goodbye optimus ... hello lizzardy

... and another beautiful North Carolina picture I took ...

my new hobby

i made tyler drive me around for a couple hours yesterday morning just so i could take pictures of the beautiful leaves and trees here. when i got home i discovered photo editing. now, my pictures aren't great, but i was hooked all night. here are a couple of my favorites:

On Sunday we went to the Zoo. Steve was able to come too. It was a really fun morning. Look how cute my husband is! (The picture below ... not the hairy one above).

We drove home the extra long way through Shenandoah National Park. We had really been missing the mountains. Its so flat here, I get excited when I see a hill. Anyway, It had been worse recently because its fall when the mountains are the prettiest and its hunting season and my dad kept talking about going on hikes. So, we drove home through the apple-ach-ins. They were beautiful! We went on a hike to a waterfall and I don't know if the picture does it justice, but there were bright red vines climbing all over the trees. It was pretty awesome.

Wshington DC ... Day 1

Our friends, Marina and Steve, invited us to DC with them for the weekend. Unfortunatley, we (Tyler, Marina and I) played all weekend, but poor Steven had to work. We didn't really have time to go see all the sites, but we did run around trying to see everything we could.
Natural History Smithsonian.
Thats me up there near the top of the steps. This is the national archives building that holds the constitution and the declaration of independence and such. And the Magna Carta which was cool. Just a small reminder (and a little joke) ... "No Flash Photography."
This is in the mall in front of the castle.
Theses are the never used doors to the archives building.

We were exhausted by the end of day 1.

Hoopz Wins I Love Money

And we (mostly me) can quit being obsessed with the show ... until the reunion airs.

Pitt County Fair

The bitter with the sweet: While looking at baby pigs (so cute) Tyler informed me I could never have a pet pig. I think I can wear him down if I keep showing him how cute they are in this picture. We also toured the village of yesteryear. While in in the school room my husband quickly found himself in trouble in the corner. (No, he has not joined an extremist group since the move). Our friends Steve and Marina also found a seat in the schoolroom.




Tyler and I were not so proud of our shooting. Maybe the best part of the fair can never be understood when explained. You would just have to see it it: Chicken Man. Chicken tamer/Christian motivational speaker. He compared Jesus to a fuzzy white chicken he put in a pot labeled 'chicken stew.' He also wrote and performed a rap about Jesus and chickens. Very interesting ...

Pirate Party

So we live in a town of about 60-70,000. Apparently, some radio DJ once dubbed it G-Vegas. When we heard this we thought it was some sort of joke. But its not. There is a G-Vegas magazine and cars have it and here is the proof. The college has the reputation of being quite the party school, but more so in it's history.

Thats not really what this post is about. Its about the party that is occuring. The Pirate Party. My nephew, Shawn (and I think I may have spelled that wrong already making me feel bad) is turning 2 and hes going to have a Pirate Party. Because the college here is the ECU Pirates, the hideous things adorn the town. Here is a sample of the Pirate Party town we live in. And Happy Birthday Shawn!