12 CRAYONS HAS MOVED

Yay! I finally took the initiative to get a new blog that allows to post BIGGER pictures.

In my opinion, pictures look better when they can be LARGE and in CHARGE!

Here is the new address:

www.summernicolephotography.com/blog

It is still a work in progress so pretend there is an imaginary Under Construction sign.

Summer

Party like it's 1999....

Well except for sweet Chloe Jane wasn't even born in 1999. We celebrated her 6th birthday 2 weeks ago and I am trying to figure out when did I lose my cool points?

You know what I am talking about, the point where you go from me being someone who is cool to a dreaded ADULT-yikes. All of a sudden at the party, Chloe didn't want to hang with me or the other "adults" she wanted to hang with her friends. I was left to sit at the adult table--I remember when I still got to be at the "kid table." Hey I still like to color and play Candyland!

However, I will point out that I was still cool enough to be invited to the playroom to build the Buzz Lightyear Lego figure which took me about 1.2 million hours to complete. That little bugger was harder than it looked.

By the way, Chloe Jane is my faux niece. I mean she really is my niece except I don't have a sister but I have a cousin who is like a sister and Chloe is her daughter.

Here are a few pics from the party.

Here is my uncle Jerry-love him. Note it was a Luau theme party.He doesn't just wear this straw out on an average day.
And here is my beautiful Grandma who took the Luau theme VERY seriously. Please let me look like her when I am 82. She says the key is Baby Oil and Oil of Olay.
And here are the ladies minus Chloe because we are not cool enough. Why do I look so tall in this picture?
And here are the "cool kids".... (Chloe is on the right)

And when is the last time you tried to take a picture of 5 moving 5 years old? Right. It is a challenge. This is the best of the bunch ;-)
Here is the bday gal's cupcake--yummy!
And here is the bday girl...may all her wishes come true! And judging by how we spoil her, I am sure that all of her wishes will indeed come true.
AND BY THE WAY....WE NAMED THE PUP DIXON. MORE PICS TO COME ON THAT!

CRAZY TRAIN come and pick us up....

Yep, go ahead and send the crazy train over to the Triompo residence because we just got another puppy. A good ol' Golden Retriever to brighten our days. We drove back from Greensboro yesterday like your typical 3 ring traveling circus. NT, myself, Hines and the new guy all in the front seat of the truck.

We could charge admission to see this zoo.

This is what we saw when we pulled up to the breeder. Could you walk away from this?

Here are a few pictures of the little man, I hope to have better ones once I can figure out how to make him sit still. It may be a while....



These two were also in the running.....


As far as the name....we are currently trying on DIXON. Get it....Mason Dixon....Mason was the name of our previous beloved Golden. Just wanted to make sure you got it....

But we do have other options. Will you leave a comment and tell me which name you like the best:

DIXON
RALEIGH
WESTIN
SULLIVAN (WOULD GO BY "SULLY")
MEMPHIS
HARPER
THEO

Or you go throw out a few original options. Check back later for more pictures. Until then I must go work. Someone has to earn some money to pay for all of these milk bones.

SWEET TOOTH

I love sweets. Shocker, I know.

Brownies.

Pies.

Anything ala mode.

and....Cupcakes.
So imagine the temptation when I found out our hotel in Martha's Vineyard was located directly across the street from the most delicious cupcake shop in the world (okay,world may be an exaggeration but it sounds better). I introduce to you Sweet E's Cupcakes.

For starters, this was the view from our hotel balcony. (Note the lady icing the cakes in the window--strangely she is from Greensboro...just an FYI)

Every morning you could see them icing the yummy cupcakes. I could almost swear the cupcakes were shouting my name.

The cool thing is that they would write that day's flavors on the door and the window. As they sold out they would wipe them off or put the number of cupcakes left. So imagine my horror when I looked out the window and saw this....
SOLD OUT! Excuse me? I have not even tasted my first cupcake and you are SOLD OUT. No problem. I consider myself officially warned. I will now be there in the morning before the rooster crows.

