Fun on Fridays!

Since I have played along in the infamous Five Question Friday with the ever so loverly Mama M! So since the Friday is officially here I am going to get in on some blog hop fun :) I am also for the first time linking up with Blogging From Bolivia for a photogaphy blog hop she does called Macro!

So without dragging this out any longer... the questions this week are:

1. What is your favorite thing about summertime?

This is a hard one because I love EVERYTHING about summer time. I love that the days are longer, time by the pool, cute summer clothes, vacations, and ice cream. All of that said I think that my fav. part of summer has to be Flip-Flops! I lurve my flip flops.. I wear them every.single.day from the first day of semi warm weather all the way until I get frostbit the first time in the winter ;) Did I mention I love my flip-flops?!

2. What is your ideal retirement location (if money didn't matter)?
In a maxed out huge RV. That way I could travel anywhere I wanted to go and feel right at home. There would be no limit to where we could go and travel.  I want nothing more than to be able to travel all over the US (and Canada too now since my Kate is up there!) with the hubster and just be carefree.

aaahhh... a girl can dream right?!


3. Do you live in the same town you grew up in?
I do! I have never really left either. I mean maybe for a few months or something here and there but I was born and raised here. I love it here... perfect location. We are located about 15 +/- miles outside of Charlotte, NC So we have the small town feel with all the perks of big city life. Love it!

4. What nervous habit did you have as a child that you kicked to the curb before becoming an adult?
I guess I am still not an adult. I can't think of any nervous habit that I have "outgrown" I have always been a nail biter... guess I consider that my nervous habit!?


5. What is the most embarrassing thing that happened to you while on the job? 
Bahahahaha ... this is so funny! Can't believe I am going to tell you really... BUT..
 
When I first started my Nanny"ing" job three + years ago I was getting ready for my wedding. My boss at the time was really into being fit and all kinds of exercising type stuff. So it was a perfect match. We made a work out plan that we did everyday while the little one napped (it was before E) Soo we were on like day two of our "plan" and we were doing crunches. Well I was trying really hard to seem in shape and was like "yea.. I got this" then it happened... right in the middle of one of my crunches I FLUFFED! I could not believe it! I was SOOOO embarassed. We both started to laugh extremely hard and it happened again!! I could have rolled over and died right there on the spot.
 
Oh it was sooo embarassing!
 
Alright well there ya have it my 5QF.. embarassing story and all! I hope y'all have a fabulastic weekend!! We will be spending ours wrapped up in family. My dad is coming into town today so we will be soaking up every minute with him :)


Now onto Macro...

I am just starting to get into these photography blog hops.. they are alot of fun! Here is my pic for the week

 

We were visiting our local botanical gardens and a light rain shower decided to visit with us. I got busy and snapped this shot.. I thought it turned out pretty neat!

 

If you would like to join in head on over to Blogging From Bolivia and link up!

My First Before/After

My buddy Courtney has been trying to get me to join in on the blog hop fun for a few weeks now. I must admit I have been a bit resistant because my editing skills are far from where they need to be. I am still a newby at all this photography stuff :) So be easy on me!

This picture was taken while we were on vacation this past weekend.. we headed up to the mountains and had alot of fun playing in the creeks.

                                                                          Before

After... 

 

I did not do too much to this picture. Just lightened it up a little but and messed with the color a smidge. Actually think I may have given it just a touch to much saturation now that I look at it on here. I am a work in progress though :)

I took this picture with my Canon Rebel XSi and edited using Photoshop Elements 8 (that I got this past week.. going to take a while to figure that one out!)

Thanks so much for stopping by and hopefully things will get a little more interesting as I learn more!

If you want to head play along head on over and link up!!

 

Weekend Getaway

This past weekend (yes I realize it is now Wednesday and I should have posted this a few days ago.. but.. well... I have no excuses! Better late than never right?!) we headed up to Boone, NC and spent the weekend in my Aunt and Uncles precious little mountain cabin.

The cabin was wonderful.. has its own little private drive, tons of beautiful flowers, and was set right in the middle of the mountains. Beautiful!

 

Everybody was all smiles!

We spent alot of our time just exploring the area around the cabin. Emma did not care where we went or what we were doing she just wanted to be outside. Its like she knew there were no cars so we would not fuss about where she was walking. She loved it!

D was still in his work clothes.. but there was no time to change clothes.. miss priss was ready to go!

We also spent alot of time down by the creek near the house. Rock hopped a bit and just enjoyed the moment.

