach

One of the many horses we saw on the tour

Ben and Heath getting ready to fly the kite at Jockey's Ridge State Park

a non-depressing/venting one

I was productive today. I did laundry (when will it ever end?!) Also got the oil changed in my car. Got registered to vote in our county. If you aren't registered to vote, GO DO IT!! No excuses!! The deadline here is Oct 6th, I figure its pretty much the same all around. We also got our hammock rocker chair thing in today. Put that all together. We'll have to enjoy it tomorrow because it was dark and the mosquitos were horrible. Mosquitos in Sept when its kinda chilly. Soon they will be here all year around. I hate mosquitoes.

The district fair is all this week. I'm planning on going saturday and eating my fair share of sugar. Cotton candy, funnel cakes, you name it. It should be fun. I only gained 4 lbs while on vacation. awesome!

There are some exciting upcoming events. I've got my second week of vacation, which I'm hoping is as exciting as my first. Then the Carrie Underwood concert. And the one I've had tickets for for little over a year.....Celine Dion!!! Yes I'm just a little bit excited. :) Of course, then we have Thanksgiving and Christmas. And halloween. I already have our idea for costumes. Sorry for the random post.

vent

You know how you think of that one person to go to when you really need to talk? The people, be it a friend, mother, father, etc that always has the right thing to say to cheer you up or help you get over something?

I discovered that right now, none of those people have said the right things. Or they haven't said what I want to hear. I know its because they probably don't know what to say, but I'd almost wish some didn't say anything at all. I feel stupid and selfish for saying what I've said or for even going to them to let out my feelings. I feel guilty for feeling the way I do. And then I feel guilty for feeling guilty. I guess really all I've got is my husband to lean on and to talk to, since we're the only ones who can comfort each other. I also have all the other people going through this to lean on for support and encouragement, but they're just random people. Not someone I can call up or hang out with, they're just words on a screen from a message board.

I've never felt more alone. I really really want to talk about it but feel like there is no one that wants to hear it. I've always been the listener, now I need one. And then sometimes I dont want to talk about it, for all the reasons listed above. Emotional rollercoasters suck and I think I'm on for the long ride.

Guess I should just let it go or bottle it up, I'm good at doing that. Although, in the end, nothing good comes out of it. Maybe they have a support group at church, they have one for everything else. I eventually will blog in detail about what this is, because in the end, this will be my outlet probably. I'm just not ready to tell the whole world. It's nothing I should be ashamed of, I just have to decide how much to want to tell the world.

yes that was random, but I feel better, sorta. BTW, In no way am I saying that anyone I have vented to hasn't listened...I just have bad days, or afternoons. Today was one.

Beach or Bust

It was great! Great to get away and forget about everything....well kind of. I thought I'd give you a day by day run down, but that would be quit long so I'll give you a brief over view of the fun, where we ate, etc.

The first semi-exciting and scary part of our trip was flying. The flying part didn't really bother me. The flying in a tropical storm was the scary part. We left Charlotte with a report from the captain. "Short 20 min flight, slight rain, gusting winds." He didn't say how gusty, but we would soon find out. Once we get up, flying above the clouds is all pretty. Descending, through the clouds, yucky! It was grey outside and raining and very VERY gusty. The plane was rocking and rolling. Ok not that bad but it was very scary sitting there waiting to land. You could definitely tell it was gusting and that the pilot was having to correct for each gust. We land, get our rental car, and make our way to the beach. It was rainy and windy most of the way there. By the time we got to the Outer Banks, Hanna had passed through. Some minor flooding when we were coming in but nothing too bad. We could see the ocean from our hotel. :)

Throughout the week, I think I ate my weight in crab legs. They were yummy!! I tried squid. It was ok, really had no flavor, I'm just not a fan of the texture.

We kept calling this trip an adventure. That it was for sure. We drove around places we hadn't been the prior years we had been there. We ate places we'd never eaten before and we tried sports made for 12 year olds. That was a bad idea. Skimboarding. Its like a mini surf board and you only use it where the waves come in. We saw some kids using one, looked cool. Again, its only made for 12 year olds. We rented a board and proudly took it to the beach on Monday. Heath was the only one who could almost successfully "surf" on it. I stood on it and didn't move. Ben tried, same thing. Towards the end of our beach fun, Ben was picking it up out of the waves and the end came down and hit his big toe. Immediately, his toenail was turning purplish-black. Really it was blood behind his nail. That night, it continued to get worse, but you know men. They don't want to go to doctors. Maybe its not a man thing, but its a my husband thing. He didn't sleep that night. That morning it wasn't any better, so we went to the urgent care that afternoon. They basically poked a hole in his nail to get the blood out. That was gross and smelly and I couldn't watch. The smell brought back memories of my surgery rotation from school. ick! They also did an xray to make sure it wasn't broken, and it wasn't. All the people were super nice and I think they liked us. Random nurses and the xray tech came in to just chat with us while waiting. After that the skimboard stayed in the garage, never to be touched again.

