Friday, July 31, 2009

Mad Wagon

Okay, I hate to jump on the band wagon, but I couldn't help it this time. Three of my favorite bloggers have done this, and although I never use them, I like playing dressup with avatars.
Without further ado, I present the Mad Me.



Go to the AMC site, or do as I did and google Mad Men avatar. It's quick, easy and a wee bit cheesy. Still fun nonetheless.

*** more posts coming this weekend....FINALLY***

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Summer's Finest

You've probably seen this one before, but it still emulates summer.




Sunflower Fields Forever






Poppies










These below are some of North Carolina's finest.



(If you've never heard of scuppernong & muscadine grapes, you MUST give them a try. Definitely, not first date food. The skin is thick and bitter, so you bite them to split the skin, suck out the flesh, then spit that sucker out. How fun does that sound?! )







(the purple ones are the muscadines)





(these lovely golden pink skins are from the scuppernongs)




You'll find honeysuckle & wysteria (my FAVE) climbing on everything in my yard. I can't think of a sweeter smelling breeze.




bumble bee butt!!! bunny candy





Each day, I drive home on country roads that have fields like
this on each side.







Friday, July 24, 2009

In a world of my own

Here are a few of the newest stills from Tim Burton's

Alice in Wonderland

Girls nowadays, pfff. They drink anything you put infront of them.



Bad, Hatter, bad!!! Mad is NO excuse to have no manners at all.



The costumes



& makeup



are





utterly enchanting.



photos compliments of Love_Alice (via flickr)

A very important date

Holy smokes, here it is!!!!!!!!! The first "teaser trailer" for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Isn't it lovely? Johnny......*sigh*.....always a sight to behold.

A very important date indeed: March 5, 2010

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Better late than never

I promised beach photos so...here they are. I must admit that I'm overly anxious about posting these as I have not done ANY editting. I feel as if I'm getting waaaay ahead of myself since I have developed quite the love for perfecting my images. That being said, you will also get a "part deux" post showing the editted, finished product asap. Meaning - grab your ankles and brace yourself, as all the perve high school boys used to say. ;) (Sorry, I couldn't help myself with that one.)


First, we have my loverly Princess, Charlee Anne aka. "my little mermaid".

This is the babygirl that absolutely HATED H2O 2 years ago. Now look at 'er!

Second, we have Haylee, my tomboy, in a small section of wildflowers at the Beaufort harbor.


Of course, I can't do one and not the other...




Aaaaahhhhh! USA & North Carolina in all it's glory. Please click to enlarge this one at least to get the full-on, patriotic feel. God Bless our world!!!!





The pillar




Have I freakin' mentioned that I LOVE pirates. Aaaaargh, me hearties!!!!






My oldest nephew, Sean, a mere casualty.



The rugrats: Charlee Anne, Sean, Haylee, Zack, and Mike (the big kid)


Have fun parasailing, Mom! I'll see you when your feet are firmly planted again.....
(enough said, right?!)
read between the lines....I didn't even considering the ride
ME & heights = NOT!!!!


My bathing beauties.

A kodak moment of Haylee and her cousin "Zack Attack", but in this pic we'll call him "Crack Attack".
Hahahahahahahahaha
Sorry for the hysteria, but daggon that's funny! I crack myself up.

This is my oh-SO-strong momma. Not the best of relationships, sadly, but I admire her more than she could ever know.
Happy Birthday, Mommy!!!!






Of course, I couldn't leave out my favorite scenic pics. (Family members may not appreciate, but come on...these are postcard material...the 1st one at least.)

THE END!!!

...til next time.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Homeward Bound

I'm back from a beautiful beach weekend celebrating my mom's 58th birthday. The past three days were filled with parasailing, boardwalk stomping (around Beaufort), eating & dranking, swimming, clam digging, moonwalking, and spending loads of quality time together. I love getting away for a weekend, but there's nothing lovelier than coming home.

Our meals were delicious, but my sunfried mind didn't think to take the first picture. Argh! Anyway, our menu consisted of:
  • Delicious eggs, bacon/sausage, and blueberry pancakes every morning! Have I told you that I love breakfast foods....all of them.
  • Beer Butt Chicken - a little weird to look at but soooooo good
  • Ribs - Little sis makes the best. Stab 'em and slab 'em, Lexi!
  • Burgers - with super thick slices of homegrown tomatoes, creamy spinach and artichoke dip, couple slices of crispy, salty bacon, and topped with a whole grain bun. Mmmm, feed me, Seymore!
  • Hot dogs - that's it; not a whole lot to say about those...they were bun-length Ballpark weenies...
  • Spaghetti Salad - Mike's (big sister's man) concoction: thin spaghetti; diced veggies - red, yellow, and green bellpeppers, english cucumber, roma tomatoes; fresh herbs - dill (& LOTS of it), cilantro, and basil; italian dressing)
  • Coleslaw - also Lexi's
  • sliced veggies and hummus (for snacking)
  • and French Vanilla Zucchini cake covered in berries
I have some beautiful & even ridiculus pictures to post, but I'll have to get to those later this evening. Hopefully.

