It's hotter than...

You fill in the blanks. It's so hot I don't even have the energy to finish that sentence.

Unless you've been living under a rock, it's pretty hard to ignore this crazy heat wave we've had the past few days. It was above 100 both days this weekend, and the smart people would have just stayed inside. We did just the opposite.

Derek played in a softball tournament on Saturday, so from 9:30 a.m. until about 2 p.m., we were sweating it out in the miserably hot sun, and I do mean SWEATING. He, obviously, was drenched after playing two games in a row, and I was equally as drenched just by sitting there watching him play. I even tried to sit on the bleachers in order to get a little sun while they were playing, but I couldn't stand it longer than 45 minutes, so I moved into the shade of the dugout.

The hot sun is just exhausting, I've decided. We went to have a few cold beers after the games, then we crashed for a long summer's nap. Sunday was spent working in and around the house. Derek did yardwork and sweated some more, and I cleaned the inside and did some grocery shopping. I don't think we stopped sweating all weekend long, to be honest.

Our poor air-conditioner just chugged right along all weekend trying to keep up. I think at one point during the hottest part of the day on Sunday it got up to 80 inside. I thought something was wrong with our a/c, but then I heard that most air-conditioners can only get the house about 20 degrees cooler than it is outside. Glad to know, but it still doesn't stop me from sweating.

Gotta love Mississippi summers...

I joined the club!

It’s about time I joined the rest of the world with a fancy new phone that allows me to get on the internet. FINALLY! I got a Samsung Messenger Touch, and I’m still trying to figure out all the bells and whistles. I love that it has both the touch screen and the slide-out keyboard. My fingers aren’t fast enough to text on the touch screen, I don’t think.

I thought about blogging from the new phone last night, but I gave up after playing on it for a few hours. I’m so happy to be done with the old school flip phone and finally one with the “cool” kids! Ha!

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm usually on the slow end of technological trends, and I didn't even text until last year. Even the sales associate at Cellular South laughed at me for being on the "Talk and Text" plan. So, clearly, this has been a long time coming...

Now stay tuned for some on-the-go blogging now that I'm "mobile." :)

One Month Old

Sweet Baby Frances turned one month old on Thursday, so we couldn't let the weekend go by without seeing that precious baby girl. We met my parents at Katie and Neil's house in Vicksburg on Saturday so they could meet our newest niece. She was awake for almost the entire visit!

I'm so glad my mom ("BB" as she will be called by her future grandchildren) was able to get some Frances lovin. She wanted to take her home to Hattiesburg. Look at that sweet thing - who wouldn't?

Thank you, Katie and Neilbert, for a great day on Saturday. Lunch was delish! And Happy One-Month Birthday, Baby Frances! You're as cute as a button!

Beer, Belhaven and Baseball

We had a nice weekend close to home this time around, which was great after two busy weekends in a row. Friday night we met some friends at the Bulldog after work for the “uncasking” of a new beer by Mississippi’s Lazy Magnolia brewery. I’m a Miller Lite girl myself, so while I wasn’t really a fan of the single-batch Sweet Potato Cream Stout, it was still pretty cool to be able to taste a beer that will never be brewed again.

On Saturday, I went to a good, old-fashioned slumber party at my friend Katherine’s house in Belhaven. She’s leaving that beautiful old house for a new house in the suburbs, so we had to say goodbye in style. We ordered pizza from the Pizza Shack, had a few cold beverages and entertained ourselves with plenty of girl talk and one game of TriBond. It was great!

That house has been our favorite “Belhaven B&B” for the past several years. We’ve stayed many a night there and an occasional whole weekend, too. One summer there was even a fantastic baby pool set up in the back that we spent most of our Saturdays enjoying. Bye-bye, little house. We’ll miss you!

Sunday afternoon Derek and I headed to Smith-Wills Stadium to watch our friend Josh play baseball.

He plays semi-pro for the Hattiesburg Black Sox (I stole this pic from his FB page), and they were in the Mississippi Baseball Championships in Jackson this weekend. They lost Sunday’s game and ended up third overall in the state, but we had a lot of fun watching them play. They're a really good team, and baseball’s one sport I can actually follow!

