showers

It's Way Back When-sday! Yay!

There are three kinds of showers (that I know of).

There's the rain kind. AKA the kind Georgia HASN'T SEEN IN WHO KNOWS HOW LONG. (Note to God, who I'm positive reads this blog: Please send us rain. I am sick to death of spending the last hour of my every day watering my plants. One nice rain shower would give me a whole evening to do something better with. Thanks.)

Then there's the kind of shower that gets you nice and clean to start your day (or end your day, if you're me. Always have been a night-time shower-er.)

Then there's the baby-and-wedding-and-lingerie kind. In my life here lately, I see pretty much as many of THESE showers as I do the 2nd kind I mentioned. Almost. But since none of those showers are for ME, let's not dwell on them. Let's go way back and think about the showers that WERE for me: my bridal showers!!

Since it's June, and I am (was?) a June bride...I think it's only fair to take a little extra liberty this month and show lots of my favorite wedding-related pics. Today we'll look at a few shower pictures. And no worries, it won't be many, because I didn't have "many" showers (although it felt like plenty to me). I had 2 co-ed showers, a ladies-only shower, and a lingerie shower. It was great. I feel like some people have like...15 showers. Not me. It's cool though. I plan to make up for it when it's my turn for baby showers. ;)

Our first shower was co-ed and hosted by friends of ours. It was a cookout and it was Scrabble-themed, which was pretty fantastic. The tables were strewn with Scrabble tiles so that people could play impromptu games of speed Scrabble. I can't remember if I've shared our "proposal" story with yall...I just glanced through all my blog titles and nothing rings a bell...so if I haven't, then some of yall are probably in the dark about "why the Scrabble-ness"? So just let me know and I'll tell yall that story. Let's move on to my next shower, though, for now.

My next shower was hosted by two of the ladies I used to babysit for. It was ladies-only and a fun, classy, 'typically Southern' shower (the best kind). In the picture above you can see my one-and-only-in-life-so-far monogrammed cookies. They have a B on them!!! So cool!! Also, hydrangeas. See, it's not a passing obsession.

 Here I am with Catherine and Kristina, two of my best friends/roommates/bridesmaids. Love!

My last shower was the lingerie shower. It was goofy and lots of fun. Also, the A/C was broken that night. We decided to "make lemonade" on that hot June night...or frozen beverages, as the case may have been.

We also embraced a casual dress code, as you can see. And lots of chocolate-covered strawberries. Yum!

That's about it for my shower pics. I had one other shower, hosted by friends of Matt's parents, a few weeks after the wedding. It was super nice, but I only have a few pictures from it and I look bad in all of them, so I won't be showing them here. :) I had very few pictures from all my other showers...probably because I was busy being the guest of honor and not the photographer. Imagine that.

So there's our relatively short-and-sweet WBW. Now I must go eat some leftovers and...you guessed it...water the yard. Gah! 

The Matt Interview

Your patience has paid off and the moment we've all been waiting for is here!! The people (that's you guys) have spoken, the questions are in and answered, and I've put it all together here for your reading pleasure. Here's an advanced "you're welcome."


Awhile back, my friend Amanda J. mentioned (in a private Facebook message that took me FOREVER to find. I had to go through a year's worth of blog comments and FB wall posts first...) that she felt like she didn't know that much about Matt. She suggested doing a little 'get to know Matt' blog, and since I'd seen other people do 'husband interviews,' I figured that'd be a good way to go.


You submitted the questions, and I did my best to maintain journalistic integrity (if there is such a thing) as the official Interviewer and Typer of Answers. I typed exactly what Matt said (unless he prefaced it with "this is off the record") and have refrained from interjecting my own commentary, which you know is hard for me to do. For your/our enjoyment, however, I did jot down a few "extra" comments he made, some of them multiple times, in reference to no question or many questions in particular. Hopefully these will help give you a better idea of what it's like being married to the Man of Few (but Funny) Words himself, Mr. Mattie B.

Please note: I am not putting these questions/answers in any particular order. I thought about trying to arrange them for maximum...I dunno...emotional impact? Chronological order? Screw it-- they're just all mixed up.

Random Matt Comment #1: You don’t have to write it exactly the way I say it. Can’t you make it make more sense?


