The Potts Family - A to Z

Yesterday after work Mr. Potts and I drove from Charlotte to Louisville to spend Thanksgiving with his family up here.

I wasn't thrilled to be driving after work, but I saw the point in getting it over with, not dealing with the traffic on Wednesday (today) and being able to sleep in & relax today.

The drive itself? LONG. Filled with AWFUL drivers. To be sure, there were many creative terms being used for the less fortunate drivers (those not as highly skilled as me). Words that should never, ever be uttered out loud unless you are behind the wheel of the car, cruisin down the mountain at 80 mph only to have someone sitting (may as well have been sitting with as slow as they were going) in the left lane, making you slow down & downshift (pft!). Pure, unadulterated release of foul language followed.

What can I say? I'm not patient. Never have been, never will be, but at least I'm honest about it.

And really NC?? Where did you get all your bad drivers & why did they insist on following me & sitting in the left lane???

Yes, I know I'm from NC, but I am a GOOD driver. I drive in the right lane unless I'm passing. And I don't flip you off, I give you thumbs down. Two thumbs down if it's really bad. And if you see my mouth moving when I'm passing you on the RIGHT side, you probably don't want to know what I'm saying.

Anyway, last night (or morning depending on how you count the hours) around 1am we were still driving and decided to play the A to Z game. Great way to pass a little time. We started with Mr. Potts describing me A to Z. A was obviously AMAZING. Ha!!

Once finished with me, we moved on to him. Skipping X, cause, really, that's just not fair. Unless you use Xenophile - a person attracted to foreign people, cultures or customs (according to dictionary.com, anyway).

And did you know that Vinophile isn't a word? It should be! You know, a person attracted to good wine, drinking good wine, buying good wine....

Once finished describing the two of us, we moved on to the Potts family. By this time we were just punchy. We got to Z and being as tired as we were, we came up with Zoolander'ish. Appropriate for the couple that loves to pose & posture, don't you think?

Mr. Potts has agreed to guest and share with you all his A to Z of me. Not sure when, but soon, I promise.

And to add to your excitement (cause I know you're excited), Brown Eyed Girl and I will be announcing a fun swap coming soon.

All this and Thanksgiving too??? What a wonderful week!!!

So....what do you think?

Are you looking around thinking, "Hey! Where'd Mrs. Potts go?"? Have no fears, lovelies. I'm still here, but just new & improved!!

Jess from All-American Jess hosted a giveaway a while ago for a new blog design by the talented Krystyn of Krizzy Designs and I won! I was so excited & thrilled beyond belief that I'd have the chance to have undergo a makeover - you know, without adding in extensions or dying my hair or getting colored contacts. So thrilled!!

Then I started thinking about what I wanted to do & I'll admit, I found myself a bit overwhelmed. I mean, how do you what is going to represent you? How do you narrow it down?

So I started the process & thank God both Krystyn and Jess were so patient with my indecisiveness and my lack of time.

I think I even told Krystyn that I didn't know what to do. I do remember telling her that while I love fall, I didn't necessarily want my blog to scream, "FALL!!!" when someone came to my page.

After much work on Krystyn's part & lots of back & forth in my own head, this is the final outcome. And I love it!

Thank you Krystyn for your patience & thank you Jess for hosting such a fabulous giveaway!

Not Me! Monday or Did I really do all that in a week?

What an amazing week! I hope that you all enjoyed all of the guest posts - to Brittany, Brittany, Amber, Brown Eyed Girl, Whitney & Julie - I so appreciate you all helping me!

Whitney, I'm not sure what happened to the pictures - when I looked at it today, I saw they were missing. So sorry!

In typical vacation style Mr. Potts and I ate more than usual, drank more than usual & had a FABULOUS time!! What better way to share this with you than in Not Me, Monday fashion.

In case you haven't been introduced to Not Me Monday, here is the gist: This fun game originated with MckMama and you list a lot of things you "didn't" (read: actually did) do this weekend/past week. All in the name of admitting that we all make mistakes and aren't perfect.

Mr. Potts and I were NOT upgraded to first class for our flight to Miami. We definitely did not take advantage of the extra service & adult beverages. Uh uh - drinking & flying dehydrates you.

