Dear Mom and Dad

     I love looking through OLD pictures and OLD notes and cards etc. A few nights ago when I was at home in Charlotte for Christmas I was headed to bed, and I have no idea what sparked my interest but I went in my closet and brought out two huge (Sketcher shoebox might I add... stylish huh?!) shoeboxes and I sat in my bed for about an hour and a half looking through and reading old birthday cards, and notes my parents had written. It had been awhile since I had rummaged through these boxes, (yes, I'm a card and note girl pack rat, and have done this before) but a few really were a tuggin at the tear jerker, I went to bed with happy tears and woke up like a snowman face injected with salt.
     My Great grandfather had written me several birthday cards, most of them were when I was young in my Tom-boy stage. I did guys, I really did wear Umbros and T-shirts OFTEN. Yikes. Anyways, we called my Great Grandfather, "Ba-Ba" and in every card he wrote, "Hello dimples." I remember him always calling me that. He wrote, "He couldn't wait to see me, and that he hoped that I had a special special birthday." My sisters and I were lucky in that we were really close with Ba-Ba, we even named our "Wallabees shoes" after him. (I think they reminded us of the shoes he wore, so all the time we would refer to those shoes as our Ba-Ba shoes. I can hear it now, "Mom, have you seen my Ba-Ba shoes anywhere?" Maybe, when I'm 90 I can still wear my Ba-Ba shoes, be old  people stylish and save my self some money. Good thinking Cameron. Love you and miss you Ba-Ba.
     Some silly and ridiculous notes were in there as well, lots from my two best friends Andrea and Melanie. I'll keep those to myself but lets just say I laughed and cried.
     It was a good "looking back" evening, and even better one when I found these pictures below... ENJOY!

  

Dear mom and dad,

Thank you for letting me run around the house naked with Jennifer with foam on our heads. I remember those days and making cone heads like it was yesterday. We HAVE to find the home video of this in ACTION.

Dear mom and dad,
Did I really like this T-shirt of mine. I know I never really kicked it, headed it, or smacked it like the T-shirt says, ha I just had fun running and trying to chase the soccer ball!
P.S. Whats up with my SHELL hair doo?!
(see, I wasn't lying about my Tom-boy) days....

Dear mom and dad,

Looks like I'm giving baby Jordan the snake grip, and thankyou for letting me rock the LEVIS they are HOT! Did Jordan let me always pick her up and hold her?! I remember loving to hold her! I guess my niche for being a teacher started young! (except I do remember using the tredmill we use to have as a Harris Teeter grocery check out line, good thing nothing came out of that afternoon of being a clerk.)

Dear mom and dad,

Dang! This face shouldn't ever give you any trouble huh?! If you do ever get mad at me like when I'm in highschool and never want to come home on time, and in college when I have a hard time handling my Wachovia account and over draw... will my dimples you guys gave me make it all okay!?



Fellow Readers,
Take some time this week to look back and see what old pictures you have laying around, maybe move them from the dusty closet to a picture frame or a magnet on the refridgerator. You will appreciate you did it and memories will come flying at you once you look at it long enough, thats the BEST part!

xoxo,
Cameron

It has been an entire year since I started my blogging hobby. That is CRAZY. Why has time flown by so fast? On January 31st of last year (ok, so I lied, its been almost a year...) I blogged about my 5 reasons why I was wanting to take on this new hobby : Why I started blogging.  I have to say after briefly looking back on my posts that it has been very good stress reliever, and pretty good evidence as to everything I have to be thankful for. I totally crack my self up sometimes typing, and I am more aware of how I am taken away by such small things in life, and that makes me appreciative. I am excited for what 2011 has to bring for myself, family and friends. I pray for exciting and memorable times with my soon to be nephew Clark, I pray for a clear direction and a 3 letter word that goes like this J-O-B, I pray for good health amongst the ones I love, and again and ever year I will pray for " laughter, love, and learning new things often"

Here's a recap on the end of TWO THOUSAND AND TEN....

Christmas was wonderful as always is but it was extra special this year...

We have a tradition that we go around and open one present at a time in a cirlce, this year our circle was in a way added my Mr. Baby Morrison. It was really fun watching Jennifer and Brian open for baby Clark and EXTRA fun when he knew we were laughing and smiling about THIS.....



Baby Clark LOVED his new onesie from Aunt Cam, He was breakin it down inside momma's belly, I saw it.

Another tradition that always happens Christmas morning during our opening presents is that we (Mom, Jennifer, Jordan, and I get new Winter pajamas from Dad! Yes they are all the same!) This is not a normal open present, tear off the bow, throw the paper in the trash kind of ordeal. It happens sometime in the middle of opening presents, after dad has had his coffee or two. He runs in the bedroom, grabs the bag that he has put them in and comes out in his crazy voice "jammmmmmmmmmmies for you, and you, and you, and you." (and throws them at us) This year he added, "BONUS ROUND" and threw  matching tops to us, that are SO comfy! Hmmm... wonder what dad has up his sleeve to include Clark in our "jammie" tradition next year?! Here is our annual Jammie pic....

