WPC 2011 week two – joy

When I saw that the topic for week 2 in Shutterboo’s Photo Challenge was JOY, I immediately thought of one person and one picture.

I know that part of this challenge is to take the picture based on the topic in the week that it’s posted. I am going to do my very best to actually follow those rules. But, this picture depicts a kind of joy that resonates deep in my heart.

Reason number one I thought of this photo: her middle name might (or might not) be Joy. Don’t tell her I said that.

Reason number 2: this picture sums up the much-needed escape we took in October perfectly. It is pure JOY.  

Taken with the Hipstamatic App on my Iphone 4 in Gulf Shores, AL. October 2010

http://melissagay.smugmug.com/photos/1141476309_63Mpy-L.jpg

I kept my eyes open for Joy all weekend so that I would have a new photo for this week. But, here in Birmingham, we shut down for a few days due to Snowmageddon 2011. I wasn’t exactly sure how to photograph 2 days, piled up in bed, watching movies and eating bags of Doritos. It was most definitely Joy… But it’s hard to photograph orange fingers and laziness!

-m

the last of the beach pics (m&m 2010)

You can see the others here, here, or here.

It’s been 5 days since we got back from our over night trip to the beach and I am still finding sand in my purse, car, backpack and clothes. I just wanna be there sitting on the beach with Mandy RIGHT NOW!!!

Of course I took about a million pictures in the 24 hours we were there. I still giggle as I look back through them, deciding what to share. I think I will just go with classic beach goodness.

dangerous for the camera!

bright bright sun.

beautiful sun set…

and of course, no beach trip is complete without this…

As much as I am glad there is coolness in the air, football on the tv and Halloween and Thanksgiving around the corner, I CAN NOT wait to get back to the beach next year!

-m

beach creatures and a bag of sand (m&m2010)

We thought this little guy was dead…

I snagged this shot out of complete luck… right before he ran one direction and Mandy went running (squealing) in the other… he wasn’t dead btw.

We were pretty sure this one REALLY was dead…

but we took no chances* (jelly fish are less jelly than you would think. They should probably be called rubberfish.)*there were no jellyfish harmed in the making of this picture, promise.

Somthing used to live in there…

I am pretty sure this was a fish at some point. I think we saw it’s head floating around later. Crabby Mccrabberson up there probably helped nom on this…

and this is Mandy taking some sand home to her honey. All we had was a chick-fil-a bag. We work with what we have people!

prettier, less dead pictures later!
-m

m&m day(s) 2010

A little more than a month ago, my friend Mandy and I celebrated m&m day 2010. We talked about all the different ways we should celebrate m&m day in the future. Cruises, beach trips, Vegas, etc.

All summer I have been dying to put my toes in the sand. I had a beach trip planned earlier this year, but due to the ending of my last relationship, I had to cancel it. I called Mandy and said “hey, let’s go to the beach.” She said “hell yes”. Mandy works at a bar here in town and is only off on Monday and Tuesdays. I spent some time on the interwebz and booked a room for monday night. That’s right, we drove down for ONE night.

It was totally worth it.

We had a blast on the drive down. Neither one of us shut up the entire time. By the time we got to the Gulf Shores Parkway exit on 65 south, we were giddy. Numerous people laughed at us in the BP parking lot, while we “shook it like a Polaroid picture.” That’s the kind of fun I have with this girl.

I grabbed this shot when were about 3 miles from the ocean :

We got to the hotel a little too early, and after dealing with the bitchy girl at the counter, we headed straight for the beach. The moment our toes hit the sad, all of the worries in the world went away. When our feet were in the ocean, we both took a deep breath and let all the craziness in our lives wash away with the waves. Then we plopped our asses in the sand for a little bit.

I have 70+ photos from this trip that I love big bunches. Here are some of my favorite of the details.
I am sure I will be back to show you some more as the week goes on. Though this one taken with my iphone hipstamatic app sums up the feeling of the whole trip.

here are some of the simple shots that I love plus one of me and Mandy lovin the beach.

this one is postcard material…

This trip was aaaaaamazing….

-m

m&m day(s) 2010 preview

This sums the whole 24 hours at the beach in one picture…

more tomorrow!

-m

it’s 5 o’clock somewhere (at the beach)

And me and this girl currently have our toes in the sand, drinking beer.

Be back later this week to tell you about our 1 night trip to the beach…

-m

M&M day 2010

I have a friend. (I know… shocking!)

Her name is Mandy. I would give you the full name, but she doesn’t like it when I use her middle name. How we became friends is a long, twisted weird story. But it happened. And though life changes and relationships end and friendships wither up and blow away, she and I have laughed and cried and laughed some more through it all. I have to say she is one of my favorite people to walk this planet. There is nothing about her I would change, and there is nothing about her I don’t love completely!

Mandy and I go through spurts of hanging out and sometimes we look up and realize it’s been 6 months since we have seen each other. Last year we caught up on the phone and realized we hadn’t seen each other in a long time.  It was July, I think, and we both grabbed our calendars and marked Sept 5th on the calendar for the 1st annual M&M Day!… It was our first free weekend available. September 5th arrived, and without any true plans, we just jumped in the car and took off. We ended up eating “burrocos” and drinking Margaritas. Then we hit up Wal-Mart for candy (um… m&m’s of course!), beer and arts & crafts. We sat in the parking lot of Wal-Mart and drank our beer, made amazing bracelets and visors and laughed our asses off. We finished the night off with the 1st Bama football game of the season. and we even got Mandy to wear crimson!

Immediately a tradition was born. When I bought my new 2010 planner, one of the 1st things to go in it was September 4th, 2010, 2nd annual M&M Day. There was no question that our day would be full of fun, laughter and football. I expected to have something big planned for the day. Considering I had 365 days to plan it, it should have been simple. Instead, we made no plans until the day rolled around.

We met for “burrocos” and margaritas again.

We documented each moment with my camera, iphone and kept the facebook folks up to date with our whereabouts. We went shopping at Piggly Wiggly this time for booze and snacks. All the while we laughed and caught up and laughed some more. People in the Pig thought we were crazy… and the are pretty much right.

Saturday was the most beautiful day we have had here in the Ham in months and months. The high was 85. There was a fantastic breeze. It couldn’t have been a better day. After eating, and shopping, we loaded up with a couple of beers and a blanket and went and sat in the park for over an hour. Even though there was a football game to be watched, we seriously considered staying right there on that blanket til the sun went down. The weather was really that amazing. But we sucked it up and made it in time for kick off.

We spent about 20 minutes trying to get a picture of us together in the park. This basically turned into us laughing like damn hyenas, and taking some pretty funny pictures. For some reason I couldn’t get the camera aimed right to get us both in the picture. So I have quite a few of half of Mandy’s face and all of my big head. After a little bit of practice, and some time to quit laughing, this one turned out and is one of my favorites from the day.

This is the best Iphone reminder I have had so far!

And a perfect representation of what this day was all about… relaxing!

We already have big plans for M&M day 2011. Most likely we will fail at those plans and end up eating mexican and drinking beer. I am ok with that!

-m