Mr. Potts and I did NOT enjoy some of the best Cuban food in South Beach. Oh yum...I'm drooling just thinking about it.

Mr. Potts and I did not go out in South Beach & have a wonderful time. Oh the people watching!!
We absolutely did NOT have a great time out that night & end up meeting some very nice Swedish men. Who were very emphatic that they were NOT a couple.

We did NOT love our room on the ship with a view of the ocean.
We did NOT go on our cruise with one of Mr. Potts' best friends. We did NOT meet his new girlfriend & we definitely did NOT love her to death. (Seriously though, she was so awesome!)
Mr. Potts did NOT eat sushi for the very first time & love it! He gave it two thumbs up.

Who takes cheesy pictures? NOT US!!

The Potts family most certainly did NOT enjoy their time in Grand Caymen. We most certainly did NOT get to see stingrays & hold them. Dangerous mates (Bad Steve Irwin joke there)!

We did not get to hang out with this cutie named Nemo. After hanging out with Nemo, getting kisses from him, dancing with him and petting him I certainly did NOT turn to Mr. Potts and tell him I wanted one.

We did NOT (no way, uh uh) go to Cozumel & ride ATV's through the "jungle". I didn't see how fast mine could go (37 by the way) & I definitely did NOT go through a huge puddle at full speed!

Our last night was spent at the steakhouse on board. I did NOT have a twinge of jealousy that Mr. Potts was able to order the lobster bisque. Uh uh. Not me.
Mr. Potts most definitely did NOT decide to take a snooze in the Miami airport. We spent Saturday afternoon/evening with some of our best friends here for our annual "Friends Thanksgiving". We all get together & share a Thanksgiving dinner.

I made a homemade cranberry sauce (which has apple, pear, orange, cinnamon & nutmeg in it - yum!) & a homemade pecan pie (no Caro syrup for this girl's pie!).

We all had a great time - as evidenced by the group shot.
Hope you all had a fabulous week & weekend!!

What did you not get in to?

Fabulous at 50!

Have you been to visit Whitney from That Girl & her Pug? No? You must! She's so wonderful & has the cutest little Pug named Ida Claire. She's awesomely inspirational (check her out on Good Will Grace) and incredibly honest - she's shared her struggles with her brain tumor as well as her weight loss journey.

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While Mr. and Mrs. Potts are off somewhere gorgeous sipping Mai Tai's and having no cares in the world, Mrs. Potts asked me to fill in. As if I could fill her shoes, but I'm going to do my absolute best!

When she asked me (and my other esteemed guest bloggers) to fill in for her, she gave us some suggestions on what to write about. Our favorite part of our wedding, honeymoon, etc. Well, since I'm still checking the "single" box on health forms and such, I have no memories of which to share with you. What I do have, however is my most favorite vacation I've ever taken. So, today that's what you're gonna get.

A little background:
When my momma turned 50, I knew I wanted to do something special for her. She is the most important person to me and I wanted to make sure we celebrated right. So, I started saving and saving so I could give her the vacation of a lifetime. It had been almost 20 years since she'd had a vacation and it was high time she had one. She had also never been to Florida (which is still crazy for me to even fathom that she was 50 before she went to Florida) so I figured what better place to go than Miami?

It was the best. We stayed at the Fairmont Hotel Resort and Spa in Aventura, went on a day cruise to the Bahamas, took in the whole spa experience with massages and pedicures, shopped a whole lot and just relaxed and enjoyed ourselves.

So, below you will see some of my favorite pictures. We took so many, so it was hard to select (seriously, Sophie's choice people) but I did it and here's what you get.


I hadn't been on an airplane since I was about 3 months old, so this was the first one I remembered. Suffice it to say I was terrified! I probably should have taken a sedative.

We were so sleepy because we had to get up so early to be at the airport. While my mom was getting ready she tried on 2 different pairs of shoes trying to make a decision on which one to wear. When she made a decision evidently she forgot to follow through and this sight is what we saw going through security. Only my mom.

Again, we were so tired (or flight took off at 7am) but we wanted a picture of us on the plane. Well everyone that sat around us was snooty, so we did the self portrait thing, but couldn't quite seem to get it. This was the best result of at least 25 attempts.

