pictures from Virginia Beach

THE tent. UGH.(shaking fist and muttering bad things under my breath)

It was a giant two room tent that was about 50 years old. It was a great tent...until it rained.

DO they even MAKE tents like this anymore?

Look at that awesome climbing tree though. Finn had a field day on that baby!

The actual beach around 34th street. This is right around where I got pulled over for a ticket. Thanks officer.

(it went from 50 mph to 25. Apparently I didnt slam on my brakes to 25 as soon as I passed the sign. I was in the process of decelerating when she pulled me over. $182 later...)

My nephew, Cade, buried up to his neck in sand. He is the cutest thing. He is 2 and he is so tiny. He reminds me of one of those Baby Gap mannequins you see in the windows. I just want to snatch him up and eat him!! He has a new baby brother who is just adorable.

Here is Finn "surfing". He is a little fish. He LOVES the water. No fear of the waves, no fear of going under. He is really a water bug.

Peter is not quite the water afficianado as his brother Finn. He will go in and enjoy as long as there is someone to help him. He isnt as strong as Finn and his weak left side gives him a hard time in the undertoe and and waves. But he did a good job trying his best this year. He is getting braver!

If you can't tell, Finn was NOT happy with me. He got too far away and wasnt listening. So I told him he was out of the water for 15 minutes. So he was mad at having to play in the "stupid boring sand" He practiced that face in the mirror before leaving home, so he has it down pat.

I cant tell you how many of THESE pictures we have. "The Squints" I didnt follow the photography rule and take pictures in the golden hours.(we werent at the beach right after sunrise or right before sunset)

My pendants on your wrist...courtesy of an etsy seller

Before I left on vacation I had made a trade with Bamabelle over at etsy.

I made her 13 pendants from images she had sent to me. She has listed 2 of her AWESOME cuffs using these pendants so far. I think they look GREAT and I was really pleased with the way the pendants turned out. I really loved some of the images she sent me.

Bamabelle is awesome. Here is a snippet from her shop announcement:"At Bamabelle, we are dedicated to providing quality vintage clothing, accessories ,dishes, and jewelry. "

This first one is her Lizzie Borden Cuff. Here is the listing description: A wild and crazy Lizzie Borden adorns this cuff made from the deep red velvet of a damaged vintage evening gown. I topped it with more scavenged vintage fabric, this time drak charcoal gray netting with glass beads. White lace was sewn to all edges.the cuff closes with 2 elastic loops and vintage glass buttons.

The second one she has up so far is her Emotional Miranda Cuff "Miranda, from The Tempest, stands on the rocky shore with her blue dress blowing in the gale, lovely red hair streaming. Miranda sits on a wide base of blue velvet, recycled from a damaged evening gown.The ruffling is vlue lace, hand sewn.I used the pale lavender acetate lining of the dress as a contrast band, then sewed vintage beige lace to that. Miranda is attached to the top, and adorned with a vintage recycled rhinestone earring that is missing one teeny stone. 2 strips of the acetate lining form a tattered bow under the jewel.the cuff closes with an elastic loop and a vintage blue glass button."

She also has a plain cuff for you to put your own brooch or custom pendant. Imagine your own customized pendant on this cuff.

Check out bamabelle and tell her Blueboygifts sent you!!

And out rolled the dead spiders

I am not much of a camper. In fact, my idea of "roughing it" is having to sleep at a HoJo instead of the Hampton Inn. The Great Outdoors really holds no magical allure for me.
About once a decade I try to go camping, thinking maybe I just didnt have the right circumstances. Every time I am bitterly disappointed and cursing the day I was born(as well as those around me for dragging me to this godforsaken wilderness) When It comes to camping I am a Laman and Lemuel kind of Gal(book of mormon reference). I murmur, I complain, I lose faith, I murmur some more. Then i see the light and it lasts only a little while and I go back to murmuring and complaining again. I didnt camp much as a kid. If we did go camping, we usually had a cabin of some sort. It was never the tent and sleeping bag king of experience.

In 1990, I went to Girls Camp. My age group went a few days ahead of time to do some backpacking and camping. I actually had a great time. THEN we joined all the other girls at this pit of hell campsite. EVERY SINGLE AGE GROUP (except ours) got nice, cooshy cabins and dorms with toilets, bunk beds, air conditioning etc. MY age group got to sleep in Spider infested Platform tents. I dont mean one or two spiders, I mean the inside and out were COVERED in Big ole Daddy Long Legs. We would brush them off,(jumping and doing the blech blech spider dance) clean out the tent and 2 hours later could hardly see the canvas through all the legs and bodies of these bugs. It was horrible. I had visions of being suffocated by these Daddy Long Legs. WELL, most of the girls decided that these platform tents were not for us. So we had the option of sleeping in leaky, pup tents. Which was fine...for a day. Then the rain started. It poured. It blew. It galed. it rained sideways. It was miserable. To make it worse, these tents leaked. Everything got soaked. Clothing, bedding, shoes, accessories etc. EVERYTHING was wet. Then it started to smell like laundry that had been left in the washing machine for too long. It was a rank, wet, mildewy, moldy kind of smell. My toothbrush started growing mold that I am quite positive could have cured strep throat. My contact lenses got all clouded up and I couldnt wear them anymore. I had it. It was the last straw. I came home 2 days early, only to hear "wimp". Whatever. I was sleeping in a warm dry bed, wearing clothes that smelled fresh and not having to worry about spiders carrying me off in my sleep. As I was trying to explain to my mother about these horrible conditions (she thought I was being over dramatic) I started unpacking my gear and backpack. The mildewy smell hit her nose and as I pulled out my belongings dead spiders were falling out everywhere. I was semi-vindicated.

