Mallory's wedding

Karl and I had a *busy* summer. Florida, Cape Cod. Well 2 weeks before Cape Cod and right after we came back from Florida, Mallory tells us she is getting married. She tells the girls what they are doing in the wedding, without asking us if they can be in it. Did I mention we took 2 trips this summer??? And it's August, where am I going to find dresses on this short notice without paying an arm and a leg? Oh and also the wedding is on August 30, at 8:30 in the evening. Um, my kids have school Thursday and Friday. who gets married on a Thursday night????

So before I even got to pack and such for my trip I am running myself ragged trying to find them dresses and shoes. Not an easy task.

Not to mention that even though I found and paid for her wedding dress, spent countless weekends helping her plan her wedding (months ago and it was called off because of money, we've all been there) and I am the one running myself ragged trying to make sure my girls can be in this wedding and all goes smoothly, I am not asked to take the pictures. She told Karl she didn't want the "negative energy."

Ok so I don't like her husband, no one does. People came up to Karl ***AT THE WEDDING**** and told him I love your sister, but I can't stand Sean. I still think it was wrong.

Have you ever met some one, and for no good reason not liked them? That's Sean. Everyone who meets him (except Mallory I guess) has the same reaction. I keep waiting for his face to come up on America's Most Wanted.

Anyway. I let the kids be in the wedding and attended, camera in tow.
The girls looked lovely. Karl looked handsome.


The wedding was very "Mallory."

I wish I was told that I would be standing for the entire ceremony and before, I wouldn't have wore heals. Other than that and the fact I thought her dress was going to go up in smoke...all went well.


She had a photography student shoot her wedding. Some one who obviously had never shot weddings before.
Her positioning during the ceremony, not the best.
Also the fact that it was a nighttime wedding and she didn't have a flash other than the on board flash with the camera, not a good sign.

Plus not to be stupid but dark people in a white dress...not a good combination. The light flashes off the dress and Mallory will appear headless.
And black gets grainy when you try to adjust the light in photoshop or some other editing program. So I am sure the pictures are marginal at best. Not my problem.



Here are the girls and Karl
























See how dark it is?
And I have a good flash.






























Look at that sunset in the background. That could have made for some great pictures.
Too bad they had an amatuer photographer.





In the dressing room.














Cianah had a stupid look on her face in all the pictures I took of the three of them.
(Can you tell where Karl's hair stops and the dark sky begins?)




And please let me explain the dress colors. The wedding invitation (that was handed to Karl) was green and yellow. I knew Mallory was adding amber beads to her dress so I figured the colors were green and amber. I bought Tati's dress.
Then I thought to ask Karl to call his sister to verify the colors. Blue and Brown. ??? So I bought Cianah a blue dress.

The flowers were purple and yellow???? And she gave them these almost orange flowers to wear???? (The girls do love the flowers and wear them often, well at least Tati)

I am confused by the whole thing. Since it started at 8:30 on a school night my kids didn't get to stay for the reception.

Sean had the nerve to say "It's very important to her that the girls be in the wedding." Really then maybe she would have not held it on Thursday night so they couldn't enjoy it.

Ah the joy of families. It's a good thing that if I don't make him, Karl is not very involved with his family.

Cape Cod Trip...MOST beautiful wedding EVER!!!

Ok so August was a much needed vacation without kids. Karl and I haven't been on a trip alone since Las Vegas in 2001. And then we were just "friends." OK we weren't but neither of us were ready to call it a relationship. :)

I was seriously mad at Karl before we left but decided not to ruin this trip. I told him on the plane, I am still very mad but I will suck it up so we can enjoy this trip. I'll blog later about his lovely family and why I was angry.

We arrive in Boston on Thursday. Uneventful flight and easy to find the rental car pickup. WE get this cure little Rabbit, which I've decided is my next car. I loved that car. Head out to the Cape to meet up with Steph and see if she needs anything done.

Karl's reading the directions, not very well I must say. We missed a turn and he didn't tell me for a good 15 miles. So turn around, miss it again (this is a theme on the way home we did this at least 4 or 5 times.) We turned around in a not so nice part of Boston.

