Time Goes By...

It's official. I'm terrible at this whole blogging thing. I've even cut down on my blog reading. I guess having a real job that requires you to do things during the day will do that to you. Here are some of the biggies that have happened since I last recapped...

• Mallory & Chip got married! After spending an entire day setting up for an outdoor wedding, we wound up taking it all down and setting it back up (20 miles away) in half the time due to rain. She still had one of the prettiest weddings I've ever seen...and she was gorgeous!
• I got glasses. I officially feel old. They're really cute though and have an adorable hot pink case (of course) and only have to wear them at the computer and while I read.
• I took an amazing vacation as the Kerbys' nanny to St. George Island, FL. It was a lot of fun to get to spend a week with my 2 favorite boys (and then some!). I tried lots of new food and William got to touch a shark, so the trip was a success. :)
• I got to spend a nice, long weekend at home on the 4th and got to catch up with a very good friend that I don't see nearly often enough.
• CP had the second Serving Saturday of the year. We volunteered one morning to help work on some people's houses in the CP neighborhood. Our team did a bunch of landscaping, painted parts of the house, completely took out the back porch & installed a new one... it didn't even look like the same house when the day was over.
• Linds and I joined the Y! I never in a million years would have seen me actually making use of a gym membership (aside from using the pool...), much less loving it. But I do! We go pretty regularly 3-4 times a week. Nothing too strenuous, but I can feel a difference in myself just by feeling healthy.
• We went on our annual boat trip to Florence, AL this past weekend. I didn't get to go last year, and was very happy to make it this year. We had a wonderful time!
• I just had my 25th birthday this week. It feels weird to even think I can be "mid-twenties" at all, but other than that it was no biggie. All of my "others" and their kids came out to celebrate at the park with pizza, cornhole and cake the night of my birthday, and I had lunch with some work-friends the next day. It was lots of fun! I got some really great, timeless gifts that I'm bound and determined to do a separate post on...so maybe in the next few months it'll be up. :)

Mama, I Love You!

I'm quite possibly the worst blogger ever now. Yikes. I promise there will be a little more explanation coming soon!

In the midst of my wayyyy late Christmas blogging, I didn't get to post a very important one when I wanted to. Last weekend was crazy and hectic, much like the entire month has been thus far, and because of that, I didn't get to go home to celebrate my mommy's birthday!! How the heck did I manage to not blog on Mom's birthday when she started on mine? Again, worst blogger ever. Not worst daughter, because I did have a card picked especially for her well in advance (although Nashville-Selmer mail is incredibly slow...), a present that is sitting in my dining room waiting to be opened, and of course a phone call by 8:30am...on a SATURDAY. :) Jeez Louise, of course I remembered!

Speaking of remembering, here a just a few of my very favorite memories with my sweet mommy. :) 

• I took voice lessons for 13 years, and only 2 of those years I was able to drive the hour-and-a-half-one-way trip. So what does that mean? Awesome bonding time. On those trips, quite often just the 2 of us, we would listen to a wide array of music. She is THE reason I'm so passionate about music now because she exposed me to so much starting at a young age. We would listen to everything under the sun but one of my favorite memories is when she would put the radio on a classical station and we would listen carefully to all the instruments used in the song and "air-play" them all. Of course it was fun when I was 7, but I'm sure it was also a tool that helped me years later to listen carefully and have a better ear for music.
• 2 amazing lessons and very fun memories: 1) sometimes it's ok to have ice cream for dinner...just don't tell Daddy. 2) when you're shopping and you buy something on sale and save $20, that just means you have $20 extra to buy something else! Again, just don't tell Daddy. :)
  
