My Georgia Weekend

Truth: I had an awesome weekend....and it couldn't have come at a better time.  The boy and I took vacation time on Friday and Monday and drove down to Atlanta for a jam-packed weekend with family.  After leaving Lexington around 8:30 on Friday morning, my brother, the boy, and myself headed southbound 75 with the iPod on full blast.  After a few rounds of "Ball so Hard" (including an ammended version after stopping at Chick-fil-A for lunch..."What'd she order?"..."Chick-fil-A??"), and several threats that I would play and sing every Taylor Swift song on my playlist if my brother didn't stop with the deadly beer farts in the backseat, we finally made it to my sister's house.  I literally could have eaten my nephew up like Graeter's ice cream.  Love his heart.  He just turned a month old over the weekend, and he is the sweetest thing.  K was meeting him for the first time, and it was hilarious watching this giant man hold a 7 lb. baby and make cooing noises.

Friday night, my brother in law offered my sister a much earned night off from mommy duty (well, a few hours anyways) and offered to watch Baby Mason and Scooby Drew while the four of us (K, me, sister and brother) went to see Marc Broussard at the Center Stage Theater in Atlanta.  All I can say is WOW.  First of all, the venue was perfection...a small intimate theater that had great acoustics and not a bad view in the house.  We stood on the floor, probably 15 feet away from the stage and rocked out to the music.  I seriously must say...best live performer I have ever seen.  If you're not a Marc Broussard fan or not familiar with his music, please run...don't walk...and find the nearest concert to you and get yourself a ticket.  He started out with about 5 acoustic songs by himself and then slowly brought each band member out until they were seriously rocking out.  I think one of my favorite things about the show was just how down to earth Marc is.  There were a few times when he forgot some words, and he just laughed and said, "I forgot the words!".  It was really funny, and added a more real vibe to the show that I think can go missing from time to time.  After about an hour with the band, Marc came back out for an encore and closed the show with about 5 more solo acoustic songs.  It was seriously awesome. 

Saturday I spent a stupid amount of money at the Nike store on a new pair of running shoes that I managed to justify because they were "cute" and "comfy"...and I may have even said, "They're so cushiony, it feels like my feet are taking a nap"...exactly what I want my feet to feel right before I go for a run.  Regardless, they are black with purple accents and seriously, who can say "no" to purple?  Not this girl.  After my expensive trip to Nike, K and I headed out to Buford, GA to meet up with my aunt and uncle who had yet to meet the boy.  We had initially made plans to go to the spa, but since it was my uncle's b-day weekend, he pulled rank the day before and suggested we go to the shooting range instead...you know, because the shooting range and the spa are mostly the same. 

This was my first time ever at the shooting range, and I figured it would be fun.  Besides, I always love opportunities that allow me to start sentances with "So I was cleaning the gun powder off my hands, and a funny thing happened..."  Anyways....we had about 20 minutes to hang out and make friends with all of the elegant, gun-shooting folks of Buford, GA before our names were called for a couple open slots.  The convo went a little something like this:

Gun Man: Okay, what do you need?
Aunt P: Umm, a gun...
Gun Man: Okay, what kind of gun?
Me: I'll have something dainty...
Gun Man: Okay, and what would you like to shoot at today?
Me: I want to shoot a person.

As it turns out, "dainty" equals a .22 revolver.  And interestingly enough, had my answer to "What would you like to shoot at today?" been "I'd like to shoot at a werewolf carrying a human hand in his mouth" I would have been all set.

In my head I've always imagined that I am an awesome gunslinger, but as it turns out, I am not so bad in my real life either.  My first round of shots officially rendered my target braindead, and I quickly moved on to his genitals.  Nevermind that while Gun Man was showing me how to use the revolver I ducked out and ran towards the door when the person 3 rows down shot off what I could only assume were cannon balls at his target.  Eventually my heart rate returned to normal-ish and I got through a box of ammo in about 20 minutes.  That was pretty much all I needed for the day.

After shooting the bad guys, we all headed back into Atlanta to my sister's house where I stuffed my face with chicken tacos and then promptly poured a glass of champagne for all the girls and went into my sister's room to try on my wedding dress which had been residing at my aunt's house since November.  I think trying it on for the first time since buying it should always be done after eating mexican food.  It prepares you for "worst case scenario", which for me would be that I not only don't lose the 10 lbs I've put on since I bought it, put that I have taco belly as well.  I figure if I can fit into it now, I should have no worries for the big day.  Lucky for me it fit just fine...sort of.  It's a little snug in the hip area, and needs to come in about 3 inches in the bodice, but that's pretty much my life with just about any dress I buy.