Apparently in Boston they don't have the same rules of the road we do here in the Mid-West. I honked at some one and I think they thought I was crazy. :)

We get our connection on the 2nd pass and decide we should stop to eat. Karl wanted to try something we don't have here. So we past several McDonald's. About 40 minutes into the drive I was ready to eat the steering wheel. So I took the next exit. The sign at the exit said 2 restaurants, neither of which we ever found. Of course the exit I picked had construction and detours....great when you don't know where you are. We finally found a Chinese restaurant, at this point anything was fine. It was mediocre at best....but food. :)

That was the only "negative" thing about the whole trip. In my life I can tell you that is as close to perfect as it can get.

We drove to the Nones' house to meet up with Stephanie. We couldn't have timed it better, everything was done and they were ready for the beach. :) PERFECT!!!

The water was cold but it was the perfect

temperature

to sit on the beach and look at the view....what a view it was.

We took a walk on the jetty, that was amazing. Sitting there while the sun was starting to set

...breathtaking.

Then we headed back to the Nones' house for BBQ. YUM.

Good food, good drink, we had a good time. I was exhausted.

We were put up by some of the Nones', Charlie and Sue Dean. What a lovely house. Our view from our room.

Friday was a bit of a downer, it rained all day. However I will take rainy 75 over the 105 we were having back in St. Louis any day. The girls went to get mani/pedis while the boys were back at the house helping set up for the rehearsal dinner. (Poor Karl)

We met up for lunch and then headed to the Lighthouse Inn to check in.....this place was amazing. Right on the Ocean.

This was 30 paces or less from the front door of our Cottage.

Waking up to this every morning, I could get used to this.

The rehearsal Dinner was going to be in the Nones' beautiful backyard, the rain had other plans.

The basement of the rental house next door was fine. Lobster and steak, lots of wine and beer, what more can you ask for?

Karl tried his 1st lobster, not a hit. I was whining to him that I couldn't eat my steak because his lobster stunk. :) He didn't like it and got rid of it...steak it was.

After the rehearsal dinner we headed back to the lighthouse, where the whole wedding party was staying.

Notice all the girls have jackets with hoods. It was cold and rainy.

4 out of 7 guys swam in the ocean that night. I guess the alcohol was just the antifreeze they needed.

Saturday, the wedding day day...not a cloud in the sky. It could not have been more perfect if they planned it.

The boys played wiffle ball before the wedding

While Stephanie & I opted for the relaxation of a good book on the beach. :)

The beautiful bride and her father. :)

Since I was in the wedding I don't have many picture of the wedding. Karl snapped off a few and most of those contain the back of someones head.

Off to Paris for two weeks. I am so jealous.

Not alot of humor on to write about. My humor usually comes from stupid people or the craziness that is my life. This trip had neither. It was wonderful.

To see all 300 pictures of the trip:

http://hobdypix.smugmug.com/gallery/3304064/1/183629249#P-1-9

Sorry Crystal I didn't know any one read this crap.

So it's been almost 3 month since I blogged?

It's been an amazing summer.

First the family trip to Florida. We had a blast. Here's the run down

Mapquest said 16 hour drive, WRONG. I guess if you're in a hover craft and never need to stop for gas or to pee. It took us 18 hours to get down there. There was the Atlanta traffic (that we could have used the loop to avoid) and the torrential downpour once we crossed the FL border. So that could be some of the reason we lost time??

The drive down was fairly uneventful. I thought we'd never get out of Georgia. In Florida we were welcomed by a LARGE confederate flag. Not just a flag, I mean the size of a billboard. As if to say, "you can't miss this if you tried." Welcome we were.

Once the rain started we were behind a truck pulling a trailer. Not an 18 wheeler, just a trailer, like to carry a car or something. I'm not sure what he had on the trailer, but it broke loose and started flying at us. Hit the car (no damage) and freaked me out BAD!!! Karl's yelling just drive and the kids are yelling "my just hit somebody." I didn't but doesn't that show you how highly my kids think of me?

