Pitch Perfect

Pitch Perfect is one of my all time favorite movies. I just love it so much.

While sitting in a bar with Taylor in Seattle, she was scrolling through instagram and there was an upload from Rebel Wilson that Pitch Perfect 3 was going to be released.

Taylor and I screamed, high-fived, toasted and then proceeded to make a replica movie poster.

We were those girls. Sitting at the bar with the selfie timer on for a good 20 minutes to get a good picture. We kept laughing while taking pictures and then retaking it. It turned out pretty okay, right?

We are SO Late Jumping on the Netflix Bandwagon

Seriously...I've known what Netflix was for foreva. I did. But we never bought into it because we have cable and DVR. Who needs both? That just seems like overkill. Troy's Aunt was visiting last week and convinced us that we just HAD to get it. Especially since the first month is free. You guys know I can't resist free. Or a good deal. And $7.99 a month is a great deal. Especially for this new couch potato.

We decided not to get the actual DVD to the mail box, just the instant Netflix in the house, which we currently have wired through the Wii. Our Wii has gotten more action in the past week than it has in the past 2 years. Seriously.

So far, we have watched a few movies, a few kid movies (for Avery of course...but who doesn't enjoy Disney classics?), and some series.

We are currently watching "Orange is the New Black," with is a Netflix original series. It's a little risque, but we are really enjoying it. I told my mom and she recommended another Netflix original series called, "House of Cards." I had NO idea that Netflix even HAD original series and apparently, they are starting to compete with networks like HBO and Showtime. So that's been a nice surprise.

Who else has Netflix? How long have you had it? Do you still have cable? And MOST IMPORTANTLY: What are you watching? Recommendations?

Now that I'm not working, Avery's nap time and early bedtime (7pm muahahaha) have been Netflix exploring time. Move over DVR...you're getting put on hold for the rest of the summer. Until Parenthood starts up. And New Girl. And Big Bang Theory. When does the fall line up start again?

Happy Blogiversary to Me!

I MADE IT!!! I read somewhere that most blogs only have a 3 month life! I BEAT THE ODDS! It's hard to believe it, but one year ago today, while living in a hotel temporary living facility (TLF) in Alamogordo, New Mexico, this blog was born! My, how things can change in a year.

Baby Girl looked like this:

And we lived in this:

I can't believe that was a year ago...it seems like it was just yesterday!

Here are some statistics for you about the past year:

- BarnesDailyCircus has been googled 295 times (lets be real, 293 of those were probably my Mom)

- The very first blog I wrote had 18 page views. OH that is so low. Most of the blogs I write now average about 200 page views. Which is still nothing to write home about, but hey! Growth is growth!

- My very first commenter was Bethany Russell. One of my co-workers from Dover. HI BETHANY!

- My top 3 read blogs were:

1. Some nightstands that I re-did. The post was added to a home redesign blog and gets frequently clicked on from their site.

2. Where we announced we were having triplets.

3. Where we found out that one of the babies had anencephaly.

- This little blog won an award!!

- Most of the readers have been from the United States, but there are readers world wide. Who are you? Speak up! This is the list of top 10 countries reading.

United States - 19547
Russia - 596
Canada - 465
United Kingdom - 325
Germany - 284
France - 64
Japan - 63
Philippines - 56
Australia - 52
South Africa - 46

- Most people are reading from a PC! I don't know why this surprised me, but it did.

- I did a total of 156 posts over the past year. Holy cow. That's more than I expected when I started this blog. Especially since during the past few months, I've only been averaging about a post a week. So I was super good about posting in the beginning. No surprise there though. Avery was napping 2x a day and we lived in a hotel room in the middle of nowhere. I am definitely going to try an blog 3x a week. Don't hold me to that.

So thank you everyone. This past year has been a craaaaazy year and I know it's going to keep going full speed ahead. Come along, won't you?

FatBooth

So Troy found this app on his phone called "Fatbooth." You take a picture of yourself, line up some lines/dots with identifying features (like your nose and bottom of your chin), press enter and it pops out an image of what you would look like if you were fat.

