summer concerts

to me, there is nothing much better than spending a summer night on a crowded lawn surrounded by thousands of strangers all singing the same words and dancing to the same music at an outdoor country concert.

some of my favorite memories are from country concerts at Time Warner Cable Pavilion at Walnut Creek in Raleigh.

via

To me, it isn't about being close to the stage, it's about the atmosphere of making your own spot on the lawn where you have plenty of room to dance, spread out and make new friends.

a sea of grass, blankets and beach chairs

and it's even better when the lights go down

I have seen Kenny Chesney (a few times), Brad Paisley, Alan Jackson and Zac Brown Band at the Creek, but my favorite was Alan Jackson back in 2005... (ps I also saw NSync there twice when I was little, what what)

I went with my friends Elizabeth, Lindsey, Kat and Hope to see Mr. Jackson and the weather was absolutely horrible - mud, rain, wind, cold, we had it all. We weren't dressed in our usual sundresses or cute tops and pants - instead we donned our high school soccer hoodies or ECU hoodies with shoes we didn't mind getting a little muddy and even some baseball hats.

(thanks Hopey for digging up this picture)

It was still the absolute best one though since we didn't care how we looked, we danced in the rain, left our big blanket behind in the mud and sang at the top of our lungs to some songs that were older than us, but still amazing.

Kenny Chesney

Hopey & Me 2005 - yes I am wearing a cowboy hat

Hopey & Me 2012

Zac Brown

Concerts on the lawn are like tailgating but with more music and less football (or coolers).

What is the best concert you've ever attended? Do you have an outdoor amphitheater that you love in your state?

bittersweet move

We packed up all of our things Saturday and slept at my parents' house Saturday and Sunday and will be tonight too before the big move tomorrow. So, Friday night was my last night in our first home.

The house where I started my life with Joshua as a married couple. 

The house I painstakingly worked and worked over to transform it from my Mammy's place to our home. 

(read about there here – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7)

The house that I brought Sawyer home to for the first time.

And yes the home that I totally blew my knee out (and ended my flowering football career obviously) fixing.

Not only did it hold a lot of sentimental value because of it being our first home, but also because it was the house I spent many a Christmas in with my whole entire family when my great-grandma "Mammy" was alive and well. 

It the house we came to as a family when my great-granddaddy died in 1993 and where we gathered once again when Mammy passed away in 2009. 

I am so happy that the house is going to a great couple, and I am more than excited about our new home. But at the same time it's a little bittersweet.

I probably won't be posting much this week as I will be elbow-deep in all our stuff and trying to set up our new place in 2 days (the only time I could get off). So prayers please and see ya'll soon.

Roomie Love

My wonderful mama (the Wendy) and I were talking the other day about how close she still is with her college roommates, Denise (who just happens to be Josh's cousin) and Melanie.

My mama with her roommates - "Aunt Neecey" & "Big Mel" in San Fransisco (their big "we're turning 50" trip)

It made me think how blessed I was to have gotten along with my roommates so well, too. Then I realized that I have never posted about my two roommates from college, Lindsey & Lauren (LP).

Freshman Year (05-06)

I was one of those blessed people who went pot-luck with a roommate and didn't end up with a complete freak.  About two months before I was supposed to move down to UNC-Wilmington, I found out who my freshman roommate was going to be, a lovely lady by the name of Lindsey from Orange County, NC. Now, me being super nosy curious and having a tech-savvy daddy I totally went online and googled her... and then my dad went to the tax website in her county and looked up where she lived. When nothing popped up about her being an ax-murderer or being Miss Teen USA or anything I felt pretty good, so we arranged to meet at the mall in Raleigh.

I was so excited when I met Lindsey because she walked up and we were wearing the exact same outfit. I had on a lime green Lacoste polo and jean skirt with Rainbow flip-flips and Lindsey was wearing a black Lacoste polo with a white jean skirt and Rainbow flip-flops. #bestiesatfirstsite 

Lindsey and I had a lot in common without being too much alike. We both had boyfriends back home and we both were tall (her a little more than me) and came from little bitty towns. We survived the lack of cold water that constantly plagued our all girls dorm and the blackout of 2005 (when the dorm lost power for 2 days - a major incident when you have that many girls in a cement building with interior bathrooms with no windows).

on a random camping trip at Carolina Beach where I quickly learned that my car DID NOT have four wheel drive... oops.

