Alabama + Graffiti

- a lifestyle blog -

Father Memories

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Since I was my normal self and loafed around the house on Thursday instead of doing a blog post, I missed out on getting to do a Father’s Day post.
Well, better late than never they always say right?
I won’t get all sappy and junk on the blog, but I know my dad loves me and only wants what’s best for me.  He’s an awesome dad (even to his new puppy, Rosie), even though he did, in fact, spoil the crap out of me and my sister.
He’s a great person and an awesome dad, so what better way to celebrate with some awesome old pictures?

I don’t know why I do this sometimes; I know that he has way more embarrassing pictures of me than I have of him.
One day, I know he’s just going to put them all on the internet.  I’m waiting for it.
Anyway, love you dad!  Hope you had a happy father’s day!

Sisterly Love

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Last weekend I flew up to Pennsylvania to visit my mom and sister who I hadn’t seen in forever.  I went by myself, which sometimes, I will admit, I enjoy more so I can focus my time and attention on just being around family.
I flew in Thursday night; my first flight took me to Chicago, and then onto Philadelphia.  I didn’t get to my mom’s house until around two in the morning.  Needless to say I was exhausted, and my dinner of pizza and a cheeseburger didn’t help the cause.  Neither did those two beers or vodka drink.
The only thing awesome about flying at night is how exhausted I was; it was pretty easy to fall asleep on the plane and keep it that way through both of the flights.
Friday was spent shopping around, eating Mexican and then having happy hour at Chili’s…

My Juney-boo having a margarita thing… I don’t know.  She said it was delicious.
Saturday we spent in Lititz, PA, where I spent too much money on Wilbur’s candy.  We stopped at a British pub for a snack, and then headed back to the house.  We went to a really awesome place, Speckled Hen, in downtown Reading for dinner, but I didn’t want to bust the iphone out and ruin family dinner, so I didn’t.  Trust me though; if for some reason you find yourself in downtown Reading, PA, definitely check it out.
Sunday was a family dinner, complete with aunt, uncle and grandma.  We drank, ate spaghetti, and watched The Family Stone.  Some awesome outtakes of me and Juney in the midst of our drinking.  She’ll kill me for putting these up here, but hey, she lives about twelve hours away, so I think I’m good.

I totally have old lady neck in most of these pictures, but I love them.  I also tried to talk her out of that vest she’s wearing, but to no avail.  It was really cute.
It ended up being an awesome visit.  I was actually sad that I had to leave.  I spent that entire Monday on planes and in airports, flying from Philly to Orlando and then finally to Birmingham.  
My takeaway from that weekend?  Probably should visit more often.

Three Great Things

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Last week at work was kind of a whirl wind.
I lost my work husband theFriday before, and last week was my first real week without him.  I honestly didn’t know how hard it was going to be without him there.  And I know that sounds weird, like, hey Laura, he was just a co-worker.  But it was more than that.  We’d spent every weekday together, and some weekend days together; talking about our families, learning about each other, bitching about our jobs.  And then that abruptly ends, so yeah a girl is going to cry at work.  Maybe more than once.  Maybe like three times.
Don’t judge.
I’m an emotional human being.  I’ve accepted it.  
So there were a few things last week I needed to make sure I survived last week.
One was dinner with my girlfriend, Caitlin, at Cocina Superior where we gorged on El Chango’s, guac, and enchiladas.
Last week, I also won an award at work:  The Extra Mile Award.  Which was pretty nice, especially when they handed me $100 cash in my hand!
It’s a little blurry —sorry, I was trying not to be too obvious when I was snapping the picture.  Hey, I’m allowed to be a little proud of my award.
Or bribe…either way, I still got $100.
Then, since the blog hasn’t seen enough of my sweet sweet Stell-dog, I mean just look at this face!!!  How can you hate?!
This is pretty much the look I get when I take too many pictures of her.  It’s like, “Mom, please leave me alone and let me lay on Daddy in peace, please!!”
She never gets it though.
I don’t give in to dog demands.  
Well, sometimes.

Gulf Love

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By the time this posts, I’ll be in Key West.  Can I just tell you that that is pretty much the only reason why I’ve made it through this horrific work week? 
 
We spent our Sunday on the beach; the weather was beautiful, and we thought, why the heck not?  So we drove down to Gulf Coast, got ourselves some cheap ass little margarita drinks, and parked our booties on our towels in the sand.  The yellow flag was up, so that pretty much nullified me going more than two feet out.  My crazy hubs went way far out, and said the cross current was pretty strong, but then proceeded to go out onto the sand bar anyway.
 
He’s a total water baby. 
 
But the beach tends to make everything better.  As do those little margarita drinks, some happy Jack Johnson and a soft beach towel. 
 

 
I was thinking that I was brave enough to post a full body in a swimsuit, but hell no.  I’m not.  You always see those girls that are full of body confidence walking on the beach, and damn it I want some of it.  Maybe I’ll have some courage later on. 
 
In the meantime, just as another FYI, a day (or even 3 hours) on a beach can cure pretty much any ailment.  Trust me on this one.
 


#tbt; Friends Before Love

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Sorry about the short hiatus; I was training in Cedar Rapids for my new job.  Same work place; just a promotion!  I know; less than two years, and two promotions at this place.
 
Then there’s Penske, where it took three years for one.  Anyway, that’s where I’ve been all week, and with my forgetfulness, I forgot to bring my iPad, so no blog posts.
 
But here we are at throw-back Thursday again, and since I missed my hubby so much, I wanted to put old pictures of us on here, PRE-dating in Birmingham (well except for one).  I usually like to start out B and mine’s story by telling everyone that I did not like him.
 
We worked together at Ruby Tuesday, and I honestly thought he was the cockiest person I’d met.  But he became good friends with my then best friend, so we were sort of forced to hang out together.  I had obviously gotten over my hatred in the following pictures…
 

 
1.  From one of our Ruby’s parties…oh there were quite a few.
2.  Cassie’s Halloween party.  Obviously B was way too cool to dress up . Even I could afford the $6 black cat kit at Wal-Mart.
3.  The very first picture that I have of B and I together.  I, for some reason, loved that dorky pink belt I was wearing.
4.  Lastly, this is one after we started dating at an AU football game.  Yes, my hair was that blonde, and yes, B still had bangs.
 
All in all it’s been a great trip; next month makes four years.
 
It was hard to be away from him so much this week, and today was the only day we had together all week.  Tomorrow he’s off to NOLA, and I’m off to KC.  At least this weekend won’t be spent in a corn field.