Questions from my cousin Rachael:

What is one dream or aspiration that would make you feel life was incomplete if you did not accomplish it? (Sorry if that's worded awkwardly...) Marriage.

Also, how did you discover your calling in life? Yeah…still trying to figure that out.

Amanda J. had three questions (which is good, since this was all her idea):

What are Matt's hobbies (outside of loving and adoring you)?
I like reading books. They need to be non-fiction, though. I’ve recently read In Defense of Food, The Ascent of Money, and Money Matters, all of which I’d recommend. I also try to tinker around the house, fixing [waves his hands in the air, thinking] lawnmowers…I recently fixed all our leaky faucets and showers… 

 If he wants to share, I want to hear about his take on infertility... hardest part, etc. I would say the hardest thing is knowing that your [Erika’s] one dream and aspiration is to be a mother and I can’t do anything to fix it. Not only can I not help fix the problem, but my infertility issues are blocking her from being a mother. It breaks my heart. [Author’s note: at this point, we are both crying.]

If Matt could have any song play to announce his arrival every time he entered a room, what song would it be? It would probably be something from Miles Davis…maybe from his “Kind of Blue” album.

Random Matt Comment #2: I’m not a good blogger interviewer, baby. These are hard.

Allison wanted to know:

What is Matt's favorite t.v. show? My current favorites are Amazing Race, the Office, 30 Rock, Holmes on Holmes, and Holmes Inspection. But I’ve always been a fan of the A Team. Oh, and COPS. But it has to be like 1995, that kind of era…you know, mullets…quality characters like that. Quality characters.

Matt's sister, Amy (sorry, no blog), had a few questions along with her husband, Tom:

I would like to know: What was it like for matthew to grow up with the greatest sister in the world? It was pretty great. I wouldn’t change a thing. That is a crazy question.

Matt & Amy, 2001

Tom wants to know: What is Matt's favorite alcoholic beverage? Terrapin Golden Ale, but it needs to be on draft. It’s hard to find that in the restaurants I visit, so I usually have Yeungling. 

Also, Could Matt tell us his side of the story about when he shaved half his head and then went to the dentist like that? What other side is there? Where do I begin? To give you a history of my hair, in middle school my mom used to always just cut my bangs straight across. But I have a cowlick! On the front…I guess where my bangs are. This always made my bangs very slanty and uneven. It made me look like a dork. 

So in high school I decided I was just going to shave all my hair off and then let it grow really long and then I would shave it off again and then let it grow really long. So about the time I was about to go to the dentist, my hair was about …my hair was long enough that I could bite off the tips with my mouth.

Sometimes you just get in your head that you need to go do something and you need to go do it NOW. And it doesn’t matter if there’s a dentist appointment in five minutes. I thought I had enough time, but with only an electric beard trimmer, it took a little longer than I wanted to. After getting halfway done with cutting my hair, I knew I was going to be late to the dentist. But I don’t like being late to the dentist. So I said “screw it with the haircut, I’ll finish it later, I’ll wear a hat and I’m sure that the—uh—what are the people that work in a dentist office?—the hygienists will have a kick out of it.” When I got there they made me remove my hat. They did have a lot of laughs. But I didn’t really care.

Random Matt Comment #5: Wait, what’s YOUR thing your life wouldn’t be complete without?…..oh, I want that to be mine, too, so that we match. Can you change mine? 


Jenny wanted to find out:
What kind of kid were you in highschool? And I request pictures from the era as evidence please. You know, since homegirl LOVES scanning pictures. Obviously I looked like a dork. My perception is I was awkward. I played the part pretty well though. I didn’t get contacts until my senior year of high school and my glasses were really thick. I did play basketball and soccer in high school. I also mainly listened to Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix. So basically, a dorky, hippie jock.  

Random Matt Comment #6: Aw, man…these long questions are HARD questions, baby. They’re all long questions!


Jessie and Adam had a few questions. You can probably figure out who asked what:
1) If you were in a band, would you play the cow bell? Only if I can play other things too, like an egg shaker.

2) How many ping pong balls can you juggle? I would guess two?

3) If you had/have a pet squirrel, what would be/is his/her name and what tricks would/can it do? Maxwell. Long distance runner.

