And a BUSY Wednesday it is...I have a million things to do. Really important things like Clean House so that I can Take Pictures for Friday's Kelly's Korner "Christmas Decor" blog carnival. Oh, also because a lot of people are coming over to my house on Friday. But mostly so that I can take pictures. In the daylight. And I need to go to Zumba tonight. Because I think I am becoming a fattie sloth. And now that I'm 29, it's time to not let myself go. Hopefully I'll be around for a few more years...it would be nice to fit into my clothes for the duration of my time left.
ANYWAY. Remember a few years ago when Snuggies were all the rage? Apparently I've been a sloth for quite some time, because I guess it was one of those things where everyone I have ever known saw those commercials and thought "I HAVE to get one of those for Erika!!!!! They were just MADE for her!" Which was mostly true...not gonna lie, I love me a Snuggie. But it just so happened that I received MANY Snuggies that year. I also gave a few, because...ya know, who doesn't love a Snuggie?
Incidentally, Snuggies make for really funny pictures. Enjoy!
Me and my dad, auditioning for the Snuggie commercial
Now this little brown number is a personal favorite of mine. I believe it is called the Cozy 3-in-1? It's the best...except that when you wear it, your arms are pinned down. It's super soft, though.
Snuggies even work outside! Who knew? Not that our blazing fire wasn't keeping me toasty enough...it's just that sometimes you just need that extra mile of warmth.
My main issue with Snuggies is where to keep them. They don't exactly just lay over the back of the couch like a regular afghan (well they could, but they would look dumb). They're awfully bulky to put in a basket with other blankets (not to mention GAUDY and would NOT work with my decor). But then...in a closet? I never remember they're there. Dilemmas, dilemmas.
Well, I must say: My last weekend of 28-dom was pretty fantastic.
We went to Augusta for the weekend to attend my sister's best friend's wedding. Did you follow? Basically I've known this kid (er- 25 year old woman) since she was in diapers with my sister and our families have been close forever...which merited me spending my last-weekend-of-28 celebrating in my hometown. It also gave Matt and I ample opportunities to practice taking pictures. And let's just be honest: we have a LOT to learn...because for the life of us we could NOT figure out how to make the pictures from the reception (aka in a fairly dark room) look right. They were either orange and blurry (from no flash or using the 'night' setting) or totally washed out (flash!). So...bummer. But that's beside the point. The main thing is that the weekend was great, the wedding was beautiful, the bride was ridiculously gorgeous and had the hottest shoes I've ever seen, and my date and I didn't look half-bad ourselves.
That was before the wedding and proves that natural light is the winner when it comes to taking pictures. Also-- sorry if my RED LIPS are hurting your eyes, but I needed them to match my nails and my shoes and also they made me happy so you can just deal with it. :)
The second best part of the wedding (besides Lindsey getting hitched) was that my WHOLE FAMILY was there. This basically never happens and, in fact, has not happened since our LAST wedding (which was Jake's) in June. So this is no small thing. Luckily, they were all happy to pose for or with me for pictures.
Here's Emily (Jake's wife) and I (example of no flash/blurry) (please notice my shoes and congratulate me for wearing them for 4 hours before I changed into flats!):
Oh sorry, do I look like I'm about 7 months pregnant in that picture?? Maybe I was. PREGNANT WITH CRABCAKES. Because the crabcakes were flowing like wine (and so was the wine, incidentally)...and I did not hesitate to partake. And if you've ever seen me and crabcakes...well, it's a sight to behold. Kind of like me and corndogs. Or me and anything chocolatey and pepperminty. Or me and a lot of things, because apparently I'm a fan of food. Anyway. Crab cakes! So good!
Then I spent about 2.5 hours taking pictures of my sister, because she is a very expressive person and when she tells stories it looks like this:
The food was good, the bar was open, the band was excellent...
And then I took my shirt off??!??!! Oh wait, no, I didn't. It's just that when Emily took this picture, she proved that she has not learned the fine art of Not Making People Look Naked. It's okay. We had a good laugh about it. Please know I still had my dress on.
