Quick One

Will need to continue my California trip later.  It's Sunday afternoon and Madison is napping with the potential of waking VERY soon.  Will do a quick synopsis of our life in the past two weeks.

Last weekend Trey was in his childhood best friend's (Bennie) wedding.  I was able to join them Friday for the rehearsal (we had a babysitter-Trey's aunt-his parents were going on a cruise).  The rehearsal (and essentially the wedding) was at a golf club in Collierville.  Since I wasn't in the wedding, I didn't want to just sit by myself with nothing to do.  So instead, I sat by myself at the bar enjoying a blue moon!  :)

The rehearsal dinner was at Jim's Place, also in Collierville.  The food was sooo good!  I had the blackened Salmon, baked potato and the key lime pie (oh, also a salad to begin with).  Trey had the steak with the chocolate cake.  The room was very pretty:

 I was not able to attend the wedding because we did not have a babysitter.  However, here are some pics of Trey trying to figure out the pocket square.  In the end, he gave up and just stuck it in his pocked and someone at the ceremony prettied it up for him.

Lauren and Will were in town that same weekend.  Lauren and I were supposed to take a Photography class at Chimpsy.  Well, we actually signed up for the class BEFORE our Napa trip and not enough people were signed up, so it was cancelled and reschedule for last weekend.  Well, we show up to the place and there's one other person there and NO INSTRUCTOR!!  Lauren calls the headquarters, which calls the instructor, and he got confused because there were supposed to be two classes (morning and afternoon) and he thought the morning class was cancelled mistakenly!!  We were so annoyed.  They also thought it was crazy that we weren't willing to wait AN HOUR for the instructor.  So now I'm going to reschedule and I think Lauren is going to look for a refund.

Anyway...yesterday, Madison and I took a day trip to Tupelo!!  Jennifer and Myers went up to visit Lauren and see her house for the first time.  It was such a beautiful day that we decided to hit up Tupelo's famed Buffalo Park.  It was so much fun!!  Here are pics below!

Lauren being a good aunt and showing Madison the buffalo

On the trolley 

More Buffalo

Zebras!

Madison feeding the cattle

Aunt Yennifer going down the slide with Madison

Chilling

California Pt. 1

First, I had a wonderful birthday!  Very low-key but felt really loved with all the texts, calls and messages.  Best thing of all, my yummy Edible Arrangement!!

Thank you Yennifer!!

Onwards to California.  First, I would like to apologize for the lengthy post.  Well, I'm assuming it's going to be lengthy.  I really want to be able to remember every detail of this trip.  It was just absolutely fantastic.  I don't know about you, but for me, whenever I go on vacation by the end of it I'm usually ready to go home.  This was one of the first trips that I was truly sad about leaving.  The only silver lining was getting to see Madison because I truly truly missed her that my heart ached whenever I even thought about her.

Lets get it!  Friday night, Jennifer, Kyle and my parents arrived.  Trey grilled some yummy burgers on the Green Egg and we all drank some beer, wine and talked.  The next morning, I wouldn't put Madison down and just balled as she drove away.  Lauren and Will arrived at our house and Lauren asked me to look at her phone and this is what I saw!!!

Lauren's pregnant!!!  YAY!!  We had a DD!  haha

We all squeezed into Trey's Tahoe with everyone luggage inside.  I wish I had taken a picture.  Jennifer sat on Lauren's carry-on in the middle row and I was in the back smushed in-between a ton of luggage. Anyway, we made it to the Park It Here lot and got picked up by a fun guy.  Kyle kept talking about his throw-away socks because he didn't want to get AIDs from walking barefoot in the airport.  The driver ended up giving us some Park It Here bacteria killer.  It was hilarious!

On the bus on our way to the airport.  What a fun group!

Arrive to the airport.  Lauren and Will were magicians and only packed ONE piece of luggage for the both of them!!  However, it weighed a little over 50 and things had to be moved around but they got it below the 50.  Security was always fun for Lauren.  Since she's pregnant, she didn't want to go through the x-ray thingy and instead went to at least second base with the TSA people.  The only issue was that it took them a long time to frisk her but she finally was freed.  We went straight to the bar and had some drinks.

 At the bar the boys got beers and Yennifer got a vodka tonic that looked so yummy...so I ordered one too.  Well, I got too excited and when I high-fived Jennifer (yes, we high-five) I knocked my drink and it spilled.  I was so sad.  Kyle had earlier commented that he was going to buy my drink but I ended up paying for the drink (before the spill) and the drink was $13!!!  Anyway, I was pouting and the one-tooth bartender made me another drink (never asked, so I assumed she was being nice).  Well, the husky thing ended up putting it on Kyle's tab!!  I was so mad!  I thought it extremely rude!

Enjoying my not-so-free 2nd vodka tonic.

