Photo Hunters: Colorful

This picture was taken out at the Grand Canyon a couple of years ago. The picture doesn't fully capture the amazing colors I saw that day... it was absolutely breathtaking.

The Meme About Me

So Leslie tagged me for The Meme About Me.

What were you doing 10 years ago? May 1997: I graduated high school on May 19, 1997 and a couple of days later I headed to Disney World with some friends from church. As soon as I got back from that trip I went to Wrightsville Beach, NC with my family.

What were you doing 1 year ago? May 2006: I was on a cruise to Alaska with my parents and about 20 other people that we knew from church. One year ago tonight I was texting Leslie from Alaska to find out who won American Idol.

Five snacks you enjoy: nuts (peanuts, walnuts, almonds, pretty much all of them), Double Stuff Oreos, M&Ms, popcorn, cokes (I know this is a drink but I tend to make it a snack)

Five songs that you know all the lyrics: "If I Had $1,000,000" - Barenaked Ladies, "Old Blue Chair" - Kenny Chesney, "Someone Like You" - Jekyll & Hyde, "California Girls" (and pretty much every other Beach Boys song), "We Are in Love" - Harry Connick Jr.

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire: buy my dream house (or at least a bigger house), start a doggie day care where Leslie and I could work so we could ditch our current jobs, figure out something to buy for my parents... maybe an RV so they could travel, take my family and friends on a big trip, donate the rest to organizations doing good things for animals

Five bad habits: Not answering personal e-mails, not listening for comprehension when other people are talking to me, checking my e-mail too much on my pda, staying up watching tv when I am already tired, not using my elliptical trainer as much as I should

Five things you like doing: spending time with Brun being lazy around the house, watching Nascar, embroidering with my new embroidery machine, whatever other craft project is my latest craze, napping on Sunday afternoon

Five things you would never wear again: I have learned to never say never but I will say probably my prom dress (although I wore it not that long ago), my cap and gown, pantyhose (I think I have managed to not wear these for over a year... so maybe I can keep it up), blue eye shadow, high waisted pants

Five favorite toys: my embroidery machine, my Tivo (even the fake DVR TiVo wanna be), my flat screen HDTV, my cameras, my phones

This was harder than I thought!

I'm not going to tag anyone else but let me know if you play along so I can read the answers.

Time Travel Tuesday: My First Blog Post

Well I did not participate in Time Travel Tuesday last week... I might have to revisit age 18 another day but for this week I am going to get my act together and participate. This week we are supposed to revisit our first blog post. Well for me that really wasn't that long ago... only March 22 of this year. But in case you missed it the first time or just want to read it again, here it is:

Welcome to my blog

Who needs a blog? Apparently I do. Seems like everyone I know has a blog so I figured I should have one too. I don't have any kids to blog about and my life is not all that interesting, but I do have a miniature labradoodle named Brun. He's a great dog who used to be brown... hence his name (which means brown in French). He is now more of a silver color but he won't answer to Stirling... so we still call him Brun.

Brun came from St. Louis and weighs about 45 pounds. Some would argue that 45 pounds is not miniature but he's just right for me. He is a little over a year old and he's a lot of fun. For those of you who don't know what a labradoodle is, it's a mix between a Labrador retriever and a poodle.

So sit back and enjoy this blog. There will be lots of tidbits and anecdotes about Brun and about my life in general. I can't say that it will be interesting or riveting but if you have read this far hopefully it will keep your interest for at least a little while.

So why did I start a blog? Well I had been reading Amberly and Lauren's blogs on a daily basis and I was talking to Leslie on the phone one day and we just decided we needed blogs. Some days I'm not sure that my life is interesting enough to blog about but I have enjoyed it so far... even in weeks like this past week when I have been pretty blog lazy. So given my enjoyment level so far, I hope I keep it up for a long time.

For other time travelers, visit Annie's site.

I'm still here

I have become a lazy blogger over the past couple of weeks. In fact this weekend when I saw Amberly, she said with a smile "You have been slacking on your blog." I know she's right but I'm not sure why I've been such a slacker. Things haven't been that much busier than normal... I guess there just hasn't been that much interesting going on.

I will try to do better this week. Tonight I am back in my hometown for work tomorrow and then I will be back again Wednesday night for work on Thursday... so it's going to be a week on the road. That doesn't typically make for interesting blogging but I'll try to do better. :-)

Just wanted to let you all know that I was still alive. Now it's off to watch the end of "The Bachelor." Why do I watch these completely mindless reality TV shows?? :-) Talk to you soon!

Weekend Reflections

Well I am once again very late with my Weekend Reflections but I think it is a beneficial thing to reflect on the week that was and so I am going to go ahead and take a shot at it.

The first of last week was fairly routine with work on Monday and work half a day on Tuesday. On Tuesday afternoon I was headed to Atlanta for work. More often than not I dread trips for work that force me to stay in a hotel... but I was actually looking forward to this one. I love Atlanta and while I don't think I would ever want to live there, I do enjoy visiting and it had been a long time since I have been over there.

Because of the way my schedule worked out I traveled alone and met up with some people from work when I got to Atlanta. Call me crazy but I actually prefer to travel alone. I can listen to what I want on the radio, talk on the phone to whoever I want and stop (or not stop) whenever I want... and best of all I don't have to worry about awkward silences between me and whoever else is in the car. :-)

So I arrived safely in Atlanta Tuesday evening and met up with several folks for a wonderful steak dinner at a local restaurant called Houston's. Wednesday was filled with relatively boring meetings but overall they weren't too terrible. By the time Wednesday night rolled around everyone else from my group had headed back home and so I was left in the city by myself. My hotel was in the downtown Buckhead area and so I walked next door to the mall and shopped around a little bit before time for church. I had not been to church in Atlanta in about two and a half years but it was good to see some old friends while I was there. One of them got married and had a baby since the last time I saw him... which was a huge surprise but an exciting one.

After church I made my way to the Cheesecake Factory (one of my absolute favorites) where I enjoyed my sandwich but was disappointed to find out that they were out of the dessert that I love so much. I don't eat cheesecake at all but they have a brownie and ice cream dessert that is wonderful! Since they were out of that I passed and went back to my hotel. Oh well... I didn't need the extra calories anyways.

