Photo fun day

I'm in the mood for sharing random photos... I love taking pictures in general...doesn't matter what of--EVER.

 

This picture was taken from mom's front yard.  I love clouds and the open sky and sunsets :)

 

A dragonfly on the edge of my flower bed.... the flower bed has a border around it because it used to be a smoke house... It's about twelve inches deep with a concrete base... (it looked prettier than a random square in the yard) If I ever get the mums planted I'll post pics of the flower bed now...

 

I took this pic on one of my Hatteras Island getaway trips... The sports setting came in handy for this shot.

 

Purple Irises are MY FAVORITE... this one was in mom's flower bed...right after a rainstorm...

 

Me and my dad... mom just got word that he's off to Germany this weekend... he's been in Indiana getting additional training since he left at the beginning of August... after Germany... Kosovo for a year, bleck.

 

My last trip to Nashville was in '07.... I was trashed in this picture-- my friends and I hit up a couple gay bars, and some other bars along the way... I wanna say our first stop was Broadway brew or something... i just know it was a long night with lots of drinking... I need to venture out that way sometime soon... (maybe if I get a tax refund I'll take Jen...she'd love it)

 

This picture is from last summer... hehe.  I'm always changing my look.  This one of my louder ones, haha.  After my sister's graduation from Radford we went and got matching tattoos... plus I had another one added that day as well...and got my monroe pierced too...I took out the piercing for my warehouse gig though... two tatts and a piercing in one day was a lil much I might add, haha...

 

Yet another random look.  (I'm in the mood for a haircut but am trying not to, that's why I'm sharing some of my previous random looks, lol...) I want something different.... for this look I glued tracks (extensions) in the front of my hair and razor cut them for a real "emo" look, haha

 

Jen and I in the very beginning.  Lol.  She looks so different.  That was in like month one... she had super long hair, thick Brooke Shield's brows, and crazy long nails... If I recall we were at my brother's house for a bonfire after she got off of work...look at how shy she looked...

A more recent photo... 

That's all for today...I'm procrastinating.  I haven't started my papers yet and I have a meeting for school in a few minutes...I've gotta stop slacking...

Vacay Schmay day

These are little waves compared to what we were seeing today...and what's expected later in the weekend--Beautiful nonetheless.

No shirt. No shoes. No problem.

I HEART HATTERAS ISLAND, NC. We are cutting our get away a smidgen short because of the hurricane that is off of the coast. It's not going to really be a big deal really, but there is a portion of the island where the road washes out during high tide when storms are out at sea pushing the water higher...

Rather than be stranded...we are going to finish our getaway from the comforts of home. Now if we can find an accurate tide prediction, we'll be good to go.

As always, Pepper had a blast playing and diggin' at the beach. Look at her cute furry ass and sand covered nose. We also took her to the "sound" side where there are no waves and shallow water and she got to doggy paddle around for a bit...she had a BLAST. And lil man had a good time pretending to be a dolphin on the sound side...its a good thing there are options down here, because the "surf side" (waves) has strong rip currents because of the storm and the beaches are being closed at high tide to prevent people being stupid and getting sucked in.

More to come later...for now it's Beer thirty...and I need to tap the rockies, lol.

Weekend Recap

Jen and I...me, looking all crazy eyed, ha

I had all of my homework done by Friday at 11 o'clock...which is rather impressive since I'm such a procrastinator.

Saturday I was going to sleep in. Grandma had other plans for me however. She called me at 8:06 am (I had planned to sleep until about 10) and said she needed help getting her stockings on and then tried to act like I had said that I said that I was going to get up early to start cleaning (NO...actually she has selective hearing and just likes to piss me off)...So I go downstairs, put her stockings and shoes on for her and think to myself...still plenty of time to go back to bed. Nope. Gma had other plans for me (I did something to piss her off apparently because she was just being spiteful at this point.) She said she had some mail that just HAD to be mailed, but no not from our mailbox, it had to be dropped in town at the post office....and then she says...and while you are out you can get us breakfast from Dairy Queen. I'm livid by this point and no sausage biscuit is going to cure that.

