Family

I just want to post some pics of my family because I love them and miss them.



and...

Scenery pics for MM.

The Indian Mounds

The Old Trace where merchants who floated down the Mississippi to sell their goods in Natchez, MS, would walk home back to Nashville, TN.

The grave markers of a few unknown Confederate soldiers.

A waterfall where the water tasted great!! Naturally filtered running over the slate.

An overlook at one of the stops.

The Ride...

Now it is my turn to post pictures from the Natchez Trace ride!!

Equipment check after first hittin' the road and consulting the TomTom on where we should stay the night.

Dr. Who at one of the Indian Mounds historical stops on the Trace.

Little Red is ready to go!

Aww!! Ain't they cute?! If you can read Nate's shirt, it's funny.

Nate paying his repsects at the gravesite of an unknown Confederate soldier.


I taught Dr. Who how to ride my motorcycle!!

Democracy?

Mentsh has something to say, folks. Go check her out.

Too perfect!

While this may not be my dog, Titan, it sure fits him! Same breed even!

Titans!!

So I went to my very first Titans game yesterday. Nate took me. It was awesome. Julie let me borrow her light pink Titans jersey, and I wore a light purple bandanna. I was totally dressed the part. hehe.

Isn't that just like a girl? I go to an awesome game and the first thing I think about is what I wore. teehee! Being from a family of women, I don't know much about football. Mom taught me the very basic rules of the game when I would go to Mentsh and Dr. Who's games while they were in the band in high school. Well, on the drive to the game, Nate gave me the low-down on a couple of standard Titan plays, and it was fun to try to watch something besides just who has the ball.

Anyway, aside from the sunburn, it was awesome! I had a blast. Thanks Nate and Dr. Who!

Should I or shouldn't I?

Some guys at work are puttin' together a skydiving trip. One of them does it all the time and wants to expose others to it. He invited me today when he saw me riding my motorcycle, and figured I had the personality for it.

Would y'all jump out of a plane? Do you think I would enjoy it?

Graceland.

So I went to the King's mansion. It was interesting. Pretty much just a shrine. I think I enjoyed the company the most. I spent the day with a handsome little boy attached to me, holding my hand. He was a lot of fun to hang out with.

Also THOROUGHLY enjoyed the barbeque chicken pizza at the Memphis Pizza Cafe. The service was lacking, but the pizza made up for it.

I also really enjoyed the conversation time on the ride there and back. I went with my best friend and her family and it had been a year since I had seen her, so it was really good to have that time to catch up.

Anyway, if ya ever happen to be in Memphis, Graceland is a fun thing to do, though I wouldn't make a trip specifically for that.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Jessie!! I can hardly believe you are already SIX years old!!! I love you, darlin', and I'm so glad I was able to be there with you to celebrate the big day!

Oh, and you did a wonderful job at your recital!

Happy Birthday!

Shout out to my girl, Melbelle!! Happy Birthday! We're not 30 yet!!!

My return home.

I may have never lived in Nashville before, but it sure does feel like home. Being back in Tennessee has provided a weird sensation of newness and return to home. It has been a long while since I've felt that feeling of being at home. Now don't get me wrong, I love North Georgia and the life I had there, but it didn't feel like this.

I just wanted everyone to know that I'm happy and lovin' life here. I'm developing new friendships and reconnecting with old ones. Life is good.

Apparently I chose the wrong job...

According to this article, I should've become a research scientist in Antarctica.

Antarctica: Winter’s favorite destination

Thanks

I had the most excellent weekend. The one exception was being called in to work on Saturday. But that only lasted a couple hours.

To all those who helped make my weekend awesome....thanks. You were great. ;)

Update of sorts.

Things are going really well. I am so happy to be here. Titan is adjusting to being alone all day again, and he seems to be taking it well. He's found a happy spot in his kennel right up by two windows, and sometimes I practically have to drag him out of his happy spot.

I'm really diggin' this gettin' to hang out with the Family C whenever we want. It's NORMAL now! It's not some special occasion that took a lot of doin' to make happen.

I really enjoy my coworkers. They are all very helpful, and I look forward most days being with them. We crack jokes and comiserate when we have the fire alarm go off three times in a timespan of about 3 hours. It's awesome.

I really feel like I am starting to settle in here. It's great. That's all for now.

Red letter day coming up

Whisky Girl graduates to being Dr. Whisky Girl on Thursday and Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!! Her hooding ceremony is on Thursday and her graduation is on Friday. It's been a rough week for her though, having her wisdom teeth removed, but she's a strong girl, and is doing okay from what I hear.

All in the family are excited beyond belief for you, Dr. WG. We love you and are very proud of you. I'm excited about this weekend in celebration of you and your hard work and determination.

My new job!

I am LOVING my new job! It's a great team. Everyone helps everyone else, we constantly have fun, and they give me free Mountain Dew...what more could I ask for?!??!

