http://crayonsinmycoffee.net/

Please update your readers, bookmarks, short-term memory databases, etc. and join me there!

When we arrived, Andrew and I made a few trips back and forth to the car, and in that very few minutes, Baby Girl located her swimsuit, changed, and started the demanding to swim rightthisveryminuteplease.

We didn’t do much. That nothing was the best part. We grilled out, swam what seemed like at least 3-4 times a day, and just generally sat around and enjoyed having zero access to the internet. This was a good thing for both of us, I assure you. We visited Andrew’s two “must-go” restaurants (Pompano Joe’s and McGuire’s), and we ate all the rest of our meals at the house in peace and (relative) quiet. I love a good restaurant meal, believe me, but this plan was just right this time around. Baby Girl’s allergy-induced cough got even worse in FL, but we managed anyway.

I really, really need to live closer to an ocean. Need.

And last but not least, I also got to finally meet Gileah and her three lovely kiddos. Chris and Andrew are old friends, but Gileah has been having a baby pretty much every time I’ve tried to see her on my FL visits! Her girls went wild with my girl, and now SHE wants to live closer to the ocean, too. Good girl!

Really, the true appeal of spraypainting is that I can suddenly decide to do something, get set up in about 5 minutes, and be DONE within about two hours. That is my kind of project.

Here are a few recent thrift store makeovers (all the photos are dark because they’re from my terrible phone-camera, apologies):

Okay, this one was pretty bad, I’ll admit. I bought it (for 4 American dollars) because it had that really nice new knob on it, and I happen to know that particular drawer pull alone costs $5.99 at Hobby Lobby right now. If I didn’t like the nightstand once I got home, I could take that and chuck the rest, right? This bad boy weighs at LEAST 50 pounds.

I didn’t really know what I was getting into. Someone had clearly started to paint this and abandoned the idea, and I eventually came to the conclusion that it was seriously painted with nail polish or something equally NOT intended to paint wood. I had to break out a power sander to get it off, whatever it was! Anyway, it was for Baby Girl, so she got to choose the paint color. Oh, how I had to force myself not to stop her from picking this color. It’s certainly not my style, but she adores it. I think it turned out pretty cute in the end.

And one other nightstand that ended up finding a home with Andrew’s sister:

It looks like this now:

And last but not least…a changing table. This one’s not for me either, obviously.

It was a nice cherry finish before and was in great shape, but Erin’s new nursery is white and the Yankee was nice enough to toss it into her van so we could haul it over here. White paint is now my least favorite thing to match! I ended up with Rustoleum Heirloom White, favorite and adored spraypaint of the blogsphere, but I don’t find it perfect it in exactly the way they seem to. I do love it on this, though.

More to come!

File this one under “Recipes that don’t photograph well, but YOU WILL NOT CARE.”

Andrew said this would have been the meal that caused him to propose, if we were not in fact already married. He felt the need to clarify that last part for me, by the way.

This also assumes I knew how to cook when we were dating, which is not even close to being at all true.

I didn’t change anything about these two recipes, so I’ll just link you to it here. I didn’t actually grill the shrimp, which would only make it even more awesome.

]]> http://vdh2a.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/bbq-shrimp-and-white-cheddar-grits/feed/ 0 vdh2a DSCF0129 http://vdh2a.wordpress.com/2011/11/05/pretend-makeup/ http://vdh2a.wordpress.com/2011/11/05/pretend-makeup/#comments Sat, 05 Nov 2011 17:22:40 +0000 Vanessa http://vdh2a.wordpress.com/?p=3264 ]]> Baby Girl has been into my makeup constantly lately, so I was looking for some alternatives for her. I found this and gave it a shot. I really thought she was probably way past the stage of fake makeup, but she has LOVED this for months. Yay! This would be a great gift for little girls. Just plan ahead, because it takes a few days (maybe as much as a week) for the nail polish smell to disappear, even after it is totally dry. You want to have time for that to happen before you turn it over to little hands.

I’m so cool that I even let Baby Girl do most of the pouring, despite the fact that she mixed some horrific colors together and got glitter all over pretty much everything. Kid Fun–1, Perfectionist Monster Mom Tendencies–zip. Yay again!

I’m so sure you and my grandmother are finding all of this riveting–but this is the only journal I have! Therefore, everything goes here so that one day I can sit back with my chai tea and my senility and fondly remember all these events. Conveniently, my blog only documents the fun things. I rather like that about my blog, don’t you?

On the first weekend of September, we celebrated Izzy’s 6th birthday. I distinctly remember that it was 103° on this Saturday, and that by Monday I was wearing suede boots and a sweater. Welcome to Tennessee!

It was a really nice party, and I know Amanda was missing her mom every minute of it. However, I’m sure Penny would be proud that I defended my annual cornhole championship title. I did so despite the fact that Gary (see the crazy looking dude below) typically just tackles you if you start to pull ahead of him.

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And then yet another month went by, and WordPress ate whatever the rest of this post was going to be. So…I need to get caught up so I can actually enjoy this blog again and not think of it as a poorly-paying JOB. I’d also like to, you know, WRITE SOME CONTENT sometimes.