Sunday was a relaxing day for the most part.  We got up and ate a lazy breakfast before heading out on a run and out to Buckhead for some shopping.  We met the boy's parents halfway between Atlanta and McDonough (about 30 minutes) for dinner and to exchange our Christmas gifts (a little belated).  It was great to catch up and continue to get to know them since we have so little time together.  K's parent's got me a beautiful necklace and a coordinating pair of earrings that go perfectly with it.  I am seriously loving the necklace because it is very sweet and dainty (not revolver dainty though....jewelry dainty).  Dinner was a great cap to our weekend in Georgia and I am looking forward to our next visit with them, hopefully in Lexington!

Monday morning K and I had planned on being on the road by 9:00am at the latest, but after noticing one of my tires was looking a little deflated, we had to adjust our departure time so the boy could take it up to Pep Boys and get a plug in it.  Despite living and dying by the schedule, I was actually really happy because it gave me an extra 2 hours with my sweet little Mason Jar and I just loved and loved on that little guy.  We had a big morning together watching CSI Miami reruns and cooing at the ceiling fan.  Eventually we had to get on the road, and after saying goodbye and getting in the car, I cried for a good 10 minutes because I didn't want to leave!  I eventually regained my senses, only to lose it again an hour later when I realized that my hands still smelled like baby.

All in all it was one of the best weekends I have had in a long time.  If I had a remote for my life, I would definitely rewind it a few times before promptly fast forwarding to next weekend when I can sleep in later than 6:20am.  Here's hoping all my readers had a great weekend with friends and loved ones as well.

The Buffalo Chicken Dip Incident

Okay, so something happened over the holidays that I haven't had a chance to post about yet, but has come to be referred to around our household as "The Buffalo Chicken Dip Incident".  Please bear with me as I attempt to explain myself.

So, have you ever had one of those moments where you know you're reacting completely irrationally but you can't help yourself?  Like, you're almost floating above your body and watching yourself all while thinking, are you seriously doing this?? Well, I unfortunately do have those moments, and one of them happened on December 22.  Let me start from the beginning.

The Thursday before Christmas was my last day of work for the year, and to say I was sooo ready for it would be a gross understatement.  When I got off work on that Thursday, I did my usual thing - went to the gym and then got ready to head home for the night and pour myself a glass of wine the size of Texas.  Just as I was leaving the gym, I remembered that the boy had a potluck at his work the following day, and of course being culinary-challanged, I knew it would be my responsibility to send him to work with something if there was any hope at it being edible.  Luckily, my gym is right next to a Kroger so I ran in and decided to grab him something for the potluck.  While I was in there, I also picked up a few other groceries for dinner and was browsing the deli and cheese area when I noticed something out of the ordinary - The Buffalo Chicken Dip was on manager special.  Let me preface this buy saying that I love buffy chicken dip (who doesn't)....but I pretty much never eat it.  While I do splurge every now and then, I really do eat healthy and I shop healthy too.  But tonight, for some reason the dip was calling me.  I threw it in my basket and grabbed some tortilla chips and decided since it was on manager special, it was probably at least half the calories too....Anywho...I got home and made the boy and me a nice (healthy) dinner and threw some of that yummy goodness in a bowl and warmed it up for us to share.  Oh, and by "share," I mean I got 2 bites and he ate the rest before I could blink.  No biggie though since we still had the other half in the fridge for later. 

Cut to Friday morning, December 22.  I was off work, but got up with the boy anyways since I had a ton of stuff to get done before heading home to my parent's house that evening.  I made K a big breakfast, and got out the ham and turkey roll-ups I had gotten for his potluck so he wouldn't forget them.  "I didn't pack you a lunch today (yes sometimes I pack him a lunch) since I figured there would be tons of food at the office.  Is that cool?" I asked him.  He agreed and thanked me for being awesome and I went and got ready to take care of my errands. 

