eggs-cellent

bad easter pun, I know. 

before heading to the husband's parent's house for family dinner on Sunday, we stopped in at my dad's house to see my little brother. we got there right in time as they were getting ready to sit down and dye eggs. 

I made myself right at home and devoured 4 hard boiled eggs before anyone noticed they were gone. :)

here are some snippets from our morning!

of course, I didn't take any pictures at the in-law's house... but to be fair, there weren't any cute kids there either, haha. 

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in other news, I am way behind in my school work. like, I have yet to turn in (or even complete, for that matter) a paper that was due two weeks ago on the theme of love & marriage in A Midsummer Night's Dream. ugh. 

I emailed my professor and she'll accept my work late, but the problem is that I have no idea on where to even start on such a vague topic. obviously there are a billion examples of love in the play. I'm skipping the gym tonight to get it completed, along with a discussion post that I missed last week. I really suck at life lately.

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it's currently 85 degrees in my office. needless to say, I am sweating like a pig. I wanted the warm weather, but not before my cheapo boss (aka my dad) thinks it's an acceptable idea to turn on the AC.

Happy Monday!

from A to Z

I promptly stole this from my friend Erinn. I had every intention of finishing it on Friday, but I got caught up in work stuff, and I spent the entire day yesterday running errands and doing a little shopping... I'll show you my goods in another post. I love surveys... play along if you'd like!

A. Age: twenty-five, as of last week.

B. Bed size: it's a king. I could never go back to a queen.

C. Chore you dislike: uh... all of them, which is obvious if you've ever seen my house. for real though, washing dishes really blows, especially since we don't have a dishwasher.

D. Dogs: none. I'd like to have one eventually, but we don't have the space right now.

E. Essential start to your day: coffee, which coincidentally, I did not have this morning.

F. Favorite color: green, grey, and mustard. I can't pick just one and you can't make me. 

G. Gold or Silver: white gold.

H. Height: I'm almost 5'-9" tall.

I. Instruments you play(ed): I learned how to play the flute when I was in 5th grade. but that was something everyone had to do. no talents here.

J. Jelly bean flavor: I will seriously eat the shit out of some Jelly Bellies, as long as it's not the licorice or popcorn flavored ones.

K. Kids: not yet, but we're workin' on it. ;)

L. Lucky Number(s): 12.

M. Month: I'm gunna have to go with May on this one.

N. Nicknames: Mandeefofandee, Mandee Ree, Stank Ass (affectionate, no?), Quinn. 

O. Overnight hospital stays: when I was born, and then again when I was 17 - I had an abscess of fluid in my tonsils (it was an infection, pervs), and had to be hospitalized for a few days.

P. Pet peeves: negative Nancy minded folk, when people don't pick up their feet when they walk, the saying "could care less"... it's "COULDN'T care less" you fucking idiots. "could" implies that you actually could care less. what else? normal stuff like bad hygiene, crazy drivers, traffic, etc. also, close talkers. gimme my space, man.

Q. Quote from a movie: "It's not a purse, it's called a satchel. Indiana Jones wears one." - The Hangover

R. Righty or Lefty: Righty.

S. Siblings: Two real brothers and two half brothers... so mathematically... three brothers. :)

T. Time You Wake Up: anytime between 8 and 8:30.

U. Underwear: I wear them, yes. in fact, I just went on a little mini shopping spree at VS this weekend.

V. Vegetables you don't like?: hmm, any kind of beans really... except green beans. I love those. I'm not big on beets or mushrooms. and I only like onions if they're cooked... no raw onions here.

W. What makes you run late?: shit... what DOESN'T make me late is more like it. unfortunately, I'm one of those people who is chronically late... not to the point where I'm like 20 minutes late, but I'm always late by a few minutes. I'm just really really bad at time management, but luckily, Sean helps with that.

X. X-rays you've had?: oh man, tons... my teeth/mouth, nose when it was broken, ankle, both wrists.

Y. Yummy food you make?: homemade mac & cheese.

Z. Zoo animal favorites?: HIPPOS. and alligators, zebras, tigers, polar bears, monkeys... pretty much all of them, but hippos are always number one.