I get back home, eat with her and go back to bed (officially behind schedule now, but in desperate need of sleep still). I wake up and get started on the cleaning of the downstairs (grandmas part of the house and our shared area)...it had to be presentable for the baby shower the following day. A job that would have taken me three hours tops took me five because grandma kept holding me up, stopping me to ask me dumb shit or trying to fry eggplant in the kitchen right as I was at the point to do that area....FOR FUCKS SAKE LADY.

I finally finish...Lil man is with me by this point so that Jen could go to work. I get in the shower and agree to take him to see GI Joe...a movie I had no interest in seeing but he wanted to see it and I just wanted to be out of the house. Fifteen minutes before the end of what turned out to be a pretty bad ass movie, lil man decides he's ready to go home. It's not transformers, or animated so his attention span has held out as long as it could...we bounce.

Off to Wally-world for groceries...Finally back home at ten. By this point I'm still frazzled because my part of the house, the upstairs has still yet to be cleaned. Ugh. I'm frustrated and just want to scream. I put lil man in the shower, but am way behind schedule as it is...I was supposed to have him bed earlier than he got in it and feed him better than fast food...neither of which I succeeded at...my bad. Jen gets there and helps me set up lil man's bed the rest of the way as I vent and freak out over virtually nothing and everything all at the same time. She's looking at me like, whoa....

Sunday morning I voluntarily got up way before the alarm and went downstairs to wrap all of the packages for the shower. I am in the middle of cleaning upstairs when Jen asks me to cut lil man's hair...she mentioned she was willing to take him into town to get it done, but I told her there was no need since Im technically a pro (technically being the fact that I have my license but just hate doing hair fulltime) and have scissors right in the closet. He gets in the shower afterwards and I make Jen sit down for her haircut...she was getting pretty bushy...so I trimmed her up (her head hair not the other, lol)...

Finally, people start arriving and I'm still cleaning. Not guests mind you, just people that are helping mom set up...Jen helps me finish everything up, I get in the shower and try to get myself ready. My sister shows up--she wanted me to do her make up and hair for this shin dig...so that held me up some more...then my mom's friend asks me to wax her and her daughters eyebrows after the shower.....OKAY MAYBE ONE MORE PERSON CAN ASK ME TO DO SOMETHING THAT I REALLY JUST DONT WANNA DO....My sister's baby daddy comes up the stairs and I hear mention of him needing a haircut....FUCK ME IN THE ASS SIDEWAYS

Jen mentions I need to be able to say no and I understand that... I mean it's great in theory but it's just easier to do and bitch about than deal with the guilt trips that come along.

The shower was successful...my paintings and the note I wrote on the back of one of them to my unborn niece Charlie made her cry....then when read aloud made a lot of people's eyes water.

For today...I'm tired, my head hurts and it's a typical Monday. I brought a lean cuisine to eat at lunch but have been debating like four feet of sub instead I'M EFFING HUNGRY....I need to get back to really giving a shit and making an effort as far as diet and exercise go, but for now stress, school, family, and work are easier excuses and/or cop outs as to not having to exercise...i'm just getting fatter....blah

I've decided I'm not going to walk in the commencement services following me completely the classes. I'm going to borrow my sister's cap and gown and pose for fake pictures instead....FUCK IT. just mail me the diploma/degree and call it a day...I'm done. Fucking burned out.

On the plus side, I'm leaving with Jen and lil man on Wednesday night to go down to Hatteras for a few days...I just have to make it through wednesday I just have to make it through wednesday.....AHAHAAHAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Is it Friday yet...

So I'm tired all the time. I wake up Monday mornings wanting to fast forward to Friday just so the weekend is that much closer. I find myself today, Wednesday--hump day of all things yet again struggling to stay awake at work. My eyeballs are heavy and the fact that I only have 7 contractors working today makes for a slow day. No coachings to do, no pressing must do's or any of that jazz....just me trying to come up with McGeyver like ways of staying awake... no luck yet.