I have been camping 2 times since that fateful girls camp experience.
1999(middle of the desert in Wyoming with winds that would knock you over and mosquitos so thick your arms would hit them as they swung while you walked) and last week (virginia beach...lets just say it rained...HARD. Leaky tent, mildewy clothing. It is all coming back to me why I hate camping)

As my dad says "I am a Koch. We Koch's are NOT campers...we are Hotelers".

Laundry Laundry everywhere, but not a shirt to wear

I got back from Virginia Beach on Saturday night.

I am sitting surrounded by a mountain of dirty, sandy, damp ,salty laundry. (UGH the bane of my existence)

WHo knew that camping and going to the beach would bring me such a headache afterwards??

I have lots of pictures and lots to blog about...just not today. I REALLY need to get to that laundry before mold starts growing and the clothing picks up and walks away.

It IS good to be home, back in my own bed, eating my own food, in my house with air conditioning, TV and internet access. It is good to be back home with white and nerdy. I can only take so much family time before I start to go crazy. And it isnt just my husbands family. It is the same with my family as well. After about 2 days I am ready to just pack it in and go home. But I survived intact, sanity only slightly less then when I left.
I am, however, COVERED in bug bites that itch like crazy. I have 15 hours of programming to get through on DVR. I have grocery shopping to do. I have Peters baptism to plan. (August 2nd!!) I told the boys we would make a paper countdown chain to Disney World, too. (We got the official confirmation from Make a wish on our dates. )

Gadzooks Batman I have a ton to do today. So if I want to go to bed tonight I better hop to.

what I REALLY need are some Suzie Q's to get the sugar roaring. I havent had a Suzie Q in AGES.

happy monday

P.S. It is true what people say :I need a vacation from my vacation.

Jelly Belly observation...kind of stupid i apologize.

So at home economist the other day I bougth my kids some jelly bellies. They had behaved while I did boring stuff and didnt run up and down the aisles, crash into stuff, poke produce, stick their hands in the bulk bins or beg for nasty vegan energy biscuits. (they LOOK so appetizing. Then you try one and it is like eating sawdust flavored with figs).

So Finn got Cinnamon (who invited that kid?? Cinnamon?? Try a flavor I enjoy Finn!!)

Peter got the mixed. Every flavor of Jelly Belly ever made in one giant mixture.

So here I sit, nibbling his jelly bellies...I come across very cherry(my personal fave), mango, pink cotton candy, pink lemonade, sour blue raspberry,banana(meh), pineapple, pina colada, toasted coconut, marshmellow...yum yum and more yum.

THEN i bit into what I THOUGHT was another mango. No, it was not mango, it was Buttered popcorn.

Blech, i have lost the taste for jelly bellies. How does ONE crappy flavor manage to ruin the whole bag??

buttered popcorn, you are the devil. How you manage to be one of the most popular I will never know.

What is YOUR favorite and least favorite Jelly belly??

Happy Birthday To Me

So my birthday was yesterday.
I went to bed on Saturday looking and feeling like this:

I woke up one day later, another year older, feeling like THIS:

Birthdays suck.

However I did get to go see a movie. I wanted to see Mama Mia and almost made Charles take me .(But he hates ABBA and he called me "a cruel Mistress" for inflicting it upon him.) So I chose something we could both be happy with. We went to see Dark Knight on Friday. It was GREAT. Heath Ledgers Joker was sadistic, yet AMAZING. It is such a shame he passed away, his Joker will be legendary. I don't know how they will replace him in the upcoming movies. The movie is very dark and NOT for kids under 13. (that was the #1 question I was asked this weekend) So, I got My Christian Bale with no shirt on and he got a comic book movie. It's a win-win.

Yesterday after church we went to my mom and dad's house for my birthday lunch. Every year my mom makes me italian sausage and green peppers, pasta sauce and rice. She asks every year "What do you want for your Birthday dinner?" and I just look at her and say "You have to ask??"

So it was a good day.

Today My day is filled with laundry and packing. I am taking the boys to Virginia to go camping and to go to the beach. Charles family reunion is this week and I am leaving tomorrow morning. I HATE the day before a trip. I always get stressed and ugly and mean and my fuse is shorter than ever. So my kids are hiding in their rooms, it is as if they sense danger (Danger Will Robinson, Danger!)

And for those of you in Charlotte, come by Kia of Monroe this week to see my husband and buy a car from him!! (He cant go to his own family reunion, sad isn't it??) Ask for the white guy with the peeling nose. They'll point you his direction.

But he has promised he would sell 2 cars this week, so I am FULLY expecting a big paycheck when I get home Red and Nerdy!! Mama needs Lasik eye surgery!!

I will be back to Blogging again on Monday the 28th.

Happy week!!

Sorry if I am boring you

charles told me yesterday evening "No offense Hon, but your blog today was kind of boring".
Apparently Southern Lit was not his cup O tea and wanted to read more about himself.

whatevuh.

NEW SEASON OF PROJECT RUNWAY!!!!
Ok my feelings thusfar:

1. Suede (blue mohawk) needs to stop refering to himself by his own name when he talks. he sounds like "The Rock" if The Rock were a jean jacket queen with a blue mohawk.
2. Blayne needs to step OUT of the tanning salon and go get a haircut and quit making giant leotard diapers. i really was NOT sure what the heck that was he made in challenge one.
3. The guy that went home was so full of himself. His outfit looked like Patrick Bateman in American Psycho before Killing his co worker to Huey Lewis and the News.
4. The rock star woman who made the garbage bag dress, I am still not sure how I feel about her yet. She kind of looks a little old to be wearing her own clothing. I feel as if i will one day see her on Rock of Love 12, the Geriatric years. But hey more power to her. She seems to have a good personality, so I can't fault someone on appearance.

I am really looking forward to this season of Runway.
Make it work!