Halloweenie 2012

Quote: "Eat, drink, and be scary." -Author Unknown

Before I start this post I'd just like to say that I am SOOO glad election day only falls every 4 years. I would go NUTTTY if I had to listen to this political mumbo jumbo every year.

People just get so mean spirited when it comes to politics. I don't like it one bit. I think politics are important but I don't like people's attitude towards it.

So no, I will not tell you who I voted for.

And no, I will not post about voting all over Twitter and Facebook.

And no, I will not instagram my "I'm a Georgia Voter" sticker. Because if you are of voting age and legally allowed to vote then you shouldn't have to show people you voted. It should just be obvious because...

Everyone should exercise their right to vote.

And if this annoys you I'm sorry. I'm not really sorry.

End rant.

*****

On to a better day of the year... Halloween!

I didn't dress up this year because I was once again at a football game during all the Halloweenie parties.

Last year I rocked an Afro though.

BUT we did dress up our dogs. I've never dressed up a dog before but it made me SO happy. There is nothing funnier than an ugly dog wearing a costume.

So I hope you enjoy these as much as I do...

Old lady coe made the cutest black widow spider.

The antennas kept falling into her face ha

Baby Reecie was a little lion.

                                                   

Cutest little lion I've ever seen. Besides Simba.

He was pretty cute too. And he could sing so that was a plus.

Specs was a cheerleader at the last minute. She rocked it.

She's such a spoiled little lion.

And this happened last Saturday...

 Nothings better than a little construction tailgating down in Auburn.

I should be a model. ha

I hope everyone has a wonderful rainy election day.

Smell ya later my fellow Amuricans.



So Life happened. It happened HARD.

Quote: "Life isn't simple. But the beauty of it is, you can always start over. It'll get easier."
                  -Alacia Bessette

So life happened.

And man o man it happened hard.

I was floating right along happy as a clam and BAM. Things got jumbled. Things got chaotic. Things got stressful. Things got sad.

But I survived.

It all started with a Jury Duty summons. Yep, I got summoned just like the rest of the United States' citizens have the potential to be. I thought... No biggie. I'll sit for 3 days tops and read my kindle until I get cut and I can go back to work.

Nope..the Jury Duty Gods had WAYYY different plans for me.

I was picked to serve as a juror on a criminal case that lasted....

wait for it...

wait for it...

**FOUR WEEKS**

Yep, that's right. I was a juror all day everyday for 4 entire weeks. I lost a month of my life. I was living out of a suitcase at my parents house for an entire month so I could be close to the courthouse. I didn't see my friends, I couldn't go to work, I hardly exercised, I cried alot, I drank alot of wine, I floundered... 

It was awful. I would NEVER wish a month long jury trial upon my worst enemy.

People keep saying "You're so lucky you missed work. Its like you had a 4 week vacation!" or "At least it was  interesting!!"

And to these people I say... "watch out for my backhand...it's coming at your face."

Just kidding. But for real it was none of those things and it was so stressful, emotionally hard, physically and mentally draining.

We ended up putting 2 men away for life without parole and that is something that continues to weigh heavy on my heart. They 100% deserved what they got but it was still emotionally and morally so hard for me to be a deciding factor on someone else's entire life.

So that happened. The case ended on a Thursday night at 10:30pm after 12 hours of jury deliberation in a teeny tiny room.

I saw the light at the end of the tunnel and I exhaustingly stepped out.

Below are my new jury home slices... I spent an incredible amount of time with them all.

Life went back to normal.

As normal as having to make up a month's worth of work could be.

And then 4 days later...

My Grandma passed away.

BAM. Life hit again!

So we had to scramble to rent a car and drive all the way to Illinois to be with family and celebrate the life of one of the world's most amazing women.

It was a sad, stressful, but at the same time wonderful trip.

It was so hard saying goodbye to my Grandma. But it was hard watching her suffer through her 2 year battle with cancer and watch my family suffer through it too.

And we finally knew she was at peace and was in a better place.

So we mourned her, shared stories about her, laughed, loved, leaned on eachother and cried alot.

I know she looked down on us laughing about how ridiculous we still were.

My family is an odd ball group and it was so good seeing everyone.

Photo recap of the trip...

It was nice seeing both sides of my family. Thank GOD for such a supportive family and friends. We are SOOO blessed.

Cutest little God Daughter ever...

After the funeral we came home and all put on one of Grandma's sweatshirts to wear for the night. That woman LOVED her sweatshirts.

Philip & Matthew

God Daughter & God Mommy photo again

All the grandkids with Grandpa after the funeral.

The grandchildren.

So it was all in all a good trip.

 We went up there for a sad reason but left feeling blessed and loved.

We will FOREVER miss my Grandma and life will never be the same without her. But I know she wants us to continue the craziness that is life and to continue loving eachother so much.

AND THEN....

We found out my baby brother needed to have hip surgery the morning after we drove back from Chicago. He had surgery to repair a torn labrum and to reshape his hip bone.

It was a surgery that ultimately and abruptly ended his career at Auburn.

It's been emotional and I know he'll forever miss playing for the Auburn Tigers. We'll miss watching him play.

Fingers crossed that we'll be able to watch him play again next season with the "big boys".

**************

So since then life has returned to normal. Thank good sweet baby Jesus. I was about to explode!!

Through it all I have finally felt a calming sense of peace. Life never throws you something you can't handle.

 But life sure laughed as he tested us this past month and a half.

These little issues in my life seem trival compared to the bigger issues in the world. During this past month and a half I've really struggled. But its put everything into perspective. If these are my biggest problems and headaches than I feel lucky.

And if anything its all brought me closer to my family, God, myself, and my support systems.

So AMEN to that.

And AMEN to you all if you've kept up with this entire post and actually read my little "sob story".

My next post will be a happier one I promise. It involves dogs dressed in costumes.

That will ALWAYS brings a smile.

Thanks peoples!

Smell ya later friends.