Updates

Here are the updates on the house:

We are currently in underwriting. Things have been very frustrating and stressful and difficult and there have been a few times this week where we've been ready to throw the towel in. But we've always woken up the following morning ready to keep fighting. If nothing else, this whole experience has reiterated how wonderful a husband and father Dirk will be. I know now that if something goes wrong I can always count on him to fight and fight and keep on fighting until there's nothing left to fight for. He is one of the strongest willed people I know and I love him for that!

Wedding:

We have cakes! Well, we don't have them right now, obviously, but the cakes have been picked out and taste-tested. So yes, if nothing else, we will have cakes.

We also have bridesmaids dresses! Yes! And Brooke and Kate have already gotten theirs. Is it a little backward that the bridesmaids have dresses before I do? If so, whatever. D-Day (Dress Day, for those who have forgotten) is fast approaching. And I will have not one, but TWO parents flying down that weekend to celebrate with.

Oh, and we have a bachelorette weekend planned! The bridesmaids and Mama and Aunt Jane and hopefully some of my cousins will be staying at my friends' gorgeous home on the bluff in Sewanee, which is also where I went to college. I am oh so excited to have all of these amazing women in one place (sans testosterone) in such a beautiful environment for an entire weekend. And what a treat that Mama and Kate will be able to travel from Iowa to join in. An entire weekend of drinking wine, taking photos around campus in my wedding dress, and eating wickedly delicious food. Yessssss!

So that's what's going on. Forgive the lack of photographs, I have been mentally and physically exhausted the past two weeks and have been neglecting my Nikon. Dirk and I have some fun adventuring coming up next weekend so there will be plenty of pictures to come. I think we're FINALLY going to make our way to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta to look at fishes. We've only been planning on it for three years now. Ha!

This weekend it's going to be freezing cold and I think we'll be deep cleaning and organizing and purging the crap that collects in our home. And possibly going to see a movie and possibly eating somewhere new and fun and exciting.

I have all sorts of resolutions for this year that I can't wait to keep!

xoxo
Gossip Girl
(tee hee)

No Boys Allowed

When I first moved to Birmingham I began working in the nursery at a Mother's Day Out program, and I fell in love with a sweet family with three children and one in utero. They welcomed me into their home with open arms, and I became the go-to gal to a family I have come to greatly respect and appreciate.

Parker was born in 2006, and I was there when he came home from the hospital. I was so very excited to watch this little kid grow!
I spent every Monday from 9-3 of Parker's first year with him. The trust his parents put in me means so much more now that I am older and have friends with young children. This photo was taken when the little Butter Bean was 6 weeks old.
I was also a live-in babysitter when his parents would take the older children skiing over Spring Break. We spent nine whole days together. This is when I learned that there is not a minute to spare in a stay-at-home mom's day. I found myself waking up half an hour before him so I could put in a load of laundry. Oh, and I drank about four double shot espresso latte's per day.
I literally went through withdrawals when I left him (and not just from the caffeine.) I found myself calling his mom to check in on him, "Has Parker had his medicine this afternoon?" "How long of a nap did he take today?" Ha!
I never thought I would be able to handle boys after growing up with both the Doxtad four and babysitting for the three Johnson boys. Boys are rough. Boys are wild. Boys are fearless. This photo of Parker pretty much sums it up. He's just jumped off the chair and the look on his face? "Whoa! Did you see that?! I'm gonna do it again!"
I have to admit. Spending time with this little guy over the years changed my no-boys-allowed attitude. He's a snuggle bunny. A sensitive soul. He loves to cuddle and read books.
Oh, and he does dishes!
Parker has grown and grown and grown, but I can still see the little guy I spent all that time with years ago. He told me once that his job is going to be to pet all the world's puppies. He and Piper have become great pals.
And now he's a kindergartner. And really good at making silly faces.
And his laughter is infectious.
And he climbs trees so high he sometimes asks for a ladder to help him get back down.
And a couple of weeks ago Parker and I ate one too many Christmas cookies and he decided to show off his karate moves at about nine thirty at night. And it suddenly became so clear to me why I had had a no-boys-allowed rule in the first place. Those first four years of sweetness and adorable giggles will trick ya!

It's Christmas Time

I had a completely different Christmas experience this year. No parents. No brother. No sister. BUT. One killer fiance.

Christmas Eve Eve was spent at Great Aunt Jane Hodge's, where we took shots of her home-made eggnog and watched her walk around in the Snuggie my Granddaddy searched for for weeks. Yes. He went to numerous stores and found all the available Snuggies sub-par. So he googled "Warm Things" on the Internet and lo and behold! he found an entire website devoted to being warm. Literally. Warm Things.com Here's Matt and his fraternity pinkie sipping his eggnog toddie.

