iPhone Pic Love

My life pretty much consists of taking pictures on my iPhone.  Which pretty much is equal to me being a terrible blogger.  Yes, I do have a pretty Nikon DLSR -- do I really know how to use it?  Nope.  Auto mode is my best friend.

A long time ago, I bought a manual to try and read it, because my owner's manual was like trying to read French.  It was when B was traveling and I had plenty of nights to uncork a bottle of wine and sit to read the thing and take millions of practice pictures.  

And what I learned was, I always have my iPhone with me - and all I have to do is press a button.  Would I like that awesome blurry effect?  Sure, I would.  But perhaps photography -- good photography, anyway -- is just not in the cards for me.  

So here's a few snapshots into Laura's world from the past couple of weeks:

taking screen shots of flights to Chicago -- planning a girls only trip in September.

how real classy girls do a Friday night - $7.99 bottles of wine from Publix.

she's worn out from you know, doing nothing all day.

enjoying executive level seats at Regions field.

gorgeous bham.

some people crack me up.

enjoying some Steel City Pops.  i had the banana and b had the blood orange.

I'm also pretty sure that taking amazing selfies of us eating popsicles would be impossible with a gigantic camera.

Although, all this self-deprecation about my camera skills makes me want to bust out that manual again and see if I can make it all the way through.

Out-of-Character

Have y'all ever done anything so crazy out of character, that you look back and are like WTF was I thinking?!?

I sure hope there are lots and lots of you out there that have these moments, because I really don't want to be the only one.

Last week or the week before ( I can't even remember!) when I was securing my pictures from the damnation of the inevitable computer collapse, I came across something I did last year that was absolutely insane.

I participated in a Boudoir photo shoot.

For someone who most certainly doesn't like having their picture taken or have any body part showing, this was incredibly weird on my part.  I was feeling particularly bad about myself, so I wanted to do something that would make me feel pretty.

It was a deal on Living Social, and the price was really awesome, so I decided to just go for it.  I went to my normal hair girl that did my wedding hair and makeup and has been my hair dresser for six years to get pretty and all done up for this thing.  It was held at the Sheraton downtown.  I was already super nervous, because I had to find an elevator that wasn't glass.  I got even more stressed out when I found out the photographer was a man!  Holy, are you kidding me?!?  My only saving grace was that his wife was his on-site hair and make up girl, as well as making sure you didn't look like a complete moron or have anything sticking out that you know, wasn't supposed to.

Obviously, most of these are blog inappropriate.  While there is no full blown nakedness, well, it's still a little awkward to show you pictures of me in lingerie! You haven't taken me to dinner yet!  

                  

I'm comfortable with showing you these two -- people way wear less out than the picture on the left, and well, War Eagle with the picture on the right.

I had a super hard time getting comfortable enough to not feel awkward with the guy.  He was sweet, and he did try, but I don't think I could muster up the courage to do it again.

Light Tunnel Photo Shoot

If you live in or around Birmingham, I know you've seen these beauties:

They're the light tunnels!

I know if you've been to a Baron's game, you sort of have to walk through one of them from the parking lot. (PS, don't pay for parking...you can park along side the street right next to it for free!).

So after a few brewskies and after three, yes three, fifty cent hot dogs, what's a girl to do except go play in said light tunnels?  Even maybe a mini-photo shoot?  And the hot dogs are fifty cents on Tuesday, for anyone who caught that the hots dogs were only fifty cents, and seriously, what's a baseball game without a hot dog or three?

Now I know what you're thinking...that lighting...how horrible!  And yes, yes it was.  But, you are really not thinking much about that after your night of baseball game drinking and a trip across the street to Good People.  So here my friends are my amazing (ahem, NOT) pictures from a night in the light tunnels..

Some more real life proof ladies and gentlemen, that I am, in fact, a huge dork.

Hope y'all have a good weekend!!

A Letter to A Love

Dear pizza delivery man,

Thank you so much for always delivering my most favorite thing to me when I need it most.  I should totally marry you.  Or at the very least pay your car insurance.

When I crave that delicious pizza, you are only a click or a call away.  You are there after a long night of drinking; you are there to satisfy my craving, even if that's at nine at night after I've already eaten dinner.  (that has happened, don't judge me.)

