Throwback Thursday

I haven't done a Throwback Thursday in awhile. Recently, one of Kevin's colleagues from back at his St. Joe days was in our area and stopped by for dinner. He is a professional photographer and he brought us a disk of some pictures he took of us several years ago.

The company Kevin worked for would ask employees and their families to be in the photo shoots for their annual reports and marketing brochures. We did this several times and I could probably fill a week's worth of blog post of stories from the shoots. Everything from drama queen makeup artists to wardrobe malfunctions. Sometimes they used the photos. Sometimes they didn't. We still got paid a small stipend for doing it. It was usually fun and was a crazy way to spend an afternoon or morning or evening depending on when they needed to do the photos.

Kevin walked down this path several or eight times to get these shots. They are probably my favorites from the day.

My eyes are super sensitive to the sun (I've worn contacts since the 6th grade). When I am outside without my sunglasses, I squint. The photographer took 100s of pictures and in almost all of the pool ones I am squinting. Once again, we're not professionals. I remember the tea was unsweetened. Blech!

These were done in the summertime and that was a wool sweater they gave me to wear. I'm not sure what kind of look the hair/makeup person was going for with my hair and Fletcher's hair, but she was way off. Fletcher was not interested in smiling or doing anything they wanted him to do. Kevin and I were trying to think of anything to get him to smile or laugh.
The horse pictures were a little stressful. I haven't spent much time around horses and I think this horse could sense that. Sure I'm smiling in the first picture, but you can see by my expression in the second picture that I was not having any fun.

Some of the images were taking forever to upload so I went with the smaller versions.

Mr. GQ in the barn.

Can you stand the cheesiness? It was like prom all over again.

Throwback Thursday

The date: early April 2004. Fletcher was almost 4 months old.

The place: our house in Tallahassee

The mood: Uncle D and Aunt Dee had come for a visit and brought along some camo gear for Fletcher. He was enjoying all the attention. Kevin went hunting this past weekend and Fletcher was asking when he would be old enough to go with him. Not yet is what I keep saying.

I look at these picture and others and think that in some ways that seemed so long ago and in other ways it seemed like yesterday. I heard someone say recently that kids spend their childhood wishing time would hurry up. That's why they say they are "almost 5" or "4 1/2"
or Fletcher's recent "5 and 80 quarters" (?). But adults spend their lives wishing time would just slow down. Whoa, I'm getting a little to philosophical...

Throwback Thursday

This video has been floating around Facebook. It's been titled "Everything's Amazing, No One's Happy." It is hilarious and sad and funny all at the same time. We had a rotary phone too so that's why this video made it on Throwback Thursday!

A Sad Throwback Thursday

This Throwback Thursday picture unfortunately has a sad story to go along with it.

The date was 36 years ago in August 1973. It was a birthday party for one of the kids from the church that I grew up in. The birthday boy is Dean Roy pictured on the left. Dean's cousin Dana is on the far left and a boy named Roger is on the right. Roger was one of those kids who always liked to have fun. You can probably see that little mischevous twinkle in his eyes. His grandmother was our church secretary for years. They lived close to our church so the church van stayed parked at their house. Rumor had it that he sneaked out of the house one night and took the church van out to cruise up and down Ruth Street in Sulphur which was "the thing" to do on Friday and Saturday nights in our little town. I don't know if that was true or not. But I still smile when I think about an old beat up blue church van cruising the strip with Roger at the wheel.

I recently ran across the above picture and just a few days ago I got a friend request from Roger on Facebook. We weren't really close growing up, but we did go to church together and saw each other here and there at school. I commented on his wall that his little girl looked so cute and asked how he was doing. You could tell from the pictures that she had her daddy wrapped around her little finger. She is probably about the same age now that he was in this picture (maybe 6 or 7). He responded that I "looked great" and he was contemplating moving back to Sulphur. Just small talk.

Tuesday of this week I found out he passed away. Just like that. He was 41 years old. I don't know any details of what happened. I am just very sad for his family (I knew many of his aunts and uncles, his dad and his brother and sister). I'm also sad for a little girl who won't grow up with her Daddy.

Throwback Thursday

The date: December 9, 1970 (in honor of Luke turning two next week)

The place: Sulphur, La

The mood: What girl wouldn't like a chocolate cake all to herself for her second birthday? Looks like we were going with a "Mary Had A Little Lamb" theme.

