Playing Dress Up

This blog is going to be a double feature!  Although I initially intended to write separate posts about the past two weekends, I've somehow managed to let time escape me yet again.  Therefore, it's a 2-in-1 pictorial about how I've gotten to do one of my favorite things for the past two weekends - play dress up!

Three weeks ago, my aunt, cousin and I ventured up to Florence, AL and spent the day at the Alabama Renaissance Faire. This is our second year to attend the Faire, but our first dressing up for the event. My aunt opted for the look of a noble lady, my cousin was a medieval sorcerer and I was your local tavern wench. In all, the day was an absolute blast.

Among the sites to see, there were men in kilts, trolls, ruffians & barbarians, powerful magicians, enchanted statues and, of course, the nobility.



For more pics of the day, check out Facebook.

And last weekend we celebrated my favorite holiday of all - HALLOWEEN! In case you don't know, Halloween is kind of a BIG deal in my family. As soon as one Halloween ends, we start planning the next year's theme (seriously, my cousin and I just had a lengthy discussion yesterday over lunch about an escaped psycho-Hannibal Lecter type theme next year). Anyway, this year we opted for a medical horror and it turned out better than we could have asked. We easily had 300+ trick or treaters, went through eleven large bags of candy PLUS my aunt's secret stash and still ran out by 8:30 PM.

We've spent so much time talking about how great Halloween night is that my family from Virginia decided to venture down and check out the shenanigans. That's my cousin, the devil & me this year.



Again, more pics are up on Facebook. Check 'em out if you have time! How did you scare away the spirits this Halloween?

2010: 4th of July

What a wonderful weekend! I went to Charlottesville, VA this past weekend to see my mom and spend the holiday with my family. The trip was a total surprise for my mother as she had no idea that I planned on coming. When I strolled into my aunt's living room at 10 PM on Friday night, I can only say that the look on my mother's face was priceless. She literally jumped off the couch and caught me up in the biggest bear hug I think I've ever had.

On Saturday we all loaded up and headed into Scottsville, VA to see the 4th of July parade. Yes, it was the 3rd but in this small town, Sunday is still a day of rest and the volunteer firemen long ago decreed that if the holiday ever fell on a Sunday then the celebrations would be held on Saturday.

Don't let the map fool you ... I think the star representing the town might actually be bigger than the town itself.  Scottsville is the epitome of small town America -- one main street, no cell phone service, and a population of around 500 people (according to Google). But it's also peaceful and idyllic. It was nice to spend a day away from a world obsessed with iPhones, Facebook, and celebrities.

The parade was much as you would imagine --

led by the mayor,

 

 featuring bagpipe-playing men in kilts (my personal favorite!)

 

followed by quite a few firetrucks (with sirens!),

old cars,

middle-aged cars (???)

new cars, 

tractors,

 

t-ball teams and pageant princesses.

All in all, it was a great display of small town America with a heaping helping of USA pride thrown in.

L. and I, beating the heat with some frozen kool-aid pops

(notice I'm sporting my fave new shirt, courtesy of Piper!)

my mom and I

After the parade, we packed up our chairs and spent the rest of the afternoon with family friends, eating massive quantities of BBQ and splashing our feet in the pool.  

my cousin, A.

 check out that beautiful sight

L. was absolutely enthralled and decided that she MUST have this car.

On Sunday, my family hosted our own party and quite the crowd show up for some great food ... hamburgers, hot dogs, potato casserole, potato salad, two kinds of macaroni salad, cake, and peach ice cream. Nom. Nom. Nom.   

My cousins and I scrounged up a few sparklers and pop pop snappers. We finished off the night by seeing an amazing fireworks display hosted by the town at McIntire Park.

(image courtesy of http://george.loper.org/weblog/?p=1295)

On Monday, it was back to reality and time to head home.  My aunt and I geared up for the 622 mile journey home which we accomplished in a little over nine hours.  And although it was a great, great weekend, I was more than glad to be home in my own bed on Monday night.

All Quiet On The Western Front

I've been quiet as a mouse recently because free time has been scarce and hard to come by. Looking at my calendar for the next month or so it seems I have something going on every weekend and almost every day. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing!

This past weekend we began a much-needed renovation of my grandmother's kitchen. About fifteen years ago, when sponge painting was all the rage we painted my grandmother's kitchen.

We also thought we were being ever so creative by adding a wallpaper border. In all honesty, it was a very pretty border (reminiscent of an English tea garden) but it definitely needed to go (by the time I took these pictures we'd already spent about three hours taking it down).

Out with the old! My one requirement for this remodel was that my grandmother have new, working ceiling fans. As you can see we had to do a bit of repair work around the old ceiling fan. After that was done, we set my cousin to the ever-so-fun job of cleaning the ceilings. About a gallon and a half of 409 later, the ceilings were freshly scrubbed and ready for primer.



Progress! First coat of paint on the walls and new ceiling fan fixtures going up.

Our activities director (a/k/a Papa). He made sure everybody was working hard!

The finished project. It's rather hard to tell, but the walls are a pale ice blue ("Cool Sheets"). It's a very refreshing and peaceful color.

Somewhere in the middle of all this madness my grandmother found the time to bake a mouth-watering, delicious pound cake. Yum!!!

And you know how one project always leads to another? Next up:

new kitchen floors, and

having the bar room painted! Just in case you're wondering, yes, that's a Christmas tree. No, don't ask.

Many thanks to Cheryl, Alex, George, and Mike Green for their help in making this project happen.

Neglectful Nelly

...is what I've been lately.  I'm sorry, Bloggy-boo.

In actuality, there has been a lot of excitement, a lot of headaches, and a LOT of frustration.  I don't want to jinx myself, so I'm keeping quiet about the excitement, for now.

I'm not really at liberty (at least not yet) to talk about the headaches and frustration.  Suffice it to say that life at Carmel has been one hell of a roller coaster ride in the last month.  Some days I'm happy to be on the Board and some days I would rather be totally oblivious.

Yesterday was Alex's, 22nd birthday!  He, Cheryl and I had lunch together at P.F. Chang's and went to see Alice in Wonderland 3D.  It was a good movie, although it was very loosely based on Lewis Carroll's original story.  I'm sure Alex could give you a lengthy discourse on the quality of the CGI, but for the average person, I thought it was great.

March = Birthday Month = $$$.  After Alex, my grandmother, myself, my mom, and both of my aunts have birthdays this month.  My cousin and his wife, Christine, also celebrate their third anniversary on the 12th.

Work is great.  Busy, busy, busy.  But great.

Lah!  That's about it for now.  I'll have ENT updates later this week.

Monday Night Madness

And no, it doesn't involve football. I spent a great night with my aunt, C., and cousin, A., having dinner at Cheesecake Factory and then hitting up Barnes and Noble to do a little post holiday shopping.

My family knows (one of the many ways) to my heart is through Barnes & Noble Gift Cards. I even managed not to spend them all at once. So, two new calendars and seven new books later, I arrived at home, a happy little Brandi.

The latest additions to my collection include:

`

These should (hopefully!) last through my upcoming hospital visit. If not, I might have to send Cheryl off to B&N for backup.

Fall 09 - Pictures

These are a few pictures from our quick trip to Knoxville, TN last weekend. We went up to see my cousin and his wife, their new house and celebrate their birthdays.


Like all trips, it wasn't long enough. I can't wait to go again!

sh*t happens

From Random

Yes, there's a story there but I promised not to tell. All my love, ND!