A bee sting and a makeover

Yesterday we had lunch with our friends at the prayer garden at church. We went to Zaxby's, got chicken, and brought it back for a little picnic. We had the best time getting to catch up while our kids played. There were a million roses (and I'm not kidding...a million) in bloom and hence, that presented an issue. BEES. EVERYWHERE. Buzzing around our faces and our food. Well, I got stung the FIRST time on my foot, but I was able to squish the sucker and get revenge right after he stung me.

I wore a pretty little dress (Paul got me last year for our anniversary) to church and so I was wearing this full-skirted dress in the prayer garden. We were heading over to the car to change a baby when, OH YES, it did...a bee flew up my skirt and got me. Where? I'm not gonna say. But ye---ouch! I was dancing around like a lunatic. Practically beating myself trying to get this thing off (or out from under) me. My poor friend, she must have wanted to laugh, I mean, I would have been ROLLING watching someone else put on this kind of show. But she was so sympathetic.

I don't know if I ever blogged about my Brown Recluse spider bite last summer, but I seem to draw bugs and they bite me ALL THE TIME! Just call me Little Miss Muffet.

Today, I'm healing. Not gonna run the hill tonight.

When I got back to the car, Will was tattling..."mo-om, Wesley made a HUGE mess in the car!" (in that sing-songy voice). When I opened the door this is what I found...now this is the kind of mess that really doesn't bother me. (Other than the fact that it attracts bees). Flower petals, pink rose flower petals at that! Our car smelled divine on the way home. But don't try this at home, cause they stain.

And, as I'm sure you've noticed, my blog has undergone and Extreme Makeover! I felt like the old pink was a little too...."LIGHTS ON, EVERYBODY WAKE UP" - like an annoying camp counselor or something. So, I wanted to tone it down a bit. But I still have pink. I will ALWAYS have pink! If you want to "pimp out your blog", go to leeloublogs.blogspot.com and follow the directions. It's easy! Thanks Toni for the link.

Office Premiere Party!!!!

Last night David and Tara hosted a party for "The Office" premiere! No detail was left out...the World's Best Boss cups, stapler in the jello, schrewdt bucks, green streamers, nutcracker Christmas, Jan's serenity candles and office trivia. Janie, got almost every question right. What? How can you know so much about so much??? It was good to see some old friends and new friends in the same night. The Office brought us all together. That's heartwarming. :) We had a great time. Thanks for hosting such a fun party Jensen's. I know now that your kids can sleep through ANYTHING! We were loud. Here's some of my favorite photos of the night...
Janie and her first of many Schrewdt Bucks. Sheesh! Save some for the rest of us. This girl is a whiz at Office trivia. I would say, she's the BEST! Me and Kirsten's bag that I covet. I got a little attached to it. :)Here's a slideshow of our night. If any of you "LCA-ers" are reading this and notice that I am wearing my HIGH SCHOOL LCA Bulldog Cheerleader t-shirt...yes, it is officially a vintage t-shirt. But I want you to know, I'm not clinging onto my high school days, I just really love this shirt. It's the most comfortable one I own. I'll never get rid of it.

Super Green Smoothie. Does a body good!

My friend Lisa and I are on a kick. Green smoothies. We made some last night at her house and chugged them! They are SUPER healthy. They aren't the best tasting smoothie I've ever had, but I can get it down. I figure, how else would I eat all the things that are in it. Here are the ingredients, get ready, it's weird:

Chard
Kale
Spinach
Collards
Banana
Blueberries
Water

Yep, that's it! Now doesn't that sound like a mouthful of YUM?! We are trying to have one for breakfast and lunch every day. For me, I think today, breakfast was good enough. These pictures make me laugh with our green mustaches. Thanks Lisa for sharing this crazy smoothie with me. I feel healthier already! Warning, if you try this at home, don't try to sip and savor, you have to just CHUG this puppy. Get it down fast. Then, you'll feel great knowing you've put some really healthy foods in your body. Her sister (I think? correct me on that Lisa) lost 40 pounds doing this. She did a smoothie for breakfast and lunch and then just ate a normal dinner. I went online and read the health benefits of all these ingredients...it's AMAZING! Kale is good for removing toxins from your body. Blueberries are so high in antioxidants, etc. Now, I'm going to make one for Paul tomorrow morning. Not quite sure if he'll be as eager to try this as I was. He'd probably rather take a multi-vitamin. My goal, is to be able to come off my heart medication in a year. That is soon, but I'm really going to work on that! So, bring on the CHARD!

The Hill

Not to be confused with "The Hills". Smut. :)

This hill is on my street. Starts at the end of my driveway and goes down from there.

It's steep. Just walking up, my calves burn like the dickens. I try to run/walk about 3-4 times a week and I always finish with running the hill 5 times! Ye-ouch!

The other night I was walking in my neighborhood. It was dusk. Paul had the boys and I needed to just get out for a bit. I borrowed Paul's ipod/iphone because mine's dead. I wasn't sure if he had any good running songs - (sometime I'll post my run/walk playlist, it's the BEST!). The songs that were on his "worship" playlist were amazing.

Now, let me take a break here and say, that I love listening to music with little earphones. You hear every single part of the band, the guitars, the bass, the strings, the cymbals, the drums. And it's amazing how when you have an earphone in each ear, the sound somehow meets in the middle of your head, creating a blend of perfection! Ahhh, I love it.

