hurricane isaac.

well, dusty and i are camped out at our friends' house in prattville - a nice three hours away from the coast.

 

school was cancelled for monday, tuesday, and wednesday, which was enough to make me a little bit scared and think that we needed to get the heck out of dodge.

also, some people were boarding up their houses, as were a few businesses, boats were being taken out of the water, some boats were being anchored in bays and tied to stationary items on land, 'hurricane supplies' (water, batteries, food, flashlights, etc.) were being bought and sold out of at certain stores...

 

so, here we are, having a bit of a vacation together...hoping that the hurricane subsides and doesn't cause any damage.

we are thinking tomorrow we will head back to orange beach and then back to work on thursday.

 

in the meantime, we are going to enjoy ourselves.

this morning, we walked around target with coffees in hand, came home and watched a movie, took the dogs for a walk, had lunch, and now dusty and the dogs are taking a nap while i write this post.

i couldn't help myself and i interrupted the dogs' nap time...

 abby singer does not like having her picture taken...at all.

i can just feel her frustration with me every time.
my theory is that the more photos i take of her, the more she'll get used to it.

i think sophia likes it even less. she walks away from the camera...quickly.

meet sophia (our friends' dog):

 

do you see the evil eye sophia is giving me?

that's the look she gives when she sees the camera...right before she walks away.

 

alright, enough about the dogs, i'm off to shower and get ready for our double date tonight.

 

and a big thank you to travis and kristin - for taking us into their home on such short notice and making us feel so welcome.

abby singer likes it here too. she has a new friend and there are more puppy treats at the zimbelman household...what dog doesn't like that?

We had visitors :)

How fun is it to have visitors???

*hint hint - more visitors please...stop making excuses and get your butt down here!

I miss everyone.

It sure is nice to have a little North Dakota in Alabama.

Okay, back on subject.

We had visitors this past weekend and it was nice...really nice.

We hit up the beach each day - played a little bean bag toss, played catch, relaxed, and we played 500 (haven't played this since Elementary school).

My competetiveness got the best of me and I was determined to win that game of 500.

 After lots of rough housing and diving in the water, I am proud to announce that I was the winner...I still have it :)

Our first night with guests, we went to one of our local favorites - Happy Harbor - for a low-key evening with live music, pizza, and beer.

Second night...

 The second night was spent at the Flora-Bama - drinking, eating, and dancing = very fun.

Our last night together, the boys grilled buffalo shrimp, wings, and brats. 

The entire evening was spent outside.

We listened to music, sat around our little outdoor table, had a candlelit (one candle, operated by batteries) dinner, and then Michelle and I listened to the boys reminisce for hours.

I would have to say the last night was my favorite.

The trip went by too quickly...come back soon!

Silly Saturdays - Vol. 7

Silly Saturdays - Volume 7.

Volume 7? Amazing! We are on a roll.

Dusty and I had a date day on Saturday (more to come on that)...anyway, our photo was taken during our date:

True love ♥
(Do you like my earrings?  They are red with white polka dots and so awesome :) If you would like, you can purchase a pair for yourself, or for someone else for only $8 right here: www.kgkproducts.etsy.com)

Silly pics:

I hope y'all are having a great weekend!

Silly Saturdays - Vol. 4

Welcome to Silly Saturdays - Volume 4.
(I realize it's Tuesday, but I did receive the pictures on Saturday...maybe if I get it together, I'll start actually posting them on Saturdays :))

Memory Refresher: I started Silly Saturdays because I was feeling a little homesick and thought "hmmm...if I could get a silly picture from people I miss once a week, that just might help a little."

Thus, the birth of Silly Saturdays.

My photo for the week:

My photo last week was directed by Dusty, but this week the reigns were handed over to Mr. Gray.

We showed Gray Silly Saturday posts 1-3, so he could get an idea of what we were looking for.

He got the giggles on every photo and then got to work - after searching through his toys, he decided on the pirate look.

I would say he definitely delivered.

For himself?

He decided on a cowboy hat and blowing a whistle while the picture was being taken...you can hear it, right? :)

And now for the photos I received:

Kids + Abby Singer:

♥ these kids :)

Adults:

 Kara (upper left) - her 2nd attempt at the photo. 

Her 1st attempt resulted in bleeding after accidentally sitting on it...love that she was relentless and went in for round 2 :)

Thanks again everyone for participating.

I'm loving it...I hope it's not too much of a nuisance for all of you...

Silly Saturdays - Vol. 3

Me sticking to something three weeks in a row?

This is big.

Welcome to:

Silly Saturdays - Volume 3.

Vol. 1 can be found here and 2 can be found here.

My photo:

Dusty was the director of my photo this week.

He said he had a vision and asked for two pony tail holders.

He did my hair.  Gorgeous, right?

