Tippy Tuesday

 "Tippy, the morning sun has risen.  Shouldn't you be hanging upside down in the bat cave?"

I'm thirty-something

Not only is this a post about my birthday but it's also my 200th POST!!  Can you believe it?  I know, me either.  Whatta way to celebrate my 200th post by sharing my birthday celebrations....and mishaps.  You'll see what I'm talking about very shortly.

For my 29th birthday, I gave you a list of 29 things you may not know about me and I gave you a list of 30 things on my 30th birthday.  Well, I think y'all probably know enough about me by now so I thought I would do something a little different this year.  I thought I would give you the play by play of my birthday (weekend).  

Dim the lights, here we go!

Thursday, May 24th

12:58pm - It's my mom's birthday so Tippy and I call my mom and leave a voicemail singing happy birthday to her.  Yes, Tippy sang too.  

2:06pm - My co-workers surprised me with a chocolate cake, birthday cards, and a hanging impatiens basket for my fence.  However, their plan to get me to the room where my little surprise party was didn't go as planned, so by the time I finally got to the room, there wasn't much left of a couple of the candles.

7:15pm - After running an errand, I joined some friends at Outback.  They had already been there a while but I was able to get there in time to have a much drink with them, which they bought for me.  Thanks Ed, Rachel, and Fran!

Friday, May 25th: MY BIRTHDAY!

7:44am - I got on the scale and discovered that I had lost a total of 10.4 pounds.  Best birthday present ever.

7:50am - My head was hurting a little but I was hoping it would go away on its own because I was out of ibuprofen.

7:53am - I view my happy birthday posts on Facebook.

9:07am - I ignore the fact that my headache isn't any better and go for a run before it got any hotter. 

9:44am - Ok, maybe running with a headache wasn't the greatest idea because my head was starting to throb at this point.  Luckily, I realize my renter next door is home so I call her and ask if she has any ibuprofen. Not only does she bring over some Advil, but also a bottle of wine for my birthday.  Whatta dear she is.

10:10am - My phone has not stopped dinging with Facebook posts but my head hurts too bad to look at the screen.

10:16am - I believe this is one of the worst headaches ever.  While I wait for the Advil to kick in, I draw a hot bath and lay in the bath tub with the lights off and close my eyes.  

10:27am - With my eyes closed, I end up falling asleep in the bath tub and dream about the guards in Aladdin.  Then I realize that I had just had my first cartoon dream and that made me happy.  

10:42am - Instead of the guards taking Aladdin away in my dream, they must have taken my headache away because I woke up and it was gone.

10:43am - I thank God that I woke up safely in the bathtub.  Kids, don't try that at home.

10:45am -  I view more happy birthday posts on Facebook.

10:57am - I leave to go get my birthday manicure and pedicure.

11:34am - Mom calls laughing uncontrollably because she went to pick up our birthday cake that was supposed to have Tippy and her chihuahua Scotty on it but they ended up looking like big ole ugly rottweilers.  Not to mention, the icing ran together.  See for yourself.  Notice that she did, however, capture Tippy's teeth.

11:50am - I view more happy birthday posts on Facebook while I'm getting my feet rubbed and scubbed.

11:54am - I see my friend Ronda at the nail salon.  Ronda owns 4 out of the 5 Subways in Richmond so she told me since it was my birthday to go down to Subway and get whatever I want and it was on her.  Thanks Ronda!!

12:44pm - I view more happy birthday posts on Facebook.

2:45pm - My friend Stephen comes over and gives me a birthday card.  Inside was a piece of paper that had a picture of a router.  He was getting sick of me cussing and complaining about my router every time my internet would quit working so he ordered one for me because he knew I probably wouldn't buy one for myself.  He said I should probably get it in a week.  I hope he knows that he'll probably have to come over and hook it up for me too since knowing me, I'll screw something up and more cussing would ensue.  Plus, he knows what he's doing when it comes to internet stuff.

