{8/31/11}

today was the first day of school for bay and chloe.  bay started 7th grade and chloe 1st.  today was also chloe's first day going on the bus.  these are our feet at the bus stop.  :)

 

today is also the last day of august break.  it was fun.  :)

{8/30/11}

tomorrow is the first day of school for the older two. the boy starts next week. these are from when we went school shopping. :)

{disclaimer: chloe did not get the flower dress, but i liked her expression in this one better}.

weekly polaroid fix.....{jumping on the bed}

here is another installment of "weekly polaroid fix". these aren't real polaroids unfortunately. they are fauxlaroids. or poladroids. you can install this awesome app HERE!

polaroids make me feel like the photos are from my childhood. even though we didn't have a polaroid growing up.

i'm going to try to do themes each week. this weeks theme....{jumping on the bed}

{8/29/11}

here is my shot for 8/29/11. i took it on 8/28/11. a day that will forever go down in my memory as "the-day-we-were-supposed-to-get-a-hurricane-but-didn't-what-we-did-get-was-a-tropical-storm-that-was-exciting-but-not-nearly-exciting-enough-for-the-crap-i-had-to-deal-with-at-work-as-well-as-being-without-internet-and-cable-for-24-plus-hours-damn-you-irene-day" so yeah. here are my feet. in the midst of 50+ mph winds. we were waiting for our pizza. that's right.  Marc Anthony's never closes. he even posted on fb all day that they were open with their generators and that they had beer. needless to say it was VERY busy.

check out the windy ass grass. :)

 

{8/28/11}

show mommy your pretty face.  ;)

{hurricane irene....or the slowest moving thing ever}

oh em gee this thing is slow. i know most hurricanes are but this thing just seems like it has the mind of a two year old on their way to time out. get a move on already!!!!!!!!

irene is in new york. or almost there. who knows. i'm sure i'll be waking up tonight to some excitement. she's not too far away now. here is a newer pic with pretty purple warnings....

btw...i am COASTAL. :)

and here is my hero. mike seidel. he is reporting for the weather channel.  he is brave. and someday, i want his job. here are some cool shots of him at work. what i really want to see is him try to walk tomorrow after using all the muscles in his body to stand up all day in that wind. :)

seriously, lisa and i were watching all morning and when we left for work at 1:00 pm he was still in that ocean. good job man.

{8/27/11}

with hurricane irene approaching, i'm breaking the rules that i set for myself a bit on my #augustbreak. i've been uploading poladroids every day. it's been easy and i love poladroids. it is called august break after all. :) today i'm uploading a hipstamatic print. we are waiting patiently {or not in my case} for irene to make it's debut. here is the "calm before the storm".

{waiting for irene}

irene is still more than a day away.  i've been tracking it's impact in the carolinas and following all the forecasts.  here are some of the most recent images from The Weather Channel.

it's crazy big huh?!

like so crazy big!

here is the latest track....looks like it's going to hit us sunday....

the kids have gone to their dad's for the weekend. i am closing tomorrow {2-10:30} and sunday, so i plan on making some brownies and cupcakes today. lisa and i have some wine and beer and plenty of candles. we are ready for irene!

{8/26/11}

{hurricane preparation}

today i ran around my store around 2pm to get the things we need to prepare for hurricane irene.  we did not need D sized batteries....which is a good thing because we were completely out.  we were also running very low on the following essentials.....

the "good" peanut butter....

canned pasta items....i wasn't buying these but they were pretty empty....

water....

flashlights. this looks pretty full but looks can be deceiving...the ones left were all waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too expensive to be a flashlight.

we did have 3 of these....but for this price the flashlight better bake my brownies for me and charge my iphone....

tape....

but don't worry. i got all my essentials. i got the last two $8 flashlights. we do have those $50 ones but if you get those, make sure you actually pay for them. ;) i got a lighter, tape for the windows, donettes for my love, and brownies. oh and eggs and caramels to put in the brownies. i also got raw sugar and nutmeg for lisa as she will be making a sugar rim for her pumpkin beer. gross. {i despise beer}. and the number one essential that i got was a brand new "target red" nailpolish. {there will be a blog post dedicated to this....you know it}. i am a hot pink toenail girl. i've worn the same color for years now, but this was way too tempting for my target geekery self.

