Yard sales are fun to shop at, not throw.

I'm a good 12 days behind in recapping most of the summer events that have been going on around here... the ones I promised I would talk about LAST Friday.

And I have pictures! LOTS of pictures!

But I'm also in the middle of setting up a giant yard sale because yes, it's happened again.

(And no, I'm not any better prepared than last time.)

So, to keep the wedded bliss that I now enjoy, I'm going to skip a cozy evening blogging at the computer in my nice warm house, and spend a cold and potentially mosquito ridden evening pricing items outside in the dark, instead.

I will leave you with a quick Blake story though, because they're always entertaining:

While checking out at the grocery store today, Blake informed the elderly gentleman bagging our groceries (in an unfortunately clear and loud voice), "You're fat!".

I died.

The end.

Monday confessional - wedding edition

Mike and Linley's wedding was so lovely. Quaint and unique, it was just what they wanted.

And I was honored to be a part of it.

Plus...

The weather was gorgeous.

The ring-bearers performed smashingly (phew!).

Nobody fainted.
And I felt pretty and slim.

(And more importantly... not too sweaty.)

In fact, things went off without any major hitches all day long and by the time we got to the reception, my only regret was that I'd left my camera at the rehearsal dinner the night before and didn't have it with me again until after the ceremony. 

So it was with real horror that I witnessed a shocking disturbance while the speeches were being given around the cake table. 

 

It seems that a member of the wedding party had a leettle too much to drink at the punch table... 

And proceeded to DROP HIS DRAWERS right then and there on the church lawn!

And to make matters worse...

It was MY SON!!!

Russell immediately ran to intervene...

But unfortunately he wasn't quick enough.

There was only one thing to do...

Well, that and laugh our heads off. 

Turns out, letting your three year old go potty outside at home because he's not very good at giving advance notice may come back to haunt you. 

In a very. public. manner. 

"Feel better bud?"

I'll be back...

It's wedding week! 

My cousin Linley's wedding. 

The one that 4 out of 5 members of my household are in. 

(Yes we're quite busy.)

The big day is tomorrow and the past couple of days have been filled with so much fun and craziness that I can't wait to write all about it... I just don't have the time right now!

So I'll be back, and when I am you'll be highly entertained with the tales I have to tell.

Tales of dresses ripped down the backside, showing purple panties to the world, with the wearer none the wiser.

Tales of spray-on tan catastrophes.

Tales of elegant bridal teas and delicious treats.

Tales of garage sale find AWESOMENESS.

And plenty of pictures to go along. 

In the meantime, have a great weekend everyone!

Happy Fourth!

Hometown street parade, 2011 (gotta love a children's pastor who's always ready to throw up the ol' rabbit ears ;)

Our holiday weekend is going just swimmingly... hope yours is too.

Now, off to enjoy more good food in the name of patriotic celebration!

7-layer salad - Independence Day style

Part 2 - the shopping tale continued...

After yesterday's shopping story Part 1, in which I drove 30 miles to shop for over an hour before discovering I was penniless because my 3-year-old STOLE my wallet (that's the new story I'm going with by the way), I left you questioning what I was doing in West Linn.

Actually, probably nobody wondered that, but I'm still going to tell you.

I'd been invited to an after-hours shopping party at an acquaintance's upscale consignment shop, and while I hadn't planned on making it, I realized halfway into town that it was that evening and that I was child-free and already heading into town and thought, what the heck.

So you can imagine my embarrassment when I discovered that I had no money, not in a grocery store, but a shopping boutique full of lovely ladies. I went out to my car on the slim chance that my wallet had fallen out of my purse on the ride up, even though I knew instantly what must have happened, and then made the mistake of calling home to have Russ check to make sure the wallet was there. 

(A mistake because Russ assumed that since I'd gone grocery shopping, I would actually BE grocery shopping, and when he discovered after a very roundabout explanation that I'd been at a clothes store in West Linn for the past hour instead, things got kind of awkward.)

Have I reached the point of "overshare" yet?

Fully intending on walking back in the store and telling the owner I'd have to leave my purchases, who should arrive but my beloved Nanna and Grandpa Duke! Duke was dropping Nanna off at the party because she'd been invited too, and when they heard my sad (and to me, mortifying) tale, they immediately offered to make my purchases for me and insisted on giving me enough money to continue my grocery shopping trip as well.

Hallelujah for wonderful grandparents! I'm not ashamed to say I took them up on their kind offer, promising to return their loan the next day. Mostly because one of the main things I needed to buy was a gift for my cousin's lingerie shower the following evening and I really didn't want to drive back up into town again just for that. 

By this time it was almost 9 pm though, so I high-tailed it up to Clackamas and stopped at Kohl's to search for the shower gift. Sadly, they were totally lacking in anything either cute or within my price range, but I still managed to waste half an hour searching through the clearance racks for a matching set in my cousin's size - something that was not to be found. 

Next I went over to Target, only to discover they had no lingerie at all, plus they were closing in 15 minutes so no grocery shopping was going to get done there, and after racing up the road to Ross, I discovered they'd just closed 15 minutes ago. Noooo! If only I'd gone there first!

And that's how I ended up walking into the Walmart on 82nd Ave at 9:45 pm, with a suspicious looking group of young men dressed in gangster attire sitting out front, and me praying under my breath for my safety. All hopes for lingerie were gone of course, even if they had something cute there I could never have brought myself to buy a family member (or anyone else for that matter) bridal lingerie from WALMART. I have some standards. 

So I bought the few household items I needed on my list and came home in defeat, knowing I'd have to make my return trip the next day with 2 young boys in tow. And I can tell you that if you don't feel awkward at the discovery that you have no wallet when out shopping, you will certainly feel so at having to pick lingerie in the company of your 8-year-old son!

However, all was not a loss. If I hadn't gone to the shopping party Wednesday night, I wouldn't have got to catch up with old friends and check out a really cute boutique. 

Or buy this a-DOR-able top:

Love!

And if I hadn't gone back up into town yesterday to buy this robe for Linley:

(it also came with a cute little number for underneath - not quite appropriate to share here...)

I wouldn't have discovered that Old Navy was having a buy 2 get 1 free sale, and picked up these!

So you see, all's well that ends well :)


Have a happy 4th of July weekend!