SJ Thursday- The Resurrection.

Over on my old blog, Thursdays were Thoughtless Thursdays, because it gave me a break from having to think about a blog post. That was back when I wrote a post every day. Those days are LONG gone. Toward the end, I converted Thoughtless Thursdays into SJ Thursday so I could post my favorite picture of the week of Sarah Jane.

So, if you're new, welcome to your first SJ Thursday!

This sweet little girl was such a good baby this past weekend. She just chills and checks things out. She's my favorite.

Memorial Day of memories.

So we spent the weekend in Houston with Bob's sister Carly, her husband Frank, baby SJ, and their parents, Senior and Mary. The boys played golf a couple of days and Carly planned lots of cool excursions to keep us all busy. It was great weekend hanging out with them, we got to see lots of interesting things, and ate lots of good food.

Speaking of good food, if you're in Houston (airport-ish area...IAH, not Hobby), go to Jumbo Geaux's. Omg. Best cajun food outside of Louisiana. It helps that the owners/cooks are from Louisiana, but still. Amazing. Crawfish tacos. Catfish Opelousa. Holy crap. Just go. Pick anything off the menu. You can't go wrong.

Bob was thrilled at his own ingenuity. He attached his golf bag to his carry on. I married a smart one, yes I did.

On the ferris wheel at the Kemah Boardwalk, where we spent quite a lot of time. It's so cool down there. It makes me wish Charlotte had some waterfront.

Sweet SJ coming down the slide at the Houston Children's Museum, which was by far the best children's museum I've ever been in. So very cool.

We went to Johnson Space Center and the whole family landed the shuttle simulator. Here's Bob's turn. Of course, once everyone had completed their turn on the novice level, Bob did it again on the pro level. And landed the damn thing. Show off.

A rocket outside the Saturn V building.

The San Jacinto Monument.

Buttonless.

So I finally gave in and let go of my blackberry. I allowed Bob and Noreen (at the ATT store) to convince me to get an itelephone. If you know me well, you know I've loved my blackberry for years, mainly because it has actual buttons. I need buttons. And still do. This itelephone conversion isn't going awesome. I love all the things I can do now, but gah. It takes me forever.

Like this post. My first ever post from my itelephone. (And by the way, itelephone is a recognized word in this cellular telephone.) This post has taken me longer to type than the ones from last year with my broken arm. Gah. The price of technology.

Parking. (And not the fun kind)

I've been told for years that I'm not a fantastic driver. In fact, my Daddy's opinion is that I'm one of the worst drivers ever. But you know what they say about opinions... But I've never had a wreck (currently knocking on wood) and I've never actually gotten an actual speeding ticket (don't misunderstand... I get pulled over A LOT). I'm just fast. Lead foot, if you will.

Anyway, when it comes to parking, I have a slight issue. It's not parallel parking. No, I cut my teeth parallel parking on Louisiana Tech's campus. My main building was on a street with parallel parking. If you didn't know how to do it (like much of the student population at Tech), you didn't get a spot. Or if you did get a spot and you didn't park correctly, your car was booted. For the record, I never got a boot.

So I can basically parallel park a bus. Then if needed, I can back the bus into another parking spot. I'm an excellent backer-upper. You see, my issue is pulling into parking spots. I know, right? Sounds, uh, dumb.

I NEVER pull all the way into parking spots. I think I have and then I come out of the store and the front of my car is SEVERAL feet away from the parking line. Even if I concentrate on it, for some reason, I can't pull all the way in. I mean, I'm not one of those cars with the ass hanging out in the driving lane. I have an itty car, so it rarely pokes out. And once I get my new car (a Mini Cooper), my lack of ability to pull all the way in will be a good thing. Don't you hate it when you think a spot is empty and then you realize a damn Mini Cooper is already occupying that spot? I won't do that to people. You'll be able to tell my Mini is in the spot, because it won't be all the way in there anyway.

My con will become your pro. See, we all win. I think.

Driving me crazy.

