The one where we all turn 30

"Friends" is my favorite show of all time. I've watched each episode literally dozens of times, and each time I wrap up season 10, I start over at the beginning.

{via}

Well, right now I'm making my way through season 7, and yesterday I watched "The One Where They All Turn 30."

This season aired roughly 13 years ago. When it first hit the airwaves, I would have been 17. Back then, and even until recently, I remember watching that episode (and the whole series, really) thinking, Wow, these people lead such interesting lives. Look at all the life experiences they have. Now, trust me, I realize they are TV characters and not real people. And I know it's not fair to compare your own life to the lives that are depicted on TV, but it is a startling revelation that I am now the age of those characters.

Well, almost.

I'll be 30 in eight months and 10 days.

But it's really something to think about. This show, as is the same with all television shows, is frozen in time. For the past almost 20 years, since the show's inception in 1994, I've been growing toward those characters. Granted, I didn't watch "Friends" when I was 10 — most likely I started watching around the time they all turned 30. But for 13 years, I've been shaping into someone that age.

But now, I am that age. These shows are taking place in the time in the lives of those characters that I am in right now. It's just odd to think about, and you may be thinking, Yes, Shannon, it is odd that you're thinking about it. But for some reason, it just hit me.

From this point forward, essentially, I'll be growing away from those characters. As in, they'll always be no more than 33, but Lord willing, my life will move into phases these fictional people never dealt with. Not that I looked to them for advice. Again, I know they're not real.

But this show is my favorite show. It's still my favorite show, and it's been off the air for 10 years. I still watch and laugh at each episode and get overly excited when I make it to one of my favorites — as if I couldn't skip ahead if I wanted to.

I don't think that will change. But 13 years from now, when I'm 43, can I really see myself watching and laughing? Probably. Because, Chandler isn't going to be any less cute or any less funny. And Monica won't be any less anal.

That's the good thing about TV. You can always count on your favorite characters to be who they've always been despite who you are or who you've become.

Tales of a grocery shopping novice

For the first five years of our marriage, my husband was the unofficially appointed grocery shopper. Sure, there were a few times I went without him, and a few more times that I went with him, but let's be honest, when I tagged along, I only slowed him down.

For the first five years of our marriage, Josh was also the one who did most, if not all, of the cooking. He enjoys it, and he's good at it. Plus, my work schedule for the majority of that time meant that I was the last one home and had the least time to beef up (pun totally intended) my culinary pursuits.

But, this year, on Jan. 27, I began a new job with a new schedule that means my afternoons are free most days. In the last three weeks, I've become the officially appointed grocery shopper, and I'm now taking on about half of the cooking.

As I mentioned, when Josh and I would grocery shop together, I slowed him down. A lot. So it's no surprise that when I grocery shop alone, it takes a while — longer than it should take an adult, I'm sure.

The first week, I must have walked the entire grocery store about six times, forgetting an item here and remembering another on the other side of the store. At this point, I'm a 29-year-old grocery shopping novice.

Josh knows this about me, and though I'm not sure if it's exactly how the conversation started, we ended up talking about how nice it would be if there was an app you could use to keep track of all your recipes, pick a few out for the week and have it translate the ingredients into a shopping list. Yes, we're lazy Americans. But, there's an app for that.

Enter Paprika.

Josh found it in the app store and it has been a wonderful sidekick during my most recent shopping trips. Not only can you add recipes, put them on a meal calendar and add them to a grocery list — it also separates the grocery list items by aisle. By. Aisle.

Plus, we can each sign in to it on the same account and sync our grocery lists. If he adds half-and-half, it shows up in my list. If I add coffee filters, it shows up in his. Oh, the wonders of technology.

I'm going grocery shopping again tomorrow. It has become a Monday tradition. Our meals are picked out for the week ahead, and my grocery list is ready, organized and waiting. With the help of Paprika, I'm sure to turn into at least a shopping apprentice in no time.

**The makers of Paprika have no idea who I am. I'm just really that bad at grocery shopping, and I hope there are others like me who could benefit from such an organized, intuitive app.

Rejuvenating plans

As I mentioned in my last post, I got to spend some time with my parents and some close friends at the end of June.

Usually, nothing ever works out the way I plan it. A trip home all too often starts or ends with someone ill or in a hospital or plans just fail. But this trip was different. Literally all of my plans came through.

I got to see two of my best friends from high school, one of whom lives in North Carolina and just happened to be in town the week I was.

I LOVE these girls and am so happy for both of them at this phase in their lives.

And, to top off the weekend, my cousin (on the left) was in town before I came back home so I got to see her, too. That's her pup, my dog niece, Emmie, in the center and my mom on the right.

