The day the Italians throw little girls out of windows

While in Beantown, we saw the WEIRDEST thing I have ever seen in my life. I had to share with you guys!!

The North End was in the midst of the "Fisherman's Feast". We were told the festival concludes something they call "the flight of the Angel". People said it was a big deal and we had to watch it!!

We didn't know where to go so we just decided to start following the confetti

The Angel was supposed to fly at 8pm. At about 7:45pm we found the spot where everyone was stopping. They were all staring up at the sky.

This must be the place!! So we start to wait... and we wait... and wait.... and wait.... It starts getting dark...

and MORE and MORE people are showing up...

We have now been waiting for 1.5 hours but I tell Justin I AM NOT LEAVING UNTIL I SEE THAT ANGEL!!!! He is not amused by me...

People start throwing BLANKETS of money down from the balconies toward a Madonna idol in the middle of the crowd.... I only got one picture but there were tons of these blankets. They are made COMPLETELY of DOLLAR BILLS!! They were HUGE

Finally an angel appears!!

oh wait, that isn't the right one!? Here is the "REAL" angel! She even has a crown!

So all the angels start speaking in Italian -- I have no idea what they are saying but finally they finish talking. I am so excited I can hardly wait!! Then they push the blue angel out of the window and into the sky

She flies right over us... toward the Madonna "Maria" idol

She looks like she is going to cry

Finally she gets to "Maria" and tells her a prayer (in Italian of course).

When she finishes everyone cheers and then we start celebrating!!

Madonna/"Maria" and her money come right past us! Look at all that money!!

By far the weirdest and coolest thing I have ever seen in my life. I loved it. I would go back every year to watch if I could!

I didn't take this video but I found it on YouTube -- it shows the entire thing! You gotta watch it!

Romping Around Town

I was on twitter yesterday when I saw my good friend Katie tweet the following:

@kjwallace7: Hillcats game with my Junior League besties. Question of the night: "How do you feel about girls in rompers?"

I immediately start thinking..... Oh no.... did I do it again? Is this my second fashion faux pas in a week? First the "shirt/dress fiasco" and now this...?

I have a romper... do people not like rompers? Am I the only one that things they are super fun?

Now granted, I don't wear my romper around town... so far I have worn it to the lake and around the house on the weekends... afterall, rompers are for romping around

To romp or not to romp --- that is the question. Do YOU romp?

(PS: do not be blinded by my super white skin - I don't tan easily... obviously!)

****

30 day shred update --

Day 2: I MADE IT THROUGH THE WHOLE VIDEO!!! Not only did I make it through the whole thing today but this was AFTER doing a 1 hour ZUMBA class. I feel like an exercise machine -- haha, ok, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Seriously though, my muscles are experiencing something they haven't experienced in a long time and I am not sure what they are going to think about it all tomorrow. For now though -- I FEEL GREAT!

Got Coupons?

Do you use coupons at the grocery store?

If you live in NC, SC, VA, TN, GA, FL, MD, DE or DC you should head on over to your local Harris Teeter for a great deal this week.

They are doubling coupons up to $1.98 face value which means the savings are UN-REAL!

We went shopping this weekend and bought a total of 40 items.

We saved $54.59 with coupons

and an additional $15.38 was saved with their in-store VIC card

For a grand total of $69.97 saved on groceries!

Clipping coupons can sometimes be a chore but the savings are DEFINITELY worth it!

Can't go into details... but I am trying very hard to do the right thing in a particular situation. Sometimes life is just difficult....

source

Tick Tick Tick

Sometimes I think I'm old....

Especially when I had this convo with a girl in my class:

Girl: My fiance is mad at me.

Me: Why?

Girl: Well, I started out in a different program and dropped that and started nursing

Me: Why would that make him mad at you?

Girl: Well, he knows I don't want to have kids until I graduate and that is going to put off kids for at least another 2 years.

Me: Well that is not so bad. 2 years goes by really fast....

Girl: Well, I am just going to be so old when I start having kids. My clock is ticking!!!

Me: How old are you?

Girl: 22

Me: (dumb look) um, that is not old....

Girl: How old are you?

Me: um, (embarrassed look) I am 27 and I don't have kids yet....

