Sunshiney Saturday.

Today was chocked full of goodness. We spent most of the day up at my grandparents, just hanging around and swimming. It was such a relaxing kind of day and everybody had an amazing time as always.

Just a handful of pictures to sum up it all up, because if the girl chattered about every second of it she might go on and on ... Typical of chippery kind of days.

*Description of pic in order as they're posted below. * wink *

1) The twin-boy cousin of mine. It feels like just yesterday we were both toddling around the grandparent's house, Papa's old white t-shirt (our pjs of choice) dragging the floor while we fought over who got to use their tiny red Dirt Devil vaccum first. Now ... He seems to be towering head and shoulders above me overnight, picking me up and talking sports cars.

2)  Abs & Brandon. Just a picture of people taking pictures 'cause well, we're all about capturing the moment and everything.

3) Auntie and Me ~ we shared a moment over a lesson in the making of a single cup of coffee with the lovely Keurig. She makes me smile ... Mainly because she got excited over that crazy thing like I did when I first tried it. It's the small things in Life | embracing that moment and enjoying the simplicity of a tiny happiness.

4) The cousin and I with one of my most favoritest men in the whole wide world, my Papa. The man who let me steal his t-shirts for pajamas | the maker of the best fried apples my mouth ever experienced | the man who turned a small munchkin girl of three into a John Wayne fan and basically any sort of Western | who taught her b&w movies are special and good in the midst of a Disney crazed age of wild colors and sparkles | the man who promised me half a million wonderful things and gave me a world of priceless memories.

5) Aunt "Winnie" and her "Gilly-Boy". That guy with the goofy fish face | a smirk working to break lose just behind it adores my auntie to bits. Whats more, he makes her smile. He gives her a heartshaped world with two suns, sparkly clouds and still he surrounds her life with happiness.

6) Um ... I cannot say enough about this woman. She's so crazy, I mightn't claim her if it werent for us being together here. I kid. My grandma's the coolest, most amazing woman a girl could ask for in a second mother | a best friend and official "spoil the world rotten" kind of person. She makes me laugh and I downright adore her.

7) We were putting a hurtin' on them dishes till a certain somebody hit her funny-bone on the edge of the counter. Laughing over dumb things is always buckets of fun. * winks *

On a Whim 'Cause That's How We Roll

Second day of Summer rolled around ... Twas ten o'clock and already ridiculously hot. The sound of tiny-sized men pushing lego people across a carpet battlefield upstairs broke into the girl's quiet thoughts as she wondered what to do with her unoffical day off.

''You're always gone, Bwit." Joshy had mumbled sleepily into my pillow the other morning. "You work too much."

"Hey guys??" I waited a moment for a response. Suddenly an idea unfolded in my mind and I smiled. "Do you want to go to the Fork Union Pharmacy?"

Now, I have to stop for a second here and explain that FUP isnt just a pharmacy. Its a gift shop. A toy shop. And A candy shop with everything thrown all together so everybody's happy. Which means, Sissy and Nane can look around while the boys and Abigail can tinker around to heart's content at the same time. Not too shabby a deal. * smile *

They were of course thrilled to be able to get out and go somewhere, so they piled into the backseat of my car and chattered THE WHOLE way.

I let them pick out some candy for something special and the lady ended up giving it to them for .63 cents. Apparently, there are still gem-my people in this world!

Afterwards we drove to the Lake and got Subway for lunch. Happy factor only grew, let me tell you. To the boys, Subway Pizza is the world's BESTest pizza ever and whenever they can have it, they are entirely psyched.

Sometimes they arent in a pepperoni mood, so today Big Sissy had to ask. Sam said, "Um, I just want plain cheese pizza. With pepperonis on it."

... as if he ever ate any other kind, right? * wink *

Joshy piped up, "Oh yeaaah! Me too. Just cheese ... With pepperoni."

Lunch was a lot of fun. I was really glad we got to do it randomly, just for fun.

Then as if they werent pumped enough going to Subway, we went to Dunkin Donuts. Aka, their most favorite place on earth.

I've never seen such talent, chattering away around mouthfuls of sugary | chocolatey donuts like that. * smiles *

Highlight of MY day? Oh thats an easy one. It'd probably be when a big cup of Ice coooold Sweet SWEET tea dumped in my lap on the way home. Twas quite the surprise and yet, entirely awesome. Car went from chattery to dead silent in three seconds before we all errupted in laughter.