We definitely were able to entertain ourselves for about an hour.

And since we were so entertained, I decided to share our masterpieces with you all. Lucky lucky you!

Here is me looking SO hot:



And of course, we couldn't leave Avery out of the fun:



BAHAHAHAHAHAHA - I'm dying. SO funny.

And here's Troy:



And because he coudn't just stop at one:



We were all having so much fun, we went ahead and let Optimus in on the fun...OH YES WE DID! It didn't work so well for him, in terms of "fatting" him up, but funny all the same:



I hope today's post made you smile!!

My First Speeding Ticket. OH WAIT...It Got Voided!

As a refresher (if you need one) here is the original incident. You know, where the cop was a total meanie and I decided to come home and document it that very day for the whole world wide web to see. And here is when I gave an update after I had filed a complaint with internal affairs.

Which brings me to today. Where I can tell you that the whole ordeal is officially over. My assigned court date was yesterday, January 15th. And I didn't go. Because my ticket was voided. You read that right.

I will back up and explain how all of this came to be...

So I filed an official complaint regarding the whole incident with the Las Vegas Metro Police. The complaint was forwarded to internal affairs. Internal affairs looked into my ticket (well, it was Troy's ticket technically since the ticket was improperly filled out with him as the driver when he wasn't even in the car) and it was then forwarded on the Sergeant of the police officer whom my complaint was regarding. I got a phone call from the Sergeant asking me to come in for an official interview. I told him that I wasn't interested in that but he was pretty insistent, so I reluctantly agreed.

I went to the office for my interview at 7am on December 19th in interrogation room 5. Sergeant Lehtinen and myself were the only people in the room. The things that I said were the truth to the best of my knowledge and the tape recording could be used in an administrative hearing.

Literally. It was that official. I was tape recorded with all kinds of official mumbo jumbo on the beginning of the recording to document who was there, and time and date and location and HOLY CRAP I was scared.

I was really really glad for this blog when I went in for the interview. I know that (statistically) when court dates or interviews are delayed for things like this, witnesses are more likely to forget the details and facts of situations and instead, only remember how they felt. Interviews run more on emotions rather than facts.

I came home the day that I got my ticket and wrote the blog. It was fresh in my mind. I brought my iphone to the interview and had the page loaded up in the Blogger app. I literally read the blog exactly as I wrote it into the microphone. When I finished, Sergeant Lehtinen asked me if I wanted to add any additional information and I said no.

And he turned off the tape recorder and informed me that internal affairs had started the paperwork to have my ticket voided before the report of my complaint had landed on his desk. Which I was NOT expecting, so that was awesome. The internal affairs office noticed that the ticket was under the wrong name and started the voiding process because they didn't know that the name could be changed through the court system.

SO YAY FOR DOING THE RIGHT THING! I filed a complaint about the officer, internal affairs voided my ticket and I did the interview with his Sergeant. All's well that ends well. Thanks for all your advice and encouragement. I appreciate it :)

Avery Gets IN YO FACE and Rocks a Hood

Avery decided that she wanted to make a video for everyone. Aka she decided that using the phone like a mirror (with the camera on) was the best game ever...so like a good mom, I video taped the cuteness :)

And now for your viewing pleasure: It's super up close and she wears the hood on her onesie the whole time.



LOVE her

Do You Think Joseph Would be on Maury? And Mary Would be Grumpy?

I have a friend who is due with her 2nd child any day now. Send her labor thoughts ASAP. She is feeling particularly ready to be done being pregnant. She sent me this text and I was DYING laughing.

Funny as that is, it really got me thinking about Christmas. Mary must have been so scared. And cold. She was so brave. And poor Joseph. Can you imagine if a story like this had happened now? It is a story worthy of being on Maury where they do all of the the paternity tests. If this happened now and a young girl said that she was pregnant with the Son of God, she would get put away in a looney bin. And I don't think that Joseph would have believed her. Lets be real here. He would have left her so fast for being a cheater. He would be on 20/20 trying to make a buck on Mary's crazy story.

