Picture of the Week

This is a picture of (from left to right) my mom, Aunt Jackie, and Aunt Beth (mom's twin sister).  I don't know when it was taken, but aren't those some cute kids?

Raindrops on roses....

and whiskers on kittens...these are a few of my favorite things.  We all know most girls love to shop (with the exception of my sister, Jessica).  I count myself within that number.  However, I'm not crazy about clothes shopping.  I have trouble finding styles I'm comfortable with in shapes and sizes that work for me.  But....things that always work for everyone are shoes, bags, coats, and containers. 

For shoes, I love to dream about all the tennis shoes I would purchase, or the sandals and flip flops, or the dressy shoes, or the casual weekend shoes.  I love to look at kids shoes and imagine all the kinds I would buy for my two little monkeys.  I look at shoes at Target and Rack Room.  I don't actually purchase many shoes - I survive with one pair of tennis shoes, two pairs of work shoes (one flat and one with a heel), many flip flops, and a pair of winter casual shoes.  But a girl can dream, right?

Bags includes mainly purses and totes for me.  If I had the money, I would have a room full of these things.  Lately I've been on a Vera Bradley kick.  I was at a yard sale helping Logan's Cub Scout group when I was informed there was a lady selling Vera Bradley bags cheap.  I hustled my way down to her table and scored a blue purse and matching wallet, and a big black tote bag for $12 total - all in like new condition.  The wallet is the kind that zips up so you don't lose stuff and it has a little strap to carry it with - perfect!  I wasn't sure why I needed the black tote, but at $5 I wasn't passing it up.  This inspired me to check eBay for more VB items and I ended up with a small blue purse that hangs across the body, a small pink hobo purse, a small pink wallet, and a new hard case for my glasses.  I told myself Happy Mother's Day as I paid for my loot. 

Another kind of bag I'm diggin' are the reusable shopping bags.  Weird, right?  I figure - they're cheap (most cost $1), they can be used for anything and bought almost anywhere, and I'm helping the environment.  I'm slowly building up my stock - I have 3 from Wal-Mart, 2 from Aldi (they're mega huge though - and pretty heavy when full), and one from Old Navy.  It has a picture of a bumblebee and says "Bee green."

The next thing I love to dream about are coats.  Rain coats, winter coats, plain, patterned, with a hood, light jacket, whatever.  For some reason coats just catch my eye.  There are so many different types to have, in so many colors.  And they're usually pretty friendly to all body types. (jacket from Lands End).

Finally, I love containers.  I love baskets, I love plastic tubs, I love little boxes to sit on dressers, I love storage pieces.  I love it all.  I thing it's the organizer in me coming out.  I see a cute basket and try desperately to think of somewhere to put it in my house.  I see a mail sorter and try to figure out if I have counter space for it (I don't).  I see a mess of baby doll accessories and Matchbox cars on my living room table and mentally go through the house to locate something to put all the stuff in.  I just love having a designated place to put things.  It makes picking up so much easier.

So those are the things I love, for real and in dreams.

*Jacket from Lands End, container from The Container Store, shoes from shoes.com, bag from Vera Bradley, reusable bag from Envirosax.

Top Five Fruits

And now, in no certain order...wait, they are in order.  #1 is the BEST.  And now, without further adieu, my top 5 favorite fruits:

1. Watermelon - juicy, sweet, and delicious, I could eat it all day...if someone else would cut it up and keep Logan away from it :-)
2. Banana - perfect for a quick snack and kind of filling.  Pairs well with almost any other fruit.  For example, ever had a Kiwi Banana Starburst?  Delicious.
3. Apple - I like them Golden Delicious or Gala...with Fuji on occasion.  Or I'd definitely take a Granny Smith baked into mom's apple pie.  I love them dipped in peanut butter, and have even tried one chocolate covered.
4. Pineapple - when they're perfectly ripened, sweet and yummy.  Again, could someone else cut it please? And keep Logan away?
5. Honeydew melon - the green melon you always find in a fruit salad.  I think it's just a bit sweeter than cantaloupe, and maybe a little mushier.