I jetted out the door by 9:00 that morning and headed to the mall.  Most of my Christmas shopping had already been taken care of, but there were a few lingering gifts that I had to take care of that day.  So there I was at the mall on December 22...pretty much the last place on earth I wanted to be.  Then I had to go to Joseph Beth and pick up a book for my dad.  Then I remembered I promised my mom I would pick up wine for the weekend and bring it home with me, so I went to the liquor store.  Then I ran into Kohl's to grab one more thing for my sister.  Before I knew it, it was approaching 3:00, and I was pretty much about to eat my own arm.  As I was circling the Kohl's parking lot trying to find a spot I started thinking about that buffy chicken dip sitting in my fridge.  I'm not gonna lie...I was thinking about it a lot.  And every second I thought about it, I got that much hungrier.  Then a scary thought ran through my head - What if the boy ate the rest of it before he went to work??  I cringed at the thought but figured I needed to find out before my craving got any stronger.  So I text him, "Did you eat the rest of that buffalo chicken dip?".  His reply was swift. "No." he wrote.  I was in the clear.  I checked out at Kohls and headed home to wrap my gifts and feed my craving. 

When I got home, I boxed up the gifts I had bought that day and stacked them on top of the already enormous pile of unwrapped gifts that I had been intending to wrap for about a week.  I labeled all the boxes so I didn't get them confused and turned on my favorite Christmas movie - Love Actually.  The plan was to get everything ready to wrap, then grub, then finish wrapping and pack for my parents house.  I grabbed some tortilla chips and went to the fridge to get the dip...

...it wasn't there.

I checked behind the milk.  I checked the crisper drawers.  I checked the egg tray.  I checked the trash.  Then I checked again.  It was gone.  I began to worry I was losing my mind, or at least having some type of mild stroke.  I didn't eat it, and the boy didn't eat it, so where the hell was it??  I text the boy - "Did you take that buffalo chicken dip to work?" I asked.  Another swift reply - "Yeah." 

And this, friends, is what they call The Shit Hitting the Fan.  This is also where my rational mind floats up out of my body and laughs silently at me while watching the next series of events.  I kid you not when I say that I lost it.  I had, after-all, asked him if he had eaten it and he said no.  Apparently he thought he would get off on a technicality.  Wrong.  I yelled screamed at him.  I don't even remember everything that was said.  I may have blacked out from anger.  I threw in phrases like "Lie by omission" and "Why the f*ck would I call and ask about the food in our fridge if I didn't have intention of eating it."  He, of course, thought I was bat-shit crazy which only made me angrier.  How did he not get it?  Has he never had that moment where he was craving something...something that he knew was waiting for him in his fridge...and come to find out that someone else had eaten stolen it?  He also did not understand why I didn't just get over it and pick some more up at the store.  I'll tell you why...because we live in Nicholasville and we have the shittiest Kroger in the world by our house that doesn't sell the buffy dip in question.  Nor does the next closest Kroger to us.  Nope.  You have to drive by 3 Krogers to get to the one that sells it.  Another reason why I asked him before I headed home.  I could have picked more up had I known. 

I think my stream of explatives went on for about 10 minutes before I finally got off the phone with him (from sheer disgust) and did what any normal 27 year old girl does after something like this.  I called my mom.  And I cried. Yes, for shame.  I cried.  Over buffalo chicken dip.  I explained to my mom how I woken up early and made him breakfast, made sure he had what he needed for his work potluck, and then had spent all day running around Lexington like a crazy person 3 days before Christmas, finishing up my Christmas shopping and running errands.  I hadn't done one thing that day for myself.  I hadn't even showered.  And the one thing I wanted in the whole damn world was the $2.00 dip I bought the night before.  And I couldn't have it.  She totally got it.  We both knew it was irrational, but some things can't be helped.  "So what are you going to eat now?" she asked.  "Nothing.  I had my stomach set on the dip and now nothing sounds good!" 

I wish it had ended there, but sadly it didn't.  While I was on the phone with my mom, the boy beeped in and left me a voicemail.  I thought it would be at least some kind of apology for misleading me about the stupid dip, but it was actually a stern message about how he "didn't appreciate" me calling him at work and screaming at him about something so stupid.  A serious mistake on his part.  Why don't boys learn??  For the next 4 hours it was the silent treatment until we had yet another argument about the message and finally agreed that there was no resolution since he thought I had lost my mind, and I was already watching reruns of "Snapped" on Oxygen and taking notes in my journal. 