I feel like Mary and Jesus are always the focus of the Christmas Story. And to be honest, they should be. However. In light of my friend's text message, it got me thinking about Joseph. And what a good man he was. And this just WOULD NOT happen now. Everything happens for a reason and it's a good thing that Jesus was born over 2000 years ago, because if this happened in 2012, things would have turned out pretty different...

Luckily though, this happened thousands of years ago and Joseph was obedient to God and his will. What a HUGE leap of faith for him. I can't even imagine how that would feel to be Joseph in this incredible situation. But he was obedient to the Lord's plan for his life and stuck by Mary. And they had a baby in a barn. Well, a manger, but a barn. And now we have the miracle of the birth of Jesus and get to celebrate his birthday every year on Christmas Day.

Perspective. Merry Christmas Friends.

Sending happy labor and baby thoughts your way my friend...

Just In Case You Missed Us - Instagram Roundup

I already shared the pictures from our drive here. But here are the rest. For those of you who don't have smart phones with an Instagram app. I understand. That's not a dig. I just want to share :)

Curtains from HomeGoods. I LOVE THEM!

SUCCESS with blinds. Winning. Only barely. Post about that tragedy coming tomorrow.

The Santa Fe plank doors. I may have hugged them and petted them for about 10 minutes when we first walked in. There may have been a few kisses. Open mouth. I am obsessed. They add SO much character to an otherwise cookie cutter house.

Curtains and rods from Target. We also installed the fan. It's ORB. And gorgeous. It moves some serious air. Which is great. It was 111 degrees on saturday. Gross.

Wednesday. Moving day. I was so thankful for great movers. They were awesome. They unpacked everything and nothing was broken. Nothing. A few scratches, but nothing significant enough to file. God is good!

We went to Buffalo Wing Wings. Avery ate celery. We tried to get her to chow on french fries. She ate them, but enjoyed the celery more. Whose child is this? I keep telling myself that her teeth were hurting so the celery stalk felt nice on her gums. I hate celery. It tastes like it doesn't belong in your mouth. It's stringy and watery and weird. French fries are golden and delicious morsels of potato from heaven.

Adirondack rocking chairs. Does life get better than this? I think not. The arms are a perfect width to hold a mason jar of sweet tea, a beer, or a cup of coffee. It's amazing. They were perfect because we put them together thursday night and our new couches didn't get delivered until sunday morning. We watched the Olympics from these in the evenings until then. And I watched the news in them in morning while I drank my coffee while everyone was sleeping. They are gorgeous and comfy. I cannot say enough good things about them. Thank you Grandma!! I love my presents!

Baby gate. Enough said.

Hanging out while having a drink and watching the Olympics. Adorable.

We took a trip to Sam's Club with my Dad, aka Grandpa Geno. He decided that Avery could not live without a bigger-than-Avery hippo. She loves it. It looks like she is about to cry, but that is actually her "effort face." She is picking it up (it's rather heavy) and grunting while gritting her teeth. She's a lady. Basically. My little piggy grunter.

Optimus enjoying some of my girly-purchases. Throw pillows. I'm addicted.

Avery finally fell asleep on the way back to Alamogordo. We had been driving for about 11 hours and she finally fell asleep for about 45 minutes until we pulled into TLF. I love this picture. Look at those eyelashes and the rosebud mouth. LOVE.

That's what you missed on Instagram. You can find us at BarnesDailyCircus.

Text Message

On Sunday when we arrived, Troy wanted to be a part of all the important buying decisions. We went together to Lowe's for the big stuff (blinds, dryer, and curtain rods) and to the furniture store for the sofa. The "detail girly-stuff" he skipped.

To make him feel like he was more involved, I sent him text messages of stuff I found to find out if he liked it, to pick between 2 things, or approve a price based on an item. Even though, lets be honest, I did this to avoid a fight. I pretty much picked whatever I wanted, within reason, knowing that if it didn't work, I could return it.