4) What's it like being married to an amazing and famous blogger? [Note from Erika: I do not consider myself an "amazing and famous blogger". This is something Jessie comes up with on her own.] It’s hard keeping her ego in check. But I get ideas from friends in forums.  


Random Matt Comment #7 : I don’t want to give them too much, you know? Don’t wanna give them too much information. Gotta whet their appetite! 


******************************************************


So there's our first-ever Matt Interview. Hope you enjoyed and feel like you got to know my man a little better. Sorry for the long delay in posting-- we've been having internet issues since Sunday, so this is a little later than I'd planned!


Now, play nice and show Matt some love with some comments. He went through a lot of stress trying to answer all those probing questions!!

really, really good.

Sometimes, life is just really, really good.

Like today.

I spent most of the day taking a somewhat-impromptu roadtrip to the ATL (that's Atlanta for those of you unfortunate enough to be NOT from Georgia) with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, Jessica. (You may remember her from her wedding in April, which officially made her my sister). We had some business to do dealing with a relative's house that needs to be sold and/or extensively remodeled and sold. Jess and I are the go-to home design consulting team (hey, that sounds good, we should get business cards!) for the family, so we went along to offer our expert advice. There were also rumors/bribes that a trip to IKEA could be arranged as a part of the day. You had me at IKEA.

We had mucho fun being home design consultants and tossing around words like "footprint" and "building permit" like we were HGTV regulars or something. I also took the opportunity to engage in a little foreshadowing of my future and clipped a particularly beautiful hydrangea to bring home to enjoy (and maybe try to root). This one is a beautiful shade of pink so deep it is truly magenta...it's spectacular. I hope that it recovers from spending 8 hours shut in the hot car...oops. 

After our design consultation ended, Mom treated us to fish tacos at a really yummy place in Atlantic Station. And also chocolate cake. Don't forget the chocolate cake. After that it was on to H&M, where we proceeded to spend the next 29928 hours. This was a Really Good Shopping Trip for several reasons. First of all, I had excellent co-shoppers. People who will give you honest feedback are invaluable and I need to shop with them more often. For example, I tried on these shorts and really couldn't decide if they looked right. They FIT (and they were in a size I deem acceptable, which is good), and they were a COLOR that I wanted...but I just couldn't decide if the style looked right. I appreciated Jessica's honest feedback (they didn't look right), because otherwise I probably would have bought them and then never worn them, unsure whether they actually look right or not. I did, however, get a very super cute dress. I was going to take a picture and show you, but I will probably be wearing it at some picture-heavy events in the near future (weddings, for one), and you will get to see it plenty then. So just trust me: it's cute, it looks great with my tan, and when I had it on, Matt asked if I'd lost weight recently. I haven't, thanks, but obviously I'll be wearing this dress until it falls to pieces. Also, random people in a restaurant tonight complimented it and asked where I purchased it. SCORE! Not to mention: Mom paid for the dress! I'm not sure there are any more ways for this dress to score.

With my OWN monies, I purchased a new purse (trying to keep my purse-weight under 40 pounds, for shoulder health) and some bracelets. 

Then it was on to IKEA, where I will spare you the play-by-play. I got some fun finds, and Mom purchased a few finds I couldn't afford and called it my anniversary present. Umm...can we please go shopping together every day?? It was such a fun blessing. 

Then tonight after coming home to my Mattie, we had THREE (count 'em up!) separate episodes of: I LOVE LIVING HERE.

Episode 1: We met our new neighbors that bought the house next door to us. We met them because I was out back, checking the garden, when SIX IDENTICAL PUPPIES bounded over to visit me. Hot on their heels were the owners, my new neighbors, apologizing and calling back the dogs. I was quick to inform them that adorable, palm-sized puppies are ALWAYS welcome in my yard. They were seven-week-old Welsh Corgis (a very unintentional and unplanned breeding of their two adult Corgis). So we spent the next while playing with puppies and getting to know our neighbors, who were very nice and personable, and also have many pets. Sadly, they are selling the puppies. :( :( :( but they have plenty of other cute pets to keep me entertained...and maybe those frisky adult Corgis will do their thing again and I can see some MORE PUPPIES! I'm going to play some Marvin Gaye music really loudly to see if I can speed things along.

