First and foremost, I don't want to hear anymore garb about how ticked you guys are that I'm not showing my big, fat, pregnant self in any of these photos. Trust me, I heard enough about it on facebook. So...just enjoy my girlfriends beautiful faces and promise me that you won't be hounding me about where I'm at in these pictures. You all know where I'm at...behind the lens...hiding. LOL!
As all of you know, I got together for a sleepover with 6 of my dearest friends from high school this past weekend. We were missing a couple of girls and we were totally bummed that they weren't there. However, hopefully we can all catch up again very soon. We spent Saturday night at a local restaurant for dinner and then came back to my girlfriend Lori's house for the sleepover. We hung out outside around her pool into wee hours of the night and then brought the party indoors and stayed chatting it up until 5am the next morning. We finally went to bed but all of us got right back up, climbed in the car, and went to breakfast at Sophia's restaurant for some good ol' french toast - looking like something the cat had drug in. I prayed the whole time I was there that we wouldn't run into anyone we knew with me looking like a MAC truck had made my body his weigh station that morning. I promise you that it was not a pretty sight. LOL! After breakfast, we slowly made our way back to Lori's house and laid by the pool until like 4pm that afternoon. All of us were so very tired and swore that we would nap in the sun but of course...like always...we chatted and laughed the hours away until it was finally time to call an end to our fun. :(
In the above image...from left to right....Sherry, Kari, Lori, Nicolle, and Krissie.
I've known Sherry since middle school. She was truly one of my best buddies growing up. She was also the one I recruited to come with me to my Dad's every other weekend on many occasions. Sherry loves my Dad & Cathy and both Dad and Cathy love her right back. And if you can believe it or not, Kari and I hated each other in high school. Truth be told, we actually had a knock down drag out fight in the middle of a road one night over a llleewwwssseeerrr of a boy whom which we can all laugh about now. Thankfully after some maturing over the years, Kari and I are 'gur-frens' now and I truly value her friendship. There is never a dull moment with her around which means she is always the first to make us laugh. I got to know Lori via her brother, Brad. Brad graduated with me and like Lori is such a sweetheart, her brother was always a good guy. They hated no one and were always as nice as nice can be. Lori is still that way to this day. Thus why I love her. She is a genuine gem who is good to everyone she meets. Nicolle and I have known each other since the 4th grade. We've seen elementary, middle, and high school together. There is so much history there that it is hard to imagine her not having been in my life thru the years. We were just laughing the other night about old times together, certain memories, etc. and it is always so good to have such moments to reflect on. And Krissie...oh how best do I describe Krissie? I've known Krissie since middle school and we were two peas in a pod in high school. Actually we were with other peas that were involved in our pod too but not all are pictured here. :0) Krissie is my friend that calls and 30 minute conversations turn into 3 hour long talks. She is my friend that tells you the truth - like it is. Good bad or ugly...she is honest about whatever the topic at hand is. She and I can debate a topic and still love one another at the end. That is rare. She is my forensic files marathon partner who loves those mystery shows as much as I do. I've never known anyone who can watch as many of those type shows as me with the exception of Krissie. We could spend hours talking about forensics, how they captured certain individuals, etc. It's a true sickness and we realize that we probably aren't right. However, for now...we enjoy it. :)
In the above shot are Diahann and Sherry. Diahann was and always has been one of my dearest besties. We were actually supposed to room together in college until "life" (a.k.a Brent) happened. I was headed to college with her where my intentions were to major in foreign language due to my flight attendant plans. However, Brent and I ended up getting married a year after high school and those college plans fell through. Diahann has always been in my life though. Always - in some way, shape, or form. She was in my wedding. I was in hers. I can remember when she first came to our middle school in 8th grade, our click of girls totally tortured her and called her "Farrah." As in Farrah Faucett. Her maiden name was "Faucett" and she had hair at the time that was blond and feathered just like the real "Farrah Faucett." We were mean to her initially but she held out and held her own until we finally broke the pattern and welcomed her with open arms into our tight knit circle. Looking back now days, I don't know what we did without her - before she came to our school. Our lives wouldn't be the same without Di.
