Instaholic

So, I'm now one of those annoying people I used to make fun of who holds up an iPad to take pictures. I can't help it! This iPad my mom is letting me borrow is amazing. It's my first Apple product, and I must say that the quality of the photos/videos/sound/etc. is so, so far superior to any technology I've ever had. My trusty laptop was graciously given to me by a dear Whitefield family nearly three years ago. It was collecting dust in their basement and has worked long and hard for me. I still love it. But that iPad. Whew... it's just a hot little thing!

Here's my first Instagram photo - a self-portrait

Here's a picture of Nathan (pre-much-needed-haircut) harassing me while simultaneously reading theology. It's kind of the story of his life.

We had Julie and Sarah over for lunch on Sunday. Real food, not college food. We had Mexican. And guess WHAT? Sarah is a Taylor University student and lived next door to my dear friend Kristi's sister-in-law in Olsen Hall. I may or may not have cried real TU tears when I met her on Saturday night. How small is this world?

Here's Robin and me at her profesh soccer game. She is so cool. Especially because she shared the Cracklin' Oat Bran that she brought back with her from the USA with me.

More Instagram photos to follow, mostly of snow-covered things. The weather here is crazy right now. You can follow me on Instagram if you wish (nicolesampleyparker).

The Last of Cali

You know what happens when your mom lets you borrow her iPad? You neglect the blog. Big time. Draw Something. Instagram. A M'Cheyne Bible reading plan. All that. I totally forgot I was even working on this post until I logged into Blogger tonight...

I'll tell you what we've been up to lately in some more posts coming up this week. Promise. I'll schedule them tonight before I go to bed.

Until then, here's what happened during the rest of our visit to Cali.

My brother got engaged! Here are two handsome guys hours before he popped the question.

We did some baking.

Lots of pink baking.

Pink cupcakes with pink frosting

He read lots. Five books in about two weeks. Shocking.

Poor Winnie got pneumonia in addition to having a broken arm.

She had to have breathing treatments. How sad! However, afterwards she got really relaxed and happy and told each individual how much she loved him/her and gave lots of hugs. She did this in circles for about 10 minutes. She was like a little drunk toddler, and it was awesome.

I took June to her first visit to the public library. I was so stoked! It was a perfect job for me.

We ended our time together taking post-Christmas pictures. My brother's fiancee, Priya, was able to join us as well. Thanks to my mom's BFF (and my Draw Something buddy), Kim, for taking this picture. Happy belated Merry Christmas everyone. 

We'll get you all caught up on 2013 this week.

Two Weird Things My Family Did at the Beach

We went to the beach just after Christmas, and it was AWESOME! Six days of chillin' with my fam. We did all kinds of fun things: shopping, movies (my long awaited Les Mis date with Daddy!), swimming, golf, etc., but I noticed that my pictures of our time there were dominated by two rather strange events. 

But first, a rainbow. We could actually see both sides from inside the car, but the viewfinder found this impossible to capture.

I have to say that I thought this scene was beautiful: oil equipment and distant hills. I've been away too long.

Okay, here's weird thing #1: ear candles. I've never done this before, but the fumes from the fire suck out extra ear wax. It's gross and strangely fascinating. All pictures of this event were taken by June.

Sisters (one with a rather expressive forehead - see wrinkles as evidence of use)

Silly Daddy Nick

Uncle Nathan

The next day we went to Avila Barn to feed some animals. Weird thing #2: I don't have any pictures of my nieces doing this, but rather have about 50 of various adult members of my family posing with llamas.

If my dad had Facebook, I would insist on this being his profile picture.

Mumers and June had enough of our shenanigans.

The ultimate photobomber: Nathan

June got to pick a special treat from the barn among all the gifts, candies, pies, and produce. Guess what she picked! A single carrot. I love that girl.

I promise there are more Cali pics to come. For today I thought you might only be able to handle so many pictures of llamas.

Christmas in Cali

Winnie has her precious broken arm in a cast tucked behind her back, but I love that smile!

Winnie loves her new umbrella from England.

And my brother loves his new rugby shirt from my school.

Nathan teaches the girls his self-portrait skills.

Look at that little baker! More photos to come of June and I getting our cupcake on.

And of course, it wasn't quite Christmas without Dillon and Brooke, but we loved seeing the Hogans and Kruzners. 

Next up... beach time!

Christmas in Georgia

Nathan finally got to meet his godson, William "Griff" Griffith. He's looking at Nathan like, "Seriously, dudes? You picked this guy to be my life-long spiritual mentor?"

We went to the Georgia governor's mansion with Nathan's mom and dad for a free tour and a looky-loo at the Christmas decorations.

Whoah! Who's that? It's none other than the First Lady of Georgia, Mrs. Deal, welcoming us into her lovely home.

The in-laws, MAD (aka Mom and Dad), and us at the Guv's

If it weren't for the reflection on his glasses, this could have been our Christmas picture. We didn't do one this year for the first time in our married life. I just couldn't get my you-know-what together this holiday season. Maybe a Valentine's Day card is in the future. Y'all already know how I feel about Valentine's Day.

This is Nathan. You know that. But you probs didn't know that his high school alma mater asked him to come be the commencement speaker for their graduation ceremony while we were home. It. was. awesome.

While we were there, he reconnected with his 7th grade shop teacher. Her daughter graduated that day. When he told her who he was in all his silver-foxy glory, she looked at him like she didn't believe she could be old enough to have taught him in middle school. That'll be me next. My first group of kiddos is getting married and having babies already!

We kept it real at Flip Burger and snapped this one with Bev and Dariun, who are ENGAGED!!! Yay!!!

I realize now that I did a terrible job of taking pictures of family and friends in Georgia. That - and I'm depending on other family members to send me some. All my attempts to troll Facebook for posted pics have been a big, fat FAIL. C'mon, Parkers! Get to it! We have no official memories if I can't blog about it! :)

What We've Been Up To

We introduced friends Jeanette and Emma to our favorite coffee shop, Flat White.

That first sip of a chai latte is the closest thing to heaven on earth. Cheers.

I got a new pump (upgrade u!) and went to a training class on how to use it. Cookies were served and the irony was lost on everyone but me.

This was the bathroom at the doctor's office. There's a toilet next to the giant garbage bin.

And this sign was on the wall. Gulp.

We went on a winter picnic at the beach with new friends, Brent and Aline.

Freezing but fun

See all the fun we're having?

Thanks for hanging in there with me during my blogging break. I'm still amazed that despite the fact I haven't posted in over two months, about ten people a day check in to see if I'm still here. :) Y'all are the best.

Christmas updates next...

Gimme a Break

Hi all. I realize that it's been a while since I've posted. Sorry. First of all, I want to thank you for your kindness to us regarding the last post. Your e-mails, Facebook messages, and comments meant a lot.

Nathan and I took a much-needed vacation last week. We both managed to get sick while we were away, and we now have a monstrous work run-up to Christmas (conferences out of town, church commitments, extra work stuff, looking for jobs, etc.). I'd love to bloggyblogblog all about our holiday and share about what we've been up to lately, but I just can't prioritize the time to do it at the moment. For that reason, I've decided to take a little break from the blog until after the new year. It's not a hard and fast thing. I'll come back to it and post if and when I can every once in a while. And you can be sure I'll still be haunting the links to friends' blogs on the right. :)

Until next time...