Extended Family

When I was growing up, my immediate family included my mom and dad and my two sisters. My father was an only child so there were no aunts or uncles on his side, his father died when he was 3 so there was no grandfather, and his mom (my Grandma Colvin) lived in Evansville, IN, approximately 4 hours away.

My mom has two sisters, one of them being her twin. One lived/s in Evansville and the other in Jacksonville, FL. Her dad passed away when Catherine was a baby so there wasn't really a grandfather on her side either. Her mom (my Grandma Baggett) lived with her stepdad in Louisiana.

I tell you all of these facts as a preface to this statement: I didn't have much contact with any of my extended family. We saw Grandma Colvin pretty frequently (unfortunately she passed away when I was 12), and towards the end of her life she lived with us for a while, and then in a nursing home two streets from our house. We saw Aunt Jackie frequently, either us going to Evansville or her coming to us. I think there were a few times she took me and my sisters on trips or we stayed at her house with her. I only remember seeing my Aunt Beth, Uncle John, and cousins Erica, Seth, and Sam a handful of times. There was one fabulous Christmas when both aunts and their families came to our house to celebrate. I wish I knew the logistics of how all those people fit in our house, but I love looking at the pictures. I also remember visiting Aunt Beth in Florida one time, but I think it was a stopover on our way home from Disney World.

I never really minded any of these things, I accepted it without questioning.  It's just how things were.  The only time it ever bothered me was at Girl Scout cookie sales time.  I had a friend, Casi, whose entire extended family seemed to live in Somerset.  And she always sold a ton of cookies because she had family who bought them.  I had to go door to door through the neighborhood to sell just a few boxes.  I was so jealous.

Now that I'm grown, I do mind that I don't really know any of my extended family.  Joey spent the first 10 or so years of his life in Maryland surrounded by his mom's family, including aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents.  Because of that, he still stays in touch with them now.  I have only recently reconnected with two (of three) of my cousins and both of my aunts on Facebook.  If not for that, our only communication would be an annual Christmas card.

I always said I would do it differently when I had kids.  I would want my children to know all their aunts and uncles and cousins.  And for the first 3 and a half years of Logan's life, that's how it was.  We lived about an hour and a half away from their cousins.  All three of them.  They saw and played with them, regularly.  They knew all of their aunts from both sides of the family and often spent weekends with their grandparents.  That changed, though, when we moved to Charlotte.

Now we are approximately 7 hours away from all of our Kentucky family and we're about 7-8 hours away from Catherine who now lives in Tallahassee, FL.  My newest niece is now 6 months old and I've yet to meet her.  My oldest nephew knows me and is comfortable around me (I think), but my two younger nephews and my other niece need some time to warm up to me each time they see me.  My kids miss their extended family all the time, especially considering they have a "twin" cousin each.  I hate that it is like this.  Joey and I both love and miss our families, but Charlotte is more practical for us right now.  Charlotte has better (and more variety of) doctors to manage Joey's care, plus a great job for me.

Plus we really do like living here.  We just miss our families.

Quote of the Week

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."

Deuteronomy 31:6

Picture of the Week

This is my grandmother, Alberta Yaggi Colvin, on September 14, 1932.  Wasn't she gorgeous?  I think she was around 23 at the time, but I'm not certain (a lot of backwards math involved since I don't know her birthdate). 

Pixar Goodies

The recent review of Toy Story 3 in Entertainment Weekly included a list of the reviewers top 10 Pixar movies (I can't find the article online).  They ranked them as follows:

1. Toy Story
2. The Incredibles
3. Wall E
4. Finding Nemo
5. Up
6. Cars
7. Toy Story 2
8. Ratatouille
9. Monsters, Inc.
10. A Bug's Life

While I love all these movies, I would rank them a bit differently.

1. Toy Story
2. Finding Nemo
3. Cars
4. Toy Story 2
5. Wall E
6. Monsters, Inc.
7. The Incredibles
8. A Bug's Life
9. Ratatouille
10. Up

What do you think?