Photobooths are fun and so are spray tans!

What can I say....I love photobooths. And spray tans. I am not sure which of these two loves I should talk about first. Let's go with spray tans. So as previously stated I needed to fit into a dress that was too small on Saturday,by the way it was coral---we all know that one of the worst combinations with a coral bridesmaid dress is pale skin. Plus,everything looks better tan, including fat ;-)

I was under a bit of time constraint, as in it was Thursday and the wedding was Saturday. So naturally I googled "Mobile Spray Tanning Raleigh." Lucky me, I found a gal willing to come to my in-laws house at 10pm once I arrived in Raleigh to tan me. Have you ever been spray tanned? The machine is kind of like the airbrushing guns that you used to see on the Myrtle Beach strip or in Gatlinburg TN. You know the ones, right? When you wanted to get the t-shirt that said BFF's forever or Summer loves (insert name) 4 ever!. Only this time instead of paint it is some weird tanning spray.
We chose the laundry room (which I tried to pretend was actually a Hawaiian Beach). And then came the pop-up tent....you can't make this stuff up. It looked EXACTLY like the one above in the picture.

Into the tent I went. To be honest, I was a little nervous that I would come out looking like this. Yes this is Magda from There Something about Mary.
Once the spraying was complete (which only took like 5 minutes) the gal told me now I just needed to simply dry off in front of a fan for 20 minutes and I would be all set. Mmmmm.....excuse me? Dear Tan Lady, Did I mention that I am only wearing bathing suit bottoms and I am staying with my in-laws? Sure, no problem. Let me go stand in the middle of their den with my fake spray tan in my bikini bottoms so I can dry.

Obviously, this was not an option so instead I had the tan lady fan me with a folder. Then I stayed awake for 2 more hours just to make sure my tan was "set." And amazingly....it worked! And for that you know what I say....I say Spray Tans are FUN!

Here is a before and after shot:
And now for something else that is FUN! Photobooths. I have actually always had a thing for photobooths. I think I get it from my mom and dad....I say this because check out these great retro shots of my mom and dad. (yep, no one is safe from summer's blog) I just guessing this was a 1970's photobooth by looking at my dad's hair.
I love the peace sign at the bottom--yeah, Dad rockin' the 70's!

The photobooth tradition continued every year when we would go to Gatlinburg and pay $.75 to get in the booth and take 3 pictures. I always looked forward to it.
As you can tell, I kind of liked to be the center of attention...I mean...center of the photo. Strangly, not much has changed.
This is the photobooth from our wedding. Out of the 300 pictures, I was probably in 100 of them. (I "heart" photos. period.)
And I actually thought there was no way I could love a photobooth more until I discovered the photobooth at Jaimes wedding (which will be blogged about tomorrow-stay tuned).
Yep folks. I want a photobooth in my house. I want to be able to hop in there anytime for a pick me up. Or actually maybe I could start a business where I take a photobooth to events and in the off time I use it as a mobile spray tan booth. The name could be "Photo and Tan"--okay that is not a creative name but we could work on that part.
I kind of have a small issue of making each picture the "Summer Show"--always all up in the camera blocking out others. But the photo below had me in tears of laughter.
There are actually 11 people in this shot. Can you find them all? Can you find my Dad? Think of it as the "Where's Waldo?" of photobooths. Hint: look for his curly hair.
Okay, in this photo can you count all 11 people? Can you find cousin Molly?(see her close up in the pic below) Look at the one eyeball beside my mom's left ear. that's her. hilarious, huh?
How many Morgans and Triompos can you fit in one photobooth? Apparently, 11 if you are concerned for safety.
This photo is actually one of my favorites. Why you ask? Because Aunt Dawn is doing her
"Gangsta" sign. Yep, the okay circles around her eyes are supposed to represent her gang. Which led me to believe that she might be a member of a nursery rhyme gang...ie: The Humpty Dumpty Gang (that was for you Molly)
Does anybody know why I have my mouth wide open in every shot? Me either.

So the real question here is....Would it be weird to have a photobooth in your house? If not, then I want to put that on my birthday list. (Mom: please make note of that)

Tomorrow's blog post: the much anticipated....WEDDING!

The Things We Do For Love

So much to say and so little time to blog about it. That is the situation this past week.

I have decided you can gauge how busy I am by the number of times I blog per week. It would look something like this.....

4 times or more: Life is good....skipping through a field of daisies with nothing but time on my hands.
3 times: Enough time for reality tv & blogging.
2 times: To do list is probably a couple of pages long. probably blogging after 10pm
0-1 times: OH DEAR! in desperate need of air... and an assistant

This past week was definitely in the "Oh Dear!!" category. You may already know....it was the moment of truth weekend....would Summer fit into the bridesmaid dress? Stay tuned to find out (expect to read about it on Tuesday) The wedding was amazing times 10 and I can't wait to share some highlights!

