Busy Weekend

 We have had quite the weekend! Friday we got to meet the newest member of the Andrew family. Totally adorable, and a full head of hair! I had forgotten about the tiny little grunting & sighing babies make. I got to buy the cutest tiny little outfits for her! I even got matching pink shoes (which her mommy appreciated). Remember how I said we need to avoid those little ones in order to stave off baby fever... yea, seeing Jim holding her = AWWWW! After that Jim and I went to work out then came home and did some serious cleaning (Katy is coming next weekend remember). We even moved the stove and fridge to clean out all the dog food Scarlet has swatted under there.... I now know why we have to buy more so frequently (honestly could have filled one of the small dog food bags with what we cleared out).

    Jim worked Saturday. So I kept up the pace. Worked out, went shopping for shorts that are appropriate for work, a little work, and some more cleaning.

   This morning Jim and I got ready and went to breakfast Jack DeBroules in Garden City . We had the unlimited breakfast for $5.99... sooooo good. You get to order your items and then they come back and ask which items you would like more of and they then cook them for you, so it is all freshly cooked! Jim was only able to eat three plates of food. Here he is in his food coma! We have to go back soon to try their lunch/dinner menu... if their bbq is as good as their breakfast I can't wait!

After breakfast we went for a walk on the beach. The beach was crazy busy and full of people. When we got to the water I understood exactly why. It was the perfect temperature! I did NOT want to leave.

But I needed to get home... one of those ugly migraines had started again and I needed a nap before my afternoon events started.  Remember how I said we have some great wildlife outside our house....

We have seen these before but never caught quite this great of a picture. I laid down for a few hours (sleep & an ice pack are about all that give me any relief). Fortunately since my "alarm clock" fell asleep as well I woke up with enough time to go to my next event.... a Baby Shower! (I told you we are surrounded!) This one is for Jim's previous Captain Howell's wife Candace.

There were tons of adorable baby items, and silly baby games of course. But I also learned that my mom is not the only one to air little tid bits in public. Although Candace if it makes you feel better at every large milestone since I graduated high school my aunts have "happened" to mention at the age of 2 I mooned my Aunt Beth and it was caught on film... in a picture that continues to reappear.

After the baby shower I met my wonderful husband, who remembered every single item on my "please bring" list and then some. I met Jim at the beach and we spent some time in the water

The waves were great but a bit strong. I had difficulty keeping myself out at the same place as Jim. He is trying to teach me to use my little body board. I've got the riding over them just not the riding them into shore (anyone have any suggestions?). I got knocked around quite a bit before I retired to my little beach chair and watched Jim. Such a great way to end a busy day! Now for a little tv and cuddle time!

More Wedding Recaps

  Last time I told you all about the proposal. As I mentioned before we were keeping the engagement quiet until I was able to tell my sister, we didn't want her to find out on facebook or someone else. I had however kicked my research into overdrive. We knew that we wanted to get married here in Myrtle Beach as we felt planning a wedding in Ohio from SC would be difficult and let's be honest I am too much of a control freak to let anyone else take care of the details for me.
   We checked out several venues. There were hotels, banquet halls, and even one park. I did a lot of my research online, requested information, and crunched numbers. We had hoped to get married in April or May 2010. Our families were immediately concerned. My mom was afraid having the wedding during the school year would prevent many from attending and Jim's sister has several conferences for work in May and didn't know exact dates for us to plan around. It was very frustrating and stressful to feel like no matter what we did someone (close to us) was going to be upset or disappointed. We knew that we didn't want to wait until the height of tourist season when rates for hotel rooms would sky rocket and the heat would make a wedding dress and tux unbearable. I was getting antsy with our options getting more and more limited and nothing set in stone. Finally we found The Breakers. Their prices were reasonable and venue beautiful, they were even planning to start rennovating their ballroom October 2009 to get rid of the red and gold decorating for more neutral colors. The only hang up... they only had two dates available for Spring 2010 March 27th and April 17th, the latter of which another couple had "penciled in". So we "penciled in" March 27th and crossed our fingers for April 17th as we were hoping the longer we waited the warmer the weather.
   We waited for about a week for a call from Brynda from the hotel. When we finally heard back the April 17th couple had decided to keep that date, so March 27th it was. I could finally order those Save the Date postcards I had been drooling over! I had found a deal at VistPrint, I was able to get 100 for the price of shipping only! Now all we needed to do was put together a guest list so we could mail out those pretty little postcards!
  