Anyway, it had been a rainy week and the clouds from Hurricane Ike were still hanging around. But also starting to break up. As I was walking, I was working out some frustrations. For example...not getting enough done in my day, wondering if I am intentionally spending quality time with my boys each day, losing that 10 pounds I've wanted to lose for 10 YEARS!, and just feeling like I haven't been my best, not for my husband or myself, or God. I guess it was a frustration/pity party. I was ending the front part of my walk and saw the hill coming. I knew I SHOULD do it, but I was feeling lumpy and tired and thought, I could just walk up my driveway and call it a night. But I trudged down the hill, knowing I'd have to get BACK UP that d-a-r-n thing. As I was walking down this song came on...From The Inside Out. It's on my playlist so if you haven't heard it, turn it up and listen to it (and better yet, plug in some earphones while you're at it). I found myself picking up the pace a little and as I got to the bottom ready to run up, I was in a full jog. I got up that thing so fast, I couldn't remember doing it. Then, the most marvelous thing happened. I turned at the top, where I have a most glorious view of the skyline and the moon was peeking through all those huge clouds. The sky was BLACK at this point and it all looked sort of creepy like a halloween night, but breathtaking at the same time. I so wish I had a picture to show you, but I doubt my camera would've captured it. It was just me and God, the clouds and moon and some great music. We were on a date. A desperately needed date. I could not help but raise my hands to the sky. If my neighbors don't already think I'm crazy...they will now. But I was so overcome with love for God and that was truly coming from the inside - - out. God reminded me to put Him first and give my frustrations to Him. Taking my frustrations out on that hill does my body good, but it does my soul good to give them over to God. I took a deep breath, started down the hill again, and in that moment, thanked God for meeting me on the hill.

I ran it 6 TIMES that night I'll have you know. :)

Sarah Palin's Glasses a BIG HIT!

Paul told me tonight, that on Drudge Report this morning...there is a 2 month waiting list for her frames. I copied an article and attached it here:

Style conscious voters in the US are racing to get their hands on a pair of Sarah Palin's signature rimless glasses.

Opticians in the States have seen an influx in demand for Palin's specs, which she wore during her convention speech last week.

The $375 frames are by Japanese designer Kazuo Kawasaki, and are made from titanium. They are from a collection entitled the 704 series, and her specific style is the 34 grey.
Retailers are now clamouring to stock the style, as demand has continued to soar.
Palin bought hers from an optician in Chugiak in Alaska, where owner Joy Leedham helped her choose the design. Leedham has since been inundated with orders, and told The Observer this weekend that she has been swamped by emails with the same query, 'Sarah Palin glasses please.'

Doggon' it, I just got new glasses last spring. (My first new pair in 13 years!!!) I spent some money, because I wanted them to last. So I went for these uber trendy Ralph Lauren specs. They are a little flashy. But I like the tortoise shell. I guess I'll have to hang on to my very loud, very "non-Sarah" glasses until the frenzy dies down. It does bug me a little when this type of "phenomenon" sweeps over the nation. She's the Jennifer Aniston of glasses. What makes them cool is that they're unique. Like the Vera Bradley thing...when everyone you see is carrying the "Mod Floral Pink" bag, it's not as special. That's just my opinion. Don't judge my no makeup and messy hair, I just got back from a run and when I heard about this I couldn't take the time to spruce up before posting.

How to eat a candy corn

I bought my first bag of candy corn yesterday. Key word: FIRST! There will be more. My friend Mindi and I agree that it has to be BRACH'S candy corn. They're just the best. Okay, so we were talking and we realized that we both eat them the same way. For such a small piece of candy, we SAVOR each and every section. Starting with the tip. The white tip should snap or pop right off. If it's not doing this you may have an old bag or it's not Brach's.

The orange section is a two bite step for me. I like to bite the orange half way down. Then the last of the orange. Leaving the corn. The corn is the healthy part of course!
Here are a couple of "duds" from the bag. Such a shame. I can't eat them if all three parts are not there. It's like the trinity. You need ALL THREE! My kids are more than happy to oblige on the duds.

These are perfection. And, they're already gone. :)

Here are some of my fall house pictures...



Like just about everyone else, Fall is my favorite time of year. Yesterday I had the windows open all day. Today we're off to Kennesaw Mountain to hike and have a picnic.
Now the other thing I get excited about with Fall is the jeans and sweaters. However this year, my favorite jeans have magically shrunk. They are just plain American Eagle jeans, but I love them and I'm gonna work really hard to get into them by jean weather, well, lets say, by Disney World...October 19th. I'll keep you posted. (Probably should lay off all the candy corn huh?:)
For some reason it looks like one leg is shorter than the other.

And last but not least, one of my favorite fall movies is Runaway Bride. There's a part where "Maggie" is swinging on an old tire swing under a fall tree, she's wearing a sweater and jeans. It's one of those movie moments that makes you want to hop into the screen! I also love this song from the movie.

Meryl Streep does a TOE TOUCH!

Well, I finally saw Mamma Mia! This weekend my friend Paige and I went out for a movie night. I had to search for a theatre that was still playing this movie. I have wanted to see it since the day it opened and just never had time. I could have sung EVERY song in the movie. It's a tad cheezy in the very beginning, but it grows on you. By the time they get to "Dancing Queen", I was hooked. I think the highlight of the movie for me was seeing Meryl Streep do this:

HOLD THE PHONE! This woman is in some SERIOUS shape! I used to pride myself on my toe touches, but she had me beat. And she's is 59 YEARS OLD! I don't know if she does yoga, or pilates or what, but I'd love to know her secret. She is so talented too. If you watch "Devil Wears Prada" and then watch "Mamma Mia", they're such different roles and she nails them.

Now, about Pierce. Yes, I call him by his first name. We're great friends.


I got that little uncomfortable feeling you get when someone is singing and you're hoping they hit the note. I gotta tell ya, he should really stick to acting and looking nice. Although his singing wasn't the best, you can't make him ugly.

Paige and I, just about the only ones in the theatre!


And just so we're clear...I think THIS is the most handsome man on the planet! Plus, he's more my age! :)