So what I'm saying is, thank you so much for risking your life to deliver my pizza in a timely manner.  We all know that there are crazy drivers out there.  And you do it all while having to smell that heavenly smell while doing so.  How you don't weight five hundred pounds from eating other people's pizza, I will never know.

You, you are a true hero.

love,

Laura

P.S.  You're the best.

Long Lost New Orleans Pics

I was going through my old photos and found a bunch of hidden New Orleans ones, which for one reason or another, didn't get included on the blog here.

i'm guessing i either forgot about them, or something else super exciting caught my attention, and i decided to blog about that instead.

there is so much to new orleans; almost every time i go there, i find something different.  a different place to go, a spot that i've somehow never photographed, a different food, a different drink.  there is just so much to do there!  all of these things help to make it my most favorite place on earth.  

so without further ado, some long lost pictures from several times in new orleans.

    this is just an assortment of some of the things that got left out from past trips.

so i'm thinking a trip back for my 30th.  

would be even better if Auburn decided they may want to go to the Sugar Bowl this year.

Happy Things

This has been one of the worst weeks at work that I can remember.  I feel so overwhelmed that ti's impossible for me to even feel successful.  

I feel like I'm so far away from where I should be in my life, and it's really starting to bother me.   So I've been trying to think of the little things that make me happy; the things that get me through the day.

Transportation friends; people who truly understand what I do every single day.  Without these guys to bitch to, I would have no idea how to handle what I do.

My Stell-dog.  She is so amazingly sweet and just knows when you're sad.  She'll come and nuzzle and just be sweet.  And sometimes sweet doggy cuddles are all you really need.  I mean when you come out of the shower to this, how in the world can you not love it?

And then you have a random ass Yoshi just hanging from somebody's rear view mirror...I really don't know how you can get much better than this.  I'm pretty sure I laughed for ten minutes straight.

 

And then there's food.  I've been low-carbing it for a while, so these hot wings were exactly what I needed.  They were so hot, but they were so good.  I'm pretty convinced that wings are the best thing in the world.  Also bruschetta done right with fresh mozarella, tomatoes and basil grown in the backyard?  Pretty hard to beat.

           

Anyway, these are a few of the things that are helping me keep my sanity this week.  Also the promise of a Braves game and seeing one of my oldest friends from high school is keeping a smile on my face.

Only one more day.  I think I can, I think I can.

Weekend Randoms.

Weekends are for having fun.  I am of the school that I work to live.  I have been ridiculed lately for leaving work exactly at 5pm.  However, I don't see anything wrong with this.  I get to work at seven in the morning.  And I work my butt of when I'm there.  So if I'm done, I don't see anything wrong with leaving on time. 

I'm very good at budgeting my time at work.  So when it's exactly five on a Friday, I am out of there.

And then it's time for fun.  So here's a few randoms from the past couple of weekends.

birthday cupcake from Brandon.

DJ on his first night out as a Daddy.

Rockefeller pizza at Slice in Birmingham.  Yes, those are fried oysters on that pizza.  I'm telling you; I could seriously eat pizza every day for my entire life.

Long-legged dog.

Ingy at our decompression session.

Enjoying some rye on a Saturday afternoon.

B and Joey talking about who knows.  They were both so into this conversation, they didn't know the picture was being taken.

This weekend our friends from Eclectic are coming up to share it with us.  It will be filled with el changos (more on that of course), Blue Monkey choir, and perhaps some cupcakes.  So excited!

Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Ramblings and a Sweet Cheeseburger

I have been so full of thoughts lately.  When I'm at work, when I'm running, when I wake up at 2am, when I'm sitting watching TV, playing with the dog....all I do is think. 

I am 28 years old.  I don't know if I want kids.  I see other couples my age (all of them) either already with kids or wanting them in the near future.  I can't see myself as a mother, a good one anyway.  I feel like I need to forgive myself for all the crappy things I've done and said in my life.  Sometimes I'll just sit and think about all the terrible decisions I made, things I've said to people, or even worse done to them.

I, of course, am not perfect.  I have never once claimed to be.  It has taken me 28 years to finally be ok with myself, the way that I am.  I will never ever be a great athlete; I'm ok with it.  I won't ever get to write and get published; I'm ok with that.  I talk to truck drivers all day, every day; I'm ok with that.  I have written crazy text messages and emails to people; I'm cool with that, too.  Whether the people on the receiving end were, I don't know, but I have finally forgiven myself for saying the things I have and to whom I've said them.  