The flight to Houston was AWFUL!  The plane was extremely small and had terrible turbulence.  I really thought I was going to puke.  I just ended up going to sleep.  Arrived to Houston and ate some lunch, the boys had more drinks and we got on the flight to San Francisco.  This flight was much better.  Nice big plane with t.v.'s on the back of the chair.  For $6 we got to watch DirectTv.  Lauren and I enjoyed The Lucky One (Zac Efron...hello!) and Trey and Kyle watched The Avengers and acted like little children.  They had headphones and didn't realize how loud they were.  People were staring!!  At least they had fun.

We arrive to chilly San Fran and go get our rental cars: A small nissan and a minivan.  The guys drove the minivan and the girls in the nissan.  We decided to drive a little bit before stopping for dinner.  We got to drive through the good old Golden Gate Bridge!

Our Driver

We made it to San Rafael and went to this pizza place called Orgasmica Pizza.  I wish I could say the pizza was Orgasmica...but it wasn't.  However, we walked in and there wasn't much room for a table of 6, so they brought us to the "back."  It was pretty much the kiddy party room!!  It was unacceptable.  So Lauren charged back to the front and claimed a table that another group was wanting but Lauren got to the host and manager first and we were given the table.  The other people gave us the stank eye though.  Oh well...yay for Lauren!!  We drove the rest of the way and didn't get home until midnight!  We were all exhausted.

Of course all the girls wake up first and we look at the window and this is our view!!

Beautiful!  We spotted some Bambi's one morning.

Lauren was family that live in the area and her cousin's wife has a family bakery that she recommended for breakfast (Costeaux).  It was AMAZING!!  I had the french toast and it was to die for!

We had such a girl's day planned out and it was AMAZING!  Went to the spa at Hotel Healdsburg.  I had an amazing massage and facial.  Afterwards, we lounged by the hotel pool, drank a bloody Mary and relaxed while tanning.

Afterwards, Yennifer and I got pedicures while Lauren went grocery shopping.  While getting our pedicures done (we went to just an Asian place) the guy doing my toes handed us FREE Heinken's when we told him we were on vacation.  It was nice.  After we did that, we finally got back to the house and the boys were throwing the "bee" around.  They even got it stuck on the roof...but no worries, they found a way to get it off.

Enjoying watching the boys throw the frisbee around.

Kyle also decided to demonstrate how the girls were stomping around that morning.  Kyle described his room as Mom's Attic.  It had a curtain instead of a door and it was located right next to the kitchen.  He also said that he would see "the people under the stairs."  Here's the video:

That night all of us (except Jennifer-she was tired from her hard day) went to dinner at the Barn Diva.  Absolutely delicious.  Look up the menu!  Thanks Kyle - he picked up that tab.

Anway...that's all for tonight.  Will continue tomorrow (maybe).  Will end with some cute pics and videos of Madison.  The pics are of Madison enjoying one of my b'day cupcakes.  She went to town.  When I pulled out the camera aka phone, she got interest for some reason and kept getting really close to the lens.

The video is of her finishing the cupcake and her trying to touch the phone.  The last video is when she had finished the cupcake but there was still icing left on the plate.

Happy Birthday!

I just want to wish a Happy Birthday to the most amazing 7 year old I know!  She was the best birthday present I could ever ask for.  She is the prettiest, sweetest, smartest, coolest, most athletic, most loving person I know.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIA!!

AUNT JESSICA LOVES YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!!

Isaac/Labor Day Weekend

SOOOOOO, my weekend ended up not being what I was expecting it to be...thanks to Hurricane Isaac.  Every year for the last 5 years (I think) Trey and I drive down to Destin to celebrate our beloved niece's birthday (which happens to my birthday as well - she was born on my 21st birthday - we're kindred souls).  Anyway, my cousin ends up getting engaged (YAY!!) to a super guy and informs the fam that the wedding will be Labor Day weekend in New Orleans.  I'm sad because I won't get to make it to Mia's actual b'day party but content because we get to celebrate anyway.  WELL, Isaac decides to come ravish Louisiana and my cousin and her 4 year old end up evacuating at my house.  They got here Monday night and stayed until Friday morning.  Well, the decision to postpone the wedding was back and forth and by Friday morning, the wedding was on but my sis and I weren't going to drive in until Saturday (the wedding was supposed to be Sunday).  Then I received a heartbreaking text Friday afternoon stating that the hotel her fiancé's family was staying at had no power and they canceled the reservation so NO WEDDING!  So sad for my cousin but really sad because this will be the first time in 7 years that I won't be able to celebrate Mia's birthday.  :(  Oh well...I'm determined to make all of them from now on.

When Mia was born I didn't have a nice camera - oh well, here's one when she was a few weeks old.  So cute!!  She has my heart (as well as Evan and Madison).