Above and below: Krissie cutting my ice cream cake that she and Nicolle got me for the night of the sleepover. It was a cake to celebrate my birthday since I wasn't home in Indy to celebrate with them back at the end of June. (when my birthday actually was) Now that is a friend...buying me a cake over a month later. Ya'll know how much I love my cakes and cupcakes. Ha ha! And below...Lori is with Krissie - helping with the cutting - or maybe just getting the next piece. I can't be sure. LOL!
Below: Kari, Krissie, and Di in the pool on Sunday. Good times! Good times!
And here is Lori...underneath a towel with her laptop, trying to find me a specific blog that she wanted to share with me. We finally found it thanks to her mad skillz and her determination in the sunshine. Hee hee!
And here are Krissie (above) and Kari (below) posing it up. We were saying this weekend how much Kari's hair do reminded us of the Russian chick from the movie Rocky 4. I love Kari's hair cut. In this shot while she was wet in the pool though, she soooooo looked like that Russian's wife. Thus, the pose. Love it!
Needless to say, we all had a FAB weekend. I am still paying for that 5am bedtime though and I'm quite convinced that I might never recover from it. Ever! In the end though, it was all so very worth it. :) I am so blessed to have these girls in my life. Their friendships mean the world to me. Unfortunately a couple of our gals couldn't be there for the sleepover and I soooo missed them. However, they are always in my heart. Always.
A huge thank you to Lori and her husband Trent for letting us use their house for the big event. Trent actually took their 3 boys away for the night so that we could have the time to just us girls. How cool is he???
Aside from fun with my girlfriends, we've had a blast with my parents. I'm so sad to think that we are heading back to Naples in two days. I am missing our palm trees though but unfortunately I don't think the palm trees will make up for my Dad. :( In the past week & a half, we've gotten to see some of my Dad's friends as they've made it a special point to come by and visit with us while we are in town. I can't begin to express how much I appreciate them coming by to say hello while we are here. They've taken time out of their busy schedules to drop in and it truly means the world to me. As I said on facebook the other night, thanks to my Dad and Cathy's homies/peeps for being so good to me all my life. Love you guys! :)
For now, I am off to get ready for a photography shoot this evening. Fun, fun, shoot ahead. I'm so excited. Stay tuned for the images. Until then, enjoy your evening. Blessings, Angie
Well, by the time many of you will read this, I'll be on a 7:15am jet plane bound for home - to Indiana - after having been gone for the past 4.5 months. Oh how awesome it feels to be headed back home to see my Dad and Step mom, my girlfriends, etc. I've missed them all so very much. I should be in bed considering how I need to be up in four short hours getting ready for the airport but I thought I'd blog first. I thought I'd blog and let you all know that because of me being in Indiana and because my laptop is still in the shop, I most likely won't be blogging again until next Tuesday. I'll have access to my emails but probably won't have the ability to blog while I'm gone. Good news is...I talked to Best Buy and my left arm (a.k.a my laptop) is being shipped back as we speak. It should be in by the end of the week. Of course I won't be able to pick it up until next Tuesday though once I'm back in Florida. Bummer I say. Bummer! At least I know my life can return to normal once it is back in my hands. I have photography sessions to blog about and tons of random photos to share with you guys. It's been a looonnnggg 2.5 weeks without it. :(
For now though, I'm focusing on the positive. I'm centered on the fact that in less than 24 hours I'll get to see my Dad again for the first time since moving from Indy to Florida. I'll get to give him a big ol' hug and will thoroughly enjoy vegging out on his couch for the next week. He called the other night and told me all of the things that him and my step-mom were doing in preparation for our arrival. Then Cathy emailed (my step mom) and said she was headed to the grocery store to stock up on our favorite items. They are too good to me. Way too good to me. I've missed them dearly. Moving away from home for the first time in your 34 years of life is tough - very very tough. And when you move across 5 states, it is even more tough. Honestly though, the only thing I miss about Indiana is them and my friends. There isn't much else I miss. I love living in Florida and I love the perks that come along with living here as well. The sea and I are total B/F/F's and are truly thick as thieves. However, there is a familiarity that comes along with "home." I'm looking forward to that familiar way of life when we touch down there tomorrow. I can't wait to spend Easter night with my girlfriends. One of them has a new apartment and a new chapter in her life. I can't wait to see her, raid her new pad, and just hug each of them. I miss the consistent get togethers with them. I'm definitely ready to whip out big Pappa and snap some shots of some fun moments with the crew while in town. :) I need some new images of all of us for the frames within our new home here in Florida. As I type, I'm looking at all of our feet sitting here on my desk - framed in a picture frame - as we sugared our toes in the sand here on the beach when they came down last time for a girls trip. Love those memories!
