Waiting for the Great Pumpkin

Happy Halloween!

Wishing you a fun, safe and "spooktastic" Halloween this weekend!

Movin' on Up

I have my FIRST "unofficial" photography session this weekend!

One of my friends from work just got engaged (congrats K!) and I convinced her to let me take her engagement photos! Although I am FAR from a professional, I am still learning in hopes of one day actually becoming an amateur "professional" photographer (does that even make sense?)!!

I know, I know. I also promised you another website devoted specifically to my photography, but that hasn't happened yet. You see, I like to procrastinate occasionally on my primary obligations (statistics, laundry, playing with the cat, twiddling my thumbs, etc) and therefore wind up with absolutely hardly any time to do things I actually enjoy. Although after last post, I'm sure I totally just contradicted myself.

I digress... so I have a challenge for you, my web-savvy readers. You can help me decide on the color scheme for my new website (which will be coming AFTER December once I finally get the heck finished with this Bachelor's Degree!). I've put a voting tool at the top of the page for you to make your decisions.

so... VOTE AWAY. It will give me something to do when I'm supposed to be writing my 5-page case analysis that's due before midnight tonight. Which I haven't even started. Must have forgot about that one!

King of the Hill (and other procrastination activities)

Here's my baby... king of the hill. The hill is really more like my nice zebra-print pillow which I HAND MADE with fabric that cost more than I'm really willing to admit (sorry B). Meh - what's a few kitty nail pulls anyway?! Good thing he only lasted long enough for me to take a few hundred pictures. I may have blinded him with my flash.
So in other news, Bobby and I did absolutely nothing all weekend and it was fabulous. When is the last time you did nothing? When I say nothing, here's what I'm implying: fatty Pillsbury Cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Saturday morning (which started at approximately 9:48 a.m.), about 3-4.5 hours of watching College Football (Saturday), a trip to Target just because, about 3-4.5 hours of watching PRO Football (Sunday), home cooked oatmeal, a long and leisurely bike ride around the neighborhood, and about 9389034 cups of hot apple cider - my seasonal favorite. All-in-all, it was wonderful.
AND because I have a Statistics Mid Term to work on this week (which is due on Saturday), I thought I'd celebrate by telling you, my dear readers, 25 things about me (cue: "You're so vain..." song). For my blog-stalking friends, I hope to see the same "game" on your blogs.

1. I have extremely fickle feet. When they are hot, they swell which often results in me having to lay down and hold my feet above my head (great ab workout). When they are cold - look out! Cold feet make me irritable.

2. Speaking of feet... I hate "naked toes" (as my loving husband likes to call them). I don't necessarily mind them on other people (much to my sister's dismay), however, I can't stand them on mine. And just in case you were wondering, I had a French Pedicure on in the picture above...
3. The name "Melissa" means "Honey Bee." Perhaps that's why when I wear my "Sour Lemon" colored shoes with black, people tend to make fun of me for resembling a bumble bee.
4. I cry all the time. Home Depot commercials at Christmas time, Hallmark commercials, a good chick-flick, a BAD chick-flick, you name it. I'm a serious weeper.
5. I'm secretly in love with Brett Favre. And Jude Law. 'Lawd have mercy.
6. I HATED Baseball before I met Bobby. In fact, a few months after we started dating, I specifically remember (and he does too) asking him "Can we not go to any more baseball games?" We frequently went to Oriole's games one summer. My severe hatred ended when I started working for the team. When asked during my interview what my favorite current player was, I swiftly responded "I just love Jim Palmer. He's such a talented pitcher." Even though Jim Palmer is about 65 and hasn't played baseball in 30 years (I can hear my mother-in-law laughing now). I still got the job somehow... (Man, I miss Baltimore. I love this picture... taken at a game that went 10 innings).

7. My favorite noise in the whole world is the sound of our door opening when Bobby comes home from work.
8. I hate politics. This time of year makes me cringe.
9. I have always wanted to be a Southern Belle. Accent, etiquette, the works. Until I met Bobby, I was headed South-Bound to East Carolina University. I decided to stay in Maryland with my love, but my mind has "gone to Carolina" (oh! the pun!).