On Thursday I did not have to be at the meeting until after lunch so I slept in and piddled around the hotel room until lunch time. After my meeting was over I headed back for home. On Thursday night I met my parents and aunt and uncle in Birmingham for a Collector's Club meeting. This is a monthly meeting for Hallmark ornament collectors. I am the youngest member of the club but it's fun to go and they have cool door prizes. On Thursday night my mom, aunt and uncle presented the meeting on their collections... not of Hallmark ornaments but other things. My mom and my uncle both collect old watches so they had a beautiful collection on display for everyone to see. My uncle also collects old wood planes... which are used to shape wood... and so he brought a bunch of those.

After the Collector's Club meeting I finally got back home to my wondeful dog Brun. He was very happy to see me and I was very happy to see him. My roommate is so sweet to take care of him but I still miss him and worry about him while I am gone. My parents also came back to my house for an extended weekend to do some things around the house where my brother lives.

Friday was possibly the least productive day I have ever had at work. :-) I had been out of town for two and a half days so it felt like everyone wanted to visit and catch me up on what I had missed. A lot of it was work discussion but not a lot of real work got done... oh well. Friday night I worked on some sewing projects and ate dinner at home with my parents.

On Saturday morning I didn't accomplish much. Saturday afternoon I went to my brother's house for a very brief time to help my parents do some things around the house and then it was time to head to the wedding.

So it was another busy week but a good one. This week I am thankful for exciting big cities like Atlanta (that I can visit but don't have to live in), old friends who I can catch up with from time to time and for happy couples like Bryan and Haley who find each other.

For more Weekend Reflections, visit Judi at Mommy of Two.

Wedding Bells

No they most definitely were not my own wedding bells... but tonight it was time for a wedding. I have to start by saying that I really don't like weddings. I certainly support the institution of marriage, but the idea of big, fancy weddings is just not my thing. I mean no offense to those of you had that had a big, fancy wedding but they just aren't for me. I tell my friends quite often that if they will just elope I will buy them a nicer present because I don't have to worry about going to the wedding. No one has taken me up on it yet. :-)

But as the calendar turns to May it was time for the first wedding of the summer. I do have to say that this is the first wedding in a long time that I wasn't completely dreading attending. The wedding was for one of my brother's best friends. My brother, Wren, and Bryan, the groom, have been best friends since they were little boys... probably 20 years or more.

Bryan's father is a pilot and so they moved around fairly often, but his career path brought them to my hometown several times when we were growing up... and most of our younger years were spent living in the same town and going to the same church. Our families were (and still are) good friends but Wren and Bryan have done a better job keeping in touch than the rest of us have.

There is no way to describe the relationship that Wren and Bryan have other than total love for each other. I have so many great memories growing up that involve Bryan as he and Wren spent many, many days together. I remember the days when Wren and Bryan were about six years old and Bryan didn't talk (at least not around my family) and Wren had to talk for him... I remember spending time at the various houses that they lived in in my hometown... I remember helping them pack and unpack as they moved around... and I remember when Wren and Bryan roomed together their first semester in college.

Bryan and his family have held... and always will hold a special place in my heart. And so tonight I wasn't dreading the wedding. Bryan found a very special girl named Haley and I am sure that they are going to be happy together.

Earlier today I found this picture (Bryan is on the left and Wren is on the right):


And later tonight I took this picture (Wren is on the left and Bryan is on the right):

In some ways it is as if no time has passed between the two pictures... but alas, 20 years have flown by. And while Wren and Bryan will still love each other as only best friends can... Bryan has found Haley and has chosen to love her and devote his life to her. I wish them only the best as they begin their life together.

Photo Hunters: Five

Here is a picture of five of Brun's favorite toys. This was not an easy picture to take by the way... when I started moving the toys around Brun wanted to play with all of them.


Number 1 is Pink Dog. Pink Dog was his first toy and it is probably his favorite. Leslie brought him over to the house on the night that I brought Brun home. Pink Dog is currently in the dog toy hospital as Brun has ripped his head open... but he has been repaired once and he will be repaired again.

Number 2 is Eggplant. Eggplant has been repaired numerous times and is now missing his arms and his "stem." I love eggplant because instead of the normal high pitched squeak that most dog toys make, eggplant makes a grunting noise.

Number 3 is Purple Elephant. This is a fluffy favorite that came from Wal-Mart I believe.

Number 4 is Froggie. Froggie is technically a beanie baby toy for dogs and he is a favorite around our house.

Number 5 is Green Bear. Green Bear was another gift from Leslie in Brun's Easter Basket last year. You can tell from his dingy color that he is well loved.


Brun has bunches and bunches of toys... more than any dog could ever need but these are his five favorites.

For more Photo Hunters, click here.

Time Travel Tuesday: 16

I am once again late in this post but I want to play anyways. :-) I was 16 in 1995. It was the second half of my sophomore year and the first half of my junior year of high school. I am out of town at the moment so I can't go flip through pictures or my yearbooks from 1995 to refresh my memory... so I may be a little short on details of that year.

Unlike most of you, I didn't want to drive when I turned 16 and I actually didn't get my driver's license until after I turned 17. This was not because my parents didn't want me to drive... but because I didn't want to drive. I had known of a couple of people killed in car crashes... and that scared me... but more than that, I really didn't mind having people drive me around. My parents lived about 30 minutes away from school (and everything else) so if I didn't have to drive myself to school I could get in a quick nap on the way. :-) Lazy I know but it worked out for me. I now drive all the time for my job and for my own personal travel so I don't regret the fact that I postponed it a year.

In 10th grade I was in the high school spring musical for the third year in a row. This year it was West Side Story. The guy who played Tony could not sing and it was not the best production ever done. We had a senior that showed up to play practice drunk... bad move on his part... he got kicked out of school just before graduation. I also had a solo in the play... which was exciting and terrifying all at the same time. We performed the play outside on the lawn of the school and the stage was only slightly higher than the ground. Well on the first night of the show a little kid took off across the stage in the middle of my solo. Everyone in the audience started laughing... fortunately I knew what was happening so I knew they weren't laughing at me but I had trouble not laughing myself. From what I remember I was pretty successful at that.

