The Big Chop

Nevermind the serious face. :)

About a week ago I bit the bullet and did the big chop, meaning I cut off all of my processed or relaxed hair. I'd been growing my hair out for a few months and had suffered from some major breakage. Having very short hair in the back made it  easier to make the decision to cut my hair much easier, plus it reducing my likelihood of relaxing my hair. I still haven't decided if I am going to go completely natural, but my hair wasn't in a good state so either way I'm getting a fresh start. If I do decide to process my hair again I am better prepared to take proper care of it and have seen what happens when it's over processed. Over processing is not a mistake I ever want to make again as being 'bald' in the back is definitely not the look I'm going for.

So now my hair is a bunch of curls and coils. My goal is to go all of 2012 chemical free.

Sunday Shopping & South Norfolk

Getting Isaac up for school daily has made me an early riser, so I got to spend some quality solo time this morning while everyone else was asleep. Sitting and reading in the warmth of the sunshine was a little slice if heaven. Which was then interrupted by the kid. But it was all good as we made breakfast together, scrambled eggs & pancakes for those interested. We also treated ourselves to an episode of Hey Arnold! on Netflix. After we finished eating, Kyle woke up and joined us. He and Isaac proceeded to have a Nerf gun fight, where of course when Isaac's on the losing end he wants to put the game on pause and whine when he gets hit. Still tons of fun and he was a good sport in general.

But what to do with the rest of our day??

Visit the in-laws (well mine anyway)!

We met up with them at Grand Mart International Food here in Virginia Beach. It's a large supermarket with tons of ethnic food, mainly Asian. The produce section was 15 kinds of awesome. There was a large, diverse selection and the prices were great.

We then headed out to their place in South Norfolk (after a quick stop to Goodwill, you know how I do). Linda & Dean bought a bunch of red peppers and roasted them for later. We were invited over for dinner, which is their usual, we don't go over for free meals. I guess you could say our meal wasn't free, since Kyle manned the deep fryer and made mushrooms, broccoli and clam cakes.

All said and done we had a good weekend, movie night on Saturday and family time on Sunday. Though Kyle still owes me a Sunday alone. :)

Go Fly A Kite

Which we did. Wednesday was windy so it seemed like a good time to head out to Mount Trashmore to go fly kite. Isaac got play hooky from school since Katelynn & Emily were visiting and we made a day of it. Apparently we weren't the only ones figuring windy = kite fun since we were not alone. After we'd flown our kites (and they were thoroughly destroyed, Dollar Tree kites, what do you expect?) we headed down to Kids Cove. Kids Cove is the playground at Mount Trashmore, it's recently rebuilt so it's still quite shiny and new.

The troubles of long hair.

A bit of successful kite flying.

Prince of the (play) mountain.

King of the (play) mountain.

Perfect timing makes it look like Emily has a great grip.

Monkeying around on the monkey bars.

Sleepover Saturday

This weekend's movie night was hosted by Eric and Krystal so after Kyle worked (and I shopped) we headed out to their place. Eric had selected a Greek/Roman theme for the night so we started watching Clash of the Titans. Then we promptly stopped and went to playing a board game called Would You Rather? Rather than brave the cold night air only to (most likely) hang out with E&K on Sunday we decided to stay the night.

Sunday was a lot of video game playing for Kyle and Eric and shopping for me and Krystal. We even went out for lunch that way. Eric made everyone breakfast and dinner (yay for not having to cook!).

Kyle unsuccessfully fighting off sleep.

Eric playing video games.

Highway to Home

I know it's not big family news or anything but the new exit on I-264 was completed last week. It's rocking Kyle's socks. It is exit 19C and it's shaving some good time off of Kyle's work commute.

So yeah it's nothing huge but it's a little something that's good for us.

Doctor, Doctor Give Me the News

...I've got a bad case of diabetes (me), high blood pressure (both), & COPD (Kyle). 

We're glad to have insurance and depressed at the state of our health. to be fair, it's not as if we were completely unaware that we are in bad shape. It's just now that we've heard it plain spoken by a medical professional there's no excuse not to get our butts in gear.

Now I've got an appointment with an eye doctor next Wednesday and we both go back to the doctor in a month. Hopefully then I will get medication for by diabetes (yes, I'm a bit bummed that I didn't get a prescription today).

For now any baby plans are officially on hold until I get better. Guess I really better get on that whole 'eating better & exercising' lifestyle change.

