Ali

I had a crazy weekend!

It started out normal, Friday hung at the house with hubby.

Saturday got a mani/pedi with a friend, when to a house warming party that night.

Sunday....

Went to the gym. 

That's when it went to hell.

To make a long story short, we joined the gym the last week of Jan. They told hubby the first payment wouldn't be due until March. We go in today & they said we owe $35 each because we didn't pay the $10 monthly fee by Feb 14th. An argument started & it ended with me "going off" on the employee (to put it nicely). It was not good.To sum it up- read allll the fine print. These gyms advertise $10 a month & no contract but it's BS.

After the gym I had a photoshoot which went well, but as I was leaving 

my goddaughter Ali called me.

She asked me if I could take her shopping because her sorry ass mom couldn't.

I told her I'd meet her at TJ Maxx & when she got there she looked like hell.

She had on men's basketball shorts, a tank top, and oversized run down men's coat, & flip flops.

Her mom has been promising to buy her money when she got her tax refund back & then apparently the Dept of Education seized her refund since she was in default on her student loans.

Ali had been living with her aunt for the last few years while her sorry ass mom was getting her life together. Right before Christmas, she got into an argument with her aunt & sent back to her mom.

With a book bag, one pair of jeans, the flip flops she had on, a few shirts.

That's it!

Do you think they bothered to send her clothes via mail?

Did anyone bother to take her shopping?

Did anyone realize this is her senior year and the last thing she wants to do is look like a total bum?

I am just so mad!

So I told her she had a $100 limit & to buy what she needed most.

She picked a pair of jeans, 4 tops, underwear, & a bra.

We couldn't find any shoes because she wears a 5 1/2 & she didn't like the selection.

Ali prefers converse, vans, etc. 

I stopped by my house & gave her 2 coats that I had.

They were from my smaller days so luckily they fit her.

And I gave her 3 pairs of pants to lounge in (yoga/gym pants)- again from my smaller days.

Oh & to make matters worse.

She told me she hasn't been home in a month.

She's living with her boyfriend (& his mom & sister). He is 21 & she is 17.

I asked did her mom meet his mom...NO.

Who is taking to you to school...my boyfriend's mom.

I asked her why is her cell phone cut off...mom didn't pay it.

Soooo...your mom is allowing you to live with your 21 year old boyfriend 

& she has no way to call you? Yes.

I told her she can come live with us.

But of course...she's not going to do that!

Me & her sorry ass mom haven't spoken in over 6 years because of her lifestyle choices and her bad parenting. And we've known each other since kindergarten!

This poor girl has just had the roughest life because of her.

I am just really angry, upset, & annoyed by the whole situation & don't know what to do.

YouTube Saturday

Kelly Clarkson & Tamyra Gray paid tribute to Whitney Houston in ATL!

Video via Perez Hilton

New Favorite Blogs

I have a huge list of blogs that I read...and the list just got longer.

Fashion Bloggers:

...love Maegan

Girl With Curves

The Spicy Stiletto

 

These 3 ladies have some serious style & it's got me wanting to 

clear out my entire closet & start over!

All pics via their blogs.

*Ladies if you want me to remove your pics, please let me know!!

Random

I have been super busy with taxes this week. 

I always wait til the last minute to get everything in order.

 It's been super fun! <--insert sarcasm.

I have an interview tomorrow for a work at home position.

Same job, just working from home.

I've already applied & been denied for 12 jobs with the company I am at now...

and that's just for the last 8 weeks!

So I am beyond annoyed right now.

Have yall heard of that old wives tale that says:

If a family photo suddenly falls, it means death?

One of our pictures just suddenly fell for no reason, so now we're worried.

Seems silly I know, but nonetheless, we're paranoid now!

And since a post is no fun without a picture...

 pic of me & my bestie on St Patty's Day a few years ago.

Savannah, GA is so much fun for St Patty's Day!

They go all out with parades, dying the river green, & it's just one big party!

This year though we plan to go to New Orleans!

Do you celebrate St Patty's Day?

Cake Please!

I was going to use this post to guest post on another blog & just realized I never used it.
So I decided to share with my wonderful readers...
BTW, welcome to all my new readers!
I appreciate you all! :)
 

Who doesn't love a good cake?
Anytime my hubby & I host a party or event the first thing I like to do is contact my local bakery (or cakery) and have them whip me up something good.
Here are a few cakes I've ordered for various events!

This was for my 32nd birthday.
The theme of course was "Sweet 16...the Sequel!"

 

This cake was for our Ugly Sweater Christmas party.

I loved this ugly sweater the baker created for us!

This was for our 80s party!
This cake just blew everyone away.
One guest actually picked up the "controller" because he thought it was real.