Hope everyone is having a fun weekend! 

my mother-in-law got her first tattoo

I took my MIL to get her very first tattoo over the weekend. she knows how much I love tattoos, and how much I trust and respect my tattooer, so it was only natural for her to want him to tattoo her for the first time. she was specific about her design - she wanted a trinity knot with her husband, son, and daughter's initials inside. she also wanted to incorporate a Q into the design - she wanted it to be strong, yet feminine.

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of course, I took plenty of pictures to share with you all. my tattoo artist (Keelhauled Mike) specializes in Coleman Style tattooing, which I love, so it's always a pleasure to search through the wall to wall flash designs they have up. I love the bold outlines, the deep shading, and the vibrant color of traditional tattoos.

 

I love going to visit my tattoo artist, if only for the visit to the quaint town of Denton, which is only about 20 minutes outside of Delaware. it's such a cute little old town, and I really enjoy being in the quiet. Hanging out in the tattoo shop with Mike and Ken is always a fun time - lots of laughs and bullshitting.

took this for all my fellow Irishmen (and women!)

I wish I could have gotten tattooed as well, but unfortunately, we are super duper broke right now, and it's not really a possibility. I'm hoping to accumulate enough birthday money that I'll be able to get my sleeve worked on sometime in the near future.

Happy Wednesday!

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oh, and PS - my birthday is in exactly one week. thumbs up!

8 years.

today, January 18th, 2011, is the day. eight years ago, my mother died of lung cancer. I was clutching her hand as she took her last breath on this Earth and that moment will forever be engraved in my mind. it was the most traumatic day of my life. I will never, ever forget the feeling of instant and extreme loneliness that I felt that day eight years ago.

I've had a hard time with being mother-less this year. I think it's because we've decided to try for children a little earlier than we thought we would. it makes me nervous. it makes me scared. I always imagined being pregnant with my mom by my side, giving me the advice and tips she learned while she was pregnant with me. I always imagined she'd be in the delivery room with me welcoming her grandchild into the world. she'd be there to babysit when I needed a date night, and she'd spoil my children like no other. 

it honestly makes me scared to have children. how will I explain her to them? how could I possibly convey to them what a wonderful person she was? they'll never understand how amazing she was, and that makes me sad.

eh, I'm feeling very "woe is me" today and I shouldn't. I am incredibly lucky to have awesome folks in my life, and they keep me about as sane as I can possibly be, so that counts for something. 

I'm at home today, just lounging around. I might venture out and get my nails done today. other than that, I'll be reading The Help all day, and then cooking Sean chicken parmesan this evening. I've never made it before, so I'll let you know how it goes.

show & tell: new

Inspiration: New

Show:

Tell:

little brother, Wyatt, showing me his 

new favorite face to make for the camera... 

no more cheesing for this boy!

twas the day before Christmas (photo heavy!)

here's my recap of Christmas Eve (in photos)...

we started off the day laying in bed and relaxing, and then made our way over to my dad's house around 11:30. I was immediately thrown into the kitchen to cook, but I managed to get lots of pictures around the house. it was my first time really doing any cooking for Christmas dinner, and I was a little stressed for a minute, but it all came out wonderfully and it was absolutely delicious! I'm actually pretty proud of myself for jumping in and cooking, even though I hadn't really prepared for it.

after we were through with dinner & the kids opened their gifts, we headed over to my aunt's house (on my mom's side) to spend time with that side of the family. we play a secret santa/white elephant/steal a gift game annually, and it was a blast this year. Sean & I brought a Shake Weight (see South Park's Shake Weight episode here), which was easily the biggest hit of the night. it was a great time as usual, and it was so nice to see family members that I really only get to see around this time of year.

when we arrived home from my aunt's house, Sean and I opened our gifts. it's a tradition for us to open our gifts on Christmas Eve. we've decided that since we're adults, we can do whatever the hell we want, and we're usually way too excited about gifts to wait to give them... so, Christmas Eve it is! the first thing I opened was the new baby, which I immediately attached to my base and started playing with. love, love, LOVE.

promise I'll have my Christmas Day pictures tomorrow, including 

LOTS of experimental pictures with the new lens!

Happy Tuesday!