Panama City Beach // Summer 2012

We’ve spent the last few days at Panama City Beach for a James family reunion of sorts. David’s parents rented a beach house and invited us to come along. We had a short trip (although they’re there all week!) and are back home to our pups. Kim and Josh came up from down South and as always I love spending time with them!

Thanks again Big Dawg and Mrs. Robin for having us!!

And of course here’s a fun video  

Home Away from Home

We did a lot of eating and I took quite a few pictures this trip. We had beautiful weather!

 

We tried David’s Snoballs, which was supposed to be just like Big Easy’s…the verdict? Close, but NO cigar. It was okay, but nothing compares to Big Easy’s now!

Color blocking twins! Doesn’t Kim (my Sister in Law) look fabulous? I don’t know exactly how much weight she’s lost but she gets up at the crack of dawn every morning and runs 6+ miles and has completely changed her eating habits to a healthy lifestyle. The girl is an inspiration. I can’t wait for her to move up to Tallahassee so she can help motivate me to be like her! So proud of you Kimbo!

We had some good old “amusement” park fun on Saturday night.

 

In line for Go-Karts!

My go-kart was the fastest. I seriously smoked all of my competition!  

Bumper Boats!

 

 

Did I mention I also won at golf? Yep, pretty much. I rock. That’s T on the left, and that’s a 40 not 46 although David’s chicken scratch looks that way. I’m a baller.

Sunday morning at the gorgeous Panama City Beach!

Hello dahling.

Catching up on the Hollywood gossip.

Magazine covers on sunscreened skin = temporary tattoos haha

My new beach bag! Found it at Pier Park for $20. Ended up picking three more for Kim, David’s Mom and my Momma!

 

The pool for Venture Out, the community we stayed in.

I’ve decided I should only be photographed in a bathing suit if I’m floating. Everything floats and is perky. It’s very flattering! Hah!

Kim taking pictures with my camera: “Oooh!! This is so fun! I want one!”

“I feel like the paparazzi!” Haha

Sister in Laws <3

The Laus

Golf cart parking.

Josh and Kim had to head back home on Sunday so David and I went back to Pier Park and shopped around some more. There’s a new frozen yogurt shop there which is a lot like Nuberri’s here. Yum!

I somehow talked David into the $30 buffet at Capt. Jack’s. I’ve always wanted to go and finally got to. It’s all you can eat, and there’s CRABLEGS. Need I say more?

 

Sunset cruise on the golf cart.

Dad and son.

First time playing shuffleboard. I really liked it!

The In-Laws

Cute little houses.

Dad this is for you. Your limo cart would look good red!

David and I went down to the beach to watch the glorious sunset.

Can’t wait to go back in September for our annual camping trip!

It’s Good to Be a Dog

Would you ever have this much fun sticking your head out of a moving vehicle?

My favorite part is that his mouth is closed in the front but the wind caught the cheek flap. Oh, Rem.

Cracks. me. up. 

Oh, and just because she’s cute  

She had her 16 week appointment today. That means she got her rabies shot and can now go to the Dog Park! She’s lost two teeth and is weighing in at 35 pounds!

Love my fur kids

The Seymour Family

They’re no strangers to the blog

 

 

The Jolly James’ // Take Two

When I first started this blog, it was called The Jolly James’. Hence the current URL.

Then last year, the not so fun stuff happened. And we were no longer a party of two…

So I changed the name to T, Myself & I but kept the URL the same because I risked screwing something up with all my old posts and just figured I’d lose them if I made a new URL.

Well, now that we’re engaged and are giving this another go ‘round, I figured it’s time to change it back. Because it’s not just me, myself and I. It’s actually Me, David, Remington & Moose. David and I don’t live together, but we are house hunting and hope to be married by the end of the year. And we are the Jolly James’ :)

Another thing to note, I never got my name changed after we divorced. So I am still legally Tamara James. It wasn’t because I anticipated getting back together, but more so the time and effort I would have to go through to get it done and I knew I’d do it eventually but hadn’t gotten around to it. So I just changed it to Tamara Gray on Facebook and that was that. After all, that’s as official as it gets, right? ;-)

Well friends, I guess laziness pays off because turns out it won’t be changing after all :)

So that’s all, just a little post as to why the name has been changed back to its original state!

via

DIY: Growth Chart/Oversized Ruler

Update! Since posting this, a wonderful reader mentioned that she is selling vinyl decals for those of you wanting to make this but don't have the supplies. Check out Little Acorns By Ro on Etsy! Right now she's only charging $9.99 for the decal. She makes it easy for you to do this yourself! 