Skipping rocks.. well trying to anyways ;)

It was a perfect weekend getaway... we may be using it has a hideout a little more often ;)

what would YOU do?

Im baaack!

This past weekend we headed to the mountains for a short little two night get-away. We had a wonderful relaxing time. Creek stomped a little bit, found a cool private park, yummy suckers from the Mast General Store... well more on that later ;)

As most of you know I became a SAHM just a little over a week ago. It is very exciting for me but a tid bit scary financially.

Soo last week the family I nannied for was overseas on a family vacation  and today was their first day at daycare and "school"

Tonight I get a call from my old employer saying that her youngest daughter S is running a fever and will not be able to go to daycare tomorrow. Everyone was betting on how long it would take her to call me.. but one day!? WOW that is nuts.  So where I run into a bit of a dilemma is that I am all about the extra money (Heellooo we are broke!) and DH is all about I dont think it is smart to expose Emma to unnecessary sick germs etc etc.

What do you think? I am scared to burn to many bridges because I am afraid then she wont call me for babysitting ya know.. but I also feel like I need to honor my husbands concerns as well?!

Give it to me! Your Honest opinion here ;)

Five Good things....

I have not been a good bloggy friend lately and have missed alot of blog hops! Today I am going to join in with Miss Keely and do the "Thursday Five"

All you have to do to play along is list 5 things that made you happy this week then head on over to her blog and link up! Easy Peasy :)

1. This week is the first week of me being a SAHM! I am really enjoying it so far. We have filled our day full of fun activities and lots of snuggles. Its the best.

2. We are heading out Saturday to go to the mountains and celebrate the Hubsters Bday. We are really excited to get away for a couple of nights. Emma loves the outdoors so I am sure she will love it up there.

3. Little E is learning to swim and is doing great. She is already jumping off the diving board and swimming to the ladder (with a little help of course ;)

4. I am all caught up on my laundry for the week. This is major! Like never ever happens..so relieved to not have this huge mountain of clothes staring at me everytime I enter my room.

5. This is the big one.. you ready?!!? I just got asked to do my first photo session!!! Now if you know me at all you know that I am def. not a pro in the photography biz but I am gradually getting a little better. I will be shooting a mother to be. So if you know of any good ideas or blogs that may have good ideas please let me know! I am very nervous but soooo excited :)

Well thats my week.. how about you? What were some good things that happened around your house this week?

Let Me Just Tell You...

What I did... this thing that I hate to ever admit happened! I feel awful.

Remember these sweet little pictures

Well I was trying to get you an updated shot of how well they were growing and how cute they are...

and thats when disaster struck! (cant believe I am going to tell you this....) The birds looked like they were going to fly off any day now so I decided I needed on last shot to share with y'all.  I waited on mama bird to fly off and went outside to sneak a quick shot.

(this shot was about a week ago)

when I did I forgot to turn my flash off and accidentally scared one of the birds. It fell out of the nest!! All of the sudden mama bird was squawking and carrying on so I ran in the house to get DH. We went out there and looked and looked for baby bird and could not find it. I kind of assumed well they were really close to flying off so maybe everything was ok.

Later that evening I saw the little bird hopping around the yard and trying to fly a little. Derek and I watched the bird and the mother was still feeding it and keeping a very close eye on it. This made me feel a little better but I still wanted to find a way to get it back in the nest. We tried to get some gloves and catch it but mama bird is a fierce little thing and she was not letting us get anywhere near it! So I figured if she was keeping that close of an eye on it then maybe she will take care of it through the night at least.

This morning I saw the bird flying a little and still hanging around. I was so excited to see that he was starting to get around better and was thinking he would be good to go.

UNTIL I came home from the pool today and saw the little birdie in the road. He had been hit by a car. I feel so guilty! All because I needed a picture :(

I feel better to get it off my chest but so ashamed to even admit that I was crazy enough to try and get another picture....

Poor baby bird!

PS the other birdies are still hanging around and momma is taking good care of them!

Just a few...

shots from this weekend....

Monday we went and escaped in the botanical gardens again...

We have all had so many different emotions and stresses running wild that I thought we needed a family fun day!

Boy Oh Boy was it fun!

Somebody is becoming quite the litlle poser ( I am sure it has nothing to do with the fact that I chase her around with the camera all day..)

Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday! We are off to hang out at the pool a little bit. Miss E is jumping off the diving board these days! She LOVES the water! I will have to try and catch a video of it one day soon so she can show off her new skills ;)