Simple ingredients yield such tasty results:

Here are some pics of the amazingness:

S'MORES

RASPBERRY MINT FILLED

PEANUT BUTTER (I had this one, it was amazing times 10)
CHOCOLATE (For those who like the classics)
AND VANILLA OF COURSE

I actually only went twice which I thought showed incredible restrain. However, I am thinking maybe NT and I should start our own franchise of Sweet E's Cupcakes--and I would give unlimited free cupcakes to all my 12 crayons readers.

Sweet Tea - I love you

If you don't like sweet tea then you are probably are not from around here...the south that is

And I personally embrace all things southern:

I say the word ya'll regularly
I love barbeque and grits
I like every meal to be served with bread
I watch NASCAR on Sundays with my hubby and I don't like snow

So after being up North for a week, I would like to talk about Sweet Tea.

As described by Webster: Sweet tea is a form of iced tea in which sugar is added to the hot water after brewing the tea but before the beverage is cooled and served. Adding sweetener to hot water allows the tea to hold more dissolved sweetener than under colder temperatures.


I was aware that once I left my security of the Carolinas, I might not find sweet tea but I was certainly not prepared for there to be a lack of UN-sweet tea. At one restaurant they brought me pre-made lipton from the soda machine with faux lemon. GROSS!

So I write this blog post in hopes that a restaurant owner who resides North of the Mason-Dixon line will add sweet tea to their menu. Do it for us southern folks that visit. Do it for those who have moved up north and long for that sugary tea.
I mean EVERYBODY doing's it. Check out McDonalds--they have built an ENTIRE advertising campaign around their $1 Sweet Tea (BTW, advertise your sweet tea special with Curtis Media Group-call me, Summer, for special summertime radio rates)
And I personally find Sweet Tea to be even more amazing when served in a Mason Jar.
So it summary, bring on the sweet tea by the gallon....which you can pick up at your area Bojangles. That thank it's southern goodness serves Fried Chicken, Dirty Rice and grits before 10am.

Did you forget how to type?

One of my good friends asked me the other day...."Now that you are 30 did you forget how to type?" This is obviously a note to the fact that I have not blogged in a couple of weeks but don't you worry my camera is about to explode there are so many pictures ready to be posted.

Between my birthday, the 4th of July and now our trip to Boston/Martha's Vineyard...I have had very little time to blog. Luckily, I have now completely burned through ALL my vacation days so you can expect my bottom to be staying in the lovely NC for a while.

In the meantime...this is where we are staying in "The Vineyard"--that is what the locals call it. Yep, I am hip to the local lingo. However, within the first 10 seconds of me speaking everyone says..."Where are you from? You have a strong accent"....and I have been told I sound like Kelly Pickler twice. Obviously not my singing voice...but my country accent.

THE MANSION HOUSE

And here a few pics of the area that I found online....


I would like to point out that my Dad thought Martha's vineyard was a theme park like six flags or carowinds. Dad...you can see it is a bit more subdued ;-)

On today's task list. Hold on to your hats. NT and I are renting a.....

MOPED! Oh Dear. I hope they come with helmets and protective wear.
Talk to you 12 crayons peeps soon!

That hurt.

This may be hard for you believe. It is frankly hard for me to believe but...I have never been stung by a bee (or wasp...or yellow jacket). That is correct in my 30 years of life I have never been stung....that was until this past Saturday.

I can guarantee you that you have never seen a jig like the one I did trying to run out of the boat house. Let me back up so you can get the full story.

First lets picture the day. It is my birthday celebration at the lake with my family. A warm Carolina Saturday. My dad in a float (which in itself is another story since he can't swim), mom is reading magazines, Papa snoozing in the hammock and NT was watching the World Cup.

I simply wanted to get a float so I can could cool off in the lake. See float below.
I enter the boathouse which I will admit has it's own microsystem of insects. I tend to cover my head with a towel upon entering.

I reach out to get the float and I see two wasp fly out. Now a smart person would think "Oh No! there is a wasp nest in here." Or maybe you would have a fight or flight reaction. I just stand there and stare as now 10 wasp coming flying out.