But first to make up for my lack of posting, I will share my random thoughts EVERY day this week. Now, that is commitment.

To start, let's travel back to LAST THURSDAY.
The Mexican National Soccer Game.

The things we do for love. I dare say that NT would never accompany me to a Beyonce concert or the "Dancing with the Stars" tour....yet somehow I got roped into going to the Mexican National's Soccer game.

I am going to ATTEMPT to describe to you in detail the misery that I experienced but I feel pretty confident that you will not be able to truly understand via this blog post. Let me at least give you a glimpse via a photo....
There were 70,000 people. And these 70k people had to cram into ONLY 3 entrances at the Bank of America stadium. Many of these fanatics were willing to do anything for a free t-shirt (like run over me) and also seemed to think it was normal to wear an entire bottle of cologne.
We were like sardines crammed together. Sweaty peeps all around me-gross.
Next there were the horns. O the horns. Darn you Allstate for providing 35,000 free horns. Imagine when you are in a parking lot and a car alarm is going off. Got it? Now multiply that sound by 50,000. Okay, now imagine hearing that for 3 hours nonstop.

Let me back up and explain that NT works with many clients who market to Spanish-speaking audiences and soccer is a great reach mechanism. That was the main goal of going: to prospect and see clients. But wow this cultural experience brought us so much more.

I kind of knew we were not in Kansas anymore when I saw the human Foosball table. see below.
Followed by when I was trampled by a guy dressed as a pinata (or matador-not sure) in order to catch a free t-shirt. But this was honestly the least of my problems. Let me show you a series of pictures and you tell me if you can see what is wrong with them.
That is right. I am wearing navy blue and everyone else and their brother are wearing green. Why is this you ask? Because the Mexican National team colors are green, red and white. Did I mention they are the world cup team and have one of the largest followings in soccer?

Did I also mention that the opposing team was Iceland and their team color is Navy Blue. Right....so now you see the problem?
I should have known something was up when I got booed crossing the street. Concerned for my safety.....I found myself also jumping in the crowd trying to catch the free t-shirt since they were green. It was that or buy a Mexico flag and wear it as a cape. (no really...this is a very popular look, see below)
Probably time to conclude this lengthy rambling. After standing in a line for a mini lifetime, the can of sardines was finally released and thank goodness our seats were in a suite. Yay. Behind the most ANNOYING HORN GUY EVER.
A night to be remembered. As in I need to remember this because NT owes me big time.
Strangely, when you leave at the half ....you find that at least the horn-lovin', t-shirt wearing, flag waving fans are LOYAL. Sticking with their team til' the end.

THE TOY BIN

Our pets really do not long for much. Mason eats organic food that is delivered each month from California, all the pets have two beds each, Parsnip has two scratching pads and a birdfeeder just for his daily entertainment and all the pets have more toys than they could ever use. It is the massive amount of toys that leads to this story....

I bring this up because the pets were in RARE form today--was it a full moon? I don't know but I know something was up with our pets today. To spare you each and every detail, I will skip to my favorite crazy highlight of the day.

HINES AND HIS TOY BIN.

Hines often plays this cute little game with NT. It is called "empty out the toy bin so my neat freak dad has a panic attack." And Hines plays this game about twice daily....pulling out one toy at a time as NT comes along right behind him to put it back. But today Hines took full advantage of the fact that NT was napping on the couch. It was a Free for All in the toybin as I did some photoshop work on my "Baby Emma pics" (no worries Chelsea, I finished them up today.....I am sure you were wondering if Emma would turn 1 year old before I actually got you her newborn pictures)

Let the madness begin....one plush lambswool beauty at a time.

This picture gives you a good idea of the destruction a six pound pup can cause in as little as 10 minutes.....impressive, huh?

In the mist of the chaos, I am simply trying to edit a few pics of baby Emma (that is her above) that are all starting to look a bit similar. Editing photos takes patience and a discerning eye which I tend to have only in very short bursts (especially when i have a small puppy running laps around legs pulling out 1.2 million stuffed toys)

These toys vary in size but most of them are bigger than Hines. The pig is his new favorite toy and he loves it!

Do you see anything funny about this picture? Look carefully. One of these things is NOT like the others. (HINT: bottom left corner)

I love it when Hines lays like this--I call it the Frog Pose. I encourage this pose.

Here it is close up......Frog Pose zoomed in. I Love it.

Okay, back to me. NT made me a smoothie which was a nice break in my 3+ hours of editing. Then I was chuggin' water--MUST fit in the bridesmaid dress this Saturday. Yikes! And of course,I am never too far from a Sharpie pen and list. The pic on the computer is of the super cute Addison.

Doesn't this picture just scream "I'm Guilty."?

