Archives for 2009

A Blog Bites the Dust

September 3, 2009 by Amy 7 Comments

Beware, I’m on a bit of a soap box in this one.

So I did it. I sold my Melr*se Pl*ce blog (it’s not a bad word, just don’t want search engines picking it up). I sold it to an online friend and I know it will be well taken care of. But yesterday when I took it out of my stat site, it honestly made me choke up a bit. It was like giving a well cared for treasure away. I guess I’ve put more effort and energy into it than I thought.

The thing is once the ads came out recently, they were too racy for me. It’s in very poor taste considering it’s on a network geared toward teenage girls. “Tuesdays are the new Hump Day” or “Menage A TUES” are just examples. Have fun explaining that one to your 13 year old. The main character is “try-sexual” because she’ll try anything with anyone and another character is literally a prostitute on the side. The latest ad says “Lauren’s on call and it’s not at the hospital”. Hopefully the ads are going a bit over the edge and the show will handle the subjects more appropriately. But I doubt it.

I’m no saint when it comes to TV watching but I guess I just didn’t feel comfortable being a part of the promotion of that. I do put a lot of effort into my blogs and since it’s not something I feel 100% about, I just can’t justify the time and effort. The thing is I’m giving up a source of blog income as it was finally making a profit after about 6 months and I expect it only to go up, way up, in fact. I still can’t say it didn’t hurt a bit to give it up. But I know deep down I’m doing the right thing for me.

Sooo…I have some time to blog about something else now…watch out!

Last First Day of Preschool

September 1, 2009 by Amy 4 Comments

Since Emma started 1st Grade Lexi has been counting down to Preschool. Last night we met her teachers and were ecstatic to find that her best friend from her last class was there. This morning Lexi woke ME up at 6:55 holding her clothes. I went to the bathroom and came back in and Lexi says with a bit of embarrassment and regret, “I woke up really early didn’t I?”

So yeah, Lexi is doing A-OK in preschool today.

The Lake

August 31, 2009 by Amy 10 Comments

Picture proof. Lexi finally made it onto a boat with a life jacket. The purple life jacket to the rescue!

I’d say she enjoyed it. She was relaxed enough to almost fall asleep.

Emma, was of course ecstatic to get back on.

With of course a snack. Have I mentioned how much she is eating these days?!

We also got to visit this sandbar and let the kids swim.

My parents decided to invite themselves (glad you did!) since they hadn’t been out on a boat in forever.

The couple in the foreground (below) were our hosts. He is 92 and they have been married 70 years.

SEVENTY.

SEVEN. ZERO.

Can you imagine celebrating your 70th wedding anniversary? And actually now that I think about it, my parents have been married over 30 years so that’s over 100 years of marriage in that picture. Crazy.

But they are one of the sweetest set of people I’ve ever met. They like to treat Scott like a son and I’d say Scott is quite ok with that.

The kids also tested out their fishing rods. And…they hated it. Lexi was trying to catch a small fish and a catfish came out of nowhere, grabbed her line which pulled her forward a bit. It scared Lexi to death and she literally went running for the hills. Then of course Emma wouldn’t touch her rod. And honestly, I took over the rod and it scared me to death when a catfish grabbed my line. And no, I don’t think I’ve ever fished myself. I’m sure my parents my argue but it was definitely not a thing we did growing up. After Saturday, I’m guessing it’s not a family past time the girls want to take up.

They did, however, enjoy casting their line (is that what you say?!) with no hook or bait (again, right?) just to see how far it would go.

Scott redeemed the Bennett’s fishing prowess and caught a few fish for us. This picture is like a Where’s Waldo? The fish is hanging on the line..see if you can find it!

Definitely a great day. The only downside is it almost convinced Scott and I to go buy a boat one of these days. Someone stop us!

See the rest of the pics on my Facebook.

Say Cheese!

August 28, 2009 by Amy 2 Comments

So as mentioned earlier today, I went to a photo shoot this afternoon. I had a very similar experience to my NY trip last year. I was a nervous wreck beforehand but then felt quite comfortable there. The photo shoot was at CustomShop near downtown Charlotte. It’s closed during the day but they allowed them to use the storefront while they cooked in the back.

