The Wise's Take Thanksgiving

I woke up in my old bed, in my old room, with my groggy husband beside me. My nephews trophies were scattered about and multiplication charts hung from the walls instead of my beautiful Jack Vettriano. But it hasn't been my room in almost three years.

Familiar smells floated upstairs as Mom already had the turkey in the oven. I had stayed up until 3am the morning before to decorate gingerbread cookies with my oldest sister. I still had some icing stuck under my fingernails. This is the way it always was in the Wise house. Everyone was buzzing with excitement in anticipation of the crowd we would receive later on that day. The sound of little giggles and teasing were contained in the porch, although it's a difficult thing to contain the laughter of seven children! Dad was in the kitchen fighting with the coffee machine while Bobby and I plopped down at the kitchen table like little kids waiting for breakfast. Without hesitation, Mom sat a big bowl of cereal in front of us. Happily fed, both Bobby and I were clean-plate-clubbers and we just sat around and listened to my nieces and nephews make-believe stories in the next room over.

A thick fog hung over Severna Park that morning, and although it looked cold out, it was actually quite pleasant. Uncle Bennett organized a baton-toss relay game in the back yard for the kids. The adults moseyed outside to watch and swarmed the kids with cameras. There was some serious competition going on, and after the games were complete, each team lined up and slapped hands while exchanging a "good game." They are such good sports. Grandma Wise had some hand-drawn awards (compliments of Aunt Jen) to give out to all the kids for their efforts... "Most Team Spirit," "Best Encourager," "Most Creative Runner..." They were happy for the rest of the day.

It was finally time for dinner. I filled my plate with turkey and left room for little else, except my Mama's Corn Pudding. The crowd didn't stay too long after that, but all of us siblings made plans to meet up again at 12:00 Midnight at Arundel Mills mall for some early (TOO early) Black Friday shopping! I had to resist the long line at Starbucks, so coffee-less, the Wise's took on the Mall! And then we slept. And ate some more.

Saturday, we came home - to OUR home - and Bobby worked on the deck all day and made some amazing progress! They are about 50% finished... another 2 weekends and it should be complete!

I love this time of year as it makes us reflect on our lives and be thankful for everything we have. I've already broken out the Christmas music and decorations! I hope that all of you had a nice Thanksgiving and look forward to the Christmas season!

Dad can always be found - without fail - with at least two cameras in his hands.



Uncle Bennett was in charge of the games.



Oh Neilson, how competitive of you.



Grandma handing out "major awards!"



Their outfits reminded me of candy corn... what a group!





Bobby and his deck! It still needs stairs, railings, and the top boards.



I'm already visualizing what things I'm going to put on here!

Blogging, what?!

I hate to be "that girl."

You know, "that girl" who shows up to parties late. (Ok, so maybe I'm "that girl" more than I'd like to think.) Or, "that girl" who has a little too much to drink and becomes slightly inappropriate. Or "that girl" who can always be counted on for a tactless comment. You know... "that girl."

Well, I'm "that girl," the one who blogged faithfully with every little step of the new house and kept you informed with all the slightly annoying nuances of our builder. Or even kept you informed with Killian's every move, or the latest stories somehow involving Bobby rolling his eyes at me. I've gone over a week without updating the Barrick Times, and when I was photographing a wedding this weekend, I was scolded by a Barrick Times follower who told me I left them hanging with my last story.

And just when you thought my lack of blogging was not enough, I don't even have a picture to follow up my story!

THE OUTRAGE!
Well, I have a laundry list of things that I've been doing this week, and every single one is a good excuse:

- Weddings and photo sessions have joyfully abounded onto my calendar. With Christmas around the corner, families from around the globe...well, the county...have been banging down my door...well, my e-mail box...booking photo sessions for their Christmas cards. While this is great and I love doing it, I have been editing almost every night. While I love every second of it, it just makes for a very long day. Very long.

- Oh yea, I have a full-time job, too, ya know...