6:28pm -  My very first best friend Brittany called and wished me a happy birthday and told me that our friend Michael was in town if I wanted to invite him out.  Oh, heck yeah....

7:00pm - I had a great dinner on the patio at The Cellar in Lexington with my brother and some other friends.

9:34pm - We head down to Drakes for some more drinks.  Michael Craft ends up joining us at some point and he managed to not get his shirt ripped off this time or kicked out.  Yay Craft!

Stephen and da birthday gurl

Meredith, Becca, and me

Saturday, May 26th

1:03am - My brother and I got back to his house.  I brought the left over cake from work and we dug in.  Literally dug in.  I picked up the cake with my hands and smeared it on my face just a little bit.  It's kinda the thing I do every year.  But Casey wanted to re-create the picture from my first birthday and smashed it all in my face...and up my nose.  

8:29am - I get outta bed, go downstairs and my brother passes me a giant bottle of ibuprofen and fixes me a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. 

10:07am - I get on the road and head to Paintsville!

12:29pm - I see the cake for the first time in person and understand why my mom could not stop laughing.  I'm talking hand-over-mouth-I-can't-believe-what-I'm-seeing laughter!

1:30pm - Nap time.

5:55pm - Dinner at El Azul's!  I say "Hola!" to all of my favorite Mexican waiters when I walk in the door. 

7:45pm - Two pitchers of margaritas were consumed by my sister, dad, and myself.

7:47pm - I go to the bathroom and try to find a decent stall to go into.  During my quest, my shoe turns in and I completely wipe out and hit the floor.....hard. 

7:48pm - After I manage to get up off the floor, I slowly limp into a stall.  Then as I pee, I can't stop giggling and can't wait to get back to the table and tell everyone what just happened. 

7:50pm - I sit down at the table and say, "Soooo...I may or may not have just fallen on the bathroom floor." My sister points out the difference between her and I because she said she would have kept it to her herself.  Then I point out all of my battle wounds.  Bruises are already popping up on my knees, the inside of my arm was red from smacking the floor so hard and I re-injured my ankle that was still not completely healed after spraining both of them by doing toe touches in downtown Louisville 6 weeks ago.  Everyone laughs.

7:58pm - As we leave El Azul's, I have my mom and sister follow me to the bathroom so I can demonstrate just how slick the floor was.  And yes, my mom said it looked like I was skating on ice.  So it wasn't the 2 pitchers of margaritas....it was truly really slick.

8:02pm - Dad and Casey walk next door to Rite Aid to get some beer while we go on to the car: Mom in the driver's seat, Shauna and I in the back.

8:07pm - Dad and Casey load up the beer in the back and Casey gets in the passenger seat.  For some reason, Mom looks at Casey and says, "You gonna drive?" To which Casey responded, "Yeah, if we were in Europe." We laugh.

8:34pm - Time to see if that cake tastes better than it looks.  Lucky for you, you get to see for yourself.

8:52pm - I walk in the living room and see my sister already passed out on the couch.  So I do what we always do when one of us passes out early, I take a picture!  Then I sent it to my cousin Stephanie with the caption, "Shauna is ready to party!"

9:01pm - I am out cold asleep on the couch.  Hey, at least I outlasted Shauna by 9 minutes.  

Sunday, May 27th

10:25am - Shauna and I decide to go walking out at the lake before it gets too hot.

10:37am - We were walking and talking along the trail, then Shauna starts screaming and yells, "Snake!"  I look over and see it and run a few feet until I know I'm in the clear but I look up and Shauna is still running.....and running.....and running....and doing highs knees all at the same time.  I didn't think she was ever gonna stop.  When I finally catch up to her, she's still freaked out.  I mean, I'm not a fan of snakes either but geez, I'm not gonna run the entire length of a football field to get away from one! 

