High School Flashbacks

Since we have started our work out program, I have been listening to Yahoo Music on M, W, & F mornings because Tim takes the ipod to the gym while I stay at home to do my weight routine. I don't know if any of you are familiar with Yahoo Music, but its basically free online radio stations you can play by genre. So this morning I was a little tired of listening to my regular Adult Alternative and Indie and Pop stations, so I decided on 90's Alternative just to shake things up. The instant the first song started playing- BAM! Song after song, it was like a total time warp! I seriously was having major flashbacks to my freshman year of High School, when I was first introduced to the wonderful world of Alternative Rock music. I could even remember people and places and smells from when I heard these songs- it was 1995 all over again! I got all excited about the good old days of Green Day, Beastie Boys, Weezer, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Cake. It was awesome! Until I realized how old these songs are, then I felt every bit like the almost-thirty-year-old-woman-trying-desperately-to-hold-onto-her-youth that I am. It was a weird mixture of pleasure and pain. And then this memory of my dad listening to The Who and Poco and Starship (speaking of Starship- We Built This City was our early family theme song- we loved it!) and talking about the good old days of music while I thought "Geez, my dad is old!" popped into my head. Then I realized, oh my gosh- I am my dad! It is only a matter of a few years before my kids will be saying the same things about me and my 'lame' music. It was funny, when Tim got home from the gym, he could totally tell how much I was enjoying my blast from the past as I was saying "didn't you love this song? Maybe we should download it!" He just smiled and looked me in the eye and said "Mandy, this music is really old. Do you really want to download 'Spoonman?'" It was then that it all fully sunk in- I am getting old. How did that happen? Man, life is flying by way too fast! And I don't want to get old. So I am going to go listen to some Beyonce ("AAAALL the single ladies... All the single ladies!") and pretend that I am young and hip... just as soon as "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is over... no wait, "Machinehead" is on now- sweet! BUSH!

By the way, thanks for all the great music advice! I have found some great new music so far- I am loving Missy Higgins (thanks Aly!) as well as some of the other suggestions! Also, I took some cute photos of the boys today- it has been too long since I had photos of the boys on the blog- and we were in a rush so they are shirtless- Tim will be thrilled:o I will try to post them tomorrow along with the snow photos from last week. Have a great weekend folks!

(Ooooh, "Under the Bridge" is on now- Go Chilli Peppers! Okay, I need to stop- I have to go get ready for my run- 6.2 miles tonight! Wish me luck!)

Let's talk music..

My IPod has gotten a lot of use since I got it last summer. I listen to it in the car, while working/surfing at my computer, when I run, clean and cook- so basically I listen to it any time I am not sleeping. I focus better when I have music to listen to. But I am getting a little tired of my music and I need some suggestions for some new stuff. Can you all help me out? I am pretty desperate- I even downloaded some weird Indie music from a guy called Mika a few weeks ago- but I am now regretting it. I do like some Indie, but Mika was just a bit too weird for me. I like all kinds of music(except Heavy Metal/But Rock)- here is a list of some of the music on my IPod right now:

LOVES: Better Than Ezra, Lifehouse, Mat Kearney, John Mayer, Jack Johnson, Keane, Indigo Girls, Cold Play, Collective Soul, Tori Amos
LIKES: U2, The Fray, One Republic, Snow Patrol, Faith Hill, George Strait, Alan Jackson, Daughtry, Rascal Flats, Death Cab for Cutie, Adele, Cranberries, James Blunt, Jason Mraz, Rob Thomas, Feist, Leona Lewis
LIKE(but can't listen to too often): The Shins, Pearl Jam, Dixie Chicks, Nora Jones, Sara McLaclan, Colbie Caillat, Dave Mathews (with the exception of Ants Marching- I love that song)

I know there is new music that I have not yet discovered and there is also old music that I like that I have just forgotten about. For example, a good friend of mine reminded me of Alanis Morisette a few weeks ago- I can't believe I forgot about her! I used to love her, in fact that was the first concert I ever went to (no wait, that was REM- ahhh, good times! Maybe I should download Everybody Hurts or Shiny Happy People for old times sake?) Anyways, I am open to any and all suggestions!

