beach.

a few weekends ago worker man and i went to the beach for the weekend with barbie and ken.

sidenote:  barbie and ken have been very concerned about what their blog names would be.  their neighbors refer to the soon-to-be [soon as in this saturday!!] mrs. as barbie....so i figured it would be good for continuity's sake.

anywhoo...back to our beach trip.

we spent the weekend with them:

obviously they're concentrating pretty hard but i promise, most of the trip they looked like this.

[minus the sweet yellow tint of the light]

we had a blast.

the nice thing about the weekend was that we didn't have to entertain the fellas.

they found plenty to keep them busy.

they started out the weekend with some...legos {suprise}

on saturday morning they moved on to cornhole.

worker man and ken stretched out.

getting ready for the big tourney.

then they met the competition.

i think worker man and ken thought they would have this competition in the bag.

a little action-shot.

the one, lonley spectator.

doin' what she does best.

spectatin'.

they lost.

then, they headed to the arcade.

to come home with their big prizes.

bff rings.

thankfully, those things aren't super-high-quality, so they broke in a few hours and had to be thrown away.

thankfully.

[and yes, the only reason worker man is in ken's lap is for documenting this sweet moment.  he didn't stay like this for long...thankfully.]

for supper on saturday night, i had the genius idea that we should walk down the beach to a restaurant by the pier.  no one realized it was a mile down the beach till we were already about halfway there.

but the food ended up being good and we got to sit overlooking the ocean, so it was good.

after the hour treck back to the beach house from supper we decided to play putt-putt.

barbie and i scored the only hole-in-ones of the game.

we scored them on the same hole.
we were pretty stoked :)

ken wore duckboots all weekend so he was super pumped to go wading in the nasty putt-putt water.

on the way home from putt-putt we got to experience a little concert.

[notice i said experience, not enjoy -- just kidding ken]

we seriously had a wonderful time.

i got a lot of pics of barbie and ken and me and worker man on the beach but this was one of my favorites :)

the guys were probably off mourning the loss of their bff rings.

sweet.

worker man informed me last night that he has not been very impressed with my blogging lately.  he said all the posts from this week had been pretty lame.

so sorry.

and now, i feel the pressure.
which means there's definitely not going to be anything remotely fun.

so there.

but, worker man did just show up at my office like this:

{so sweet}.

addicted.

fall is here.

yay!

shoutout.

craziest thing happened today.

f.m.i.l called and let me a message telling me to call her right back.  she said she had something that she needed to tell me really fast.

so i call her back to find out this story.

she traveled to the city where worker man's sister lives to help her paint today since their family just moved to this city and bought a house.  they decided to take a break from lunch and go grab some mexican food. 

beside the restaurant was a cupcake shop where a friend of their family works.  so they decided to stop by and say hello. 

well, while they were waiting to talk to her, a girl walks up to them and says, "umm...so i know this is going to sound stalkerish but yall are graham craka's family, right?"

i think f.m.i.l was a little shocked and had to ask her to restate the question.
so she did and f.m.i.l affirmed that indeed, she is f.m.i.l.

she had recognized worker man's family from pictures on the blog.  she actually found me through kelly's korner when i did the show us your life post about our wedding.

so, yes, that is pretty awesome :)

plus, this makes it even more interesting...

this reader has just moved from delaware and just happened to move to our state in the city where my sister-in-law lives, where my mother-in-law happened to be with her at the same time delaware was in a cupcake shop to visit a family friend beside the mexican place where they ate lunch.

small world, huh?

delaware, you need to start a blog :)

pray.

i came across this blog today.

just a recap:

sara was diagnosed with breast cancer and has gone through chemo.
she has also been pregnant during this time.
the baby was born on september 8th.
but sara's health has declined rapidly.
i know this time is crucial.

please pray for them!
i know God can perform a miracle!

bloom.

bloom is a new, virtual book club that just started. 

we are reading crazy love as the first book. 

we are in week two and it has been great so far.  each week we read a chapter.  angie and jess do a video on sundays and they have a guest video on wednesday.  there are also discussion groups on ning.com

you should join if you're interested.


it's not too late!

just click on the button above and go to the about section to get all the details :)

tools.

my house was all clean when i left for work.

when i got back, here's what i found.

the pleasures of living with a worker man.

bestest.

yesterday i had to drive home in this:

and pulled in my driveway, finally, at this time because of traffic on top of my 55 minute commute.

{yes, for those of you in my area...i was getting my '80s fix for the day - might as well bust out some journey at least it makes 1.5 hours a little more tolerable}

and knew all along i was coming home to this:

and this:

and then heading to a meeting from 9 pm - 11 pm for college life.

but thankfully, they live right down the road.

and even though they were busy doing this:

{ps. ffil was excited i got a shot of his best side}

they had this sitting in the kitchen for me.

still hot and ready for me to take home.

yes, they are definitely the bestest.

bluegrass.

on monday night, worker man was out of town so i went to my parent's town to spend the night.

my mom and sister both had things going on so it was just me and my daddy.

we went out to eat and then decided to swing through mcdonalds for a cup of coffee on the way home.  when we pulled in, i noticed something go on in the playplace area with a bunch of older people.  dad informed me that it was bluegrass night [which happens every monday night].

i love bluegrass.

so i begged my dad [who was not hard to convince since he loves it more than me] to let us go in and listen for awhile.

