High Maintenance

Being a girl is hard work. You have to:

• exfoliate
• shampoo
• condition
• shave
• scrub
• brush
• pluck
• color
• moisturize
• blow-dry
• straighten
• gel
• paste
• conditioning cream (the last six items are just for my hair)
• foundation
• mascara
• lipstick
• perfume
• jewelry

And that’s all before I leave the house to go to WORK!  It’s not like doing all that stuff turns me into Cindy Crawford. Because clearly it doesn’t.

It’s exhausting.

We don’t take it for granite.

Ba dum bump… ching!

(stole Lew’s joke there… that’s what I did)

We visited Stone Mountain yesterday with Marti & her crew. Did you know that Stone Mountain is the most visited attraction in the state of Georgia? Yessiree. Why? Because it’s GEORGIA.

Anywho.

We had a fun hanging out at The Great Barn. We threw fruit at each other and took goofy pictures. Marti and I figured out how to look super-skinny:

Don’t we look awesome? (the secret: lipstick)

After the barn we rode the tram (not to be confused with the box of death) to the top of the mountain.

Don’t our legs and feet look awesome? (again, lipstick) And yes, I am that pasty white in real life.

We enjoyed the views including: making sure the kids don’t fall off the side, trick-photography, and making fun of people watching.

Our girls? This is how they are the entire time they’re together.

Attached at the hip. Which means that Marti and I pretty much spend the day saying things like, “Ohmigosh they are so cute!” or “Look how cute they are!” and “How cute are they?”

We also tortured the kids with plenty of group pictures. Because if you can’t torture your kids then what’s the point of having them?

This is one of the 137 shots of them standing in that exact spot. Ahhh… parenting.

We got back down the mountain crammed into another tram. Thank goodness none of us are claustrophobic.

Um, nevermind.

We were planning on having a picnic on the lawn, but the rain changed our plans. Instead we had a mini-tailgate party and tried to see how much food we could stuff in our faces before the rain started.

The answer: A lot.

She shralped us. Big time.

(Thank you, Urban Dictionary “Word-of-the-Day”)

The winner of our weekend full of scraptastic creativity was:

Jules!

She completed a total of FIFTEEN awesome layouts!

We should’ve known that our spreadsheet-loving-super-organized-friend would smoke us like a cheap cigar.

Congrats sweetie-pie! Fun stuff will be coming your way!

 

Big Brother contestant actually a Muppet.

Is it me or are these two freakishly similar?

I think it was Janice on Big Brother this entire time. I’m just waiting for a hand to come out of her ass. Imagine that twist. “Expect the Unexpected“, right?

Could I possibly squeak out anymore?

Right now I’m up to ten. I think I’m tied with Jules. Here’s what I’ve been up to since this morning:

Finally Fall (our first Fall season… ever)

Good Tip (the sign says “Danger Stay Back”)

You Might Be a Rock Star (all of us enjoying the Hannah Montana wig that Mack got at a birthday party)

and here are the four I did yesterday:

Girls (Mack & Ashley in matching HSM shirts)

Halloween (Obi-wan & an HSM Cheerleader)

I’m not sure I have any pages left in me tonight… or this month, for that matter. We’ll see… it *is* almost bedtime.

Take THAT… and THAT!

(blurry, I know…)

So you wanna piece of me?!

It’s ON like Donkey Kong!

My girls Jen & Julie and I are having a friendly competition to get our scrapbook mojo flowing again.

She who gets the most layouts done this weekend WINS.

Here is ONE of the layouts I’ve completed so far. (okay, okay… it’s the only one I’ve completed so far) This is my “Ode to Julie” layout because I was totally trying to channel her style and talent while working on it.

Journaling reads: You can take the boy out of Florida but you can’t take the Florida out of the boy.

(someone was NOT prepared for snow… or winter weather, for that matter)

And here’s a teensy peek at the fun stuff I put together from my stash for the winner.

Mack has a birthday party to go to today at 12noon… how much can I get done between now and then?

ETA: The answer to the above question is ZERO.

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night!

ETA: Here’s a website I found that explains the directions for Pounce.

How to play Pounce.

Pounce!

This is what we did two Saturday nights ago with Marti & Lewis. We did it again last Saturday night with my sister and brother-in-law.

This Saturday night we’re having my sister-in-law & family over & now I’m starting to wonder if they like to play card games.

We’ve been playing this game for more than 10 years now. Anyone else play it? We LOVE it. We used to play other games – even other card games – but after we started to play Pounce we never stop playing it for very long. It’s just that good.

If you like card games & you’re of the competitive sort, you should really play Pounce.  It’s incredibly fast-paced and F-U-N.

Marti and I have made plans for our families for next weekend… and I’m already thinking about playing this game with them. Not only are we competitive – but we’re also reallllly funny.

(the alcohol may have something to do with that, but that’s just a guess)

This may be good news to some.

My voice is gone.

I got sick on Sunday – fever, chills, sore throat, all the fun that goes along with that and today I lost my voice. It might have something to do with getting very little sleep last night & being woken up a few times by a little girl who was also not feeling well. Or it may just be my body’s way of telling me to slow-the-eff-down. Or it may be an ear infection-flu-like virus that finally caught up with me.

Whatever the reason, I am thoroughly annoyed at not having a voice. It’s extremely frustrating for this girl whose voice is a BFOQ (bonafide-occupational-qualification). 

I imagine that there are more than a few people at work who may be a little too pleased with this current situation. Jen can’t talk? WOO HOO! (No, but I can still email.)

I have noticed that when I try to talk & all that seeps out is a pitiful whisper… the people I’m talking to whisper right back to me. They actually mirror my sick-whisper as if there’s another reason behind it. Like I’m just a quiet-talker or something. 

Maybe they have Librarian issues?

Did I mention that it’s getting on my nerves?

On today’s schedule:

• a lunch with three colleagues
• HR conference call

All of these items go perfectly well with someone who doesn’t have a voice.

Not.