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Water Gun Wars

Poor thing...quite the casualty, ain't she?



This is officially my favorite "summer" polaroid yet.
  • water guns - CHECK
  • gorgeous dress - CHECK
  • sunshine - CHECK
  • pool - CHECK
  • polaroid camera - CHECK
  • lovely dead gal - CHECK (Muah-ah-ah-ah-ah!)

*compliments of http://www.flickr.com/people/toniraquel_edbopp/


Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Lights, Camera, ACTION!

Let's talk ♥ movies ♥.


In this post, I wanted to share four of my all time favorite films. These mentioned made an impact in how I, as a young girl, saw the world . It was by watching these classics that I learned a little about love, longing, lies, selflessness, silliness, unconventional beauty, and the want for "something more". A bit melodramatic, I know, but it's true!


In my family, movies are a big deal. I grew up with the REAL classics. My grandparents (on my fathers side) had a HUGE influence on my raising, which I am forever grateful. My Nana & Poppa were...are...everything to me. They were the ones, specifically Poppa, that shared their love of the moving picture. I would love to show you some of the movies that have really stuck with me and have even been passed down to my 2 ladybugs.








movie poster





"The Greatest Show on Earth" was released in 1952 and directed by Cecil B. DeMille.

I actually saw it on TCM at the end of last week. *sigh*
Just as wonderful as I remembered.


Anyway, the movie follows 5 main characters...something of an oddly shaped love triangle -
2 being trapeze artists, one elephant trainer/charmer, the circus manager, and Buttons the clown (not in the love triangle; just the BEST character of all).









Charles Heston as the gruff, no bull circus manager, Brad Braden.
Soooo delicious.







Betty Hutton is the high flying Holly. A bit of a diva, but still a lovable character...I guess.














Cornel Wilde as The Great Sebastian








Gloria Grahame is the sassy, Angel.


Angel (doing her thang)
A fire-ry redhead that has no shame in speaking her mind...and what a lovely mind.
Definitely my favorite female in this.













Drum roll please.
(Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da)
BUTTONS the clown played by the one and only James Stewart.
He is the most complex character of the film.
Buttons never gets out of makeup, only goes by "Buttons", and carries a deep, dark secret....
Oooooooo...you want to see it now, don't you? Good, cause I'm not tellin'!






Okay, SO - Sebastian loves Holly, aaaand






Holly loves Brad & so does Angel, but the elephant trainer loves Angel who she hates, but she's perfect for Sebastian, aaaaaand






They hate eachother.






Then EVERYONE winds up happy, except...





*****




"The Women" (1939) follows the troubled marriage and questionable friendships of Mary, Mrs. Stephen Haines.








The players:



Joan Crawford is the villainous Crystal that stole Mr. Haines.

Rosalind Russell is the so-called "friend", Sylvia Fowler, who is dying to tell Mary that her husband's been running around town with the perfume girl (not out of deep concern, that's for sure).

Norma Shearer is the endearing and ever-so-beautiful Mary.

Lucile Watson plays Mrs. Morehead, another of Crystal's victims.






Notice the ladies are all hiding their claws behind their backs.







Here's Sylvia doing what she does best, play both sides.
Crystal, however, has her guard down and actually thinks Sylvia is a friend.
HA! That's what you get, hussy!






The very moment of Mary's epiphany.
"I've had two years to grow claws, Mother. Jungle Red!!!"
Also where the movie came full circle:
In the beginning,
Mary found out about the affair from a nail tech Sylvia suggested (of course).
Jungle Red was a polish color and the code for that specific nail tech.
Later,
Mary fights back. Woohoo!






*****










The Red Shoes
One of the most romantic and heart renching movies I've ever seen.





Victoria 'Vicky' Paige is played by Moira Shearer, a real live ballerina and not a bad actress either.
This storyline is based off the fairytale by Hans Christian Anderson,
and the screenplay by Emeric Pressburger.





***found via Wikipedia: "also said to have been inspired by the real-life
meeting of Sergei Diaghileev with the British ballerina Diana Gould"***








Victoria - a tortured soul. She is in love......but a dancer has no time for love.


You know what? I could get extremely lengthy in this description of the plot.
So why don't you click the wikipedia link to read it yourself, then immediately watch the movie.





Isn't she lovely?




*****






"Funny Face"





For this movie, Audrey Hephburn played the quirky, not-at-all interested in being sexy, preoccupied Jo Stockton. This is one of her many characters that I relate to incredibly. Such a sweet spirit.





Who better to dance alongside and be photographed by than Dick Avery aka. Fred Astaire.

I love how uninhibited Audrey was for this film, actually for all her films, but this one in particular.




She reminds me a little more of Sabrina here. Another magical movie also featuring Humphrey Bogart.






This is what you call a natural beauty. I don't think she could be ugly
no matter how hard she tried.





"Take the picture! Take the picture!"