I’m finally participating in Katie and Sherry's Pinterest Challenge!

I jumped on the train. You know, the giant ruler train.  I’ve been seeing them everywhere and pinned the Dear Lillie one a while back. Then my friends started making them (Lynn & Brett and Renee and it made me want one even more and I knew I had to give this project a swift kick in the butt!

PS- If you don’t want to make one yourself, Dear Lillie sells them for $74.95. (It is temporarily sold out though) If you have $75 big ones to shell out for a ruler go for it! I didn’t, so I made my own
Total cost for me was about $10 (D-rings & wood) since I already had everything else.


This was originally created by Pottery Barn (and has since been discontinued) but there have since been many knockoffs. It looks like 517creations may have been the original knocker-offer!
Step 1: Stain your board (I didn’t sand. You may want to because I got a nice splinter in my pinky when I was wiping off the stain!


 
PS- I really need a garage. Like yesterday. Rain and an uncovered back patio are not good conditions for staining furniture outside. Like my No-Moose-Entry-Zone made out of TV trays?
Step 2: While it’s drying create your numbers and tick marks. Most tutorials I found hand drew the lines and cut the numbers by hand or machine. I opted to do both on the machine.

Do you notice my screw up from the shot above? I hadn’t at this point…
Step 3: After the stain is completely dry, apply vinyl. I started 6” up to account that I didn’t want the board to start at the floor.

Can’t WAIT to have a giant craft table so I don’t have to use a shoe box to prop my Cricut on…

Sidenote: I usually use cheap transfer paper for all my vinyl stuff because well, it’s cheap. The first foot and a half or so I used the cheap stuff and you really do get what you pay for…I had a mild panic attack because the vinyl did not want to come off to stick to the board. I finally got it on there with some prodding and peeling but it was super stubborn. For the rest of the board I used some leftover good Cricut brand transfer stuff that worked perfect. Lesson learned!
I put on all my numbers, only to realize my feet were off. Basically I designed it wrong on the cutting program so when I put it on the board, 1.75 feet was where I put the 2. etc…
The board was shaping up to be 8 feet tall (although really only 6 feet) at the rate I was going with the wrong numbers.

Luckily I only had to peel off and re-cut numbers 2-6 and the tick marks could stay.

You can re-use transfer tape by the way. It tends to be good for at least two transfers out of the same piece!

Curiously cute assistant is optional though highly recommended.
Step 4: Screw in the D-Rings


 

I am thinking of sealing it with poly so the vinyl won’t peel, but I can neither confirm nor deny that I will ever get around to it cause I’m lazy. Plus one day I want to be able to write on it to record my kiddos height!
In the meantime, I’ll just measure my fur babies. So proud and tall! Hah!

Sweet boy is 2 1/2 feet tall.

Moose is about 2 feet and stretching her neck to try and be tall like her brother!
Check out the lovely ladies hosting the Summer Pinterest Challenge!
Young House Love
Bower Power
Centsational Girl
Ten June

Over the river and through the woods…

…to Grandma & Grandpa’s house we go!

Well not really, more like just across town.

 

Backseat drivers.

Moose starts out in the back with Rem but does whatever she pleases. Which includes hurdling over the backseat to Remi and then back again at least 5 million times in a 15 minute ride. Look at her, she looks like she’s fixin’ to bounce!

Sillies.

Although sometimes she stops to smell the roses acknowledge the sites as they fly by the window.

But all too soon the fun is over and it’s time to load up again!

Love my fur babies

#7 - Check!

I’m getting pretty good at this. I should make bucket lists more often. I like it. Makes me do fun things!

My feet thank you ma’am.

We were running errands and David decided to sit and wait while I did my thing. Hah.

Happy Feet!