Take Me Away on a Tuesday

I would finally get around to blogging about my Tuesdays with Eric & Krystal on a Tuesday when we didn't get together. It has become customary for them to come and 'kidnap' me on you guessed it, Tuesdays. They both have that day off and since I'm always home they started giving me some fresh air by getting me out of the house. Never before has going to Sam's Club and Wal-Mart been so refreshing. Oh yeah, Miss Alexis needs a car. Wal-Mart has become a welcomed change of scenery?! I've also been getting a bonus of lunch too, so as you can imagine Kyle is extra super jealous since all this is on top of my Daddy-Daughter days. Wonder what next Tuesday will bring?

Saturday Night's Alright for Laughing

OK so I really gotta work on that blog resolution because I'm already behind. Which is why I'm telling you on Tuesday afternoon about our Saturday night. Our friends, couple Eric & Krystal treated us to a night out. I guess you could call it a double date and that idea just now dawned on me. Haha. First we went for dinner at a local restaurant called Atlas. The food was awfully good and I had my usual, which is a cheeseburger for those who don't know how I do. For anyone wanting to know they seemed a bit busy when we got there and the hostess was MIA but once we were seated we didn't have any problems. I also got a kick by referring to our waiter as 'anonymous waiter man' since he didn't have on a name tag.

epic face.

The main attraction was going to a comedy show here in Virginia Beach at the Funny Bone. We should probably add getting out of the house more often to our resolution list because Kyle had never been to a comedy club before and I hadn't been in a decade (a DECADE, people!). We saw J Medicine Hat, who I can't recall having ever heard of before but he was insanely funny. He is a comedic hypnotist & I'd tell you some of his act but it's not family friendly. Getting out was something we needed very much, we need to remember that we are still young so we don't have to stay in the house every night.

February 1st is Good Enough

Happy New Year! Oh wait, that was January 1st... I'm way behind, huh? A month ago I was supposed to come up with resolutions as per the usual tradition. We're no different than most in that our goals stay roughly the same. Here goes nothing!

1. Lose weight (told ya, not original) & general better health. - I successfully gave up chocolate & soda for the month of January. I'm back to my vices now, but going without helped me to realize that I could do without and be okay. Yay for not being a slave to my cravings.
2. Buy a car - Now this is definitely a familiar goal. Kyle's truck died some time ago leaving him with the car that was to be mine, so we're now back to still needing a car. We're torn between getting a sedan, an SUV & a truck. Kyle wants a truck, I still want an SUV, but a sedan would be best. If we get a sedan it will be Kyle's to use for work and I'll get Sydney back.
3. Make & stick to a budget. - I've made budgets before, but we never stick to them. That needs to change.
4. Keep up with the family blog more often - We don't lead the most exciting lives but there are plenty of things that I'd like to mention and I've been doing a not-so-good job of posting.
5. Speak Up - I have an awful habit of not saying the things that are on my mind or that bother me. I always fear hurting people's feelings. I'm so cautious to avoid confrontation that I end up with resentment.

I'm sure there could be even more but those are the main things we concerning ourselves with.

Not Blogging is No Bueno

I have been so lazy and just kept putting off making blog posts. The sad part is that I've actually wanted to post, so needless to say I have been a bad girl.

We rang in the new year by hosting a New Year's Eve party. It was the first time we'd done so and I gotta say I want to do it again. It was nice having or own party instead of going to one.

All my resolutions are in my head, waiting to be written down. It's just like my posting in that I've had some writing to do that I've been lax in doing. To be sure they're pretty much the same as last year. Possibly expect a  resolution post in a day or two (hopefully not any longer than that). 

Kyle & I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary this past weekend. We took a day trip to Richmond. We really need to get back up there because half a day isn't enough time. I want to see more of what people love about Richmond. We went to 2 thrift stores, a museum and had lunch at a pizza place referred to as the 'best pizza in Richmond.' And yes, we considered trying to find John & Sherry's house, but we remembered that that'd be crazy and no way to meet them, only a definite way to scare them.

The major change in our house is that Blaze & Mariska are moving in (well have moved in, though they weren't supposed to until February 1st). Life was ...difficult for Blaze at her place and she asked, well kinda begged, to live with us. We softies took pity upon that poor child and said yes. So, Isaac gets a roomie and hopefully a refresher course on sharing, along with Introductory to Siblings 101. Blaze gets a primer on Keeping a Clean House and the real world experience of my (helpful) nagging reminding.

I have finally, finally, FINALLY bought a new camera! My trusty Olympus died suddenly in October 2010. It's a shame I took over a year to get a new one. I'm cheap but it wouldn't have been so hard to come up with 100 bucks that it should have taken me this long. The real tragedy of waiting so long is that I know I've missed out on lots of picture taking so my 2011 photos are sparse.

I leave you with a picture from my new camera (a Canon Powershot ELPH 100 HS btw).