- With the release of The Twilight Saga's New Moon movie, I've been consumed with finishing the final book before I'll let myself see the new movie.

- I have three very full bins of laundry that are eagerly waiting a ride in our new washer/dryer, but they can't load themselves.

Ok, so that's it... but they are good excuses. So let me back up and fill you in with what's been going on 'round these parts.

- Bobby and I had the fabulous Megan Beth come visit us today to take some pictures. All I'm gonna say is that they involved Killian, some sweet new boots, and a vacant field...with some bones in it. Yikes!

- Bobby started his deck project. Due to it raining the past 37950 weekends, it's been delayed. (See pictures below)

- I photographed my last wedding of the season yesterday... fabulous. Now I have about 15 more on the calendar for 2010, starting in March. Have I mentioned I love photographing weddings? I cry at each one. I'm not gonna lie.

- We pick up some more of my office furniture this week from our favorite PB. Once it arrives, I can begin decorating my office. Pardon, OUR office...

- {Heads up BJ!} Regarding our terrarium story from last post. I was unable to get pictures before the circle of life descended upon our little habitat. At one point in time, we had about 45 spiders in the window well. It rained for a week straight, and then we collected 4 or 5 frogs/toads (what is the difference, anyway?!). After a few days, all the spiders were gone. Then we had high winds for a few days and we acquired some kind of rodent (mouse, vole, who knows?!). The frog and rodent were in there together for a few days, until we noticed that the frog population began decreasing. Suddenly, there were no frogs left, and there was a very satisfied, very fat rodent left in the window well. I'm assuming that the frog had some kind of bacteria on it that made the rodent sick...so now, the rodent is...no more. Survival of the fittest.

So, not much else has been happening around here. But let me leave you with some pictures. Because honestly, what's a blog without some pictures!?

About our deck: there is something attached to the house, the footers have been dug and inspected, and as of today, the concrete has been poured for the posts are in place! Next weekend over the Thanksgiving break, we will be thankful for power tools so we can get that baby up! For now, here's a picture of the guys digging the holes. They rented a huge auger and Bobby had 2 ex-Marine's help him dig the holes!

Lastly, I'd like to thank EVERYONE for all your kind e-mails, letters, various gift cards and coupons, and just encouraging words over the past month. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. Every day I've been skipping to the mail box in anticipation of some more snail mail. If for some reason I missed you with our moving announcements and would like our new address, please e-mail me separately and I'll give it to you :)

Adventures in Barrick-Land

There are a few things that happened this week:

- We had our first over-night guest.

- We filled out garage with WOOD instead of cars.

- We've missed the trash collection every day last week.

- I used these three gardening tools in one day. All by myself.

- I bought an outfit specifically to do yard work.

- We experienced torrential amounts of rain in one weekend. The weekend Bobby was supposed to start the deck. The arrows are where the deck will go.

- We've started a terrarium in our egress window including a variety of spiders, toads, frogs, and...mice. (No worries, they can't get into the house). Survival of the fittest is playing out. More pictures to come.

- Killian has permanently parked himself next to the window to watch the show.

- Killian has learned how to open our front door. When we're not home. Then proceed to run outside. Ahem... did I mention he's an indoor cat? I have yet to catch the little turkey in action, but I'm determined to get a video of it.

That's all. We're short on pictures this week, but I promise more by the end of the weekend. Don't hold me to that though.

Amen.

P.S. I've started listening to Christmas music.

And Then There Were Projects

Our "To Do" List has quadrupled.

I can hear your laughing. Please, spare me your giggled. We've heard that this is what happens once you get a house.

But seriously.

Officially our second weekend in the new house, I was actually home to enjoy it! I've been running off taking pictures of strange, but wonderful, people almost non-stop for the past few weeks. Since I was home, Bobby decided to take full advantage of his slave labor, I mean loving wife's hands, and put me to work.