But um, what's so cotton pickin' funny 'bout tea spilling in the car? you ask. Not a thing, Jack. Not a thing ... Cept we bonded and this is jusy dandy. * smiles *

Infomercial: Part Two

With every intention of falling asleep, my mind gave me half a dozen reasons to stay up. My technological child cried, random handwritten bits of blogness fluttered across my desk and my mental to-do list forced me out of bed not once, but twice. Sweetness, hmm? * smiles *

Thus, I find myself once again typing away at these keys, summing up my day at the Williamsburg Dental Conference ...

• When I first walked into the Lodge this morning, trailing behind my boss in a sleep-deprived state and faking alertness entirely, I was pretty much gung ho about this Invisalign deal. I'd tossed the idea around for awhile, so basically I was about to be edu-mah-cated on the ins and outs of the whole process. After 8 hours , the girl wasn't so sure she wanted to hear the "I" word for a good long while! Yet, the whole process still kind of fascinated her. Because after all, it was: 1) upbeat  2) upscale  3) exciting and fun.

* or, that's what I heard them say half a dozen times or so. I was picturing the thrill of sitting in that chair getting plastic trays fitted to my teeth ... my enthusiasm was building. * noted sarcasm, cause girl can't help making light of repetition after so long. *

• Jay got awesome boss of the day award for taking us to the Cheese Shoppe for lunch. We were starving, and the food was ridiculously amazing. Being an alumni of William & Mary college, he knew his way around the old campus and showed us the hidden gardens and a few of the buildings. I am in love with the old brick walkways | the enormous trees and the way the air smells.

• When we returned after our third session of the day, I stopped dead in my tracks. "Johnna, I think he just paused the video while we went to that last lecture. Or ..." She rolled her eyes, "I swear, if he's going to repeat this whole thing I'm going to need a cigarette." I couldn't help but laugh. We were all drained mentally, believe it or not. Even our boss was literally holding his eyes open. Yes, we DID laugh over that particular moment.

          "Well, at least we'll ace this program deal. Hmm?" I whispered in the middle of another spill about the function of Invisalign computer software. Apparently, it was Dr. B's soapbox { he claimed it was true, himself } so we heard a good deal about ClinChecks and so forth.
          
           Johnna's arms were folded, she leaned back in her chair. After all, we were going on our eighth hour and still going strong. "No Bull. Honey, you're not kidding."

           I laughed. Life is so much fun, especially when all the DA girls get tired and Jay just looks down the long table at us with a quizzical expression and leaves us to ourselves. Smart Man, our boss.

• Ten minutes later, we've switched topics. Relief floods my soul, and Dr. B goes on to discuss Ankylosed teeth. Johnna was flipping through her lecture notes, and none of us looked like we really knew up from down at this point. "Johnna," I leaned over and spoke in a hushed whisper. "What's an ankylosed tooth??"

           After all, I am Dental Assistant in training. Questions from the girl are typically welcomed at this point. I like picking Jay & Johnna's brain outside of appointments, so I have a grasp on the info when I have a patient with similar questions. Her expression changed from zoned to entirely lost, "Huh? Where'd you hear that word?"

           I was right, we were there in body only. We'd managed to fade in and out of conscious retention for the last two hours if the conference. Pulling my notepad out, I scribbled the word down only to look up and find Johnna chuckling. She didn't know, but thought of something it might be so we dove into our thick lecture notes that resembled novels in search of answers. Neither of us really have a clue at this point, but that's okay. It's how we roll.

So amid day full of mass chaos | gobs of people | endless amounts of laughter - both from the next room and our little group | switching rooms and speakers | the gorgeous day and a yummy lunch ... the day was a really awesome one. I admit, it was exhausting but well worth going. * smiles *

And there you have it, the behind the scenes of Dentistry you never knew. Honestly, you probably hadn't the slightest desire to know we don't always go to schools for what we know. Now you know we sit in hours of lectures and classes and sometimes get bored out of our minds. Now you know that those girls in scrubs are legit humans. * winks *

Nearly Invisible: the Infomercial

How most blog posts begin ... out of an
abundance of random words and occasionally,
an overdose of boredom. Thus, a pad of paper
sitting atop my lecture notes. Gotta love it.

Just as the stars began to fade into the darkened blanket of morning sky, I glanced one more time over the packet my boss had given me last week. In a matter of hours I would be in Williamsburg with my boss and two of the girls from our office.

Occasion? An Invisalign Conference. Basically, its something innovative and new we're bringing to our patients and well, knowing what we're doing is a pretty awesome idea. Rocket Science, this being prepared. Hah!

Eventually, we all find one another amidst the gorgeous brick buildings and foggy-eyed tourists out for a morning jog. We settle into chairs that are thankfully, quite comfortable and wait for speaker to begin ... All the while, the girl's brain is running wild. Because she's a people watcher, and everything.