11:24am - I sit outside on the back deck, on the new comfy patio furniture, in the shade with a fan blowing on me and start typing up this blog.....I knew it was gonna be a biggun so I wanted to get a head start. 

6:00pm - My aunts, uncle, and cousins start rolling in for our family cook-out at my mom and dad's house.  On the menu was fish that my dad and brother caught last week in Lake Erie, crab legs, bacon wrapped filets, ribs, hush puppies, smashed potatoes in olive oil, corn on the cob, grilled pineapple, garlic bread, and 7 layer salad.  We also had buffalo chicken dip as an appetizer then 3 or 4 different desserts.  

10:45pm - Little cousin Miles had enough fun for one day.

11:01pm - We brought everything inside....including Miles.

11:04pm - Mason and Sophia.....I've never seen a big brother and little sister that think the world of each other so much!

 

So to sum it all up, it was a fan-tab-u-lous birthday weekend!  Even though I now have to say that I'm thirty-something.  That sucks. 

Tippy Tuesday

It's almost like I have a string and everytime I step away, she gets on her feet.  Then when I get close to her, she's on her back. 

FRAMED!!

For almost 2 years, my living room gave off that I-just-moved-in vibe because of a big ole empty wall above the couch.  I knew what I wanted to do on this wall a long time ago but it took me a while to actually get 'er done because it involved several little projects.  Can you figure it out yet?  I'll give you a hint.....ever wonder why several of my last few projects have been art but I never showed you where I decide to hang them?

Well, here's where I hung them!

Yes, I finally finished my first gallery wall and I couldn't be happier!  The best part about it, is most of the art I either already had or I created myself.  Every. single. piece. of art is symbolic and has special meaning so it makes it that much more special.....(aww.)  Before we go any further, I must go ahead and put it out there....I did not randomly start dating a dude whose name starts with a T.  The T stands for Tippy.  I thought that was pretty self-explanatory but apparently it's not because multiple people (people who are nearest and dearest to me) either took a while to figure out what the T meant or thought I was in some secret relationship that I failed to mention.  True story.  

So back to the gallery.  As for the frames, I didn't want it matchy-matchy.  Since I like shiny and blingy things, the "theme" I was going for was metallic.  Different tones of silver and gold.  Luckily, I already had the majority of the frames, however they were black but with a couple coats of silver or gold spray paint, they fit right into my happy little metallic family.  The frames that I had to buy, I scored them at Hobby Lobby or Michael's during one of their 50% off sales.  I refuse to buy a frame that's not 50% off because one of those 2 stores will usually have a sale.  And if they don't at the time, they will next week!  

So to start this little big project, I made a list of everything I wanted to include in the gallery.  Some pieces were already complete and some were not.  After I got everything finished, I laid everything out on the floor.  It took several different arrangements until I decided on this one.  If you're wanting an up-close shot of all of the different pieces, hold your horses.  I'm gettin' there!

Then I traced each piece onto newspaper and cut it out.  I even marked where the picture hanger was so I could simply hammer a nail right through the newspaper and rip the paper off after I had the nail in the wall.  But before I did any hammering, I taped all of the newspaper on the wall to make sure everything was where I wanted it to be.  This step involved a lot of taking down and putting back up. 

Once I got everything where I wanted it, it was HAMMER TIME!  As I started putting holes in the wall I had to PRAY that I didn't have to put any extra holes in the wall.  My arms were getting a little tired from all the reaching and hammering but I told myself I was TOO LEGIT TO QUIT.  Tippy so lovingly offered to help out but I said, U CAN'T TOUCH THIS!  On that note, who here wishes MC Hammer would come out with a new album?  Those were such hot tracks! 

