a rock star and her brother

my mom and i recently went down to owings mills to visit drew and rachel. it was great to hang out...we spent the day in hunt valley. doesnt that just sound rich?? it does to me. anyway, we visited wegmans and other shops. it was a beautiful day as you can tell by the pictures. haha notice the sunglasses rachel and i are wearing...drew teases us constantly that they are HUUUGE and take up our faces. i love them!! hahaha....ohhh bro....how i love to embarass thee :)

having wayyyy to much fun in a cab!!!!

we took pictures throughout the night but these were hysterical cause we were in a cab that was by far the WORST driver ever...i swear, we are lucky to be alive. we thought, what the hell, might as well have fun, so we were screwing around. haha, these crack me up just remembering this ride. um, i think ali and aaron are so cute...i really have no idea what the hell im doing in any of these. but enjoy them, as we were pretty much just being crazy and fun. hahaha....what a fun weekend :)

the city that never sleeps

happy birthday stern!
so i was right, not much sleep. and i forgot my contact stuff so the precious little sleep i got, i had to do with my contacts in. HORRIBLE! haha. anway, it was a crazy, whirlwind weekend, but it was so much fun reuniting with everyone. attached is a picture of (left to right) me, jesse, ali, stern, sarah, and then just one of stern and i. more details later, im a little too tired right now, haha.

looking to be a weekend with no sleep...

i am getting so ansy about this weekend in nyc. im hoping sterns birthday is going to be so fun. i cant wait to share pictures of us white kids trying to dance!! haha. if you are going to be in town, please call and meet up. i will be sure to post pictures when i get them...have a great weekend!!

a little mental cleansing

so tonight at 7, my mom and i are heading over to hospice for a bereavement class. its for an hour and a half, and can i just tell you how excited i am. i think this is going to be really good. obviously my use of the word "excited" is not the usual way you would use it...i mean i get excited about boys, and music and amusement parks which is a little different. i am excited in the sense that i love remembering my dad. i love thinking about him and honoring his life. i love thinking about all the good he gave me and how much he taught me. he was my #1 fan, and i really am empty without him. with him i had no fear that id succeed in life. i knew that despite all the bumps i hit, i would be ok. that has been taken away. i am vulnerable. we all are.

ok ok, no more of that right now. i could talk like that forever. but this should be a good cleansing. and tomorrow we are meeting with ted for coffee. that will be really positive too. he has a way of making me feel calm about it all. i guess thats why hes a preacher, haha. so thats what us kelley girls have going on...ill be sure to update later this week.

love you all! xoxo

meteor shower

did anyone remember to catch the perseid meteor shower last night/this morning?! for the first time in a long time, i forgot about it, ahhh!! (i have been wayyyyy too excited and into the olympics). its known to be a pretty cool shower, they say you can see as many as 60 meteors per hour. thats pretty crazy! ohh astronomy...how i love thee. haha.

thank you

just want to take a minute to say how proud of my mom and brother i am. really, i love and am proud of all my family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc) but these two deserve a special shout out. (my dad belongs at the top of this too, and i want to honor him by saying how much i love and miss him every day. life will never be the same without you dad, but we will be strong for you!). PS, for those in the know, doesnt my dad look great in that top pic!! my mom and him are SO ADORABLE! i will be adding more posts for my dad, as i learn to move forward and come to terms with it all. i will add pictures from all stages of his life. and pray to god i can snag a man like him...hahaha.

first of all, dre dawg you kick ass. my god. you are getting your MBA and graduating with honors. all the while balancing a full time job (which, by the way you kick ass at) and being an amazing brother, son and husband. i mostly know the brother stuff, but i know the others are true. haha.

and mom. my best friend. im so lucky to have the most amazing woman on my team, playing captain with me. haha. we make an amazing duo...and i thank you for your strength, confidence, and energy. i only hope i provide the same.

to you both, thank you. for so many things. for everything. for putting up with me. for laughing with me. and crying. and remembering to stop and smell the roses. for being my family. for being you. im so excited for our lives and am so lucky to share everything with you guys. forever wildcats!! (haha, random, but i wanted to say that)

i love you guys!!!!

proud to be an american

holy shit! the united states 4x100 meter relay ousted France by 8 one hundredths of a second!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! watching it was one of the most amazing moments in athletic history. i was screaming at the TV and just sooooo happy and excited. it was utterly phenomenal...and sums up what the Olympics are all about. congrats boys, you make us all proud to be americans!

how do those trash talking words taste, France? oh not so good? hahahahaha.....

