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Another week, another recap (yep I’m a slacker!)
Matt and I didn’t have any real plans for the weekend besides going to an event one of Patrick’s friends had scheduled for Saturday night. His friend Mike is the manager at Mellow Mushroom in Wake Forest. Mike decided to play a few songs as a kick off to the Patrick Edwards Foundation. (This will be a charitable foundation that will help under privileged youth learn the art of making EDM – electronic dance music.)
I knew about the event but I really had no idea there would be fundraising until Saturday when Matt and I set out to buy supplies, a receipt book and cash box. I figured we might raise a few hundred dollars which would be great. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would raise over $1200.00. Like that’s some serious money! I was blown away by the generosity of Patrick’s friends, several of which, made rather large donations. It was just an amazing night spent with good people and good music!
The event was great, and Mike did a wonderful job performing! Hopefully we will be able to be apart of numerous fundraisers for this cause.
After a wonderful Saturday night, we spent Sunday doing a whole lot of nothing. It was rainy and gross out and a perfect veg day. We slept in (which we always do), ate lunch, Matt worked out and I threw some clothes in the wash, then we both took naps. 🙂 Good lazy day!
~k
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Weekend recap
Friday was pretty crazy. I spent most of my day watching the news as the Boston PD searched for the Boston Marathon bomber. For some reason, I was weirdly fascinated by the whole thing. The search part I should say. After waking up and hearing the news that one was dead, I figured the police would find the second one pretty quickly but that didn’t happen.
That afternoon around 6 while I was lying on the couch, I heard a loud gust of wind. With that, the bottom fell out. I quickly scrambled to close the windows and then the power went out. Thankfully it was only out for a few minutes but then I noticed a puddle of water in dining room by the door. Our back door is a huge piece of crap and needs to be replaced. It doesn’t fit very well in the frame so when the wind blows right rain can comes through. I finally got the mess cleaned up when Matt announced shots were fired via twitter. I quickly turned the news back on and became glued to the TV. Finally we were both starving so we grabbed some fast food and returned home. Just in time to see reports that the bomber had been caught.
Around mid-night the power went off again and woke us up. Unfortunately it stayed off for the better part of an hour. I tossed and turned waiting for it to cut back on. I was hot and it was waaaaaayyy too quiet. It finally cut back on and I was able to sleep. I remember it cutting off again at some point but I guess I slept through that.
Saturday Matt met one of Patrick’s friends for a round of golf. I headed back to Old Navy to exchange a few more items and then ran to Target to get food for dinner. Around 6:30 Matt texted to say they were only on #13 and it would be a while. He also asked if I would be up for meeting them out for dinner. I got dressed and met everyone at Maru. MMMMM sushi! 🙂
Sunday we slept in and went to Costco. Then I came home and re-potted my hostas and planted the hyacinth mom gave me for Easter. The temperature also dropped this weekend. Matt finally got cold and turned the heat back on. It’s almost May, seriously, could it just warm up already!
~k
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The day Mr. Julio almost got a kitten
Yesterday morning started off just like any other day until I got to work. A coworker was in the elevator with me and as soon as we were on our floor she asked if I wanted a kitten. Duh! Of COURSE I want a kitten! She proceeded to tell me her boyfriend found the kitten in the back of a tractor trailer at his work. She had accidentally been shipped from South Carolina and had been in the truck for 3 days without food or water. As my heart is breaking, I tell her to email me a few pics. I will need to talk to my husband.
I immediately forward the emails with pics to Matt. He never responds, but I also know he is busy, so I don’t push. Around lunch time we are chatting and I mention the cat again. He finally responds with “fine you can get the kitten but there is no more ‘fun’ money until her vet bills are paid.” WHAT!?!? He actually said Yes! Woo hoo!
Thankfully I’d heard from another coworker that the kitten had found a good home so I knew she wasn’t available when I asked Matt again. I finally told him she’d found a good home, which made me happy. I mean if it came down to it, she would now be living at our house. I just couldn’t stand the idea of her going without food or water for days and then not finding a good home.