Now that I have everything hanging, I'll take you on a little tour.  Starting at the top left, I have this piece.  One time I went out to dinner with my friends Tonya and Tim and their mom.  I mentioned that I was named after Shari Lewis from Lamb Chops.  The next time I went their mom's house, she gave me this DVD of Lamb Chops that says, "The Shari Show."  I absolutely loved it and new I would make some art out of it one day.  Then two years later, I popped it in a frame with some black scrapbook paper behind it.  Next to that I have the S which I got from Hobby Lobby for 50% off as well as the T........for TIPPY. :)

Then I have my Granny tribute that I showed you here.  I wanted to put her at the top, along with my cross that I already had.  Putting her at the top kinda makes me feel like she's looking down on me. 

In keeping with the Granny theme, I have the remote from the TV she passed down to me that I talked about here.  Then I have the wonderful masterpiece that Tippy created for me for Christmas. 

The frame below is for my interchangeable seasonal art.  It's simply scrapbook paper that I plan to change out monthly depending on the holiday or season.  Since my birthday is this month, this month's theme has cupcakes with a candle in them.   I'll try to show you as I update it but I can't make any promises.  Beside that is the photo of me running my first 5K, the Thin Mint Sprint, that I talked about here.  I'm sure I was still outta breath when I talked about it.  I also have that thing I pinned on my shirt and the Thin Mint Sprint Girl Scout Patch.  If only I still had my Brownie sash from the late 80s that I could sew it onto.  When I framed this, I added some Zebra print scrapbook paper behind it.  I wanted to find some paper that could relate to the race so I picked the Zebra print paper because I ran fast like a Zebra!  Yeah, that made me giggle too. 

Right smack dab in the center is the water color painting of my duplex that my brother so kindly gave to me at my closing.  I'm not crazy about the color of the frame so that may change.  I feel like it needs to pop more with it being in the center.  I'll keep ya posted.

Oh, the infamous and disappointing peacock picture, the picture I was originally going to design the entire living room from.  You can read here why it was so disappointing.  Next to that, I have the art I created out of gift bag from a birthday present that my friend Stephen gave me. 

Finally, the bottom row consists of my Snoop-D-O-Double-G-inspired cross stitch, my paint swatch art, and a mirror that my cousin gave me for Christmas 6 or 7 years ago.  Then I capped it off with the T.  

And there ya have it!  It looks more dramatic in person.  I have 9 foot ceilings so it automatically draws your eye up. 

I have some more plans for my living room but at least it doesn't look like I just moved in anymore!

Tippy Tuesday

Tippy loooooooves going to her Mimi and Paps' house.....and she hates when we have to leave.  So while I was packing up the car on Sunday, Tippy said, "Mimi, quick!  Hide me!"

Bush Trimmin'

Say it with me....."Outta Control!"  I can't say that I pay to much attention to my bushes in the front, but when I noticed that they were getting in the way of my grass mowing duties, I realized they had grown quiiiiiite a bit!  After they kept poking me, I stepped back and thought, "Huh, well I can't see the bottom of my window."  I mean, just LOOK at how bad this is! 

I thought this little project would only take about 30 minutes but an hour and a half later, I ended up with this.  I seriously cut off just as much as I left.  Did I mention that I was using little hand held cutters?   So, yes, I snipped each one of those individually. 

It's never a good sign when I turn around and make THIS face when I've had a pair of trimmers in my hand for over an hour.

Yep, I noticed that I somehow managed to cut a big gaping hole in the back of one of the bushes.  Oooops.  Thank God it was in the back!

On to the after shot.  And what an after shot it is!

Unfortunately, I haven't mastered the skill of bush trimming.  It actually looks better in this pic than it does in person but it's still a maaaaaaaajor improvement! 

Just for fun, let's do a little side by side before and after.....

Whoa. 

Tippy Tuesday

Whether I'm on my laptop or watching TV, Tippy will bust out this move so that I will pay attention to her.  I mean, how can you resist THIS......and the sad this is, she knows it. 

And this is an every day occurrence. 

Tippy Tuesday

Mama, WHY? WHY? WHY do you find pleasure in taking me to the drive thru car wash?