In 10th grade I took my first AP class... AP European History taught my Mr. Rudd. Not my favorite class in the world but I got college credit for it so I can't complain. I also had Biology with Miss McConnell who will always be one of my favorite teachers of all time. I did enjoy the dissecting part of this class however.

I think that 10th grade was my last year in Chorus... I know I was on the Science Olympiad team (one of my favorite activities) and several other things that escape me at the moment.

During the second half of 1995 I was in 11th grade. I was on the Newspaper staff and took classes like American history and Chemistry. I can sing but I cannot act... but they still gave me a part in the high school fall play that year.

I can't think of anything else too memorable about 1995 but here were some of the top movies:

Toy Story - As was (and still is) our family tradition we saw this on Thanksgiving night in the theatre. I still love this movie.
Batman Forever
GoldenEye
Jumanji - I hated this movie.
Crimson Tide

For more Time Travel Tuesday participants, visit Annie's site.

Woot Monkey Video

Some of you have asked "What is a Woot Monkey??" Well I don't have a good way to take a video and I don't really know how to post one so I borrowed this one from YouTube. Mine has a black cape but other than that it looks and works just like this one. You basically pull it's rubber band arms to stretch it out and then let it go.

Yes the scream is really that annoying so I'm sure that none of you want your children to have one. :-) They really have no point... they are just a collector's item from the Woot website that show up at the end of a Woot Off. They sold 10,000 of them in two minutes last week so they are pretty hard to get. Yes I realize some of you are still saying "Why would you want one?" But I wanted one so I now have three. :-)

Weekend Reflections

Well it has been another good and busy week. I was in town most of the week so I would say this week was a little less busy than usual.

Last Sunday was spent at church and then at a picnic with our small group from church. This is a program started within our congregation to help us get together in smaller groups in order to get to know each other better and encourage each other to participate in activities. After the picnic I came home and watched the Talladega NASCAR race. As a big NASCAR fan I was a little sad not to be a few hours away at the race but I was also quite happy to be watching it from my couch and not fighting the traffic, crowds and heat.

Monday and Tuesday were your typical work days with normal evening activities. On Wednesday I got a haircut. It really needed it so I was happy to get that taken care of. My hair grows pretty slow so I usually go three or four months between haircuts. Haircuts are stressful to me so I am glad that I don't have to have them any more often than I do.

Thursday was my last day of work for the week... yea!! Thursday right after work I headed to my hometown for a class I was taking on Friday. When I got to my hometown Thursday evening I was able to attend a singing that my parent's congregation was having in one of the member's home. I like the church in the town where I live but I LOVE the congregation where my parents attend. I could go on for hours about why I like my parent's congregation but for now I will just say that I was very happy to be able to gather with some of the folks from their congregation and sing praises to God. Unfortunately, Amberly and her family weren't able to be there because of the "crud" she had late this week.

On Friday I was able to take a class on using my new sewing machine. I will write more on my new machine next week so for now you will have to be in suspense. :-) The class was very informative and I learned a lot. After class my dad, Brun and I headed back to the town where I live. My mom joined us in my town after she got off of work and we were all able to go out to dinner. After that I spent some time using my new sewing machine.

Then this morning the doorbell rang at 7:58 AM. Because my parents were in town, I was sleeping on the couch. You can't really see the couch from the front door so I opted to continue to lay on the couch and ignore the doorbell. I was not awake at 7:58 AM on Saturday morning but my mom was so she went to the door. Apparently the extra early FedEx man brought my Woot monkeys!!!!! When my mom said "The Woot monkeys are here" I popped right up off the couch and tore into the box. I am easily entertained so I was thrilled to get them. :-)

After I opened the Woot monkeys and slingshotted them around the house a few times I laid back down and went back to sleep. Apparently I was pretty tired because I slept until 10 or so regardless of the fact that everyone else in my house got up at 8 or before. After I finally got up I did a little bit around the house and then spent all of the afternoon at the house where my brother lives. This is my grandparent's house and we are trying to do some things to get it ready to sell and so there was lots to be done this afternoon.

After I left there I came back to my house and cooked dinner for my parents and I and continued on some sewing projects. I had several things (mostly graduation presents) I had to finish to send back with my parents so I finally got all of that wrapped up. Leslie, ToolMan and CRB dropped by for a little while to check out the new machine.

So I am thankful for a lot of things this week... I am thankful that I was able to be home most of the week, I am thankful for my parents, I am thankful for good church congregations that I was able to spend some time with this week, I am thankful for my new sewing machine, I am thankful to have my dog back at home with me... and even though I am tired from painting and scraping windows I am thankful for the physical ability to do things like that.

I hope everyone else had a great week! Go visit Judi at Mommy of Two for more Weekend Reflections.

Photo Hunters: Childhood

I apologize for the quality of this photo... I didn't have a scanner handy so this is a picture of a picture.

I have lots of wonderful childhood memories full of family and friends but this is one of my favorite pictures from my childhood. I was about four and my brother was about two. We were helping to wash my dad's Honda and for whatever reason my little brother decided a band-aid was plenty of "clothing" for your typical car wash. :-)

For other Photo Hunters participants, click here.

7 Things About Me

Amberly tagged me for this meme where you write seven facts or habits about yourself. My goal is to list seven things that Amberly and Leslie don't already know about me. My guess is that Leslie knows most (if not all) of these and Amberly knows the majority of them... but oh well... here goes:

1. When I eat, I eat in order. I eat all of one thing on my plate and then move to the next item. I try to save the best for last... whether that is the entree or a side item. I do this with almost every meal that I eat.
   
2. I have no sense of smell. No one knows why... they did CAT scans of my head but never figured anything out. This doesn't really bother me most of the time and Amberly's husband thinks it is awesome trait to have... no guy's dirty laundry or bathroom habits or any baby's poopie diapers will ever bother me.
   
3. The first concert I ever went to was Matchbox 20 at Oak Mountain in Birmingham. I think I was in the 10th or 11th grade. I had gone to lots of outdoor concert/festivals before that time, but this was the first time I went to a "real" concert. I went with a bunch of kids from church when you could still sit on the lawn.
   