Girl: Oh..... well.... you have plenty of time I'm sure...

This is proof that people really need to watch the things they say to others. Obviously this girl thought I was her age and could relate... instead she just embarrassed both of us....

I am so sick of people telling me I need to start working on having a baby... I will have a baby when I (and my husband and GOD) decide to have a baby. It is between us. Not between my family or my friends or my neighbors or random people I don't even know.

I do not like people telling me my eggs are going to "rot" if I don't hurry up (yes people actually have said that to me MULTIPLE times). I don't want people thinking about my eggs at all. They are MY EGGS!!!

Having a baby is a personal choice and WHEN people decide to make that choice is up to them. It is not "fun" conversation to have with people you don't even know. If you don't know someone, you don't know if perhaps that person has tried having a baby and are having problems or maybe they just aren't ready. You don't know if you are hurting people by bringing up a sensitive subject... This topic should officially be added to the list of things you DON'T TALK ABOUT!!

The do not talk about list:

1. politics
2. religion
3. when are you going to have a baby? (!!!!!!)

Ok, vent over...

PS: Just to clarify incase you were wondering... I definitely WANT children one day but there are no immediate plans for "baby Walter"... sorry to disappoint.

Love yourself

My husband took a picture of me last night and said it was one of his new favorite pictures.

He also posted it to Facebook with the caption "My Girls"

I think the picture is TERRIBLE and I immediately start picking it apart:

• My hair looks TERRIBLE and is accentuated by the shadows making it even worse.
• I have a double chin
• I have on NO MAKEUP
• My right eyebrow looks funny
• Gracie has demon eyes
• I look like I am choking the life out of Gracie
• One of my shirt sleeves is up, the other is down
• etc, etc....

When I mentioned these things, Justin said he didn't notice any of it... he really just loved the picture.

Its funny to realize that sometimes people don't see the things you see and can love you regardless of your flaws and issues...

We all need to learn to love ourselves a little more and stop trying so hard to always be "perfect". There is no "perfect"... we are who we are for better or for worse! If people don't like it, well they can just look away!

PS: For anyone wanting my health update -- Some of my tests have come back and some haven't. So far everything is NORMAL but the one test we are really waiting on takes awhile so I have no answers yet... thanks for all the messages, prayers, and support! I should hopefully know SOMETHING this upcoming Monday.

Miss Manners

How has your week been so far?

Need to vent? Need to tell us how great it was?

Come join us in the Thursday Tirade

wanna know the rules? click here

My tirade this week is actually a question for all of you

An Etiquette question....

We have a group of friends that pretty regularly invite us to their houses. This group has approx. 6 couples in it -- we never go to the same house every time. BUT, every time any of them invite us over, they send an email saying BYOB (bring your own beverage) AND BYOS (bring your own snack).

Now I was born in the south which means of COURSE I will bring you a hostess gift for having us over (usually a bottle of wine). However, I do not necessarily think that you should require everyone to bring their own beverage AND snack. It has gotten to the point that Justin and I joke and call these outings a BYOP (bring your own PARTY) affair.

One of the couples is having everyone (8 couples) over for New Years and has said that every couple will need to bring $40 with them to cover food/drinks. Well, we will be in the Bahamas so we can't go anyway.... but really? $40? What the heck are you cooking that is going to cost $320 for you to make?

When we have people over we do not expect them to bring anything. We provide the drinks, the "snacks", and all the trimmings.

What do you guys think? Am I just being hard to get along with? Is this normal practice nowadays? Or do you think it is weird?

I would love to hear your opinions...

PS: I have 68 Christmas cards to send out. They are sitting on my coffee table mocking me because I don't have time to write on them, stuff them or address them. Maybe I will get them out by New Years.

PPS: Kathie @ My Net Finds taught me how to make it "snow" on my blog.. don't you love it?!?!

ok, now it is your turn!

Write a post (or use an old one), grab the button and link up at the bottom!

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Serious Post Alert

I have struggled about whether or not to post this....

I can literally count on my two hands how many people I have told this story to... and yet now I am going to tell all of you... as you can imagine since some of my closest friends do not even know this story, I am going out on a limb to write about this... hence my struggle about posting... but I believe this story should be shared...

