Derek's 26th and a mini family reunion

I apologize for not writing in a while, but last week was pretty busy as I did last minute birthday shopping for my hubby and we got ready to head down to Dauphin Island for Derek's cousin Joey's wedding... so here goes the recap. There will be a lot of pics, so just bear with me.

Thursday night we went out with some friends to (where else) the Bulldog for drinks to celebrate Derek's big 2-6 a few days early. His actual birthday was Sunday, but since we were going to be out of town, we thought we'd just make it a four-day celebration by kicking it off on Thursday. It also didn't hurt that we were both off on Friday. After the Bulldog, Derek, Katherine, John, Will and I went to Que Sera for some live music and what we thought would be some good raw oysters. The music proved to be great, but the oysters not so much. We had a good time regardless. Here we are on the patio, then here's Derek taking his pre-birthday birthday shot. Ugh... makes me want to gag just thinking about it.

So Friday we woke up feeling not so great, even though we were home at 10:00 on Thursday night. We got packed and jumped in the car with Derek's parents to head down to Dauphin Island. As I mentioned before, it was Joey's wedding weekend, so we had the pleasure of catching up with Derek's grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins and more cousins. It really was a mini family reunion, especially since we really only see everyone at weddings these days.

Friday was a rainy day, so once we got to the beach, we just got ready for dinner and headed over to PawPaw Billy and MeMe Lou's house. They retired to Dauphin Island years ago, and I can't think of a better place to be. It's so quiet and laid-back down there. We went to dinner at the Country Club, and then we headed back to our hotel to meet up with everyone else. We decided to find a bar, and lucky for us, there was one right across the street. It was called the Oar House (which was pretty clever, we thought) and it was built like a treehouse. They had some decent live music and cold beer, so we stayed out for a while just catching up with Uncle Rusty.

On Saturday, we headed to the beach when we got up and moving. The beach was packed, and the sun was super hot, so we only stayed down there for a few hours. But what a great place for people-watching! We actually saw a real mullet, complete with the blue jean shorts to make the look complete...

Here are a few more pics of our fun in the sun... Ryan Hadley eating Fritos on Aunt Katie's towel and Gary putting the finishing touches on his sand castle.

Saturday night was Joey's big event, which was held on the pier overlooking the ocean. It was very beautiful with the sun setting and a nice breeze keeping us all from sweltering. Here's a pic of the happy couple.
Here are a couple more photos from the wedding and the reception... the Grey kids (minus Ryan), Ryan Hadley with Uncle Derek, and Derek's mom with her brothers and sisters. As you can see, I was a little camera-happy this weekend, but aren't you glad I gave you plenty to look at in this blog? :)

After the wedding soiree, a big group of us headed back to the Oar House for a bluegrass band that was SO MUCH FUN! They were great, and we had two tables right at the front. And lucky for Derek, apparently the first weekend in August is a popular time because the band sang happy birthday to about five people. Here's Derek enjoying his moment on the stage. Ha!

After the bar closed, Derek and I decided we'd head to the pier to share the birthday bottle of champagne Katie bought him. We sat up until about 3 a.m. talking with Derek's aunt and uncle about what life was like when they were growing up. We had such a good time, but by that time we had been celebrating Derek's birthday for what felt like 72 hours, so we called it a night.

Even thought his actual birthday was spent riding back from the beach, I think he had a good weekend, and it's always good to see family, regardless of the occasion.

So cheers to Joey and Angela as they enjoy their first week as newlyweds, and cheers to Derek for growing yet another year older! A good time was had by all, and I think we should do it again soon - maybe not the birthday or the wedding part, just the reunion part... :)

HGTV would be so proud...

We've spent the weekend modernizing our guest bathroom... finally. We're big fans of older homes with character, and while this house has the charm of the 1950s , we were never really fans of the all-green and all-pink bathrooms that came with it. Our master bathroom has gray, white and pink tiles, but we had to have the bathroom floor replaced before we bought it, so they put in new tile that makes it not so Leave-It-To-Beaverish. But the guest bathroom was a different story. The ENTIRE bathroom was mint green. I'm talking, the toilet, the sink, the tub and the tile on the floors, walls and countertops.

Here's what we started with...

