I think that I've mentioned in a previous post that I've come to the realization and acceptance that the days of doing the beach like I've always done it are over... Recently, I also experienced the harsh reality that so are the days of taking the perfect beach picture--at least for this year.
I blogged a little bit about my Destin trip with my college roommate/sorority sister/bf
Amy and our girls. Two young mommies, two young babies, beach gear in tow (which far surpasses the tanning oil, towel, book, water bottle bag from previous trips and is replaced with diapers, wipes, swimmie diapers, 50 spf sunscreen, bottles, puffs, sun shades, floats, towels, blankets, hats, toys, etc), and sleep/energy deprivation are hardly the elements required for a successful photo shoot. Even when we would "dress up" to go out for dinner, the hassle of stopping at the beach on our way with our babies on one hip, our picture props, cameras, and overstuffed diaper bags on the other was too much. We sat down for dinner one night, sweating after an exhausting and futile attempt at capturing a good picture, looked at each other, and laughingly said, "Well, that was miserable..." Our trip itself was a blast--in a way that the conditions I described above can be a blast. It was so much fun to celebrate our history of friendship with a girls' trip introducing our little daughters to their future roommates and best friends--no pressure, girls! We sure did miss our husbands, though, and the help/escape that they would have provided... Here is a recap of our trip and some photos that she posted on her blog
here. (My favorites of her shots are the ones of the two girls on the beach with their sun hats and matching bathing suits and the "prom picture" of Eli and Addison... so sweet!)
Addison and I spent the last days of June visiting Patrick where he is currently working in North Carolina. We spent Saturday in the Wilmington/Wrightsville Beach area, and we loved seeing the beautiful town where
Dawson's Creek, One Tree Hill, Nights in Rodanthe, Cape Fear, etc. were filmed and where Woodrow Wilson and Michael Jordan grew up. In planning this day trip, I thought to myself, "YAY! I'll pack some white clothes and my camera, and we can get that family beach picture there!" So we did. We got out to the beach area, changed our clothes, primped a little, and start making our way out to the beach, and the bottom DROPPED OUT. We're not talking a few drops, a summer shower, a passing annoyance. It was a storm to be reckoned with--complete with lightning, thunder, and hard rain. Addison loved it. She squealed and clapped with every boom. Luckily, we found a gazebo to seek shelter under, and we were joined by a wedding party as well. This picture is the best we got... Well, here's to next year!
We spent Sunday of our NC vacay in Durham at Duke's campus where we were entertained by another close friend/Chi O/and summer roommate, Jenn Moody. She is a professor there in the Physical Therapy program and works with a new business they are developing working with college and professional teams and athletes doing preventative PT. It was so interesting to hear about--as were her wild stories about clients. Michael Jordan even invited her to the Derby, making her a celebrity herself these days! We got a few good family shots here that I put on Facebook, but here is a picture of my Mecca of Basketball--Cameron. I felt the energy and intimidation just standing in this arena!
Addison was a great travel companion, and she loved the airplane experience. She engaged other passengers by clapping for them as they walked past us, peering through the seats and laughing at the passengers behind us, and pulling up over the seats in front of us to "talk" to her new friends. Thankfully, she catnapped on both flights, and I'm just thankful it was a positive venture for us all. Lately, she's keeping us laughing with the "new" things she is doing. Besides her crawling, pulling up, and cruising stunts, she is also learning a lot about herself. She has become fascinated with her pointer finger. She examines it, points at everything, saying "Ooooohhhh," and makes everyone around her point as well. She's also snapping her fingers and whistling all the time. She's become obsessed with practicing these new tricks and she laughs and claps for herself each time. I love this stage in her developmental self-discovery.
