Another 80th

Earlier this month we packed up and headed down to Texas. The trip was two-fold. Kristen and I went to market in Dallas for Well Versed Gifts and Brian's grandfather was celebrating his 80th birthday in Troup, TX.

I gave the camera to Brian since Pa's birthday was way more important than market. That being said going to market was really neat! Kris and I had a small exhibit to sell our (yes, Kristen, I know you own the company but I'm using the plural) note cards wholesale to retailers. if you want to look at the website it's http://www.wellversedgifts.com/. Our cards do really well in small speciality gift shops and those were the retailers we were targeting.

If you've been to Dallas you've probably driven by the big black cube that is the Dallas Market Center (used to be called the Dallas World Trade Center). I've driven past it a million times yet the only thing that could place it on a map for me is when someone said - "It's across from Medieval Times." And then it clicked. I knew exactly where it was. Why? Because that's the way my wacky mind works.

There are no windows in the Market Center but the interior is shaped like a square donut - there is a huge atrium which allowed us to see daylight for the 9 hours each day that we were on the floor. This is the best interior shot I could find off the internet. It doesn't do it justice since there about 17 floors.



We had a great, if not exhausting time the four days that we were there. We made future plans about Well Versed Gifts, got to talk to so many retailers who loved our product, and made some money! (which we haven't seen yet because we're still getting the company up and running.)

Just a comment about the people we saw at the show. I mentioned it on facebook but it bears repeating here - what is up with all the animal prints in this region of the US? It's not just Texans - there were other states represented and a lot of them were enraptured with leopard, zebra, and cheetah prints. And they weren't afraid to mix and match them. I'm all for a highlight item with a print on it - but this was full body and accessory coverage.

So while I did get to go to market I missed Pa's 80th birthday. Brian did a great job with the camera so I could catch up on everything.

I love this shot he took of Pa and Jamison.


We gave Pa a book of penny's for each year of his life. We did the same thing for Grandpa when he turned 80. It's always interesting to see how many of the pennies are still in circulation. I started to think of all the people who held those pennies and the history that the pennies have seen. And then I started thinking about all the germs and had to wash my hands for five minutes.

Brian's parents gave Pa a walking stick and an invisible dog to walk. Low maintenance dogs are the best!

Karan made Pa a cinnamon bunt cake that I heard was delicious yet no one saved a piece for me. It's probably better that way since I haven't been in the mood for sweets. Now, if she had made Pa some chicken quesadillas that would be a different story.

It was a busy Texas trip but we're glad we went. Since baby number three is on the way it's hard to plan when we'll be going back, at least for this year.

Finally

In between Christmas and New Year's Kristen and the girls made their trek up here. My grandparents were also able to come up from North Carolina. Each time they have been up I have neglected to get a group picture but this time I was successful! Here is my Mammy with Maddie, Ruthie, Lily, and Jamison.

Excuse Ruthie's eye patch. We're trying to strengthen her right eye a bit more. Even with the eye patch not only is she looking at the camera but so are all the kids! It only took 2 1/2 years...dnd three of us waving our arms behind the camera and individually calling their names. But it worked!

Pregnant!

Well hello there. It's been a while. There isn't really a good excuse for my lack of posting except that we went to Texas for a week earlier in the month and it took a week to prepare and a week to recover.

But here's the big news - I'm Pregnant! Although most of you probably knew. So it's only somewhat big news.

Here is my 13 week ultrasound. The baby has its' hand up to its' face, that's not the nose. We also got to see the baby spread its' fingers. We'll find out if it's a boy or girl in March, hopefully the first week.

My due date is July 19 but I am going to mentally prepare myself for August 1 so that I can convince myself I wasn't really pregnant for 40 weeks and that I was early.

Lily is excited about the new baby and if it's a girl would like bunk beds. Yeah, I'll get right on that. If it's a boy I'm sure she'll just get more bossy. At least I'll have help keeping the boys in line.

Jamison asked if the baby was him. We told him he already was a baby in my tummy and this is a different baby. He is still highly suspicious about our explanation.

I am planning on writing a longer post later about baby names. Specifically boy baby names. We're stumped. And the list of possible names is long and varied. I might even have a contest for best name suggestion. Yes, we are that desperate.

Coffin

I will admit that the following post could lead some to believe that I am a tiny bit obsessive with a smidgen of psycho thrown in. This will also enlighten you about some things you really did not want to know about me - but if I can laugh at it so can you.

I don't exactly remember when I was given my hope chest from my Mammy but it must have been in junior high or early in high school. Since the hope chest looks like a coffin that is exactly what it has been called since Day 1 in my room.

In November we had to move the coffin from one room into another. In order to successfully do this the coffin had to be emptied. Brian stepped up to the plate and completed this task. After this was done I realized he did this to escape hearing me go on and on about each and every object. I am not exactly a sensitive person but I am incredibly sentimental. Each item in my coffin was in there for a reason; and while some of those reasons escape me now, others I remember.