4. When I was in the first grade I went to my school's Halloween Carnival. I had a yellow fairy princess dress that my mom made... complete with tall, pointy hat and a wand with an aluminum foil covered star on the end. I don't remember if I was embarrassed or didn't like the costume or what but I did NOT want to participate in the costume contest. My parents forced me to enter and I won first prize. Looking back on it now, the costume was awesome!
   
5. I only drink two types of drinks... water and Coke (and a Pepsi if there is no other option). I do NOT drink the diet versions... only the real thing. My favorite water is Aquafina and there are some types of bottled water that I won't drink. As for coke... I prefer fountain cokes poured over "good" ice. And by "good" ice I mean the ice pellets like they have at Sonic.
   
6. To this day, if I am flipping through the TV with nothing in particular to watch I will stop on any episode of Full House and watch it. I have seen every episode MULTIPLE times (I can even quote some of them) but this does not stop me.
   
7. I still take Flinstones vitamins. I have tried taking adult vitamins but they make my stomach hurt and I don't like them. Because of this I end up not taking them... so I stick with the children's vitamins... at least I usually remember to take that.

Most of the people that I would tag for this have already been tagged... but feel free to play along if you would like. Let me know if you play so I can learn more about you too.

Friday Favorites: Shampoo and Conditioner

You know that when you get a hair cut they usually try to sell you hair products while you are there. Given that I had a haircut this week I would say that I have had shampoo and conditioner on the brain.

I have tried a lot of expensive shampoos and conditioners but none of them have worked for me. For me, Pantene Pro-V Sheer Volume shampoo and conditioner are the perfect fit.

With curly, relatively thin hair these products seem to work great! They keep my hair from getting tangled or too frizzy or too flat. It's not the most expensive brand and it's not the cheapest but it is definitely my favorite.

For more Friday Favorites, go visit Amberly at Moments Amid Messes.

Time for a Haircut

I HATE to get my hair cut. Because I have naturally curly hair it can be difficult to find someone who will cut my hair the way that I want. Most hair stylists just want to play with my hair and fix it the way that they want.

A few years ago I finally found someone that I liked... she cut my hair the way that I asked and she highlighted it the way that I liked. And then the salon closed and she was nowhere to be found. I looked around and I didn't find anyone that I was happy with for about a year... and then eureka! A local magazine/coupon book came in the mail last fall and on one page there was an ad for a local salon. As a part of the ad was a picture of the stylists and there she was... I had relocated my former stylist! Next time I needed a haircut I made an appointment with her.

So this week it was time for my dreaded hair cut. I think that this girl does a great job but my hair grows very slowly and so I am always afraid that it will get cut too short or be the wrong color. On top of that, it is expensive and so I tend to put it off as long as possible.

So here was my hair yesterday before my haircut. It's a terrible picture but I took it myself so that didn't help:

And here it was today after my haircut. This picture isn't much better but my brother took it while I was talking on the phone:

She barely trimmed it (in my attempt to grow my hair out) and highlighted it. It's probably a little blonder than it should be but the color will tone down a little over the next few days.

So I have survived another haircut and can hopefully go another three or four months before I have to have another one.

Wordless Wednesday: Baby Brun in last year's Spring Flowers

For more Wordless Wednesday contributors, go here.

Time Travel Tuesday: 12

Annie is hosting a fun new meme called Time Travel Tuesday. I didn't get a chance to participate earlier in the day because I was having trouble remembering age 12. Once I was able to get home and flip through some old pictures it has all come flooding back. :-)

My birthday falls early in January so that makes it easy for me to associate my age with a particular year... it was 1991 for me. I was in 6th grade and 7th grade that year... which at my school meant the transition from elementary school to middle school. But let me start at the beginning of the year...

For my birthday that year I had a big party at Luigi's Pizzeria (I think it's a furniture store now) that was probably the predecessor to places like CiCi's. I didn't have big birthday parties every year but I think that my parents had a big one that year because they knew that the next year I would be at a new campus with different friends. Anyways... I remember this birthday because I wore a Hawaii Sweatshirt and a black dress hat... gotta love my fashion sense! I don't have a scanner handy or I would possibly share this embarrassment with the world. For the party, my dad went through the home movies of activities and parties that my elementary school class had participated in and put them all on a video that we played on a big screen tv during the birthday party. I would love to go back and find that video some day... I know it's still around.

For sixth grade I had Mrs. Harrison who wasn't my favorite teacher but she was a good teacher. The two sixth grade classes were in trailers that year which I actually liked for whatever reason. My acting career (yeah right!) got off the ground that year as I played the Nurse in our class production of Romeo and Juliet. For whatever reason I also vividly remember having to write my first essay on a test in 6th grade Social Studies. I was a good student but I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown when they told us we would have to write an essay on a test. :-) I was also the editor of our elementary school newspaper that year. That year was also the year that they built the high school I would eventually go to.

In our elementary school awards ceremony that year I remember getting called up for lots of awards. I felt so important because we were the oldest class at the school and I counted and I got as many (or more) awards than anyone else. I remembered looking up to sixth graders when I was in the lower grades so it felt so awesome to have all of them looking up at me. They probably just thought I was a geek... and they were probably right but I didn't care. :-) I loved elementary school... unfortunately that school was blown away in a tornado when I was a Jr. in high school. Fortunately it happened at night and no one was on campus.

1991 was also my first year of Summer Church camp. I had been to girl scout camp before but that was the first summer when I actually enjoyed camp. I was terribly terribly homesick (this was before the days of 6th graders having cell phones) but I really loved it. This was also the year that I fell through a window at camp. It's a long story but I was trying to make my bed (which was a mattress on the floor) and I fell rear end first through a plate glass window. I wasn't hurt at all but I was terribly embarrassed.

When school started back in the fall it was off to 7th grade in a new campus with a bunch of kids I didn't like. Our school had two elementary schools and when you got to 7th grade they were combined for the first time. The two groups didn't mesh all that well and there were lots of kids I didn't particularly care for. Middle School was probably my least favorite school years but I survived and I'm hopefully a better person for it. I think that 7th grade was the last year that I took piano lessons... I had Mrs. Hattaway for Life Science, Mrs. Newton for English, Mrs. Gilliland for Geography, a principal I couldn't stand and some other teachers that I don't remember... not the most stellar group of teachers I ever had. I don't have my year books here with me or I would share some of my activities for that year... but for now I will spare you.