So...as you can see on the map below...I'll be visiting Indianapolis (dead center on the map below), as well as the city below Indianapolis (Greenwood) which happens to be my hometown, and then also the city above Indianapolis (Carmel) which is where we lived when we moved away from Indy. I've got lots of rounds to make while home but it will be worth every minute of it.
The best part of it all...Indy is supposed to have gorgeous weather this week while we are in town. My friends and family called in some favors and adjusted the weather accordingly for our arrival apparently. Gotta' love that! In the meantime, I hope each of you have a FAB week/weekend yourself. Our plane doesn't fly back into Florida until late next Monday night. Stay tuned and be watching for all new photos and updates from our trip come next Tuesday. I've got tons of back-logged blogging material now. YAY for new content! LOL! Thanks for being patient while I take this short hiatus. Our regular scheduled programming will return on April 6th. Wink wink! ;)
As I sit in my office and edit each day or when I'm returning emails, paying bills, etc., this is what I look out over my desk and see. This is part of my view. It's the spa over flowing into our pool. Back home in Indiana we would call these hot tubs. However, in Florida, they aren't hot tubs...they are "spas." Guess that is just another small reason why Naples, Florida was just ranked the 11th happiest and healthiest city to reside in nationwide by USA Today. (out of 162 cities across the country) Even their containers of water sound better. HA!
Either way, something about this small little overflow of water makes my days even better. When I look out into that turquoise mass of water and that stream from the fountain is running, it is calming to me. I eyed it up for weeks before finally deciding that it was camera worthy. I kept saying to myself..."Self, you need to get out there with the camera (a.k.a Big Papa) and take some pictures of that running fountain of peace." So...I eventually did. And these are the shots that came from that moment.