Today was my first day answering phones with no help. Up until today I've been doing some behind-the-scenes type stuff, like sortin' emails. This has really been a great job for me and a perfect fit. They guys and girl are totally great people and have me looking forward to the next day to see what they will have me laughing at next.

I also got my apartment today. My mom and WG are driving up all my stuff tomorrow after loading it all up...don't have a great family that would do all that for me?!?! THEY ROCK!

I just scheduled to have my cable installed in a week, which means I will be without internet for a week, and I will miss the next new episode of Lost!! Being without internet doesn't bother me as much...after sittin' in front of a computer all day, I'm not anxious to go home and do it more.

Y'all be good! or don't...just have fun!

Happy Birthday!

Today is my nephew, Eli's, THIRD BIRTHDAY!! It is hard to imagine that he is already that old! He's growing up so fast! I remember I was in Colombia when Dr. Who told me she was pregnant with this little tike, and I've never regretted leaving South America so I could be a part of the lives of the following generation who keep nipping at my heels!

Happy Birthday, Eli! I love you! I hope you had a good one!

MY BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!

I'm moving!!! I accepted a job in NASHVILLE, more specifically in Brentwood. I start in a week, and I'm very excited. I'll be working in the HelpDesk, which is exactly what I want to do, so save your "I'm sorry"s for someone else.

I've yet to find a place to live, be it an apartment or a house. This has proven to be more difficult than I expected, so in the meantime I will be bunking at Dr. Who and Nate's place. That is a bit of a commute, to say the least, so I will be motivated to remedy this soon.

Anyway, this is the big change going on right now. I was planning on moving with WhiskyGirl to Pennsylvania for her residency, but Dr. Who jumped at the opportunity of my finally being willing to move and found me a job near her. This is a great opportunity and is a really good fit for what I want. Even WG admitted I'd be crazy to pass this up, so I moved on it with her blessings.

Change

Ok, folks,

Lots of change happening around me, and as soon as decisions are made, I'll clue y'all in. Too much to do to prepare right now for anything more to say.

Look what I did!

Ugh

Food poisoning sucks.

Interesting

Most of the people that read my blog already know this, but it can't hurt to post it anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ4G1N0cKcE

Happy Birthday!

Today is my niece's 4th birthday! Four years ago not only was my sister recovering, but so was her husband because he had to deliver his own daughter at home...unplanned. Mentsh went into labor faster than she expected and got caught. By the time the paramedics got there, the job was done.

Well, Happy Birthday, darlin'! I love being your aunt!

Chin Chin

That's the name of the new Chinese restaurant in my neighborhood. It is awesome! It has a great atmosphere, not religious like some Chinese restaurants. The staff was so friendly, and it's definitely a family restaurant. When we arrived, we had like a 10 minute wait because we had 7 in our party. (2 nieces and one new nephew included) While we waited at the bar, which was empty, the bartender took a couple of those drink umbrellas and put them on stirrers so that it would spin like a pinwheel, and gave one to each of my nieces. Then a couple minutes later he served them a Shirley Temple each! I was so impressed. While we ate, they brought the girls chopsticks with the rubber band around them so they could learn to use them. The staff kept stopping by to ooh and ahh over the baby. We were really pleased. On top of all that, the food was great. And the best part was my fortune cookie...

"You have a keen sense of humor, and bring out the best in others"...in bed.

SNOW DAY!!

Now the ground has a more solid cover, and it's STILL snowing! There are about a dozen kids outside playing in it. There's a dad out there making a huge snowman. It's beautiful. All these pics were taken from my front kitchen window.

Time for a haircut??

Okay, people...As much as I would love donating my hair to Locks of Love, I still want to keep my long hair. I am thinking of chopping off the layers, which would take off about 6". Is it time for a haircut?

Guess what I did this week.

I went to Galveston Island in TEXAS!!

(There. Now ya got yer new post! hehe.)

Mourning

Y'all remember back in June when I told you about Titan getting into a dogfight? It was with a Rottie named Zeus. Well, I found out not too long ago that Zeus passed away. He was like 12 years old, and just couldn't get up one morning. Even though he and Titan didn't get along, I could tell that Zeus was a good dog. His owner, a single gal like me, is truly mourning this loss. My prayers go out to her.

Turkey Day success!

I realize this is a tad belated, but here it is anyway. Pictures of the Thanksgiving Day feast!


Yum!



That's my niece peeking at the camera!



Yeah, that's me with the silly smile!

Happy Turkey Day!

I hope y'all's Thanksgiving was as good as mine!

Thanksgiving cooking...

...has commenced. Tonight I am in the middle of making sugar-coated pecans. They're currently in the oven and do the smell GOOD! I even bought a cute little half apron to wear while cooking T'giving dinner. I had a bottle of wine to drink while cooking that Mentsh and Mike gave me, but when I went to open it, I realized I didn't have a corkscrew....guess I don't drink wine enough! I've been drinking chocolate milk instead. I'll have to return to the store for the fourth time to get one...or steal my mom's. I think that is a better idea. I'll steal mom's corkscrew. She's in Thailand. She'll never know. hehe.

