first haircut!!

i finally bit the bullet and went against most people's advice and got olivia's hair cut. she was shaggy! i had no idea how long it had gotten! adrianne showed me the difference between her baby hair and her new growth and i was shocked! i'd say we cut a good 1/2 to 1 inch off. the GREAT news - it looks like she's going to retain some of the curl at least for the time being!

the only "before" shot we got

and after

i know it doesn't look like we did much but trust me, we did!

pigskins and pearls

i attended the 1st annual Pigskins and Pearls luncheon today at squire creek. it was great! our (tech's) new coach sonny dykes and his wife kate are huge supporters of the boys and girls club and put this event together to raise money for the ruston b&g club. from what i could tell it was a huge success!

kate dykes with the players

coach dykes, the offensive cord and the defensive cord were there along with the equip manager. the goal of the event to to teach us women about football so we can impress "our man" next time we're at a game or watching one on tv! they showed us the new intro video for this year and apparently we were the first group to see it! we were special! i will say that when they started trying to teach us plays i zoned out. it was SOOO over my head!

coach dykes

here's my list of personal highlights from the event.

1) chad boyd loves his mama! they asked him what was the hardest part about going from high school to college and he said his mama's home cooking! also, having someone (his mama) keeping him in line. he talked about always acting "right" b/c his mama wouldn't want him to act "bad"! it was so sweet!

2) this big guy - not sure of his name. the players walked around with their helmets to "show them off" and he was at a table next to ours. he held out the helmet to the ladies at the table and said, and i quote, "you want to touch it, you want to feel it". i wish i could insert "tone" here and his sly little grin. i was dieing out laughing and he was loving it!

3) i'm not sure who this is but he was CUTE! so, to my friend that works in athletics, who is he and how old is he? :) my luck, he's probably a freshman.

4) jackie won a package from seasons valued at $500 for hair removal! i want her to give it to me!

i jacked all of these pics from bulldog barks and bites. to the photographer, i give you full credit!

a funny little story

it's no secret that i blog stalk people. nobody in particular. but i do have SEVERAL blogs that i read that i've never met the person behind the screen. MoJoy is one of those.

go read this post. pay close attention to the last sentence. now, read the comments on this post. are you getting the story yet???

here's the back story of how i came to "blog stalk" mojoy. she lives a mere 30 minutes from ruston and has an office in ruston. so, i've always known her name from her business. i also had several friends in college observe/intern at her therapy place. she had a nephew battling cancer and blogged about that (she still does) and i came to LOVE this family. that little boy became a celebrity in these parts. after he passed away i wanted to keep in touch so i just kept reading. my sister, jackie, runs in the st. jude race every year (well, this will be her second) on his team, Team Jake. from her blog she appears to be someone that i could be best friends with!! ha!

so, let me tell you what happened on saturday.


jackie told me that spoiled rotten in monroe (the store is owned by melanie massey's sister, stacy) was having an end of season clearance sale. well, thanks to the city of ruston (another long story) i had a few extra dollars in my pocket that needed to be spent. so jackie, olivia and i went shopping. we're in the store looking around and jackie holds up a dress that's super cute. jackie says to me, "this was their easter dress". (their referring to melanie and stacy's kids) the sales girl sees jackie holding up this dress and says, "that dress is super cute monogrammed." i reply, "i know! i stalk melanie massey's blog!" haha. it's just something i said in passing thinking we'll all move on with life. the sales girl replies, "really, that's funny, she's here." I NEARLY DIED. this girl goes back there and tells her something to the effect of having a blog stalker in the store. i hear her laugh and yell something about blog stalkers; jackie wanted to crawl in a hole!!


we finish our shopping and go to check out. sure enough, there she is making jewelry or doing some other craft she's so good at. i just half waived and smiled and mumbled something about being a blog stalker. we left.


jackie is still dieing and now i'm wanting to get in that hole with her! thank goodness we had olivia with us to be cute and funny. she was running around and so we all just kinda laughed at her!


so, i get home saturday and while olivia is napping i catch up on my facebook/blog reading. melanie (aka mojoy) had posted a blog that morning so i commented on it to properly "introduce" myself.


