capt. lou-lou charters

i FINALLY got to go fishing on Mary Jane (the bf's boat) this weekend in panama city. it was a gorgeous day out on the water, despite the hot & humid weather. we've all been worried about the oil spill (along with the rest of the gulf and U.S.), so the bf has been trying to fit in as many fishing trips as possible. after all this, who knows when we'll get to go again. so, here's what happens when i get to go fishing and have my chance to show up the boys. :)

my first fish of the day. at this point i'm wondering what the $@#*! is on the end of this line that's trying to pull me in the water?!? not to mention, the rod is jammed in my stomach, surely giving me internal bleeding, but i've been told to "never let go of the rod. if you get pulled in, we'll get you out before a shark comes." comforting, huh?

then i find out this guy in on the other end. a tasty amberjack. as hard as it was getting him in the boat (i'm attributing that to the fact that my stomach was hurting from the rod by the way), he wasn't even legal size. maybe half of the legal size, but a smaller aj nonetheless.

the bf always told me that i couldn't reel in an aj, but look who reeled in an aj!!!

who knew snapper had teeth like this?

since the bf went fishing the day before and had an awesome day catching lots of fish, he let me do most of the catching on our trip. but i let him sneak a few in every once in a while.

wedding season part 3

this past weekend, a long-time friend of mine married her best friend. it was scorching hot, but amazingly beautiful! here are just a few pics since my battery was going dead & didn't make it throughout the day.

here are the bridesmaids with the beautiful bride at the rehearsal. most everyone was also friends throughout college, so it was so great to hang out with everyone and celebrate two amazing people.

we had to work pretty hard to stay cool in the 105 degree weather. i can't remember any single moment when we all weren't sweating or fanning. needless to say, there was tons of hairspray, makeup, oil blotting sheets and deodorant on hand. :)

I just had to post this picture of me and the cutest little girl EVER! meet molly, who might as well be a cabbage patch twin. she is always so happy & sweet, you can't help but love her. this is the bf's best friend's little girl. i'm just hoping my kids one day turn out as cute as she is! :)

i miss auburn

i miss auburn. i miss everything about it. the people, the town, the school, the pride, even the classes. but what i miss most today is the feeling that i could literally do anything i wanted to.

we're always told when we're younger that we can be anything we want to be, do anything we want to do, go anywhere we want to go. then we grow up and realize those doing some of those things cost money and time that we don't always have.

right before i graduated, i had my heart set on moving to boston. why? i don't know really. it just sounded fun and was completely different than anything i'd ever done. then i realized how much money it would cost to 1.) move up there and 2.) pay for living expenses until i found a job. on top of that, as a new pr grad, you don't expect to make a lot of money for a while, and after my parents paid for the best 4 years of my life (so far), i didn't want to ask for more.

so, i moved home with the plan of working for a while & building up my savings account so i could fund my own move to a big city. that lasted all of about 4 months. after that, i couldn't deal with living with my parents again after being on my own for 4 years. something about the 'rules' (which were, for the record, not unreasonable at all) just drove me crazy. i moved out & remembered how much i loved to spend money & shop. so much for the savings account.

...anyway... long story short... today, i'm still in my hometown and very much feeling like my options are extremely limited. i know that's not true and that somewhere deep down inside there's still a part of me that can do anything i want to, but today i'm feeling stuck.

today i'm feeling like i will probably live paycheck to paycheck for the rest of my life. i'm feeling like i may never find a my 'dream job' (even though i don't know what that is yet) and i may always feel limited in my possibilities.

all of this is not to discredit the wonderful people in my life who bring me more happiness than they know. i have a very loving family, an outstanding boyfriend that i couldn't live without and amazing friends that keep me sane and laughing every single day.

i'm just in a funk.
maybe i'll have another diet dr. pepper. :) hehe.

addiction

Just call me Jessie from Saved by the Bell and imagine me screaming, “No time! There’s NEVER any time!” … right before I break down and admit my addiction to caffeine.


Unlike Jessie, however, my addiction isn’t to caffeine pills so I can study and sing at night, but rather an addiction to Diet Dr. Pepper and my ability to function throughout the day.

I spent the past two days not having ANY caffeine. I should be proud, right? Since it seemed I was on my way to a new, healthier habit? Wrong. I felt AWFUL. Bad mood, headache, sleepiness, laziness, lack of motivation… you name it, I was feeling it.

That’s when I decided to screw being healthy for just this one thing. I can convince myself that I need to eat better, exercise more, take better care of myself, blah, blah, blah, but I refuse to give up my Diet Dr. Pepper. Granted, I only allow myself one drink per day (two if I got out to eat- I’m usually afraid of drinking restaurant water), so I don’t know why one drink can make such a difference.

This morning I’m back to drinking my daily Diet DP and feeling great. No headache, no sleepiness & I might even have a little tiny ounce of motivation to actually get some work done. Bring on the caffeine, because there are no plans to kick the habit in the near future.