Obviously I got over it, and even while it was happening, I was 100% aware of how ridiculous of an argument it was.  But I am curious if I am truly a ridiculous as I am sure I come across in this post, or if anyone else has had a moment like this when you lose it over something you know is dumb.  Have you ever had one of those days?  More importantly, is any of my reaction to this incident justified?  Help me settle this debate - even though we are laughing about it now, we are still in disagreement over the whole thing, so I am interested in what some of my rational readers have to say!
By the way...tomorrow is Friday.  Thank goodness!!!!!!

The new man in my life!

Move over fiance...there's a new man in my life.  He's may not be tall, and he may be balding, but he's two scoops of adorable, and I love him to pieces.

His name is Mason Michael (middle name after my Dad) and as of tomorrow, he will be 2 weeks old.  In case you are a new reader to my blog, let me catch you up - Mason is my brand stinking new nephew, and seriously, I am in love. 

After finding out that my sister, Brynn, was preggo over 8 agonizing months ago, we finally got to meet Mason on December 28.  This was Brynn's first child (although she is the non-evil stepmother to my other boyfriend and nephew, Drew) and the first grandchild for my parents, so to say that this was a big deal would be a bit of an understatement.  Brynn's actual due date was January 2, so the holidays were a little tough this year knowing that she couldn't travel so close to her due date.  That aside, we were all ready to basically drop everything and drive to Atlanta the minute we got the call that it was baby time.

That call came around 5:30pm on Wednesday, December 28.  I had just gotten home from running errands and doing wedding stuff in Lexington when my mom called me and said that Brynn had called her on the way home from work and thought she may have been having contractions.  She stayed on the phone with my mom for about 20 minutes while they timed them...6 minutes apart.  At the time her contractions were feeling something to the effect of menstral cramps, so everyone was still pretty relaxed about the whole thing.  Determined to not jump the gun or run to the hospital at the first inkling of labor, Brynn agreed that she would call her doctor when she got home and see what she had to say and then call us back.  That was at 5:30.  By 6:00 I had called her and her husband's phone about 5 times and had no answer.  Brynn finally called me at 6:30 on the way to the hospital...she could only talk for about 30 seconds because as she claimed, "these contractions are no joke", and it was too painful to talk.  Contractions now about 2.5 minutes apart.  By 7:30 my bag was packed and I was on the way to Atlanta to hopefully make it for my nephew's birth. 

I am not lying when I say that I drove like a bat out of hell.  I had to stop for gas once, but I was making near record time and had every intention of driving straight to the hospital.  My mom and little sister were driving up from Louisville and were about an hour behind me.  I was on high alert for text messages and phone calls on the status update of everything.  Around 11:30, I was beginning to be hopeful that I might actually make it there in time....At 12:15am I got a text from my brother-in-law: a picture of my nephew (the sweetest picture ever).  He arrived at 11:56pm....just before midnight. 

An hour later I arrived at the hospital.  Brynn looked great!  No swelling, no water weight, nothing....kinda bitchy that she makes it look so easy.  Mason was getting his first little sponge bath from the nurse so I got to hug on Brynn and Lukus for a few minutes before I accosted my nephew.  They were busy devouring McDonalds...neither had eaten dinner.  I sat down and turned to my sister and said, "First things first...Do you still have a vagina?"  She laughed and assured me that she did.  Whew, that's a relief.  As someone who has not had any children, but very much plans on having them someday, I can't help but get the dirt on what labor and delivery is like.  I mean, if your sister won't tell you, then who will?

All that aside, we stayed at the hospital until 4:00am.  I took tons of pictures!

About 2 hours old here

Me and Mason

Daddy introducing Drew to his new brother

Mommy and Mason

I also took pictures of Mason's sweet nursery.  My sister did a great job!

Unfortunately I only got to stay and visit with my new little man for 3 days before I had to head back to Lexington and back to reality.  I literally have shown everyone my pictures (I took them on my camera, my tablet, my phone...pretty much every electronic device I have) whether they've wanted to see them or not!  K and I have a trip planned for the end of the month to spend more time with them and soak up all things Mason...I am counting the days!  Until then, check out this video I took when we were at the hospital of our new man.  He was less than 24 hours old and wide awake!  We can already tell he's a very curious little fellow :)

Let's Start with the Holidays

Okay, so I am a little behind on the obligatory holiday posts, but I really did have an excellent Christmas, and must share!  For starters, this Christmas was a little different than usual because for the first time in my 27 years of Christmases, I did not spend it with my whole family.  My unborn nephew was holding my sister hostage in Atlanta (her due date was January 2) and she and my brother in law could not travel to KY for the holiday.  I will admit, it was bothersome.  Christmas was most certainly not the same without her.  As children (okay, and maybe as adults too!) we used to sleep in the same bed every Christmas Eve.  We would set our alarms for the middle of the night and sneak out to see what Santa had brought us, and then sneak back into our rooms, giddy with excitement.  We kinda had to stop doing that though when she got married...for obvious reasons.  Christmas Eve was always magic as a kid.