° Women really cant go the bathroom by themselves. Seriously. Halfway through the lecture they all started popping up in groups of two. I really have no idea about this. But found it smile-worthy to say the least.

° Among the snapping of soda cans and crinkling of pretzel bags, I couldnt help but glance at my sugar-conscious boss. I swear I saw him cringe. Whats wrong with these people?? Flaunting their junk food and sugary beverages like that. My soul. * wink *

° With each passing moment that Dr. B lost my attention with repetitious portions of lecture, I couldnt help but feel like it was one big infomercial. Which, is totally cool yes but the feelings that proceed not so much. Every few minutes, people from the room next to us would errupt in gut busting laughter ... Johnna and I felt horribly cheated;  like kids that had to sit inside at recess.

° By 11:40, everyone is so very chocked full of liquid energy and induced happiness. By the way ~ LEGIT coffee gives your blood a boost. While decaf coffee settles in all the joints you didnt move for three plus hours. We discovered this hard way.

° Speaker is rambling again, must focus ... He suggests using new putty and wash for taking imressions instead of that yucky stuck that resembles cream cheese * shivers * Really?! Can you put that on our wish list, boss man?

Irish Tea + Lemon: The Best Tea Ever!
I owe huge debts of gratitude to the three cups of
delicious hot tea that kept me going all day. amen.

Dont fall on floor, we love our job so much we have a wishlist of things to make it twice as fun. Including a scanner that cost $40-grand/smoothe money. We asked boss pretty please??? To which he looked at us like a bunch of nutcases. So much for that, I guess.


{ too much chatter for one post, naturally. Shall be continued ... }

We should be sleeping ...

We should be sleeping right now, my little brother and I. Are we? No, of course not.

Instead of sleeping, we lay there in darkness discussing Star Wars & Indiana Jones. The strategies you have to use for the particular video games and why so and so should have this power/ability and that.

"I think we beat all eight levels, or ... Around that estimate." He says around a smothered yawn. "I feel reeeeally stupid right now."

I smile in the darkness, he doesnt know I think he's adorable and grown up. "Why?"

"Because, Brit." His tone says I should already know what he's talking about. "I've never talked so much in ALL my life. I always talk alot at night when I'm in your room. I dont know why. It just makes me feel dumb."

"Oh! well, I like listening to you talk about your video games." I say, because I know it's what gets him. He's a gamer at the very core, basically because Sam is THE BEST gamer I know. Seriously, there isnt a game he cant knock out.

"Yeah, well ... oh my wooord! The hair under my arm is gone!"

I open my eyes, up until this point my eyes were closed as I listened. "Do what?!"

"Oh. Well before dinner I found little hairs under my arm and it made me really smile cause thats like ... A man thing. But I think when I go to sleep, my body sucks all the arm hairs back in to sleep."

He's explaining this to me like its the most natural thing in the world. And I'm being a good big sister and not cracking up like I want so badly to. Because honestly, the child and all his theories and whatnot just slay me.
So its back to Star Wars. Indiana Jones. Video Games & Random Facts he feels I should know. Gotta love it!

God's Sense of Humor Is Huge.

The light of early dawn crept beyond my window, casting mixed shadows of moonlight and rising sun. I burrowed deep beneath my quilt and sighed, contentedly. There's something about knowing the day ahead will ask nothing of you; that nothing requires your attention at any particular time. Time is your own, and if you never once look at the clock through out the day the world will be just fine ...

The little munchkin man flopped one arm across my stomach unceremoniously and mumbled something unintelligable in his sleep. Leaning over, I kissed his smoothe forehead, whispering "I love you, Baby Man" into the quiet before giving in to the sleep that was desperately calling my name.

Somewhere in the distance, my phone vibrated and the phone's somewhat annoying ring peppered the sleepy haze of my dream. My eyes were heavy. Who called people so early in the morning anyways? It could keep ringing for all I cared at that moment, even if I did have the faintest feeling someone was trying in earnest persistence to get a hold of the girl.

"Hey Baby," Daddy's voice sounded as far away as the phone had just moments before. I barely groaned acknowledgement. "Are you supposed to work today?"

"No, tomorrow."

"Um, well ... Frances? is on the phone for you. They were worried about you when you didn't come in." He sounded skeptical, like there were things about this show-down the girl had no idea of. Had he any idea the heart attack his girl-child was about to have? By this time I was propped up on one arm, squinting in horror at him. He held the phone out ot me, even as my head groaned, "No, No. I'm not awake yet! I can't muster phone pep in finger-snap quickness."

Nevertheless. When Life chucks lemons at you, you make the best dad-gum lemonade ever known to man. True true, Charles ... So I mustered up the pep, and the voice that came out surprised the girl so much she just about fell over.

