Father Memories

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!

My Step-Bro is a Self-Proclaimed Sketch-Bro

This past weekend, I went to New Orleans for the sole purpose of going to a wedding with my step-brother, Isaac.  Isaac and I have met before on some occasions, but never on a social outing.

Mainly holiday junk and a few emails.  We went out to Bourbon street, maybe had a little too much fun.  He ended up spending the night with Lindsey and I, and then had some breakfast, and headed to take him back to the hotel.  And then I got a text saying that his bed was too comfy to get up out of it, and that our plans shouldn't include him for that evening.

So I brought two dresses, depending on the weather and didn't get to wear either one of them.  Such a tragedy.  :)

So since sometimes I feel like the ultimate sketch ball, it made me feel good to know that someone out there exists who is like me, and technically sort of related to me.

"I am notorious for not doing things I committed to.  Do not be surprised if the wedding does not happen tonight." - Isaac. 

And while I know that half of being an adult is agreeing to things and then wishing you hadn't; I still wish I would have gotten to wear my awesome orange dress.

This is a terrible angle of me, and makes me look huge.  But it's a super good one of Isaac, so score some awesome step-sister points.

#tbt: Proof That my Sister and I are Awesome

So while going through all my pictures and getting them all scanned in, I came to a realization.  My sister and I were really cute kids.

And I get to say that because everyone knows of my self-loathing since about age twelve.  There are so many pictures from so many times in our lives, and it so awesome to get to re-look through them and maybe remember some of the moments.  There are pictures from both grandparents' house, from our house in Wisconsin and California, and from family gatherings.

It's pretty awesome.  It makes me incredibly thankful that the people in my life were obsessed with taking pictures of absolutely everything.  Especially because I know where I got it from.

Here's a few pictures that I'll enter into evidence as us being completely adorable:

Cutest kids ever right?

The first picture, just so you know the amount of awesomeness, is our sweaters over our head to make us have long hair.  Yep, that actually happened.  Sad thing is, every time I get a sweater stuck on my head like that, I leave it there for just a minute. 

#tbt: Grandparents Part Two

My dad's parents lived in a really small town: Lincolnton, NC.  It was exactly what you would think a small town anywhere would look like.  Hardly anything there.

But my grandparents were there, and we visited them often.  Mostly in the summer.  They had this doll named Timmy that my sister loved.  My grandma had a ton of costume jewelry that we always played with.  They always had a bowl of candy in the back room.  I remember so many Christmases there.  

I remember tickle fights on the floor with my dad; playing on the kitchen floor with cousins.  I remember grandma's dry, oh so dry, roast for dinner.  But her biscuits?  So awesome.  I remember getting BBQ from the (most likely only) place down the street.

I remember them probably not being able to really afford to give us Christmas gifts, but every year we had new Barbies and a new wardrobe to give them.  They cared about my sister and I so much.  Grandma sent birthday cards to us every year.  They were very good people.  

I'm so glad my family is a picture taking one.  I don't know what I'd do without all of these pictures.  It's so nice to be able to go back and look at these.  

I'm hoping to make a huge book that I'd be able to pass down to my kids, if that's in the cards of course.

#tbt: Grandparents Part 1

I was never one of those people that knew either set of my grandparents very well.  I knew that they loved me.

But we always lived so far away from all of them.

My maternal grandparents lived in Florida for pretty much our entire young life, until grandpa Lambert passed away.  To be honest, I don't even know that much about them, including the city where they lived.

I do remember getting to go to the beach in the back of my grandmother's car.  I remember going to Friendly's.  I remember playing a pizza topping game, and Topple.  I remember playing with a neighborhood girl named Jackie.  

We'd spend nights/mornings watching QVC.  Grandma Lambert swore by it.  She had an enormous collection of nail polish and shells.

I can't say that I remember much about my grandfather; he was quiet and liked a club called The Moose, and I remember spaghetti nights there.  We visited them many a summer, and Grandma would come up to Atlanta to visit us during the summer.  She'd walk us down to the neighborhood pool and feed me and my sister grapes like we were dolphins.  The things grandparents do for their grandchildren.  