This year, with part of our family being gone, it was different.  But it was still good.  I was blessed.  The boy and me got to spend the whole day on Christmas Eve together, which was certainly a first.  Per our family tradition, we split up on Christmas Eve and deliver homemade cinnamon rolls to all of our friends and loved ones.  My parents began this tradition over 20 years ago, and it has come to be an unwavering Christmas activity that never ceases to get me into the Christmas spirit.  My dad begins making cinnamon rolls in early December in his spare time after work and on the weekends.  If you walk into our house anytime between December 1 and Christmas Eve, you are likely to find my dad in the kitchen, hands covered in flour and rolling and slicing and mixing the cinnamon deliciousness that we consume on Christmas morning.  This year we delivered to nearly 30 families in Louisville, and since my sister was in Atlanta for the holiday, she continued the tradition there and made her own cinnamon rolls for her friends and family to enjoy on Christmas morning.  I have already decided that next year, the boy and I will do the same for our "family" here in Lexington and Nicholasville.

Anyways, here are some pictures of my Christmas with my family (minus preggo sister and company).  We really did have a blessed day!

Last minute wrapping of presents on Christmas Eve....of course, by the men.

Christmas tree at my parents house...complete with all the silly handmade ornaments from the kids for the last 29 years :)

Lounging by the fire in the den after doing stockings and "Santa" gifts....pre breakfast coma :)

My stocking and Santa gifts...a fun cow painting for the house and 2 fleur de lis tall candle holders, and a fun little journal!

Mimosas!  A Christmas morning tradition!

The boy giving me his fierce look in his new Oakleys...one of my gifts to him ;)

The wreckage.

Brother lounging with Sawyer...almost the same height!

Me and the Boy on Christmas night :)

As you can see...we had a great Christmas!  Once again, my man spoiled me rotten as well as my parents and siblings.  Christmas day we lounged around all day in sweatpants and watched movies.  It was perfect.

K and I had a pretty low key New Year's Eve this year due to a slightly early arrival (the subject of my next post!).  Last year for New Year's Eve we did the whole reserved table, dance club, woohoo party NYE, and it was awesome.  However, this year, I knew I wanted it to be more low key. 

NYE 2010



For the last evening of 2011, K and I had dinner reservations at a nice restaurant downtown where we had a great romantic dinner, and were home in bed by 11:30pm to watch the ball drop.  The next morning I would up and made us Gourmet Bourbon Pancakes (courtesy of a few of our lovely Christmas gifts) and we had a relaxing morning before K had to run off to work.  Pretty much the best way to spend the first morning of the new year...with my guy.

NYE 2011

Hope everyone had a safe and wonderful holiday...wishing all my dear readers many blessings in the new year!

Btw...here's a preview of my next post!

Bling Bling!

I am linking up today with C. Mae at Happiness is... for her show off yo bling link up! I thought this sounded like a super fun little link yp especially on a day when most of us are heading back to work after the holidays!
I haven't ever posted the full engagement story, but I promise I will SOON!  Right now I'm trying out the blogger app for the first time, and figure the long engagement story shouldn't be attemped via mobile blogger.
Anyways, without further ado, here is my ring!
It is 1.0 Carat weight, near colorless round brilliant. It's from the "Simply Tacori" line, and I couldn't love it more! My fiance and I went and looked at rings together and quickly found that we had VERY different tastes.  He loved the intricate detailed rings with unique settings, while I much preferred a very simple and timeless design. Since he was the one ultimately making the purchase, I wanted him to love the ring I picked.  When we came across this setting, we both loved it because it had the simple elegance I loved, but also the etched carving in the sides for that bit of detail that he liked. I plan on eventually have the matching band on both the top and the bottom to make it complete once we're married.
I know that it's a ring I will never get tired of, and I get a lot of compliments on it. Surprisingly enough, they are mostly from men! In fact, I have actually been asked where I got it and all the details by a guy who was inthe market for a ring for his girlfriend.