Next, I was handed boots, mittens, a bandana, a shovel, and was instructed to head outside.

The above photo is the result.

 

 

And for the responses:

Group photos were in style this week...family was all together for Easter without us :(

On a positive note, we had two new participants this week!

My friends Dayle and Andrea sent a photo from their trip to Vegas...lucky girls :)

Thank you for participating everyone...xoxo

Silly Saturdays - Vol. 2

And we're back for  round 2 :)

Round 1  can be found here...or you could just scroll down, since new posts have been lacking.

If I/we stick to the  Silly Saturday  tradition, think about how fun it will be to look back on in years to come...so fun.

The picture that started it:

and for the responses...

Kids:

Center photo - Ruby was in timeout and didn't feel like participating in the photo session, but her mom pulled through and still got a picture for me :)

The Adults:

The adults really brought it this week.

Thanks to everyone for participating...you are awesome!

I get so excited each time a new photo comes in :)

Silly Saturdays - Vol. 1

I was feeling homesick  the other day.

Solution?

Send this picture to my parents, sisters, and best friend and ask for a silly  picture in return:

Honestly, it helped.

And it made me smile :)

Here are the beauties I received:

I love them...every single one of them.

 

I'm thinking of making this a weekly tradition...let's call it: *Silly Saturdays*

Now, I will be expecting another round of fun pictures from everyone in t-3 days...I'm excited!

 

(*Project photos to come :))

The big night.

Prairie Love premiered at the Friar's Comedy Club Festival on Saturday night, but the excitement began in the morning.

We stayed at Holly's (I may have mentioned that before) - she was the lead actress in the film.

Anyways, she was prepared.

She had champagne and orange juice on hand and suggested mimosas almost the instant we woke up.

And she made muffins for us...great way to start the day :)

After breakfast, we were off to find Dusty an outfit for the premiere.

It makes perfect sense to wait until the last minute, right?

We hit up lots of thrift stores and finally found what we thought would be the perfect jacket for the night.

We went back to Holly's to get ready and then we went to The Campbell Apartment in Grand Central Station to have a drink before the screening.

After some encouragement from the group, I decided to rock my natural, curly, frizzy, wavy hair.

Good decision?  still not sure...

The film played at the Lighthouse International Theater.

The screening went great.

The audience laughed when they were supposed to, there were questions during the q & a session after the film, and people were coming up to Dusty afterwards with words of praise - I love hearing the kind things people have to say to him.

I kind of feel like I have to toot Dusty's horn sometimes because he never does it himself, which is something I really admire about him :)

The above picture is Dusty with Eric who was the head programmer of the festival.

One of Dusty's friends from high school even made it to the screening :)

After the screening, we went to the after-party at the Friar's Club.

We had a great evening.

 I am so proud of Dusty.

Day 3 - Ellis Island & Central Park

On day three we took the ferry to Ellis Island.

Any opportunity to go on a boat and I'm there.

Some views from the boat - it was gorgeous:

This was both of our first times seeing the Statue of Liberty up close.

We arrived at Ellis Island...

It was such a neat place.

We learned so many things about Ellis Island and immigration.

We were able to watch a documentary while we were there about the history of it all...it was fascinating.

We really enjoyed our time at Ellis Island - definitely worth the $13 it cost to go there.  Isn't that cheap?  You get to explore Ellis Island, watch a documentary, learn so much information, AND go on a boat ride?

It's a great deal.

Next on our list was Central Park - another first for both of us.

It rained most of the time we were there, but I suppose it just added to the experience :)
We didn't get many pictures due to the downpour, but we got a couple.

 I love this picture (taken by Dusty):

The water view from the park trail was beautiful.

And I just wanted to show that there were a lot of tennis courts in the park...I miss tennis.

Anyways, we had an awesome day on day three.

Exploring NYC - Day 2

We started out the day with breakfast/lunch at Tom's restaurant in Brooklyn.

Fun fact about Tom's - it is so loved by the residents that in 1968 after Martin Luther King's assassination, people of all races linked arms around the restaurant to keep it from being torched during the riot. 

We learned so many interesting things about the places we visited.

We had a bit of a photo shoot on the walk to the restaurant.

I love these pictures and how pretty does it look?  I REALLY enjoyed the fall weather.

After lunch, we took the subway to Manhattan and walked for hours.

Here are some pictures from our day:

We came across the big protest against corporate greed that was happening in the city.

I was captivated - I had never seen anything like it.

There were police officers everywhere, the protesters were chanting and marching the streets, news reporters were there from ABC and NBC...

I even sat by a man on the plane to NYC who was flying from Pensacola to be a part of the protest - he couldn't wait to get there.

After hours of walking, we stopped for a little rest...

and then we were off walking again...

Day 3 was really eventful - will post about it tomorrow!