that catches you up. long story short, unless you're ready to actually meet the person behind the screen then don't tell people that obviously know them that you "stalk their blog"! it was kinda like meeting a celebrity (well, she is a celebrity to me!) you finally get to meet the person in question and you have no clue what to say; especially after having put your foot in your mouth!!


so, melanie, if you're reading this, i'd LOVE to do lunch with you one day!

fyi - i'm posting this b/c i'm mortified that this entire fiasco happened. but i might as well laugh with you, at me instead of just having you laugh at me!

food.

it's no secret that i love food. so far olivia's been really good about eating. hasn't refused much. however, she wont eat plain veggies, for the most part. sometimes she will and sometimes she wont. sometimes she'll eat them if i feed them to her, sometimes she wont. i can't figure it out. so, my friends with kids her age and i have been brainstorming ways to get more veggies in their diets. so far we've (well, they, and shared with me) come up with some good ways. and it's working! so, if i have to "hide" them for the time being then i will. as long as she doesn't end up eating a frozen meal every night like me!

i did make a list of "easy" dishes that i like and can also introduce to olivia and went grocery shopping today. i want to start cooking but it's so hard doing it alone after work. olivia just wants to play and since i haven't seen her all day i'd also rather play with her. and she's still going to bed really early so actually cooking a meal, feeding her, bath and then bed; that leaves no "quality" time. if anyone has any suggestions please let me know!!

olivia had 2 food firsts this weekend.

first brownie

this could have been her first chocolate; i'm not sure. someone's probably snuck it to her when i wasn't looking!

first mexican food at my favorite place - the dirty verde!

this was another item that she wasn't thrilled to self-feed. she ate a few bites and then acted like she was done. i knew she hadn't eaten enough so i started feeding her with a fork. she ate a lot more that way. so, maybe it's a texture issue. but i find it hard to believe that cheese enchiladas and mexcian rice feel the same way as veggies!

overboard? i think not.

i'm sparing you from a post about my child tonight. i may catch flack for this; i'm aware.

it's no secret that i love tech. i also love a good bargain. those two items (tech and a bargain) rank at the top of my list of loves. right below God, family and friends. so, when you combine tech AND a bargain i just get excited like it's the first day of school! i'm a dork. i'm aware.

tech's bookstore was recently sold to barnes and noble. the bookstore is having to get rid of everything that b/n doesn't want to sell. what does that mean? a sale at the bookstore! i went the first week it started and stocked up on the items i knew i wanted.

one can never have too many t-shirts or sweatshirts. some people may argue that point. however, when you attend the number of tech athletic events that i do you get tired of wearing the same old ones over and over!

size 3T and 4T cheerleading outfits! for 1/2 off! i figure she'll let me dress her this year and next so these are for the years after that. not to mention that i've been wanting to buy these since i was in college. i used to browse them when i was at tech and think about how fun it would be to buy them one day. i got really lucky and had a girl!! i CANNOT wait to put olivia in this for the first time!

then, i went back this week for items that i didn't HAVE to have but would like to have.

i've been eyeing this ice chest for a while but would not pay $50 for it. got it for $22!!

next week i'm going just b/c it's gonna be 75% off and for those prices it doesn't matter if you need it or not!! (dad, if you're reading this just pretend you didn't read that sentence.) school supplies have already been marked 75% off. i just get happy thinking about it. i've had to supress those giddy feelings of buying school supplies from long ago. were you like that? did it make you feel good to go buy all of your school supplies for the year/quarter and then go home and organize it all. putting paper in binders. labeling notebooks. making sure you had enough pens, pencils, highlighters. one of the best days of the year for me! sorry for the nostalga...

i'm sad that it's closing. b/n is still going to sell the tech gear but from what i hear there won't be as much. that's not necessarily a bad thing. quality over quantity... and i'm stocked up for a while! :)

weekend highs and lows

i only have one pic to prove it but i had an awesome weekend! friday night drinks and late night out with jenny and her peeps. i've decided that i've passed my prime and midnight is my bedtime. my motto since college has been that nothing good happens after midnight. and it doesn't. i got pulled over (well past midnight) friday on my way home. the state trooper was super nice and told me to use my blinker from here on out. yes, sir!!

