well that was fun.

...dear blogger - your spacing issues have driven me do drink. and now i'm too sleepy/tipsy to deal with it anymore. please @ your apologies to my dear readers. janky. ...

so.

as of 1:30 this last friday (so i may have started this post a week ago and then punked. shocker!) afternoon, school is out. finally, mercifully, didn't-think-it-was-ever-gonna-happen out.

i gave myself last weekend to soak up some sun, sip some frozen margaritas by the pool and sleep off the last nine weeks' worth of whiny children, curriculum workshops, and cafeteria duty. then since monday i've managed to clean house (next time i'm burning the sumbiatch to the ground and starting over. truth.), buy groceries (my first serious solo trip since it was cold enough to wear uggs - i had a good run!), cook a few legit dinners (thanks to my twitter peeps for hooking a sister up!), run a bajillion errands (and spend a bajillion dollars in the process), have a few fun lunches and spend a few (read: double digit) more hours by the pool.

ohhh sweet summertime, how i love thee.

i figured the treasure trove of great iphone photos i've managed to accrue lately was as good a way as any to kick off what i hope is an upswing in blog content. (same song, different verse. i know. i'm awful. y'all just ignore me. fo' real.)

found a few old photos. as in, old school polaroids. flipping fantastic.

this would be my mama shu and papa shu. and belvedere the dachshund, who left more of a legacy than most human members of our family. and their favorite granddaughter. (three guesses who the cutie could be. and the first two don't count!)

papa shu and yours truly at what i can only assume is my very first christmas. swoon.

blair and me in galveston. mama and papa shu took us for spring break one year. my second favorite trip ever. (the first is a tie between the summer we road tripped to vegas with mama and papa shu and the summers we spent in nana and daddy bob's condo in destin. it was a tough life back then, y'all!)

saw this driving around one day. i'ma say they be a little confuzzled. like duh.

my sweet dad played for the razorbacks when he was in college. (rickey shu - #52 in your program but #1 in your heart!) at some point the o-line was referred to as the clydesdales. obvi, this photo was a must. love me some rcs!

the wild woman came to field day at mommy's school. and when it was over, she read (sister girl was pretty close to the original ... it's our current bedtime favorite, so she has the majority of it memorized. the best part is her expressions. melts my heart.) green eggs and ham to the munchkins. beyond presh! (notice the crossed legs.)

so i caved and started doing couch 2 5k. and what's even more shocking is that i'm absolutely loving it. i figured out a few weeks ago that i was either going to start running or doing bodily harm to others. and since we all know (prison) orange isn't really my color, i laced up my hot pink shox and got down to business.

drove an hour to watch my oldest niece play softball. stayed until midnight. had a ball!! (pun totally intended. ha!)

clearly, the funnel cake (and subsequent sour punch straws) i ate for dinner was a sizable chunk of the fun.

my girl and i are logging some serious pool time. i just love how thrilled she looks to be hanging out with good ol' mom. (and an editorial note: i fought as hard as i could against the too-big princess swimsuit in favor of the cute pink rosette one she got in her easter basket, but i obviously lost.)

i'd like to kiss the genius behind puddle jumpers squarely on the mouth.

i'm raising a (ridiculously fair-skinned) little fish. and buying almost unimaginable quantities of spf 70.

...i somehow deleted the photo that was supposed to go here and can't get it back. just imagine a screenshot of my online checking account register with lots of entries from businesses in BROOKLYN...

we kicked off our memorial day holiday by finding out that some idiot in brooklyn, ny had stolen my debit card number to the tune of hundreds of dollars. electronics, pet supplies, shoes, clothes, and fast food fried chicken. (yah. you heard me.) thank the Lord for a bank with fraud protection!

and a quick question. what kind of numnutsskull steals a debit card and goes to frickin' kfc? twice?! we were clearly dealing with the creme de la creme of criminal society. whiskey. tango. foxtrot.

we spent that afternoon by the pool at my mom's. drinking leftover party punch. spiked with vodka. (just keepin' it real, y'all.) i was so distressed about the monetary theft situation that i didn't even care about the cup in which my slushy nerve pill was served. as long as that bad boy stayed full, i couldn't have cared less.

we got brave and took the two wild women to my youngest sister's (outdoor, inferno-esque) graduation a couple of weeks ago.

they did okay for the most part.

except for when they didn't.

i was quite thankful for the fireworks. they helped drown out at least some of the drama.

ignore my sweaty/puffy/flat-haired/stressed out self and focus instead on my precious mama shu. i'm not sure i can really put into words how i feel about her. i hope at least a tiny piece of that comes across here.

sisters. i'd like to pop them both in the mouth on quite frequent occasions, but i still love 'em.



i almost got a great shot of the grads tossing their caps. alllll-most. thanks, dude.



my girl and me on mom's birthday. someone please let her know it's time for her to STOP growing.


we both love us a good mad face.


she's much better at these than i am.


and this one is just downright disturbing. but so are we.

the wild woman and the birthday girl.

trying to convince pawpaw to let her drive the gator. (he did. duh. thank the Lord for wide open spaces!)

the girl loves her some grandparents. spoiled much, kid?

this came on the radio the other night. i don't actually have an anthem, but if i did, this would TOTALLY be it.

love & i ain't gotta set an alarm clock for two whole months (please don't hate me!!!),