We've been wanting to put in a new toilet, new floors and a new sink to neutralize it a little more, so we finally decided to just bite the bullet and do it. Ourselves. It was quite a project, but now it's done, and it's clear that the countless hours we've spent watching HGTV have paid off. :)

It started Friday night with a trip to Lowe's to get all our supplies - a new toilet and all the stuff that goes along with it, the peel-and-stick tile, grout, grout cleaner and caulk. I figured Saturday would be our big working day, but apparently Derek had other plans.

He decided we might as well go ahead and do the toilet Friday night. Well, that was about 8:00, and by 10:45, the old one was out and the new one was in. Not that it was that simple, however... The old toilet was original to the house, which meant we had to struggle with 50 years of gunk and rust to get this stupid toilet out. After a good bit of sweat, a few bruises and several phone calls to Derek's dad the plumber, we finally got it out. It was not a pretty sight, either. The new toilet didn't really take as long to install, except for the leak we couldn't get rid of when we attached the new tank. It just took a little elbow grease on Derek's part in tightening all the bolts underneath while I sat on it trying to make it level. I'm sure you're thinking you would have liked to be a fly on the wall for all this, which is exactly what Derek's dad said, too, but after what seemed like hours, the sparkling new WHITE toilet was installed with no leaks. It was a proud moment. :)

Saturday was spent cutting the tile to fit, which was also not as easy as it seemed, but we did it. We also brightened up the countertops with some grout cleaner, and Derek fixed the one broken tile on the edge of the countertop that's been bothering us since we moved in last June. Then today Derek wrapped up the project by caulking around the edges to give it a finished look.

And.... drum roll, please... Here's the finished product!

My, my, my... what a pretty bathroom now! I have to say, this room was definitely a drawback when we bought the house, and I'm proud to say that now it's actually in the 21st century while still keeping its vintage charm. :)

I'm very proud of us. It's been a while since we had a "work weekend" around the house, and I'm so glad we don't do it very often. It totally wears you out, but it's very worth it in the end. Now if only we could get our own HGTV show, we'd really be in business. Ha!

Bless His Heart

Our boy Bentley used to never be afraid of storms. They never fazed him until the tornado we had in early April. Derek and I were both at work when it happened, and when I got home to see what damage there was (thankfully none to our house), I found every bedroom door open and bed skirts hiked up around all of the beds. Apparently the storm scared him so badly that he tried to fit his big ole body under every one of the beds with no luck. He was traumatized, I'm sure, especially with the fact that our neighbor was home and hid out in the bathtub with her dog while the tornado touched ground. She said it sounded like a jackhammer. And with the wind bending the trees almost to the ground, I'm sure he saw quite a sight out our big window facing the front yard. I'm so glad I wasn't home because storms scare me pretty bad anyways now that we live in the midst of a hundred old pine trees.

Anyways, last night we had quite the lightning show at our house. It was a big tease with lightning that lit up the sky and some threatening thunder, but only about 10 minutes of rain. Poor Bent never strayed far from our feet during the whole thing. We were both home and he still opened every bedroom door in the house and wandered around for a place he felt safe.

He's not to the point of needing doggy downers during storms like Marley (if you've never read "Marley and Me" by John Grogan, it's a must for all dog lovers), but he definitely needs reassurance that everything's going to be alright.

Luckily for us last night, we had just bathed him before the "storm" came, so at least we had a clean, brushed dog under our feet all night rather than a dirty, stinky one. :)

There is no joy in Mudville...

... Because the Mighty Gators got their TAILS KICKED last night. Boo! It’s a game that we’re going to forget we even played, and it’s a really good thing that we don’t think the league is officially keeping record of wins and losses because this was a big one. All I know is that we didn’t score a single run, and the Bench Warmers scored more than I could count. I stopped counting at eight. Ugh…

And it was the hottest game we’ve played by far. So muggy… our jerseys were stuck to our backs before the game even started. Definitely not fun weather to play softball in, but it didn’t seem to bother the other team. Actually for once we had way more than enough people to play. I think we had about 15 show up to play, so some had to be subbed in halfway through the game.

Derek did a good job as pitcher, but I spoke too soon when I said that I don't mind playing left center because you don’t really see any action out there. Boy, did we! And boy, did I just stand there and stare at the few balls hit directly at me. Pitiful…

Too bad we lost our two-game winning streak, but we’re just going to forget about last night’s game and focus on next week. We’ve got one more game before our double-header, and I think it’s going to be a tough one.

So far we’re 2-3, but it doesn’t really matter. It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game, right? We’ve had a lot of fun, and we really appreciate the generosity of Katherine’s law firm in letting us take two spots on their team. It’s actually made Monday nights something to look forward to this summer, and that's not an easy feat! :)

Stop the Press!