Ok, so I just went to stir the pecans and one fell onto the counter, so of course I had to eat it...it was gooooooooood. To those of you that are coming to my dinner, at least we know this will be good!

My house is a toasty 80 degrees inside! And that is with the heat turned off! I had to open my doors and windows to cool things down to 70. Living in a townhouse means I share two walls with neighbours, and they heat my house in the winter. It's nice to be able to air out the house in the middle of November!

Look what Nate did...

Santa is dead!!!!

Too soon!

There is a house in my subdivision that already has Christmas lights up!! What's up with that? I thought tradition dictated that Christmas decorations were not to go up until the day after Thanksgiving. Oh well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em! I guess I'm gonna have to put up my decorations now, too! Man, I love this time of year.

I'm making my first Thanksgiving dinner for the family this year! So I apologize in advance to my family if things do not turn out as planned. Either way, we're gonna have fun!

Happy Halloween!

So...Halloween has come and gone this year. I'm disappointed with this year. Our subdivision got larger, yet there were fewer kiddies. I ended up talking with my neighbor most of the night. Turns out he's a good person to know, as he is a manager at the Krispy Kreme!

I'm looking forward to the next holiday, Thanksgiving. My plans are still not solidified yet, but I'm working on it. My mom and sister will not be here, so I'm on my own.

Happy Birthday!

Today is Titan's birthday!! He turns 5 today! Unfortunately, he had a vet appt today, but he's healthy, so it's all good. He weighed in at 99lbs! We went to Petco and got some fun toys and chew bones, and all is well with the world. After that we went for a mile and a half stroll on the greenway. He is now sound asleep, as a good Weim should be!

Happy Birthday, Titan!

Happy Birthday!

Seein' as how my birthday is being spent primarily alone...I feel the need to sing happy birthday to me:

Happy Birthday to me!
Happy Birthday to me!
Happy Birthday, dear DJ!
Happy Birthday to me!

hehe! I am in a good mood today. It's such a beautiful Fall day today! WONDERFUL!

I met up with a guy friend, Doug, and the two of us and our two dogs walked the greenway for about 3 hours. It was awesome.

I celebrated my birthday early with my family. We went to my favorite restaurant and they even arranged for me to have a Tiramisu cake!! A WHOLE cake of that goodness! It is a beautiful thing! I also got flowers, Irises and Stargazer Lilies. They're beautiful, too!

Today is indeed, a good day! I hope everyone else is having a wonderful day, as well!

Whisky Girl disappoints...

Ok, I'll try to fill in some details on the camping trip.

WG and I decided, fairly last minute, to go camping. We leave around 5pm, still uncertain which campground to grace with our presence. So we must explore our options before it gets too dark. We head up to Sarah's Creek campground and the map we have of it is not complete in our opinion and according to rumors heard there was more offered at this site, so we seek out the validity of these rumors. We head up a Forest Service road in my Rodeo with the back loaded up with two 80lb+ dogs and all our camping gear. We ford a stream a couple times while still encountering campsites. This is where we encountered the scary mountain men camping way back in the woods. None of these were worthy of our purpose this trip so we continued on.

This is when we went off the map. There is probably a good reason why the road was not on the map...it should not have been driven, however my Rodeo handled it without even a hiccup. (Praise God for 4 wheel drive!) We were climbing inclines of more than a 60 degree angle with HUGE holes at least 7" deep to make the ride bumpy on a gravel "road" (if it dare be called a road.) We forded 3 more streams, bottomed out once, but no fear, I got skid plates. WG kept asking if I was sure I wanted to continue, but heck yeah, I was having me some fun! We did notice that a few times there the dogs looked a little worried about the two of us. ;)

So we notice dusk settling in, the headlights were actually being useful, so just before we forded the 6th stream we turned around. (Do the math, I got to drive through moving water 10 times!!) Since we decided not to camp here, we had to go check out the other campgrounds which put us arriving at the final destination next to a beautiful river well past dusk. WG and I got the dogs settled, set up camp, ate supper, made a fire, and drank some sissy wine coolers.

Next day we took it slow. I got both dogs into the river and tossed some tennis balls. That water was COLD! Even the dogs started shivering...eventually. It doesn't matter how cold or tired they are...if a ball is thrown, it MUST be retreived. I think they both slept for about two days after this trip.

Anyhow...this is the run down on the trip, WG, if you think of anything to add, feel free. Embelishments are welcome!

New nephew!!

I now have SIX nieces and nephews for me to hold and love! Daniel James was born September 27 around 6:30pm. He weighed just under 8lbs and 21.5" long. The absolutely awesome part is that I got to cut the umbilical cord... :) I'm spending a couple weeks with my sister helping her while she recovers and gets used to the new "normal".

Request to WhiskyGirl...

WhiskyGirl may be the only way you'd believe the recollection of our exploring the north GA mountains last week. I would appreciate it if WG would type up the story so I can post it.