Yes, it's alll cake! :)

 Ordering cakes can be pricey, but because I'm a wedding photographer, I've made friends with a lot of the local bakeries. And you can always go with cupcakes (which I do as well sometimes). Cupcakes are cheaper and then you can do DIY toppers to fit your theme!

Hungry now? :)

My Lip Gloss is Poppin

For Valentine's Day hubby splurged and got me some new items from Estee Lauder.

One item I was surprised about was their lip gloss.

He got me Mod Poppy shimmer from their Pure Color line!

And I am in love.

$22.50 does seem like a lot of money for lip gloss, but it so worth it.

Very shimmery, not too thick, not too thin, and the perfect shine!

As always, I love that everything has that gold touch to it. 

I remember being a young girl and my friend's mom worked at Estee Lauder, and we loved playing with all her loot. I loved the shiny gold compacts and thought it was so "fancy."

If you want to splurge on yourself one day, try this lip gloss!

I will add that some people hate the smell of their products. 

I actually like it, so it doesn't bother me much.

I would have posted a pic of my lips, but I thought it would be too weird!

(I was NOT compensated for this post!)

Conspiracy?

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Mine was spent relaxing (sort of). 

The best way to spend it of course.

Friday the hubby and I stayed in.
He had a "friend" come over who got me all riled up talking politics.

I wouldn't even really call what he said a political discussion.

Somehow I brought up Obama's name & he went OFF.

He started saying Obama's the anti-Christ & Martin Luther King ain't sh!t!

He said they were in the Illuminati.

CRAZY!

This guy thinks every famous person is in the "Illuminati."

He started going on & on about the "books" & the Bible says Obama is the anti-Christ.

I asked him to please show me where in the Bible those words were &

who wrote these "books" that he's getting his info from.

Look, I don't care who you like or don't like as president, but that type of behavior is just extreme.

I was mad! We were both literally yelling at the tops of our lungs!

We weren't even arguing politics, we were arguing the conspiracy crap that he believes in.

Then he went on & on about Whitney Houston, Jay Z, P Diddy, & almost every other famous person being in it.

He started talking about Pepsi being the anti-Christ too.

He got mad because I just refused to believe what he was saying, without proof.

He stormed out & the hubby's other friends who were there just busted out laughing

& said I was too rough on him.

How was I being rough?

I just said show me the proof.

I'm sure the government knows thing that they don't tell us,  that religious groups have secrets, &

that there are secret societies out there- but I am not going to start lining my roof with tin foil, storing water, & buying weapons.

This "friend" actually stockpiles food, is building a bunker on his property, & has gas masks, etc.

That's just crazy in my opinion.

I feel like if God wants to the end the world, then it's my time to go.

I wouldn't want to be the last man standing anyways.

I'm not Will Smith, and this aint "I am Legend."

Moving along...

Saturday I intended to get a mani/pedi, get my taxes together, and do some shopping...

and then I got stuck watch Whitney Houston's 4 hour funeral.

How I allowed myself to sit there for 4 hours is beyond me!

It was a very nice service, but I know those people were hungry as hell after 4 hours.

It rained here Saturday so hubby & I went out to eat at Red Robin...Yummm.
Afterwards we popped into TJ Maxx.
As we were leaving I saw my ex-bff. I hadn't seen her in 11 years.
We locked eyes and it didn't hit me til after she passed me who she was.
AWKWARD.

She is now happily married to the douchebad that I dated in college.
They were screwing behind my back.

In hindsight, I am very thankful they did that because
 I wouldn't have met the wonderful man I am married to now!
Funny how things work out.

Yesterday we went to Lowe's to buy the last faceplate to complete the living room.
Those suckers add up once you start replacing them.
I am SO glad we finally finished that.

Being in Lowe's is bad...it makes you start thinking about all the things you want to fix or replace.
Home renovations aren't in the budget this year, unless it's minor, like painting.
Yall I am sad to admit that we still haven't finished are floors and we installed them in 2010.
We have red tape all over the place & it drives me crazy.

Hubby forgot to budget the cost of trim originally, so we left the red tape down to secure the floors
until the trim was installed.
I've been secretly peeling off the tape...
although I know it needs to be there.
Everytime we have an extra $500 to spare something comes up.
Now we've got to pay off this Hawaii cruise by July 30 so we might be seeing another year of red tape.
(I'll update this post later with a pic of the "red tape.")

And I still have no curtains or pics on the wall!
I haven't found the perfect piece and now I am thinking about repainting the living room-
hubby will die if I tell him I want to repaint! Ha!

Click HERE & HERE to see my living & dining room area.
I need to do an updated post because I've moved the living room furniture around.
And I have some pillows & a mirror.
I need to bring in some color other than brown!

I hope you enjoyed this random post.
I just realzied it's a bit all over the place.