It's my BIRTHDAY!!

Let's look back through the years of recent birthdays.

2003 I turned 21! We met the family in Selinsgrove for dinner.

2004 I was 22 and we had a HOUSE party on Cottage!!

2005 - 23rd birthday at my parents house.  

We had just graduated and gotten ENGAGED!!

2006 - I turned 24 again at my parents with 

Matt and D! as our special guests.  

This was also my surprise bridal shower weekend too!!  

Only another monthish and we were MARRIED!

2007 - I turned 25.  We went hiking at Lake Redman.

And then a group went to Lancaster Brewing Company.  So fun!!

2008 - I turned 26.  Back to Lake Redman again.

So it's 2009 and I'm 27 at 3:42PM today.

I'll post some pictures of my fantastic (as I'm sure) day and weekend later.

Thanks for ALL my birthday wishes and love.  You guys are the best!!

*hugs and kisses*

mj

But it's NOT Memorial Day!!

I was born Memorial Day weekend 1982.  It was a Saturday.  When Memorial Day weekend rolls around and it's NOT my birthday weekend I feel all out of whack.  It's like the whole world is off it's rocker.  Ha!  Then again - maybe it's just me.  *sigh*

This past "Memorial Day" weekend was busy again.  Saturday we had a WEDDING.  Wow, haven't heard about one of those in a while huh?  

I got to take my new camera to the wedding though.  Wow.  Love it!!  Have some preview pictures.

And here are the rest of the pictures.  Anyone like the cupcake tower?  Hmmmm?  That was OURS from our wedding!!  Ha.  Now the happy couple has the lovely chore of pushing it off to someone else.  THAT was the agreement.  They could have it free of charge, but they have to get rid of it afterwards.

I was an excellent photographer if I do say so myself (for being an amateur with a new camera - ha!).  The wedding was lovely, the reception was wonderful and then we ran errands.  I am not a huge fan of morning/early afternoon weddings (sorry JB and Whit!!).  I just feel like I should DO something afterwards since we were done by like 3:30, but it was post a WEDDING and so I felt like bleh.  And tired.  But then I realized I needed a bathing suit for the beach on Sunday, so we just did a *little* running (errands, not actual running.  i do not run.).

SUNDAY was beach day with the LADIES.  Kandice, Suzy and I took a little road trip to wildwood, nj.  It just so happened to be the kite festival, which was entertaining.  The beach itself was a total bust.  Cold, cloudy and WINDY.  Yuck.  We managed to entertain ourselves though.

Lol.  Nice pictures huh?  Here are a few more.

Yesterday was Memorial Day, but it just wasn't.  For serious.  

Today is Tuesday.  I had a doctor appointment, met Josh for lunch, came home and it's been laundry-o-rama at our house.  B-O-R-I-N-G.  And rain.  Miserable.

Birthday is Friday.  This should be my birthday week.  I should be all excited.  I'm not though.  Maybe it's the weather.  *pout*

*hugs and kisses*

mj

Nik the Nikon

Follow up to yesterday's post about my amazingly awesome birthday present.  Here are some of Nik's first pictures.  (FYI - Nik is a girl.)

So the above pictures are my first attempt at figuring out how to find my subject and focus on either the foreground or the background.  I used my tulip buds and that pink flowering thing behind it as subjects (lol - can you tell I'm not much of a flower person).  Yes I am being a total camera novice about this whole thing.  

These two pictures are showing the difference between 18mm (top) 

and 55mm (bottom).

The lens is an 18-55mm VR, so this is it's range.

I took both pictures staying in the same spot.

To the left is my accessory kit with tripod, screen protectors, cleaners, a CD for lost pictures, etc.

To the right is the extra two batteries and sweet charger that plugs directly into the wall with NO LONG CABLES, OR plugs into a car to charge.  Awesome!!

Finally here is my first person subject Josh.  I really think I need to take a class on how to use this camera to it's full potential, but this was day one of picture taking, so I'm not too upset.

So today I am really going to test the camera out.  We are guests at a friend's wedding!  Three years ago this July is when OTHER friends got their D40 and practiced tons of picture taking at OUR wedding.  Lol.  It's a thing.  

I promise to post some pictures hopefully later of the wedding!!

*hugs and kisses*

mj

I have some weird addictions.

Alcohol - eh.

Food - I do like to eat, but not that much.

Drugs - nope.

Exercise - bwahahaha

BUT, show me a sale on panties and I'm like a crack addict that hasn't had a hit in 24 hours.  OMG I NEED new panties.  I need every color, style, cut.  I love them even more if they have bright colors or funny sayings.  Just TYPING this I'm getting weirdly excited.  Hm.  It's so wrong.  I have a drawer FULL of panties, but I always feel I need MORE.  American Eagle has a line of bras, undies, etc called aerie.  Those jerks emailed me this morning offering 7 pairs of panties for ONLY $25.   

This is TORTURE not buying them.  I may or may not have 10 new pairs of panties from Victoria Secret's PINK collection.  *pouts*

I really want these 

cause like it's my birthday one week from today!!  And HELLO that's my sign.  