Counting a blessing

One year ago today my father was in a car accident, and almost died. When he unexpectedly pulled through emergency brain surgery, the doctors told us he would likely need a year to recover fully. Three months later he was returning to work, almost completely recovered. I just want to take a moment to thank my Lord for protecting my father and my family one year ago today.

Thank you, God!

And also a thank you to my Dad for fighting for his life and pulling through a speedy recovery! I love you, Dad, and I'm happy you are still with us, hopefully for many years to come!

Belated Birthday Wishes!!

While I was out of town, I missed posting two birthdays this past week. So...

Happy Birthday, Mentsh!!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Who!!

Doubt these are true, but they sure are funny!

Here are six reasons why you should think before you speak -the last one is great! Have you ever spoken and wished that you could immediately take the words back...or that you could crawl into a hole? Here are the Testimonials of a few people who did....

FIRST TESTIMONY: I walked into a hair salon with my husband and three kids in tow and asked loudly, "How much do you charge for a shampoo and a blow job?" I turned around and walked back out and never went back. My husband didn't say a word...he knew better.

SECOND TESTIMONY: (for hard core golfers) I was at the golf store comparing different kinds of golf balls. I was unhappy with the women's type I had been using. After browsing for several minutes, I was approached by one of the good-looking gentlemen who works at the store. He asked if he could help me. Without thinking, I looked at him and said, "I think I like playing with men's balls."

THIRD TESTIMONY: My sister and I were at the mall and passed by a store that sold a variety of candy and nuts. As we were looking at the display case, the boy behind the counter asked if we needed any help. I replied, "No, I'm just looking at your nuts." My sister started to laugh hysterically. The boy grinned, and I turned beet-red and walked away. To this day, my sister has never let me forget.

FOURTH TESTIMONY: While in line at the bank one afternoon, my toddler decided to release some pent-up energy and ran amok. I was finally able to grab hold of her after receiving looks of disgust and annoyance from other patrons. I told her that if she did not start behaving "right now" she would be punished. To my horror, she looked me in the eye and said in a voice just as threatening, "If you don't let me go right now, I will tell Grandma thatI saw you kissing Daddy's pee-pee last night!" The silence was deafening after this enlightening exchange. Even the tellers stopped what they were doing. I mustered up the last of my dignity and walked out of the bank with my daughter in tow. The last thing I heard when the door closed behind me, were screams of laughter.

FIFTH TESTIMONY: Have you ever asked your child a question too many times? My three-year-old son had a lot of problems with potty training, and I was on him constantly. One day we stopped at Taco Bell for a quick lunch in between errands. It was very busy, with a full dining room. While enjoying my taco, I smelled something funny, so of course I checked my seven-month-old daughter, she was clean. Then realized that Danny had not asked to go potty in a while. I asked him if he needed to go, and he said "No". I kept thinking "Oh Lord, that child has had an accident, and I don't have any clothes with me." Then I said, "Danny, are you SURE you didn't have an accident?" "No," he replied. I just KNEW that he must have had an accident, because the smell was getting worse. Soooooo, I asked one more time, "Danny, did you have an accident?" This time he jumped up, yanked down his pants, bent over, spread his cheeks and yelled "SEE MOM, IT'S JUST FARTS!!" While 30 people nearly choked to death on their tacos laughing, he calmly pulled up his pants and sat down. An old couple made me feel better, thanking me for the best laugh they'd ever had!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST TESTIMONY: This had most of the state of Michigan laughing for 2 days and a very embarrassed female news anchor who will, in the future, likely think before she speaks. What happens when you predict snow but don't get any! We had a female news anchor that, the day after it was supposed to have snowed and didn't, turned to the weatherman and asked: "So Bob, where's that 8 inches you promised me last night?" Not only did HE have to leave the set, but half the crew did too they were laughing so hard!

for your viewing pleasure...

Photos

I told y'all about my trip to Michigan. Well, while I was there, we went to a garden. Here are a few pictures from that little excursion...enjoy. I'm particularly fond of the first picture.

A feminist I am not!

You Are 20% Feminist

You are definitely not a feminist. In fact, you are every feminist's worst nightmare. You believe that women belong in the kitchen.... barefoot and pregnant.

Are You a Feminist?

Been busy, folks

So I finally got to drive up and meet my new nephew last week. He's ADORABLE!! So incredibly handsome considering his dad, but more believable when you look at his mom. :)

After that I got home just in time to unpack, wash clothes, repack and head out to Michigan. Crazy me decided to drive! I picked up two friends along the way. I drove through GA, TN, KY, IN, and MI...14 hours in all. Pretty good time if you ask me. My roommate from college, who lives in MI is adopting a little girl, so all us gals from college went up to help her get her baby room in order and do some catching up. It's hard to believe one of us is finally going to be a mommy now! It's about time! She's also the only one of us that's married. (We're all 27 or 28 now.) It was great having all four of us together again. We got to do a lot of catching up and hanging out.