And here we are, excited and smiling in our AM attire :)

Our Oyster Roast was another success! We have one every year with family and friends and this year it was at our house! Dad and his friend Sam drove all the way to Wilmington to pic up those slimy little suckers. When we were younger we used to look forward to the Chic-fila chicken nuggets the moms bought for us as our appetizer dinner, now we actually look forward to enjoying the oysters (my taste buds are still in progress, I had 2 this year.) and sipping wine! The night mainly takes place in the garage, where tables are set with newspaper and the heater is a blowin! It is filled, with good convos, laughter and always fun memories! Uncle David, Grandaddy, and Dad always try to find the least slimy ones for me so that I'll like them a little more year after year. Welcome to the Oyster Roast of 2010...........

Uncle David and  Cousin Neil (who ended up being Mi-Mi's waiter all night haha)

Oyster Shuckers UP!

Me, my awesome momma, Jennifer, Jordy, and Clark... essentially 3 generations in there!

Danny and me :)

Sisters!

Happy Anniversary "Livin La Vida Cam!" My New Years Resolution  to YOU is to not be a monthly blogger and to turn into a typing machine and make myself a weekly blogger :)

XOXO and may LOVE and LAUGHTER fill your days in 2011!

Happy Almost Birthday JESUS

     I have a top 3 favorite things that I love... and SNOW happens to be at number 1, followed by SUNFLOWERS at number 2, and COOKING  at number 3. So happy to announce that Raleigh had its first snow of the season this past Saturday! When it starts getting cold I'm a little bit of a freak watching the weather, pulling it up on my phone, (Thank you dearly, technology.) and flipping through the different weather stations to see which one is either calling for snow or which one is saying will accumulate more snow, and which one predicts it arriving the fastest. Based on all that, its how I decide which channel to watch... I'm always the one that believes the weather man 100% when everyone elses doesnt.

     This past Saturday when it snowed Caroline and I watched probably 5 Christmas movies and baked cookies and iced them. We were in our pajams all day and she watched me act like a child catching snowflakes on my tongue, and trying to measure the centimeters that were accumulating on our deck. LOVE IT. Every year when it snows I never have the normal measuring device... a ruler, so I always am looking for something to measure with, pencil, wine stopper, fork.... totally gotta get a ruler. (Santa, did you hear that.) Anyways never got the measurment, but it coated the deck to a blissfully happy white !

    
     Pretty snazzy mantle for Santa to come down huh?! I love making arrangements for the different seasons, until a week ago I had my Sunflower arrangement up, definitely had to go... I couldnt remember how I did my arrangement last year so I used some of the stuff I had from the previous year but bought a few more "spiral things" at Micheals this year. They are pretty cheap. Caroline and I bought the stockings for a dollar at Micheals as well as the wreath for 3 dollars. Us three went to Laurens parents for dinner in Timberlake this past Sunday had steaks, wine, good talks, saw the Panthers lose again (Im beginning to think this is a good thing, soposedly we get "the first pick" for next season if we lose the most games... thats what the male gender keeps telling me.) and.... we monogrammed our stockings!! Woohoo for the Brooks's monogram machine. It's the bomb. I am thankful my mom gave me the creative, arrangement making gene! Sorry dad, it was all mom for sure.




add flower to your face, makes the picture look cooler :)




$13 dollar cookie cutters, putting to use!




your never to old to decorate!



Dear Santa, I would love a new camera.





yes, Im rocking ECU sweat pants, comfy socks, my betty crocker cam apron, and my monkey fleece, dont be jealous now.





Snow 2010!



"Being thankful for laughter, love, and learning new things often"

-  I have learned to cheer on the Panthers to lose.
- I have learned to Shop at Micheals for deals
- I am thankful for my love to decorate and celebrate the season of Jesus birthday!
- I have learned to never make home made popcorn alone without Caroline... It leads to stove fires....serious.

Thelma and Louise hit the road

 The adventure begins... and as my blog states: THIS TRIP I REALLY AM  THANKFUL FOR LAUGHTER, LOVE, AND LEARNING NEW THINGS OFTEN!

ME at the "lookout studio" over the Grand Canyon!

If you would have asked me a month ago if I would ever see the Grand Canyon, my answer would probably be "man I hope so, one day..." If you would have asked me a month ago if I would ever travel cross country in a CAR I would have said NO! Its funny how things work out, because I just did both of those things and had the most fun I could have ever had imagined doing it. Deana (mom of Aiden and Evan who I had been watching) and I left the Raleigh airport and flew to Atlanta and finally landed in LA!