I don't think I can talk Josh into this one though.  *sigh*

I went into panty buying rehab for almost 6 months recently and Josh had no idea that my mom would take me into Vicky's.  But she did.  And I came out with my first 5 pairs.

Less than a week later Amanda and I went to the mall and we may have ended up in Vicky's again.  That was pair 6-10.  

It's another week later.  I don't think pairs 11-17 are necessary, but it's SO tempting.  Maybe if I promise to throw out my old ratty favorite period panties.  Hmmmmm... 

SPEAKING OF MY BIRTHDAY...

Happy early birthday to me from Josh and Mom.

I would have posted pictures I TOOK with the camera, but Josh deleted them.  I blame him. 

I'll have to do a post later after I get outside and get some good pictures again.

So I have the Nikon D60 body.  It came with an 18-55mm lens.  Weeeee!!  The accessory pack is coming today.  I can't wait.  

THANK YOU JOSH AND MOM!!  I LOVE YOU GUYS!!

*hugs and kisses*

mj

Stitches be Gone!

Today was another plastic surgeon follow up on the boobs.  It was 5 weeks since surgery this past Friday.  I can't believe it's been that long!

Everything looks fantastic.  He took some pictures since I won't see him for TWO months.  Wow.

Unfortunately I had two stitches poking through.  He clipped them both.  Thank goodness it didn't hurt as much this time!  Last time I almost cried.  I made lots of faces this time and the nurse laughed at them, but it really wasn't bad.  

From now on, I can remove them myself by just tugging on them.  *gag*  The stitches inside should have dissolved enough to let these pop throughs just be removed through pulling.  We'll see if I do it myself or call him to do it.

I'm happy with the results, he's happy with the results and all is well.  

Here are some PICTURES:

Here are the previous posts that had pictures.

I have another picture to share.

I want these.  I found them at Target.  They have LADY BUGS on them and we live on LADY BUG lane.  Lololol.  I thought it was cute.  Whatever.

Oh, and yesterday was another busy day.  Josh's sister is getting married in July and her MOH threw a surprise bridal shower in the Reading area.  I drove there and Josh RODE his bike (his plan was to get there when it was wrapping up - he succeeded well on the timing).  It took him about 4 hours and he went about 70+ miles.  Pure craziness.  It was WINDY and somewhat COLD here.  Silly boy.

     Here is a self portrait of me.  

I can buy DRESSES now.  AND I look cute in them.  I think this will be my get up for the wedding we'll be at this Saturday.  

Shower was good.  I was tired though.  After we got home last night it was CRASH time.  *yawn*

Tomorrow they are coming to pave our driveway.  Fun.  No parking on it for FIVE days.  Ugh.

My other reduction surgery friend will be two weeks post op tomorrow.  She looks so flippin fantastic.  WOW.

Another friend is scheduled for July 2 for surgery.  ANOTHER friend is getting it done June 22nd.  

I did not start this epidemic.  Someone else did, but I LOVE how supportive we are all to each other.

Oh and for my close friends, I updated the naked boob pictures too.  

*hugs and kisses*

mj

Success!!

The yard sale that is.  Let's recap shall we?

Friday I got to Amanda's at 6:45.  People were already out trying to find the yard sales (the newspaper ad, craigslist ad, and SIGNS all clearly stated that the sale did not start until 8AM).  And these early risers were RUDE and MEAN.  Holy jackass people!  They wanted to buy everything for lots of dollars less than marked (and haggling is fine - but don't make an offer, get turned down and then be a jerk about it telling me the stuff is crap).

Not only were people asshats, but they came in DROVES.  By noon we had made close to $500.  Now, there were 4 of us with stuff at the yard sale, so there was lots.  Noon to 3 when we close we didn't make much more.

My day one "close" was $112.  Yay!!  My goal was something between $100-150 so I was right there!  I told Amanda that after that day I was done - but no.  *sigh*  We still had another day.  

BUT, it was birthday time!!  Dave's birthday was friday, so the boys got out of work early, came home and met us girls and the four of us headed to Hunt Valley, MD.

First stop was dinner at the Silver Spring Mining Co.  We started with drinks.  It was eh.

I got a Malibu Melt Down Martini as did Amanda.  It was small and tasted just like my "signature" drink (aka fruity flavored rum like coconut, pineapple, etc with OJ).  Nothing special.

Here is a picture of the birthday boy and his wifey poo.  Lol.

Appetizer was the restaurant's signature food the Maryland Crab Pretzel.

This was pretty yum.  Everyone else got burgers and I got wings (since I still can't eat much) and we were kind of on a time crunch to make a movie.  The food was good.  The company was better.

Next the four of us headed off to the movie theatre to see Angels and Demons.

We got there, got seats (it was PACKED) and then Amanda and I went to grab some snacks.