I do have a feeling that Mr. Julio is going to end up with a kitten sooner rather than later. I want him to have a friend before he gets too old. He is so social I don’t know what he’ll do once Hal is gone. So the next “free” kitten might just end up at our house. 😉
~k
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Overhaul
I posted a few pics from my dad’s photo shoot on Sunday, well he was having website issues so I decided to play around with my photo site. You know, that thing I haven’t touched in about a year? Poor Matt and ripped down and reinstalled numerous platforms and operating systems for me to try. It all started when I asked him to install Piwigo which is what dad’s site is currently using. I was trying to add something and didn’t want to experiment on his page so I tore my site down and started over. Then I wanted to try another one to see if I liked it and might move dad’s. Finally I settled on a WordPress site.
I feel like the current options were available when I first started trying to build my photo site because I feel like I am finding tons of options now. The gallery features are much cooler, there are cart options. It really does have it all. My main complaint the first go round were the gallery features. They were boring, boxy and kind of sucky. Now they slide, glide, fade. You name it you can find it. I must say I’ve been pleasantly surprised. It’s also given me something to do at work when I have some downtime.
I still have a lot more to do, like actually adding good pics but so far I’m happy with the direction my site is going.
Feedback is welcome. Kelly Suzanne photography
~k
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Photo shoot
Since my dad is having problems finding a job he’s decided to start a part time photography business. This means I’ve been spending time working on a website for him as well as other photo related items. About two weeks ago he created a Facebook page and in an effort to build his portfolio he offered a free shoot. One of our friends won and scheduled her sons shoot for Sunday.
I grabbed a few props I had and bought a few more things from Michael’s. On Sunday I met mom and dad at the museum of art. We scouted a few locations and made a game plan before my friends arrived.
Once they arrived dad set up and I started taking random pics on the side. I haven’t picked up my camera in a while so I thought this would be a good opportunity to “dust” it off. I have to say I got some pretty good shots straight out of the camera. I’ll probably do some editing this weekend (it’s hard to break out the laptop since the iPad).
Here are a few faves with slight edits from the iPad.
I love the look on his face in this one!~k
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Tornado footage
A large tornado hit the small town of Macon MS today. I lived there until I was 8. We still have family friends who live in the area so when I saw a video on fb of this large tornado I texted mom and told her she might want to call our friend Cindy. Mom responded to my text that the video was actually Cindy’s house! What!?!? Of course they were fine but there was damage in the surrounding areas. The video of the tornado from there house has made it’s way around since early this afternoon. First I saw it on fb. Then I saw the footage on Fox News and now it’s on CNN.
Crazy! Thankfully it seems our friends are all safe tonight!
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/11/us/storms/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
~k
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Branching out!
A week or so ago I went on an online shopping spree at Old Navy. They had some adorable dresses and I decided to buy a few. I ordered 3, two were the same style but different colors (one was red the other a green stripe)and the third was just different. Much to my disappointment 2 of the 3 were too big, and not the two that were the same. The red one looked a little big but I figured once it was washed and dried it would fit and I was right! 🙂 It actually looks adorable on.
I ran to Old Navy last week to return the dressed I bought and see if a smaller size would fit. One they didn’t carry in the store and the other I decided against. I tried on a few things but seeing as I was on my lunch break I didn’t really have time to shop shop so I got a refund and decided I would go back over the weekend.
Matt and I ran down there on Sunday and I found a few items to replace the ones I returned. One item was a cute Chambray dress. I’m not a huge Chambray fan but I decided to try it just to see. Turns out, it was adorable on. I wore it to work yesterday and felt super cute and stylish. (My normal wardrobe of jeans doesn’t really add “stylish” to my everyday feel.) Several people even commented on how nice I looked so I am looking forward to wearing my new dress again soon! It also makes me want to throw out my current dresses and start over. I tend to pick the same style all the time and then I wonder why I don’t care for what I have. I’m really glad I stepped out of my comfort zone.
I paired with a chunky red necklace and some neutral wedges (that you can’t really see). Super cute!~k
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Flea Market Finds
We finally had a beautiful weekend so on Saturday I knew staying indoors was off limits. Matt didn’t care to go to the flea market with me so I asked mom if she’d like to go. She said yes and I picked her up after lunch. I didn’t really have anything in particular I was looking for, mainly I just wanted to be out of the house and outside. There is a big flea market that sets up on the Fairgrounds in Raleigh most weekends and it’s mostly outdoors.
