something old, something new

WARNING: RIDICULOUS PICTURES AHEAD.

Ridiculously awesome, that is.

Today my beloved friend/sister Catherine came to visit. [Note: I said friend/sister...as in, a friend so beloved she's like a sister. Not to be confused with Sister Wives... although come to think of it, we probably would be awesome sister-wives.]

After we spent time catching up, watching football, and looking at some rather alarming beach photos on her phone, one thing led to another and the next thing you know we're playing dress up.

With my wedding dress. And the bridesmaid dress I'll be wearing next month in my sister's wedding.

I think it happened like this: I was showing Catherine my bridesmaid dress, but you can't really get the full effect unless it's on. Let me just put it on real quick for you, I offered. Okay! she replied. Oh! And while you're doing that...can I just wear your wedding dress?

Um, of COURSE!!

We went to fetch my dress from the back of the closet. I do not have it all preserved and packed up...I like to wear it too much. Apparently I'm not the only one. And neither is Catherine. Check out who we found hiding up underneath a couple [hundred] layers of lace:

Yeah, that would be a big ol' cricket. Just snug as a bug up in my dress! Dead, I might add. Apparently this cricket was too classy to die in the garage like a million of his closest friends. This dude needed slightly more upscale digs. I can't blame him. Unfortunately, he is now laid to rest in our bathroom trashcan. RIP, Klassy Kricket. [Note: I hate when stores/restaurants intentionally misspell stuff like I just did. It drives me insane!!]

Anyway, there are way too many pictures to share for me to keep narrating each one. Let's just preface them with this:
1. Catherine is about 8 sizes smaller than me. Therefore we had to employ some creativity in order to make my dress sort-of fit her. Good thing I watch Say Yes to the Dress religiously!

2. Even with our giant chip-clips, the dress was too big. What better way to make it fit than to stuff a pillow under it? And then, ironically, you look like a pregnant bride...which is about as funny as it gets. It also, interestingly, encompasses both of Catherine's Life Dreams all at once. So, pregnant bride it was.
3. I was lazy and sick today. Up until this point, I'd barely ventured 3 feet away from the couch. This is why I have no makeup, nasty hair, and generally look like a troll. Please forgive me.
4. If you're looking for a photographer for your bridal portraits, you will probably want to contact me. Obviously I know what I'm doing.







Don't worry, there are about a hundred more, but it may be that you just had to be there to appreciate it fully. We tried to take a few "normal" pictures at the end...but obviously they are really boring compared to Pregnant Bride pictures.

All in all, we had a really fun day. If you're ever bored, I think I can highly recommend a good Wedding Dress Photo Shoot.

Pregnant bellies and Christmas-tree-decorated wineglasses (for the PREGNANT bride?!!! Horrors!!) not optional.

so much catching up

Wow. Two weeks [almost] without internet is too much I tell you. Too much! (Should I be saying "too many"? I mean...it is too many weeks. But I'm meaning more like...it's just too much. Too much to deal with. So there's my grammar rabbit-trail for you to meander down.)

Didn't you miss me? And all my pointless pondering and whining?? I missed it too.

Anyway, three trips from a techie later, we are back in internet business. The third trip may or may not have been necessary because I unintentionally gave him a DEAD BATTERY-LAPTOP on his second trip. And I was at work and my charger was locked in the house and so he was unable to do anything...I mean, maybe. But I would never do anything that stupid, right? Absolutely not.


BAM!!! Don't you like how I just slammed you with that picture? No intro, no nothin'. Just me and Mattie, kickin' it pirate-style.

It's just how we roll. On Halloween anyway. And occasionally some other times too.


So, we were pirates for Halloween. Not that surprising. Like our tats? I would like to take credit for all the amazing artwork on Matt's arm. If you would like me to design your next tattoo, I have some very reasonable pricing plans. Just let me know.

Doesn't Matt's beard give him a truly authentic pirate look? He's a handsome boy with a beard, I tell you.

Matt wasn't the only cute boy on Halloween though. I spent a good amount of time with my other favorite boy-squeeze, Hudson. Maybe his beard will grow in by next Halloween. We'll see.

Am I the only person who finds it kind of disturbing that baby costumes like this give a person/animal four eyes? I mean...I get that you can't cover a baby's face in a mask with little peephole eyes. But if you really stare at it (like I am, obviously)...it's like Hudson's head is inside a duck's head. And that should never ever happen in real life.

Clearly, I should find something else to stare at and think about. Or I should get more sleep because I'm exhausted and rambling on about things that make no sense except maybe to other delirious people. But I still feel compelled to blog because I HAVE INTERNET and I want to shout it from the mountaintops!

Moving on...

We haven't turned our heat on yet!! In a moment of bold insanity somewhere around November 1, when it was still balmy and warm almost every day, I declared that we would NOT turn on the heat** until December.

Then about 2 days later Georgia turned into a Frozen Tundra. Seriously. I'm barely even exaggerating. I was seriously doubting myself and wishing I'd never made such a silly statement. Because I'm very competitive (even against myself) and I hate backing down from something I said I was gonna (or not gonna) do. I almost sold out over last weekend, when we had lows in the 30s and highs in the 50s...and our house was regularly about 58 degrees...but I stayed strong and now it's warm again and I'm glad I didn't sell out. :) We'll see how long it lasts. I'm curious to see whether my cold-natured-ness or my cheapness wins out. I'm pretty cold-natured AND pretty cheap, so it should be a good fight.