Are my dad and sister cute or WHAT?
And finally, the moment we all (or my mom, at least) had been waiting for: the Family Picture.
Do you like Mark's fancy duds? That's because he just completed Army Ranger school and is a FREAKIN ARMY RANGER now. Um, yeah. So don't mess with me. Or him, either. Basically I taught him everything he knows...
So last night was late and fantastic. Today was spent lounging around and celebrating both Christmas and my birthday. And eating...as if you had any questions about that. Look at us. Do we look like we're starving? No. Anyway, I got lots of good loot (CAMERA STUFF) and took lots of bad pictures (NEED TO LEARN TO USE CAMERA STUFF) and just generally had a merry old time celebrating my Last Day of 28.
Coming tomorrow: old age, a few more presents, and a fun dinner with friends! Christmas Card Stats 2011: # of cards received: 7 B&W to color photo ratio: 2:5 # of cards with hand-written messages: 2 # of cards with pictures of kids on them: 6 # of cards with pictures of pets on them: 0 (very disappointing, folks)
While driving home this afternoon, that song came on again.
Ya know, the song. The Christmas song that drives me crazy? Until the day I had a change of heart about it, a few years back? And then I blogged about it and got all serious and cheesy and it was pretty bad but pretty true anyway. Feel free to refresh your memory if you're feeling lost right about now: Meditations on a Song that Drives me Crazy (December, 2009)
For the record, every OTHER version of that song (except the Mercy Me version I was talking about in the blog) still drives me crazy. But I really do like that one version. Still. Funny how you can not be a fan of something your whole life and then one minute later, feel completely differently. That's not the only thing I've (we've) had a change of heart about lately.
Nothing I really wanna get into just yet...but the ol' rusty hearts are a-changin'. Towards things that have previously been a "no way, not me, not now..."and are now more like a "why not me, why not now?" or even maybe "I kinda really want this...finally."
Could I be any more intentionally cryptic (and yet not)? I doubt it. I'm just not really ready to throw it all out there yet. But we're talking...and praying...and thinking...and researching. And maybe making a new plan.
And wait-- could it be??
Yes! I do! I have another really cheesy Christmas song that previously drove me crazy and now makes me cry! And it goes right along with our newest change of heart. And I tried to find the cheesiest video of it ever, for your supreme enjoyment. You are so welcome.
(Note: I do not think the kids are cheesy. It's the playing-guitar-in-the-gently-falling-snow.)
So...that's that, I guess. Happy almost-Friday (and last Thursday of me being 28)!
In honor of the season, I thought I'd share some very meaningful pictures from Baby's First Christmas. And since I do not actually have a baby of my own (did you even realize that??)...naturally, the baby will be myself. Since my birthday is next week (December 12!!!)...if you're any sort of mathematician like myself, you can probably calculate that my first Christmas was approximately 2 weeks (okay, 1 week and 6 days) after my birth. Naturally, this made me a very eager and excited Christmas participant. Luckily my parents thought to grab the ol' Polaroid and snap a few. Two, to be exact. That's how awesome I made their day. Two pictures.
At least they were good ones.
Yup, that's me...the sweet little cherub under the tree, screaming her ever-loving head off! Possibly it was because EW, THE CARPET!!!! Could it look any more dirt-like??! Who would want to be laid on that stuff??! Get me out of here! That carpet obviously did not put me in the mood for Christmas cheer. Mom, in charge of writing the '2 weeks' caption, obviously had nothing more to say about the day other than my age. I guess she thought the picture spoke for itself.
Almost the same picture, but wait!! After Mom put her requisite '2 weeks' caption on this one, DAD took matters into his own hands. Afraid that later in life he might not remember what was happening here, he decided to jot down the facts. Christmas Day. THE WAILER.
Thanks, Dad. Because it wasn't perfectly clear how I felt that day. Anyway, that's WBW for ya today. Hope you have more Christmas cheer today than I did back in '82!
