A couple of weeks ago our church held a fabulous event called Mission Possible. It was several community events at the same time with over 400 volunteers. We were everywhere, planting flowers at the hospice house, glamour shots at the Hope House for battered women, cheerleading and soccer camps in underprivileged neighborhoods, cleaning of the hospitality house, habitat for humanity and so much more.

I luckily got the chance to take photographs at several of the locations....and here are a few.

HOSPICE HOUSE
A sweet little gal helping to plant flowers....loved her eyes.
Cheerleading Camp!
Hands-On at the Craft Table.
Adorable huh?

Now, off to California we go. You can expect to see a gazillion pictures when we get back. I may (depending on internet hook up) do a posting while we are there. Our flight is at 6am tomorrow so we have to be at the airport at 4:30am. I will be a sleeping zombie by the time we make it to the Giants game tomorrow!

HERE ARE A FEW OF THE WINERIES THAT WE ARE VISITING:

BELLA VINEYARDS

SIMI WINERY

CAKEBREAD WINERY

I miss him.

So we are heading off to California tomorrow (Sat.) so we had to drop off the kids off at the grandparent's house. Hines at my parent's and Mason at NT's parents.....and Parsnip was left to fend for himself.

You guys probably know how much I love our pets so it was really hard for me to say good-bye.....especially to Hines. Hines is with me EVERY WHERE I go....while I work, when I cook, when I pee....

I almost cried when I dropped him off with my Dad and I had to recite a few famous lyrics from my girl Fergie...."I'm gonna miss you like a child misses their blanket, but I gotta get a move on with my life. It's time to be a big girl now and big girl's don't cry" Thank you Fergie for those melodic lyrics

Truthfully, this is how a parent must feel when dropping their kids off at kindegarten because here I am all overcome with emotion and Hines barely looked back. He was just so happy to be with my dad.....also known as the "King of Chicken." See....Hines doesn't get much people food, but my dad has a habit of slipping the pups chicken, oatmeal cookies, ice cream sandwiches etc. ( NOTE FOR MY DAD: Dad, please don't feed little Hinsey anything other than his treats and food, I weighed him before I left so I am watching you ;-)

Now, I wanted to share with you the packing process for both dogs.

Here is Hines "stuff":

4 stuffed animals, Peanut Butter for his bone, a pair of my shoes because he likes to sit on them, food, a leash, bones, my sports bra and knee brace....i have not idea why but Hines loves my exercise clothes, treats, clothing, a brush....

Here is Mason's "stuff":

FROG AND FOOD

And I would show you my stuff but I have a problem with over packing and it is kind of embarrassing.

Mason ready to hit the road....
And for those who need a Hines fix (aka: Chris)....here he is:

FAT AND HAPPY

Is it possible to really be "fat and happy?" Because I kind of think not and here is my logic. Yes, I do feel happy when I am eating queso or a brownie a la mode but I am not that happy when my pants don't fit or my stomach rolls out on top of my skirt....gross.

I guess maybe life is good fat and happy as long as you can wear yoga pants and big t-shirts but let's be real....I am in sales...I don't think rolling out in my "comfy" clothes is acceptable.

However, I do think America is perhaps embracing the muffin top (that is what they call that fat on top of the pants) because women's clothing designs are really helping to cover up my "out of shapeness"

First here is the muffintop in detail for those who are not in the know....
But luckily I am never tempted to wear a very short tank with too tight jeans and a studded belt. Instead I have found 5 key wardrobe pieces that allow me to eat Queso and still hide my not so tight belly.

KEY WARDROBE PIECE #1: THE TUNIC
Look at the flowiness....that just screams eat a brownie and you don't even have to suck in!

KEY WARDROBE PIECE #2: LEGGINGS
Yep....these little babies just suck you right in. It is like spanx but cuter (and the celebs wear them too which is an extra plus)

KEY WARDROBE PIECE #3: THE SCARF
The scarf is merely used as a decoy....a distraction if you will. As in "don't look at my muffin top, instead look at my beautiful turquoise scarf which was handcrafted....by someone overseas"

KEY WARDROBE PIECE #4: DRESSES
Love 'em and couldn't live without them! It is a highlight of summertime...dresses!

KEY WARDROBE PIECE #5: BLOUSY TOP
I think I make up words on my blog....like "blousy"....but think I am allowed to do this since I write the blog? Not sure. But the point is any blousy top is alright with me!

Now if I only I could get Todd the Bod (my crazy trainer who tortures me to the point of not being able to breathe) to understand that I just want to wear tunics and scarves and eat ice cream freely with no guilt.