We stayed in style. The resort was 5 stars and amazing.

We had massages and pedicures. The spa was amazing. I wish I lived there, I swear I would be there every single day.

The private beach was gorgeous.

And while we were walking we found some dentures that washed up on shore. So, we did what everyone would do - we took a picture. And then I threw up in my mouth.

One of the restaurants we ate at was called Bice. It was an Italian place recommended to us by our concierge. It was fabulous! Isn't my mom beautiful? I don't think she looks 50 at all!

Getting on the ship for our daycruise.

Don't even try and guess what number drink that is!

Welcome to Freeport! Shopping here I come!

On the way back the sun began to set and it was breathtaking. I actually have this photo blown up in a collage on my wall.

South Beach!

All in all, it couldnt' have been a better trip. We laughed til we cried, shopped til we dropped and ate til we popped. And it was a blast.

I want to thank Mrs. Potts for asking me to fill in for her while she is off! I'm jealous of her vacation but couldn't be happier for her and Mr. Potts celebrating one year of marriage! They are just about the cutest couple ever.

Thanks Mrs. Potts! And thank y'all for taking a visit to pictureland here - if you ever want more, you know where to find me!!

Whitney Johnson

www.wordsfromwhitney.blogspot.com

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Thank you Whitney for sharing this. How wonderful to be able to do this for your mom!! Perhaps I'll come back with some great pictures like this!

Thank you all for coming and visiting & for showing my guest bloggers all your love & support. Mr. Potts and I should be back by the time you're reading this & I can't wait to share our adventure with you all!

Floating on Salt

I hope that in having Julie guest blog today I am not introducing anyone new to you. If I am, you must click on over (but only after reading her post) to her blog and say hello. I guarantee you, you'll be hooked (ok, ok, you can go over there now, but you must come back to read her post!). Happy Friday Everyone!!

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Hello everyone!

Thank you to Mrs. Potts for inviting me write today. I am honored to be posting on her wonderful blog! In case you don’t know me, I’m Julie from Wearing Mascara.

Since Mrs. Potts is on vacation, I wanted to share with you the most amazing, spiritual, awe-inspiring experience of my life. It was when I swam in the Dead Sea in May of 2008.

Since I had never been overseas, I took the Birthright Trip to Israel as my opportunity to take the long flight over the ocean. When I got there, it was surreal. Everywhere you go in Israel, you see something new. If I could describe the trip in one word, it would be “Surprise” because everywhere I went was surprising and different.

As I previously mentioned, swimming in the Dead Sea was so amazing. The average ocean has about 3% of salt and the Dead Sea has a whopping 33%! No wonder they call it the “Dead” Sea. Nothing lives in there! Also, you float. That was the appeal to me. I kept hearing that you float in the Dead Sea but I couldn’t believe it. How in the world could someone FLOAT in water? I obviously had to try it out for myself. It was astonishing:

That’s me reading Glamour magazine. You know how they have that column called “Where Has Your Glamour Been?” Well, I was eager to be on that page! No luck yet though!

What’s cool about the Dead Sea is that there’s a spa and beauty shop nearby that sells beauty products made from the Dead Sea. It’s called Ahava and the products rock my socks off. On that day, we picked up some body mud and lathered up! Once it dried, we washed it off in the Dead Sea. A complete natural spa day!

If you ever get a chance to go to Israel, I highly recommend visiting the Dead Sea. When I was floating, it really seemed like I could do anything. There are so many possibilities with this world of ours. The fact that I was able to defy gravity in water really says something. You can do anything you put your mind to. If that’s too deep, I hope you enjoyed the pictures anyway!

Thank you for reading! Please stop by my blog, Wearing Mascara any time! Also, please email me if you have any questions about Birthright or about my specific trip (there are a ton to choose from and I highly recommend mine!).

hugs,

Julie

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Happy Thursday!! I met Mrs. Molly Lou some months back and fell in love with her shop! I've ordered a few different sets of stationary from her (and LOVE them!!) and am planning to order some special notecards from her for Christmas for my niece. If you haven't been over to see her, you should go. But read this first!!

