So It Was My Birthday...

So yesterday was my 27th Birthday...
...
and I did not feel like it was.

I guess I built it up in my head where the day was going to be this magical day. But it was not. It was just an ordinary normal day; I just kept getting told Happy Birthday and getting birthday cards. I am happy and I love that it was my birthday but I hate that it was not magical. Maybe the whole having to go to work thing got in the way. Or maybe it's because I stayed up all night Tuesday watching the South Carolina Gamecocks win the College World Series. USC... Gooo Cocks! So I was a little groggy all day.

Then I thought, "It will really feel like my Birthday once I get my cake." It did not.

Then I thought, "It will really feel like my Birthday once I get my presents." It did not.

So why? Why did yesterday feel like an ordinary day? I felt special and loved but there was no excitement in the air. Doug kept telling me over and over, "Happy Birthday" and referring to me as the "Birthday Girl" but I did not feel like the Birthday Girl. Maybe I am saving all my excitement for the beach. Maybe I am too old and the whole birthday thing is not what it use to be.

I got my birthday card from Pops, opened it up, and it had nothing in it. I do not expect anything and certainly do not need anything but it depressed me. Why? Because that means I am now in that age bracket. The one when even your Grandparents don't get you anything for your birthday. That age bracket means you are old! So thanks Pops for making me feel old on my birthday. Ha!

One thing I can say is the day went by fast. I woke up, went to work, ate dinner, and boom the day was over. The day should have been slower. You only get one birthday a year and it should last a heck of a lot longer than it did yesterday!

Doug's parents took me out to StoneCrest. It was freakin good! I am so excited to eat my leftovers for lunch today!

After dinner we went back to our house and opened presents.

Doug's parents got me gift cards and a hair straightener.

Doug got me a bottle of the perfume I wore on our wedding day.

Doug also got me the Doony & Burke purse I wanted.

All in all I had a good Birthday. It was full of friends, family, love, and happiness. Even though someone forgot to sprinkle the "magical day sparkly dust" on me, I did have a great day. Thank you to everyone for all the Birthday wishes and presents. Remember "Spoiled=Loved"!

Now I am off to the white sandy beaches of Florida. Talk to you when I get back!

Pool Party!!

So my birthday kinda kicked off a bit early this year. A week ago, when we were in Valley, my Grandmother gave me my birthday card and present. Saturday, when Doug got home from work, I got my second present. Then Sunday was my birthday pool party. I've still got a couple of days left until my actual birthday!

Doug did really good with my first present. He really wanted to get me the nice big Nikon that I have been wanting but I would not let him. It was too much for just my birthday. I had been toying around the idea of getting the Coolpix to replace my small Kodak. I went to Best Buy one day with him and looked at all the different models. I am not a tech hog, wanting the latest and greatest, and I will not spend a lot of money on whatever is the newest. I like what I like and is easy to use. There was one or two I liked but it was the first time I had looked so I figured I would do some research and come back.Well, Saturday Doug hands me his lunch box when he got home from work and asked me to clean it out. I open it and there was my Coolpix. I did a couple of double takes from him to the camera and back. But I was all smiles! He gave it to me early so I could use it at the pool party. So good! So thoughtful. So wonderful. He says I have more to open on my birthday!

My party was soo much fun. I had a great time relaxing, getting some sun, and stuffing my face. It was great getting to hang out with everyone and just enjoy the day. Thanks to everyone who came and helped. Big thanks to Lisa and Rick for letting everyone come over and swim. And thanks to my husband for giving in to my 5 yr old self and letting me have a pool party!

Here are just a few pics from Sunday. You can go to Facebook to see them all!

From Heather's Kitchen

Here are a few yummies from my pool birthday party this weekend...

Cheesecake bites
Graham Crackers covered with cheesecake filling and topped with strawberries.



Pasta Salad
Mini bow-tie pasta with cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and banana peppers smothered with Italian dressing.



S'mores
Graham crackers covered with marshmallow goo and topped with mini Hershey Kisses

The (slowly becoming) Famous Chicken Nacho Dip

Worst Day Ever!

Yesterday was not a fun day. All in all, it was the worst day of the month. Maybe even the entire year.