"Hi Sugar," Frances' pep was a constant. The woman was a living breathing energizer bunny, and her voice never betrayed her. Not once, not even when patients came in and reamed her out completely just for the heck of it. "Are you alright, honey? We were worried when we couldn't get a hold of you."

See, the awesome thing about my job is that they're {legit} more concerned about YOU than whether or not you're at work on time or not. If you're having one of those days and screw up your calendar and totally swap the days you're supposed to work and don't show up ... yeah, they'll be more concerned about your welfare and the why. Not in you being a complete goose and disorganized.

Girl hung up phone after apologizing for mix-up, etc and launched into hurried morning routine, mumbling "junk" under her breath a handful of times in the process. "Junk" is entirely pointless but makes her feel entirely better about the world. Surprisingly, I was calm and collected.

"Man! God's got a disgustingly huuuuge sense of humor." I hollered into the next room where Daddy had settled down with coffee and Fox news. Okay, I was a little jealous he had time to kill first thing ... not to mention, the coffee. "He knows I hate being late. And how I kill bill to keep track of my weird schedules."

"I wouldn't be knocking God's sense of Humor this morning," Dad grinned. Ah, the man was smiling right there along with God. They know me well, and I suppose if you think about it twas a bit comical throwing girl for loops today.

The moment I walked in the door, my boss grinned. "Hey Good Morning, you almost missed it!"

"Don't." I ran two fingers across my mouth, zipped lip-throw away key motion. Then I laughed, leaning over the keyboard to clock in for the day. "No words. I'm sorry I'm late."

And of course, it was all fine and good. The day went smoothly and made me smile. Between one of the most delicious cups of coffee ever, yummy food and a bottle of {my favorite} Sweet Tea, the girl was on a roll from start to finish.  So really, all's well that ends well right?

Of course. Of course. 

Today, Jesus.

I've recently been reading a book called Grace. Grace to move beyond the imperfection of Life, embrace honesty and really just give God everything you've got; not so much possessions but attitudes and your thought process!

You know how it is when those simple statements just blind-side you and that little lightbulb goes off; all you can do is sit there for a second in awe and revelation?

I had one of those moments tonight, and really it all boiled down to letting God work through you. Not just having the mindset of well, Im a Christian and this is what we do or people expect this of me because of who I am ...

Two words: ready?

Today, Jesus.

Today, Jesus hums while washing the dishes and cleaning the house.

Today, Jesus wears scrubs and comforts people. Smiles with heartfelt kindess and love for a perfect stranger.

Today, Jesus puts on a shirt and tie and leads the singing at church. Shakes the hand of a visitor and makes them feel welcome.

Today, Jesus wears a suit and holds a business meeting. Not rushing from one appointment to the next without considering those around hin.

Today, Jesus wears a smile and makes the bed.

Today, Jesus laces up his work boots and clocks in ready to do a good job.

Today, Jesus lets someone with less groceries cut in line.

Today, Jesus asks how the lady at the register is when paying for his gas.

... Okay, you might not quite get the gist of all that just yet. But what its talking about is Colossians 3:17 ~ all we do being done to God's glory, not just in name/word.

Christ really lives inside us! What we do is a window into our hearts, showing the world how much of an impact He has in our lives.

I dont know if I'm making sense because the lightbulb affect doesnt hit everybody the same way, but it just hit me like a big * Hello, Silly Girl! Are YOU doing the shining or is Jesus? *

Banana Split Smiles

Since the day the small man-child was born, he's done nothing but crack us up with his clever-ness.

This morning was no exception ...

Joshua was sitting on the couch, completely lost in the simple pleasure of a Banana Split Ice Cream Sandwich. This is pretty much typical of seven year old boys; focused on the sugar they're consuming and enjoying entirely. Really, chocolate in hand, Beach and waves outside the window ~ Life is good, Mon! * wink *

"Is that ice cream sandwich good, baby?" Memaw wanted to know. Because honestly, thats how awesome grandma's roll. If it aint good enough, they'll find you something better. Personally, I think this is a pretty awesome thing ... They always seem to get it right the first time.

The child licked the edges where Ice Cream was just beginning to melt over the sides of the cookie, like he always does. He's consistent. "Ahmm, it's good."

"Better than the regular ice cream sandwiches?"

He looked up from his treat with a smile. "Um, yes ... It amuses my mouth!"

When Mckenna shared this with me tonight, I couldn't help but laugh. There's no denying whose brother he is, ya'll. He's the product of four silly sisters and a big brother who has captured the abode with ridiculous amounts of wit with reenactments if commercials and such. * winks *

I tell you what ... That boy's a mess and makes me smile. The end.