10. Photo-editing makes me happy. It makes me feel artsy when I don't have an artistic bone in my body.
11. I love my handwriting. When I was in elementary school, I used to write so slow because I enjoyed watching myself write. I used to copy my sister-in-law's handwriting because I thought it was so pretty (Oh my, Jen, how I was so enamored with you when I was little! I still am!)

12. I can't get enough of magazines. Give me the gossip, the style, the home decorating, the Martha. I don't care... there's nothing more comforting that getting lost in a comfy blanket with a good magazine. I miss my "In Style" subscription.

13. I love watching Bobby play the guitar. It makes me swoon like I was a high school girl.

14. I want to join the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. I secretly wish I could still fit into my high school cheer leading uniform and just pretend - I'm on the far right (mind the photograph... oh, the days before digital photography).

15. I love to people-watch. Stick me on a bench at the County Fair (or the local Wal-Mart) and I'll be completely entertained.
16. Sewing makes me feel so domestic and June Cleaver-like and I LOVE IT!!!!! I wish I had the time to do it more.
17. I am SO excited to be pregnant and have a baby (Lord Willing) eventually, but I am completely terrified of the whole pain and blood thing that's involved.

18. I used to hide candy in different places in my room growing up. More recently, I hid Gingersnaps (yes, the grandma cookies) in empty oatmeal boxes in the pantry so Bobby doesn't find out. Well, he caught me and now I have to find a new hiding spot.
19. I own over 30 pairs of shoes. About 80% of those are high heels.

20. I love change. Not big change, just change that I'm in control of. Re-arranging our room, switching out the curtains, changing my wardrobe seasonally, CUTTING OFF MY HAIR (just kidding, I like it). It makes my little heart content.
21. I hate touching the bottom when swimming in a lake, pond or ocean. I absolutely refuse. Bobby hates going to the beach with me now because I always cling on his back. Take me to Hawaii or Mexico where you can see the bottom and I'll be a much happier girl.
22. I love taking pictures. I love capturing someone's mood, the moment, or just a pretty scene. God's creations never cease to amaze me and I see them the best through the lens of my camera.

23. I HATE shopping for jeans. They are one of my least favorite things to wear and I can never find a pair that fits me correctly...except for my skinny jeans, which are looming creepily in my closet, begging to be worn again.
24. I certain that I could survive on the following foods for the rest of my life: Chick-fil-a Chicken Sandwich, caramel candies, Potato Skins, Cashew Nuts, and Caramel Macchiato's.
25. The thing I love most about being married (as someone asked me the other day)? Never having to go home when the day is over.

Ok, now that I've completely eliminated all my readers at this point, I will surely miss you all. Good-bye forever!
Just kidding. Now you give me 5 things about yourself and then we can all sing "You're so vain... I bet you think this song was about you..."

Orange Juice Sunrise

Why Orange Juice? Because I don't like Tequila.

God sure has been performing with his paintbrush these past few mornings! I've had the pleasure of waking up to these almost every day this week.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend full of relaxation and enjoyment as you take in the crisp fall air. I will NOT be up early enough to witness another one of these sunrises because my alarm will be turned off. Completely. The only alarm that will be going off tomorrow will be the sound of Killian ramming his head against our bedroom door at lightening speeds in an effort to wake us up.

Sorry Buddy, not today!!!

Avoir un bon weekend, mes amis!

Melting Heart

I am pretty much useless whenever there is a baby around.

This Saturday, Bobby and I drove up to B-More to help his little Bro, Joe (a.k.a. J-Money) with his Eagle Scout Project. I'm not much good when it comes to heavy lifting and power tools and concrete and wood and stuff, so I just tagged along to take pictures and document the whole thing. I was doing a great job until about 2 hours into it when Bobby's other brother showed up with their baby (who is now an 8 month baby) Ben. I came home with more pictures of the baby than I did of the Eagle Project (just kidding J-Money, I have a lot of them for you). Anyway, this kid is the cutest thing... I mean the baby-blue's... I can just feel my knees weakening. This boy is going to melt a lot of hearts some day...


Look at that smile!!! (Mind the bag of concrete)

How cute is this? I love it...

The Leaves are Changing

...and so is my hair!


