it was a last minute lefthand turn....

and

maybe the best thing we did for ourselves all weekend

*

somebody could have told me to fix my bangs....

here we are. three sisters. the girls.

who given the choice, would rather take photos then be photographed. 

wait. maybe that's just me. 

~

if you remember, from just a few posts back, my older sister flew in from the east coast to surprise my  mom for her 70th birthday. we haven't all been together for a year and to say we all had a great time would be lying. we had a terrific time.

i know mom and dad will love the black and white photo of us. personally though, i love this photo. 

i love the fact that mom probably told us to put our hoods up and even tied the strings for us, but me, being the little rebel that i am....well, no hood for me. 

~

actually wait. i'm not even sure the hoodies are matching. i'm not even sure i have a hood on now that i'm looking at this photo closely.

wait a minute. 

did mom only buy matching hoodies for my sisters and not one for me.

okay.

 now i have some investigating to do.

sorry for the interruption. don't you love a tiger lily.

 especially a wild one from a field of wild ones.

and

a butterfly

and

a fresh out of the womb cattail 

okay

back to the family. so maybe mom didn't buy me a matching hoodie, but i think she loves me best.

just look at the way she's hugging me.

look at them. aren't they cute. 

does the one on the left look guilty to you.

i think she does. 

now i know why. don't worry mom. the fact that you didn't buy me a matching hoodie will not be held against you. after all. i am a adult. but seriously, did you think i wouldn't notice that my hoodie has white strings and theirs have red strings. 

gosh it's a good thing i have grown up and learned not take things like this personally. 

sniff.

~

{you know i love you mom and if my sweatshirt was different, it's probably because i threw a fit and said i didn't one to match theirs in the first place. little miss independent rebel that i am}

oh

and 

here's a pretty wild flower to end my post with. 

why. well, because it's tuesday and it feels like monday and i'm a bit discombobulated and will forever be screwed up this week. that's why.

*

are you home....

it's very quiet around our neighborhood and i tend to feel the silence here in blog land, too. maybe everyone did go away for the long weekend, my hubby said. 

are we the only ones who stayed home. the only ones who didn't go to a water park or camping or to a long lost aunts's house for a big red, white and blue celebration. or are you home, too.

~

we've kind of just been hanging. but in a good way. 

in a "nothing has to be done this weekend" and "what do you want to do now" way

we just finished watching wimbledon. that was exciting

and

i think "larry crowne" is calling our name for our afternoon excitement, 

unless someone has already seen it and tells me we should save our money and stay home.

~

so if you're home this weekend, doing a little bit of something or absolutely nothing, 

happy "bring out the fireworks and light up the sky" 4th of july to you

*

for char....

i was recently in contact with char's sister again and mentioned to her that many of you had sent me personal emails regarding doing something to keep char's memory alive.

as a family, they will be making a book of char's photographs and words, for their own personal keepsakes and she thought the idea of all of us, keeping char's blog alive, was a fantastic idea.

after rolling around a few ideas, i decided that a blog badge would be something char would have loved. so i grabbed some of her photos, ones that i felt represented her the best and made six different badges.

for most of you, you can just copy and paste one of these badges to your blogs and add char's blog as the link to the photo.

for blogspot bloggers, you use "picture gadget" and use the link "charlaneg.blogspot.com

~

{you can see mine added at the bottom of my blog}

if any of you know how to make an html code for all of these badges and want to help me out with that, i would hugely appreciate it.

i'm thinking for some of you, that might be an easier way

{thanks to eva, you can go HERE if you need the html code for the badge of your choice}

also, some of you might need to resize the badge you choose. i tried to make a one size fits all size, but with so many different blogs, i know that that's probably an impossible feat.

so to char

whose

photos and words and music and recipes

are missed everyday

the memory of you

will never be forgotten

*

it doesn't take much...

to make me smile

just give me my adorable niece

and

a room made of mirrors

and

i'm a happy camper

*

{there are a few new photos up over here and here if you have some extra time}

because it's proven that adults don't laugh enough....

okay

maybe you won't laugh as much as i did

and

maybe you don't even like improv

but

i did laugh

and 

i do like improv 

so

i thought it only fair 

that i share my giggles with you today

{use the arrow box-lower right-to enlarge the video}

my apologies...

you guys have been so great and i've been terrible

~

for the past week, my sister has been here visiting and instead of returning emails, responding to comments and reading your blogs, i've been playing and eating. i am so behind, it isn't even funny and i'm hoping that you'll all forgive me. 

i know there are many bloggers who take a break for a week or even a month, especially as summer rolls in, but i wasn't going to do that. at least not yet. 

~

now don't get wrong. 

i enjoyed life and family laughs and eating {lots} the entire time my sister was visiting, but now, i'm swimming in emails and "to-do" lists and can't seem to find my floaties anywhere. 

~

so with my head a bit under water, randomness surfaces.

~

1. the mushrooms in my last post are from the farmer's market and no i didn't buy them. yes you can eat them. i just thought they were really cool.

2. the "big c" started it's new season last night and like last year, i will be hooked.

3. the bachelorette continues to suck me in. maybe it's because secretly i want to find out where bentley lives so i can go and kick him in the shins and mess up his hair while i tell him to get rid of that smile that reeks of "i'm the biggest jerk that has ever lived"

4. ann curry is not doing it for me as matt's co-host. i miss meredith.

5. our summer is finally here. like really here. finally we have warmth.

6. i love small airports and want to thank all of you for your opinions on the photo of the lady reading her newspaper form friday's post.

7. i'm still hating the fact that nobody in madison says "excuse me"while rudely passing in front of me at any shopping establishment i go to.

8. i am loving the song "if i die young" by "the band perry"

9. it's been confirmed by every pair of sandals i have tried on this summer that i hate my toes.

10. out of the hundreds of photos i have taken this month, the one above might be my favorite.

~

so here's to catching up 

on everything and everyone

today

{and maybe a little bit tomorrow....and maybe wednesday too}

~

you guys are the best

*