Another thing we did was paint pottery at Art, Glass and Fire in Manteo. We ended up going twice. I painted a large bowl the first time. Second time around I did dog bowls. I can't wait to see them!! Ben made me some jewelry. I'll post pics of these ASAP.

We went on a wild horse tour in the 4x4 area in Carova. Basically the highway ends at the beach and you can continue driving, only if you have a 4 wheel drive vehicle. Well you could drive without one but you wouldn't get far. In this are there are houses, rentable ones and there are people who live up there year around. There is a lot of wildlife up there, including the wild horses. They roam along the beach and up in peoples yards. Its just a normal thing. Of course you cannot feed them or touch them. This year we used Back Country Outfitters and Guides. We had a tour guide and rode in a surburban down the beach. You can also rent segways for the tour. The guide was very informative. The spanish mustangs used to roam all along the northern part of the Outer Banks but as more people came in and built, they were getting hit and things. So they moved the horses up the beach. Some of the far north parts of the beach are protected. Theres a fence to keep them from going south or from going north into virginia. He did tell us a story about some of them going in the food lion one day. They just walked right in the front door of the grocery store. Oh yeah and we took lots of pictures. I'll put those all in a different post.

We bought ourselves a hammock from Nags Head Hammocks. We actually got a double rocker because getting in and out of a hammock is scary and I don't trust that the swing would stay put after we sat in it on the front porch. So we got this one. That was our splurge purchase for the week. I've wanted to get one the last times we've been there but we've never done it. Yes they're expensive, but they're made in the USA and very good quality. And we got 1/2 off shipping and no sales tax because we shipped out of state. AND an additional $20 off because her computer crashed and Ben helped her. :)

Here's a list of where we ate:

Barefoot Bernies, The Black Pelican (it was right by the ocean and housed in a former Livesaving Station), Dirty Dicks Crabhouse, Poor Richards, Oceanfront Grille (literally oceanfront, view awesome, food not so much), Sooey's BBQ, Awful Arthur's, Sundogs Bar & Grill, North Banks Restaurant and Raw Bar. I'm sure there were more places, and really you probably dont care that much. We also visted Bacchus Wine and Cheese. We bought some good wine from Duplin Winery. Good stuff!!

Overall, I believe we all had a great time!! We of course never want to leave once we get there, but we have to come back to reality sometime. I dont know what it is about that little skinny piece of land. Once you cross the intercoastal waterway bridge, its like you're in a different world. You get bit by the obx bug and you there's no cure for it. So you keep coming back. I would totally live there, if it wasn't so expensive, if there was a job and if we hadn't just bought a house. Here's a link about the Outer Banks, if you're interested. Of course I can get you more info if you want it.

Oh and we stayed here for the week. Pictures of everything coming soon!

VACATION!!!

Just thought I'd do a quick update. We're on vacation. Its wonderful, awesome, relaxing and has definitely been an adventure. I'll have a full, probably long update when we get back. Oh yeah and pictures too. My google reader is overflowing as well. Hope everyone has a great week!!!

Making a list, checking it twice...

I'm such a liar, I made a list about 3 wks ago. Haven't checked it since I made it. I need to but I'm lazy. I'm excited about vacation, but I have no motivation to get packing. I have all my clothes ready. Its just the little stuff, like toiletries, hair dryer, makeup, etc. I can't really pack that stuff til its time to leave. I think thats why I'm stuck. Just waiting, very impatiently. In my down time, I'm tracking Hanna. They keep predicting it'll come through where we're gonna be, but really they have no clue. Its kind of annoying. The storm hasn't really moved much in the last few days. I won't mind a little rain at the beach, but I would like some sun. I guess thats why you don't plan a vacation to the beach during hurricane season.

Headaches suck. They seem to be a constant annoyance in my life. They're daily it seems. I think its sinuses or my eyes. I haven't had my eyes checked since my first year of x-ray school. That was....oh...4 years ago. Yeah, I know. Thats bad, given that I only really see well out of one eye. I have a bad habit of not wearing my glasses unless I'm at work or driving. Once I get home, they come off. I was told my eyes don't work together, so that puts strain on my good eye. If you were to try on my glasses, you'd probably think "what the heck?" Only one lense is prescription, the other is just a clear lense. I could techinically get away with wearing one contact if I was in to sticking things in my eyes. But I'm not. I need to make that appointment. Ugh, I'm tired of going to doctors.

Yes, I'm down in the dumps today. I have been since late last week. I'm giving myself a week of pity party, then I'm getting happy. One, because of vacation. Two, because I think I shouldn't wallow in self pity for longer than that. People start to get annoyed, if they even notice. I don't think they do. Which is fine, I don't feel like advertising it at the moment anyway.

I'll end on a good note. Went to target for deodorant and ending up buying a grey knee length pencil skirt, cute black shirt, new purse, and earrings. I like trips where I find stuff I wasn't looking for, especially when it all fits!!