Blah

I truly apologize for my recent absence on here... there really hasn't been too much to blog about. I've just been in kind of a "blah" mood here lately. I will say I'm glad August is almost over. Besides it being Derek's birthday month, it really hasn't been the best of months for us.

The air compressor in my Volkswagen died (a week after the battery died), so that was a quick unexpected $1,500 spent, then last week the aquamarine stone in the center of my right-handed ring shattered when I hit my hand on the door walking into work. It made me absolutely sick to my stomach.

Derek was gone to Chicago for work all last week, and I was out of town the two weekends before that, so it's just been a crazy month.

I will welcome September with open arms, even though four weeks from tomorrow I'll turn 31. Yikes. I'm not thinking about that just yet. September has to be better than August regardless.

And you know with September comes the fall premieres of all my favorite shows, so I'll have waaay more pointless topics to blog about in the coming weeks. Don't get too excited. :)

"The Chicken Soup of my Soul!"

I took Friday off and headed on a little road trip with some of my college besties to Alexandria, Louisiana, for our second annual pool party at Lauren's house. We got some great quality time with each other, as well as the new little boys in our lives, Lauren's son, Cooper, and Katie's son, Finn.

We spent the whole weekend (Friday afternoon and 12 hours Saturday) in the pool totally relaxing, laughing, being dorks and even doing a few cheerleading stunts. SO therapeutic, let me tell you...

As my friend Christy said (one of the numerous memorable quotes from the weekend), "Y'all are like the chicken soup of my soul." Amen, sister, amen.

Now I know why they're called "extras"...

Two whole people, 24 total hours of filming and only half of me made it into about 3 seconds of the movie! Ha!

Derek's scene got cut, and the way they filmed the scene I was in was from an angle towards the top of the capitol across the rotunda. You can see Skeeter (Emma Stone) walking towards the rotunda with the Jim Crow laws and you can see me walking across behind her from the waist down. I seriously would have to watch it with you and point myself out and if you even thought about blinking you'd miss me. But still, I'm in it! Ha!

It's crazy when you think about how much time they spent filming very detailed scenes that didn't even make the cut. Of course, that's not to say they might not be in the "deleted scenes" on the DVD.

The movie was AMAZING! I absolutely loved it and had so much fun looking for people we knew in it. A few friends had some pretty major screen time with faces and all. :) I really thought the movie was very well done and I can't wait to watch it again! I wonder when the DVD comes out...

Ah, the life of a (half) movie star... it's tough. :)

My soon-to-be new favorite movie...

OPENS TODAY!! We're going to see The Help tonight with some friends and I could not be more excited. Whether we actually made it into the movie or not, it doesn't matter. I'm just excited to see the movie!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's update about if we're actually in it or not. In the meantime, I'll leave you with these lovely memories of our super cool costumes. :)


The best part about my "look"... THE CINNAMON BUN HAIR-DO!

Derek's (almost) 30th Birthday

He's still got one whole year before turning the big 3-0, but it still makes me feel better that he's finally catching up with me a little bit. Derek turned 29 last Wednesday and, in true Grey fashion, we celebrated for five long days.

Wednesday night we met some friends at Walker's for dinner. After stuffing ourselves with some delicious food, we came back to the house for some birthday cake from our favorite bakery, Campbell's, and some champagne.

Derek and I had both already taken off work Thursday and Friday with plans to go to New Orleans for the weekend since the lake still wasn't open to boat traffic. We've spent Derek's birthday weekend at the lake every year I can remember except for one year when we went to Orange Beach. Well, what do you know, they announced late Wednesday that the lake would be OPENED Thursday morning!

It was probably the best birthday gift he could have received, so we cancelled our N.O. plans (nothing too specific anyways) and hit the road to Eagle Lake. It was SO GREAT to be back out there! On Thursday and Friday we were the only boat on the water, and it was so incredibly relaxing. Just what we needed... So glad to have our lake back!

We came back home sun-burned and worn out on Saturday and spent the rest of the weekend being lazy. I think it was a pretty successful birthday celebration.

Happy Birthday, Derek! I love you and can't wait for you to be 30 next year! :)

Two decades and counting...

My best friend, Cassidy, is home from Japan for the summer and spent the weekend with us last weekend. We originally planned for this to take a girls' road trip in honor of the 10th anniversary of our Virginia Beach Dave Matthews Road Trip in the summer of 2001, but for lack of plans, we just stayed in the big city of Jackson. I wasn't worried. We always entertain each other. :)

(NOTE: This designated weekend was really intended as a weekend celebration to welcome in our 30s. Even though I'm close to a month away from 31 now, our big Dirty 30 celebration was SUPPOSED to be in Japan this past spring when she turned 30 in March, but since that trip was a no-go, we had to take what we could get.)

I took the day off on Friday and we did a little shopping to take advantage of the tax-free holiday, then we went to the Bulldog for a few drinks before finishing the night on the back deck. I swear we could talk nonstop for days and STILL not run out of things to talk about. I only see her once a year now that she's a foreigner, so we have a lot of catching up to do.

On Saturday we found a baby pool on clearance at Rite Aid, so after making six stops to find an electric air pump, we finally filled it up and enjoyed some sunshine and cool water on the deck. Where has this pool been all my summer? It was fabulous.

We grabbed some dinner then went to hear some great live music at Underground 119. Then it was back to the deck for some night swimming/impromptu dance party in the "Aqua Lounge." Ha! We even sported our special T-shirts Cassidy had made for the weekend. HILARIOUS.

I have to admit it was the most fun I've had in a long time. I laughed until my sides hurt.

We've been friends since 7th grade (circa 1992), so it's almost been 20 years. I still hope to go visit her in Japan at some point in the near future. It's hard to live across the world from your best friend! But until then, I have a lot of fun memories and a really cool new T-shirt. :)

A Dog's Purpose

Today we said goodbye to the sweetest mutt God ever put on this earth, Annie Bice. We got Annie from the Animal Shelter right before Christmas in 1997, my junior year of high school.

When we went to pick out a puppy, this little terrier mix (mixed with who in the world knows - I still think part wolf) was curled up beside a mama Dalmatian and her puppies. She was like little Orphan Annie, so she essentially named herself. Bless her heart.

My mom and dad called me "Sister" to her and she knew just who I was. She was a good girl. She was a such sweet girl and even in her older days she'd get so excited when "Sister" came into town for a visit. We had a special bond.

I think Annie helped my parents get through the empty nest syndrome when I started college, even though I was still in the same city, just not living at home. And then again when I moved away from Hattiesburg for my first job out of college and never came back. Maybe that was her purpose. If anyone has read "A Dog's Purpose" you know what I mean. She lived a good, long life and spent almost 14 years as the Bice family dog.

Please say a little prayer for my mom and dad. They're the ones who will miss her the most. Hopefully they find some peace soon. God bless sweet Annie Banannie. I'm sure she's fetching squeaky toys and tennis balls in heaven already.