So we get to the hotel on Friday night unscathed. Saturday is a beach day. We decide to sleep in a bit so we don't have to rush back into the car. About 1:30 we hit Clearwater Beach (or the roads surrounding the beach) NO PARKING ANYWHERE. Not even if we walked 5 miles, none. We drive around a little more until we find a local "park" with a beach. They have meters and a change machine. Great, only none of us have cash. So I make Karl ask the park ranger where the nearest ATM is. Go to the ATM, Karl buys me a rose (probably more to pacify me and hope I don't flip out any further) but also to get change for the change machine. I mean who wants to walk around with $20 in quarters? Back to the park. As we are pulling up to the change machine, they close it. They're out of change! ARRGGGGG! So I'm telling Karl it's time to head back to St. Louis. He assures me he can find change. We drive back to the Pier on Clearwater. Surely there has to be a place to get change, right? I drop Karl off (because they have METERS and I can't park because I have not change) and drive around in circles. Until the most fabulous thing happened. I saw my smiling husband come out of the US Post Office with change!!!!!! We were going to make it to the beach after all. YEAH!!!

After a few hours at the beach we went to the hotel, shower and change. To John's Pass for dinner. Marsha want Seafood. We called the restaurant and they seat people until nine, perfect. Ok we start out going the wrong direction on the highway. Went a good 10 miles out of the way. UGH! What a day huh? It gets better. By the time we got to John's Pass most things are shut down. Cianah, Tati and I do not like Seafood, so we're going to find a place on the pier to eat and hang out while the others are eating smelly fish. Only nothings open. There was a pizza place and a few shops. So we're starving. :( I'm getting upset all over again. When will this end?? Well the restaurant that Marsha has been dying to eat at for 2 months, has a two hour wait. So I'm crabby, she's crabby. Poor Karl and Barry. We find another restaurant that serve seafood and other stuff and only a 30 minute wait. Hurray!

While we are waiting for our tables, Barry and Karl are discussing the next vacation. The one that they take without the crazy women. :)

We ate wonderful food. And were happy. Karl bought Barry a drink, he needed it.

I know so far it sounds like we didn't have fun. We did, just not the first day.

So the 2nd day we're off to Busch Gardens. Fun, fun. So much to do. Karl bought his Buschman hat and wore it everyday. He loves that hat. Rides, shows, animals. It was great fun.

Day 3 Sea World. We made a special trip to Sea World since Marianne screwed up out of the house with dolphins swimming in the "back yard."

Karl loves dolphins. Turns out the kids do too. I took so many picture I can put them up here.

My favorite part was the "shark tank." Not that the sharks we so great, they just swim above your head and you can't really see anything but their bellies. Walking through that underwater aquarium was so amazing. I also like the underwater dolphin viewing. Way cool. And I love Kraken, the rollercoaster there. Best ever.

Karl and the kids fed the dolphins! That was way cool too.

The worst part. It was SOOOOOO hot that day. I thought we were seriously going to die. Afternoon rain couldn't come soon enough. We walked in it. We didn't hide, we WANTED to be wet. Oh and even though these french braids *look* cute. It turns out your scalp can sunburn. It itched and flaked like crazy when we got home.

Day 4. Back to Busch Gardens. Rode more rides. Karl's favorite rollercoaster Shiekra. 90 feet straight down. Almost a free fall. It was cool, but too short so I like Kraken better.

Dinner at a Mexican place in our hotel. Hole in the wall but FABULOUS!!!

Day 5 - Back to the beach. This time Clearwater. Parked close. Spent the entire day. Got sunburned. Loved it anyway. I think Karl and the girls would have stayed several more hours if my sunburn wasn't starting to *kill*

Day 6 the trek back home. 17.5 hours on the way back. Rain in the mountains of Tennessee was scary.

The kids started cheering when we crossed the JB bridge, they knew they were almost home then.

We really did have a great time. Well worth all the stress and saving it took to get us there. If we go to Florida again, it'll be in March. Too hot in July.

If you want to see all the pictures of our vacation:

http://hobdypix.smugmug.com/Personal/351388

I'll blog some more tomorrow. I'm sleepy, and not as funny when I'm tired. :)

Is it a sign?

So this whole Florida trip has been one problem after another. Starting with the scheduling conflicts, the vehicle issues, losing the house, and now it's all about the money.

We've been moving all of our money to our savings account to make sure we have enough saved for the Florida trip, my Chicago trip, and Karl and my trip to Cape Cod in August.