And now I have one song to suggest to you all:
Mat Kearney's new single
I LOVE this song- I have listened to it so many times over the last few days! I actually didn't love Mat Kearney when Tim first introduced me to him, but he has grown on me and is now one of my faves. The same is true with BTE and Collective Soul- two of Tim's favorites that I now love! If only I could get Tim to make it through a Tori Amos song maybe he would grow to love her too...

My appologies if this double posts from YouTube- they always seem to have issues when I try to post from there.

Happy listening everyone! Photos to follow soon...

1 Down, 83 To Go

So I read the Body for Life book and decided to do the program with Tim. And today was our first day. So how did it go, you ask?

I am hungry. And my armpits(or pecks... whatever those muscles are) are sore. And I can't get the sweet vanilla taste of protein shake out of my mouth. But otherwise, it went really well! And really, you eat quite a bit with this program (6Xs a day) so I am certainly not starving. But they are small meals. And I am used to having bigger meals and feeling full so the absence of that feeling is an adjustment for me. But I am sure I will get used to it. And the great thing with this program is you get 1 free day per week where you can eat whatever you want! Woohoo!

We took our before photos Saturday and it was really depressing. Honestly, I don't care who you are- no woman wants to see a photo of themselves in a two piece in bad lighting and no use of the liquify tool in photoshop. I guarantee even Heidi Klum gets some liquification on her photos. I am not complaining about being fat by any means, but I am not very fit. And I really want to be fit. So hopefully this will help me get over my sheman fear and have a nice toned body for the summer. At least for a few months- then I will probably be pregnant again and have to start all over (this time with added stretch marks for my before photo- great.) Kinda sounds like my theme song should be Carly Simon's "You're So Vain", but I really just want to feel healthy and fit. And be able to beat Tim in an arm wrestle. And maybe compete on American Gladiators with a name like "Aurora Thunder". That is all I want...


Updates to come- we got 8 inches of snow last night and I have a bigger and better snowman to post...

Lame-o Me

I cannot believe it has been 3 months since I posted on this blog. I won't even attempt to make any excuses, because the only excuses I can give would reveal to you all the lazy, time-wasting, procrastinating side of me. And that would totally ruin the perfection facade I try to put on.

So one of my New Years Resolutions is to reread the Harry Potter series since I have never read it in order from start to finish (I started with book 4 after the third movie came out, then I got hooked and went back and read the first 3 out of order). *Side note- I hope you have all read this series. If you have not you absolutely MUST! They really are magical- they make you feel like a little kid again and like there is such a thing as magic. And Hogwarts is the coolest place in the world!* So I am reading the third book right now and I was thinking about Hermione's time changer thing and how cool it would be if that was real. If you could turn back periods of time and do them over, think of all the things you could get done! I would repeat my kids nap time several times a day. That way I could take a nap myself AND read AND edit photos AND work on my new website AND post the bathroom reno. photos that I promised months ago AND surf the net AND take another nap (because all that work would make me tired again). Don't you think that would be so cool? What would you do if you could turn back time? (Nerdy question, but seriously I would like to know!)

Some other Carroll Family updates(with a plethora of hyperlinks):

-Jace will be registering for Kindergarten next week. CRAZY!

-Ethan moved into a big boy bed and is doing great! I finally painted the boys rooms, got them these matching quilts for their bunk beds and put some cool new hardware on their dresser. It is so nice not having a crib in there anymore- it has totally opened up the room and with a few storage bins in there it is so much easier to keep their room clean! I only wish I would've done it sooner.

-Tim just read this book and is trying to convince me to go on this program with him but I am afraid of looking like this:

Don't get me wrong, I would love to get in great shape but I don't want to look like sheman. Though I know realistically 12 weeks of diet and exercise couldn't make me look like that. Any body building women reading this blog, I am sorry if I offended you. Anyways, I promised him I would at least read the book.

-I am running a 10K at the end of March. I am determined to run it in UNDER an 8.5 min/mile pace. That is very fast for me, since my natural running pace is quite sluggish. But last Friday I ran 5 miles at an 8.7 pace so I think I can do it. Also, I got these jeans from Overstock last week and LOVE them- super cute, very good fitting with the perfect amount of stretch. If you have long legs, I highly recommend them.

-Last week we booked this beach house: http://www.midgettrealty.com/book/house.html?PMSID=WF312 (you'll have to copy and paste- the link isn't working)
My family is going to fly out here this August and vacation in the outerbanks with us. HOORAY!! LOVE the Outer Banks- and cannot wait to go there with my family!