Guess who North Carolina's newest legal driver is? THIS GIRL! But I can't really prove it yet. Turns out they mail you the actual license 10 days after you take the test. The test was pretty easy. I missed one question, but I don't remember what the question was. Something worded weird. For sure.

So for all you peeps moving to NC (if you are married, have been married, are changing your name, whatever), let me tell you what to bring:
-Your old license
-Your new social security card (and your old one just for good measure)
-Your marriage license (from the new one)
-Your divorce papers (from the last one)
-Your insurance card
-Proof of your NC address on something important
-$32
-A LOT OF PATIENCE

So once you bring all that, you get to take a road sign test, a vision test, and a computerized driving exam. So much fun. Once you pass all that, YOU STILL DON'T GET A DAMN LICENSE. You get a temporary license on a sheet of copy paper. Then 10 days later you MIGHT get your actual license. Maybe. If you don't get it, you have to call and beg for it apparently. Yeah.

Thank gawd this damn thing lasts for 8 years. I don't want to go through this shit any time in the near future. 8 years from now? Fine. Done. Assuming I get my license in 10 days. Grrrr....

Sunglasses (and Bob) can brighten any day.

So I'm back in Charlotte. After a FULL day of travel Thursday and a FULL day of bullshit yesterday, I was very happy to retrieve Bob from the airport last night. It's been a long week without him.

Yesterday was an exercise in keeping tears at bay. I failed. Multiple times. I had a job interview, but was turned away in the lobby because I don't have a North Carolina drivers license (a requirement per their insurance policy). I went to get a license afterward, but got lost, then realized I didn't bring proof of residence, then got stuck in traffic on the way back home. The tears they were a flowin'.

Sweet Bob and I have been looking for me some new sunglasses for the last month. I found some I adored in the mall, but we convinced ourselves not to purchase them that day. And we haven't been able to find them since. Of course. So Bob, after hearing about my fabulously shitty day, came home from his trip last night with THREE pairs of Ray Bans so I could pick my favorite. This boy could not be more amazing.

So now if I have another shitty day, I can hide behind my super cool new sunglasses.

Hometown Happy.

So I absolutely adore being in Charlotte when Bob is home. Life is perfectly happy. When he's not there, however, I am miserable. Bored, teary-eyed, and nearly ready to pull my hair out. And pull Jack's hair out too. It's just so boring.

So Bob is working this week and I decided to come back to Hometown. Even though I had to go through Houston to get here (GROSS), I'm so happy to be back. This will be a week of peach ICEE's, Sundown hamburgers, and Johnny's Pizza. Meaning I'll go back to Charlotte a smidge fatter than I was when I left. Oh well. Good thing Bob likes a big(ish) booty.

For all you Hometown residents, if you haven't been to The Sparrow's Nest on Bonner yet, GO! They have super cute stuff! Every corner is full of cuteness, but it's all accessible and easy to see. I had so much fun wandering through there this afternoon.

On another slightly more exciting note, yesterday while in flight, I got a voicemail. From a company in Charlotte. Following up on an application I put in last week. SQUEEEEE!!!! I have an interview on Friday and I am so freaking exited! It's a wonderful job and a great opportunity to network and branch out. Think good thoughts for me please! It's been so long since I've had to interview. I hope I still have those killer interview skills!! (Kidding....I suck at interviews. I can only hope I've gotten better in the last 5 years!)

Bathroom humor?

So since we're talking about house stuff, our downstairs guest bathroom has new reading material. The ESPN magazines and Victoria's Secret catalogs are still in their place of honor in the magazine basket. However, there's some juicy new stuff in there.

If you're wondering, why, yes. That is the guest book from our wedding. The print of our first song, Etta James, At Last, with the signatures and well wishes of all our wedding guests surrounding it. In the john. So everyone can read it while they're relieving themselves. You can see it from standing and in the mirror while sitting. Perfect spot. Yep.

I wanted to put it somewhere I would see it everyday. Where the guests to our home would see it as well. And since there's a 70 inch television (yes 70 inch- we can discuss later) above the mantle, the guest bathroom seemed like the next logical choice.

So if you ever come to our home, please take an extra moment in our toilet to see one of our most favorite pieces of wall art. Right above the shitter.