When I left and went to ECU, Lindsey and her boyfriend (now husband) Billy even came down to experience a real Halloween in Downtown Greenville.

I hate that her and her hubs live down in Columbia, SC now so I haven't seen her in forever!

Sophomore Year

When I transferred to ECU my sophomore year, I had no idea who I was going to room with. Then, Josh's roommate Ryan's girlfriend Lauren (who we call LP) told me her little sister Erica would be moving to town so I could live with her and part-time with LP since she would be moving in with Ryan in Raleigh but would have to come to town for her Graduate Assistant duties a few times a week. 

Wellllll, LP's sister ended up leaving Greenville and then Ryan & LP took a little break, so LP moved in with me full time along with her dog Chloe, who was besties with me & Josh's dog Mac Daddy.

We made nightly runs to Panera and/or Moe's, watched marathons of The Hills and took turns picking up the toys that Mac & Chloe tore apart. We fought over the thermostat (and by fought, I mean LP would sneak out of her room and turn our freezing apartment like I like it into an inferno), but other than that we were a great match, which is a good thing since Ryan is one of Josh's best friends and that would have been super awkward if we'd hated one another. 

What about you, have you had any great or horrible roommates?

Saw It, Pinned It, Did It

I am linking up with Katie @ Keep Calm & Carry On and Steph @ Beautiful Mess for "Saw it, Pinned it, Did it".

I saw an awesome DIY Chevron/Monogram/Frame piece on Pinterest from "The Baeza Blog" and had to have it in our new house for our entry-way wall. And while the purpose of the post was actually to talk about how the blogger made the cool distressed frame, I just used her design idea.

Pinspiration

(I actually had to get two different colors of spray paint because I painted my frame too).

Directions

1. First you spray paint the frame, Unless you found a frame the exact bright color you wanted.

I chose a bright apple green for mine.

2. Spray paint your paper mache letter. I got the paper mache letter instead of the wooden letter because  they are more lightweight so I didn't think it would be as hard to make it stay on the glass. 

3. Cover the little cardboard piece that you find in your frame in the fabric of your choice. You could probably use scrapbook paper too, I just happened to have this great chevron fabric already that I plan on using for my bedroom throw pillows. 

cut around your cardboard leaving at least an inch or an inch and a half so you can wrap your piece of cardboard

secure fabric with packing tape (or hot glue..)

put wrapped fabric back into frame. 

voila!

4. Hot glue your letter to the glass of your frame. Now, you could probably not put the glass back in and just leave the fabric. However, the letter might be a little heavy for the fabric to hold so it may sag, I would definitely suggest leaving the glass pane in. 

Ta-Da!

So simple. I can't wait to get into the new house and hang it!

EMK Link-Up

I am linking up for "Eff, Marry, Kill" hosted by The Vintage Apple and Blonde.. Undercover Blonde!

This time, I am looking at the characters from "How I Met Your Mother" (not the actors in real life)

Eff

Barney, the ladies man. Just because he is legend... wait for it .... dary. (if you don't watch the show that probably sounded really stupid)

Marry

Marshall. He is such the sweet husband but without being too sensitive. Not to mention he is hilarious.

Kill

Ted. He is just so pitiful to me (ps I am terrified we will never find out who the freaking mother is!)

Do you watch HIMYM? Which would you EFM?

Packing: a tragic story of a family and all their crap

We have too much stuff.

that is just kitchen stuff, books and movies in the 6 totes you see on the right, not picture are three others on the other side of the dining room table which hold all my wall decor and more kitchen mess.

I realized this while I was attempting to pack up our kitchen Saturday. 

Why didn't I just exchange some of our wedding gifts when I had the chance? What normal family needs 13 mixing bowls in a variety of materials (plastic, glass, metal , ceramic...)? And also, why did we even move half of the crap from Josh's apartment when we moved into our house? Mismatched coffee mugs, chipped glasses and an entire drawer of cutlery from his college place that we don't need? 

Also discovered? Wine glasses I didn't even know I owned. 

So, that being said, I now intend on using this move as a way to clear out some clutter. Donating a bunch of our non-used kitchen items to the migrant program that is part of our school system and moving a few things to lower shelves in the new kitchen so I actually use them. 