-And last, but not least, we got our first (and probably last) snow storm last week. HOORAY! We could finally build a snowman! Now you Rocky Mountainers may be laughing at our pathetic excuse for a snowman, but it is hard to build a snowman from 1.5 inches of snow! This took pretty much all the snow from our front yard and I constantly had to pick leaves and sticks out of the ball as we rolled it. And we had to build it at 7:30 in the morning since the snow out here usually melts by noon, which it did. But Frosty JR. here lasted a whopping 2 days before his eyeballs fell out and his head fell off. And the squirrels treated themselves to a delicious dried carrot a few days later.

To anyone still reading this blog, hope you are doing well! And Mel, I know I promised bathroom photos so those are coming up! Tootles, y'all!

Holy Late, Batman!

I know that Halloween was a few weeks ago, but I am finally getting around to putting up the photos of the boys. Hopefully this post will be the introduction to me getting back on the blogging bandwagon.


We spent Halloween this year at the UVA Lawn once again. For those that are not familiar with UVA, there are rows of doorm rooms that line a grassy area on the backside of the Rotunda. They were built by Mr. Thomas Jefferson himself and certain students get invited to live there(apparently it is a huge honor, as they are really old and have community bathrooms that you have to go outside to get to- not my idea of fun!) Every year the students and some faculty members hand out candy there- there are tons of people! And the doors are all really close together so you can get lots of candy in a short amount of time, an idea which Jace really caught onto this year.


We went with Sonya B. this year and her little cowboy, Sam. Earlier that day Tim had a sinus procedure up in Warrenton that we were at all day, so we had to come straight from there. I remembered to bring the boys costumes but I forgot my camera. And I must say it was actually kind of nice! I got to enjoy what was going instead of walking around with one squinty eye and the other looking through a camera lens. But thankfully Sonya took a few shots for us. And you even get to see me in a frame- a rarity! The rest of the shots were taken on Nov. 1. I dressed the boys back up in their costumes so we could go show our neighbors their costumes and take some photos. Speaking of their costumes- I probably spent 14+ hours making these things. Crazy, right? Who spend 14 hours on their kids Halloween costumes? Yes, I am crazy indeed. But it was worth it- I couldn't resist doing the dynamic duo. Have you ever seen a more adorable Batman and Robin? You better say 'YES' or I will have Batman get you with a bat-a-rang.


Other updates: Jace turned 5 this week- can you believe it? Man, he is getting old fast(as am I)! And I played hookie from church today because I have a horrible cough. Really, I don't think I have ever had such a bad cough. I have probably only gotten 3-4 hours of sleep the last two nights because I just can't stop coughing- it is miserable! My jaw and my abs/ribs are so sore, I am tired of laying on the couch and I am running out of movies to watch! And I am a little nervous because I am scheduled to have surgery on my bellybutton this week and I am worried about how they are going to work on my belly button if my stomach muscles are constantly contracting from coughing. Can you cough when you are put under? I wonder... By the way, the surgery is for a hernia I got above my belly button after my last pregnancy. I want to get it fixed before I have #3 because I was told it will get worse.


Oh, other BIG news for me- I got this lens last week and it is AWESOME! This is the mother of all sports lenses- if you watch any sports you have probably seen the guys with the black and white lenses- this is that lens. Only I got it in black because the the white one was on back order. I haven't had tons of time to play with it yet since I have been sick, but I used it on my last session and it was amazing! It is really fast to focus and the bokeh at 135-200 is beautiful! And it is super sharp! The vibration reduction is such a cool feature- Tim took a shot at night inside at 200mm with a shutter speed of 1/15 and it was still pretty sharp. Seriously, that is amazing! Typically you need to have your shutter speed 2xs your focal length(in this case 1/400), so to even attempt shooting at 1/15 is unreal! Yep, this is going to be a great addition to my arsenal. And such a great sports lens for when my boys start sports! But man it is huge- the weight doesn't bother me, but it is LONG! It is about finger to elbow length with the hood on. It looks like a bazooka! I hope it doesn't scare away the kids I photograph! I will try to get out and do some test shots with it. I want to compare it to my 85 and see the difference in color, bokeh, etc.


Anyways, I better get going. My bag of cough drops and that indentation in the couch are calling my name. I wonder what movie I will watch tonight...


I will try to post again soon! Enjoy the photos!