I worked on Christmas Eve. Yeah, that's right. I woke up at six a.m. NOT to open presents, but to go and listen to people chew me out because of their tooth aches. Fun stuff. But there was a pretty amazing sunrise.
Sipsey really enjoyed Christmas Eve at the Souths. Seriously. I knew she was in the Christmas spirit because I have tried no less than 86,000 times to try to get her to wear this Santa hat, and she kept it on for at least ten photos that night.
The best present EVER from Dirk. A remote control for my camera. We all know how many calories I burn by running back and forth depending on how many seconds I've set the self-timer to, and we all know how fond Dirk is of remote controls. This is actually one I will use all the time (unlike the universal remote for his entertainment system that I received for my 24th birthday.)
The South Family Christmas Tree. All gorgeous and LSD'ed out.
We headed home to Birmingham on Christmas morning to open gifts from the Youngs, the Amyses, and the dogs. Yes, I got some great gifts from the dogs. I got "Inkdeath" the last in Cornelia Funke's Inkheart trilogy, and "A Lion Amongst Men", the latest in Gregory Maguire's Wicked books. Sweet. Dirk got a fun new wii game, one that I can actually play, although apparently I shouldn't take the time to get every single coin on a level.
Minnetonka Moccasins! So warm and comfy and on my feet right now! Oh, and I also got the chubby cheeks from Santa. Thanks to all the dentist's offices that have been delivering goodies to the office for the last month. One of the benefits (and curses!) of working the front desk is that we get to hide all the yummies that we don't want to share.

Brunch and five mimosas was had at the Graffeo's. Aunt Jane really outdid herself, with placecards with cute little Christmas ornaments. But my favorite part of the gathering was when Matt read a letter Jane came across that Granddaddy wrote home to his parents in 1944 on Christmas Day while he was stationed in the South Pacific during WW2. Tears. I kind of choke up even typing about it.

It seems as if everyone in the blogosphere had a wonderful holiday, and I am so jealous of all the snow :( It just wasn't the same without my folks, but I was fortunate enough to get to ichat with them for a little while Christmas afternoon. Oh, and Dirk and I went to see Avatar in 3D and it was so amazing. Absolutely positively a must-see for everyone out there!

On a final note, here is Aunt Jane modeling her Snuggie.

Weddinged

A few of you have been hounding me (Maureen) for an update on wedding planning. So here it is. I am getting married. That's the plan. The date is set. The site is booked. The bridesmaids dresses have been chosen. The save-the-dates have been designed (shout out to my buddy Liz/graphic-designer-extraordinaire.) Things such as flowers, cake, music, etc., are slowly coming together. It's a little overwhelming, actually. I mean, with all of the amazing weddings in the magazines, which ideas do I adapt? What type of wedding do we want to have? I am a fan of so many different styles and colors that it's going to be hard to choose just one. Can our shin-dig be quirky, outdoorsy, intimate, elegant, and casual all at the same time?

Real Simple weddings has BY FAR been the hugest help in planning and plans! That and bridesmaid Kate, matron of honor Brooke, and coworker/born bride Linnzie.

I have officially been trying on wedding dresses since August. And in three different states. So, let's take a poll, which type of bride do you think fits me best?

1. Couture bride. This dress has been my favorite by far. I mean, can't you just see the amazing bridal portraits Chap will take on my favorite hiking trail? The only thing is, it's about three times my budget. Yikes.

2. Contemporary Bride. Cute, but I'm really looking for something more timeless, that can be passed down through generations. I really wish my mother had kept hold of her dress and I wouldn't be having this huge wedding dress dilemna.

3. Traditional Bride. Don't I just look like Barbie getting ready to marry Ken all dressed up in his naval uniform? Maybe a little too plain for my tastes? This is the type of dress Mama would LOVE for me to wear on my wedding day. And it's super pretty, I'm just not sure if it's original or OOAK (one of a kind) enough for me.

4. Editorial Bride. This dress called for my best editorial pose (a la Herb Ritts)

I really do love this look, and it's still definitely in the running. The little sleeves are great, no?

All in all, I'm still a little ambivalent about what type of bride I'm going to be. This face pretty much sums it up.

Any advice from all of you married ladies out there? Mama and Brooke are coming down to force me to buy a dress in February. We have two days. And that's it. Have I mentioned previously that deadlines really stress me out?! I hate the feeling of "YOU HAVE TO!" Ugh!

Here are some of the humorous highlights from wedding dressing (see how I've made it a verb, there?)