Any advice on making the moving/packing process easier?

rest of the mountain trip

(read Part 1 here)

The rest of the trip was still pretty rainy and gross so we kept inside mostly, just not our inside at the house.

On Monday, Mama, Sawyer & I hit up the outlets, mainly because Sawyer had to get a coat, beanie and mittens since I did not prepare for such cold-ness (#mommyfail).

Sawbug modeling his new fleece jacket and obviously enjoying  tolerating the shopping trip.

Then we had to make our annual stop at Blowing Rock Grille, one of my favorite restaurants, for lunch. 

Sawyer was definitely ready for a nap by then so we wound back up the mountain to our place and put him to sleep. My wonderful parents watched the Bug long enough for me & Deanna to go see Pitch Perfect, which was hilarious though the writing wasn't too impressive.

Then we just grabbed some pizza on the way back up the mountain and enjoyed our last night on the mountain. Here are some pictures from the trip..

yes, those are turkeys. I had to wait for a good 5 minutes for them to disperse like that so I could get down the road.

Mountain views

the Bug entertaining himself in the bedroom

Buckeye Lake

Me, mama and Dee

something was obviously hilarious 

Me and the Bug

Re-Post: Thundercats are goooo

This is a repost to link-up with Michelle @ The Vintage Apple as she gets closer and closer to her due-date!

So, like most things in my crazy life, Sawyer's delivery was quite the eventful adventure. You may want to get comfortable - this post could get lengthy.

Wednesday, February 9th started like any other day. I went to work for half a day then came home and proceeded to take a much-needed nap.

Just as me and Sookie were settled for our sleep and snuggle time, my doctor's office called to inform me that the 24 hour urinalysis I did Sunday did NOT look good and I was leaking a ridiculous amount of protein in my urine. Therefore, I needed to come in and be hooked to a fetal monitor and I should probably bring my hospital bag with me.

And so the adventure began...
3:30pm - Call Josh and tell him to hurry home from work, sending him into a complete panic.
4:00pm - Open door to carport to start moving bags to car
4:02pm - Scream as Sookie comes catapulting out the door
4:04pm - Waddle swiftly after the 100 lb chocolate beast as she runs amuck
4:06pm - Watch helplessly as beast continues to taunt me from neighbor's yard across the street
4:10pm - Neighbor sees me (and my tear streaked face) and helps lure the Sookie monster into her car so we could drive her to the fence.
4:15pm - Josh gets home (in record time), we pile our bags and ourselves into my car and head to Greenville
4:45-5:45pm - Get hooked up to fetal monitor, pee in a cup and get examined by Dr. Haskins (my 3rd favorite dr at the office) and learn that I am only 1 cm dilated and my contractions are around 10 minutes apart but that I need to go to the hospital because my BP is 158/98 and I'm still spilling protein - therefore I am preeclamtic and baby needs to come on out
6pm - Call and alert parents of situation
6:05pm - Go enjoy dinner at Hibachi Express before going to hospital since I'll be put on a Magnesium drip to prevent seizures and won't be able to eat for 36 hours
6:45pm - Report to Pitt County Memorial Hospital, put on hideous robe, get hooked up to several monitors, an IV and a cervical catheter to help me dilate further.
From 7pm that night until 2am Thursday morning I just lay in a hospital bed, have my BP taken every 2 hours watch the Carolina/Duke basketball game (hard to do in a hospital where you can't yell/throw things at the television) and feel contractions

Thursday morning
2:15am - Cervical catheter comes out because I'm dilated to 3 cm so they give me Pitocin to get the process going even quicker
4am - Dr comes in and breaks my water
6am - Beg for nurses to bring me some Mucinex and a humidifier so I can breathe (dry hospital air + allergies = nose bleeds and stuffiness), I am then informed that a side effect of the Magnesium is feeling like you have the flu. Lovely.
8am - Get epidural
9am - 11am - Finally get some sleep
12pm - 1:30pm - Realize I can really feel the contractions, but it's mainly just pressure so I tell the nurse I'm not really in PAIN just feeling painful pressure so they don't do anything about it
1:45pm - Contractions get ridiculously horrible and closer together, and I realize that while the epidural has made my legs dead and lifeless, I can pretty much plan on feeling every bit of labor pain
1:55pm - Sawyer's head hits home and I try with all my might to hold him in until Dr. Haskins can get to my room, which takes what feels like 8 years
1:58pm - Dr arrives and tells a very surprised Joshua to grab one of my legs for the whole delivery process (he had planned on playing a much less active role)
2pm - Start pushing and definitely feel baby making his way into the world
2:14pm - Meet my precious son, Sawyer Lang Edmondson, who even 3.5 weeks early was a hefty 7 lbs. 14 oz. and 19 inches long!