I'm tellin ya; it's exhausting up in this head.  

And because I want to and can, I'm going to show you awesome pictures of our dinner last week at Mugshots in Birmingham.....Yummy!

Menu.  I don't really care about how they came to be....something about Tuscaloosa?  :)

I became obsessed with these things when I worked at Ruby Tuesday...except we called them southwestern eggrolls.  Same amazingness here. 

And my cheeseburger!  The pepperjack burger came with a huge 'ole onion ring on top!  In all it's fried glory, it was amazing.  Plus they make their own ranch, and you can't beat that.

I know it got a little serious at the front end of this, but as previously posted, I am not a very serious person.  Some times a girl's just got to let it out.

What's It All About?

So, I was talking to a friend of mine, and after he asked (with much hesitation), I gave him the link to the blog.

After a night of conversation, this is what he said to me, "I don't get your blog."

And I haven't gotten over it.

Do I need to have a purpose to this blog? A lot of blogs that I adore seem just as random as mine. They talk about their lives, what they eat, what they did this past weekend. I guess they just do it in a more glamorous way, because the majority of them have way more glamorous lives.

Let's take myself for instance.

I work around truck drivers. I see them, talk to them, listen to them, sometimes smell them, on a daily basis. And this is not to say that I don't have the utmost respect for over-the-road truck drivers; I do. Can you imagine being on the road for days after days without seeing your family, just sitting in a truck hour after hour? Umm, no.

I live in probably the most boring city in America. Nothing happens here.

I am 28. (ugh, happy late birthday to me). Which in itself makes me boring.

I mean, does my blog actually need a theme? Do I need to pick something and just stick with it? Should it be a style blog (no, I will not do that to you), or a blog about what I deal with at work (no, I won't do that to myself)?

So, while it probably does need a theme of some sort, I don't think I will try to force the issue. If my blog is as random as I am in real life, then so be it.

I am not perfect and will never try to be. This song has been stuck in my head for the past two days, so here ya go. This is your payment for reading this awful blog post. I promise to be back to "normal" soon.

Jason Isbell "Codeine"

Randomness Never Hurt Anyone

Ok, so I'm going to random it up a little. With all the bad and negativity in my life, I'm just going to put down a whole bunch of stuff that makes me happy.

When I quit this job, I didn't think it would be like this. I didn't think people would outright "shun" me. Let alone a group of grown men. If anything, it has made me even further realize that I made the right decision. It has also made me decide that when (not if, but when) I have my own business, that I will strictly only hire women.

Here's some photos of the stell-dog. She is such a sweetheart. I spend more time with her than I do with my husband, since he is out of town so often. She's not supposed to be on the bed, but seriously? Can you look at that face and say no? I didn't think so.

And she always, always, has some kind of toy in her mouth. Sometimes two. She is so motivated by toys, it's funny.

Aww, I just wanna squeeze those cute little ears off!


My mom and step-dan (aka GUIDO!) sent me flowers for my new job! How sweet was that?! Then when I called to thank them, Guido was like, "Did they put pink flowers in there. I told them to put pink flowers in there since it's your favorite color." Really? I heart him.

If anybody can identify this flower, please tell me what it is. I love it!! Well, it probably doesn't matter. Scenario: I find out what these flowers are. I rush to Lowe's/Home Depot to buy them. I plant them in the ground. They die two days later. I have no planting gene whatsoever.

My lemony-goodness cupcakes! I got this out of my cupcake cookbook. The baking part I got down; the frosting part I need help with, plus it didn't turn out as yellow as I wanted. But that doesn't really matter when I'm chowing down on them; amazing!

Ugh. I can't take a good cupcake picture to save my life. They look like crap here, but trust me, these were my best batch yet. Nobody got burned; nobody got under-cooked. The toothpick came out nice and clear. I patted myself on the back for these!



So, a few random tidbits of happiness. I can't wait to share what the new bride is doing with her bridesmaid invitations!! They are so cute! I'm so glad that I get to re-live a wedding. I am so so so glad that this girl gets to plan the bachelorette party....I just love weddings!