Long time no blog.

   Hi guys! Sorry for the lack of posts recently. Jim has been working a lot lately it seems, he had a swap and an over time shift (woo hoo, those are pretty rare these days). I have been having some migraines/headaches for the past week and a half. We have a lot of exciting things coming up though. June 11th is the first Combat Challenge Competition for this year! It will be here at Broadway at the Beach, this is the state competition so some big rivalries. I can't wait to cheer on Team Horry! Shortly after that my sister Katy will be arriving for her visit & we are also planning another camping trip! I guess what I am trying to say is I promise I have exciting stuff coming up again soon.
   

I LOVE MY HUSBAND!

Every once in awhile something happens that reminds me how lucky I am. So I thought it would be nice to review a whole mushy list of reasons I think Jim is great!
1.) He indulges/tolerates my guilty pleasures even though he doesn't like them (make that HATE for Gossip Girl).
2.) He will (with only minor begging) bring me food at work when I have forgotten my lunch and don't have time to leave the office.
3.) When I stay at the office late & he is home he gets bored and cleans. He even folds the laundry, which I appreciate even if it isn't the way I would fold it. (Crazy that there are methods you never even saw out there isn't it!)
4.) He cooks, and not just easy foods but great meals. He even takes requests... and I can be difficult when choosing food and change my mind often.
5.) He does not complain (much) when I wake him up early because I can't sleep anymore. (I have learned if I bring coffee he responds more quickly).
6.) He is the ultimate body pillow. When I can't get comfy I just make him turn, move his arm, scoot over so I can have more room. He doesn't even complain when I am a wiggle worm or have to watch P.S. I love you  two weeks in a row to be able to fall asleep and never once get past the first scene.
7.) He listens to me make my insanely in depth plans about our future. (Seriously I have these things written down in very great detail and discuss time lines frequently).
8.) He gives me huge hugs and tells me how wonderful I am when I have bad days. He even picks my favorite food/movie without me having to ask to cheer me up.
9.) We are great on road trips/adventures together. The first time we went somewhere traveling together I was so surprised how easy it was to agree on our activities. It hasn't faded yet!
10.)He tolerates my obsession with Pottery Barn and how I cut out pictures from their magazine and keep them in a notebook for design inspiration for our future home (see #7).

There are so many more reasons. I am so completely spoiled and I know it. I love you dear.

Top 5 Ways to Avoid/Cure Baby Fever

5.DO NOT choose a major that requires you to study child development/parenting philosophies... in other words anything that makes you consider parenting choices and become opinionated on how to raise children before it is time to actually start having said children.
4. STOP communicating with your friends/family members who have recently had or will be having babies. They will inevitably have baby showers which will force you to look at totally adorable baby items. THEN they will post adorable pictures of the cute little one doing absolutely nothing and being so stinking cute at it.
3. QUIT working with ridiculously cute kids that will constantly remind you how amazing kids are. You will feel a surge of pride with each new accomplishment, the first time they say your name (Insee is what I am commonly called), and then when they develop their own little personality!! You will just want to video tape it and brag about how great they are.
2. SUE the baby industry for making their items too cute. Tell me that mini versions of grown up things don't make you wish you could know the gender of your future children before you are even pregnant. (My practical side won't let me buy anything that isn't gender neutral). And if you have already gotten rid of those friends with/expecting babies you can avoid this department all together.
1. DON'T marry a man who is as ready to have children as you are. It would be helpful if I had a "voice of reason" instead of a "a baby would be great".