Speaking of being cold...
Our church had our annual Fall Festival and Chili Cook-off last weekend. It is always SUPER fun (hosted at the ultra-awesome, ultra-old farmhouse of a family that go to our church) and this year was no exception. It was, however, exceptionally cold.


In addition to toasting (apparently, according to the picture above), eating, and shivering, there was also a Junk Pumpkin contest. I was not familiar with this game, but it turned out to be pretty neat. Here's one of the pumpkins.
Weird, right?? There were several other decorated pumpkins, but I figured this post is long enough without an abundance of Strange Pumpkin pictures.

Anyway, so...to summarize this ultra-lengthy post and the first half of the month of November, let me just say:

1. I DIDN'T HAVE INTERNET FOR TWO WEEKS AND LIVED TO TELL THE TALE!
2. Since my Internet left approximately 12 hours after I started designing our Christmas cards, I STILL HAVEN'T FINISHED which makes me feel extremely behind considering last year they were ORDERED on October 1st and labeled by November 1st!!
3. I have a cold (or something) and feel like crap, so you can look forward to more rambling catch-up posts from me all weekend!! Happy Friday!


**Using a space heater in the bathroom doesn't count. Don't be completely ridiculous. It's COLD in there!!

unwired

FRIENDS!!! This is a quick one because as you may have noticed-- I have had NO INTERNET this week! And I still don't! I'm at my neighbors' house right now, hardwiring into theirs. Anyway. After a second trip out here by a techie on Monday, hopefully we will have internet back. Until then, I just wanted to let you know that I have not died, been kidnapped, or fallen into some sort of deep non-blogging depression. I just don't have internet. Well, which does sort of lead me into a deep non-blogging depression.

Updates, as though you really care:

We have finished 2 weeks of the Couch-to-5k program!! Wahoo! I do not feel any more prepared to run a 5k though. We'll see how week 3 goes.

We had good Halloween costumes. Unfortunately I don't have them uploaded right now to share. I think Mollyanne put one of me on her blog, so check that out.

It's freezing outside!!

I didn't vote! I hate politics!! But I'm so glad it's over!

I wore my hair down two days this week. Actual comment from student: "What happened to your head?" This is why I wear it in a ponytail all the time.

We slept for almost 12 hours last night! I realize this seems extra-braggy to all you people with babies who consider like 3 consecutive minutes of sleep to be a major achievement. Please consider this my consolation prize for being infertile. I will also thoroughly enjoy my extra hour of sleep tonight and not feel guilty at all. Again-- a crappy second place prize to the joy of having a child.

Well, it's off to Publix and this time with no coupons because NO INTERNET means NO COUPONING which makes me feel sad, and it also makes my budget feel sad. Boo.

In the meantime, please feel free to leave comments because I can see those on my email at work and they make me feel less disconnected from the world. Please note that this will be SIX DAYS now without blogging or Facebook and I am going through major withdrawal. If anything major has happened, please let me know via some low-tech thing like a text or email.

Goodbye and and feel free to pray for our wireless maladies...I know you must miss me and all my ramblings like crazy!!

crazy like whoa

While I'm sitting here watching my beloved Dawgs not playing so hot (hotly?)...let me share a few things.

First, a phone conversation that occurred last night between Matt and his uncle.

Matt: Hey, Uncle Danny! Do you want to come over and watch the game with us tomorrow?
Uncle Danny:Yeah! Hey...what kind of TV do yall have?
Matt: Um.... (here's a visual so you can see what Matt is thinking)



...our TV is you know...about32 inches, 700 pounds...the stuff mid-1990s dreams were made of, basically.
Uncle Danny: Oh...well, see, I just bought myself a new 52 inch flat-screen the other day, so I need to get rid of my 40-inch. How about I just bring it over when I come?
Matt: Yep, yep, I think that will work...

So...we got a new TV! As you may have guessed, we're not exactly the most technology-obsessed people...which is why we've never cared enough to spend money on a less-archaic TV. But who are we to turn down one for free?!?!
We got it set up just in time to watch the game. And now that I look at this picture, I notice that the TV isn't quite centered on the stand. I'll fix it, I promise!

Now for my next crazy story. Only actually it's not really crazy at all. I just wanted you guys to feel excited and hopeful and keep reading. Sorry if I got your hopes up too high.

Anyways.

This morning I faced a wardrobe crisis that probably a lot of other college football fans faced as well-- how can I dress today to both show support for my team AND be in the Halloween spirit?! I know, it was quite a daunting task...but I must say that in a stroke of sheer genius (and yes, I just initially spelled that phrase "shear genius" because I love that show on Bravo!!) I rose to the occasion and managed to put together the PERFECT outfit!

Perfect, right?? Red and dark gray shows support for the Dawgs, while the pirate seems to say "Happy Halloween to you!"...right? I was pretty proud of myself. Proud enough that I made Matt take a really lame picture of me posing all by myself...which felt just as lame as it looks. We tried to de-lame-ify the situation by getting Lola to pose with me. Here's how that went:
I was holding the treat hoping to trick her into staying still. Instead I tricked her into jumping all over me. Oh well. It's probably just that she was so in awe of my multi-tasking outfit she didn't know what to do with herself.

So other than dressing myself and hooking up a new TV...it's been a rather relaxing and semi-productive day. I'm looking forward to trick-or-treaters coming by tonight, watching more football, and working on getting our Christmas card designed! And finalizing our costumes for Costume Bowling tomorrow night...which means more pictures are to come, for sure!

Happy pre-Halloween!!