Hydrangeanation

Last year, for some reason, my hydrangea bush didn't bloom. This year I have blooms everywhere. I was told that in order to have blue flowers (or pink, or green, etc) you need to have the right pH balance and chemical makeup in your soil. Well I've done jack squat and I've got pink, purple, blue, AND green all on one bush! How's that for making up for last year's disappointment? I know, my green thumb is so impressive it's even making me gag a little.

BFW 2010

This post is coming to you a little late. After doing the gazillion loads of laundry and recovering from an awesome family weekend, I ended up getting the flu (which has now regressed into a cold. Yes, a cold in June).

This year BFW took place in Santa Claus, IN...camping. While making the trek to this little marvel of a town in the middle of nowhere, I realized that this time last year I was in Sonoma Valley, sipping wine, staying at a five star hotel, eating awesome food, and taking in the beautiful scenery. After posting this thought on Facebook, I think Ben's cousin said it best, "This year's cruise director needs fired!"

I would have totally agreed, but after thinking about how much fun we had together, I wouldn't have wanted to change a thing or been anywhere else. Here are a few of my favorite memories from the weekend.

Decorating the campsite with pink and white Christmas lights while Ben insisted that this wasn't normal.

Ben and my first night (ever) sleeping in our tent and in 95% humidity with a fan as our a/c.


The entire day at Holiday World. Free drinks, free sunscreen, and tons of water rides.

Ordering a half gallon frozen hot chocolate (Avalanche). Prying the glass away from Brady's fingers in order for anyone else to have a drink.

Charlie telling me not to tell Uncle Ben that she had an accident during the night (still makes me smile thinking about it).

Girls vs Boys scavenger hunt and Charlie tattling that her mom made the "animal tracks."

My birthday-mobile that Mom & Dad decorated for me.

My birthday party.

The campground singing happy birthday to me during karaoke night.

Driving around the campground and breaking the #1 rule of golf cart rental etiquette, no yelling from the golf carts.

Eating pizza in the camper while it poured outside.

Packing up the campsite in record time in preparation for a horrendous storm that we narrowly avoided.

Taking BFW family pictures in front of the city building in our commemorative t-shirts.


Charlie finally realizing (at the end of the day) that we were all dressed alike.

Brady huffing and puffing during the scavenger hunt trying to keep up with Brian and Ben.

Disgusting and Awesome

So this picture will probably gross 99.9% of you out, but it had to be posted. For the last month I've been wanting to get a pedicure SO incredibly bad, but have been very hesitant due to the state of my second toenail on my right foot. Ben swore I wasn't going to lose it, even when I pointed out multiple times the purplish gray areas and how the tip of the nail is no longer attached to the nail bed. But nooooo, "I'm being overly dramatic."

Tonight, with an accidental scrap against my other foot, POP!! Off comes the toenail to reveal a not so pretty one that appears to have been growing underneath the other for the last month. I'm pretty stoked to know that all my hard work resulted in some pretty disgusting toes. I know I should throw away the dead toenail, but deep down a part of me wants to include it in my medal shadow box.

Once this puppy grows in fully I will be at the spa getting a much deserved (and clearly needed) pedicure. That poor girl is going to have her work cut out for her. Maybe I should plan on tipping in advance.

Garfield and _____

ODIE!

FedEx delivered this little guy this morning addressed to me from Golfsmith. I couldn't wait, I knew what it was. Ben's mom had asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and an Odie head club cover was on my list. She said I could take that off my list and what else did I want. Notice the nice use of subtleties on her behalf.

Anyway, I'm so excited to go out to the course with the new addition to my golf bag. There's no doubt he'll help improve my game! If Tiger can have his tiger, then Jodi can have her Odie. Thanks Sherry!

Test Run

This year for family weekend we're camping. Or, as Ben would say, we're "camping." Mom and Dad have a tent camper with a kitchenette and two king size beds, so camping is a somewhat loose term. Anyhow, Ben and I got a tent six years ago when we got married and have never used it. It's a seven man tent, somewhat ridiculous, but if there ever came a time when we would be camping, by all means we wanted the biggest tent at the campground.

Since we've never set up a tent and only saw this guy in a super cute sample size at Target we figured we'd better give it a test run. Mainly to prevent any embarrassing moments that you know would be brought back up at every family gathering until someone else did something dumber.

We set this bad boy up in the garage to stay out of the elements (cough, a slight breeze) that could potentially complicate things. We successfully got it up with the one page instructions and only a few minor set backs in 30 minutes! Now, that does not include staking it down or decorating it with gaudy camper lights, but all in all, a successful first attempt.

So this weekend will be a true test to see if we are "real campers." Don't worry, I have the air mattress and 500 hundred thread count sheets packed, plus power strips for the cell phones, fans, and iPods.

Pretty Bird...

The first visit Aunt Judy made down to our new house she brought us this small creature as a house warming gift. She eventually bought a blanket for the spare bed as well, which I guess does take the meaning of "house warming" literally, but I digress.

So this bird is the topic of every family visit. Judy bought herself and mom one when she purchased mine. Not long after, both of theirs died, at which point Judy declared all three purchases a "total waste of money!" The irony in what, I assume, was a less than a budget breaking purchase.

Anyway, three years later my little guy is still going strong. I water him every once in awhile and he just keeps growing and growing. I don't even know what kind of plant he is, but I know it's one I can't kill. Investment well made I'd say!

THE Bag

There are many things that Ben is good at that I'm thankful for. I think the most important one is his ability to buy me awesome presents. I will admit there was one year where I got a dust cover for my monitor and a car adapter to plug in my laptop. Let's just say they were items I needed, but not what you expect from your husband.

This year he knows I've been wanting a new handbag. Since once being employed in a handbag buying office I've become very particular in what kind of bag I will carry. (Yes, I'm a bag snob). So he let me pick one out, not a surprise present, but an awesome one nonetheless.

My first "adult" bag, non- pvc, cost-more-than-my-very-first-paycheck, kind of bag was a butter yellow Cole Haan satchel. I carried that thing for two summers and started in on the third one before my boss told me it was time to move on. So I began searching for a new yellow bag.

I found one. Yellow, leather, Cole Haan and at a great price. I showed Ben, he loved it, I ordered it, and it came on Friday while he was in Denver. Of course I opened the box. My birthday is two weeks away, but a new bag should not spend anywhere near that amount of time in a lonely box.

I should've been tipped off that the bag might be a tad large when the UPS man needed his hand cart to deliver it. I could pack for a week to Europe in it!!

I took it home over the weekend to get everyone's thoughts on it. As you can see it's much larger than my old bag.

Last night at dinner, I told Ben I wanted to keep it. Big bags are in, and, even if I'm only toting around wallet and a pair of sunglasses, I'll look damn good. Now that I've already opened my present I asked Ben if he was going to get me a surprise present for my ACTUAL birthday.