Overall I would say 12 was a good year. The first half was better than the second but not too many complaints from me. Thanks Annie for allowing me this walk down memory lane!

Weekend Reflections

This has been a super busy week. Monday was a fairly typical work day but then I headed back to my hometown Monday night for work on Tuesday.

On Tuesday I had to work in my hometown until mid afternoon and then I had head to south Alabama for work there on Wednesday. On Wednesday I worked in South Alabama and then drove to West Alabama for work that afternoon. By Wednesday night I finally got to come home. I made it to church that night but that was about all I did. I fell asleep Wednesday night laying in bed watching TV and apparently I was so tired I never moved and slept the whole night holding the remote.

Thursday I was in the office for about an hour and then it was back to my hometown for a work meeting. This was just a day trip and fortunately I did not have to drive. By Thursday night I was finally back home and so glad to be there. I don't remember accomplishing anything Thursday night other than watching TV and cooking mac and cheese for dinner. This doesn't sound nutritious to most (and it probably isn't) but after having to eat out most of the week I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Friday I was honestly glad to be back in the office to try and catch up on things. Mid morning my brother (who works in the same office) came in my office and said that he wasn't going to be getting much work done because Friday was a Woot off. If you have never heard of a Woot off I have to refer you to http://www.woot.com/ Normally on Woot, they have one deal per day and they sell them until they are gone. When the deal sells out you have to wait for the next day for the next deal. Some of the specials are great and some of them are for things you would never need.

Well when they have a Woot Off they have constant deals. When one deal sells out they immediately put up another one. Some sell out very quickly (in only a minute or two) and some take hours. This process usually goes on for 24-72 hours in order to help clean out the Woot warehouse. My brother got some great deals on the last Woot off so I immediately became distracted by this and spent much of late Friday morning and afternoon watching the Woot off.

Friday for lunch, my brother and I met Leslie, ToolMan and CRB at a local restaurant. It was yummy... but then it was back to the office and back to watching Woot. I actually did get some work done but not as much as I had planned to. :-)

Friday night Leslie called to see if I wanted to come over for dinner... so I went over to their house for dinner and to spend the evening with them. I probably wasn't the best guest because I was still watching the Woot off... fortunately they became intrigued as well. I actually didn't buy anything during all of this time but it was a lot of fun to watch. Then at 9 something Friday night this came up on the Woot off. It signals the end of the Woot off and immediately clicked the link to buy. I got three!! Yea!! They sold 10,000 of them in less than two minutes so I was fortunate to get them. I am keeping one for me but I will have to decide what to do with the other two.

Today has been a relatively lazy day at home. I love my family, I love my friends, I love my dog and I love my roommate but none of them are here today and I am okay with that. I have been in my pajamas all day long and I haven't left the house. I have cleaned, watched TV, done a little work (to help make up for the time spent watching the Woot off on Friday) and worked on some sewing projects.

To name a few things that I am thankful for... I am thankful that I have a good job... even when it does force me travel. I am thankful that I had safe trips driving all over the state this week. I am thankful that I got three screaming monkeys in the Woot off :-) and I am thankful for lazy days at home.

I hope everyone else had a great week! For more Weekend Reflections, visit Judi at Mommy of Two.

Friday Favorites: Restaurant

Last week Amberly started the Friday Favorites theme. I didn't get a chance to participate last week but I have been thinking about this one ever since. My favorite restaurant was the first "favorite" that popped into my head so I had to include it.

For anyone that knows me you know I am a picky eater (this week we have discovered I am a picky sleeper and eater... anyone see a theme?). :-) Anyways I don't have a favorite restaurant in my hometown or in the town where I live but when I go to Birmingham, The Fish Market is my favorite restaurant. Here are some pictures of the indoor and outdoor eating areas that I stole from the website above:

The original restaurant is is located in downtown Birmingham near the University of Alabama at Birmingham campus. It is owned by a cool Greek family and so it has an awesome relaxed Greek theme. There is a second restaurant in one of the prime shopping areas in town but it is not quite as good as the original. I love seafood and I almost always get the Grilled Rainbow Trout with French Fries and Corn on the Cob. Yum!! I am getting hungry just thinking about it.

So if you are ever in Birmingham I highly recommend checking it out.

Purse Meme

Amberly tagged me for the purse meme earlier today. I didn't carry a purse for years but at this point I'm not sure how I got by without one! I feel like I carry around everything I own and given that I don't have kids I can't imagine how big my purse would need to be if I did!

Here is my current purse:

It is a Vera Bradley that I use for the Spring/Summer. I have three Vera Bradley bags that I love and put in and out of the rotation. Some of them are getting a little worn so I may have to look into retiring them.

I love the size of this bag (not too big and not too small) and I love the long handle that I can easily throw over my shoulder. So here are the contents:

Row 1: My wallet, my personal cell phone, my work cell phone/PDA, life savers, an Advil bottle with Advil and Pepto Bismol pills inside.

Row 2: My camera, my Oakley's (can't leave home without those... but most of the time they are on my face or on top of my head), my checkbook, my notepad for lists and random notes, lotion and a random assortment of pens, pencils and highlighters

Row 3: A small flashlight, my ipod (my brother borrowed the earphones and hasn't returned them), some pressed powder, my business cards that I printed up for my new side business (more on that later) :-), my bluetooth headset for my phone, a key chain for all of those cards you get from the store like Winn Dixie or Hallmark

Row 4: my normal keys (car key, office key and house key), an assortment of lip gloss and lipstick (I recently have only been using the the clear Aquafina lip gloss), Purel hand sanitizer, a USB memory stick, fingernail clippers and other keys that I keep in the bottom of my purse (keys to my parent's house, my brother's house, Leslie's house, the neighbor's house... you get the idea)

Believe it or not I do carry all of that stuff around all the time. Now you know why my purses are starting to look worn. :-) I am not going to tag anyone else for this but let me know if you play along and I will come check out your purse as well.