Apparently I saved everything in this coffin. I have no idea why I kept 87% of the items. Here is a look at some of the randomness of my adolescence (and parts of college). Feel free to laugh - I laughed for a good six hours going through this stuff. There is no order to this presentation...I just took pictures as I saw different things. I could have put them in chronological order but that would have taken some thinking. Let's not do much of that.

My collection of Hard Rock Cafe menus. Why? No idea.

Second semester junior year schedule. I have no other schedules from college so I'm not sure why I kept this one. I like how I left Music 101 until almost my senior year.

My wedding bouquet. I know why I kept this.

Jamison found my volleyball knee pads from high school.

A square remnant of my bedroom carpet in my parents old house. I chose this carpet color when I was three. That should explain it. I will always keep this.

This was thrown out 30 seconds after the picture was taken. This was a costume from one Spring Sing performance at Harding. Our theme must have been "What Not To Wear".

I wore this watch for 7th and 8th grade. I loved it. And the necklace is a Best Friends necklace that is divided into thirds. Michelle (Morris) Mostoller and Kim (Hofschild) Cimuchowski have the other two thirds.

My suite mates Reagan (Weaver) Dennison and Mindy (Baker) Lucas made this birthday card for me our freshman year of college. I know you probably can't read a lot of the things on the card but it is so creative and funny and I will never throw this away.

Incredibly random. An issue of the Times Union from 1973. This was before my parents even moved to Albany so your guess is as good as mine as to where I found this. And yes, this was thrown away.

Awwww, my Brownie and Girl Scout sashes. I am still friends with one of the girls from my troop 88. Albeit, it's on facebook but that still counts.

I love the Diary of Anne Frank. To strengthen my love I used her book as a topic for about 50 essays through high school. It fits so many topics. In 1995 Miep Gies (the employee of Mr. Frank who helped hide the Franks and later helped with the publication of the diary) was speaking at one of the local universities here in Albany so I went to hear her speech. I brought along my book in hopes that I would meet her and by hanging out in the auditorium after the speech I was able to get her autograph. I still can't believe I shook hands with a woman who knew Anne Frank!

I know why I kept this. It's a page from my freshman year at college. I loved reading it and seeing what took up so much of my time and thoughts. And apparently there was a lot of coffee involved.

Of course, my Milli Vanilli tape. "Blame it on the rain, yeah, yeah." I can't wait until my kids are old enough to find this as funny as I do.

And this is where I get real random. Why do I have these clippings? What do they mean? What did I think was so important that I needed to save these in the coffin? In the trash...

This is great. My mom mailed me this picture of my sister when I was at Harding. This is what her note days:

There were no more wallets. I thought you might want to put this up by your desk.

-Mom.

You can argue with it.

This will be shown at my mother's funeral. I should start compiling all those pictures and fun items now so I'm all prepared

And these are a collection of my glasses. Because who doesn't save each piece of eye ware from the time they were in 4th-12th grade?

By now I have a theory as to why I kept so many newspapers. When I was doing all this collecting I had no idea something called "The Internet" would be created thus eliminating my fear of forgetting everything that happened while I was alive. Could I have thought, "if I don't save this paper I will never remember that OJ Simpson was found not guilty?" That would have been tragic.

All of my organizers from 9th grade to senior year of college. I had fun reading some of these.

Sadly, with the invention of my beloved Blackberry I have no need for an organizer anymore. When I am 79 how will I ever know what I did in April 2008 without a handwritten organizer? Hopefully my 79 year old self will forgive my 30 year old self.

And yes, this one shows that I wrote down exactly what I wore each day. I have my entire wardrobe schedule for 8 years in these organizers. Want to know what I wore the first day of college? Or possibly what I wore the day of my 16th birthday? No problem - I can look that up for you!

And this pile. This pile is beautiful and incredibly scary. These are all my journals from 2nd grade on. There aren't that many entries until 6th grade and then I was pretty consistent through high school. I mostly stopped writing once I went to college but I still kept one (and still do) that I wrote brief notes in on important days. I kind of consider this blog a journal so I guess I haven't exactly stopped writing.

And that is just a small portion of the junk that was in my coffin. It was cleaned out and is now safely hidden in a closet in what will soon be Jamie's new bedroom. It was not easy throwing some of the things away or going through some of the things I saved. I don't even know if my kids or grandkids would ever be interested in my going through my memories...but if they are I am well prepared!

Trampoline

In Oklahoma Grandma and Grandpa have a trampoline that has been in use since Brian was a kid.

One afternoon Lily needed to get rid of some energy and I took some pictures. There are a lot of them - I couldn't help myself! She looked like she was having so much fun and pigtails defying gravity are hysterical.

The Snoopy shirt disappeared as she worked up a sweat.

Nothing wrong with throwing in a few ballet moves.

And some interpretive dance choreography...

I think she has nailed the Peter Pan pose.