• One summer Reed, Mom and I were going to meet Kay, George, Lori and Sam in Gulf Shores for a few days. We packed the car to the brim with our bags and beach toys (Reed was 6 or 7, so the perfect age to love big toys in the ocean and at the pool) the night before only to find that the car wouldn't start the next morning. So in the wee hours of the morning, we unloaded our stuffed big car and did the only thing we could at that hour - cram it into my tiny Bug. We obviously minimized some of the things we had originally planned, but once we were finally on the road, I don't remember laughing so hard. We even came back with an extra float (Star Wars Naboo Starfighter...no small float)! (*no, I'm not a Star Wars fan, so I have no idea if that's how you spell it. All I know is it was the yellow one. :) *)
• Another summer when Mom, Reed, Lindsey and I were all reading the Harry Potter books, Mom took the liberty of reading them out loud (aloud?)  on the lake...with voices! Took me back to when she would read books to me all the time!
• I remember very distinctly one day Mom saying out of the blue, "I'm so glad that you have your own opinions and have the ability to make your own decisions independently." I had no idea where it came from (she's a guidance counselor so I'm sure it had something to do with a situation she had dealt with that day), but it really stood out to me and I've never forgotten it. Although she may be sorry now that she told me because I rarely hesitate to share my opinion if given the opportunity. :)

Mom, I love you oodles and bunches and gobs! I'm so thankful for all these memories and many, many more. Happy Birthday again!!! Love, PBBG :)

Girls On The Beach...

Two weekends ago I got to take an extra day off since I'd be on the road the next weekend. Best way to spend a day of you hadn't been planning on? On the beach, of course! Pretty last minute, Lindsey, Laurie and I decided to leave late late Thursday night to meet our friends Justin and Tanner. We stayed just outside Destin and had a really relaxing weekend. Perfect little getaway! :)

I love candids.

On our first day after about 2 hours of sleep. It was a cloudy day, but it wasn't the offices!

This is my bff.

Hi boys.

Yes, I'm the 24 year old that loves playing in the sand still.

The 5 of us at the Red Bar. Laurie felt right at home with the chandeliers! :)

I love these 2. Lots.

Ice cream in Seaside. Thanks, self timer.

Justin and I were shorts twins. I made him stand like that. :)

So Laurie and I woke up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning we were literally the only ones on the beach. It was too cold at 7am, so we went back to the room after 45 minutes. But how beautiful?! Pure bliss.

So after next to no sleep the night before, and an early morning, we crashed in the sand. But we made handy little sand-pillows to be comfy. :)

This picture makes me laugh. :)

The girls on the slide..that quite plainly said "Do not climb." I'm such a little rebel. Ha.

Our last night out. If you look carefully, you can see a wedding being set up to the left (one of 2 that night). Photo credit goes to Lindsey, the human tripod.

Here's the bride of above said wedding. I stalked her because her bouquet was beautiful. I'm pretty set on a beach wedding now, thanks to her.

After dinner, we went to play putt-putt! :)

I won. Don't let anyone try to tell you otherwise. Fair and square, too. :)

On the way home Sunday, we stopped at Peach Park for lunch. Laurie and Lindsey hadn't been so they tried some of the famous peach ice cream. I got my favorite - caramel cake!

Destin is the perfect little getaway. I haven't been in several years, but the beach is always nice and clean and there are plenty of things to do. I had a wonderful time with great friends, and definitely didn't want to come back home! I'm determined the next trip to the beach will include the puppies. I want to see Paisley in the sand!

The Fun Ship (Part 3)

Ok, I think this is the last post for the cruise, but there will be lots of random pictures. These didn't really fall into any particular category, so I may have tid bits of stories to go along with them...

DINNER was what we looked forward to every single night! We ate in the Spirit dining room at the late seating (8:15est). I had had some people say they recommended the early seating, but the late was perfect for us, because we got to take full advantage of the day in the sun before coming inside and getting ready (only 2 hours for 3 girls to get completely ready with one mirror, one shower and one sink!! Not too bad!). Here is our wait staff, Stoyan (from Bulgaria) and Tomas (from the Philippeans...is that how you spell it??). They were so adorable! I loved how Tomas said mine and "Little Caley's" names.

Stoyan remembered that Lindsey and I loved Coke, so he automatically brought them to us each night, and sometimes with hearts made from the straw paper!