I'll tell you what...those Michigan-lefts were starting to get irritating. For those of you who don't know what those are...in order to make a left turn, you have to turn right and then do a U-turn to get back to the original 'left'. I kept getting turned around. I'm glad we don't have those down here.

We went to the Coast Guard Festival while we were there. We got to see a few of the ships coming in to dock for the next couple weeks. Yummm...men in uniform. I probably ended up photographing them more than the ships...hehe.

Ok, well, that's a quick catch up...I got family coming into town today, so I'm gonna be quite busy for a while. I'll be back later on, I guess.

I'm an aunt again!

Baby was born. Check him out at Nate's blog!

Got this in an email...

Lawyers should never ask a Southern grandma a question if they aren't prepared for the answer.

In a trial, a southern small-town prosecuting attorney called his first witness, a grandmotherly, elderly woman to the stand. He approached her and asked, "Mrs. Sanders, do you know me?"

She responded, "Why, yes, I do know you, Mr. Desmond. I've known you since you were a young boy and frankly, you've been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, and you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you're a big shot when you haven't the brains to realize you never will amount to anything more than a two-bit, paper pusher. Yes, I know you."

The lawyer was stunned! Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, "Mrs. Sanders, do you know the defense attorney?"

She again replied, "Why, yes, I do. I've known Mr. Cristofaro, since he was youngster, too. He's lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. He can't build a normal relationship with anyone and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. One of them was your wife. Yes, I know him." The defense attorney almost died.

The judge asked both counselors to approach the bench and in a very quiet voice said, "If either of you idiots asks her if she knows me, I'll send you to the electric chair."

I love dogs!

Oh, and Happy Independence Day!

Fortune cookie...

My fortune cookie tonight reads:

Your talents will prove especially useful this week.

I wonder whom I'll meet this week...

In honor of *you know who you are*

I received my very first drunkdial this past Saturday. Thankfully the reception was not very good, so he was spared much embarrassment...hehe.

Rules of Drunk Dialing

1. Only drunk dial when you are drunk. Everything else is false advertisement.

2. It is okay to call someone 27 times in one night. If you don't remember it, it didn't happen.

3. If you are going to drunk dial a family member, say something nice. Ex. "Mom I'm in McDonald's and they're playing our song. I love you"

4.Dirty talk while drunk dialing is always preferred. Who doesn't want to hear your best raspy, phone sex voice at 3 in the A.M. asking to bend them over something.

5. Voicemails are always better. This way your friend can let their friends have fun at your expense for days, even weeks to come.

6. Drunk texting is alright... If you are prepared to read what you wrote the next day when you are sober.

7. It is definitely a good idea to call all of your exes and remind them that you were the best lover they've ever had and everything they know, they learned from you. This way you can sleep well at night.

8. You can also call this same ex and let them know, that you know, that they still love you. Then explain to them that I would still love me too!

9. If you are a frequent dialer, never get mad if someone dials you. Be happy they thought of you in this special time.

10. It is always a good idea to sing on someone's answering machine or voicemail. Especially a show tune.

11. Drunk dialing should be fun and light hearted or dirty and sex crazed... Never angry.

12. Most likely you will never drunk dial your best friends. They are usually the ones taking your phone away and reminding you that "you have a problem".

13. If you deleted a number sober, it was probably for a good reason. Do not try to retrieve this number. Nothing good can come from it.

14. Always call someone you know. Finding random numbers in phone books is bad and usually leads to angry dialing.

15. If your cell phone dies, remember everything happens for a reason. Never borrow a friend's phone to do your dialing.

16. Drunk dialing to foreign country is usually too costly to be a good idea. But if feel like if you don't call this person you'll just die, break rule 15 and use a friend's phone.

17. Drunk dialing may lead to drunk a unwanted response.... Be prepared!

18. Never, I say again, never drunk dial your boss, preacher, grandpa, or friend's parents. If you are that hard up to call someone, there is an 800 number on Budweiser boxes. The person on the other line always sounds cute, plus I think they are used to drunk dialers

Bike troubles...help!

Ok, I am the furtherest thing from a mechanic...so I desparately need some advice. My Ninja is giving me problems. The battery kept dying on me because I wasn't riding it enough, so I bought a battery tender. Once it was charged again and I got it to start, it's still not happy. It won't idle. I have to pull the choke down all the way to even get it started, and at idle it always wants to die. If I rev it some, it will hang around 3000 rpms for a few seconds and then die. If I let up on the choke any it dies immediately. So you see the common theme here...IT DIES! You fellows got any ideas why or what I need to look at to find out why?

¡Feliz Día del Padre!

Happy Father's Day, y'all! My dad even got a card from the dog this year!

Take me out to the ballgame...

Mike, my bro-in-law, is taking me to a Cubs game that happens to be playing in the Braves stadium. I'll root for any team that is playing against the Braves. Mike is a Cubs fan, and therefore tonight, I, too, am a Cubs fan, complete with a Cubs t-shirt.