He's a keeper. The ac unit is not.

So. Bob's house is roughly 4 years old. It had a brand spanking new air conditioner installed during construction. If you're unfamiliar with the lifespan of ac units, when properly cared for, they can last 25+ years. Yep. So the fact that our 4 year old ac is leaking freon is NOT good news.

So after listening to this ac guy tell us our numerous (expensive) options and paying to have it quick-fixed, guess what my incredibly sweet (yet seething and boiling underneath) husband did? Took me to lunch, swung by the golf shop (for about an hour of stress relief), and then took me to buy furniture. This boy has a heart of gold and the patience of a saint.

On that same note, I got a new dresser! Squeee!!

Vegas is out, but tomorrow I get furniture delivered and possibly a baseball game. I'm such a lucky girl!

Day o' fun. Sike.

Bob got back home last night from working out of state the last few days, and our pre-planned Friday included going to purchase some furniture, getting his car's tail light fixed, and other honey-do-ish sort of stuff (buying a weed-eater, looking at flower bed options). We were also toying with the idea of going to Vegas for a wedding this weekend. (It's so awesome to have instant access to free flights.)

However, this morning we woke up to a completely iced over air conditioner. Lovely.

The answer.

So. Someone asked me why I waited until after the wedding to make our new blog "public." Easy answer. Privacy.

Bob and I both have some fairly psychotic skeletons in our closet. (Really, it's just him, but I say we to make him feel better.) While I wanted to continue sharing our lives and wedding planning with ya'll, I didn't want to risk the skeletons interfering. And trust me, "they" would have.

So now that the wedding is over and nothing can be ruined or effed with, here we are. Public. For all the world to see. Anyone who doesn't like it at this point is going to have to get the hell over it and move on. Finally. Please.

Wedding paper.

So I want to post our amazing wedding paper on Pinterest and I don't know how. Soooo. I'm posting and pinning from here. The lovely and talented from Courtney from ink.design created these for us. We love her and all our paper!

The first two are options Courtney created, but we did not use. The rest in order are our: save the date postcard, invitation, rsvp, wedding program front, guest book print (that was framed and matted) and the sticker for our candy buffet bags.

Mawwiage.

Hello again.

So. Guess who's married? No, not Kim Kardashian. Me and Bob!

Wedding and honeymoon pics are coming soon. We're still trying to get back to normal after our arrival back home last night from Belize.

See you kids soon.

The days are numbered.

So I'm still settling in. Charlotte is getting marginally smaller, and so is Bob's house. It's so hard to merge to adult lives into once space. Especially two adult lives of two very sentimental people. We have SO much crap!

So we're getting closer to our wedding date. Today we're sitting at 9 days away. And do I have everything done? Hell no. Not even close. I still have to print/put together the guest book (a print of the lyrics of our first song), print the programs, and get the centerpieces together. Gah. A smidge overwhelming to say the least. But it'll all happen. I know it will.

At this point, we're both more excited about the honeymoon and just sitting down for 6 days. We've both been going and going so fast, that we need a breather. In Belize. And it's 10 days away!

Hello, from the far East.

Howdy peeps. So a LOT has happened in the last 2 weeks. I took my pictures and love every one of them. It was an amazing experience. If you're in Little Rock and need some fun pics taken, may I suggest Meredith Melody? She rocks. Super professional and super talented.

As you can see from my title, I am officially Charlotte's newest resident. Daddy, Bob, and I packed up and moved East. Dad and I packed on Sunday, drove to Memphis and met Bob, did a wedding food tasting on Monday, then headed to NC. We got here about 230 Tuesday morning, and let me tell you, that was one hell of a drive. Holy balls. 13 hours in a car with Bob... AND JACK (otherwise known as The Kitty). We all survived. Barely.

I'm mostly unpacked, but sweet lord, I have a lot of shit. I threw away two dumpsters full of crap, but now that I'm here, I'm throwing more away. I've been left here alone, as Bob and Dad both left yesterday morning. Daddy went back to Hometown, Bob went to work. It's just me and Jack. Alone. Together. Yikes.