I've come to the conclusion that the reason why I love this simple fountain coming out of the spa and into the pool so much is because the spa fountain is a good analogy or educational word picture for me. It is a daily reminder that life is full of recycled events. Full of running outpours that eventually fade into the great big sea of a deep pool we call life. Streams of events that conglomerate to form one big mass of history. No matter what debris flows from that stream or what beauty sparkles from its grip...in the end, it all ends up in one grand place. In the grand scheme of life - serenaded along side other sparkling moments and other pieces of debris that ultimately get skimmed up and pulled away from the pretty. Away from the sparkling. Even though gone, the debris made the sparkling look even better. Even shinier. Even more refined. The debris and its process helped make the sparkling - the bling of life - all that it is. I heard a quote the other day from within a song called "Broken." (which is broken on my playlist below right now for some odd reason) The quote reads..."Hitting walls and getting scars only makes you who you are. No matter how much your heart is aching, there is beauty in the breaking." How unbelievably profound, eh? I have a dear friend - one of my best friends from high school - who is beginning a new chapter in her life this week. I am beyond upset that I'm not there in Indiana to ring her doorbell donning a big ol' fat pizza in my hand, a bottle of red wine for her - not me - because she loves a "good red" - all while wearing my pj's - ready for a long night of laughs, cries, and oh so important life altering girlfriend moments. I've said it before but I'll say it again...this is the time - in the era of our thirties - when we realize that our girlfriends are needed now more than ever. This is the age when our parents come down with life threatening illnesses, when marriages are battered and left for dead, when marriages end and those involved must begin new chapters, when dear friends die tragically, when we loose jobs and need to find another, when our children are growing up-putting us thru worry at times and we need to vent to another, and so forth. This list goes on and on. This is the era when girlfriends *must* step up to the plate. You know who you are. If you are the girlfriend that says..."Call me if you need me" instead of showing up and ringing their doorbell before they ever even realize that the other needs you, then you should re-evaluate how you treat and treasure your friendships. We don't get to own the title of "gur-fren" for nothing. Friendships are just like marriages. They are hard work - work that is required by two people - giving and taking when necessary. Depleting and replenishing in a fair way. A balancing act of two souls keenly in tune with one another no matter what the geographical distance.
So when your old chapters in life end and a new chapter begins - when your spa fountain runneth' over into that grand pool of life carrying debris, baggage, or better yet...bling...know that it will all recycle and begin anew no matter how ugly or how pretty. In turn, it will leave you more refined and more polished for the next cup that spills over. We will all have life events or certain individuals that are strong enough to bring us down. Make a valid effort to surround yourself with people, friends, family, etc. that are there to help you prove your strong enough to get back up. And if your on the other side of the spa fountain observing the moments of recycling for others, be sure to be the friend that "acts" rather than just "says" I'm here if you need me. I know from my own personal experiences that the ones hurting never have the energy to ask for help. They are on the floor - barely breathing - when the trenches call. It is up to us to act before they even realize they need us. If you aren't there for your *friends* when they are going thru the depths of hell...when DO you plan to be there for them?
You all know how I feel about friendships. True friends are like rare jewels. Hard to find. Hard to hold onto. Treat them as such.
And to my gur-fren back home who is beginning a new chapter of her life today...remember..."crazy is yo' friend." I love ya girl!
I had a few of my dear sweet girlfriends over last night for some laid back fun. Our normal group of 10-12 was just 4 of us last night and although we missed the other gals dearly, we still had a great little cozy girlfriend night. Lori, whom I went to high school with and her sister Missy (shown together in the photo above) came over and then one of my best girlfriends from high school, Diahann, came too. We stuffed ourselves on Lime chips and 7 layer dip, veggie pizza, chocolate and peanut butter chex mix, brownies, etc. all night long.
We even busted out the lap tops and introduced Di to Crackbook Facebook and got her page set up for her while she was in our care. :) Di was our last and only sole friend amongst the group who hadn't made the switch from myspace to Facebook yet. We are now glad to announce that she is an official crackbooker now with the rest of us addicts. YAY! Brent came back home with the kids after having dinner with his Mom down in CG territory for the evening. Both kids fell asleep on me - one on each arm - as Brent and I hug out with the girls and talked for hours. By 3am, it was time to wrap up the party. Thanks for driving all the way up to spend the evening with me girlies. I love you three to pieces and thoroughly enjoyed our laid back, cozy, evening together.
Lurve me some gur-frens! :)
On a side note, I woke up to this at 7:50am this morning. (Yes, I only got about 4 hours of sleep thanks to Kenidi and her built in alarm clock) HA! I woke up to the brightest light I've seen bursting thru our windows on the main level as the sun rose and morning set in. I just had to run and grab my camera. I seriously have not seen this type of sunshine on an Indiana morning in months. The sun was so powerful, so bright, and so gorgeous that I couldn't pass up snapping a few shots as it billowed thru our windows from each and every angle.