Throwback Thursday

The date: Labor Day weekend, 1994 (or maybe 1993)

The place: Cancun, Mexico

The mood: Nine girls having the time of our lives. Three of them were engaged so I suppose this was sort of like a Bachelorette Party of sorts. These are the same girls that are part of our annual Girls Weekends. A few are missing because they were already married or about to get married. It was such a fun trip. One of our friends (Linda) was a travel agent at the time so she made sure we had great accomodations. We laughed and laid out by the pool or on the beach and laughed some more.

While we were laying out poolside (with no sunscreen I am sure) the Mexican band there tried to teach us a little song with hand motions called the "Macarena". It had not "caught on" in the states yet. We thought it was a little goofy. Little did we know, we were on the cutting edge of dance history!!

Throwback Thursday

The date: 1996ish (definitely pre Sept. 11)
The place: George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston, TX
The mood: Always be careful when you ask someone else to pick you up at the airport.

Back in our single days in Houston it was common to ask another single to pick you up at the airport if you had to travel for business or go home to visit family. It saved on parking fees and it was usually easy to find a friend to help.

We had a friend named Trey. He was the director of our Sunday School class. He was one of those guys who always had a snappy comeback for everything or a snide remark. He loved pulling pranks and always seemed to have the last laugh. He teased others mercilessly, but was an all around good guy.

Several of us from our class were having dinner together one night and one of the guys said he had to leave to go pick up Trey from the airport.

I may have suggested that we "pick him up" in style. We went home to find appropriate attire and make a poster. I wish the pictures were better quality.

The sign read, "Trey Vick -- Congradulations on ur parole. We knowed you didn't do it." When he got off the plane we all started yelling and cheering and congratulating him on his parole. He was shocked and speechless to say the least. Trey is in the white Polo Sport tshirt.

Yes, that is me in the fluffy pink bathrobe with the towel wrapped around my head. I also had those fluffy slippers too. You can see by the pictures that everyone was very creative.

He never ever told anyone when he was going out of town ever again.

We did pull this little prank a few more times to our unsuspecting friends. Every time I flew after that I always got a little nervous when it was time to deplane.

Throwback Thursday

The date: 1969-1975

The place: All of these were taken somewhere in the vicinity of Sulphur, Louisiana

The mood: Oh, there is just so much to say. So I'll give a brief rundown of each photo. Please feel free to comment if I miss anything.

1969ish - please note Denise's lovely glasses and orange ensemble. Poor David hadn't had eye surgery yet to fix his lazy eye, but the shorts with longsleeves adds a nice touch. Mike didn't get the memo that white socks don't go with black dress shoes. Me - I really just didn't want to take the picture. That sofa was a luxurious dark green vinyl.

I like this picture alot. It is one of the few we have of our entire family. I was probably about 2 years old so this would have been around 1970. I am not sure where we were because I don't recognize that couch. Denise is rockin' that plaid skirt. My mom looks so young with her headband and flippy hair.

1972 - Mike was 14, Denise was 12, David was 6 and I was 3. My MawMaw Petree (mom's mom) made our matching dresses. Don't miss the fact that David is wearing a plaid tie that matches his plaid shirt. Now there's a new fashion trend that didn't catch on. Mike would spend hours in the bathroom trying to get his hair to do that.

Probably 1973 - I was a flowergirl in a wedding. Sorry Mike, you were just too tall to fit your head in the picture. That corner of the living room was our "photo corner" for some reason. Don't miss Mike's white shoes. I think we still have that set of encyclopedias somewhere. I spent hours looking through those when I was a kid.

1974 - David and Mike were both secure enough in their manhood to wear varying shades of pink. Mike still had the combover bang thing going on. Denise had seriously long hair. I remember wearing that little necklace was kind of a big deal for me. Um, David, what were you looking at?

1975 - Mike's hair changed from the combover to the butt cut part down the middle. Nice black leisure suit with very busy shirt. That 70's Show would have loved this for their costume department. David is stylin' with his white bow tie and shirt. You can't tell from the photo but I went with the nautical sailor look in this photo. My sister cut her hair all short and sassy.

Throwback Thursday

The date: Only one pic said 1980 on it so the other ones were late 70's

The place: Miller's Resort, Hot Springs, Arkansas

The mood: These are the pictures I was referring to in this post. Miller's was a favorite vacation spot for my family over the years.

This is my brother David and me in front of our luxury condo complete with lumpy pull out vinyl sofa and kitchenette. Check out my high waisted shorts and halter top. Mom, where was my modesty? Why was my brother wearing blue jeans in the summer?

