Vacation!

Today is my Friday. It's so nice to think that while I woke up this morning in my bed, tonight I will fall asleep near the ocean!

{photo credit}

Corolla Beach, here I come!!

The Goat Man

I tend to get extremely wrapped up in the fall spirit, and one thing that I love doing is learning about local ghost stories and legends. My favorite past time lately has been sharing these stories through gchat with my friend Denise while we're supposed to be working. For example, yesterday we spent an entire 30 minutes talking about alien abductions and the day before that I was telling her about some hauntings I read about in Virginia. Our favorite subject: The Goat Man...

No matter what we start talking about, the conversation always comes back to this creepy figure. I first learned about him when we were visiting our friend Gina. She lives several miles from the site where he has been spotted {Cry Baby Bridge}, and even went there one night to find him herself. We huddled around her, cheap beer in hand, and she told us the tale of this beast - half goat and half man.

Nobody knows what he is or how he came to be, but people began reporting sitings in the 1950's. Believers of the legend claim that the Goat Man carries an axe and uses it to violently kill his prey, grunting and screaming like the devil himself. People have found dogs and other small animals in the area and credit their deaths to the Goat Man. Also, several hikers in the area have gone missing and many believe that this creature is to blame. He also preys on young couples in parked cars.

The Goat Man is probably the scariest thing I could ever imagine seeing. There's even a movie coming out that I must see -- check out the trailer here.

I don't know what it is about these stories, but I can't get enough of them! Do you have any creepy legends in your neck of the woods??



pictures aren't loading onto my blog... bummer.

umm... is it just me or is anyone else having a hard time with the new picture up-loader? ugh... maybe it's my work computer...

ANYWAY! I just wanted to share something with you that a friend e-mailed me this morning. It's a blog post that you can find here called "The Disease Called Perfection." Honestly, I have been having a really crummy week so far {i know, a little dramatic considering it's only Tuesday} and I was sitting here feeling sorry for myself when I read this -- Totally. Changed. My. Perspective. Seriously!

I hate how it's always super easy to list things that you'd like to change about yourself and then when it comes to thinking of things you like... well... that's a whole different story. I've been pretty hard on myself lately, especially my body, and I think a lightbulb just went off and I realized that life is too short and I have it too good to spend the majority of my time picking on myself.

On a different note, this weekend I was watching a TV Show about Alien Encounters. When I was little I used to hope and pray that I would be abducted by an alien and once I even went to school and pretended that a scar I had on my stomach was proof that I had been experimented on. Wow, I was a creepy kid. But for that day -- I was popular! Hah.. Anyway, last night I was laying in bed thinking about how badly I wanted that to happen and realized that being abducted and experimented on isn't really that cool, it's actually pretty damn scary and probably hurts really bad {one lady claims they shoved a 5 inch pole into her BELLY BUTTON!} Bottom line: I had alien nightmares last night. Not cool because now I am super tired at work.

I've been counting down since Sunday night....

it's finally here....Happy Friday!

What are you doing this weekend??

[i'm going on a mini-vacay next weekend... so looking forward to a 4 day work week!]

Sunshiney Day :)

Today I was awkwardly sitting in my office, eating popcorn with my office pet -Sebastian the Hermit Crab- [he loves popcorn and doritos] when I noticed something..... I was given my second blog award ever by the lovely Michele! Wow, thanks for such an awesome surprise! Check her out... she's pretty cool and just posted a hilarious story about a recent confrontation with a cockroach!!!



Here are the rules:

[one.] Show off your sunshiney award

[two.] Pass the love on to 12 special bloggers

[three.] Link the people, of course!

[four.] Let them know that they have been awarded with an awesome comment.

[five.] Share the love and link to the person you received the award from.

My picks include brand new bloggers that I simply cannot stop obsessing over.

[1] http://muchomuchobuenobueno.blogspot.com/ 

so many awesome things that I can barley get any boring office work done!