In Asheville, Brooke took me to the cutest little wedding boutique in a converted home. Except you needed to have a reservation in order to have the dressing room, so they stuck us in a lean-to closet on the second floor with no light. Oh, and Brooke is about 6' tall and couldn't stand up all the way. Oh, and with the light and all, she couldn't figure out the zippers/clasps/etc., and I almost peed my pants I was laughing so hard as she was all hunched over trying to help me into all these dresses, and my hyperventilating laughter didn't help much with the zipping. A highlight for sure. I love the angle of this photo, as you can see that Brooke is looking down at me, looking all tiny in my closet corner.

Have you all seen the "Sex and the City" movie? My favorite quote BY FAR (again with the BY FAR I don't know what's going on) from wedding dressing is "I wore a BIRD on my HEAD!" "Is that what that was?!" I am most definitely going to have to wear a bird on my head at my wedding, just so we can all be repeating this line over and over and over again.

Okay, so I'm asking you all for suggestions, advice, things to take away from this whole wedding planning experience.

Just So You All Know

An application has been submitted to HGTV's "Renovation Realities" program. The app requested a "family" photo, so this is the one I attached. Don't we just look like two people you'd like to see screaming at each other during a home renovation?!

Too Much Television Watchin's Got Me Chasin' Dreams...Foo!

Last night was my company Christmas party at The Club. A place where you walk through the front door into the 1960's. It was so much fun to see everyone all dressed up after seeing each other every day in scrubs. The meal was delicious, as was the wine. This is Amy and me, and I love this lady. She cracks me up all day long.

Here are some of the girls I work with. Tara is due on the 22nd and she was actually rocking stilettos last night!

After dinner a group of us headed to a local bar to listen to a band, and lo and behold! Coolio showed up! How random, right? Especially since I had just rapped the entire "Gangstas Paradise" at work last week. It's one of my favorites and when I start rapping I just can't stop.

Coolio was rocking the Fruit Loops jacket last night, and he's definitely a few dreads short of his Clueless "Slide slide Slippity Slide Days." I counted eight in all.

He rapped to the classics, and even gave a shout out to Alabama's Heisman Trophy Winner! Woo hoo! Go Ingram!

Okay, so something has been going on for over a month now that I've been hesitant to blog about JUST because there are so many hurdles to jump before anything is set in stone. Dirk and I found a house that has the potential to be our dream home. And it's in our old neighborhood, which we miss every day. It needs a LOT of work, but every week we get closer and closer to the goal.

Here is her staircase.

She was built in the 1920's in the Colonial Revival style. I refer to her as a "she" because when we had the consultants from Atlanta come out to inspect her he referred to her in the feminine and it just fits. She has so much personality, she just needs some love!

This is looking from the front door to the back. The main level has two bay windows and this huge fireplace. Upstairs there is another fireplace. All said and done there are 39 windows in this house.

Here is a view from the sidewalk. The house is a block away from the first of three parks that make up the Highland Park neighborhood. Lots of sidewalks, cool people with pets, historic homes, and eclectic restaurants. We're waiting on two bids from different contractors before we close, so keep your fingers crossed for us!

Yeah, so we're pretty much crazy, right? Planning a wedding and possibly renovating a home? And this house needs a LOT of work. New siding, new windows, new studs, new kitchen, new bathrooms, refinished woodwork, etc., etc., etc. I'll keep you all posted on progress. I'm still trying not to get too excited because we don't know for sure this is going to happen. But it's hard not to get excited about it!

Weekend in Review

I have been squeezing way too much into my weekends since I started working full time. Seriously? I'm pulled in so many directions (a la Gumby), between friends, art, family, work, dogs, fiance, and on days like today I felt like I was about to rip apart. Where oh where is that happy medium between my work life and my life life?! Where are the extra hours in the day for me to make jewelry, edit photos, do anything other than relax after a grueling day at the office?! If any of you have ANY advice, please share! It was 5 o'clock on Sunday before I sat down and then when I did, I was confused for a moment. Like, "shouldn't I be doing something?!" I mean, I've been reading the same 400 page book since September?! Help!

So the Christmas Card photo attempt didn't go too well.

We were very nervous about the game on Saturday, or, at least Piper and I were.

Lookin' for gators

The one time a year leaving a stuffed dog toy outside can result in this in Alabama.

Our annual snowfall.

I spent Sunday making bracelets, bracelets, and more bracelets. There is nothing more rewarding to me than cleaning my house, grocery shopping, laundry, and creating something with my hands (it's just setting aside the time!) I have been super inspired to add some more bracelet designs to my etsy store, and will let you all know when they're available!