30 Week Picture Challenge - Week 29

A picture that can always make you smile

This is a picture from my wedding day.  The ceremony started at 3:00p, so our wedding party gathered that morning for the rehearsal and to do somewhat of a run-through...

Casi is the second bridesmaid from the right.  Yes.  The one with her hand raised.

To this day I do not know why she had her hand raised...as if she had some question to ask everyone?  The very next picture on the roll is of her scratching her head, as if she had forgotten the supposed question and was trying to remember it.

This pictures always makes me smile to see how goofy my friends can be together.  And this was one of the most stressful days of my life, so it was great to have them there beside me.

I know that these are the type of photos you pull out later in life and look back to remember the good times, and laugh at ourselves and ask the age old question "What were we thinking then?"  This one definitely goes in the memory books...

30 Week Picture Challenge - Week 28

A picture of something you're afraid of

In reality, I'm scared of almost any type of storm for the fear of the kind of damage they can do.  But tornadoes probably scare me the most.

I grew up in a trailer park, and in the second grade they spent several lessons teaching about tornadoes and the destruction they can do.  So as a result, everytime it rained I took off in fear.  I had the TV on and looked for any kind of storm weather or the little flashing county map they display during the regualr shows.  If it was windy, I swore a tornado was coming.  I remember staying up late to watch the Weather Channel for hours on end to even see if there was a possibility a tornado could come.  I was paranoid, and living in the trailer didn't help.

There was only one time it started to rain and the news declared a severe thunderstorm warning. I was on alert but my mom convinced me to just go to sleep.  An hour or two later around midnight, I was waken up by loud banging noises and all the lights on in the house.  My mom and stepdad had the TV on, watching the weather.  My stepdad had the front door open, I guess trying to see the progress of the storm.  My mom looked at my sister and I and told us to grab some stuff and get in the car.  A tornado was getting close, and we had to leave.  We quickly got dressed and we took both cars up the road.  We drove in the direction away from the storm, only to face the tornado head on in the distance.  The roads were flooding as we tried to turn the car around to the oposite direction.  After what seemed like forever of driving, we arrived at a family member's house and we all huddled around the TV to watch the weather.  We seemed to have missed the storm, and things had started to calm down outside.  I finally fell asleep around 2 or 3am, still trying to watch the TV and the blinking warning that kept flashing.  My mom woke us up around 6am to drive back home.  Luckily, nothing was damaged at our trailer and it seemed the storm did miss us altogether.  I fell back asleep, only for my mom to wake me back up to go to school.  Ugh.

Since then I haven't had any other tornado encounters like that.  We've had the sirens go off in our town a few times, and everytime they do I grab the cat and settle into the hallway until the storm passes.  I try to get my husband to join me, but he's normally the one of the front porch trying to film the storm with his iPhone.

30 Week Picture Challenge - Week 27

A picture of yourself and a family member 

I know I stalled for a week there, but I must say things got a little crazy, and I got a little behind.  Bah

In case you can't tell, I'm the little blonde girl in the front, who is apparently being strangled by her big sister.  This photo also includes my Mamaw and Papaw, aunts, uncles and my cousins.  I'm not sure who was taking the photo...


This is one of the few photos I have of my family, besides my mom or Jeremy.  Apparently I don't take a lot of photos with people; usually I'm by myself walking around or trying to take pictures of other people.  But this photo was taken outside of a restaurant in my town where my family used to gather for our "mini reunions".  My uncles traveled a lot in the military, so when one of them who finally come into town we would always go to this same restaurant.  We did the same thing with other family events or reunions.  This could be the reason I am the size that I am today, since I always seem to connect family and friends with eating and foods.


Everyone in this photo is so far away now.  Some have moved away.  Some have passed on.  And some are just so distant I'm not even sure we live in the same town anymore.  Obviously I'm going to need more pictures with my family so I can still feel connected in some way.

30 Week Picture Challenge - Week 26

A picture of something that means a lot to you 

 

Obviously, my wonderfully fat and fluffy cat, Scrat, means a lot to me.

I come to realize this when I was going through my photos for this week's blog challenge.  Of course I thought of answers such as love, family, friends, work, money, my jewelry and so on.  But I noticed I have more pictures of my fat cat than anything else, which made me realize that he is in fact very special to me.

He was born in a litter of only 4 kittens and actually was the last one we could not get rid of.  Maybe that means he was meant to be with me...?  He really was a scrawny little thing with a big head for most of his younger years.  It wasn't until he got older that he got fat and lazy.

But I love how he "shows" me he loves me every time I see him.  When I'm gone to work, he sleeps on my side of the bed (when he's not with Jeremy).  When I come through the door he starts meowing at me (probably bitching and asking where have I been).  Sometimes he sits in the front window and waits for me there.  He follows me around the house when he thinks I'm going to feed him or getting ready for bed.  I mostly love how he curls up in my arms when we sleep at night, like a furry baby Huey.  He knows that's his spot, and he's not afraid to push Jeremy out of the way so he can snuggle in.

I still think of him as my child.  I fuss at him for biting or clawing or when he refuses to come in at night.  I punish or "ground" him from going out when he doesn't act right.  On the flip side I cuddle him when he's hurt and I play with him when he's feeling frisky.  He snuggles with me at night and misses me when I'm away.  And he fights with daddy (Jeremy).  

I've told Jeremy that the world will just come to a screeching halt the day he dies.  I'm not stupid and think he'll live forever, but I still like to think of the few more years he'll have with me.  A few more fat, furry years.