I am supposed to be shown how to use AS400...one of the systems they use here in the warehouse (it's how the products/pallets are tracked from the time they start being picked to the time they are shipped)...I'm supposed to have my own login now, but that has been put on hold because the Assistant GM isn't sure that me having a login is a good idea. Nothing against me, just the thought of an On-Site Supervisor that works for a different company having access to one of their systems freaks them out apparently...but regardless I'm going to learn it so that it will help me coach my contractors in the long run...that's the important thing, not whether or not I have a login to go with it.

I've decided that though it would make my paycheck suck complete and total ass, I'd like to have at least a half a day Friday off. I need to figure out a time that I can take Pepper to the vet and get her nails trimmed...(Pepper doesn't like it when I do it--I've never hurt her by doing it, but she just freaks out...I think she just doesn't think her mom should be doing such things to her...) So I take her to the vet where they cut them shorter because they know what they are doing and she remains calm the whole time and they are done in under thirty seconds....that's worth ten bucks to me. Plus I'm out of her flea stuff and I'll need some within a couple of weeks so might as well add that to the list.

I need to clean grandma's windows. I do them once a year, normally around memorial day (though I'm behind schedule this year obviously)...because since we have fields on every side of the house the dust and dirt from the farmers plowing gets out of hand from time to time...she normally pays me 10 bucks a window which translates into about 300 bucks in one day. Not too shabby. I think that I'm going to offer to do it for her half price this time though because even though I could use some of the money towards bills...my main focus right now is just having money to put toward my sisters baby shower gift. (Jen and I are going in together to get something and even though she always tells me not to worry about it, she can handle it...I don't pay rent where I live, and she does...so I'm hell bent on carrying my weight somewhere because by all technicality I have few bills than her...does that make sense?) I want my sister to open our gift and be like "hell yeah...Jen and Tommy are the best.." which she'd do anyway if all we bought was a booger sucker thing...but again, I digress.

There's a lot of stuff coming up in the next few weeks:

This weekend is my dad's surprise going away/birthday party. That will kick off Sunday.

The Sunday after that I have to go to Richmond for my dad's official send off. Since he's being deployed for AN ENTIRE YEAR on his birthday (Aug. 7) he won't be able to leave base that weekend, but the families are invited to a cookout thing to say bye and all that jazz for him to officially leave that Monday....He'll be in Germany for a couple of weeks and then go to Kosovo from there.

The weekend after that is my sister's baby shower. Since none of her friends are reliable and stepped up me, my aunt melissa, and my mom are all trying to put it together for her...though my portion consists of staying out of the freaking way primarily, lol.

Then finally....the next weekend will consist of some R and R down in Hatteras with Jen and Lil man...(and whoever else in the family that might be down there already)... I have requested that Friday off so that we can go down Thursday night and have a long weekend down there. I'm going to take them on the ferry over to Ocracoke Island and just down and around wherever....it's going to be fun and is already much needed.

Then my sister should have the baby anytime between then and September 25 (her due date is the 15th, though she's aiming for the 9th because she wants her baby to have 09/09/09 as her birthday, lol.

For now, I'll just sneak a nap this afternoon so that I don't fall asleep during my group meeting tonight at 9:30...since I won't have a chance to go to bed at a decent hour tonight...that's the best I can do.

Hmm...

I'm thinking of asking for some time off tomorrow. Everything is catching up with me and while I don't have anything pressing that I need to do that would justify my wanting to take some time off...I want to take a nap. If I choose to miss a couple of hours (even if its my two and half hours of overtime I'm supposed to get a week...I'm okay with that).