Wordless Wednesday: My Dad and Classic Rock Baby

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On the Road Again

I travel A LOT (usually at least one day per week). In my life there are two major types of travel... the type you do for work and the type you do for pleasure. I try to mix the two as much as possible but that is not always very easy to do. Fortunately for me I do have to travel to my hometown for business pretty often so in that case it is much easier to mix the two.

Being the type of person that doesn't like change and that likes a normal, boring routine, the travel can really wear on you. I honestly do like to travel (or at least I used to) but somehow the more travel I do for work the less I want to do for pleasure. If I have been traveling a lot for work I just want to go home and enjoy my house and my stuff. :-)

As a part of all of this travel I have to stay in a number of hotels. I HATE hotels. I don't know why exactly but there is pretty much nothing about them that I like. I don't like the choice of TV channels I might or might not have, I don't like the fact that I don't have my TiVo and I really don't like the fact that I don't have my own bed. I am very much a "Princess in the Pea" who wants her comfortable mattress, relatively high thread count sheets with the right mixture of fabric softener... and most importantly my pillow. If I don't have these I am a grump and I am doomed to even less sleep than usual.

I have learned to combat this in a number of ways. If it is a car trip I take my own pillow with me... if it is a plane trip I take my own pillow case to use on the pillow I am forced to use. For Christmas, my best friend Leslie gave me one of these dream sacks. It is wonderful and I highly recommend it to anyone who has to travel a lot. These things all help but it is not as good as home.

I am of course on the road again this week and will be out of the office three out of five days. This means one night at my parents house and just one night in a hotel. I am actually fairly excited about the hotel I am staying in tonight. I will let you know how it goes after I have determined whether or not the mattress allows me to get a good night's rest.

Good night!

Weekend Reflections

Well it's been another good week... nothing particularly bad that I remember so that is always an accomplishment.

Last Sunday I came back home from my weekend trip to my hometown. Monday wasn't a great day but then Monday night I headed back to my hometown for work on Tuesday. I took advantage of being in my hometown and participating in a smocking class on Monday night. On Tuesday I taught a class for work in my hometown and then came back home. I was in the office the rest of the week and it was pretty routine.

Tuesday night and Wednesday night were spent at church. We had a Gospel Meeting the first of last week and heard some wonderful lessons that I know I needed to hear.

On Thursday night my parents came into town pretty late but after they got here we decided to give Brun a haircut. He had been in need of one for quite some time and by the time we finished it looked like a dog exploded in the back yard... not that I really know what that looks like but you get the picture. He looks so much better and younger somehow. I will try to get a good picture of him sometime... he wasn't very cooperative this weekend.

Friday night after work I had dinner with my family, my brother's girlfriend, Leslie, ToolMan and CRB. It was a bit chaotic at the local Pizza Hut with our big group but it was a lot of fun. After dinner my weekend of crafting started up.

My mom brought her sewing machine to me and so I worked on several embroidery and craft projects. I embroidered a pillow case for a friend for a gift she needed, a t-shirt for CRB, and made and embroidered some receiving blankets for a diaper cake that I made on Saturday. I also worked on my smocking.

On Saturday morning I got up and cleaned the yard (one of the joys of having a doggie and a fenced back yard), washed the dog (another doggie mom pleasure) and got back to my weekend crafting projects. I spent part of the afternoon at my brother's house (which is technically my grandparent's old house) and helped my parents with some painting in the basement.

So it was a fairly mundane week but a good one. I like being able to finish projects and mark things off of my list. I was able to do that with a number of things at work and with my own projects. Of course the list for this coming week is already growing but hopefully this week will be as productive as the last.

I hope everyone else had a great week... go visit Judi for more Weekend Reflections.

Photo Hunters: Steps

I actually meant to take a picture of the steps in my office building... but I forgot. So this will have to do. As a big NASCAR fan I was in "race fan heaven" last Spring at the Talladega race when I was oh so close close to these steps. Each driver walked down these steps as they were introduced to the crowd. Thanks to a lot of luck and some good friends in law enforcement I was allowed on the track for driver introductions and was able to take pictures like these.

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Wordless Wednesday: In our thoughts and prayers

Source: Facebook

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Smocking Class

If you read my last post you know my Monday didn't start out too well... but that it was on it's way back up by the afternoon. It continued to get better Monday night. It was back to my hometown for work on Tuesday and so I decided to come to town a little early tonight to take a smocking class at the same store where I took the sewing classes this weekend.

My mom smocks and I did learn to do the back stitches ten to 15 years ago... but that was my last smocking experience. I really wanted to learn and my mom and I both decided that if she tried to teach me we would kill each other. So instead of that, I am taking a class. You go whenever you can on Monday nights and my work schedule will easily accommodate that.

So this is my start:


I still have a long way to go and I think I pulled out as much as I did tonight (hence the half done lines and red fuzz) but I will keep posting my progress. I'm not telling you what it is but it will eventually be part of an outfit for CRB. Shhh!!! Don't tell him... it's a surprise. :-)

I really enjoyed the class and will hopefully be able to make it to the class next week. I have my homework to do for next week so I think you will be able to see my progress by the next class.

Oh and since some of you asked here is a picture of the pillow I made in the sewing class this weekend:


It is actually just a cover... you have to put a pillow in it but I haven't gotten one yet. There are also supposed to be three big buttons down the center of the black part but I don't think I am going to put those on. The pillow really doesn't match my home decor so I think the pillow may become a pillow for Brun. He likes pillows to sleep on so I might as well put it to good use. :-)

One of those days

Do you ever have one of those days... where you feel like it's just poop on you day? I'm sure you have... everyone does. Mine seem to happen on Monday (which I can only assume is fairly typical). I don't know why they happen on Monday's... maybe it's because I am more tired than usual on Monday's or maybe it's because of the concentration of work overload and meetings that come on Monday's. Regardless of the reason today was one of those days for me... or at least it started that way.

It actually started out just fine but I got an e-mail on the way to work (yes I read e-mail on my PDA while driving) that took my day down hill in a hurry and had me in a terrible mood by the time I got to the office. I won't go into all of the details but it boils down to someone forgot that they promised me their faculty football ticket order form and instead gave the order form to someone else that I work with. So I told my brother, my best friend Leslie and a couple of other people at work and everyone agreed that it was an honest mistake but still very annoying. I then accomplished nothing at work all morning, was in a FOUL mood and took out my irritation on everyone I came in contact with.