This weekend we enjoyed celebrating our red, white, and blue with a gathering at our house. We had the Crawford/Hatfield bunch here and enjoyed a day filled with swimming, fireworks, grilling out, homemade ice cream, and ladder ball. We missed Steven and Bern, but we are hoping to see them before the school year starts back. Sadly, this is the only picture I took, and it's of a dessert I made to be a festive compliment to the ice cream. I saw a recipe years ago in Real Simple that I always wanted to try, but I didn't keep it, and so I made this up. It's basically the ingredients from Spring Break cake that we used to make every year. This wasn't the prettiest one of the bunch, but you get the idea. I layered Angel Food cake and vanilla pudding with strawberries and blue berries in mason jars. The topping was cool whip mixed with marshmallow cream. It was so tasty and even pretty healthy!
As an addendum to my post below, on the reading front, I have found some good chick lit to share. I breezed through
The Beach House, and while it was plagued with point of view and verb tense inconsistencies, the plot was captivating, and I enjoyed myself. Then, last week, my girl
Becky brought over two of Emily Giffen's books--
Something Borrowed and
Something Blue. I read them both in two days (Addison was taking some hearty naps! :)). The protagonists were refreshingly flawed, the plot not too predictable, and the storyline just complicated enough to keep your heartstrings involved. Nothing earth-shattering or awe-inspiring--just light-hearted summer fun. Now, I am getting pretty into one of the ones that's been hanging out on my bedside table--
Same Kind of Different as Me.
I think that I've mentioned in a previous post that I've come to the realization and acceptance that the days of doing the beach like I've always done it are over... Recently, I also experienced the harsh reality that so are the days of taking the perfect beach picture--at least for this year.
I blogged a little bit about my Destin trip with my college roommate/sorority sister/bf
Amy and our girls. Two young mommies, two young babies, beach gear in tow (which far surpasses the tanning oil, towel, book, water bottle bag from previous trips and is replaced with diapers, wipes, swimmie diapers, 50 spf sunscreen, bottles, puffs, sun shades, floats, towels, blankets, hats, toys, etc), and sleep/energy deprivation are hardly the elements required for a successful photo shoot. Even when we would "dress up" to go out for dinner, the hassle of stopping at the beach on our way with our babies on one hip, our picture props, cameras, and overstuffed diaper bags on the other was too much. We sat down for dinner one night, sweating after an exhausting and futile attempt at capturing a good picture, looked at each other, and laughingly said, "Well, that was miserable..." Our trip itself was a blast--in a way that the conditions I described above can be a blast. It was so much fun to celebrate our history of friendship with a girls' trip introducing our little daughters to their future roommates and best friends--no pressure, girls! We sure did miss our husbands, though, and the help/escape that they would have provided... Here is a recap of our trip and some photos that she posted on her blog
here. (My favorites of her shots are the ones of the two girls on the beach with their sun hats and matching bathing suits and the "prom picture" of Eli and Addison... so sweet!)
Addison and I spent the last days of June visiting Patrick where he is currently working in North Carolina. We spent Saturday in the Wilmington/Wrightsville Beach area, and we loved seeing the beautiful town where
Dawson's Creek, One Tree Hill, Nights in Rodanthe, Cape Fear, etc. were filmed and where Woodrow Wilson and Michael Jordan grew up. In planning this day trip, I thought to myself, "YAY! I'll pack some white clothes and my camera, and we can get that family beach picture there!" So we did. We got out to the beach area, changed our clothes, primped a little, and start making our way out to the beach, and the bottom DROPPED OUT. We're not talking a few drops, a summer shower, a passing annoyance. It was a storm to be reckoned with--complete with lightning, thunder, and hard rain. Addison loved it. She squealed and clapped with every boom. Luckily, we found a gazebo to seek shelter under, and we were joined by a wedding party as well. This picture is the best we got... Well, here's to next year!
We spent Sunday of our NC vacay in Durham at Duke's campus where we were entertained by another close friend/Chi O/and summer roommate, Jenn Moody. She is a professor there in the Physical Therapy program and works with a new business they are developing working with college and professional teams and athletes doing preventative PT. It was so interesting to hear about--as were her wild stories about clients. Michael Jordan even invited her to the Derby, making her a celebrity herself these days! We got a few good family shots here that I put on Facebook, but here is a picture of my Mecca of Basketball--Cameron. I felt the energy and intimidation just standing in this arena!