UPDATE: Cubs lost...oh well. I had a lot of fun anyhow. It's amazing how many Cubs fans were there. I guess that's due to Atlanta being a transplant city. There was the Atlanta drumline there performing on the way out. They were just a tad sloppy, but they were really there just to have fun, and they did. It felt good to have my innerds thumping to the beat of a drumline again...man, I love that feeling. Mike was great company. Thanks, again, Mike for taking me!

dog fight!

So apparently Titan and Wendy can hold their own when their arch enemy, a Rottie named Zeus, comes after them. But poor Titan's skin is so thin, he's got a puncture wound and a handful of scratches. All is well that ends well, though.

For your viewing enjoyment...

Having fun with the old gang back together again!

That's my Leelee!!

Trail at Sumter Forest.

TGIF just gained bunches of points in my book!

New blogger onboard!

Hey people! I'd like to introduce you to Leelee. We went to college together and we love to hang out together. Go check out her new blog at http://gonetofindmyself.blogspot.com.

So close....

Yesterday my dad and I set off on a trip together, and I made arrangements to have Titan kenneled while I was gone. We walked out to the car and I immediately smelled smoke. I thought it was interesting. I load up Titan to take him to the kennel to drop him off before heading to the airport, and when we pull up to the Vet/kennel, I see yellow CAUTION tape around the parking lot and a fire engine and several dogs on leashes being held by vet assistants in the parking lot. Apparently the building had been on fire. I found out today from the front page of the newspaper (my sister called to tell me) that 12 pets died in that fire. I praise God that I had not dropped Titan off the night before, or one of those pets could have been him! Here is the story from the local paper...

http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=32&url_article_id=28079&url_subchannel_id=&change_well_id=2

Such a good week already!

It's only Wednesday and I'm already having a wonderful week. My laptop went bad a couple weeks ago and the cost of replacing the parts was almost the value of the computer, so I decided to get a new one. Well, mom and I went shopping for it on Monday, found the one we wanted, but the salesmen were so harrassing, we went home to mull it over. We went back yesterday and found the only chick that works in that department at Fry's and she was great. We really appreciated her. Anyhow, I ended up with an awesome Fujitsu. Windows Vista is taking a bit to get used to, but I like it. The laptop has a fingerprint scanner! It's so cool. All I gotta do to sign on is swipe my finger! Okay, this is only half of the good news for the week...

Monday Mom must have been in a really good mood because after checking out the computers we went to check out the digital cameras. Let me preface this with I received an early inheritance from my dad, a Nikon F5, which is a professional film camera. I also have a Nikon N60, film camera, and a total of three lenses to use on both. So as you might know, Nate and Dr. Who picked up a Nikon D80 a couple months ago that I have been lusting after ever since. In Mom's line of work, a textbook author, she provides her own figures. I'm the photographer for her book. I love doing the photography, and they even used two of my photos for the covers of the books. So, Mom sees the awesome quality of Nate and Dr. Who's camera and decides she needs one as well for her book. Monday she bought one!! And she said I can hold onto it as long as it's available for her purposes while she's writing her books. I've only taken a handful of pictures on it so far, and have definitly not seen it's full potential. I'm very much looking forward to exploring the uses of this camera. I'm excited about it because I can use the lenses I have from the other cameras on this one! I'm posting 2 pics I took this evening.

AWESOME weekend!

I just had an awesome weekend up in the North Georgia mountains with my friend, LeAnn. We got in Friday night, in time to make TWO Walmart runs. Saturday we got up, fixed breakfast, then went to a local dog show. It wasn't the real kind, it was a community deal with classes for "Waggiest Tail" and "Looks most like owner". I brought Titan, but I didn't get there early enough to enter him into any of the competitions. Even so, Titan got plenty of compliments for being such a beautiful dog and having a VERY waggily tail. After that, we went to my all time favorite restaurant, Isabelle's. It's an old white house that has been converted into a restaurant. Their sweet tea is the best, I almost dare say better than mine. After dinner, we decided we needed waterwheel churned ice cream from up by NC. And since we had been in NC, we decided it would only be fair to see SC, too. So we took off in the direction of SC. Twenty minutes later, we were there! The excursion was totally worth it because we happened upon an awesome trailhead down to the river. We also went to the gorge and took pics of the waterfalls. You can see the fog at the top of the pic of the waterfall I posted here. It had to have been the best time of year to do this because all the mountain laurels were blooming. All the pics were taken on my cell phone, so sorry about the quality. After our hiking we went to a drive-in theater...my first time! We saw Spider-Man 3. It was pretty good. I really enjoyed the drive-in atmosphere. The place was really full, I was a little surprised to see it that busy. So that was my fun-filled weekend.

Spring has sprung!

My Confederate Jasmine is in full bloom! It's so beautiful. And it smells even better than it looks. This is my third year with this plant. I love it. It's my favorite plant on the deck, with the Bloodgood Japanese Maple with Creeping Jenny in a close second . I love this time of year, though not as much as Fall.

A first!

This is my niece at her very first piano recital! She was adorable on stage. She played Mary Had a Little Lamb.

