Yet another busy weekend

My mother-in-law came down this weekend to visit one last time with us before we head to Texas this weekend (seriously? I can't believe that it's come down to just a matter of days already); she and her friend, Jim, kept Sammy occupied while Captain Husband and I went through every drawer and closet in the house to see what we could get rid of before the move--Sammy and Sandy helped out by double-checking all of the drawers to make sure we didn't miss anything.

I knew we were going to have quite a bit of dead weight to dispose of, so I had already made arrangements with my friend, Meghan, to see if she would be interested in co-hosting a yard sale with me at her place, as she actually has a yard--she said yes, so we set about hastily making plans for a sale on Sunday.  CH and I boxed everything up and I drove down to Fredericksburg with a truck loaded full of all sorts of goodies, ranging from a portrait of Abraham Lincoln to vintage 1960s melamine dishes.

All in all it was a pretty successful sale, even though we had the misfortune of holding it on a day with a heat index of about 105 degrees (fortunately Sammy stayed home with CH and Nany Pat while I was out sweating in the hot August sun).  While I wasn't quite able to get rid of everything (anyone in northern Virginia interested in a circa 1928 antique full-size brass bed?), I did make a tidy little sum that will definitely help cover some of our gas expenses.  And since we're going to be driving for five days straight, every penny counts!

Foto Friday: Water

My friends, Tim and Julianne, and their daughter, Lillian, came down to visit us one last time before we head off to Texas. Sammy and Lillian had a great time playing together and before we knew it, it was time for both of them to get a bath:

Be sure to check out the other photos by clicking below; have a great weekend everyone!

The August Break

With everyone that's going on at the moment--planning a cross-country move, adjusting to having Captain Husband home after a year apart, and so on and so forth--I'm in need of a bit of break from the [self-imposed] pressures and expectations of regular blogging.  To that end, I'm going to participate in Susannah Conway's August Break.  The plan is this: simply share one photo (or more) a day on my blog.  Some days I'll have words to go along with my photo, other days I won't.  Basically, it's going to be a month's worth of Wordless{ish} Wednesdays.

Here's today's photo:

One of the antique shops near my parents has started to sell antique and vintage cameras. It's a good thing we're moving soon and low on space or else I'd have a new collecting obsession on my hands.

Wordless{ish} Wednesday: Uh oh

{Not quite sure just what exactly you're looking at?  Yeah, me either, though I do know that it managed to do a real number on my front passenger tire last night.  I drove into DC so I could hang out with my friend Seth and his wife, Amy, for a bit--as I approached their apartment building I was surprised to find rock-star parking right out in front; unknown to me at the time, though, was the fact that a 10" section of metal lining the curbside storm drain was jutting out into the roadway, just at the right height to tear into a tire.  It could have been worse--Seth was there to give me a hand putting the spare on and Captain Husband had already made an appointment to take my car in to the dealer today, so it's just one more thing to add to their list of things to fix/check out.  I suppose I'll have to be a bit more wary of rock-star parking spaces from now on.}

Shoot and Edit Challenge: Cutie pie (before)

I had the great pleasure of spending some time this weekend with my friend's adorable little girl, Nessa--she is definitely giving Sammy a run for his money in the easy-going baby department. I couldn't resist getting down on the floor to take some photos of her while she played on her tummy-time mat:

I know it's not in keeping with this week's theme, but if anyone understands deviating from the prompt from time to time, it's Ashley Sisk. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to edit these, but no matter what I do, they'll be totally cute thanks to the fact that Nessa is in them.

Want to learn how to edit your photos so that they go from good to wow? Click below:

Giveaway winners!

I'll be emailing the winners this evening, but if you see your name listed here, please feel free to send me an email at eltothethird at gmail dot com if you want to beat me to the punch.  Thank you again to {bit of something sweet} and Sarah's Soak Shoppe for sponsoring the first giveaway and a great big thank you to all of my fantastic readers--you guys rock!

Adiós muchachas

First things first--I'll be posting the winners of last week's giveaways later this afternoon, so stay tuned for the winners! Okay, now onto this weekend's recap: A group of my girlfriends got together and threw me a going-away slumber party at my friend Elizabeth's house down in the Northern Neck.

The theme of the party was Hello Kitty with a few zombie movies thrown in there for good measure.  I left Sammy at home with Captain Husband and got ready for an evening of fun; for those of you wondering, this marked the first time that CH and Sammy were on their own in over a year.  Don't worry--they appear to be none the worse for wear.

Elizabeth emailed our friends a few weeks before the party and asked each of them to come up with three words that described me; she then turned their answers into a beautiful piece of hand-lettered art--looking at this, I'd have to say that my friends really know me pretty well (if you look closely you'll see antiques, turquoise blue, zombies, and cupcakes).

Joining us in her very first girls' night slumber party was Nessa, Elizabeth's little girl; she is such a smiley, sweet baby and was on her best behavior all evening.

The real fun began after we all had a few cupcakes and a couple of adult beverages--it didn't take long for us to break out the press-on Hello Kitty tattoos and get a little crazy.

No need for tickets--this here's a free gun show.

I like mine so much (I'm the wrist on the left) that I've nearly convinced myself to get one for real.

What's a slumber party without an obligatory morning-after pajama photo shoot?  It goes without saying, but I am going to miss these ladies so, so much.  Thank goodness for things like the internet and video chatting, right?