[2] http://joannagoddard.blogspot.com/

how can one look so flawless after just giving birth to one heck of an adorable baby?!

[3] http://crowleyparty.blogspot.com/

i love discovering other young married couples - she has a cute etsy shop too... check it out!

[4] http://racheldenbow.blogspot.com/

another ridiculously hot mom with a really cool sense of style!

[5] http://busybeelauren.blogspot.com/

another ridiculously cool married chick, check out her recent post showing off her awesome pad!

[6] http://aurajoon.blogspot.com/

this chick always has the best photos and i am forever envious of her humungo, rainforest-like garden

[7] http://amberandgang.blogspot.com/

this girl is the cutest... i love every single outfit in her closet!

[8] http://orchidgrey.blogspot.com/

i literally just found this blog several hours ago and ever since discovery, i cannot stop drooling over her clothes -- majority from the thrift store! teach me your ways!

[9] http://talk2thetrees.blogspot.com/

if you want to get in the mood for halloween, you have to read this blog! i think her obsession with creepy and scary things is just about the same as mine! not to mention, her hats are so comfortable that i practically live in mine!

[10] http://tallasgrass.blogspot.com/

i just really, really love this blog! she is amazingggg!

[11] http://emmyhermes.blogspot.com/

this awesome chicka just celebrated her birthday! give her some lovin'!

[12] http://tmango7.blogspot.com/

ask her about oliver.... cutest. story. ever.

Sebastian wanted to tell everyone congratulations, but his mouth is full of popcorn. Enjoy your award and I hope it brightened your day as much as it did mine!

to do list: fall style.

Technically, my calendar says that fall officially starts tomorrow...

...however, everyones posts about the start of the season are making it too hard to wait an extra 24 hours.

Here is my to do list for my absolute FAVORITE season ever, Fall:

1. Go Apple Picking here with her

2. Meet some local ghosts & goblins here

3. Drink plenty of this

4. Stock up on at LEAST 10 pumpkins here

5. Dress up for Halloween in this, this and this

6. Dress up my doggies in this and this 

7. Warm up in this

8. Get spooked out of my mind here

9. Snuggle, Snuggle, Snuggle with a cozy blanket, my sexy husband, and this

10. Feel the leaves crunch under my feet while wearing these 

Best season ever!!!

What will you do to celebrate fall?



Nature, Family & Food.

This weekend was relaxing {minus the 14 hour migraine Saturday & Sunday in which I wanted to D.I.E.}. When I got home from work on Friday I got into one of my "cleaning freak outs" and went around the loft with my bleach bottle for about 3 1/2 hours. This tends to happen every few weeks and for some reason I do it whenever I'm extremely stressed out - Sean knows by now to stay out of my way. I finished the night off with pizza and a movie in my pajamas. Perfect.

Sean's cousin and her family came into town from North Carolina, and we decided to get together and visit Maymont Park with their little baby, Elizabeth. We had so much fun talking and laughing that I almost didn't realize the exercise we were getting as we walked up and down hills for two hours. Mental Note: Should have left the cute boots at home.

Anyway, here are some pics I snapped on our little adventure:



trees are always my favorite subject.

the piggy's are my favorite!

Happy Girl!

Sean testing his wing span...pretty impressive!

We could not have asked for nicer weather!

Yesterday I was so bummed because I woke up and my head was still throbbing. All week I have been craving this Chicken Crescent Ring that my mom used to make us growing up and I was dying to share it with Sean and my in-laws. Luckily, my migraine finally went away and we called Sean's parent's over for a nice dinner --

I Cooked...



Can you believe how yummy this looks? I was so happy because everyone knows I'm not the best cook, and we all went back for seconds! You can find the recipe that I used here, and there are sooooo many different ways to make this.

So dang yummy!!!

{so proud I didn't burn the loft down or poison anyone!}

What did you do this weekend?