in the midst of getting pulled over my window motor decided to die. so, some friends get it up for me and i go on home. this brings us to saturday morning. it pours down rain. but, it's ok b/c my window is stuck in the "up" position, right? wrong!! it had fallen sometime in the night and now the inside of my car is soaking wet. great. i take a shower and get dressed (not looking great knowing that i have to ride with the window down and sit on a wet seat...) and head to burt's chevron who sends me to joe lee's who is closed on saturdays. great. it's suppose to rain all weekend and i don't have a garage... a trip to the dealership leads me to believe that anyone that uses a dealership to fix problems is a complete idiot. they wanted $430! are they crazy! long story short - a friend's husband got my window up for me and my brother-in-law is fixing it for about $100 (the cost of the part). problem solved. we missed avie hendrix's bday party b/c of this fiasco but at least my window is up!

sorry, i got lost. this brings us to sat night. the worst of my weekend is over and it's time to have fun. seriously. i went out to dinner with a great group of people to celebrate missy's bday. she's 28 for the 3rd year in a row! ha! this is the only pic i have of the entire weekend (and i didn't take it). sad...

starting with the girl in the red and going clockwise - carey, melissa, kathryn, matt (hiding), blake, jw, lauren, emily, me, missy (the bday girl) and thomas

after dinner back to her house for a little gathering of folks and i was home by midnight!! :) side note: i always have so much fun with these girls and matt (who's always with the girls! ha!) i wish we all lived closer so we could hang out more often!

sunday morning our traditional brunch at johnny's and it was GOOD! then, i layed out all afternoon with another group of friends. fun times!

so, it was a great weekend with only a few minor mishaps. i made my rounds by hanging with so many different groups of friends! i missed my baby girl tremendously and am glad to have her home!!

an afternoon with olivia

i didn't intend to do this today. it just kinda happened. here's a typical afternoon after work with olivia. in pictures!!

today she mastered stairs while i fixed her supper. she's been working on these steps for a few days now and finally got it!

making her way from the top to second step

she made it to the second step

finished! went down both steps!

she climbs on everything!

please excuse the diaper that apparently needed changing. that's why i prefer target diapers - they don't "droop" and get puffy!

she's still getting things she's not suppose to and carrying them around...a box from the trash...

i leave the door open for 2.5 seconds to run to my car and i turn around and she's out the door running down the driveway!! oh my!

so i make her "work" to get back in! ha!

after bath it's time to kiss minnie mouse.

and then take all the books off the shelves.

she wears me out but it sure is fun!

clepto...

my child could be a clepto. her new favorite pasttime is taking things that she's not suppose to.

i also think she inherited her gg and pop's hoarding skills. this kid LOVES to put things inside other things. it's really kinda cute to watch. :)

on a personal note... kelly over at kelly's korner (my best friend - she just doesn't know it yet) is having a fabulous "show us your life" today! it's all about showing off your single friends/family! i may or may not have browsed through the single boys and there may or may not be some CUTE single boys living in the southern united states! ha! if you're reading this and you're single - go check it out! you may just find "the one"!!

jammin!! olivia's first concert!

i don't normally post 3 times in one day. please forgive me but these were too cute not to post! tonight is the jimmy buffet FREE concert in gulf shores. jenny, john and 2 friends are there along with a host of other people i know. I'M SO JEALOUS. now, i'm not gonna pretend that i've always been a buffet fan. however, ever since i saw him in person several years ago i've been hooked. love him and his music. it automatically puts you in a good mood. ok, so CMT is airing the concert (commercial free!!!) i turned it up LOUD and olivia and i danced around the living room for a little bit. so much fun just to let loose! she had a blast with her morracas (sp?) and dancing in her chair! i realize i'm fostering bad habits with letting her stand in that chair but we'll just work hard to break it once she realizes that what she's doing is wrong! i can't believe i didn't video this but considering how that thing lost her bday footage it was probably best. enjoy the pics. i couldn't pick just one.