Camping!!

Whiskey Girl and I took our niece on her first camping trip! It was just a one-nighter, and we were there for less than 24 hours, but still, she got to sleep "outside". The campsite was awesome. WG found it in a book that I'm thinking I'm gonna have to steal from her. I've posted a picture of the campsite with the awesome view of Lake Lanier. There was a Georgia Red Clay beach and when the weather is a bit warmer and we have more time to be there, swimming would be in order. The niece has already stated she wants to go back with her Daddy some day. Thanks, WG, for gettin' me to come with you. I'm glad I did.

Just for fun...

This picture is a year old, but I like it.

Grrr...

I am SO mad!! I was watching Lost tonight and there was a part where the spoken language was Korean with captions in English. I was all intensely watching it when suddenly Channel 2 Action News pops up with this announcement about news to follow the show that COVERED UP THE CAPTIONS!!! I missed what was said!! I was so mad and yelling at the TV "NOOOO!!!" like that would help remove the popup, which of course it did not! But it did help me feel better!

I wonder how accurate this is...

Men See You As Playful

Men want a challenge and you are the perfect playmate. You know how to push men's buttons and attract a wide range of guys. You enjoy living and loving - it's one of your most attractive qualities. Men are often consumed with desire for you, and you love that!

http://www.blogthings.com/howdomenseeyouquiz

finally...

I'm very much looking forward to the next four weeks. I have no plans for travel so I get to stay home. In honor of this I decided to finally get back to the gym last night. I attended a Pilates class. I'm a bit sore today, but not the bad kind of sore I had expected. I'm excited about being able to settle into a routine again for a while. It will be nice to have time to myself again and not living out of a suitcase. Hopefully those books that have been collecting dust on my bedside table will get read.

been busy, folks...

I spent the entire first week of April up in Tennessee with Dr. Who and family. We went to a Preds game the first Saturday I was there. Dude, that was awesome! First we went to Big River Grill then to the game where we had some awesome seats. (Thanks again, Nate and Dr. Who, for that!) Even though the Preds didn't win, I had a blast. The spectators were so entertaining. They never stopped cheering, and they were constantly yelling to the Refs they "sucked!" Oh, and Tomas Vokoun was awesome once he decided to play after the first period. I gotta say...I love hockey! When I have a little boy, he's gonna learn to play. Maybe even a little girl if she's interested.

Jeb and Eli both loved their presents. Everything turned out well in that area. I was pleased with how much they liked it. And even though that gift said ages 5+, Eli was practially a master at it! It was this electronic cowboy gun that uses an infrared beam to shoot bottles and cans off a log. They pop off, and the bottles even "break" in half.

I had two days to rest when I got back. And then my two nieces arrived. I've got them all to myself for 2 and half days! Their dad is coming in to take over this Friday. I'll still get to hang around and help out over the weekend though. Today we flew a kite because it was very windy. And then we went to Chick-fil-e where there is a playground and had lunch. Now they're having their naptime. When they get up we're going to plant flowers in the backyard! Diggin' in the dirt!! Woohoo!!

With the success of the first 4 nieces and nephews, I'm VERY excited about having 2 more in the family! A growing family is a beautiful thing.

Ok, I hear the girls talking over the monitors. I best go get them ready for gettin' dirty!

Happy Birthday!!

Today is my nephew's 2nd birthday!! I can't believe he's already TWO YEARS OLD! Wow. Happy Birthday!

Ho hum...

Titan is fully recovered. We had some issues for a few days, but he's all better now.

I'm heading up to Tennessee on Friday for a week. Nate is taking off to visit his brother, and I'm coming in for back up while Dr. Who goes off to work. I bought my nephew's 2nd birthday present today! It's awesome! It's labeled for ages 5+, but I have no doubt that he'll be able to handle it just fine. I also got him a book, just in case he doesn't like it as much as I think he will. I am very much looking forward to being with this part of my family. I'll have both Titan, and WG's German Shepherd, Wendy.

Saturday Nate, Dr. Who, and I are all going to a Predators' game!! I'm SO STOKED! I've not seen a Preds game before. Mom told me I saw a hockey game once when I was young, but I don't remember it, so even though it's not technically my first hockey game, it will seem like it. I love hockey 'cause they get to FIGHT!! Woohoo!

I bought bubble bath in the new Bath & Body Works scent, Wild Honeysuckle. I love it! I'm hoping to get to use it tonight if I don't get too distracted watching Lost. Maybe I just need to have a TV installed in the bathroom above the tub like Dr. Who has. Brilliant idea!

Ok, I have 45 minutes before Lost starts, I'm gonna go see about that bubble bath!

I did something mechanical!!

I'm so proud of myself because I did something mechanical!!

My battery on my motorcycle died over the winter because it got booted out of my garage into my mom's. So I kept forgetting to start it up and let it run a while to keep it in shape.

So...I go to Walmart and buy a battery charger.

I remove the battery from my Ninja.

I charge the battery over night.