So, here’s a superfast rundown of what else happened, according to the times I remembered to bring my camera…

Baby Girl went to school dressed like this for the Nursery Rhyme Parade. She was the cat from Hey Diddle, Diddle–and thank goodness there actually IS a nursery rhyme with a cat in it, because she was going to be a cat no matter how persuasive I was. Costume credit to Erin. She wears this outfit and makeup now at least once a week.

At home.

Not to school.

Because her attire is weird enough already.

We also got to see Gabe Dixon at the newly revamped 3rd & Lindsley with old friends Thomas and Liz. He was so good (seriously, I can’t understand why no one is paying me to write music reviews). Liz and I went to meet Gabe after, and he was just the right endearing amount of uncomfortable to be meeting fans waiting in line to see him. I made the mistake of handing my camera to a stranger who was about 4’11, so we sort of look like giants here.

I have a feeling Liz might have immediately cropped me right out of this photo so she could pretend this was a special moment just between the two of them.

SO–I just realized I’m wearing this green dress in both of these sets of pictures, and I’m going to be wearing it in the NEXT photo I wanted to post, too. Apparently, this is the only thing I wore all month. I should be writing a fashion blog  as well, clearly.

Anyway, I’m not proud. I like that dress and it was $15 at Target and I’m reasonably sure I washed it between all these various photo opportunities.

How cute is that pregnant belly? Erin’s FL friend Allison came up for a visit, and we ate a lot of Puffy Muffin food and drank lemonade from Mason jars, and then I learned that crazy straws ARE NOT dishwasher safe. Allison also sent me an original NES Duck Tales game, which I’ve been searching for for years, so I’m pretty sure that is going to have to have its own blog post later.

The End.

Yet another stunning backseat conversation:

Baby Girl: You know, I think I feel like I’m in love with Drew.

(Drew is her best buddy in Kindergarten since Day 1)

Me: (Silence)

Baby Girl: BUT…that means we have to kiss at the wedding and that’s DISGUSTING and gross and I don’t even want to. I’d be SO EMBARRASSED OF kissing!

Me: (Chuckling, in silence)

Baby Girl: I think I am NOT going to have a wedding and have to kiss anyone at all.

(Long pause)

Baby Girl: I just want the dress.

I know everyone says this, but seriously–how did THAT happen?

She is loving it, of course. She was just four when she started, and it’s been an adjustment for her to learn to be just one of eighteen kiddos. She is learning SO much, and one day soon I bet she’ll even be able to open the school door all by herself. Poor kid! We had some tears the first few days, and she’s FOR SURE adjusting to the loss of a nap, but we are pretty proud. We also get a detailed daily report on the Kid Who Always Loses All His Behavior Bucks.

Haha. Pot, meet Kettle.

No, we’d actually had no “red” smiley face days. THAT’S A BIG DEAL. Baby Girl is the queen of needing a personal invitation to do what everyone else is doing.

In related Kindergarten news, clockwise from left: what she WANTED to wear on the first day of school (are strapless dresses in or out for kids? I can never remember); we survived the first massive, cranky, melting down “project” of K; we managed to wear matching clothes to school about 20% of the first month; and she’s been upgraded to bunk beds, which were bounce-tested mid-assembly.

BIG STUFF, right?

I keep doing other things, like randomly making hummus at 9pm because Baby Girl said she would eat her lunch if I made her some. The kid is so skinny her ribs stick out painfully, so the full lunch box coming home every day is weighing on me a little. She eats hummus with a spoon, so if that doesn’t work, I don’t know what will.

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We wrapped up the last few weeks of summer vacation with some more visiting and a whole lot of ignoring the fact that Kindergarten was about to start (and that I had started a new job–surprise!).

Griffin came up from Orlando–always a favorite friend! Baby Girl likes to climb him, and he lets her. It’s the perfect symbiotic relationship.

Yes, that is as creative as we could get with the posing. It was late. There’s also a picture of Griffin grinning awkwardly next to a pile of naked Barbies, but I’ll spare you.

That same week, we got to celebrate with Andrew’s oldest friend Allen and his wife Amanda, who were so smart that they ran off to Charleston to get married and THEN threw a party back home. I think getting married barefoot on the beach MUST be less stress, though I’m sure Amanda would beg to differ! I managed to remember to snap a few photos on the way, along with Andy and Jennifer (cutest pregnant girl on the planet):

Please note: still SO hot the camera lens was foggy. This summer will be known as “too hot for a blowdryer/flatiron to be even NEAR my face, so that’s just what my hair is going to look like for now.”

We also got to do some very long-overdue hanging with Amy and Tyra. I’m pretty sure I babysat for Amy’s two children when she and Tyra went on their first date, and we kept the kids when they later went on their European honeymoon. To give you an idea of how long that’s been, the little guy who is now a very cool teenager (and somehow avoided my camera) was small enough that his EYE hit a doorknob on the first night (yes, I think that’s about how it happened) and got a massive shiner. I was SO proud. I wish I had a video of me and Andrew pretending at being parents at that stage in our lives. I’m sure it was comedy gold. We got them to SCHOOL AND EVERYTHING, people! Hilarious.

This night, Tyra begged to do the dinner dishes. I’m still in shock. One thousand imaginary points to Amy for picking him!

And next, Baby Girl’s first day of school!