I want to curl up in a ball and be a bum, watch movies and be totally unproductive. Maybe even move the tv into the bedroom and watch movies in there...I just like the thought of options right now. I'd like to stretch and sprall out and cuddle with Pepper Puppy and Chino Kitty....ID REALLY LIKE TO GO TO THE BEACH but that's not going to happen I don't think because mom and dad are going down there for there vacation starting this weekend and don't want to be disturbed....I don't blame them. The following weekend is dad's going away thing so that one's out...maybe the weekend after that I can sneak down there....it's definitely that time (I haven't been since my birthday at the end of May) because if I don't go then I'll have to put it off even longer because of my sister's baby shower as well as a ten page, fifteen page, and twenty page paper that will be due here in coming weeks. Lot's going on and me just aching for a change of scenery.

If I get my homework done early enough I'm going to clean the windows on Gmas house, perhaps even clean my car...then again I may do absofreakinglutely nothing and be completely okay with it.

My favorite place

It's no secret that I love the ocean, the beach, the sand, the smell that accompanies the entire experience. I live about 45 minutes from Virginia Beach (but never go because it is like tourist hell) and the beach isn't what I want it to be. Instead I always venture to my trusted favorite: Hatteras Island, NC--it's part of the Outer Banks of NC, but down past the beaches of Nags Head, Corolla, Duck, Kitty Hawk, etc...

A single 2 lane road gets you there...the movie Nights in Rodanthe was filmed in Rodanthe, NC which is a part of Hatteras Island (the movie was based on the book by Nicholas Sparks)....but anyway...

It's one of those places where the highway occassionally gets washed out if the waves are rough and the tide comes in too far...Frequent mandatory evacuations occur during hurricane season...but none of that matters.
What does matter is the feeling I get when I cross that VA/NC line when the anticipation begins to build...and the smell that fills my insides as early as crossing the Wright Brothers Memorial Bridge heading to the Outer Banks....How ancy I get driving through tourist hell in Nags Head and Kitty Hawk, looking forward to the stop light where I will take that left hand turn and be on HWY 12...and almost there.

My parent's beach house (which used to belong to Gma) is in Salvo, down past Rodanthe, but before Avon...and a simple one story 2 bedroom cottage that was built in the 50's or 60's...it's not like these new multimillion dollar deals that people rent out for a week at a time and spend anywhere from a grand to ten grand (yes, for a single week)... whoa.
It's a place to go and relax. For the longest time we didn't even have a TV down there, no phones were allowed, fishing and relaxing...that was the key. Now there is a TV, everyone has their cell phones, and a couple of window units attempt to keep everyone cool in the sweltering, humid heat of July and August.

Most of the time when I visit it's soley to get away. To ride out on the beach (you have to have 4x4 to do that, so I generally catch a ride with mom or dad and just sit. Walk barefoot on the sand and let the waves crash at my ankles (though sometimes if I'm not paying attention I get hit by one at waist level...that'll wake you up.) The seaspray and salt sticking to your skin...the shells scattered are beautiful to me, but sad at the same time. I feel bad if I pick up one and not the other, as if indicated that one has a beauty that the other does not. Who am I to judge all that? But alas, my pockets are not big enough to carry all that I find, besides, I need to save some for those still waiting to experience all that Hatteras has to offer.
When I can, I like to drive farther down the island until I reach the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse (pictured above)...it's the tallest in the country and absolutely amazing. I climbed it once, before they moved it (they had to get it away from where it was because the sand was eroding away and it was going to fall into the ocean...) Oh so many steps, but the view from the top is one I'll never forget. I told my mom that if I die before she does, it is imparative that my ashes be sprinkled and or dumped somewhere in the vacinity of this lighthouse, or at least on my favorite span of beach...I want to be there forever.

She of course said, "Oh, so you want like a burial at sea." I said, "Yeah, something like that." She responded back, "Well shit, why don't I just flush your ashes down the toilet...you're bound to make it to the sea eventually..."

Good grief. Lol. I'm overdue for a visit and I can tell. The beach/ocean is a part of me and I do periodically get like a fish out of water....gasping what seems like my last breath, not knowing if I'll make it before its too late.

