The early morning.

Sophia and I woke up early and so that we could see the sun rise. At first I did not think it was going to be much, but silly me.

We got to the beach about 6:30, the official sunrise time is 6:58a.m.

We walked for a while.

This weekend is the Neptune Festival here on the boardwalk. This is  massive sculpture that sits on the boardwalk.

We then went to Mary's for breakfast. I had not been to Mary's in years! It was the diner that everyone went to for breakfast/lunch on the weekends. The local place. They serve the appropriate amount of greasy food and coffee after a night on the strip.  Now, granted I have not partied on the strip in many years. Kids keep you from doing that. I don't know if Sophia appreciated what an institution Mary's is.

After breakfast we headed back outside so I could watch the runners from the 3k and 5k race. I will sit on the side with my coffee thank you very much!

There are always some interesting characters. His hair has to add 5lbs onto his head.  Talk about some serious dreadlocks!

Sophia wanted  to stroll the shops. Had to ban her from buying a VB t-shirt.  I would have hated to have to kick her out of the family for buying such a t-shirt.  When you live in a tourist town you don't buy the tourist t-shirt. It's in the rule book.

I thought this one was more appropriate.

Because this is what I am dealing with and she is only 11 years old.

North End on Dwellable

The greatness of it all.

This is what I want to do.

This is what I need to do.

To go to the ocean and feel the vastness that surrounds you when you look out into the ocean. To make me realize that everything that is going on is not that big of a deal.

To get my priorities straight.

To clear my head.

Trying to remain positive...

Trying hard to remain positive, but it's getting difficult to do so.

I have recently gone back to work. I really like the work that I am doing and I wish there was more to keep me busier. I am very capable in this position. I get things done, do it well and efficiently. Unfortunately one of my superiors thinks I am an 12 years old and need to be micro-managed.This is very frustrating to me.

Before I was married I was the office manager for 5 separate entities. Responsible for payroll, AR, employees etc. so I have the experience to be the office assistant in this office. It was made abundantly clear that I am only an assistant. I personally don't care what they call my position but apparently it is VERY important in my line of work.

I do have to say the experience is teaching me something about my daughter and how I need to handle situations with her differently. One of the hardest things I have found as a parent is to let my children have more freedom. I am not a helicopter parent, I do not hover over their every move but I do tell them to do things a certain way. Meaning...cover the spaghetti in the microwave so it does not explode and make a mess. To me that means I don't want to clean it up so do it right the first time. To them it means I don't think they know how to heat food up in the microwave and they need to be told how to do everything. I guess I need to let them make more mistakes and find out things on their own.

Although on a funny note my daughter heated up pizza rolls in the microwave for 9 1/2 minutes. Broke the plate. Filled the house up with smoke and 2 weeks later is still smells like the inside of a bingo hall.

Getting rid of the stuff

Stuff. Boy do we have stuff. I guess it has a lot to do with the fact that I have 3 children. Before they are even born they have more stuff than they will EVER use or need. I have gotten rid of all the baby stuff and have whittled their things down considerably in the past few years. What remains is my stuff. Actually let me clarify that.

My mothers stuff.

First thing to understand is my mom lives in Minnesota. I live in Virginia and all her stuff miraculously makes the trip to Virginia.

My mothers stuff. All the stuff that my mom no longer wants. Things that she could not bring herself to donate or sell in a garage sale. If she gives it to me she is not actually getting rid of it. Passing it on to her children, she says. So I accept it. I don't want to hurt her feelings. Well, actually I am usually excited about it then is sits in my house and I say "What the heck am I going to do with this?"

My mother feels I need Christmas stuff. I have enough Christmas ornaments and items to decorate SEVEN, yes seven Christmas trees. I have Christmas dishes by Lenox for 24. Now mind you, I have had Christmas at my house only....NEVER! Last year I did not even decorate for Christmas because we went to my mothers house. Which brings me to another story....

We went to Minnesota last year for Christmas. My brother was like "Julie the Cruise Director". We were going to go skating, skiing, sledding, snowmobiling. My mom was so excited. She was excited that her grandchildren were coming to MN for the first time for Christmas. Guess what she was more excited about. We were coming to MN and bringing the trailer to take more stuff back to Virginia. My paternal grandmother passed away a year previously so I had all of her stuff if my mother's garage and it was time for it to make the trip to Virginia.

My husband swears I have Clampets in my bloodline. I am beginning to agree with him.

So the purging begins. I am being ruthless. The 2o wineglasses I bought 6 years ago for my son's outdoor Christening party. The 2 silver chaffing dishes that were wedding presents...never used. Brand new placemats...sets of 4, I have 5 in my family.

When I cleaned out my grandmothers house, out in the garage was a 50 gallon drum. In that drum were collectibles wrapped in old bedding. Going. I don't want them. I am tired of the weight from stuff.

I wonder if I can sell 3 chidlren and 2 dogs. All their stuff would be free.

The First Day of School....3 weeks ago.

I was reading Chronicles of a Country Girl and she just blogged about doing storyboards that she read on Pioneer Woman Photography Blog. I wanted to learn how to do storyboards so I threw some pictures together. Not nearly as stunning as Chronicles, but I was motivated to give it a try.
I am not sure if it is going to have the boarder or not but I am just tickled that I actually fiddled around in Photoshop again. I have been hanging around Lightroom so much and not venturing out much.

The kids started school and were Very excited to be back. Well my eldest was really excited, boys maybe not so much.