Me & my Boys!

I just love this picture and wanted to be able to post it...these two are the loves of my life and I am so happy to share such a wonderful home with them both. No matter how hard my day has been they are both there to greet me with a smile (in Tonka's case a slobber) but none the less...I love it!

CAROLINA BALLOONFEST

While my sister was in town visiting we decided to go see the Balloonfest being held at the Statesville Airport. This was by far the coolest thing I had ever seen-there were hot air balloons everywhere and the weather was gorgous. I dont think the pictures do the show justice but I tried my best. Boo and I also tasted for the first time a deep fried Oreo...yes I said deep fried Oreo-not as good as the real thing so we are not sure why anyone would try to mess with an Oreo. I highly recommend everyone looking to see if there is a Balloonfest near where you live...because this was really something to see in person!

Rich N Bennett's 8th Annual Halloween Bar Crawl!!!

So for those of you who do not live in the Charlotte metro area, or more appropriately the Southeast...you probably have never heard of Rich N Bennett! They are two crazy guys from Elon University that got the great idea to start themed bar crawls in order to spice up Down/Up town Charlotte. What started out as a couple hundred friends and a few bars, has now grown into mass chaos! Rich N Bennett hold bar crawls and other various events through out the year-starting off with the NYE bash at Hawthorne's Pizza (best pizza in town), then moving on to St Patrick's Day Bar Crawl (which in 2009 should hold the Guinness Book of World Records for largest bar crawl), then we move on to the Tubing trip down the Dan River, and as fall sets in we keep warm with the Halloween Bar Crawl....and then we do it all over again :)

This past weekend was the 8Th Annual Halloween Bar Crawl-and as usual we had some funny and very interesting costume choices. I was lucky enough to have my little sister, Ashley (aka Boo) come into town for the festivities. Now every year we try to come up with a great costume themes with our friends...last year we all went as super hero's and this year we decided to come as couples from different forms of the entertainment industry!!! Brian by far had the shortest shorts, Bennett had the best chest hair/jump suite, Wendy won for the best real hair that looked most like a wig (it was awesome), Kevin and Whitney share the best message award, I guess I get the "aww your that girl from that one movie" costume award....Either way we had a great time and some good laughs.

Now who is ready for St Patrick's Day!

She's leaving..on a jet plane....dont know when she'll be back again!!!

Well it is true what they say..."You can take the girl outta Texas, but you cant take Texas outta the girl"! In the next few weeks I will say fare well to my good friend, Melissa. Born and bread in Texas she now feels it is necessary to go home...even though she will be missed by all that have grown to love and adore her here in Charlotte...we all wish her the best. I am not looking forward to our final dinner together as girls, but I will put on my best shoes and grab my klenex because I wouldnt miss it for the world. However, before she was allowed to part ways with the Queen City we had to send her out in style....so we through her a PARTAY! Thank you to Tavern on Park & Simplified for making Melissa's night a going away party to remember...you guys put on one hellva show! And for those of you who have not eating at Tavern on Park-what are you waiting for? and if you have not heard of the band Simplified you must check them out right away!!!

Well her is proof of what a great party it was...best of luck Melissa! We love you xoxo

Pumpkin Carving

We got together with friends last night to carve pumpkins and enjoy the holiday season. Thank you all for coming out to Ranlo and joining in on the festivities-it was good to catch up with everyone. Brian wins the prize for thickest pumpkin & for taking the longest ever to carve a design...even the Bennett's beat him and they showed up late! Everyone is invited back to the house next Friday-Halloween! to pass out candy to the neighborhood kids and to admire all our hard work & creativity

Girlfriends!

After reading my husbands heart felt post about the passing of his dog Will, it made me think about all the people who have touched my life...mainly the women in my life. Recently I started searching for long lost friends; those that I consider to be some of my very first friends, and it is interesting how easy it is to connect to one another now with the internet, cell phones, and blogs-yet we have been distant for so long. As I look through Myspace, Facebook, and blog postings of the last few years of their lives it made me really appreciate the friendship we once had. I have many wonderful girl friends and women in my life now-but I cant help think about those first girl friends that showed me what it was like to have sleep overs, to like boys, and to curl my hair!!! I have always been one to say that I am better friends with boys then girls-mostly bc I am a huge tom boy and love football...but when I really think about it it is the women in my life (both past and present) who have helped create the person I am today. Not a day goes by when I think about elem. school and the fun we had in SLC and the times I spent in AZ & I cant help but wonder what those girls are up to know-do they have families? where do they live, work, etc? Part of me wonders if that means the friendship never really ended-it was just put on hold until we grew up and were able to reconnect again as adults. Life is full of changes and time flies by so there is not always time to keep tabs on those we care about the most-a lesson I have learned living so far away from my family. So I guess what I am trying to say is thank you to all the girl-friends I have had and have now in my life. It is very important to have Women in our lives-and I want to just say how grateful I am for those who are a part of mine.