On tap for today, join a gym, continue unpacking, and find the liquor store. This girl needs wine.

To makeup or not?

If you were a reader of my other blog, you may remember that I don't wear makeup. I mean, I'll wear a brush of loose powder and some Blistex. And that's it. I probably need more, but I just don't have time for all that nonsense. The last time I wore a full face of makeup was 7th grade, right after it was "allowed" by school. And my Mama.

So for the wedding, I had a hair and make up trial at the salon in Memphis. I explained to chickie that I don't wear makeup on a normal basis, so please just put don't make it thick or obvious. Yeah. Bob barely recognized me. That bad. Somehow she completely changed the shape of my face with makeup. And I'm not exaggerating. I looked like a fat faced streetwalker. Straight up. No thanks.

In preparation for my "photo session" tomorrow, I hit up Sephora. And did a run through tonight. The result? I look like me. With a smidge of makeup and flawless skin.

I'm super crazy excited about my pictures tomorrow. I can't wait to see Bob's face when he sees them. I just love that boy so much and I'm so excited to do something this special for him!

Code words and Captain Bob.

Since being with Bob, I now talk in airport codes. I'm in LIT now, but will be going to MEM en route to CLT in a couple of weeks. Bob left out of DEN yesterday, came to LIT last night, flew to ORD twice today, and then back to CLT.

Ridiculous.

In other news. Bob is officially Captain Bob! His final check/training flight was today and he was finally named Head Fred this afternoon. I'm so proud of him! He's been flying for the military for so long, and went straight into airline upgrade training after his most recent deployment. That boy has had so many things going on in his head the last 8 weeks... training, a death in his family, the wedding, my move, his friends still deployed... A lesser man wouldn't have made it. But my Bob did! Congrats, sweets!

Sympathy brakers.

On today's edition of things I don't understand....

Sympathy brakers.You know who they are. You're driving along minding your own business on a 4 lane road. You're in the outside lane behind someone. Someone in the inside lane brakes. AND THEN SO DOES THE PERSON IN FRONT OF YOU. It drives. me. crazy. Person in front of me: why the balls are you putting on your brakes? You're not stopping. No one is in front of you.

I don't get it. At all.

Anything but basic.

When I really like something, I like to make it known. So. If you're ever in the New Orleans area, you MUST go by Basics Underneath on Magazine. Amazing. Ashley and I went down to Nola this past weekend for my bachelorette party. Unlike her Vegas excursion, I wanted a low key, relaxing, fun weekend. Both of us having lived in Nola for some years, that was the first place we thought.

I'm doing a "special" photo shoot for Bob and needed some sexy little underpinnings to wear in the pictures. Of course, New Orleans is the perfect place to buy these sort of things. Of the places we actually found (The Google steered us wrong... a lot), Basics Underneath was by far the best place. I'll admit I wasn't expecting much when we went in there. I thought maybe I'd find a panty set or two, but no. I walked out of there with the cutest, most flattering lingerie I've ever been in or seen. The sweet little salesgirls helped me pick out the most amazing items that made me feel sexy and beautiful without looking like a hooker. And the smell of that store? Ohmygawd. I typically don't do smelly stuff, but that place. Wow. I wanted to leave the garments in the bag once I got home so they would continue to smell that way!

So anyway, if you need a little something special, you now know where to go!

So long, sweetheart.

Welp. Today was my last day as the manager of my gym. It was bittersweet, to say the least. I thought I would be more sad, less anxious to leave (hours early at that), that I would have more of an emotional attachment to my office, my space, my gym, my home for the last 3 years. But no. I packed my car and drove away happily.

I think the reason I'm not so upset is because of the reason I'm leaving. I get to marry Bob. I get to move to Charlotte, start a new life, find a new job, and be Bob's wife. Wah hooo!!

This weekend, Ashley and I will celebrate in New Orleans for my bachelorette party. We'll eat, get pedicures, and say hi to all our old friends we left behind when we moved from Nola. IF there are any suitable picture to document this trip, ya'll will be the first to see.