It was so bright that it was literally blinding as it sprayed in with all its might. For this reason right here....I am truly in love with our new home. It has so many windows that encase your every move and it's on mornings just like this one that I feel like someone catapulted me from an Indiana lot to a beach house overlooking the sea somewhere. The house takes on a true Hampton's cottage feel and I can't help but soak up every second of it as it is taking place.
All of you know how much I love the sun and so this morning my heart skipped a beat when I witnessed rays of light that I hadn't seen in what seemed like forever. Literally months. Midwest winters are tough. Very dark, dreary, depressing, cold, etc. When Spring finally does rear its beautiful head, you always appreciate it that much more - with each passing year. Today was no different. As I looked down and saw March 1st on my desk calendar this morning, I couldn't help but think of a couple of things...
One being that March 1st means I have 4 days until my 15 year anniversary with my dear husband. Another being that I have 12 days until my first born turns 10 years old. Where does the time go? Next, March means warmer weather and that Spring is technically only 20 days away. And lastly, that in 31 more days, I'll be sitting sea side next to the ocean again and enjoying a real "beach house" per say and not just pretending to be at one as I sit inside our real Indiana home.
March 1st makes me feel a realm of emotions - all good ones. Awesome ones actually. As I walked around the house this morning I found myself with a skip in my step and thanking God for girlfriends, another beautiful day on this earth, very exciting things ahead in the coming months for the Seaman Clan and for the little things that are oh so big - like the rays of sun shining on my walls and hardwoods. I'm thankful today for it all and especially for the Sun and all its glory. The power that the sun has over me is amazing. It's truly a force to be reckoned with. God knew exactly what he was doing when he placed the sun, the moon, the stars, and so on - all around us. Just another one of his "master plans" I guess.
For now, I hope you enjoy your Sunday. I'm off to take those pictures of Kenidi's room today that I promised all of you. Yes, her room is officially done. Brent was able to add that last and final touch to her wall for me Friday night. Brennen had a basketball tournament that went into three overtimes yesterday (very exciting game that they eventually lost by one basket but oh so fun), then I came home and cleaned and had my girlfriends over for the night. Therefore, I'm just now able to try & take the pictures of her room. I've received numerous emails from all of you reminding me that I'm late in posting the pictures of her room because I said I'd post them by weeks end last week. Ha ha! So...I promise to get them taken today and will post tomorrow (Monday) for all of you. Pinky swear! Until then, look up at the sun today and thank God for it. And as I always say, if you don't see any sunshine where you are, make some!
Last but not least, I just have to give a shout out to my son for his hard work this season on his basketball team. You always make us so proud Brennen. Thanks for being such a hustler out there on that court. You ROCK! Brennen's coach sent out an email this morning thanking the players for their effort even given the loss yesterday that ended their season following those three overtime sessions. They fought hard until the very end for it. I thought I'd include a small snippet of his email and what he had to say in it. It went like this...
Hawkeyes - I wanted to write and thank everyone for the great effort they've given this season. Yesterday's triple overtime loss was no exception. Everyone did their best and I'm really proud of the way this team played all season. I want to say a special thanks to Coach Stewart for his time, effort, and wise counsel on the sideline. I also want to thank the Seaman's (Brennen's Mom and Dad) for sponsoring the team. As a wrap-up, I just wanted to recognize each player for their individual efforts and encourage them to keep working on their game.
Brennen – Brennen is one of those guys who can get his own shot. He did a great job dribbling into the lane, and using the backboard. He played well on defense too and usually had to defend a guy that was bigger than him.
Thanks again to all the players and parents... see you next season. Coach
Needless to say, we are so very proud of you Brennen. Thanks for giving us and your Grandparents a great season to watch as you ROCKED the court each game. It's hard to believe that football season is just a few short months away now. Summer will be here before we know it. Also, thanks for wearing that jersey each game and sporting those AGD wings for your Mama. We love you so much buddy!