we went in and there were 30+ old people in there. 

a lot of them we dancin' a jig.

only in my parent's town would there be a bluegrass night at the local mcdonalds.

i was just sad that we didn't get there earlier so i could have danced too!

at the end everyone gathered hands and sang amazing grace.

as ridiculous as this all may seem, it just reminds me what a sweet town this was to grow up in.  God-fearin' people who just want to get together for a little fun.

even if it is at mcdonalds on a monday night listening to bluegrass and cuttin' a rug.

hmm...i wonder what my daddy is doing next monday night....

open mouth, insert foot.

have you ever said something really stupid to someone higher than you?  

for example: open your mouth, say one word, then realize that you shouldn't have said anything?

but by then you're already opened your mouth and said the first word, so you can't turn back.

well, about my post on friday.

like i said, i had decided not to tell anyone.
just to see if someone would figure it out.

well, on thursday of that week, i was in the break room when the dean of students walked in.


let me repeat.  


the dean.of.students.
as in, in charge of all of the medical students at the med school where i work.

yeah, so anyways...he walks in and says 'oh, well, you look dressed up today'.


right there, i should have said 'yes sir' and that been it.


instead, i opened my mouth.  and said, 'my husband and i are house-sitting for dr. n'.

{yes, the dean from this story}

and as soon as i did, i knew i needed to turn back.  but there was no way out.  i was already in too deep to just end the conversation.


so, my entire story about seeing this girl doing this little, black dress thing on a blog and deciding that i should do that while i was house-sitting so i wouldn't have to pack so much and not telling anyone to see if anyone noticed, etc all came spilling out.


throughout this entire story, dr. k just stood there with his mouth open.
when i finished telling him all this, he just kinda turned his head to the side, mouth still slightly open, and just said..."uhhh".


my response?


i promptly did a one-hundred and eighty degree turn and walked back to my office.


we have not spoken since.



oh yeah, did i mention i've only exchanged about seven words with him ever?



two deans down, quite a few left to go.

the lbd.

remember this post about the little black dress {lbd}?

well...worker man and i were house-sitting for my boss one week and i decided that {instead of packing up a whole suitcase full of potential outfits for the week} i should try a little experiment.

i wore the same little black dress for the week.

guess what? 

no one noticed!

here is a snapshot of my week.

if you click on the picture you can see it a little better.

btw, i totally realize your eyes go straight to thursday.  i forgot to take a picture in the same place!

and, just to keep ya comin' back, i may have a little follow-up story on monday.

project.

i saw this and this and knew i had to make one of these.


here's the finished product :)

 

 

display.

i walked in the living room the other day and here's what i saw.

a closer look.

yes.
that is a rubbermaid table.
converted to a sofa table by worker man.
displaying his legos.

i figure i'll give it a few days.
before i burst his bubble.

diptacular.

for boo mama's diptacular, i want to share a really quick and easy recipe.

it's actually my college roomie's recipe. 

and she just started a blog yesterday.

so you should check it out.

anyway, back to the dip.

carmel/toffee apple dip:

1 - 8 oz. package of cream cheese
2/3 c. of brown sugar
1/2 a bag of heath toffee bits

using an electric mixer, blend all three ingredients {i typically do the brown sugar and softened cream cheese then add in the toffee after the first two are mixed together}

refridgerate for about an hour and serve with sliced apples.

{hint:  for those of you who might not know, dipping the apple slices into a bowl of water with a little lemon juice keeps the apples from getting brown too quickly}

i'm excited to try all these other recipes.

happy friday y'all!

valid.

i read a funny {but very valid} post here today.

worker man and i have had many 'a conversation about this.

thoughts?
anyone?

aware.

i work at a medical school that is attached to a hospital.

thankfully, i have not spent a lot of time in hospitals. especially not in recent years. but, anytime i am walking through the hospital for a random reason i become aware of how much sickness there is out there. just today i walked down through the hospital and i saw three extremely sick people.

one with cancer. she had no hair. she was sitting in the lobby hooked to an iv with all kinds of bags hanging from it. i assume she was there, in the lobby, as an escape from the four walls she has probably been confined to for some time.

one man with tubes coming out of his nose. probably weighed eighty pounds, max. he was slowly walking down the hall in sock feet. no look of joy. no look of anything. just a blank stare.

and the third. another man with a hospital gown on. barely able to walk even with the help of a cane. carrying a bag of medicines. again, no joy. just a longing desire to be out of this place.

the third glanced at me as i walked by. and in that split second i was overwhelmed with emotion. just so incredibly thankful to be able to work. to be able to walk. to be able to find joy in the small things. the things i so quickly take for granted.

so today i am aware.

aware that i am healthy.
aware that i am able.

aware that i am blessed.

origin.

today is worker man's birthday so i thought it might be a good idea to let you know where his name 'worker man' came from. growing up people would ask him what he wanted to be when he grew up. and he always told people that he wanted to be a worker man like his grandaddy. i was talking to fmil about it and she showed me these pictures of a birthday party they had for him when he was little.

he got worker man boots for his birthday.

and he had a worker man cake. when he requested this, fmil thought he wanted a cake with like a bulldozer but no, he wanted a cake with a worker man on it. in overalls, with a hoe and a garden. so she found a worker man holding a hoe and made a garden with little carrots on top of the cake.

happy birthday worker man!

i love you and i pray that God will bless you more richly this year than ever before.