Some times we need a rejuvenating weekend with friends and family and because of that we make plans and the plans come through. That was a weekend I won't soon forget!

Bath time!

Ha, if that title doesn't turn heads, I don't know what will.

Anyway, the last weekend in June, I took a few days away from work and spent some time in Southeastern Kentucky with friends and family.

My father has some extremely cute beagle pups, and they're at just the right size where bath time means a dunk in my mom's mop bucket.

So, I present to you some extreme cuteness:

Here's Big Ott

And Ruby

And Benny

And Blue/Brownie/Diamond

Dad has a tendency to name his dogs after family members. The first dog is named after his brother Arthur Lee. Dad always calls him Ott and the dog is the biggest of the four, hence Big Ott. Ruby is named after dad's sister. And Benny could be named after a number of people in the family — not the least of which would be my dad, whose nickname is Ben, or my grandpa, whose name was Ben.

The fourth puppy has a host of names depending on who you ask about him. He has blue eyes, so Dad calls him Blue. He's brown, and my mom insists Brownie is a better name for a dog than Blue. And last but not least, he has a white diamond on his back, so occasionally Dad calls him Diamond or Blue Diamond.

This is how they look at feeding time, ha! All standing on their back legs waiting for a taste of food. :)

Vacation: All I ever wanted...

I'm feeling kind of like Superwoman tonight. My husband and I have been back from vacation for all of about three hours, and I'm nearly caught up with the laundry.

But, so you won't start thinking I really have super powers, I will say that 1) laundry was caught up before we left, so all I had to wash were the clothes we wore on our trip and 2) our trip only lasted a total of four days.
On July 4, we drove down to celebrate a birthday and, you know, independence, with family. And, for our anniversary trip, we hit the road on Friday for Greensboro, N.C.
This coming Friday (July 12) we will celebrate our five-year wedding anniversary. On our wedding night, we stayed at the Proximity Hotel in Greensboro (the halfway point to our beach house), so with this being our first "milestone" anniversary, we headed back down south for the weekend. But no beach this time.
Here are a few photos from our mini vacation.

Those tiny letters at the top spell Proximity.

My handsome husband in the Tanger Family Bicentennial Gardens.

This mess on top of my head was the result of me forgetting my curling iron and volumizing mousse and the wonderful humidity in North Carolina. Ponytails and frequent hair washing were prominent.

Another scene from the Bicentennial Gardens.

The two of us enjoying the sunning patio outside the hotel.

And, just to show you some deliciousness: Here are the four desserts from my dessert melange at the Print Works Bistro.

Hair yesterday and hair today

So, for a while now, I've been thinking it'd be fun to examine my "hair trends" over the last little while. Just thinking back over the past couple of years, I feel like my hair has changed a lot. I had bangs, I cut my hair pretty short. It seemed like a lot of change.

But now that I've actually gone back and done the research (where research means scrolling through iPhoto), I'm a little disappointed.

There's definitely some change there, but not nearly enough.

In May 2011, my hair was mostly straight with my bangs blended into the rest of my hair.

In January 2012, I had thick, straight across bangs cut.

In May 2012, my bangs had pretty much grown out and I pinned them back with my mostly straight hair.

In July 2012, I had my hair cut into an angled bob.

But over the past year, my hair has looked pretty much the same. Growing out with some layers, side-swept bangs and some curl.

Who thinks it might be time for a change? I'm not quite sure because I love my hair long enough to wear in a ponytail. But there's certainly some thinking to do.

May 2011

January 2012

May 2012 (with my sister-in-law in Disney World!)

July 2012

November 2012

May 2013

High five for Friday!

Geez, it's been forever since I've had a legitimate post up here, so why not make it a H54F! Here are some of my highlights from this week:

1. I'm on vacation! And by vacation, I mean I squeezed a couple of days away from work, but I'm only at home. No beach or other adventure for me just yet. But it might explain why I have time to write today!

2. I managed to somewhat successfully complete a tutorial from Kate at The Small Things Blog. Personally, I thought it looked fantastic, but I don't think my husband was that impressed. When I asked him if it looked like the picture from the tutorial, he responded: "Yes, it looks like a messy knot and yours looks like a messy knot."

3. My husband planted some oriental lilies in the flower bed in our front yard, and they are GORGEOUS! Of course, they're about bloomed out now, but this picture shows them at their beginning.

4. After showing you one lily, I'll show you another. Although this Lily doesn't seem the least bit impressed I wanted to take her picture. She's still super adorable, though!

5. I am traveling this afternoon to see my cousin, who seems more like a sister, and I'm so excited. It's been waaay too long.

Have a fabulous weekend, everyone! And don't forget to stop by the link up over at The Lauren Elizabeth Blog and say hey!