When We arrived in LA we went out for dinner and drinks at the PINK TACO, went to bed... and woke up for our packing party, duh, mimossa's and packing!

Deana aka THELMA, Chaz (her actor friend), and me aka LOUISE standing on the boardwalk at Santa Monica

We had to buy cowgirl hats for our upcoming MULE RIDE to the top of the GRAND CANYON!

... AND WE DID IT!

PSALMS 104:24 engraved on the side of the lookout studio...really neat.

Just a few tips for if you ever decide to drive cross country:

- Don't get nervous if you at some points feel as though you are driving through the scene of Lion King where "Scar" is about to attack you. Check yourself, you are not Simba, and its just the scenary your NOT in the movie.

- Don't buy water bottles at every stop, take your previous cup and refill with ice and free water. We could have saved a bunch of money if we realized this when we were leaving LA not when we were in Asheville.

-Cows are not necessarily dead if they are laying down, same goes with horses. No need to call Animal 911.

- Elmers glue is a quick fix temporary face mask for when your feeling disgusting and just want a facial in the car. apply, let dry, peel off, done.

-Start becoming a fan of Indian things including their blankets a week before you start your traveling, you will see signs for them and exits for where to purchase them.

-Drive like a Mexican and overload your car with stuff, its just more fun that way.

-Appreciate truck drivers, they really do shower at Subway sandwhich shops, I saw the shower stalls.

-Take notes and write down all of your "funny's"... it WILL create quite a memory journal.

-If you see paper in the bathroom stall that says "Hi, tell us about your trip" by all means tell the paper about your trip but don't drop your wallet in the toilet at the same time.

-Don't rush the road trip or try to make a certain time... stop and have a fat girl meal, cheeseburger fries and a brooskie.

-Order room service at least once on your trip at your hotel.

-Bring PLENTY of comfy clothes to drive in or you'll be stinkin and end up taking a shower at the hotel and sleeping neked, and have a repeat of stink clothes the next day.

-Go out even just for a night cap at every city you stop in just for the experience and to tell people about your adventures, and of course go out in your "car clothes".

-Practice your "honking at truck driver moves" if its not on point, you won't get a honk

-Search deep down and find some kind of new appreciation for windmills... I mean they do save energy, they just look ridiculous when 20 are clumped together.

-Get your contacts/glasses/goggles all up to par so you don't run over tumbleweed, or albino animals while driving.

-Talk about EVERYTHING with whoever you go with.... and you'll come back with a new best friend, LOVE YOU THELMA!



memorization at its best

...as most of you know I have been eating, sleeping, and studying these days. Taking notecards to the face like a pro. (for my big GRE test) Its exhausting for sure! Sometimes I feel as though I have been ran over by a 16 wheeler or something, and I wonder why because I was sitting all day studying. If you really think about it though, looking at a computer screen for hours can totally be emotionally and phisically draining. In the midst of all of this I sometimes laugh out loud, (literally a "LOL" moment for all you acronmym junkies) by the way I study and actually memorize my vocabulary cards. I think of the craziest, most unheard of, ridiculous ways to memorize. So here you go for a laugh for the day if you havent had one:

mollify: It means to calm or soothe, I remember it by the "moll" in the word, reminds me of a girls name "Molly" and well, Molly's  usually are calm and soothing to other people right?

discourse: It means a lecture or discussion, I remember it by the word "course".. In college my courses I had lots of lectures and discussions, didnt you?

extemporaneous: It means done with out preparation. I remember it by, If I made dinner extemporaneously it would be NOT Food Network material.

taciturn: It means not talkative. I remember it by thinking of the word "turn" that you see, and then I think if someone were to say "It's your turn to talk, I dont like talking"

tout: It means publicly praise. I think, If I catch a Trout fish... someone better be praising me!!

circumspect: It means to be careful and prudent. I think of a circle and how you have to be super careful when drawing a perfect circle!

enigmatic: It means mysterious. I think of Aliens. point blank.

acumen: It means accurate, quick. I think of putting the spice Cumin and how I never am accurate when measuring that spice in my chicken salad... even though its still on point!!

maverick: It means one who does not go along with a group. I think of my mom and how she HATED sororities in college, ha!

volatile: It means fickle and changeable. I look at "tile" and think people change their tile often in their bathroom. They don't, and shouldn't but just go with it.

propagate: It means to multiply/spread. Danny had bed bugs at his house a month ago and they propagated.

inchoate: It means not fully formed, initial stage. MY NEPHEW CLARK IS INCHOATE!

ephemeral: It means brief. The ep in the word reminds me of an epi pin... and I think those are brief shots... who knows.

buttress: It means a support or prop. When your old you might need a support for your butt, maybe, maybe not?

desiccate: It means to dry out. If you notice the two C's in the word I think Camerons Car... I have to dry it out if it pours rain inside my car if I have left the sunroof open.