Since we had Friday off, I went to Annapolis while Bobby finished installing the garage door openers, drove to Alexandria to pick up our new desk, and put all of that together. We also turned in our keys to the apartment on Friday - woo hoo!

After a long day of taking pictures and shopping, I came home to THIS!

The desk is "Espresso Stain" and the chair is just gorgeous (and comfortable). Any ideas on what color to paint this room? It's going to be where I spend a lot of time, so I want it to make me really enjoy being in there. I'd like a room where I can be super-modern/eclectic and extremely organized. There are two more pieces coming that match this desk... a book shelf and more file cabinets that will go on the opposite side of the room. Any cool organization stores out there that sell modern-looking components? Help a sister out.

On Friday, Bobby also finished installing our blinds. Now, we can live in privacy! Yay for privacy!

Saturday, we wasted no time and woke up early. I unpacked the last few boxes in our dining room and put our china away where it will stay until y-o-u come to visit us! I believe we're through with the boxes, everything is unpacked and put away, for the most part!

While I unpacked, Bobby installed dimmer switches on some of the lights downstairs. So now when we have a party, we can have "mood lighting." We tried it last night while we were watching a movie, and it was actually very nice!

And the big project for the day was that we (and by "we" I mean Bobby) installed kitchen cabinet pulls! It looks much more "finished" than it did before. It only took me two weeks to decide which pulls to put on. I must have my Mother's gene for that!

I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! We enjoyed a night at home so we could give out candy... lots of kids in our neighborhood! It was fun to see them all and meet some of our new neighbors!

This week, we'll be trying to get a deck approved through our Home Owners Association. Shouldn't be hard, but it normally takes a few weeks. Yikes!

In other news, it's November. What?! Also found out that I'll be an AUNT again for the 9th time to a baby GIRL!!!

There Are No Words

Funny thing...cause this whole blogging thing? It's all about words.

So anyway, since I'm being summoned to join my husband downstairs to watch the World Series Baseball game (something about CiCi's and a bath?? I don't know), I will leave you with some updated pictures on the house. Please note, that they are super boring because we haven't done a thing but unpack and put stuff away. I still trip over boxes every morning. And suitcases. And shoes. And Killian...

And now, for the pictures:

Here's where I keep myself busy editing. Yikes! The table shakes when I write. No worries... our poor card table will be replaced with a shiny, new desk from my favorite furniture store this weekend! Please don't laugh.

The view from my bedroom window! The colors are beautiful!

Yay! Now we HAVE to do laundry! My washer and dryer sing to me when the load is done. Does that make laundry more enjoyable? Who knows.

I think Killian has used this bath tub more than we have. He's here every morning while we get ready for work.




When did I start getting excited about kitchen fixtures? Our new faucet, isn't she beautiful? The other one was kinda ugly, so that's going in the basement along with a big 'ol utility tub. That's down in the basement. Please don't ask me to take pictures of it. There are spiders down there.




Really, my kitchen isn't this bright. OR-GAN-I-ZATION! Kitchen stuff is put away. I have enough baking supplies to put Martha Stewart to shame.




Killian is GLUED to this door (that is, whenever he's not in our bathroom). The window is only about 3 feet off the ground, so he can see squirrels and other vermin spritz across our backyard. It tempts my poor baby.




When we closed, our Realtor lady brought us this beautiful blue bag from Tiffany's. It even smells fabulous. Oh, how I love this color. Inside was a crystal serving bowl.




Bobby wasted no time in hanging this sign in his special parking space in the garage. I parked there the other day and he gave me a ticket. I had to pay him back in cookies.




Please locate my kitty in the bottom right corner of the window. Don't make fun of me for having Killian in most of these pictures. He's our baby and I love him...even though he may not love me back so much. Here he is at yet another window. And the only form of decoration I've put up so far is my doormat. Thank you, Super Target.

Well, voila! There you have it... maybe I can stop drowning in photo editing from being "out of the office" with my photography last week and actually start decorating! More to come, uh...later.

Happy weekend!!! Oh yea, it's Halloween??