I reinstalled the battery...and here comes the best part...

THE MOTORCYCLE ACTUALLY STARTED!!! Yay!!

I'm so proud! Anyhow, I got my bike back in shape and ready for a new year of riding!

Happy 1st Day of Spring!!

Spring has sprung! It arrived while we were at the beach. We came home to leaves showing up and the cherry trees started budding. It's so nice. I just hate the Bermuda grass that is still brown! ugh! But the plants on my deck are starting to be revived from the winter. And my camelia FINALLY bloomed! woohoo!

My trip to the beach was not what I had expected. First our flights got cancelled just 3 hours before we were supposed to board, and we were already on the other side of Atlanta by the airport! So I was on the phone with the airline for about an hour, as well as the rental car company. We weren't able to find a new flight that would get us there in time to pick up the rental car before they closed, and the airport was an hour from our destination, so we needed the car when we arrived. So, we just said, "Screw it," and we had our flights refunded and just started driving. This turned out to be a good thing because we got to surprise Whiskey Girl with a visit on our way through for her birthday.

The weather was what they said, though with the wind chill, it was considerably cooler than I expected, but that did not deter me from walking on the beach!! It was fun to see how Mom was so celebrated by her publishing company. They had a Margaritaville party one night. It was funny. Karaoke, limbo, lais, margarita glasses that light up, and good food and margaritas. The second night, mom's contact person at the publisher took us out to eat at an awesome restaurant by the wharf. I had the night's special, which was by far the best meal of the trip. I had filet mignon with cranberry mushroom sauce, sauteed red onion, grilled asparagus, and garlic mashed potatoes. Yum!

After we finished our obligations with the publisher, we took off for the Outer Banks. The island hopping was fun, especially with the ferries. The first ferry was 2 and a half hours! It rained most of that ride, so we just napped in the car. The second ferry was only 40 minutes, and it was clear weather, so we got to watch the waters. Boats are such fun!

We went all the way up to Kitty Hawk and started heading home. We got to see the Wilbur and Orville Wright museum there. It was so interesting to see how far we have come in flight in just 100 years!

On the way home, we had planned to go through Raleigh and see Flannel Avenger, but my sister called and begged and pleaded for us to go the long way home through her town and visit again. So we gave in, and changed our plans. (Sorry about that, FA! After your help on the book, Mom was interested in meeting you.) It was a good visit again. My older sister, Mentsh, and her family were there for the weekend celebrating Whiskey Girl's birthday, too, so we had a limited family reunion, though Nate and Dr. Who and kids were missing! We missed all y'all!

So...that was my week. It was great. I hope yours was, too!

Happy Birthday!!

Today is my sister's, Whiskey Girl's, birthday! She's not old yet, still just under 30!

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WHISKEY GIRL!!! I love you lots and lots and lots and lots and lots!!

Feel sorry for me...

Tuesday I am being forced to go to Atlantic Beach, NC, to be lazy and do nothing! Woe is me! Unfortunately, it is supposed to rain while we are there, so I guess I'll just have to have fun walking the beach in the rain! I'll love it! We, my mom and I, will be there for about 5 days, and we plan on driving the coast a bit after obligations are met. So as I said before, feel sorry for me; I know I'll be miserable all next week!

Today I feel a little sad...

It always feels weird to walk into a place with my dog and walk out with just a leash and collar. Titan is having a minor surgery today to remove a growth from his paw. Officially, it's a tumor, but nothing serious. The vet said that if it wasn't in such place that it was aggitating to Titan, he would probably just recommend ignoring it.

I know he'll be fine, but I've gotten used to having Titan with me at work and home, and it feels lonely without him here begging to go out and play. Thankfully, I'll be able to go pick him up at 3pm. Though at that time he won't be up for playing much because he'll have a bandaged paw and probably still will be a little drugged.

UPDATE:
Titan has returned to me! He is currently sleeping peacefully here in my office with me. He was such a good patient.

Becoming cultured...

My sister, niece, and I all went to see Swan Lake last night at The Fox in Atlanta. My niece is really into dancing, so that's why we wanted to take her. She is so cute, she drew a picture of a grown up dancer and a baby dancer on a piece of paper, and she brought it with her in the van, and my sister didn't even know she had it until they were already on the road. My niece said she drew it to give to a dancer and she held onto that drawing until the ballet was over. We went to one of the ushers and asked her if she could give it to one of the dancers, and she said that she would MAKE SURE that it got into the hands of one of the dancers. I love it when people validate children and their hearts.

My niece was SO WELL behaved the entire evening. She was full of questions at the beginning of the performance, until finally my sister told her to just listen because she was afraid they would disturb people sitting around us. (We were on the second row, so we all had a close-up view. Even so, the people next to me were using binoculars!) My niece was quite disturbed by the fact that there was a queen with no king in the story. She ended up zonking out shortly after the intermission. She looked so cute curled up in that seat.

Any way you look at it, the night was a success. And I certainly feel more cultured from having gone.