As I stated yesterday, I had a grande ole' time bargaining a 20% off deal on our barstools. I texted Troy a picture and got the "go ahead" before I even started haggling. I sort of got a stamp of approval. Not at all. We had already picked out our new sofas when this text message took place. We definitely had a big compromise and got different furniture than both of us had envisioned for the family room. Troy won that one. Troy:1 Natalie: 100000000000 haha, kidding. Sort of.

Here is the text between the two of us while I stood in Pier One. I snapped a picture of the barstools and sent it to him. Here is the picture that I sent him.

And here is the text messaging back and forth between us. After he "let me buy" a pair of them, I asked for 20% off for false advertising in their front windows. Which I got. WIN! Troy didn't care :( Clearly.

To be fair, when I got back to the house and he saw them in person, he was like, "those look WAY better in person than they did in that photo. Good work on the haggling, my lovely wife." I love a bargain!

I am an Instagram Fan - Like HUGE

It's official. I love my iphone. Yeah yeah, Troy. We should have switched 4 months ago. You were right. Moving right along.

My favorite app is Instagram. If you want to follow us on there, the user name is barnesdailycircus and Troy has one that is tbizzleecu.

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures so far:

I LOVE THIS PICTURE! Everything about it. I love the look on her face. Like she is Godzilla crushing everything and having a great time doing it. Look at those fat little legs! BITE BITE! I could just BBQ them.

We went to a local italian place. It was pretty underwhelming. Like pretty much everything in Alamogordo. But I managed to get a pretty adorable picture of Troy and Avery sharing spaghetti Lady and and Tramp style.

Avery's mullet. Disguised as a ponytail.

I cannot say how happy this picture makes me. I laugh every time I see it.

We went to the indoor play place at McDonald's. It's awesome. Like amazing place place. Can you tell that Avery loved it too?? FISTPUMP!

This is some of God's handiwork on the way to Las Cruces. Gorgeous.

Troy and I have a tradition where we take photobooth photos about once a year. We have a bunch of them that we keep on our fridge. This is our first time taking them with Avery. Here is a sampling of that little gem. I LOVE IT!

And there you have it. Can you see why I am totally in love with instagram? I feel like a professional photographer. I can't say enough good things about it. You can follow me at barnesdailycircus :) Happy Friday!

Autocorrect Disaster of Embarrassment. I Almost Died. Especially Because I Didn't Notice Until He Hadn't Responded for Almost an Hour. Now I Know Why.

Troy and I got smart phones this week. I finally caved. Troy has been wanting them for forever. Our phone contract was up on July 2nd and on July 3rd we were banging down the door of Verizon. In an ironic twist, the sales representative informed us that we could have come in for upgrades 4 months before our contract was up. Troy was mad. I laughed. The evil kind.

They offered us a "deal" where we could trade in our old phones and they would subtract the trade in prices from the cost of our new phones. This is Troy's old phone:

And this is mine:

Needless to say, the sales guy LITERALLY laughed at us. He looked up our phones in his computer and informed us that the trade in value was 1 dollar. You read that right. A SINGLE DOLLAR! We told him that we would keep them and Avery could use them as play phones. She already has 3 play cell phones but she can SOMEHOW tell the difference between toys and the real thing. So now she has 2 real phones to play with.

Anyway, there have been several adjustments since getting the iphones. We are used to having keyboards. It is very easy to text on those. Iphone touch screens are not so easy to type on. We also didn't have autocorrect previously.

I had a HORRIBLE autocorrect on saturday. I was out with 2 friends and we were hitting up the thrift stores in town. For 6 hours. It was amazing. I got some good stuff and spent $24.75. AWESOME!

I was texting with a friend while we were out. He asked us what Troy and I were doing that day. Here's what happened in the text.

OH. MY. GOD. I was laughing so hard I almost started crying. Thank God it was a good friend and not Troy's mom or my Granny. That would have been awful.

Has anyone else had a horrible autocorrect incident? How about recommendations for good apps? I'm trying to get a hang of this.