I just want to escape and Hatteras will so let me do that. I will be allowed to be alone with my thoughts, but have the option to turn them and everything out with the crashing waves....If I wasn't doing hair this weekend I'd so just get in my car and drive, even if I had to trade sexual favors for gas money to get back (not literally)...

The time will be right soon enough...and then I will be rescued by the sea...even if only temporarily.

Yeah...I'm 28 now

So I havent blogged in a hot hot minute but I'm going to write one real quick like and start to get you guys caught up. For my birthday I went with Jen to Hatteras, NC. We relaxed and took it easy and didn't really stick to a schedule, where the vibe was uptight and must do this this and this type of thing...totally just chilled.

We laid on the beach for a bit on Saturday but not long enough to get any sun. She took me to dinner and I introduced her to fried broccoli which she LOVED. Just enjoyed her company altogether. She took harassment from my family like a champ...(you see the fam discovered that if you make barfing noises or do the dry heaving thing that it makes Jen almost throwup...) now they know her weakness they totally tried out the concept. Anyway...

We woke up Sunday morning early enough to spend a good amount of time on the beach...I started drinking at 8:30 in the morning (vodka and oj) with breakfast. By 1130 I was wasted on the beach. I was singing at the top of my lungs and just didn't care. I fell in the surf trying to push Jen in the water and nearly drown trying to get my big ass up out of the waves just from laughing soooo hard. I called my sister and the minute she said "hello" I rapped...."I'D BE LIKE SO, I LOVE MY BABY MAMA I NEVER LET HER GO." Yeah totally out of character and Jen had never really seen me intoxicated before...

I sobered up so I wouldnt have to pee every three seconds on the drive home. We went to my bosses house for a cookout full of lesbos....had a good time, but didnt stay long (my boss is still calling me a pussy cuz I never stay very long at her place)--but shit, she lives in norfolk, a freaking hour away from my house and I can't exactly drive there and then drink a lot and drive back and well in this instance Jen had to work that monday...so anyway...good times.

On the way home poor Jen, the sober one...my designated driver for the day scraped the rim of my front passenger tire on the curb of Azalea Garden Road and jacked it up. I don't hate her for it, but I was a little bummed to say the least because well I've only made one car payment on her and she's already had her first accident. :( But it is what it is...and I love my girlfriend more than my car but I cant say that too loudly in front of my car cuz that would just be bad...but it is what it is.

I got a quote to replace it when I can (no rush obviously) it's nothing I'm going to lose sleep over...I was going to replace the radio in it one day too...so when I have extra cash I'll just have to decide which is more important to me at the moment.

Overall it was a great birthday. I went with Jen to Michaels yesterday to spend part of my birthday gift from her. I bought some more canvases and a shit ton of paints and that type of stuff so when the mood hits I'm ready to paint again. She bought me some brushes too so I'm set. NICE.

I bummed her out for a bit (last time I'll mention it and then I'll drop it) and realized that I'm like the shittiest girlfriend ever because sheh bought me Rockband for Playstation and I basically totld her to take it back because it would never get used enough to justify the expense. (Ive never done some shit like that over a gift...but I couldnt stand the thought of it just sitting in the box chilling when thats not a cheap game.) Yeah I know I suck as a girlfriend. I don't know how in the hell she puts up with me...I really don't.

Hell just spending time with her on my birthday would have been more than enough. I wish dad hadn't eaten all of her fried mushrooms before she could have tried one thought. LOL.

May 24th

My birthday is coming soon...May 24th. I'll be 28. I kind of feel old about that but not really enough to lose sleep over. I'm going to go down to Hatteras with Jen, take her sight seeing to Ocracoke Island perhaps and get trashed, lol. I want to play drunk guitar hero, drunk yahtzee, be drunk, get a suntan (or burn in my glow in the dark white ass case), and just have a fun filled drama free weekend. I want fried broccoli and to just chill and relax...

I think Jen has to work Sunday night so we'll figure out how and when we are going to do things soon....I just wanna go and I want to be with her and my family...we are going to do a one on one day though so she can see some of my favorite parts of the island. Ferry included.