We spent yesterday with some good old friends from my days at the newspaper. It was in honor of Lauchlin's departure from The Post, so it was only appropriate that we got our old crew together for some celebratory food and drinks.

We started the day out at the lake. Our friend Becka, who used to be a photographer at the paper, came into town from New Orleans, and she, Lauchlin, Derek and I headed out to the lake for a few hours to do some tubing. We had a nice time in the new ski boat the Greys bought this summer and got some good sun even though the sky was mostly overcast. It was great to catch up with Becka since we really haven't seen her in about a year and a half, since she and I left the newspaper a week apart.

Here's a few pics from the boat...

It was all fun and games until Derek lost his wedding band. :( Oh, well, we'll get him another one and make sure it fits better this time.

After the lake, we headed back to Lauchlin and Olivia's house where we grilled hamburgers and relaxed in their pool (it's pretty similar to Katherine's but a good bit bigger.) It was a nice time, and it was so good to see everybody. Here's a pic of our old Post group minus Becka.

A good time was had by all, and it turned into a late night, as it usually does with this group. I'm definitely not a youngin anymore, so it's a good thing we only get together once in a blue moon. I'm sure we're all hurting a little today, and it's probably not just from the tubing. :)

Wednesday Night Drinking Club

Last fall, right after it opened, a group of us started going up to The Bulldog every Wednesday night for a few drinks after work. It's a pretty cool bar with like 50 beers on tap and about twice that many in bottles. It started in New Orleans, and I heard a rumor that they opened one in Jackson because the Saints have their training camp here every summer. Whatever the reason, we really like it, AND it's about five minutes away from our house.

So, we got a small group together the first few times for happy hour on Wednesday because you can bring your pint glasses home on Wednesdays. After a month or so, we had quite the collection of pint glasses... enough to fill a shelf in our freezer, actually, so we stopped collecting them. Our little Wednesday Night Drinking Club grew from week to week as friends started inviting friends, and then their friends invited more friends. There was actually one week (an impromptu birthday celebration for Drew and me) when we actually had a group of about 20 or so.

We kept up our little weekly tradition through most of the winter, but for whatever reason, the group started dwindling down in the spring. We've picked it back up now, and while we don't really do every Wednesday anymore, it's still never too hard to get a group together. Maybe it's because by Wednesday afternoon a beer after work always sounds like a good idea, or maybe because all of our friends are pushovers when it comes to alcohol, but regardless, it always makes for a nice couple of hours with good conversation and cold beer.

As for the bar itself, they've since expanded the patio and added a fire pit and a water feature. I think they have plans to add a big flat screen TV under the awning outside before football season. We've seen it grow and are pretty much regulars there now. It's our own little version of Cheers, and sooner or later, everybody will know our names. Is that good or bad? :)

39,000 miles and FREE!!!

Well, it may not exactly be free, but my car is now PAID OFF!!! I wrote the last check just a little while ago, and I feel totally liberated now. With a little help from Mom and Dad along the way, I've been able to pay off my Passat in a little under three years, and that feels so great.

It seems like just yesterday I was test-driving that car right after Derek and I got engaged. That was October of 2006, and now almost 40,000 miles later, it's a totally done deal. And for the most part, it still looks like a new car (when it's clean) and it definitely still drives like one. I think I'm stuck on Volkswagens now, and it doesn't hurt that the fancy new dealership is now less than 2 minutes away.

The Passat hasn't traveled nearly as far as the Camry did, but that was college. The Camry went skiing in Colorado, to a Dave Matthews concert in Virginia Beach, to New Orleans a few too many times, and to spring break in Destin both junior and senior year. I think the Passat has only ventured into Louisiana a few times and to Destin, but it's made PLENTY of trips to and from Vicksburg for a good few months before we moved here and back and forth to the Coast on many a trip for showers and weddings. But it makes sense... the Passat's my "adult" car. I'm not as adventurous as I used to be. :)

I see this one lasting through at least one future Baby Grey in kindergarten and another one in preschool, I hope. And as long as the gas stays as high as it is now, I'll gladly drive this gas-saver until the wheels fall off if I can.

When I drove off the lot, that car had 11 miles on it. Eleven! Talk about depreciation... But that's okay. Everybody needs to own one brand new car in their lifetime if possible. It's the best feeling in the world, even if only for a few miles. :)