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Hello there! I'm Mrs. Molly Lou from Molly Lou Gifts and I am super excited to be over here today. I heart Mrs. Potts and have so enjoyed getting to know her and am so thankful to call her my friend.

If you haven't stopped by my blog, I invite you to pop over and see what's going on over there. It's filled with tales and tidbits from my life with two minis and you will also find some fabulous and unique items: stationery, invitations/announcements, tableware, clothing, and more! We also have a great collection of holiday cards-perfect for your festive holiday correspondence. (Shameless plug, I know. Thanks for indulging me.) (Mrs. Potts again - Yes! You should go!!)

Let's take a moment to stop and wish Mr. and Mrs. Potts well on their anniversary cruise. Right now, they are relaxing and cruising around the Caribbean. I hope they are eating, drinking, sunning, sightseeing, swimming, and are enjoying being together celebrating their first year of marriage.

Now, let's take a trip down memory lane to my honeymoon about 5.5 years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Molly Lou got married in July of 2004 in a lovely and oh so fun ceremony and reception. We then jet-setted off to Italy for almost two weeks of fun in Rome and Venice.

Mr. Molly Lou planned our trip. We picked the destination together and then he took off. He found a castle about 60 miles outside of Rome in a small village that would be perfect for our first night there.

This is a story of planes, trains, and automobiles. We arrived in Rome in the morning and needed to get to this castle in the Italian countryside. We didn't rent a car and Mr. Molly Lou just said we could get a train from the airport to the village and then a taxi to our destination.

WRONG. WRONG. WRONG...this is where I should have smacked myself for allowing my husband to do all of the planning.

We go over to the train station and my husband tries to "discuss" with the ticket attendant on what our route will be. Mr. Molly Lou shows the paper work with the name and address.

Ticket Attendant: "No."
Mr. Molly Lou: "No. What do you mean no? I am trying to get to (as he is pointing to picture, address, confirmation number). Can you tell me what train to take?"
Ticket Attendant: "No." And he shrugs.

We try another person...nothing.

We go to a bank nearby and someone helps us. He doesn't know exactly where it is, but general vicinity. We are to take a train and then get on a bus to the village.

We purchase our tickets and haul our luggage to the train. After a lovely, short ride, we get off train and are looking for the bus needed. As we are walking through this train terminal towards the exit, there are two homeless men that are fighting with beer bottles.

(Cue:Oh lovely. This is perfect. Am I worried? Yes, but I am oh so in love and can't wait for this adventure with my new husband.)

The smell of beer and urine is just what I envisioned for the beginning of my honeymoon. We purchase our tickets and have about an hour before we depart. We purchase some pizza from a stand and then proceed to sit on the curb with our luggage enjoying the "sights" all around us.

Time to leave...yes! We are almost there. There are about 50 buses lined up at the bus depot and we have NO idea where to go. Those Italian lessons sure would have been helpful now as this small blue book isn't doing much in this small town.

I am in tears and finally by the Grace of GOD, an American man comes over...he has lived there for over 10 years and noticed that we were having some complications. He shows us which bus to get on. We get on and have one suitcase nicely perched on our laps. The bus ride is long, loud, and bumpy, but the sights are gorgeous. Finally, we can see the castle WAY UP HIGH on the small mountain come in to sight.


We wind a little up this narrow street and the excitement is on. The bus stops and the driver looks at us and tells us to get off. My husband says, "No. We are going up to the castle" and the driver says "You get off here and walk."

We get off, two suitcases and start to walk UP THE MOUNTAIN. (By this time, we have been up for over 24 hours, taken 2 planes, a train, a bus, and now we have to walk.) We walk up and around the windy DIRT streets of this small village that is empty. Turn a corner and CHICKENS are on the road and then proceed to follow us.

We finally make it and it really was gorgeous with breath taking views. We had a lovely time walking the grounds, exploring the castle, swimming, ate the best meal, and had virtually an entire castle to ourselves as there were only 6 other people staying that night. Two other couples we talked to rented cars to get there and were staying for days. (DUH!)