olympic golden boy

congrats on gold medal #1 m. phelps!!

the beijing 2008 summer olympics are under way, and it has been such fun watching it! the great thing about michael phelps, in my opinion, is that he is so all-american. hes known for working his ass off to do what he needs to do. hes not popular for being hot, rich or tan. hes not david beckham. he is chasing something that has never been done before (8 gold medals) and might (make that probably) achieve it. during interviews he is so normal. so not perfect. so ordinary. i love that.

aside from that, everything about the olympics is exciting. and honestly, the opening ceremony was a specticle beyond words. way to go beijing...you really know how to WOW the world. thank you for that.

sounds of childhood

have you ever wished you were 12 again? probably not forever, but maybe for a day?

while i was walking down the street to mail a letter an ice cream truck drove by me. i thought i heard the familiar jingle, but not until i turned around did i see the truck. who knew they still had those!?!?! i actually did not know that they were still around. as my brother and i reminisced, we laughed about how we probably would not buy anything from them nowadays as you can get so much more for your money at the grocery store or actual ice cream place, and it can not be the cleanest ice cream, right?! haha. but it got me thinking...

sometimes i miss the good ol' days when we played outside until it got dark and mom and dad had to shout for us to come home. a time when you really earned those showers, what with dirt-filled nails, graveled feet and chlorine hair. the days when it was ok to get sunburned and not reapply sunscreen every 5 minutes. a time without the thought of bills, laundry or gas prices, when the biggest dilemma was which boy i was in love with, and what amusement park ride we should ride next. when kick the can, soccer games, capture the flag and truth or dare were highlights of my day. just thinking back to all the things that made life fun. it was the simple things. a time when we were riding bikes way before there was an ozone problem. i could go on forever, as i really want to thank my family and friends for the most amazing childhood ever. (and even now, as they and i are all paving our way still...thank you. you are making my adult life even better. i only hope i impact you the same way.)

here is to bringing back that mentality! here is my toast to living life with the fondness and ease of a kid, the ambition and responsibility of an adult and all the laughs, memories, tears and craziness along the way.

blonde road trip!!

how many blondes does it take to pump gas? apparently, more than two!

a few days ago my mom and i decided to road trip it to king of prussia mall, about an hour away. we have our spot where we always go to go to the bathroom. this time was no different, but my mom also wanted to get gas. we parked, and took care of the bathroom situation first. then, we got in the car and drove to the pump (about 100 yards away). we got out, and as she went to the nozzle, i went inside to get sodas and gum. i came out to my mom cracking up. and by that i mean "susie kelley laughing", totally hilarious!! i started cracking up and she said i needed to reverse the car, as she pulled too far ahead. easy enough. (oh if only....)

we went to put in the nozzle and it did not fit. we were hysterical so i figured it was just us not being able to control ourselves and was meant to do this and we just needed to press harder. she was laughing too hard, so i tried. i could not understand why we were struggling so much (as we are pretty able people, and pumping gas is not exactly rocket science) so i gave up on the damn thing. a man then came over and asked if we were meaning to pump diesel gas into our car. holy shit, what was that!?!??!?!?!? in this particular case, the diesel nozzle was not placed separately from the rest, so we did not realize that was why it did not fit. so, long story short, we pumped 75 cents of diesel gas into our car before realizing this and starting over.

haha i have to be honest, i am still laughing about this. it was one of the funniest moments i have ever experienced. there is never a dull moment when my mom and i are together and her laugh and attitude are so damn fun that its moments like these and people like her that make life worth living. (and i am pretty sure we provided that stranger a story for his friends later...)

that said, can someone please explain to me the difference between regular and diesel gas. at the time i did not have the heart to ask. felt dumb enough, and we wanted to jet out of there!! haha...

and yes, i agree. my mom and i should take our act on the road...hahahahahahahaha.... :):)

ready, set, go

hello!
at any given time, i have about a million thoughts and ideas in my head. those who know me, know this all too well...haha!! ive decided, at the suggestion of my aunt (thats you aunt martha!!) to start a blog. nothing serious, nothing too crazy, just a personal space where i can vent and release some of what is going on in my head. maybe that will help me with my ADD...but probably not, haha, as im sure to just fill it will other things :)...what can i say, it runs in the family.

im totally new to this blogging thing, but i love to write and think this is going to be so fun! i am so excited you all get to follow me on my blog as i chat about all sorts of things...please chime in with any and all of your thoughts and ideas and jokes and everything!!!! thisll be a family thing!

so, here we go...