It all started when I was leaving the house going to work yesterday morning. I was stopped at a stop sign, waiting on traffic to clear up so I could take a right out onto the road. The road I was trying to turn out on is a very busy road. Where I was at, the road dips. So all the cars coming my way were coming down a hill. I would turn out at the bottom and immediately start climbing another hill. It is very hard to judge the speed to which the cars coming down the hill are traveling. There was a Lexus SUV behind me and I hate holding up traffic because I am too scared to turn out, so I went. Then I realized the car was coming to fast and I stopped. Unfortunately for me, the Lexus was watching the traffic instead of me and she rear-ended me. Luckily she was not flooring it to turn out behind me. I got a nice little dent on my bumper and her SUV was not hurt at all. Since there was barely any damage (It did not even scrape the paint off), I decided to not call the cops or swap insurance information. She was a very nice lady (who spoke English!) and I knew it was truly an accident. She was not texting or talking on her phone. I was so happy I did not freak out this time. I went straight to Doug's work and he agreed the damage did not warrant a call to the cops.

Here is my thing. I had my Civic that Memaw bought me for 10 years and I was never in a wreck. The only time my car was hit, it was parked and I was not in the vehicle. I have had my Accord for a year and a half and I have been rear-ended twice. Once by an illegal woman with no insurance or driver's license. (Yeah that was what I referred to when I said the lady who hit me this time spoke English. And you better believe I sent her butt to jail!) Luckily, both times there were no injuries or major damage but this is crazy. I know I am just paranoid but I swear I have a huge sign on my car that says, "Hit Me!" It's like the cars around me think it's bumper car time and my car has a huge target on the hood. Doug will confirm, I avoid a wreck every time I am on the road. He will also confirm it's not me. It's the other stupid drivers. I swear! I have witnesses!

So the bump on the rear (that's what she said!) made me late for my conference call yesterday morning and work just went downhill from there. It wasn't a bad day; just one of those days. You know? But I got to leave early for a dentist appt.

I have never minded going to the dentist. I have never had a horrible experience. But yesterday was rough. I am working on having all 8 cavities filled. I know. I am rotten. Ha! They did the lower right last time and it was a breeze. I went to work afterwards had little to no pain. This time they were doing the upper right and it was a much different experience. I knew it was going to be bad when the dentist gave me a second numbing shot and said, "Now this one is going to hurt a bit." Yall know I am already bad with needles so at this point I begin to freak out. I was literally shaking as I waited on the numbness to spread. I think next time I am going to need some nice relaxing pills before I go or I won't be going. Ha! Doug will have to take off to drive me and hold my hand.

I ended up in the dentist chair for an hour and a half. According to the dentist I had 2 pretty deep cavities and they wanted to make sure they got everything. I was exhausted when I left. Doug and I were suppose to go to the movies but that was just not going to happen. I went home, put on my PJ's, and laid on the couch. Doug went and got dinner from Taco Bell. I ate a Bean & Cheese burrito because I thought I could handle it. I was wrong. I had beans all over me. I felt like a 1 yr old. Doug kept having to wipe my mouth off. When I would get a drink of water I would drip it all over myself and the table. I think Doug got a real dose of how it would be feeding a toddler. Ha!

The pain started around 7 pm. I could not believe the amount of pain. I had some muscle relaxers left from when I hurt my back so I took one of those and grabbed the ice pack. I am on Advil today while I am at work but I am looking forward to that little pill tonight.

Even though my day was crazy, it ended quite lovely... Jimmy Kimmel did a Twilight special last night! They had tons of scenes from the new movie and they had the entire cast on the show. It was way cool and way worth the fight to stay awake until 11pm!

Tonight is Girls Night Out. Look for pictures soon!

Autumn's Party & Father's Day

So like I promised, here are a few pictures from this weekend.

Me and Pops after eating lunch and homemade Strawberry Cake. Yum!

Me and Dad

Autumn's birthday party was at Burger King. I know! But there is no where in Valley to have a quick, simple, cheap, party. There is barely anywhere to have a party period. It was her 3rd or 4th party so it will all be ok. She had 2 or 3 in Tennessee and then they drove down this weekend for the one in Alabama. This was mainly for family and her church friends. I think a good number of kids showed up but Aunt Debbie (my Mom) was not pleased. I guess she expected everyone who was invited to show up. It's Autumn's 5th Birthday after all. They had a good time playing on the play ground and no one passed out from the heat. Yay!

Autumn loves Hannah Montana so of course she had to have a Hannah Montana cake.

Aunt Debbie & Autumn

Blowing out her candles.

Opening presents!

Giving Mommy some Hannah Montana stickers.

Decorating Aunt Debbie's shirt

*** Side note - Autumn is really into scary movies. Her favorite is The Exorcist. I know! She watches all the haunting reality shows on TV. We were watching Transformers and she says, "I don't want to watch this movie. It's boring." So I say, "The robots are aliens," thinking that will get her into the movie more. Nope. She responds, "I don't like aliens! I like zombies and vampires!" Well excuse me! Ha!

Look for more pictures on http://heathernunley.shutterfly.com/.