The next morning as it was time to leave and head to Rome, we are attempting to joke with the desk receptionist on all that it took to get there. We told our journey, laughing at the ridiculousness of planes, trains, buses, and walking with chickens to arrive and asked how to get back. She shared with us that without a car, you get back the same way we came.

WHAT?!?!?!?! She tells us to buy the bus tickets from the bar at the bottom on the hill and the bus will take us to the train. After walking our way down to the village, the bar no longer sells the tickets.

This is where I start hyperventilating and freaking out. Enter Fabio (yes, Fabio, but imagine LARGE Italian man with necklaces and spiky hair) who says he will drive us to the train station. Quick glance between Mr. Molly Lou and I and then we hop in Fabio's station wagon.

Mr. Molly Lou must have asked/confirmed at least 10 times that Fabio was indeed driving us to the train station and not taking us to a field to do away with the American tourists. He was a true lifesaver and delivered us safely to the train station.

We had an amazing trip and definitely have many stories to share with our children.

Have a great day!

Ocean City Love

Brown Eyed Girl has quickly become one of my favorite bloggers. She's honest, she's funny, she's genuine and I adore her. After talking to her for a few weeks, I decided to join Weight Watchers. So b.e.g., in a way, I have you to thank for my already 14 pound weight loss! You should definitely go & show her some love!

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While Mrs. Potts is gone, enjoying fruity beverages with tiny, pink umbrellas with her Mr. Potts, I’ll try and recreate that vacation-y feel on her blog! You know, because I’m super-jealous that she’s enjoying sun and libations and I’m enjoying spending time doing schoolwork!

Back in 2004, my husband and I had just started dating. I call him Dimples, because he’s got a sweet dimple on the right-hand side of his face! We were both undergraduates at a private school in upstate New York. Dimples had gone home for the summer and was three hours south in Centre County, PA. I was working at an outpatient facility for my co-op in upstate New York. We were smitten with the puppy love bug something awful! I would drive down to see him every other weekend, and he’d be up to see me every other weekend. I got three speeding tickets during that summer…if you’ve ever driven route 15 or the NY State Thruway, you understand how it is.

So back to us. We were puppy-dog smitten, head-over-heels enamored with one another and decided to take a vacation to the beach! Dimples had a long-standing tradition with his friends of going to Ocean City, MD during the summer. So, as any level-headed, clear-thinking, puppy-dog smitten twenty-one year old in looooove would do, Dimples ditched his friends and planned a long weekend in Ocean City for the two of us!

It was our first trip together, and we totally clicked. We stayed at the Shoreham Hotel, a house converted into a hotel with an Irish restaurant on the main floor, overlooking the ocean. Our room was tiny, with two beds and a dorm-style shower. The shower was so small, it was a stand-alone, one-person stall, we referred to it as the “rocket shower” because it was in a cylinder shape and SO small! Mind you, Dimples is 6’4 and this shower was barely large enough for him to maneuver around, much less get his head under the shower head!

We spent our days lying in the sand, sunglasses on, people-watching, and pointing out interesting-looking people to one another! We had dinners at Shenanigans Irish Pub & Café, where I had, literally, a crab cake at each meal!

We walked the boardwalk every night, popping into shops and trying on the ridiculous tourist merchandise, admiring sand sculptures, and being ridiculous at the carnival! We brought a bottle of Jack Daniels with us, Dimple’s favorite, and purchased two liters of Coke. We had mini bathroom cups and took shot after shot after shot of Jack & Coke, laughing hysterically as only tipsy people can!

On the last day there, Dimples and I decided to get henna tattoos together. We had been talking about doing it all week and decided to go for it on the last day. I got a tattoo on my left hand, such beautiful, intricate design work. Dimples got his henna inked on his forearm and bicep. I drove home, not knowing that this would become a tradition: when we leave in the mornings, I drive. If we leave at night, he drives. And I drove his SUV, which is actually a small one (CR-V), but it was SOO big to me at the time.

Everything was so new, so fun, so exciting, and done on a small budget, but with big dreams. We’ve been married five months and there’s lots more memories to be made!

Happy Anniversary, Mr. & Mrs. Potts – thank you for inviting me onto your blog, hopefully your readers enjoyed this, and you had a great trip!

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Thanks b.e.g. for sharing the love & your memories!!