i've labeled the most important things in red so you can see quickly what you should get for your "hunker down party". oh and don't forget the alcohol. {not beer}. we don't sell alcohol at my target or you would have seen a lot of it. trust me. ;)

{i love me a good storm}

if you are one to get mad at me for hoping for a hurricane, click away now.  go ahead, do it.  you don't want to read any further.  i love storms.  a good thunderstorm stirs up excitement in me.  a good hurricane, well, that is just a beautiful thought.  let me throw a disclaimer in here for those of you that didn't click away but should have; i DO NOT wish for people to get hurt or for there to be an extraordinary amount of damage.  trust me.  but the idea of bunkering down the hatches and waiting out a storm just makes my week.  it's different.  it's exciting.  and hurricanes, as ugly and monstrous as they are, are gorgeous awe inspiring things to me.  the simple fact that a storm of that magnitude can pop up on it's own out of the middle of the ocean is insane to me. 

hurricane Irene hitting the Bahamas.....

i have been on the computer all day tracking the progress.  in my line of work, it's my job to keep my team safe so staying up to date is important.  i've been on The Weather Channel and Accu Weather to get my info.  i read a great article that you can find here! comparing hurricane Irene to previous hurricanes such as Bertha, Bob and Hugo.  it's a must read if you're into this kind of stuff. 

speaking of good ole hurricane Bob, he may be the reason for my love of hurricanes.  errrrrrrr, or maybe it was my dad...who is also Bob.  i was 11 years old when hurricane bob came up the coast of massachussets.  i was in marshfield with my dad at the time.  i remember getting in his car {maybe an Iroc} and going down to the seawall.  we parked that car in front of the seawall and sat in it while the storm surge waves came up and over the car.  it was the coolest {and possibly most dangerous} thing i've ever done.  i remember it as vividly as you can remember something 20 years later.  the waiting in between the waves was horrible.  it seemed like forever before that salty water came up and over us again.  the coolest part?  looking at it through the sunroof.  {another disclaimer here: not even sure it was hurricane Bob.  i don't have the best memory and we were safe so no need to call the authorities now.  what i do know?  it was awesomesauce}.

it looks Irene is going to cause some sweet waves too. :)

it looks as if Irene will reach my parts sunday night into monday am.  right when i am at work.  i've joked with my boss about staying overnight, but you never know.  my store in it's steel glory seems a lot safer than my rickety old apartment in the sky.  at the very least, it's going to cause excitement here at Target. 

the kids are going to be with their dad when the hurricane hits.  i'm kind of sad that i will miss their first really big storm.  is that weird of me?  i know it's the mom instincts in me that want to be there to comfort them if they are scared.  but really, i don't want to miss it if they are excited and love hurricanes like i do.  :)

here are some weather related pics.  projected paths and what not.  i'll keep y'all updated as the storm gets closer to us.  and don't worry, we'll be safe.  going to buy some tape and flashlights right now.  ;)

{none of these pictures are mine.  they were all borrowed from the lovely sites that are linked further up in the post}

along with the hurricane warning, there is also a chance of tornadoes. amazing!

btw....while talking to people at work today, i realized my ultimate dream job.  if i were childless, i would be..........are you ready for it?????...........a tornado chaser.  yup.  i'd be one of those crazy ass people hiding out underneath the highway overpass trying to get a good shot of the tornado.  perfection.  maybe someday.  the kids have to move out at some point....right?

{food that someone must make/bake for me}

doesn't this look like heaven on a plate?!  {disclaimer: i did NOT make this or take the photo}   :)  it is banana cake with nutella frosting.  the recipe and the photo are by the lovely linda.  you can find the original blog post here.  linda's blog is full of awe inspiring gorgeous foods.  i've seen linda around on flickr and what not.  now i subscribe to her beautiful blog.  you should too.   ;)

{8/25/11}

{improvements}

i've really been working on trying to improve the over all look of my blog. i put in a fancy background. i added buttons for fb, twitter and flickr. {yes, that's flickr...not boobs}. they were free and they are "coffee stained" themed. how perfect?! i also figured out how to take the annoying white border off of my pics and i made a cute little signature for the bottom of my posts. {see below}. it's not perfect and i will change it, but i think it's cute. :)

here's a pic for the 'ell of it. ;)