So this week I have been working on photo books on Shutterfly. One of my friends recently got married (I posted a picture of her in a past blog) so as a wedding present I made her a photo book. I then decided I wanted to do photo books for everything we do. Like Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, vacations, special events, etc. So I have done a few more but I have not scratched the surface of all our pictures. I am a picture taking freak! So check out http://heathernunley.shutterfly.com/
to see my new photo books.

I am busy planning my birthday! Yes, I am planning my birthday. I couldn't imagine it any other way. Those who know me know that is so me. So, I have begged Doug for a pool party and he finally gave in. Thanks to Rick & Lisa Voss, we are having a pool party at their house next Sunday. I am so excited. I can not invite everyone because it is not my house (don't want to have tons of strangers in Doug's boss's house!) so please don't be mad for not having an invite. If you want to celebrate, call me. We'll go out one night. On my birthday Doug and I are meeting his parents at Stonecrest Steakhouse. I am excited to eat there for the first time. I am really interested to see what all Doug got me. I gave him a very detailed list but it had a few things on it. So there will still be a surprise. Then the weekend after my birthday we are headed to the beach. Thanks Mom & Dad!

This weekend we are headed to Valley for Autumn's 5th birthday party and Father's day. I will have pictures posted when I get back. I am excited to see all my family. It has been a while. I will not get to see my Aunt Michelle and Autumn again until Christmas, maybe. So it will be really nice getting to spend time with them.

Side note... Just saw another Eclipse preview. Man this movie is going to be so freakin good!

We bought Lady Antebellum concert tickets today. You should have seen me. I was freaking out! I had to get decent seats and the computer was being so slow. The concert sold out in like 20 minutes! Everyone was on there at the same time, slowing down the web-site. I really thought there was a good chance I would not get tickets. But we did. I was making Sara help all the customers and answer the phone because I could not be bothered. I was shaking in anticipation and anger from the web-site. I really thought Sara was going to slap me to get me to snap out of it. The real kicker, I started at 10 am (when they went on sell) and it took me 10 mins. Two other people at my work got them on the first try (one in a better level that me!) We bought them for Doug's Mom's birthday in September (the concert is in November). She loves Lady A and I know she will be stoked!

We've got another Girls Night Out next week and I can't wait. It is so nice to get the girls together outside of work and kick back. We always have a great time (and terrorize the waiters! Sorry!).

Hope everyone has a great Father's Day weekend! Happy Father's Day to all you crazy men who let your wives talk them into having a kid. I will enjoy a nice quite day with my husband and say a prayer for your sanity. Ha!

Pictures

Don't forget, you can always go to my Facebook profile to see more pictures!

Oops! I did it again!

Wow. I did it again. I let time slip by without blogging. I hope there are people out there who actually care when and if I blog; so to those, here is what's been going on.

The new Twilight book came out and I read it in about 10 hours. It was smaller than what I had hoped for but it was good. I wish it had more information in this book but it mostly just reiterated what we already new from Eclipse.

And the MTV Movie Awards!!! OMG! The Twilight Eclipse trailer made my tummy do flips. I am so ready for the movie. Happy Happy Birthday to ME! Then they had to go and show a preview of the last Harry Potter movie. I could have died right there, happy as could be. Doug repeatedly called me a dork but I could see he was happy about the ecstatic smile on my face. It's the little things in life. I am currently reading Eclipse for the 3rd or 4 th time (I can't remember). And if loving Harry & Twilight make me a dork, then get the ink out and tattoo it on my forehead!
Did you catch all the F bombs they were dropping on the show?! I was shocked. They were saying them so many times that they could not keep up with them to bleep them out. Oops!

This week has been pretty slow. Wednesday, Doug and I went to a friends house to eat pizza, drink beer, and swim. It is the first time this year my little tooshie has been in a pool. It was very nice, until the thunderstorms came. It was ok, though. They have a decent sized outside sitting area that is covered. We just hid under there and continued our beer drinking. Ha! It was nice to sit and watch the rain. Good friends, good food, and relaxing. That makes for a great evening.

Thursday Doug and I went with Sara, Wes & Trenton to the GreenJackets game. Thanks, Sara, for the tickets. We had good seats, right behind home plate on the 3rd base line. BUT... cue the thunderstorms! We made it to the 2nd inning when the bottom fell out. Luckily the seats behind us were covered so we quickly relocated. I am glad I brought my umbrella for Sara and Trenton. The rain and Thirsty Thursday made for great entertainment. So many people were busting it going down the slippery, wet steps. That'll teach em'! Ha! We did not have to wait long for the game to get started again. I wish I would have gotten a picture of Doug's nachos. OMG! They were huge! He got BBQ Pork Nachos with sour cream. I had one bite and they were gooooood. We left at 10 pm and they were still in the 4th inning. They scored 6 runs with 2 outs! Way to go GreenJackets! Oh, and I hope the THREE batters who got hit (by the time we left in the 4th inning, might I add) by the pitchers are feeling ok today. The first guy got hit right in the head. Poor fellow probably has a nasty headache right about now.