Here is our entire table on the first night and then on the last night of dinner, along with the wait staff. We became friends with them all...especially the group of 3 girls from Louisville. One of the twins, Sarah, said she had just moved to Tennessee, also...and it turns out she lives about 5 minutes from my house! What a small world?!?

This is the family from Pennsylvania...their daughter Helene is so sweet!

Sarah, Emmy and Savannah from Lousiville.

Here are some random before/after dinner pictures of our 3..we bacame pros at the self-timer pictures!

The first night...

Formal Dinner night (the second night)

Also on the formal night, they had a midnight buffet. We were given about 45 minutes to walk through the line and just see all the food and take pictures, because they did a bunch of ice sculptures and awesome food carvings. The desserts looked so great, we went back just for them! :)

Captain's Cocktail Party (also Formal night)

Ok this one has a story...there was a juggler one night and every time he added a ball, he said "But how 'bout...ONE MORE???" and did this move. Caley and I thought it was hysterical.

After Formal Night dinner. We were trying to be serious and cool like the elephant. Clearly that's harder for Caley and me to do than expected...

Because we thought it was SO funny...

And we kept laughing!

Gorgeous sailboat that we saw one day.

Our cute little coconut monkey drinks!

Look at the straw on this drink! I'm amazed by the smallest things, clearly...

Ok, so when we got into our stateroom on Saturday, I said, "I want to wake up and see dolphins jumping outside our window!" The very next morning, I did! I literally screamed when I saw the first ones jump. You would have thought I'd never seen a dolphin in my life!

Here's one last look of that gorgeous, blue water. Makes me want to be back right this minute!

Jamaica Mon!

We were in Ocho Rios, Jamaica on Tuesday for our 2nd and last shore excursion.

It. Was. Amazing.

I was absolutely in heaven. Everything was beautiful, the people there were hysterical and so nice, and I didn't want to leave at all! Now let me say this also: I have heard horror stories about Jamaica, but we never left the area around our port so it was all very touristy, so we didn't get into the truly local area. They definitely warned us about staying together and not getting too far out. That said...I still want to go back! All the hills....wayyyy different from Grand Cayman!

Once again, we got up really early to leave the boat. We got to get directly off the boat this time (shown in the picture above), and immediately jumped onto buses to take us to our shore excursion: Dunn's River Falls and Bamboo Beach Club! Everyone that I've talked to has highly recommended we do the Falls. This is a 600 foot waterfall that we climbed up. Absolutely amazing. The guides took our cameras (so they wouldn't get wet) and took pictures for us, so here are some pictures we took before, and then the ones the guides took. We took a few with the waterproof camera, so again, if/when I scan the pictures, I'll add them also.

Us on the bus to Dunn's River Falls

About to climb up!

This was as we were climbing down and a quick shot of the Falls.

I love this picture because you can see the jungle, the waterfall and the beach and ocean!

Now as we're climbing...the water was so cold!!

We had an amazing time, and we didn't totally wipe out too many times...those rocks were so slippery! They also had a guy following us with a camcorder, so we bought the DVD of the hike up, too.

After we were done and had dried off, I saw this guy and took a picture of him, because I (stupidly, apparently) thought it was just a cool, local guy with a donkey. Nope! He immediately said "I work for donation!" So he insisted that I take a picture with the donkey. Hysterical...and slightly awkward...

We got back on our bus and went to the other half of the shore excursion...the Bamboo Beach Club. This was so nice and relaxing, because it was a private beach and they gave us all the food and drinks we could want.

And this was our view.

After we were quite full, we decided to go do some shopping at Taj Mahal...and spent far too much money on knock-off purses, dresses, jewelry and just about everything else you could imagine. I guess that's what happens when the people are nice and continue to bargain (good bargains, too!) with you! Quite different from Grand Cayman, we waited until just about the last minute before we went back to the boat. Here we are, waiting in line to go back through security with lovely Jamaica behind us.