Even with all of his drama and messes ......(did I mention he pooped on our beautiful white shag rug in the den and then NT stepped in it this morning?)

I still love him. Why? Because of that crazy underbite and his huge heart. (Though the poop on my white rug did strain our relationship for a minute)

Battle of the Lemonade

Today was a GORGEOUS day. And on days like this one in particular...I love Denver, NC. Lake towns are the best on 70 degree Saturdays! I was taking little Hinsey on a walk when I came up on an old school lemonade stand. The little boy was 12 (I asked) and he had two friends who were helping him run the stand. He put the full court press on me telling me I could get one glass for $.50 or two glasses for $1.00. What a bargain huh?

Obviously walking, I did not have any money on me but I told them I would be back. And let me tell you they DID NOT forget about me. But by the time I got back to the house I saw another lemonade stand had set up on a different corner--this time it was the girls.

This shaped up to be a nice competitive Boy vs. Girl lemonade war. Nothing like young entrepreneurs. Let's compare why Girls are ALWAYS so much better than boys---just saying.......

1: THE SIGNAGE. Please see below to compare the details of the boys sign vs. the gals.
Yep--the gals who are obviously more creative used color and visual images for their lemonade.

2. INCENTIVE TO BUY. The ladies were offering a FREE Reese's cup with purchase of a small lemonade. Okay, so yes they were melted but it is the thought that counts.

3. LOCATION. The boys win this one only because they were on the main street corner in the neighborhood. The girls were originally not allowed to leave their driveway but they did eventually get to move to the corner of our street but it is not a high traffic area.
4. COMMITMENT TO SUCCEED. Both lemonade stands started at noon. The boys closed up shop at 1:30. The girls stayed until the last cup (which was 4pm). That is commitment. I might hire them to make cold calls for me.

NT was the girls #1 customer. They ended up making $9.50 and NT and I were $2.50 of that total. What can I say we have a thing for young entrepreneurs.
Now I love that the little red headed gal wanted me to take a picture of the sign on the post but she didn't want to be in the picture. So she was "hiding"-kind of like Hines. He thinks if he can't see me then I can't see him.....not so much. (Check out her Rainbow Brite nails)

The boy walked down twice and asked the girl's how much they had made and they said "we are not telling you." This was when I knew the competition was on. NT and I supported both lemonade stands and really it gave me an idea....
I did start thinking that if radio advertising sales doesn't improve I can always set up shop in our front yard--good idea, huh? I could sell cookies and lemonade! Take that 8 years olds.

I wanna know what love is....

In the words of Foreigner....

"I wanna know what love is....

I want you to show me...."

Well, guys here it is....true love at it's finest. A man and his grill.
Those of you who know somebody who owns a Big Green Egg understand that it is a bit of a cult. . Seriously, they have their own festival called the Eggtober fest. The Big Green Egg is a charcoal grill and smoker and by NT's standards you would think it produced lumps of gold.

Let me give you a few case studies to show why I believe NT loves Eggward (the name of our grill) as much as he loves me and Mason.

1. When we were moving to Charlotte the only question NT asked the mover was how would the Big Green Egg get here safely? And then we chose our mover mainly based off the fact that he was also an "Egghead"
2. He calls himself an Egghead.
   
3. When the BGE was first delivered, NT looked at it with adoring eyes. It was a very similar look to as when we saw each other for the first time on our wedding day.
4. He named it Eggward.
5. We move it into the house when it rains. (okay-just kidding-but it is not a stretch)

There he is in all of it's beauty. That metal thing it is sitting in is called a "nest", cute huh? The truth is that the food REALLY is better when prepared on the Big Green Egg.
Are you wondering how NT talked me into getting this grill? Well, I was sold once I saw how cute it was. If only they had a BIG PINK EGG....that would be really cool! I should invent that for my female grillin' friends.
We use the Big Green Eggs to make grilled veggies--supper yummy!
We used to make steaks, ribs and barbeque but now on the new diet plan....we eat chicken. Chicken. chicken. and chicken.
The thing I like about this pic is the dogs in the background. I feel like we are living the life here in Denver. A beautiful evening by the lake, grilling out and the puppies are just chillin'. Mason is behind NT on the left and little Hinsey is that black spec on the right.
"mmmm......this grill brush smells like chicken....and I want to lick it but it is rough"
By the way, this is our new patio furniture. It is super comfortable. We also got a Gigantor umbrella for those hot Lake Norman summer days.

Some of you have asked....how is the diet going? Well....it is going. However, I am in the craving state. I would probably trade you my dog for a chocolate chip cookie right now. (Chris, don't get any ideas) The good news is I was able to zip the bridesmaid dress....the bad news is I can't breathe in it. And I look like a ghost. Must find a spray tan...STAT.