And this is to Margaret... humidity+rain+my hair does not work! I was having major hair issues last night. Ha! I kept trying over and over to smooth it down. I even pulled out a mirror to try to help catch the fly-aways. I was fidgeting with my hair like I was 16 and on a first date. I would have made you so proud. Ha!

Tonight I am not doing anything! I am in much need of some couch time. I have so much DVR'd and some Facebook to catch up on. Ha!

On a positive note, I bought some hand weights and a work-out ball. I have been working out for half an hour everyday. Go me! I swear, the beach trip for the 4th of July has nothing to do with it. The purple polka dot bikini is no motivation at all for me. Ha!

Next weekend I am going home for Father's Day and for my cousin's, Autumn, 5th birthday. Then we have another Girls Night Out dinner. Then the next weekend is my Birthday pool party. Then the next weekend we will be at the beach! Please pray the oil will not over come Panama City! I have been dying to go to Florida and when I finally get to go the oil comes with me. The last time I made plans to go to the beach, Myrtle, a hurricane hit and we had to cancel. I am going to the beach, dang it! Oil or not. Maybe I will do some volunteering and help clean the animals off. Poor duckies!

On a side, side note... I am trying to talk Mom & Dad into buying a condo at the beach. So if you talk to them tell them it's a great idea and you would love to rent from them. Ha!

I will have pictures up soon from the GreenJackets game last night.

From Heather's Kitchen...

I made a new recipe this weekend and it is really good. You can have it for dinner one night or have it as an appetizer for a party. It's a yummy chicken variation for Velveeta with Rotel. The amounts I listed made a decent portion (5-7 people).

Chicken Nacho Dip
1 small Velveeta
1 can Rotell
1 large can of chicken
1 can black beans (drained)
8 oz sour cream
1 package Ranch dip mix

1. Melt the Velveeta (either stove top or Crock-pot)
2. Mix in the Rotell, chicken, and beans
3. Mix the sour cream and about 1/2 - 3/4 the package of Ranch dip
4. Pour the sour cream ranch mix into the Velveeta mix
5. Heat & serve

It's been awhile since I sat down and wrote a blog so this will be one scattered topic blog. Fortunately for you my life has been uneventful so you don't have much to read. Ha!

First, I have some shout-outs.

Congratulations Mark & Michelle. I hate Doug and I were not able to be there but we were thinking about you and praying for good weather. I am so happy everything went smoothly and that it is all over. Ha! Now when is the house warming party?

Congratulations, Jordan!! I can't believe you are a college student now. Wow! I am so proud of you. I know you are going to have a blast on your trip to Mexico. You are a good kid and you deserve to let loose for a few days. Just be careful! Now go enjoy every minute of your life. You got the best years ahead of you so don't waste a single second. Before you know it you'll be working a boring job from 9-5 like the rest of us. And yes, then you will be old like me. Ha!

This Memorial weekend was quite uneventful. We ran errands, did some birthday shopping (me going around showing Doug exactly what to buy me), watched a few movies, and went to the pool.

Our friends have a pool and they invited us over Sunday to swim and cook out. We got about 15 minutes of sun. The rest of the day was spent under the patio playing cards and watching the rain. I think I still owe my husband 10 pennies from our poker game. The Jack made me risky and I kept having to borrow from the bank (ie. My Husband).

Now get out your red sharpie and mark this past weekend on your calendar... Heather bought exercise equipment! Well... a balancing ball thing and 2 hand weights. I more sit on the ball than work out; but I eventually would like to have a 30 minute routine to stick with. Well, at least until July 4th when we go to the beach. Ha! Doug thinks it is a big kick ball. I have been going around all weekend telling him, "No playing ball in the house!"

This weekend Stephanie Meyer's new book, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, comes out. I am so excited. A new book, a new movie. It is the month of Twilight. I will be re-reading and re-watching everything to prepare. My heart races every time is see the Eclipse preview on TV. I am watching the MTV Movie awards on June 6th because the cast will be there. I know, sad! What's really sad is that I will be at the beach when Eclipse comes out. So I will have to wait until the next Saturday to see it. I have been thinking about taking half a day off and going for the midnight showing but I hate to not spend my birthday with Doug. There is no way I could get him to go. Ha!