When I got there, the photographer Armando was there and one of the other girls (debating whether to say models/talents) Mackenzie. Within a few minutes, another girl Kate, a guy Danny and the makeup artist Elizabeth were there. The two girls had done some previous shoots but weren’t professional. Danny, is actually a race car driver/actor/model and lived in New York for a time. You can see some of his work on his web site http://www.dannybopp.com/.

The first thing we did was sit at a few tables to see about lighting and grouping of people. Next, we all picked out outfits. I went wearing a black top, blue jeans and black heels. Another girl had a similar outfit and then the other two were both wearing jeans and white shirts. Weren’t we creative?! I had brought two more shirts and pants. He decided on a green and brown top that I had, khaki jacket/white shirt for Kate, Mackenzie kept her black shirt and Danny got a salmon colored sweater.

We each got our makeup done by a former MAC-turned-independent makeup artist. She did mine very natural. Nothing like NY when she did a smokier eye. While we each waited on makeup, we took turns getting individual shots and then getting to know each other.

The first shot I was in was with Kate. We sat at a table and I had lean over and pretend like I was telling her a secret and another shot where we were laughing and then we switched places. Let me tell you, I don’t think I understood it but modeling takes a bit of acting skill. Which, if you know me, I do not have. I was definitely not prepared with funny stories. I think I said a lot of um’s.

When it came to the group shots, we sat at two different tables while he took pictures of us talking. We had to tell funny stories. Or just interesting stories and wear a fake smile. Except…I was very interested that we all took turns telling actual stories. I learned about a man peeing in Rome and a man smoking crack on the train in NY! We also had drinks given to us and we just had to hold them. In one of the first shots, Danny poured us all wine. Don’t worry, Mom, I didn’t drink!

Kate and Mackenzie did a pose together and then Danny and I sat together and did a pose as a couple chatting at dinner. He kept scooting us closer together and we were all “Awkward!” It did make us smile though! So somehow we decided to talk about TV to keep the chattering going while he took pictures. We both talked about our favorite shows. The funny thing was trying to talk about Dollhouse and talking about murder while supposedly being happy and dating! We were like murder! funny! haha! Awkward!

So yeah, we all actually just had a good time, smiling a lot and actually listening to each other’s stories and backgrounds.

Armando Bellmas was the photographer. Look him up if you’re in the Charlotte area! He was great at giving direction, was very organized and seemed to be very genuine and nice. We’re supposed to see some proofs to choose from at the beginning of next week. Much better than a cell shot in my car. Can’t wait!

So I know I’ve talked about it before but I really would like to do more of this. Maybe I’ll change my mind when I see the pictures but really, each time I do this I walk away thinking I could do that all the time!

Weekend Plans

August 28, 2009 by Amy 1 Comment

It’s one of those days I need a brain dump that basically turned into a weekend plans post.

Melissa recommended me as a model for a photo shoot for a photographer’s portfolio when she couldn’t make it. I use the term model loosely. Very. loosely. But it is going to be at a restaurant in downtown Charlotte and there is a makeup artist and other people to interact with. I’m pretty excited about that. I’ll be paid in digital pictures to do whatever I want with which is totally cool with me. Maybe I can use them for a comp card. Whatever works. I’m taking the afternoon off from work to do that. He said it’d just be an hour or two.
Tonight and tomorrow morning I’m attending the Beth Moore simulcast with Dani. I’m all kinds of excited about that. I love listening to Beth. Watching her live with thousands of women across the country should be fun. Plus, it seems that Dani and I hardly see each other so it will fun. Did I mention Dani’s expecting again?!
Tomorrow afternoon I think we’re going on the boat with that couple from our church. The kids are both so excited. I hope the weather lets us.
And best of all, I’m so looking forward to church on Sunday. Counting down until Sunday is not something I’ve done in a while and I have to say I like it!