This is what greeted us.  I have never seen a snack CART before.  He was so friendly and kept laughing at me.  I was overwhelmed at the possibilities.  He even had racks of fountain soda underneath!!  Wow.  Lolololol.  Amanda was cracking up because I blurted out "I'm from PA and we don't have these things."  Maybe we do, I haven't been to a movie theatre in like 2 years almost.  

Non spoiler movie review.  It was good.  It didn't follow the book.  It started SLOW and it was long.  All this means that I sort of missed the good stuff because I was so distracted from the slowness of the beginning.  This is why I watch Disney and Pixar movies.  Ha!

By the time we got home I was WIPED out.  I fell asleep immediately upon hitting the bed.

Saturday was another 6:45 arrival.  We moved slower that morning.  So did the yard salers.  They were much nicer too.  Thank goodness.  We didn't sell nearly as much.  I did sell a pool though for $70 so that's how I ended up with a second day total of $116.  

Fiona was all curled up in the easy up case.  

She did not really like the disruption of my picture taking.

Josh and Dave weren't around for the sale since Josh was racing, but they came back just in time to bring us Subway for lunch.  Yum.  Then they put the cat leash on Sidney.  He was not really into the whole "outside" thing.

          Josh had to hold poor Sidney.  He was ascared of the outsideness of the world.  He was born a barn cat!  Lol.  How quickly they forget.

Sidney and his BFF Josh.  These two love each other in almost a weird way.

After cleaning up a little bit and getting stuff put away, Josh and I headed home, showered and ran errands.  We were wiped again and so to bed we went.  

There are a few more funny stories from the weekend and some pictures from the BIKE RACE, but that's not for today's post.  I have somewhere to be in a couple hours and I have to go get ready and prettified.  Can't wait for Monday - weeks are like my weekends lately!

*hugs and kisses*

mj

Yard Sales are Scary

Okay maybe not like "OMG someone is coming after me with a knife" scary, but just more of "how did I accumulate all this crap and did someone really just BUY that??" scary.

Ha!

So tomorrow I am participating in my friend Amanda's community yard sale.  I did it last year and I'm not going to lie I had a lot of fun.  Last year though, Josh and I stayed at Amanda and Dave's house because at the time we lived on the OTHER side of town, but since moving in August we are a 3 minute drive and a 20 min walk away from each other.  Lol.  They had NO idea when we became friends we'd stalk them this well. :-P

Funny (well NOW it's funny) story from last year.  Amanda had this purse for sale.  It was one of those designer purses - possibly knock off, but I don't remember.  She was inside when a customer asked how much and she yelled a price out to me.  No purchase.  So about 10 minutes later another lady comes up.  

Now, don't get all mad at me, but to tell the story properly I have to say that she was of Asian decent and did not speak very good English.

She asks "how much purse?"  I'm not going to lie there was a 15 second delay to figure this out because I wasn't paying direct attention to her when she asked.  I usually need a 15 second delay to talk to ANYONE that I'm not paying direct attention to when they ask a question until I process what they say and then formulate an answer.  Well apparently lady was not asking ME this question.  And when I responded "Oh, that's $20" she became FURIOUS.

The gist of her getting angry with me was that SHE misunderstood ME and thought I said it was too much for her.  Basically she went on to play Julie Roberts in Pretty Woman and berate me for telling her she doesn't have money.  I tried apologizing, I TRIED explaining myself but she was having none of it.  She threw the other items she had in her hands down and stormed off.

When Amanda came back out I apologized like 10 times.  I never meant to upset this lady and totally was not saying what she thought I said.  I realize it was a huge miscommunication, but it just sucked.  It kind of ruined my day for a little while because then I felt like some racist jerk.  *sigh*  

Yet, as money always does, at the end of the yard sale I'd made more than I expected and so was happy.  I even snooped around the other yard sales and ended up picking up some Dean Koontz books I didn't have previously for cheap.  Thus adding to my ever growing book collection.  Sorry Josh.

My goal for this yard sale is to make about $100-$150.  My birthday is 2 weeks from tomorrow and I want this money to do something fun for myself.  The something fun is yet to be determined.  I'll figure that out eventually.  

Thus my plan for the next few days is as follows.

Tonight - finish pricing and getting stuff to Amanda's.  Set up as needed.

Tomorrow morning - Get up early to be at Amanda's by 7:15-7:30.  Yard sale starts at 8. 

Tomorrow evening - Yard sale ends at ??, so who knows.  Then get showered and cleaned up.  It's DAVE'S BIRTHDAY tomorrow so dinner, drinks and a showing of Angels and Demons are on the schedule!!  Yay!!

Saturday - Get up early to be at Amanda's by 7:15-7:30.  Yard sale starts at 8

Saturday evening - Yard sale ends at ??, so who knows.  After that we'll see what state I'm in to figure out what else to do.

Sunday - plans.  

Yep, another packed weekend.  I'm used to it.  I don't mind really.  

I'll leave you with some "fun" pictures to look at.  Lol.  I got my hair cut last week and here are the before and after shots.

The before shots my hair looks gross.  But, I had it in a pony before taking them.  Eh well.

*hugs and kisses*

mj