That being said I have allowed myself one purchase. They were on sale, completely appropriate, and I figure they can be worn by either a boy or a girl.

*Disclaimer all advice given with thick sarcasm as I have failed on all counts*

The Adventures of Camping with Dirt Day #3

  I woke up early Sunday morning and found that the racoon had not simply gotten into our trash bag... he had spread it across our campsite. Luckily Jim had some medical gloves in the truck so "There ain't no germs on me". Our neighbors from NC had the same problem, Paul (the dad/husband) said his trash had been scattered as well and the racoon had even gotten into his cooler and eaten their hot dogs! And Jim thought I was being paranoid by making him put the cooler in the tent for the night. Here is a picture of the greasey foot prints our little scavenger left on Jim's truck bed.

While Jim slept I cleaned up all that I could, I left the tent open so Tucker could see me and come out if he wanted food or needed to potty. He simply laid there next to Jim with his head on his paws and dozed in and out of sleep. I got just about everything but the food and tent packed up before Jim woke (again with that ability to sleep).  Doesn't our site look sad all cleared out?

Tucker not quite awake and making sure the truck wouldn't be going anywhere without him.

By 7 am we were completely packed up and on our way to check out. (Note the three vehicles at the campsite ahead to the right. Crazy college students)

It didn't take Tucker long to fall asleep. Not even out of the park.

We were ready before it was even time to check out so we drove around and wrote down the numbers of sites that we would prefer to stay at the next time. We then went to the camp store in order to check out (this was on the opposite side of the campground from where we stayed).

Next time we are staying on this side. They have electricity and a bit more vegitation to act as dirt control... they also have more light colored sand compared to our black dirt.

On our way home... to sleep. (You noticing the pattern?) It was such a relaxing weekend!

The Adventures of Camping with Dirt Day #2

   When we left off we had been woke up rudely by a not so welcome visitor. It was a little difficult to get back to sleep after that. I was constantly hearing things and peeking out our window before disturbing sleeping beauty. Jim's ability to sleep anywhere and through anything never ceases to amaze me. We woke up early Saturday to take a walk to the beach and watch the sunrise (plus a MBSP dogs aren't allowed on the beach between 8 am & 5 pm).

  This was at about 6am. We were the only people out and had the beach to ourselves.

After sitting and watching the beautiful sunrise we took a little walk. We looked for shells, Tucker chased birds (this is a new thing for him). We stopped at the pier store to get Jim coffee and headed back to the campsite. There Jim and I made a breakfast of turkey bacon and scrambled eggs. After breakfast we took another walk in an attempt to see the elusive alligator. We did see several birds and a few wild children on the paths.

The park puts out some dummy proof signs that spell things out specifically.

After our walk I took a nap to make up for the horrible sleep the night before. While I was sleeping Jim chopped wood and made me a little something. He woke me up to show me....

Isn't that so sweet? I then convinced Jim that he should take a nap with me (he can't wake me if he's sleeping too!) We woke up and cleaned the site up a bit and hung out, talked, and relaxed. Once the heat of the day had passed we decided it was time to check out the showers. For a campground that seems so primitive (we only had a hook up for running water and no electricity) they were really nice. And as a bonus I was the only person in the bathroom at the time and got to take my time. I only noted one spider in a far tippy top corner.

We spent the rest of the day just hanging out and relaxing. By the time it started to get dark Tucker started to let us know how tired he was. It started like this

There was A LOT of dirt and not many nice places to lay so Tucker prefered being in a chair or in someone's lap. We had only taken two chairs so this is while Jim was playing with the campfire

Jim enjoying his big fire.

This was Tucker's final pitiful act to show how tired he was. Several times he walked over to the tent sniffed it, looked at us, and walked back. Of course, once we were asleep again, our night time visitor came back again and woke me up.  One guess who slept through it....again.  This time he was bit more sneeky and tried to hide behind the tarp while attacking our trash bag in the back of Jim's truck.