oh, after her bath she stood in front of the tv for a second and clapped. it's like she KNEW. her aunt jenny will be thrilled.

the destroyer. and randomness.

olivia aka the destroyer. this child can mess up a room in about 2.5 seconds. she'll pull EVERY toy she owns out of the toy box in the living room and throw them all over the place. she's not happy until EVERY toy is out of that box!

she also figured out how to remove the bottom rack of my dishwasher. have i mentioned how hard it is to keep and eye on her and still get everything done. i wouldn't trade it for the world though! :)

random happenings over the last week (so i can look back and remember...):

1-i have a sinus infection. started late tuesday/early wednesday. i've considered going to quick care this afternoon but think i may wait until tmrw and see if grigsby can squeeze me in. i'm tired of waiting it out...

2-i bought size 4 diapers yesterday. SAD. and we're going to a size 5 overnight diaper tonight. i've changed her sheets WAY TO MANY TIMES over the past 3-4 nights.

3-i hosted our book club this past wednesday night and made the best dessert! you should try it! go here to check it out! thanks, lindsey, for posting it!

(2 pics probably weren't necessary.)

4-we made it to sunday school AND church today. o started screaming as soon as we walked in the nursery door. i just don't get it. you could hear her screaming at the other end of the hall. i went between ss and church and she was crying but they assured me she had been playing but was told "no" to taking someone else's sippy cup (cue drama...). when i went after church she was crying and they again assured me it was b/c they had quit giving her cookies. who knows. she probably did cry the entire time i was gone but at least the sweet ladies are trying to make me feel better! and, congrats to me for going to both ss and church. i've gotten in a very bad habbit of going to just ss (and blaming it on olivia's nursery issues). i need my butt back in church! side note - i tried the contemporary service today with some friends that were visiting. it was great; just not for me. i'll go back to the traditional. i like the routine of the traditional service. sit, stand, pray, sing. i know what to expect and what to say and when to do it all. call me old fashioned. but man, those stadium seats in the trinity center are some kinda comfy!!

i guess that's enough randomness for now. have a great week!

fun giveaway!

i'm a sucker for giveaways! my friends over at messy aprons are having a good one! go check it out!

free advertising

the tide to go pen is AWESOME! took the below mentioned strawberry stains right out! you should try it.

happy july 4th!!

happy fourth! last night i went to the fireworks show with valerie, sam and amelia costanza. hopefully next year olivia can stay awake for the show! today was spent by the pool and then late this afternoon outside with olivia. let's all remember the troops that put their lives on the line so we can celebrate freely!!

at the park earlier today with her daddy - she does not like the ducks eating out of her hands!

please excuse the strawberry stains on her dress - i sure hope they come out b/c this is also her tech football (hot weather) dress!

lazy days of summer...

we've not been doing to much here lately. we did have a few "cooler" days this past week so we played outside a good bit. i wish i had some good action shots of her in her cozy coupe. she loves it! when i push her she just smiles and laughs! but, since i'm pushing the thing i can't very well take pics at the same time so that will have to wait until i have some help! i took olivia to shreveport yesterday for a girl's day! we had lunch with lindsey and then shopped til we dropped! i'm enjoying this long weekend!

as you can see in the above pic - this weekend i moved olivia up to the next size bow. it may be a smidge big now but a true "bow head" knows no limits on size!

olivia has a new "trick"... while in the bathtub she will look at me, smile, and then "flip" over to her tummy face down the in the water! i scared me to death the first time she did it but then i quickly realized it was a game! normally at the end of her bath i'll say something along the lines of "stand up" (so i can pick her up out of the tub) and she used to do it. now, she flops over on her stomach and "swims" until all the water drains and then she just plays in the empty tub. she obviously doesn't want to get out! all of this could explain her behavior in the pool last weekend. she would "dive" out of my arms into the water! i had to be really careful when she wasn't in her floatie! i'm so glad she loves the water. here is a cute bathtub pic. notice no water. she loves the empty tub!

her pot belly is good for one thing (besides being totally cute!) - no editing of bathtub pics required!