Labor Day weekend was spent home in the good ole Southizzle aka Southaven.  I decided that I was going to try and move Madison from two naps to one.  Saturday, that didn't work out.  We made it up until 9:30 am before I decided to put her cranky butt to bed.  She slept for less than an hour!!  However, I put her back down at 2pm and I had to go wake her up at 4:45!!  It was an amazing break (those who don't have kids - don't judge).  Sunday, it went MUCH better.  We just made sure to get out of the house and keep her busy.  We put her down around 11:45 and she slept until 1:20.  Not bad but I wish it was longer!  Today, same thing except she slept in the car for about 15 minutes which allowed us to keep her up until 12:30.  She slept from 12:45 until 2:20...ok not great.  We're getting there.  However, I can't complain - that child loves to sleep at night and sleeps alllll night!  She sleeps at least 11.5 hours every night and sometimes 12 - so I think she just may not need such a long nap because she gets enough sleep at night.  Oh, how I will miss my two small quiet breaks on the weekends.  :)

We were quite busy this weekend.  We played, we shopped and we ate.  Saturday we went to Best Buy so Trey could get his fix (thank goodness, we came out empty-handed) but not before we stopped at the Dre Beats.  Madison loves these headphones!

I looked like crap - hence the gray circle.  Madison looks adorable, as always.

Too bad I couldn't use the gray circle on the video but Madison was jamming out to some BEP!

We were extremely productive today of all days where we're allowed to do nothing since we get a break from all the labor we usually do for 5 days a week.  Sunday night we had a terrible storm.  The tornado sirens went off, which always makes me nervous (being from New Orleans I'm more used to hurricanes and having a few days notice).  I ask Trey where we're supposed to go if we have to hide from the twister...he didn't know.  I figured it would be the hallway closet that was completely packed with crap and has absolutely no room for anyone, even Madison.  I woke up this morning with a mission: cleaning out that closet.  I decided we were going to take everything out, group it and then go out and buy storage bins and throw the rest away.  It's a Labor Day miracle!!!

Definitely enough room for a family of three - the dogs may have to fend for themselves though.

Madison was testing the space out.  We can even stick her on top of that bin and maybe we'll have enough room for the dogs (or at least one).

 If I had to save one, I'd save this one - look at that sweet face.  Poor guy started going gray when Madison started crawling.

Call me cruel but Bennett just drives me bananas!!!  Listen (or read) what that dog did to me yesterday morning!  Trey's in bed resting around 7am (lucky guy - I'm an amazing wife) and I'm in the living room with Madison and the dogs.  Madison decides she wants to go outside...so all of us head out.  I see Bennett kind of messing with something on the grass but right by the patio.  I look and it's a dead rat!!!!!!  I freak out, run inside, make the dogs come in and I go screaming like a banshee into our room and wake Trey from a dead slumber (he claims he was already awake and heard me coming)...details.  I tell him what happened and he's so calm about it.  So I hop in bed, Madison wants to walk around the room but when she walks forward a little, Bennett makes a small growl, so I jump off and am about to berate that dog when I realize he growled because Madison was getting close to the dead rat that he decided to bring INSIDE TO MY ROOM!!!  I definitely start screaming, grab Madison and run like that rat was alive chasing me.  Trey got the shovel and got rid of that nasty thing.  I can't look at Bennett and I won't let him get near Madison.  Trey cleaned the spot and vacuumed.  ewwww

Now that you can't judge me for picking Buster, I also decided that the volume of Madison's toys were starting to cause me anxiety.  When we put her down for her nap, I went and stuck her "baby" toys in a bin and cleaned up our living room.  No more toys pressing me up against the wall!

We had to decrease her vehicles parked in her parking lot.  Went from 5 to 3.

If any of you have been to my house, you can definitely tell the difference!

On a random side note, I was driving home from work - Trey was picking Madison up for some Daddy/Daughter bonding time - and I turned into my subdivision and noticed this massive bird flying down and landing on an empty lot.  I was determined that it was an eagle and took pictures to prove it especially since Trey didn't believe me and told me it was a hawk.

It was a hawk...darn

Some more randomness.  While I was vacationing last week in the great state of Cali, I definitely shopped for Madison.  Two of my favorite purchases were some new kicks (that Trey was horrified at due to the price and even went further on to say that they were ugly - thank goodness I'm in charge of Madison's life) and a hat for the upcoming winter from H&M.  Madison LOVES her hat and has been randomly putting it on and running around the house.  AND, she also LOVES her new shoes and will ask me to put them on.

Well, that's all folks.  I will leave you with this parting video.  A long time ago Madison was giving me attitude (shocked, I know) and I kind of stared down at her.  Well, she thought it was hilarious and now looks at us like that all the time.  It's too funny and she does it because she knows it will make us laugh.  We ask her to do it to the tv, the dogs, daddy and mommy.  Here's a video of her doing it one morning during the week.

My next post will be all about California!  Til then!

Last thing - I have finally weighed myself and I almost fainted.  UGH is all I can say.  So I'm giving you a severely altered number but will hopefully decrease this number by at least 10 pounds.  My biggest problem is the fact that I go out to eat every day for lunch during the week.  NO MORE!  I will live off of oatmeal, slim fast, lean cuisines and home cooked meals.  My starting weight will be 200 lbs (obviously not real-hopefully no one out there actually thought that number reflected what I really weigh).