I do not own very many pictures of my grandpa; in fact, I don't really know if anyone does.  These are a few of the pictures that I do have of them with me or together.  Grandma is still alive and well living in Pennsylvania; Grandpa has been gone for quite some time.  

Like I said before, I was never very close to these people, but I loved them, and knew they loved me too.

If there was anything I learned from not being close with my grandparents, is that when I have kids, they will definitely know their grandparents.

Sisterly Love

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.

What I Miss..

If I had a list of things I miss the most, the first thing that comes to mind is this chick...

 



Yep, that is my sister.  I think in some angles we look alike, which is why I picked this picture.

 

I haven't seen the Juney-boo in a year, and I kind of miss her.  When we were little everyone would always ask if we were twins.  I'm sure it didn't help that when my mom took us to Olan Mills, she would put us in matching outfits.  I can still remember this little white outfit, that looked like it had pink and blue splatters on it.  And of course, don't forget that the shirt was tied off to the side.  God save my sister if that picture ever happens to get in my hands, because hello deep inter-workings of the Internet, it will be on there.

 

My sister and I communicate mainly by text, and maybe not daily, but definitely once a week.  She lives so far away from me, and either one of us is always doing something. 

 

But I do miss her.  And love her lots.  And sometimes when I'm feeling nostalgic, I'll put her face all over my blog. 



Packers Game - Baltimore Edition

Yes, I know that I am way far behind in this update, but you know?  Sometimes in life, you just get far behind.  

The game was a little rainy and a little chilly, but the walk to the stadium in Baltimore is pretty cool.  You get to walk by the Orioles baseball stadium, and then up through their walkway, which I think they call the Walk of Champions, but I can't remember.  No pictures, because I was too busy having fun being a Packer fan, and jamming out to a street band.

Our seats were in the upper deck, and we were engrossed by a lot of other Packer fans as well.  It's always so nice to be a traveling Packer fan, because you know that you will never be alone.  It's got to be one of the best traveling teams in the country; plus getting to hear a chant of Go Pack Go in an opposing stadium is awesome.

The Packers did end up winning the game 19-17.  I still have a winning record when it comes to seeing the Packers!  Let's hope I can keep it going!!

What I Come From

There's a blog that I follow (okay, stalk/admire/wish I was) that is doing a blog every day in September (minus the weekends).  I've been in sort of a writing funk, and wasn't sure if I could survive every day in September seeing as how I've slowly stopped even doing it during the week.

But today's prompt, What I Come From, really got me thinking.  Not because I come from so much, but there is so much to know about me and how I got to be the person I am.

I was born to Mike and Diane in Waukesha Memorial Hospital in Waukesha, Wisconsin on a cold night in January.  Yeah, both of my parents will probably hate me for this one here, probably more so my mom than my dad, but oh well?  One of the happiest moments of your life, right guys?!

We never stayed in one place long; my sister was also born in Waukesha, but we moved pretty much everywhere.  Although, we never forget we have a legit tie to the Packers since, well, we were born there.  After Wisconsin, we moved to South Carolina . After that, to California, and after that to Denmark.  After Denmark came South Carolina again, and after South Carolina came Georgia.  I don't think I really ever minded moving around much; I don't remember that much about it.  Maybe I never fully grasped the meaning of it, but I do think that's where I get my love of travel and not liking to stay in one place for too long.

Which I think is a great trait.

Of course after I graduated high school from Georgia, I went to Auburn, and still live to this very day in Alabama, even though I swore up and down that I never would live in this damn state, but it's sort of sucked me in, and I'm obviously still here.

I have Auburn to thank for a lot of the ways I learn things; how to meet people, how to be a good person, how to speak intelligently, or when to not speak at all.  What it means to be loyal to a non-living entity, and to be so proud of something, that I will never betray it.

As dumb as that sounds, I really don't care.  Auburn University is a big part of my life, even outside of football.  

Ahh, freshman year.  Look at that face; no wrinkles!  It was so hot this day, but as freshman and this being our first game, were we really going to miss out on it?  No way.

So without getting too long winded or sappy, that is pretty much what I come from.  A family that I knew loved me and supported me, which is pretty much what everything boils down to anyway.