From this point in the story you would think that my day was shot... but it did get better from there. You know what makes those crummy days better... people who love you and care about you and try to make things better any way that they can. I have a lot of those people who seem to get more opportunities than they deserve when it comes to dealing with me. :-) My patient and caring mother listened to me whine and fuss over the phone and sympathized and tried to help by offering solutions. My wonderful brother, my thoughtful best friend and her husband actually fixed my problem at lunch. They offered me their ticket order form and went and placed the order for the tickets.

So I know today isn't Thankful Thursday but it is my Thankful Monday... for family and friends who don't forget about you when you are having a crummy day and try to make you feel better any way that they can.

Weekend Reflections

As I said in my photo hunters post, I am a bit behind on my blogging but I wanted to stop a second and reflect on the week that was.

Sunday was Easter and it was spent at home with my family and friends from my hometown. It wasn't particularly bad and it wasn't particularly good but you can read more about it here. Sunday night after church Brun and I headed back to our home and we had a nice relatively relaxing week. Monday was a normal day of work and Monday night I had a nice dinner (if you call Pizza Hut nice... and I do) :-) with Leslie, CRB, ToolMan and my brother.

On Tuesday Brun had his yearly vet checkup and I spent the evening trying to make him feel better. Wednesday was a normal work day with church that evening.

Thursday was another work day with several people from my office out of town. Fortunately this allowed me to get a lot of work done and they had a good and productive trip for our organization.

Although it was not in my original plans for the week I decided to take off from work on Friday and head back to my hometown for a serger sewing class with my mom. I do not own a serger and so Thursday after work I went over to Leslie's to borrow hers for the weekend. I had a brief visit with their family and then headed out of town. I was late getting into my hometown but my wonderful parents waited on me for dinner... which meant dinner was not until about 9:30 that night.

Then came time for the serger class. I was really looking forward to the classes on Friday and Saturday and was hoping to learn a lot. Friday went pretty well... I was mentally exhausted by the end of the day but I learned a lot and did not hate the serger. Then came Saturday. This was part two of the serger class and let's just say it was not as positive as Friday was. The goal of Saturday was to finish a pillow project by the end of the day. I did complete the project but as a perfectionist it did not meet my normal standards. :-)

The teacher of the class was not my favorite person and at some point made me so angry that I started crying. I hate to cry in public so this was fairly monumental. However, the owner/manager of the local store was very nice and tried to help cheer me up when my frustration became obvious as the day went on. After class was over I came home and took a two hour nap because I was once again exhausted and frustrated.

I am glad that I took the class but I don't think I will be serging anything any time soon. Sewing with a regular machine and embroidery projects are much more up my alley. I think I will leave the serger stuff to my mom. After I got up from my nap I had several embroidery projects to finish for people by Sunday so I took care of those... and they all came out very cute!

So all in all I would say it was another good week. I was glad to be at my own house for part of the week and glad to be back in my hometown. I do enjoy expanding my horizons and so I did like the serger class... regardless of my tears and frustration. :-)

I hope everyone has a great week... and go visit Judi for more Weekend Reflections.

Photo Hunters: Hobby

Okay I know I am technically too late to participate in photo hunters this week but I wanted to play anyways. This is one of my newest hobbies and the reason I didn't really have a chance to post earlier this weekend:


I have WAYYYYYY too many hobbies. Anyone who has set foot in my extra bedroom can attest to that fact. It is a bit overrun with all of my project materials. How does the saying go... "jack of all trades, master of none." Sometimes that's how I feel... but I enjoy them all so I keep adding to the list.

Sewing is definitely my latest hobby... but really it is more machine embroidery and not so much sewing... but I am working on the learning to sew part of it. The picture above is actually of my mom's machine but I have certainly used it more than she has.

In addition to that I scrapbook, knit, paint crafty things, make wreaths on occasion, take lots of pictures... and there are probably 10 other things I have forgotten. If you want to check out some of the other photo hunters (who probably weren't as late as me) :-) go here.

Wordless Wednesday: Easter Pictures Gone Silly

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Poor Brun

Today was a day that comes in the life of every dog... usually on a yearly basis. It was time for Brun's annual checkup and shots. He hates going to the vet with a passion... which is probably my fault. I have never boarded him but I do take him and leave him for the day on occasion to be washed and have his nails cut. This has apparently caused him to have a problem with separation anxiety when he thinks we are getting close to the vet. We go to a wonderful vet who has a great staff, and they all really love the dogs... but this doesn't seem to matter one bit to Brun.

I have to practically drag him in the door and tell him the whole time that I won't leave him. Nevertheless, whenever he gets a chance he tries to bolt towards the car. So on top of his anxiety about being there, he has to stand on a cold vet table and get two big ole shots plus go through some other things that don't look very pleasant. This does not make me a particularly popular "doggie mom." He got a great report and actually seems to be feeling just fine but I will have to work on making this up to him. Hopefully he will forgive me soon. :-)

On the Coast of Somewhere Beautiful...

On the coast of somewhere beautiful

Trade winds blowin' through her hair

Sunlight dancin' on the water

And I wish I was there

--Kenny Chesney

Two years ago my family and I were in one of the most beautiful countries on this earth... Australia. We were fortunate enough to go on a two week vacation where we spent time in Brisbane and Sydney. During our time in Brisbane we drove up to the Great Barrier Reef for a snorkling trip. The weather was absolutely horrible that day!! Seas were at 15-20 feet and almost everyone on the boat was terribly sick on the way out to the reef.

I have to say that the weather was not the best that day but by the time the day was over the clouds were clearing out and the blue sky was breaking through. I can't take much credit for this picture... when things are that beautiful and the blues are that vibrant, anyone can make a good photo. I would like to go back to that beautiful coast one day and I thought I would share this picture with you today. I have this picture and one that I put up in an earlier post framed and one day I will actually get them hung up in my bathroom.

This Week in My Life

I didn't get a chance to post my Weekend Reflections this weekend so I thought I would post an outlook for the coming week.