So as most of you know I do photography on the side. If you don't know www.hobdypix.com is the website. Well I shot some senior pictures, they ordered a large amount of pictures and an album. So she sent me 2 checks. Well the second $100 check bounced. Since most of our money is in the savings account when the check was returned our checking account was overdrawn. Now we were not out shopping but every $2 coffee and banana from QT hit and I have SEVERAL overdraft charges. So I'm scrambling to transfer funds.

US Bank is not nice. This check was returned on 5/29 and the paper check was just mailed to me YESTERDAY. I called the manager, she hung up on me. I called the district office, the admin said too bad so sad (in so many words.) And the District Manager hasn't bothered to call me back.

At this point we are down to 6 weeks before the Florida trip and still WELL off from what we need to have saved. UGH!!!

So I ask, is this a sign? God's way of telling me Branson is the place to be?

My girls at work are trying to think of a million ways to raise money. (Does this mean I whine too much about my problems?) We are planning a multi-family yard sale (I don't have a garage) on June 30th.

Mind you one of these ladies has just lost her new dryer, dishwasher, computer, and many other things due to a power serge (Damn Ameren says they aren't going to pay for it). And she is donating her stuff. Not to replace all those things (not to mention the groceries she had JUST bought for her family of 8) but for me.

Do I have friends or what????

All the bitching and moaning about Karma and how it MUST have me confused with some one else. All the while this was God's way of showing me I have things that are much more important than money, REAL friends.


I love you guys.

Let me know if you want to shop our sale. I'll shoot you the address.

Marianne SUCKS!

OK so my good friend Marianne (the lady we were going to rent the FL house from) screwed us. She kept stalling us and "wasn't sure" when we could get in the house. So she finally told us on Sunday, she can't accommodate us. Not to mention she didn't call ME, I had to call her. Oh yeah and she has a $250 check from me. I called today and she didn't answer the phone. Mind you I've called her at least 10 times and she has ALWAYS answered the phone. UGH!

So after scouring the rentals again, we find NOTHING. So we are now forced to resort to the wonderful, fabulous HoJo. (Howard Johnson) Not to mention that we are going to be paying the same amount to stay at this lovely hotel as we would have been splitting the house with Marsha and her family.

But on a more positive note, there is free continental breakfast.

Now my husband is a bit disappointed in the loss of the house, not because we are staying in the HoJo, only because there won;t be dolphins in the backyard of the HoJo, at least not real ones.

We are determined to make the best of it.

Friday night Cianah had her Pom recital. She did wonderfully.








Other than Marianne screwing us, it's been an uneventful week or so.
Not much going on in Hobdylife.

All about me

It was a fabulous weekend, all about me. I guess it's helpful that I was born around Mother's Day and that I planned to get married two days after my birthday. :)

So Friday I turned 29 for the 5th time. ;)

The ladies at work took me out to lunch and got me a cookie cake. The size of my butt says I didn't need either, but what the heck.

When I came home my husband had a dozen chocolate covered strawberries, a CD that I have been wanting (Elliot Yamin from American Idol) and a 3 month tanning gift certificate. He didn't want me to be a lobster in Florida. :) So I'm soon to be a tan goddess.

Then off to play Bunko with the girls. Ok so we didn't play Bunko, but it was still nice to sit around an chat with the girls.

Saturday Karl and I went out to eat for our anniversary. Cianah went to a friends and I even roped my mom into taking Tati to her tennis tournament. Woohoo!

This morning the girls made me breakfast in bed. Karl bought me flowers and cards from the kids and Karl.

Karl BBQ'd dinner. It was nice. I was very pampered this this weekend. WONDERFUL!!

Now I did still have to grocery shop and do 4 heads of hair, but I'll take that to the normal weekends I have. :)

So I got a call from my new "friend" Marianne. She is the lady we are renting a house from when we go to Florida. The picture to the left is our back yard. Her ad says 2 sets of dolphins swim in this cove everyday. It ought to be fun.

So I previously blogged about the whole timing issue with the bachlorette party and the family vacation. So we reworked things and we are leaving on Friday July 13th and cutting it short one day and returning the 19th. That way if I can afford to go to Chicago too, I can leave with the ladies on the 20th.