This is the pool with a diving board. Most pools these days don't have those for liability reasons. David is showing off his moves. The picture below is the dock. We watched the boats come in and out of this little inlet. We did not have a boat. We did some fishing off of this dock. My dad said I talked too much and scared all of the fish away. :(

Normally, I would not post a picture of me in a swimsuit on my blog, but I'll make an exception. Look at that tan. Obviously, sunscreen was optional.

This picture was from one of the first trips I remember. I was deathly afraid of the water and I'm not sure why. I would not let go of the side of the pool even with my life jacket on. Finally, on the very last day I let go and had fun "swimming" then I cried because we had to go home.

My family has always referred to this photo as the "starving Ethopian child". I know that isn't politically correct. But it shows that I was a pretty skinny kid and got really dark in the summertime. Maybe I should have eaten some of that bread instead of feeding it all to the ducks. Again, we've got some modesty issues with those short shorts.

Just in case you were considering booking your summer vacation at Miller's Resort, sadly I have to inform you that it is no longer there.

Throwback Thursday

The date: July 4, 2004

The place: Houston, TX at my brother Mike's house

The mood: Good food. Good family. Good fun. Technically, I don't think Cade should have been in this picture since he and Traci weren't married yet. I guess we made an exception. Good thing he followed through because trying to Photoshop someone out of a picture is difficult! Our family has grown a bit since this picture. We now have three new kiddos in the mix (Luke, Bear, and Wesley).

On a fashion note, you'd think I would be able to decide whether I want short hair or long hair since every year it seems to change.

We are headed out tonight to Louisiana to spend 4th of July with my family. Here's hoping for good weather for our Saturday barbeque and good boys on the plane ride! :-)

I haven't forgotten about pictures from the family vacations to Arkansas. I have to find them at mom & dad's house when I am there. So stay tuned.

Throwback Thursday (Sort of)

Here's a little history lesson for you:

Even before there was MTV, VH1, or BET there was a little show called Friday Night Videos. Way back in 1983, I remember staying up late watching it hoping that they would show the music video of some of my favorite songs and artists - Cyndi Lauper, The Police, Duran Duran, Chicago, Kenny Loggins. I had such great taste in music.

This quote was from the first telecast: "Many of our viewers aren't familiar with music videos, so we're going to begin our first show with one of the best."

Any guesses?

Michael Jackson's Billie Jean

My generation - the children of the 80's - were able to witness the dawn of a new era. Great song + finely crafted music video = musical perfection. Big hair bands. Low budget. Teenage angst. Lots of smoke and billowy curtains. It was an art form like no other.

Much to my delight, there are now "literal videos" on youtube from all of those great 80's songs and their corresponding cheesy videos. I can't even begin to explain how much joy they bring to me.

Here's a little sample for your viewing pleasure. You can thank me later.

Throwback Thursday

The date: Fall 1996

The place: Kevin's first apartment in Houston

The mood: We've had a tragedy of sorts in our home. See the gigantic, mammoth black entertainment center in the picture? See the television inside it? Kevin had that television before he moved to Houston. Before he met me. Before we got married. So doing the math, that television is about 15 years old. Or should I say "was about 15 years old." It died yesterday peacefully in its sleep mode. I tried to turn it on and it just wouldn't wake up.

(Side note: try explaining this to a 5 year old and a 21 month old eagerly waiting to watch Curious George)

Kevin came home, checked the wires and confirmed that it was gone. He carried it out to the garage after the kids went to bed.

I realize the whole flat screen, plasma, televisions bigger than your wall are popular right now. But frankly, we watch so little television (remember we are down to basic cable anyway) that spending lots of money on a television was not a priority for us.

For now, we put the television from our room in the armoire. We don't hold out much hope for it either. I had it when I was in college which makes it at least 20 years old. Here's a photo of our new set up. If you squint really hard, you can see the tv.

When I was a kid we got in trouble for sitting too close to the tv. My mom would say we would go blind or something like that. I suppose in this case I can't really fuss at the boys if they sit too close. I think we all may have to.