Alright class is dismissed,
xoxo
Cameron                                            

Mimi: I am posting a picture for YOU since you say I need to show more pictures :)


Dear Cameron, Your hand is so unnatural, weirdo. ME AND MOMMA!



a FRESH start

     Fall is my MOST FAVORITE season of the year, and for that I am thankful that I live in a place that gets to experience all of the changes throughout the year. Fall however, for me is just a clean, crisp fresh start to all things pertaining to my life. I have cleaned out my summer clothes boxed them up, sent some to Good will, It's a fresh start for football season which the Panthers totally need each year, I have organized all of my tupperware and they are anxiously awaiting the day I make pots of chili and fill them for the freezer on a colllllld night, I have somewhat turned Asian in the way that I have been studying like a pshyco for my upcoming GRE test November first (I'm keeping all 20 little limbs crossed that this will lead to another fresh start of beginning Graduate School), I got a Brita from Jordan for my Birthday and have just started a new thing where I add either oranges, lemons, or limes each week for a hint of flavor to my purified water... and it is beyond refreshing! I just signed up to help with the Raleigh Rescue Mission downtown, to help prepare lunch for the homeless,(Taking part in helping the homeless during this time of year is not only very rewarding but this is when I feel they need it most and we need to help prepare them for the Winter! I have opened my windows and it is pretty amazing to turn off the air finally, and to wake up to the wind blowing in your room, and going to bed like that as well, again REFRESHING!
     Those of you who know me well, know I'm pretty much a happy girl, but I sware Fall season I'm just a little extra, and full of vitality (go with it...its a GRE word and I practice every second I get, for those of you who don't carry around index cards with vocabulary on them in your purse or wallet, the word means ENERGY). There is much anticipation about things to look forward to in my eyes about the fall and here they are:

-wearing my Uggs and sitting by a fire
-Santa is coming soon (I dont care who you are 5, or 80... the man is cool.)
-Clark, my soon to be nephew will be born in January!!
-Drinking hot chocolate and sugar cookie tea (yes they have it I promise...)
-waiting for the leaves to change color and fall so that I can make place card names for the Thanksgiving Table
-Pumpkin carving (PS invest in some vaseline, if you put it around the edges of your carving it lasts longer, for real)
-Toasting Pumpkin seeds
-Roasting marshmellows
-Grilling on the patio with the fam all bundled up with blankets
-The smell of any and everything pumpkin
-Christmas cups at Starbucks
-My first Best Friends Wedding
-Watching kids play and jump in the leaves (It just reminds me of my childhood, is 25 too old to participate?!)
-Home made apple cider in my crock pot (I always turn into a super Betty Crocker in the fall...)
-Playing with our NEW cornhole that Carolines dad made for us, and Laurens bean bags that she will soon sew! (THIS is realllllly exciting in our household, now I won't have to scrumage around and put rice or flour in bags as if those would suffice.....because lets be honest, they DONT!)
-Halloween Jokes, the kid ones, like: Why didn't the skeleton go to the party? Because he had noBODY to dance with........ha!
-Making Pumpkin desserts for my boys I nanny for (I am learning a TON about being a mother by the way..)
- our second annual girls carving party accompanied by spiked/non spiked pumpkin lattes and hot chocolate!

     I am sure there are more, but those are mostly what makes me happy about Fall and the season to come! As I was saying before, referring to Fall being a Fresh start for me for a lot of reasons, There is one thing that I think would be an awesome idea for me personally to do and maybe you should do with your family also. Before you go to bed, think about the best thing that happened to you that day, or one good thing that happened that day. Obviously there are plenty of crappy days throughout the year that we all have, so on those days I would advise your answer to simply be that you woke up alive, breathing and healthy that day. Now that I keep talking about this, I think I'm gonna pull a "Brady Bunch" and get Caroline and Lauren to play this little task with me when were cooking dinner or just hanging out at night, "What was the best thing that happened to you today, and what was one bad thing that happened" (your pretty stellar if you don't ever have a bad thing, Go you!) So cheers to my new assignment and the beginning of Fall!

I will start: Good thing(s): I had a major Fall clothes clean out/swap out, I killed a cockroach on my deck... Bad thing (s): This blog is taking to long to write and its exceeding my break limit for studying, I saw a few left over school things I had made under my bed for my previous classroom while cleaning and it made me sad.

I will leave you with a picture from our last years girls carving party, can't wait wait for this years!! PS, my hair is SOOOOOOOOOOOO short in this picture, seriously it takes a year to grow an inch and a half, what the heck man?!