Fall Hobby 2014: Apple Orchards

About a month ago, Mr. RH and I were with his family when we made a spontaneous trip to the local apple orchard.  We bought lots of random, fun goodies - and I knew I was on a dangerous path.  I literally couldn't live one more day without a flippin cup of honeycrisp apple cider every hour on the hour.

Damn, I wish this picture was better.

Anyway, as we drove home, I immediately texted both BFF's with babies and told them we needed to make immediate plans to get to an orchard.

Plans were set and we were off with two tiny princesses in tow.

Princess #1 - my #BFFbaby who apparently doesn't have a name on my blog, except #BFFbaby.  It was so much easier when there was only ONE BFF baby, but now that there are two... I mean... #BFFbaby2 doesn't really have a great ring to it...

Princess #2 - Miss Maeven, the tiny peanut of the group.

Anyway, I loaded Miss Maeven into her carseat and she immediately gave me a big smile.  We had a 30-minute drive to the orchard, so I took this as a GREAT sign.  She was excited, we were going to have a great day!!

I mostly missed her smile with my camera... but trust me, she was happy!

We arrived at the orchard and were immediately assaulted by... bees!  Definitely not what we had planned for, but we improvised.

We found a random apple crate in the parking lot, ducked ourselves under a giant apple tree... and, well, #BFFbaby really worked it. 

You guys, I love all my friends babies with the fire of a thousand burning suns... but this cheese is literally too much to handle.

Her mom claims she learned all her cheese from me... and truthfully, I can't dispute that claim. 

That tongue kills me dead!!

On the other hand... #MissMaeven got like .24% of a nap in the car, which wasn't exactly her favorite thing ever.

And it might make me a bad aunt that I was like... well, sorry Maeven, we take what we can get around here even if that means a screaming baby.

Luckily, she had some cute buns on so that we could ignore her screaming face and focus on the cute butt.   And it was a really cute, pumpkin-y butt.

Don't tell me it makes me a bad aunt that I let her scream her head off for bursts so we could take a few photos.  Girl needs to learn how to act right in a picture or she's in for a world of pain with Aunt Sarah.  #poorbaby

Someday we will use these photos as proof that diva/sassy personality traits emerge early in the first year of life.

Until then, we can just use them to remember a lovely trip to the apple orchard.  Screaming baby and all.

Why oh why doesn't fall last forever?!  

Blahsville, Day Infinity

I would like to state, for the record, that the dreaded late-summer cold sucks.  And sucks even harder when the cold is joined by his friend a-hole seasonal allergies.

Needless to say, I'm a real peach today.

I spent most of the day yesterday cleaning and dusting (yes, I am stunned at that development).  Followed by a very brief, disappointing watch of the VMAs. 

Followed by a rather cool showing in the night sky.

Not to whine about having a four-day-workweek (oh, that's right, mine was a regular five-day)... but gosh, this week packed a whole lot of blah into four days.  Let's do better next week, eh??

Wordless Wednesday: Spring.

Remember this guy??

He's all growed up.

Hope the nasty weather isn't getting you too far down today... it stinks! Crossing my fingers for sunny skies soon.

Wordless Wednesday: Chicago/Bachelorette Edition

Wordless Wednesday: Spring?

And for the record, I didn't move the brick. Mother Nature moved the brick.

Whoa Now.

Hold on to your seats, I'm about to blow your mind.

Guys.

Did you know you could see Jupiter outside last night?

It was just out chilling with the moon.

Amazing, am I right?

And... if I knew how to use my camera I'd have more awesome photos for you. But unfortunately... well, we all know how that's going.

(See that bright dot on the left? Jupiter.)

(I think it looks a lil blurry because there are actually 2 moons right there with the planet. But my lens and camera is not that powerful, let's be real.)

So that's what I got.

Fortunately for me... my dad was around. And he was all "Blah blah blah shutter speed blah blah blah f-stop blah blah..." and so I got a picture.

I mean... considering I don't have the right lens yet... I'm patting myself on the back. Go, self, go!

And yesterday my friends were all "blah blah move to Chicago" and "blah blah move to Indy" and yadda yadda yadda.

And then I drove home through the cornfields and realized....

Right here? Right now?

It's not so bad.

Some people might even say it's quite peaceful.

Perfection

Sometimes, the world seems so perfect and beautiful that it could just make you cry.

Today?

Eh, not so much.

Happy Wednesday!