We wandered around for a while and the only thing that peeked my interest was an ammonite. The vendor was asking $15.00 which I didn’t feel was a bad price but, hey, it’s a flea market! You should never pay asking price right? 🙂 I decided to keep looking before I committed so we wondered around more. We stopped by a vendor selling fresh fruits and veggies and I picked up a container of strawberries and some grapes for Matt. This also broke the $20.00 I had in my purse. 🙂 We made our way back to the vendor with the ammonite since we were about to leave and I asked if he would take $10.00. He said yes and I grabbed the ammonite. I knew it would look awesome on the bookcase.
As we were walking out we saw a vendor that had some amethyst pieces. He was asking $8.00 and wouldn’t take the $5.00 I had left so we headed to the parking lot. As we were headed to the car we noticed a sign for the Tar Hill Gem and Mineral show in one of the buildings. Admission was free so we decided to check it out. There were tons of cool minerals, fossils, gems and stones. As we were walking around mom said she would buy me a mineral or rock if we found something cool. (There were tons of cool things, with really cool prices too!) There were a lot of vendors that had amethysts and the prices ranged for a few dollars to $20.00+. We noticed the deeper the purple the more expensive the piece. I didn’t really care about the color so much as the size. I wanted something kind of big to display.
I think we looked at almost every booth there and finally returned to a vendor that had several pieces under $10.00. I found a pretty big piece for $4.00 so mom bought me that. I have to say, for someone who isn’t a nerd, I was pretty darn excited over my finds. I knew my dad would be really proud of me buying these things.
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When nice happens
My family (me, mom and dad) are not very close to my dad’s side of the family. He has 3 brothers, 2 older and 1 younger. His oldest brother committed suicide a few years ago and left 3 adult children, one of which is mentally handicapped. Donna had an aneurysm in her brain when she was 16 and she’s been in assisted living facilities for years now. Every once in a while we would hear how she was doing from my grandmother, but since she’s not a fountain of knowledge, we only heard bits and pieces. It never occurred to us her dad left nothing for her when he died.
About a year ago Donna’s younger brother and sister, Robert and Lisa, found me and mom on FB. Seeing as I barely remembered Donna and Lisa and couldn’t remember ever meeting Robert, I thought it would nice to get to “know” my cousins. Robert and I had a few brief encounters and I never really interacted with Lisa at all.
Mom and Robert communicated some through email and a few things she told me kind of made me wonder (mainly his motives for getting in touch with family). Then a few weeks ago he posted something on FB regarding the apartment he was building for Donna. I thought it was really sweet but he didn’t say anything else about it. Then last week he posted some pics of Donna’s apartment. The place was in poor shape and the landlords didn’t sound like they were really staying on top of the maintenance. Then Robert posted pics of her new apartment. He didn’t tell Donna and had planned to surprise her over the weekend. My heart just melted.
Monday morning he posted a video on FB of them giving Donna her new apartment and it brought tears to my eyes (I would post it but he has it private). I couldn’t believe he’d gone to so much trouble and expense to help his sister out. Mom emailed Robert to let him know we thought it was such a wonderful thing he’d done and that’s when she found out his dad left nothing for the kids! He left nothing to help with Donna’s expenses, he just left nothing. I hadn’t heard good things about my uncle growing up but I can’t imagine being so selfish as to not try to provide something for your kids! Anyway, that is another story.
I just can’t really express how wonderful it is to see what Robert has done.
~k
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Happy Easter!
Yesterday Matt and I along with my parents spent the day in Greensboro with my cousin and her husband. We arrived at their house around 11:30 and ate lunch a little after noon. I had spent a few hours on Saturday night baking an apple pie. It turned out a little more “rustic” than I would have preferred but oh well. It tasted yummy!
After a nice lunch, we all headed back to the kitchen for dessert, then the guys sat down to watch the Michigan/Florida basketball game. My cousin mentioned she bought some Easter egg kits so mom and I told her we’d be happy to color eggs. This kept us occupied for a while. Surprisingly, our eggs didn’t turn out that great! HAHA! We had fun though and that’s all that matters. One of my cousin’s eggs got lovingly named the “ugly egg winner.” Mom said you have to have one in each group. 🙂
The “ugly” egg winner. We added glitter in hopes of making it a little prettier but even that didn’t help. After coloring eggs and making a mess the four of us headed back to Raleigh. Matt was set on watching the second half of the Duke Louisville game. We watched the game and turned in early.
Happy Easter!
~k