I started my week in my hometown for the Easter Holiday. I have had better holidays but it certainly wasn't terrible... and it had its good moments. Every year I try to get together some of the "kids" from church for our annual Easter pictures. It's a nice tradition and I have pictures going back for 16+ years. As you can see some of the "kids" aren't really kids any more. Here is a picture of three of my favorite girls.


Sarah (in the middle) you have met before. Keeley (on the left) I have known since the day she was born and her sister Lindsey I have known since she moved to my hometown just before she turned one. I love all three of these girls and I look forward to seeing all of them every time I go home. Lindsey has a big school trip coming up this week and I hope she has a GREAT time!!!!

Today was a typical long Monday followed by dinner with Leslie, CRB, ToolMan and my brother. I was tired from working all day so I don't know that I was the best company but it was fun to hang out with them.

The rest of this week should be pretty nice and relaxing. I am actually in town all week and a lot of the people from my office will be gone for two days. I like working with these people but with them gone I will be able to get more work done with fewer meetings and fewer interruptions. Definitely a good thing!

Other than that it's back to my hometown this weekend for a sewing class with my mom. More on the events of the week as the week progresses. I hope everyone has a great week!

Busy Saturday

What a great day! I am in my hometown for the Easter weekend... so that led to a busy Saturday. Early Saturday morning (or "early" for this non-morning person) my parents and I headed to Nathan's baseball game. Let me just say that if it is 40 degrees outside with a 10+ mph wind... all little league games should be cancelled! It was SOOOOOO cold! We all did our best to bundle up and keep our booties from freezing to the cold metal bleachers.

Here is the hearty crowd that braved the cold to cheer Nathan on. In the back row is my dad, Mr. John and Mrs. Betty. In the middle row is Amberly, Abby Grace and Tiara. On the bottom row is my mom and Sarah.


Nathan played a great game and the team gave it their all. Unfortunately it was not one for the win column... but they all seemed to have a good time. Here's a picture of Nathan up to bat.


After the game and after warming up a little bit, I tried to get some shopping done. I am not a big shopper but my hometown has better stores than the college town where I live, so I needed to get a wedding present for an upcoming shower and I needed to look for some clothes for me for work. I accomplished the wedding present purchase but no luck on the clothes for me.

After my brief shopping excursion I headed over to Sarah's house to get ready for the party. My dilema from earlier in the week continued and I never decided what to wear. So I decided to bring Sarah three options and let her decide for me. No surprise to me... she picked out my prom dress from ten years ago. It was definitely the fanciest of the three options... and I'm just glad that it still fit!

The party was a lot of fun! All of the guests looked beautiful and I think everyone had a great time. If you haven't seen it, click on over to Amberly's blog for some great pictures and a recap.

I'm usually not much for having my picture taken but here is a picture of Sarah and I in our fancy clothes. Looks like it is time for some new highlights for this "bottle blonde." :-)


Abby Grace tried to avoid having her picture taken but I caught her in this one. She borrowed Amberly's camera which probably resulted in some interesting pictures.


Thanks to Sarah for inviting me to her party. It was a lot of fun to dress up and hang out with a bunch of sweet girls. They definitely kept me entertained and smiling the whole time.

Photo Hunters: Clean

Dirty:

CLEAN!!:

My desk at work usually looks like the first picture. When I saw that this week's theme was "clean" I used that as a good excuse to clean off my desk. Not only did it give me a picture for the theme... I should be able to enjoy the results for at least a few days before it fills back up with stuff.

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Made Me Smile

So last night I had gone out to a local fast food place to pick up some dinner. I'm not much of a cook and a lot of times it is easier to eat out than try to cook something. So when I got to the drive through window to pay, a young man (probably about high school age) was standing behind the guy taking my money. I didn't pay that much attention to him until he started waving at me. So I politely waved back and smiled. After I got my food and was about to pull away the waving guy came closer to the window and stopped me. He reached through the window, handed me a piece of chocolate cake and said to have a nice night.

This made me smile and it made my night... and I really enjoyed the cake once I got home.

Have a great Friday!

Somewhere to go with nothing to wear

This weekend I have a very special party to attend. Amberly's daughter Sarah is having a party and I'm invited. Sarah is an exceptionally sweet and thoughtful girl who holds a very special place in my heart. There is no way I will miss her party but I have no idea what to wear. The invitation says to dress up for an elegant girly affair.

I am not a very girly girl. I like to dress up on occassion but I am much more comfortable in jeans, a t-shirt and a ballcap. So in the last discussion Sarah and I had, I asked for her approval on several dresses that I have. She politely told me that they weren't dressy enough. :-) Sarah certainly meant no harm by this comment and I know that deep down she will be happy with whatever I wear... even if it is jeans and a t-shirt. But after a very helpful suggestion from my mom, Sarah suggested I could wear my prom dress from ten years ago. Aside from the fact that I'm not even sure where it is, I don't think I could squeeze myself into it. Add to that the embarassment factor of the fact that I once wore it to prom, I will probably add it to the "No" pile of dresses.

So the debate still goes on... whatever will I wear? I have a closet full of clothes but I'm not sure any of them are right for this "elegant girly affair." I have a couple of things that might work in my own closet and hopefully something in Leslie's closet that will work out better. I am going over to her house this evening to see what I can find.

Stay tuned for pictures and a final verdict on what I end up wearing. Whatever I wear, the party should be a lot of fun!

Wordless Wednesday - One Tired Pup

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The Rains Came Down...

In James 5:17 it says that it did not rain on the land for three years and six months in I Kings 17. While it certainly has not been that long since it rained here in Alabama it kind of felt like it. It had been nearly a month since it last rained... but it finally rained yesterday. Yea! My yard and my car (which I apparently refuse to wash) really needed it.

I think Brun had fogotten what the rain sounded like because at 2:30 AM he decided to wake me up so that we could go out and see what the noise was. He had no interest in going outside but he apparently thought that I needed to wake up and see it for myself. So there we were standing in the doorway watching it rain in the dark. I was happy to see the rain but I would have much rather been asleep.

It rained for awhile Saturday night/Sunday morning and then again while I was sitting in church... which is probably why I thought of the scripture above. Unfortunately it stopped raining by Sunday afternoon... which would have really helped my nap. :-) We need some more rain so hopefully it will rain some more later this week.

I hope everyone is having a good week so far!