Addison was a great travel companion, and she loved the airplane experience. She engaged other passengers by clapping for them as they walked past us, peering through the seats and laughing at the passengers behind us, and pulling up over the seats in front of us to "talk" to her new friends. Thankfully, she catnapped on both flights, and I'm just thankful it was a positive venture for us all. Lately, she's keeping us laughing with the "new" things she is doing. Besides her crawling, pulling up, and cruising stunts, she is also learning a lot about herself. She has become fascinated with her pointer finger. She examines it, points at everything, saying "Ooooohhhh," and makes everyone around her point as well. She's also snapping her fingers and whistling all the time. She's become obsessed with practicing these new tricks and she laughs and claps for herself each time. I love this stage in her developmental self-discovery.
This weekend we enjoyed celebrating our red, white, and blue with a gathering at our house. We had the Crawford/Hatfield bunch here and enjoyed a day filled with swimming, fireworks, grilling out, homemade ice cream, and ladder ball. We missed Steven and Bern, but we are hoping to see them before the school year starts back. Sadly, this is the only picture I took, and it's of a dessert I made to be a festive compliment to the ice cream. I saw a recipe years ago in Real Simple that I always wanted to try, but I didn't keep it, and so I made this up. It's basically the ingredients from Spring Break cake that we used to make every year. This wasn't the prettiest one of the bunch, but you get the idea. I layered Angel Food cake and vanilla pudding with strawberries and blue berries in mason jars. The topping was cool whip mixed with marshmallow cream. It was so tasty and even pretty healthy!
As an addendum to my post below, on the reading front, I have found some good chick lit to share. I breezed through
The Beach House, and while it was plagued with point of view and verb tense inconsistencies, the plot was captivating, and I enjoyed myself. Then, last week, my girl
Becky brought over two of Emily Giffen's books--
Something Borrowed and
Something Blue. I read them both in two days (Addison was taking some hearty naps! :)). The protagonists were refreshingly flawed, the plot not too predictable, and the storyline just complicated enough to keep your heartstrings involved. Nothing earth-shattering or awe-inspiring--just light-hearted summer fun. Now, I am getting pretty into one of the ones that's been hanging out on my bedside table--
Same Kind of Different as Me.
Sadly, I left off her emergency vehicle bus from the picture... she was riding on it!
A date, a show, a party... you know the normal events that fill my social calendar! Ha! But, alas, Patrick and I are home doing some much-delayed baby-proofing thanks to some recent wake-up calls. It's been a good day, and I think we are going to end it by cozying up to a movie. 
I believe that it is human nature, when reminiscing on our pasts, to either glamorize our meager accomplishments or minimize our journeys to self-realization.
Yesterday, Addison and I roadtripped to Kelley's house in Birmingham to meet up with my old college roommates. It's been 8 years since we moved out of the Chi Omega mansion, but it was refreshing to pick up so effortlessly with these girls and their kiddos. Missing from this picture is Caroline who was napping. Missing roommates from our gathering were Melissa and her two, Rebekah and her two, and Kimper and Mary. Hopefully we can do this again this fall on the plains. I'm so thankful for my friends. Thanks for the picture, Sarah!
A couple of weeks ago I finally finished Same Kind of Different As Me, and just yesterday I read The Traveler's Gift. Both were touching stories, spiritually encouraging, and motivational tools. If I had to recommend the one that hit me the hardest, I would definitely recommend The Traveler's Gift.
From there, we drove to the Factory in Franklin and gathered some fresh goods--Williamson County homegrown. I've never been much of a Farmer's Market fanatic until this summer, but I've been craving fresh summer squash and zucchini, tomatoes, berries, and herbs and spices, and it feels so much more fun and authentic to purchase them from neighboring vendors. Both my hairstylist and a Bunco friend have booths there, and I like to buy from them. Plus, you never know who you are going to run into!