6 inches gone and so are my highlights! Thanks Candice (who is Preggo!) for giving me my new Fall look! I'm still getting used to not being able to run my fingers through my long locks, but I must say, Bobby is thrilled that my new 'do has shaved about 15 minutes off my "getting ready" time!

The Little Black Dress

“When a little black dress is right, there is nothing else to wear in its place.”
- Wallis Warfield Simpson, Duchess of Windsor

There is a time in every girl's life when she watches "Breakfast at Tiffany's" for the first time. It's almost like womanhood "clicks" and at that moment, she wants nothing more than to be the epitome of elegance, class and grace. Who else besides Audrey Hepburn in the 60's can walk around New York City, any city, at five o'clock in the morning in a little black dress, a crystal tiara, opera-length gloves and dripping in strands of opulent pearls (I'm sorry if I've totally lost you, men!).

Countless style icons have been remembered posthumously if only for the style of their little black dress. They say that the number one thing every woman should have in their wardrobe is none other but a Little Black Dress. Commonly referred to as the "LBD," this is one piece of fashion that is not a trend, but a timeless classic that has almost no rules... only endless possibilities.

Since that day I watched "Breakfast at Tiffany's" with my oh-so-proper and fashionable mother, I have hopelessly pined for my own "LBD." I believed it to be a lot like love - when you know, you know. I had yet to make that encounter with the perfect LBD until I popped online one evening to J. Crew's website (for those of you who know me, this is no surprise that I visit this particular store). There it was. Little. Black. Silk Taffeta. On Sale. There were no words. I practically crawled into the other room to show my loving husband (who is the BEST listener). He's made all my little girlie fantasies come true - my first Tiffany's bracelet, a gourmet cheese grater, a diamond engagement ring. Let me rephrase - he knows when to take a hint.

I digress.

After a long day at work today, I walk up all 3 flights of horrible stairs - in heels - to find a glorious, brown J. Crew box with that comforting navy blue writing on the box. At that same moment my eyes set on my long lost love, my phone rings with my astute husband on the other line. "Don't open it until I get home" he says. OH! The infliction! Wait 10 minutes until he returns?! 10 dreadfully long minutes later, he FINALLY enters the scene of me clutching the box with my life. I throw my arms around him and give him a big kiss (poor sucker, he only wanted me to wait so he could get a big kiss) because I know that only good things can come out of that very brown box which was now flattened from my "dainty" (i.e. kung fu) grip. I couldn't wait. I opened the box and immediately felt the familiar crinkle of a glorious silk-taffeta dress, MY very own, very FIRST Little Black Dress.

The Times They Are-A Changin'

This infamous Bob Dylan song has been echoing in my head. All. Day. Why? No idea. But it needs to stop. But it made me think. I love old pictures. Actually, I love new pictures that are changed to make like old pictures. If you ask my Dad, he'll just go on and on about how far digital photography has come and "why would anyone want to degrade the image's quality to make it look like it came from a time when computers didn't exist??!!" Well, they did, but they took up an entire room that needed to be temperature controlled and only engineers with pocket protectors could enter. But that's besides the point.

Well whatever. These pictures make me feel like there's some in-depth story of how each came to be (I mean, who is "DEAN" anyway!?).


How many "Hallelujah's" were shouted in this church? How many souls saved?

Did some heart-broken teenage girl spend countless nights glaring out this window, waiting for her high school sweetheart to return? (Return? From what?!)
I just don't even know about this one.
So, loving readers, thank you for enduring another meaningless post. I must be procrastinating from something... oh yes, Statistics. Maybe I'll scour E-Bay for some really rare shoes to keep me busy for a while.

With the best of intentions,

Your Straight-A Blogger

TGIF!

...it's the weekend. And I'm going through Starbucks withdrawals. So tomorrow morning, I will be sending Bobby in to "take one for the team" and get me my Non-Fat Caramel Macchiato. He's fretting because it's a "girlie drink." This is what marriage is all about, right?!