Then it hit me...RUN!!!!!! but it was too late. I had been spotted. Please double click on the picture below and look at the meanness of these wasp. (I am not sure if I need to add an "s" to wasp to make it plural...like wasps...maybe...)
I then felt a pain like I have never felt in my arm. It hurt so dern bad. I screamed. I danced. I hopped around like I was on fire. I might have cried, not sure.

And what was my family doing during my time of need....on my birthday....as I was being tortured by an overactive wasp nest.

Well.....

Here is my dad:

Here is my Papa:
Here is NT: (okay this is not really NT but a good representation)

Luckily my sweet Momma came over to help me. I swore the dern wasp was still attached my arm. The pain. The agony.

A little bit of alcohol and peroxide and I realized I was not dying. I made Grandma confirm that if I was allergic I would be showing signs. She said no your not allergic but give the poison time to spread and make sure you get out the stinger.

WHAT? Poison....a stinger....?

Now calling Uncle Jerry. The Wasp Destroyer.
Yes...venture in very slowly Uncle Jerry. And with a knock of a broom. The wasp were down for the count.
And there goes the nest. Bye Bye. And for you insect lovers...the wasps are still alive somewhere. Just not in the boathouse....or well I guess maybe they are still in the boathouse...plotting out their next attack on me.

Here is my pretty cake. Wording for the cake obviously done by my dad.

Why didn't I invent that?

Do you ever stop and think...."I wish I would have invented that." I am sure there are a few examples but here are a few that pop in my head.

SILLY BANDS: i don't even really know what these are...rubberband bracelets that make shapes? Why do people buy these? Even my mom and husband occasionally wear these little buggers.
Then do you remember the fad where people would put charms in their crocs? I don't even own crocs but I wish I would have invented these little suckers.
Or heck, maybe I should have just created the Croc shoe. I would be rich and give each and everyone one of you loyal 12crayons readers crocs in all colors!

Then there was the 90's fad of the Slap Bracelets. Yep, I rocked these. I guess these were the silly bands of my childhood.
Of course, I am a bit partial to one invention in particular. The MAGIC BULLET. You have all seen the infomercial (the one with that silly old lady), I am not sure why I love the MB so much but something about making smoothies, queso and chopped garlic all in the same container....in just 3 quick pulses.
But of all the above inventions, there is one that I should have thought of years ago. The stuffing free dog toy! This is such an obvious toy. Let's just think about this. Sweet Mason went through roughly 60 stuffed animals in the time that I knew him, ripping out the stuffing and leaving a flat shell.

Each time I would throw away the flattened shell and go back and by a new fully stuffed animal. Mason was probably thinking..."you idiot human, I am trying to give you an idea for the next invention that is going to make somebody millions."

Behold, the stuffing free dog toy-see image below. Please remember I have thrown away 60 toys that looked just like this one.

I was introduced to this toy last week at the in-laws house. Hines LOVED the stuffing free raccoon and let's be honest it was purchased from the "As Seen On TV" store so obviously it is amazing! I bought Hines one earlier this week and sure enough he prefers it over all the stuffing filled animals.

My point is.... how many inventions will have to see and think "Why didn't I think of that?" Maybe silly bands for your pet? Just a thought.

Do Butterflies pee?

This may seem like a strange question...."Do Butterflies pee?" and I would never normally ask it if a certain Mr. Butterfly hadn't decided to let it all go right when I was taking my picture.

Let me explain for our our photography class this week, we headed to the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens. It was hot...like fire blazing, make up melting, want to climb into a fountain HOT.

One of my favorite pics was of this beautiful butterfly--how lucky to catch a butterfly...PEEING...what?!? I was just going back through to look at my pictures and zoomed in on this one to see what appears to be pee. I am not sure if it is, I am just saying that this picture will definitely need a little Photoshop love.
This sunflower looks as hot as I felt.
Remember when I mentioned it was "hop in a fountain" kind of hot? Well my friend Theresa decided to literally hop in the fountain. I was a wee bit worried we may get kicked out of the gardens....but a small part of me wished we would get kicked out because it was so dern hot. Did I mention our car said 100 degrees at like 7pm?
A few more pics:
Now this sweet bumble bee at least at the kindness to hold his bladder while I took this picture.
Here are a few more from the day....
8 days until.....

I turn 30.

Oh Dear.