California in four days! Wine Country here we come.......about that diet.....

I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks. And I am the old dog. I am embracing my soon to be "oldness" since I will be 30 years old in 8 weeks. And as far as my new tricks....I am taking a photography class at the wonderful Light Factory here in Charlotte. It is every Wednesday evening for 3 hours of fun!

After my first class, which was last week they gave us a homework assignment of shooting in the semi-manual setting of Aperture Priority. (Basically shooting at different f-stops which affects the depth of field ...ie: smaller stops (larger f numbers) produce a longer depth of field, allowing objects of all distances to all be in focus at the same time.

I tend to like to shoot with shallow depth of field....making the subject pop and leaving the background blurry. Here a few pics from my first homework assignment....
By the way...who writes the fortunes that go inside of these cheap cookies? Do you know their contact info? Because I need to email them and tell them they misspelled From on my fortune and it is messing up my picture. (These were at f5.6-see how the background is out of focus?)
Then since my poor pets are a bit tired of my gazillion pictures, I decided to torture various fruits and veggies around the house. Smile Limes.
Look this way Oranges. (f5 on this one)

And .....say cheese....I mean citrus....(ha, ha-I crack myself up) f9 here..
Have you seen my latest Home Good amazing deal? Right in the middle of the summer dishes was this fun and fab suitcase. I love the colors. Luckily my mom has the patience to look thru clutter and found this....
By the way, NT has a birthday this week. Happy Birthday honey! Now HE is REALLY old-34! just kidding....kind of.

Oh Baby! (or babies in this case)

First, I apologize for my lack of blogging. I am so dern busy. My spellchecker is highlighting the word "dern".....is that not a word? I swear it is in Kannapolis.

Anywho, I am sure you are busy too. Springtime really brings out my crazy schedule-it is the culmination of the busiest month in radio sales, the season end of all my favorite reality tv shows, our anniversary, my dad and my husbands birthday, mother's day, business trips out the yin-yang and we are going to California in a week. Yikes!

Did I mention Project Runway, Amazing Race, American Idol, Survivor, The Hills, The City, Real World/Road Rules Challenge, Dancing with the Stars and Glee are all on at the same time....oh I did mention that....ok then...onward...

I promised earlier in the week to share some pictures from the Crim Maternity shoot. NT and I met this amazing couple at church and learned their special story (& challenges) about trying to get pregnant and now they are blessed to be pregnant with twins!!!

This picture session was not meant to be like the typical maternity pictures with the bare belly out because Wendy had already done a few shots like this and felt she was "past the point of cute preggo belly." Instead she wanted pictures to showcase how supportive her husband Matt has been through the pregnancy. Pictures that showed how amazing of a Dad he is about to be--

Speaking of Proud Daddy...
Now....I know that all the photo websites say that selective color (leaving color in one spot of the photo) is out of date....overdone....cheesy...BUT....I still love it. Especially in this case with the color blocks and baby clothes. I don't care if it is overdone....Selective Color 4 life.


That's right.......there are two little bundles of joy in there. 2 boys.

Hopefully, in a couple of months you can check back and see some fun baby shots of the sure to be beautiful Crim Twins.

It is hard to believe but NT and I have been married one year today. It has been an amazing ride so far.... a lot of change......we have both started new jobs, we moved to Charlotte, we got a puppy....a wonderful first year if you ask me! My goal was to pick my favorite five wedding pictures for the blog but somehow five became 25.

My handsome husband.

This one is probably my favorite. Today anyways. We have over 2000 wedding pictures...and my question is what do you do with all of them? I feel kind of weird to have pictures of Neal and I in EVERY room (and always wearing the same outfit ;-)

These balloons possibly could have lifted NT off of the ground.

Our beautiful wedding party.

Our table numbers showcased different places that NT and I had traveled. This is Vegas. And No that is not really Johnny Depp....it is a wax statue.
My PaPa. (pronounced: Paw. Paw.)
I wish I could post all of the pictures of us walking down the aisle because I waved the entire time. It was as if I was in a parade. Hey you....and you...and you..you..you..you. I think I was just so excited to see our family and friends...I couldn't stop waving!
My lovely Grandma. precious.

I was in love with my flowers. and my soon to be husband.

Our first dance. I love NT's expression in this picture.

My Dad and I did a choreographed dance number, it was a really special moment for me and something I will always remember!

The CANDY BAR. (with my little handmade signs)

Cheers to another great year of wedded bliss.