In other news, my company had a Chili cook-off yesterday after work. I couldn't resist entering myself because, if I must say, my chili is pretty darn delicious. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who thought so! I won "Best Over-All Chili" out of about 10 other types of chili!! Woo Hoo! So to celebrate tonight, Bobby went out and got me some frozen french fries. We cooked those babies up and had Chili Cheese Fries (a severe weakness of mine) for dinner! Yum...

All food aside, I hope everyone has a great weekend! And I hope you can see one of these (above) for yourselves. That would, however, require getting up BEFORE the sun rises, which I highly discourage on weekends.

Beautiful Mornin'

Ah, Fall. 52 degrees, crisp breezes, hot showers, late sunrises (this was mine this morning), ugly socks and "fleecey" pants. All of which made my morning this morning just perfect. To enhance my morning thus far, I decided to mosey myself onto Starbucks. Because Starbucks makes everything that much (holding fingers together to imply "just a little bit") better.

I waltz in the front door and listen to the sound of my very high heels "clip-clop" on the wonderfully earthy-colored tiles of the Starbucks floor. My freshly curled hair bouncing on my shoulders... "I should be in a Starbucks commercial," my poor little ego says to my brain. Feeling just great, I step in line when disaster strikes.

"Hey there Mrs. Barrick..." Strike One. ("He knows my name?!" My eyes wide with shock)

"Non-Fat Caramel Macchiato again this morning?" Strike two.

("Why yes. Except tomorrow morning, you can call me Mrs. Fatty Mc Jiggley Pants." I say to myself.)
Smile and nod yes...

"Ok, great! We all know it's you coming in the mornings because of your shoes." Strike three.

As I grab my fat-pill (coffee) and walk out of the not-so-comfortable-anymore Starbucks, the ONLY Starbucks in Saint Mary's County, I make a few mental notes for myself:

a) Never go to a food place so frequently that they know you by name.
b) Never go to a food place so frequently that they know your order.
c) Never go to a food place where they can recognize you by the sound of your walk.

Mortified, I shrugged back to my car, took one look at my freshly brewed Non-Fat Caramel Macchaito and vowed to never visit Starbucks again...

...at least never between the hours of 7 am and 11 am daily.

Apple Pickin' and Corn Huskin'

Yee haw, ya'll, we've been havin' a hoot down here in SOMD this Fall! Ok, just kidding, it's not that red neck. But seriously, I've seen more livestock and corn in the past month than I think I have my entire life... and that's nothing to snicker about, either.

This weekend, my oldest sister, Holly, and her two handsome boys (my nephews) came down to visit me and Bobby! They walked straight in to meet the cat, who was no less than thrilled to see two very energetic boys. Let's just say that Killian has been sleeping since they left 2 hours ago.

Anyway, to give them all a taste of SOMD's "Agro-tourism" industry we decided to take them to a local farm/orchard. They had a "maize maze" (corn maze) in the shape of a rooster that I'm pretty sure was about 3 acres big. Whew. We went on the same path about 93 different times... but no matter. We made it back after a few hours! I picked some apples as I had been long wanting to make a fresh Apple Pie. Then we headed back for a smorgasbord of Fall eats. I'm still digesting from the very large slice of pie I ate (a la mode, of course) and from the generous helping of home-made Shepherd's Pie (thanks Jen, for your recipe!).

Holly and the boys, Jacob and Adam.
Kings of the Cornfield!
I just love these goats! They make me smile.
Pumpkin face.
Like my artistic set up for the apple pie? That was Bobby's idea...

Speed Glider

We have a cat.

Some days we have nothing to do, so we watch the cat. Some days he won't perform while under pressure, but today, he was on fire...

This morning as I was switching my clothes from my summer wardrobe to my fall/winter wardrobe (so sad), I noticed Killian sitting on the ledge of our bed. I egged him on to come closer to me,

"Here kitty, kitty... [kissing noise] here kitty!" He lays down and looks at me... "Here Killian!"

He digs his claws into the mattress and makes a B-line all the way around the mattress, pulling himself along the ledge of our bed!!! I've never seen the cat move so fast, but he was a-movin'! He kept doing this, thankfully, so I had some time to get my camera and pull Bobby in to watch. Oh, if only my DSLR had a movie setting.

Look at him go! (He tucks his ears back to reduce the drag)
What are you lookin' at?