New Addition

Ladies, I'd like to introduce the newest addition to my life.

It's been a looooong time coming, for sure.

I've had some heartbreak along the way... but here she is!
(Well, just a small part of her.)

I'm off on some adventures for a long weekend.... and I promise many many many pictures when I return next week.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Project Barbie

As I mentioned yesterday, today is the Project Barbie Party hosted by the lovely Insomniac Lolita.

The whole point of this party is to be pink and pretty and have fun. Which are basically my three main goals in life, so count me in!

My only dilemma in participating is the fact that I only have one pink dress. And it’s the one I wore to high school graduation. Me, almost 5 years ago before my high school graduation:

I was seriously cute back then, that’s all I’m saying.

So, almost 5 years later and at least 20 pounds later, that’s still the only pink dress I own. But I was on a mission to make it work! (Especially since I couldn’t find any pink dresses in stores that I liked!)

So it was my goal to make this dress winter-friendly and a little less sugary-sweet than it was at my high school graduation.

First, I experimented with bad hair, bad indoor lighting, purple shoes (center picture)…. it just wasn’t the best look.

But I did get 1 semi-winner. You know, in college I was well-known (by three or four people) for my ability to make anyone look good in front of the camera. Whether by helping them pose or smile better, I could totally make it happen. I believe that skill requires practice and I clearly need some practice. Anyways, 1 indoor shot that I liked:

No clue what was happening with my face… and I kinda look short, but whatever.

And then I went to the snowy outdoors and fell flat on my butt. Literally, I have a picture of me completely down on the ground. Awesome. No I’m not posting it – I look like an idiot!

At first I thought I could “make it snow” and pose at the same time. Not so much. Where did my shoes go? Photo fail!

And then my favorite shot. I almost deleted this one because I only took it by accident. But it’s my favorite picture.

And that, friends, is my official Project Barbie submission.

On that note, have your friends ever not told you how bad your hair looks? Like the fact that you haven’t highlighted your hair since September and it’s looking mighty rough?

Yeah, I’m calling the salon today. Hopefully they can squeeze me in for highlights. Because that hair has got to go.

Hope you all enjoyed me playing dress-up! Feel free to join in the Pink Dress party!!

Happy Wednesday!

The Sun's Exploding

As I drove to the doctor yesterday morning, I was struck by the way the sun looked. It looked like it was exploding.


Keep in mind that these photos were taken from a (slowly! safety first!) moving car. Hence the blurry-ness.
Doesn't it look like the sun is just bursting out of it's... shell? I just couldn't stop staring. Or trying to drive on ice covered roads while taking pictures.

I also thought this could give you an appreciation of where I live. Surrounded by corn and soy-bean fields.

(Although, this is way further out of town than I live. Couldn't find a doctor I liked in town so I go to the neighboring village.)

(Hahaha village. I feel like next thing you know I'm going to be bartering for salt and flour.)

That's the world from Podunk, Indiana. How are things in your neck of the woods? Bitterly cold with a side of wind? (Oh, maybe that's just here...)

I Need Your Vote!

Over the weekend, in the midst of wedding madness, I took a few engagement pictures for a friend. The location that I wanted to use was the Indianapolis Museum of Art Gardens, but unfortunately that was a bit too far away from the wedding.

But fortunately for all of us, we had to drop a few girls off downtown and therefore drove right past the Museum.

Now, I would like to qualify these photos with the fact that I am not a professional photographer. My friends knew this, and wanted me to take the photos anyway.

Photo #1

Photo #2

Photo #3

Photo #4

Photo #5

Photo #6

Photo #7

I think they are only using the photos for an engagement announcement or a Save-the-Date card.

So do me a favor and vote for your favorite... right there in the upper right side of this page.

You can pick more than one favorite if you have one.

Happy Wednesday!!

Flying So Fast...

Why is it that when you want time to move really slowly it seems to go into fast-forward?

That's what I'm noticing as we approach graduation... time is just flying way too fast!

Yesterday my College had a luncheon to officially welcome us to the Alumnae Club... it was definitely a bittersweet moment. Four years of being a student and now I'll be an alum forever....

Being me, I begged some of my friends to take even more pictures around our beautiful campus... so take pictures we did!!





I have been so lucky to live on such a beautiful campus for the past four years... so so lucky!

Tonight we are headed out to a Cubs game in Chicago.... I hope the weather cooperates!!

Have a great day!