Well after sending the Marianne the deposit, she calls me today. Apparently the people staying at the house originally were supposed to check out on the 13th, but now want to check out on the 14th. I don't want to cut the vacation another day short. UGH!!! We really didn't come to any conclusions. So as for now, I don't really know where things stand. I know she has my money so I hope that means we have a place to stay.

Here's another picture of the backyard.

Everyone fingers crossed, say a prayer, anything you think will help. I'd be nice to have some time away with the family.

Busy as always

So long time no blog. It's been a busy few weeks, as always. Last weekend I spent the weekend at Tower Grove Park shooting my girls on Saturday and two shoots on Sunday. It was nice but a bit windy.

Here are my favorite pics of the girls:

Cianah. She doesn't look 13! Scary

Tatiana, she's the only child I have that actually resembles me. :P

And darn cute if I do say so.

Bryana, at least one of them still looks like a baby.

All the pretty ladies together.

So Karl and I are going to Cape Cod this summer for my friend Stephanie's wedding.

I am excited because I have never been to Cape Cod, but also because this is going to be a wonderful wedding.

Stephanie and I have been friends for 15 years. I know that makes me feel old. Ugh!

She has been there for me through so many things, good and bad. She is the kind of person everyone needs to have in their life. She is a friend in the truest sense of the word.

She's some one who knows me, I mean really knows me, and loves me just the same.

I'll never forget the time she called me because a friend of hers was late. This person was often late, but usually at least called to say they would be late. After a few hours with no call she began to worry. She called me to calm her fears and make her feel better and know everything was alright. She quickly realized I was the WRONG person to call. Before she got off the phone with me I had her calling all the hospitals to in the tri-state region making sure they weren't in the hospital. Ok so the person was fine. The tire on the motorcycle they were riding was flat. They had been stopping every mile or so to put more air in the tire. Not injured and safe. And she still loves me. She doesn't call me for reassurance, but she still loves me. :) I can tell this story now because it wouldn't be appropriate at the wedding in August. I've got more where that came from.

Stephanie is a person who will do anything for anyone and look for nothing in return. She doesn't do it because she wants something in return. She does things because she is a good person.

Again I say, this is why everyone needs a Stephanie in their life. That and she's an editor so before I send out any proposals or business plans, I utilize her. :) Ok so that's a bonus.

So one of the photo shoots I did last weekend was for her. She and Jon wanted some engagement photos. I'm all about it. I LOVE taking pictures.

They are a wonderful couple. Jon adores her and she him. I couldn't be happier for them. Or more honored to stand up with her this summer. I am happy that she choose me to be a part of this day.

I am disappointed that they are probably leaving me in a year or so to move across the country to Seattle. Not cool! Ok, cool for them. Not for me.

Karl and I are going alone to Cape Cod. Karl figured I'd be busy with wedding stuff and he'd be stuck with the kids. Not that he minds the kids, just didn't want to not have his room to hid away in. :P

So we are taking the kids (or at least I hope) to Florida. This has been a MAJOR ordeal. In order to afford to go, we are going with my friend Marsha. (see weeding planner blog earlier) Trying to find an affordable place for 10 people is not easy. Finding a way to get 10 people to FL is proving to be near impossible. Two cars it is.

My only conflict is this. Marsha can not go until July 14th (because her son has summer school) and I don't want to go in August because I'm going to Cape Cod. So here's the problem. The two weeks in July that are left overlap the bachlorette party in Chicago. We'd either be coming or going while the bachlorette party is happening. While I doubt even if the timing wasn't an issue I'd be able to afford to go to on 3 trips this summer, I am conflicted. Being the maid or honor I feel like I should be there. If we don't go with Marsha we are not going to be able to afford to go to Florida. What to do?

So we are planning the trip and I feel like I shouldn't. So now I feel like I need to make adjustments. I do no want to let Stephanie down. That is the last thing I want to do. Trying to get something together before summer school starts will probably not work. Karl suggests leaving in the middle of the week and coming back in the middle of the week???

Karl and I have never taken a family vacation, short of a weekend trip to Branson a few years back. Karl and I haven't been on vacation at all since 2001. The kids, well Bryana never has and Cianah was 3, Tati 21 months or so. HELP!!!

If this trip doesn't kill us, or drive me further off the deep end, I think we'll have fun. Presently I am on the verge of tears trying to work it all out.