Episode 2: We ate dinner at our "neighborhood" (okay, 2 miles away) Mexican restaurant. We eat there every day frequently...look, there just aren't a lot of options in this town, and we don't always feel like driving to Athens. And it's really good food. And anyway, I don't have to defend my eating choices. So we were eating on the porch, and we ended up talking for a long time with the other family (parents, 2 teenage kids) seated on the porch. It turned out we know a lot of people in common (through high school soccer and churches) and we had a lot of fun chatting. This was particularly fun because Matt and I aren't usually real "chat up strangers" kinda people. I guess we were in the mood after just meeting our neighbors or something.

As we were leaving, I was already thinking I love living in this town. But then (Episode 3) our waitress/restaurant owner's wife/only girl that works there and memorizes our orders started talking with us at the door and we ended up staying for another 15 minutes and getting to know her. That was really good, because since she serves us approximately 1/7th of our meals, it's good to get to know her. We got the inside scoop on all the other Mexican places and their owners, so it's safe to say we'll be sticking with her restaurant. 

When we finally left and made it to the car, I just had the biggest grin on my face. I'm sorry if it's lame, but I LOVE living in this town and eating dinner with strangers-who-become-friends and getting to know the girl that serves you every week (and then having her ask us to start coming on different nights, since she can't work our "usual" nights all the time any more). I love that we have neighbors that are animal lovers (and complimented my flowers/garden) and that we can spend our evenings chatting while we watch puppies wrestle in the yard. I love spending girl time with my family, and coming to realize more and more that I got so much more than just Matt when I married him. 

Sometimes life is just really, really good. I need to remember that. 

three peas in a pod

 Hello and welcome back to yet another nail-biting, thigh-slapping addition of Way Back When-sday!!!! Or...maybe it's not that exciting. But it could be.


Remember awhile back when I mentioned my favorite sibling picture that was framed at my parents' house and that I didn't have a copy of? The one that I've thought was totally normal my whole life, only to have everyone I know make fun of it once I reached semi-adulthood?? Well, you're in luck. Last time we went home, I found a wallet-sized copy.


Please remember that, as I said before, this sucker is practically LIFE-SIZED at home. I'm guessing it's like...2 feet by 3 feet...or whatever would be a proportionate rectangle in that neighborhood. It's huge. And personally, I think it's adorable. I don't understand why others are compelled to laugh at it. So without further adieu, here it is...enjoy. Or laugh. Whatev.

Ummm....seriously, what is NOT to love. Matchy-matchy outfits? Check. (Note: when I someday dress my own children in matchy-matchy outfits, which I will, I will blame it on my DNA. We are dressed matchily in SO MANY PICTURES. Guess my parents were fans.) Pigtails? Check. Erika-sans-glasses (the rules of dancing also apply to portraits)? Check. Staring off into the distance? Check. Olan Mills gold embossing on the bottom? Yup, it's the real deal.

My only real beef with the pic is that...why did Mom make MY bangs look all weird and curled/brushed to the side (I'm sure she was going for "fancy"), and Sarah's get to look normal, which is way cuter? Gosh.

I also located this next picture. Same outfits, different day...I deduced this because my pigtails and bangs are normal and not fancy. Posing in The Spot in the front yard. 95% of my pictures in life are in this same spot. Sadly, not all of them have the Tercel in the background. RIP, Tercel.

My favorite thing about this one is how Sarah's hands are stuck in those tiny, awkwardly-placed pockets. Classic!

Well, that's all I've got for ya tonight. I think that the next time I go home, I will dig around the attic and see if I can locate these outfits. I think we can all agree that the super best thing ever would be if my OWN children can wear them some day and we can recreate these fantastic shots.

Also: you guys are doing a GREAT job with the questions for Matt! We are working on getting them all answered...some of them are pretty in-depth, which is fun! If you didn't get a chance to submit yours, it's not too late. I'll try to post "the interview" this weekend.

And...glad to know yall are equally as law-breaking as I am (and some of you are more so). I am definitely going to snag a few hydrangeas next time I walk by. I'll take a picture of them on my mantle so you can enjoy them along with me (and experience their awesomeness for yourself). 

Goodnight!