Life Jackets and Fishing Poles

August 25, 2009 by Amy Leave a Comment

If you remember, Lexi had issues with her life jacket last week. Well this weekend we’re supposed to go visit an elderly couple who live on the lake. They really want to take us out on their boat. I really want to go out on their boat. Lexi really didn’t want to go out on their boat. Scott told her he would go buy her a life jacket if she would wear it on the boat. Also, the girls wanted a fishing rod. So last night we took the girls to Wal-Mart and got them Barbie fishing rods. They had no life jackets so Scott took them to Target today and got those.

And today Scott taught them how to cast it. I think that’s what you call it anyway. I’m clueless about fishing!

Emma really, really…

got into it.

Then they got serious. It was time to try out their life vests and try it out at the pool.

As green as our water is right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if they actually caught something.

I think they eventually got the hang of it though. That looks about right…

Here are a few videos. If you can’t see them, in one the girls are practicing in the front yard and the other I try my hand at it and utterly fail. I’m a lot of things but a fisherman is not one of them.

Videos might not be done processing but I need to get to bed!

Renovation Progress 8/25

August 25, 2009 by Amy 3 Comments

Ta-da! The new stove is just lovely and we didn’t manage to blow anything up! Here’s the before from yesterday:

Next step is hardware.

Fall TV

August 25, 2009 by Amy 4 Comments

You all should know I love my TV. Probably a downfall of mine but I love getting lost in the stories and after a full day of staring at code and answering to Mommy, it’s my way of not having to think about anything and relaxing.

I do have to say I have REALLY enjoyed the break this summer and love that I rarely if ever turn the TV on for myself.

Each season though, I find that there are always new shows I want to check out and invariably I’m sitting in front of a TV for hours. It’s really too much.

Over the last few seasons I have started cutting back. Over time, I threw out Big Brother, Biggest Loser, 24, Desperate Housewives, Survivor, Private Practice, So You Think You Can Dance, even House. Not to mention HGTV altogether. I really could spend all day watching TV if I let myself.

Sometimes I have to throw shows out just because of the time conflict. And yes, I have DVR but I have other shows on other nights to watch. There are some I love enough to DVR and watch later but usually, I like to watch shows live. I KNOW I’m probably in the minority there.

So all that to say, this is what my schedule is looking like in about two weeks:

Monday

One Tree Hill 8-9
Greek 9-10
Gossip Girl 9-10

You can see I already have a conflict on Day 1. But I do love both Greek and Gossip Girl. Greek is all thanks to Heather who wouldn’t keep raving about it. Because of my OTH blog and all the posting I do on Monday nights, I’ll probably be DVRing both of those and watching both later. Also worthy of note is Greek is only 10 episodes.

Tuesday

Melrose Place 9-10

If you didn’t already know, I started a blog for MP. I’m not very happy with what I’ve seen with it so far (racy storylines and advertising) and am thinking about selling it. Any takers? Either way, I’ll probably check it out before I write it off completely.

Wednesday

Glee 9-10

Glee is very questionable. I almost didn’t include it. But the pilot episode was good enough to make me check it out again. I think.

Thursday

Vampire Diaries 8-9
The Office 9-9:30
Grey’s Anatomy 9-10

I usually watch The Office first so Scott will watch it with me before going to bed and also so I can fast forward through all of Grey’s commercials. I read the Vampire Diaries books so I definitely want to check out the show. Or, I read the books so I could watch the show. Something like that. Either way, I’m going to check it out. It will probably be a DVR thing though because it comes on before the kids go to bed.

Friday

Dollhouse 10-11

Dollhouse was a solid show last year and Scott will watch it with me. Plus, it’s the only show I watch on the weekends.

Also, others I’d like to check out if I had the time is The Secret Life of the American Teenager. A show I threw out that I wish I had time to watch is Lie To Me. And I do miss House. The others I’ve gotten rid of I like but I’m not missing them too much.

As you can see, I’m looking at 1-3 hours of TV every night. *sigh* I honestly feel tired already.

But are there any other shows you think I HAVE to watch? I don’t mind catching up on several seasons if it’s worth it!