The rest of the day Thursday is a complete blur of baby getting bathed and meeting some very excited grandparents/great-grandparents, sending a million picture messages to friends and family, getting unhooked from everything except the Magnesium drip and eating jello (since I still couldn't eat real food).
Friday 3:30am - Finally finish bag of Magnesium, am allowed to get out of bed and take best shower I've ever taken in my entire life
4:00am - Moved to new room and eat a Snicker's bar, the first real food I've had since 6pm on Wednesday!

notice the lovely swollen-ness of my face and arms? thanks BP.
picture by Michelle Messer

picture by Michelle Messer

The rest of our hospital stay was uneventful, we weren't discharged until early Saturday afternoon since I was such a risk with my stupid BP and protein leak-age. But were so happy to get little Sawbug home and into our routine.

the Land of Oz - worst day ever.

As I said, we took our annual trip to the mountains of NC the weekend of my daddy's birthday (Oct. 5-9) and it wasn't as fun as last year's trip. 

Why, you ask?

Because the weather was absolutely horrible. Not only was it cold, but it was cold, windy and misty. That miserable kind of rain that just kind of floats around and clings to you.

We got there Saturday evening after a nice little 5 hour drive and went out to Bandanas Saturday night where we had a delicious, delicious appetizer of fried pickles and I had some great teriyaki shrimp and salad. I'd seen on twitter that one of my favorite NC-based Christian bands, Mercy's Well  was playing at a local church so we went and heard them sing. Mercy's Well came to Webbs Chapel awhile back and really blew me away. 

Seriously ya'll, their version of "It is Well" is breathtaking and always brings tears to my eyes, as does their "How Great Thou Art". They aren't your average contemporary praise team, they sing convention style christian music, but I was so happy to see them again and they were so nice saying, "We saw your tweet, glad you joined us!"

It was quite the experience also taking Sawyer into "big church" since he is usually in the nursery at our home church, but he did pretty good.

Sunday

Sunday we had plans to go to Land of Oz for "Autumn at Oz" for a magical day on the yellow brick road... it was anything but.

I should have known the day as going to be strange when I opened Sawyer's precious little lion costume and discovered that the feet were sewn on backgrounds. So if Sawyer actually wore it, the tail would  be on his belly. Thanks Toys R Us. 

We bundled ourselves up and I realized Sawyer didn't have a rain coat. So I put him in a turtle neck with a regular little sweatshirt style coat thinking he'd be okay. I was wrong.

The weather at the top of Beech Mountain where the park is located was hovering between 35 and 37 degrees and the mist had turned into a steady drizzle. We were armed with our umbrellas and Sawyer's umbrella stroller, but nothing could keep the rain from blowing all over us. We boarded the bus from the parking area to the park and once we climbed off the bus we made it about 10 feet to where the "petting farm" (i.e. wet mini horses huddled behind a trash bag and caged bunnies) and Dorothy's house was before realizing we would be just entirely too miserable to continue, especially with a screaming shivering baby. 

We made the trek back to the bus stop and saw that everyone else was obviously just as miserable and waiting in the very long line for the bus. We stood in line for 30 minutes with Sawyer sobbing from being cold and wet, yet refusing to stay under the umbrellas (he wasn't about being underneath anything). 

Finally the bus arrives and there are too many people so they're calling for "groups of 2" or "1 person to stand" and such, finally someone takes pity and yells "let the lady with the baby on". Well by this point I have  quivering lip, not from cold but from holding back tears because I feel like a horrible mother with my shivering screaming child who is not even close to being dressed appropriately. I approach the bus and the driver goes "sorry ma'am, can't let you stand while holding a baby." A lady sitting on the bus sees how close I am to crying and says "she can have my seat, I"ll stand." praise god for little favors. 

Me and the Bug board the bus and he immediately calms down when he gets warm. We get back to the truck and mama, daddy and Dee get there shortly after.

Needles to say, not even the wizard could make that day better. 

I'll tell you about the rest of the trip tomorrow...