We love getting a good Cup of Joe from the Frisky Berry and meandering through the booths. We strolled through, took inventory, enjoyed our coffee beverages, and then went back to select our purchases. I didn't need many veggies this week thanks to Kelly stocking me up with produce from her garden, so this is what we came away with today: 
Looks like Blackberry Cobbler is going to be on the menu tonight! We're also trying out some local honey for the first time--Patrick is convinced that the one teaspoon he tried is going to clear up his allergies! HA! Enjoy your beautiful Saturdays.
Ingredients:
Kelly, Austin, Andrea (pregnant with baby Knox), Mindy, Lia (pregnant with Reese and Rylee (sp?)), Peyton, me, Addison.
A couple of days ago I tried to set Addison in the boppy for her "I am 9-month-old" picture, and I wasn't so successful. She was totally playing me, and would smile as she looked AWAY from the camera. While this picture isn't great, it serves its purpose for me in keeping up with her growth. Anyway, she's doing all the 9-month things, and her dr's appointment a couple of weeks ago confirmed what we already knew--she's a long and lean little girl. We're still waiting on teeth and that silly tear duct to clear itself up, but all-in-all she is growing into a healthy, happy little person
.
In other news, AP scores have been mailed out, and I am anxiously awaiting reports from my first batch of AP kiddos. So far, so good! I've hardly thought about school and work this summer, but this anticipation has begun the stirrings of excitement for a new school year. Don't get me wrong, though, I fully plan to soak up these last few weeks of summer!
In this one, they are both intently absorbed with Dora and Boots. 
Savannah soon became entranced with her dictionary, and Addison tried to take over Dora. It was fun, and we enjoyed our outing!
Addison and I spent the last days of June visiting Patrick where he is currently working in North Carolina. We spent Saturday in the Wilmington/Wrightsville Beach area, and we loved seeing the beautiful town where Dawson's Creek, One Tree Hill, Nights in Rodanthe, Cape Fear, etc. were filmed and where Woodrow Wilson and Michael Jordan grew up. In planning this day trip, I thought to myself, "YAY! I'll pack some white clothes and my camera, and we can get that family beach picture there!" So we did. We got out to the beach area, changed our clothes, primped a little, and start making our way out to the beach, and the bottom DROPPED OUT. We're not talking a few drops, a summer shower, a passing annoyance. It was a storm to be reckoned with--complete with lightning, thunder, and hard rain. Addison loved it. She squealed and clapped with every boom. Luckily, we found a gazebo to seek shelter under, and we were joined by a wedding party as well. This picture is the best we got... Well, here's to next year!
We spent Sunday of our NC vacay in Durham at Duke's campus where we were entertained by another close friend/Chi O/and summer roommate, Jenn Moody. She is a professor there in the Physical Therapy program and works with a new business they are developing working with college and professional teams and athletes doing preventative PT. It was so interesting to hear about--as were her wild stories about clients. Michael Jordan even invited her to the Derby, making her a celebrity herself these days! We got a few good family shots here that I put on Facebook, but here is a picture of my Mecca of Basketball--Cameron. I felt the energy and intimidation just standing in this arena!
This weekend we enjoyed celebrating our red, white, and blue with a gathering at our house. We had the Crawford/Hatfield bunch here and enjoyed a day filled with swimming, fireworks, grilling out, homemade ice cream, and ladder ball. We missed Steven and Bern, but we are hoping to see them before the school year starts back. Sadly, this is the only picture I took, and it's of a dessert I made to be a festive compliment to the ice cream. I saw a recipe years ago in Real Simple that I always wanted to try, but I didn't keep it, and so I made this up. It's basically the ingredients from Spring Break cake that we used to make every year. This wasn't the prettiest one of the bunch, but you get the idea. I layered Angel Food cake and vanilla pudding with strawberries and blue berries in mason jars. The topping was cool whip mixed with marshmallow cream. It was so tasty and even pretty healthy!