22 years ago today my father was killed at the age of 39.

Here is his story:

My father decided to go to a friend's party one night. His friend had recently gotten separated from her husband. Apparently at some point during the party the lady's husband showed up at the party -- mad that there were so many people in his driveway and at his house. He barged into the house and started causing a commotion. He was making a huge scene and my father asked him to leave. The guy pulled out a gun and shot my dad point blank. The bullet that hit my father was a hollow point bullet -- one that explodes upon impact. The fragments hit every single one of my father's internal organs. He still managed to somehow walk out to his car, begging for someone to help him, before he fell down and died.

The man who did this only got 3 years in jail. He was convicted of 2nd degree murder and let go for good behavior once he was in jail. Up until a year ago he lived 5 houses down from my grandmother. Everytime I went to see her, I would most likely be forced to drive by his house.

My dad's wallet was stained with his blood when he died and inside of it there is a $20 bill. I thought about for years what I would want to spend that $20 dollars on because it would be symbolic for me that my dad helped me pay for something -- perhaps my college tuition, my wedding dress, an outfit for my first baby -- I haven't spent it yet and I really doubt I ever will... it is too precious a thing for me to ever give up.

My mom has remarried to a wonderful man that has been a great father to me. I have a wonderful family and I am a very lucky person but I still think and miss my "real" dad all the time.

I wonder what my life would be like now if he were still alive. I wonder what sort of things he would have wanted for me -- if I would have made him proud -- if he had a good life even though it was so short lived.

I wonder what it would be like if I ever got the chance to speak to the man who killed him -- what would I say? -- would I grant him forgiveness if he asked? -- does he regret what he did? I used to think about writing him a letter or even stopping by his house but I was way too scared to ever do that... I don't want him to have my return address and I can't even really fathom being that close to him in person.

There are so many question and not really any good answers. I am sure I will always wonder.

Thank you to anyone who actually read any of this.... it was nice to finally be able to share his/our story.

Bloggers Beware

You may or may not have heard about the lady "B" and her "daughter" April Rose.

Click here to get the whole story.

Basically this lady invented the idea of a terminally ill baby.. raised all sort of money, sold t-shirts, advertising on pro-life websites...

Turns out when she "gave birth" to her daughter April Rose, it was a complete sham. The pictures she posted were of a DOLL!!!

How horrible is this?!

This poor lady needs help. I hope everyone will pray that she finds all the help she needs.

On another note... makes you realize, not all bloggers are legit. It is sad that you even have to think about things like that but unfortunately that is reality. BLOGGERS BEWARE

Walking in someone else's shoes

Unfortunately most towns have homeless people. Many of these homeless people are pretty "well known" around town.

Back where I grew up, we had a lady that everyone calls "Whoopie" because she looked like Whoopi Goldberg. She drove around town on a pink bike. Everyone has their own stories of "Whoopie", whose real name is really Esther Deever. The stories are all different but mainly say that she was born to a rich family, her parents died in a fire, and then her husband and child were also killed sometime later in life. She gave away all her money and lives on the streets now. She carries around a baby doll and has been seen in stores all over Winston-Salem buying baby food. They even created a facebook group for her here: "Who can prove the Winston-Salem bike lady is not a ghost?". There are currently 804 members of this group.

In Charlotte, or at least in our "university area", we have another person who is a well-known homeless man. He is a double amputee. He completely lost both of his legs in what people say was a gun fight (I am not sure if that is true or not). He often can by seen asking for money outside of Walmart to pay for food and sometimes a hotel room so he can wash up. I have also heard he sometimes lives at an assisted nursing home, which may be true since he has a catheter, and always looks clean and well-dressed. Someone has created a video of him on YouTube.



I also found out that Mr. Wideman (pictured above) was arrested on 12/4/2008 and served one day in jail for larceny.

It is interesting thinking about walking in someone else's shoes (or metaphorically speaking in Mr. Wideman's case). What happened to them to make them who they are (what are the real stories)? How did they become so strong to be able to survive with all that life has thrown at them? What do they think of their lives now?

Something to think about: What events in your life have changed you into the person you are today? What would you change if you could change anything?