Throwback Thursday

The date: March 1994 (according to the camera date stamped on the picture)
The place: Hilton Head, SC
The mood: Let's all join in on the chorus of "We Are Family". These are Kevin's parents, his sister Stacie, his brother-in-law Gavin and Kevin. They used to live in Hilton Head for a few years when Stacie and Kevin were younger so Hilton Head was always a favorite vacation destination. Gavin and Stacie would have been newlyweds or probably engaged assuming the date is correct on the camera. For the record, I asked Kevin and he couldn't remember many details about this picture or this trip other than the fact that it was taken at Hilton Head.

May have something to do with what he's holding in his hand. Just sayin'...

P.S. I think Papa Charlie may still own that pink hat. :-)

Throwback Thursday

The date(s): 1990 and 1995
The place(s): Furman Univ. in SC and somewhere in Atlanta, GA

The mood(s): Siblings having fun! Both of these pictures are of Kevin and his sister Stacie. They've always had a good relationship (although I think they would both tell you they had their fair share of disagreements through the years).

Here's a little factoid for you - they both worked at Arthur Andersen in Atlanta for awhile, but in different departments.

I put up these pictures for two reasons. 1) They are great pictures of the two of them. 2) The first time I ever went to Kevin's apartment, he had the second picture in a frame on his shelf. I immediately went into questioning mode in my mind because I couldn't figure out a tactful way to ask Kevin directly. I was wondering: Who is she? Is she a former girlfriend? Is she a current girlfriend and he forgot to take down the picture? Are there any other pictures of her in this apartment like maybe in his room? I had NO IDEA she was his sister. You have to admit when you look at the pictures that there aren't any extreme similarities that would tell me that they are related (different eye color, different facial structure). I cannot tell you how relieved I was when I found out it was his sister! I don't remember the exact details but I think he might have seen me looking at the picture (trying to nonchalantly read the title and date at the bottom) and told me.

Edited to add: Look very closely in the first picture at Kevin's ear - do you see what I see?

Throwback Thursday

The date: Sometime in late 1996. Obviously, pre-Rachel days.

The place: I'm not sure what the occasion was. Perhaps Kevin can fill in details. I know most of the girls in this picture from our Second Baptist singles days. Kevin was the new guy in town and many girls were trying to get his attention.

The mood: Well, now it looks like everyone is having a grand old time.

All I can say is, "Ha! Ha! I won. He's mine!"

Incidentally, I've reconnected with several of these girls via Facebook and most are married with at least a couple of kids.

My Own Version Of 27 Dresses (Throwback Thursday)

Today's Throwback is a little different. We have lots of pictures instead of just one or two!

A few months ago a movie came out entitled "27 Dresses". The main character was "always a bridesmaid, never a bride" not once, but 27 times. Well, I wasn't in 27 weddings, but I was a bridesmaid ten times before I got married. So here are the pictures to prove it. The dates range from 1989 through about 1995. See if you can pick up on any late 80's/early 90's fashion trends!

I've tried to put them in chronological order as best as I could remember. Unfortunately, for three of the dresses I didn't have any actual wedding party pictures.

Mint green, tea length, bow on butt, material unknown (satin maybe), shoes dyed to match. These are wrinkled because they've been stuffed in a box in the closet. I kept all of them thinking that I would let my daughter play dress up in them one day. Kevin says Fletcher and Luke are not allowed to play dress up in them. :)

Floral print, tea length, cotton, no bow on butt, shoes dyed a mint green.

Green velvet, tea length, lace applique on front, drop waist, gathered sleeves, bow on butt (hard to see in picture), shoes dyed to match. Fall wedding.

Two piece, teal green, tea length skirt, scalloped neckline, bone colored shoes. I actually wore this one as a church dress after the wedding.

Floral print, drop waist, tea length but higher in front than the back (what is that called?), bow on butt, light purple shoes.

Fuschia two piece, shawl wrapped collar, short skirt, shoes dyed to match. Karen and Steff are still mad at me for making them wear so much makeup that day. What was I thinking?

Two piece, turquoise and white, tea length skirt, bow in front, white shoes. I do remember it being incredibly hot in Louisiana on this day.

Black and white, two piece, tea length, shawl flowy collar, black shoes.

Floral print, halter top, long dress, can't remember if there was a bow on butt, but look closely at my white gloves. Shoes were white I think.

Two piece, black and white plaid silk, long skirt, black dyed shoes.

That's all ten! I know some of you are wondering (if you weren't there) what my bridesmaids dresses looked like. Here's the only pic I could find without disassembling my entire wedding album (Sorry, Stacie). Purple eggplant color, sleeveless, rounded neckline, empire waist, tea length with shoes dyed to match.