We really enjoyed staying “home” this weekend – or let me rephrase since my mom says weekends like this don’t count as being spent at home… We really enjoyed staying close to home this weekend and having fun in the Big City. :)

Bim Bam!

Last night I met up with 10 lovely ladies at La Cazuela for a little Jackson-area USM Delta Gamma reunion. We started organizing this girls' night out three months ago, and it honestly took us that long to find a night that fit into everyone's schedule.

Our group was made up of girls who pledged from 1997 through 2000, so I was in college with all of these girls at one point or another. Some I see pretty often, and some I haven't seen in YEARS. It was so much fun to catch up and realize that while things change, some people just never do.

I'd like to give a special shout-out to Carrie Parker Cullum, who knew the scoop on EVERYONE from her Facebook stalking, and Ashley Tullos Young, who kept us rolling with the jokes. I burned off all the hearty Mexican calories I consumed just from laughing until I cried. Thanks for the laughs, ladies! See y'all in September for our next get-together!

TDH,

Bice :)

Girls' Road Trip!!

Early Friday I hit the road with some friends from college for a true girls’ weekend road trip to Alexandria, La. Our friend Lauren lives there, and since she now has a 9-month-old, it’s much harder for her to make plans for girls’ trips. So…. We just decided this time we’d bring the trip to her!

She and her husband just bought a fabulous new house with a gorgeous pool, so when planning our next trip back in April, we decided this would be a perfect weekend getaway. And it definitely was!

Of course, it wouldn’t be a road trip without missing a turn in the middle of backwoods Louisiana and ended up at a gas station that could totally be seen in a horror movie, as seen below…

And of course it wouldn’t be a road trip without getting a speeding ticket in the midst of a speed trap in the TOWN of Olla, La., (it was a town, not even a city) given by the Chief of Police himself. Allison tried really hard to talk her way out of it, but when your town has a population of 80 people, I guess the police chief gets most of his excitement in the form of traffic violations.

Other than that, our trip was pretty uneventful. We had a fabulous time at Lauren’s house and spent most of our time in the pool, with the exception of a nice dinner out (delicious food, but terrible service) Saturday night. After dinner, we surprised Christy with a birthday cake in honor of her 30th birthday this week. Happy Birthday, Christy!!

We may not be as wild and crazy as we used to be, but we still know how to have a good time. I LOVE these girls and can't go but just a few months without seeing them! Sadly, Brooke couldn’t join us this weekend, so the group was incomplete, but other than that, we had a wonderful time.
Let’s start planning the next one!!!

Oh Beautiful...

We had another fantastic July 4th weekend at the lake. We headed out there Friday morning and spent the day decorating the lake house for all of Saturday's festivities and getting food ready. It was a fun family day with our nieces. Derek and Ryan Hadley entertained themselves with some sparklers, and we got a little swimming in before cousins Lindsey, Kathryn and Taylor arrived late Friday night from Auburn. They drove six hours for a weekend of fun at the lake!

Here are some pics, starting with Frances in her 4th of July outfit. It doesn't get much cuter than that...

Ryan Hadley and her sparkler... I think she looks like a little Hermione from Harry Potter with her magic wand. :)

Cousins...

Saturday was the annual boat parade, and this year we just stayed at the pier and watched since the pontoon boat wasn't working. We had the pier all decorated, and it fun to just watch from the sidelines. We took the ski boat out for a while after the parade for some tubing and visited the Redneck Yacht Club for a while before dinner time. :)

Live music next door...

After a delicious dinner of smoked pork and all the fixings to go along with it, we floated with our full bellies for a while before the fireworks show at 9. I have to say, my father-in-law's fireworks get bigger and better every year, and this year was no exception. They were AMAZING, and there must have been 75 people spread out on the hill and the pier to watch them.

We ended the night at Chotard to hear our favorite holiday band, Magnolias and Moonshine. We couldn't let a weekend at the lake pass without letting Kathryn experience it. Some of the band members were substitutes for the night, so unfortunately there were no matching patriotic costumes this year. We had fun regardless.

Derek and I came back yesterday afternoon and spent the rest of the day in the air conditioning. It was an absolutely fabulous weekend. And having today off for the holiday made it even better. Four whole days off work... I love summer holidays!