Allyson, Dave's Wife

Speaking of things that scared me as a child...

2012-01-31T20:58:00.000-05:00

Do you ever have random flashbacks of movies you watched as a kid? And then have nightmares about them? I do. The following 3 movies were my parents idea of kids movies. I call them horror movies.

Imagine a girl who is mad that she has to babysit her baby brother. So she pretty much sells him to the devil. And by devil I mean David Bowie. So then she decides she needs to get him back and has to go through this never ending maze of goblins and creepy little monsters that can take their heads off. All the while being tempted by devil David Bowie. That is the Labyrinth. Seriously...this is not for kids.

Did you know there was a sequel to the Wizard of Oz? There is. It is called Return to Oz. Only this one will terrify you. Everyone in Oz turned to stone. And it is now run by an evil queen who has a collection of heads and changes hers out daily. What is up with the removing of heads??? There are creepy monkey men on wheels and a flying couch with a talking moose head. It is just all around creepy. And Dorothy seems to have gotten younger. I do not recommend you ever watch this one.

Long before the Lord of the Rings my Dad used to rent us the cartoon version of The Hobbit. That movie terrified me. It was that silly precious thing. He gave me nightmares every time. And when I found out there was going to be a real life version of him...well, I could not even watch the previews. Cartoons should not be this scary.

Fairytale Road

2012-01-30T20:34:00.000-05:00

Yes, there is such a place. And I want to go there. I have been researching Germany and stumbled upon an article in the Feb. 2012 Conde Naste Traveler on Fairytale Rd. Unfortunately it is outside Frankfurt which is nowhere near Munich and all the other places we want to go. Which has me thinking do we really want to do Germany, Austria and Switzerland? Or do we want to just do Germany and see all of it? This trip is a ways away. There are some things going on now preventing us from setting a date. But we will go this year. It may be December 31…but we will go. So I have time to figure out where we want to go.

Okay…back to the fairytales. When I was little we had a fairytale book. A big book with lots of stories. They were stories we all knew (Snow White, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, Hanzel & Gretal, etc…) But in this book they were much more dark and scary than the Disney version. I was afraid of that book. I think this was a Brothers Grimm book. At least that is what my research points to. Back then I had no idea what it was besides scary. The Brothers Grimm are German. And all of these stories where written in German long ago…before Disney, in the early 1800’s. They grew up in the towns on this Fairytale Road. They wrote hundreds of stories. Stories that Disney later made a fortune off of. But the originals were different in a twisted way. For example…did you know Cinderella’s step sisters cut off their toes to try and fit in the glass slipper? And at some point birds pecked their eyes out…yep, that happened. Did you know Rapuzel was pregnant before she married her prince? And there is some rumor about her mother and the prince. And the “stepmother” in Snow White and Hanzel and Gretal was actually the mother. So you see why this book scared me, right? They were intended to be children’s fables but were far from appropriate for children. The Grimm brothers traveled all over this area listening to these stories that had been passed on for generations and eventually wrote them all in a book form.

I have since decided I need to find this book and read it again. And I am not a reader. But I want to know these stories and then go to Germany and see where it all came from. As you drive the 370 miles down Fairytale Road you can stop and visit the forest where Little Red Riding Hood lived. You can visit the tower Rapunzel supposedly lived in. You can see the castle where Sleeping Beauty slept for 100 years. You mean it is not in California??? And you can visit the Pied Piper. Yep, there really is someone who dressed up like the Pied Piper. He will tell you stories, play you some music and then try to sell you a t-shirt with his face on it. Most of these stories are based on something. Whether is it is something true we may never know. They say that the Pied Piper stems from a time when all the children disappeared from this one particular town. Rumor has it this was when many people in this area were turning to the Paganism. So they town decided to kill them all one night while they walked to their nightly ritual and rid the town of Pagans all together. Crazy, right?

I don’t know. I guess it is an odd place to want to visit on vacation. But I think it would be interesting. I would be sure to pack my red cape and basket of bread for Grandma.

Soap Scented Soap

2012-01-29T16:20:00.001-05:00

I love scented soaps. Above is my latest tropical scented soap purchase from Bath and Body Works. I am ready for summer! Dave, on the other hand, is opposed to scented soap. You should see the fit he throws when washing his hands with my lovely scented soaps. You would think he had just washed his hands with acid. He screams and cries and acts like it is just the worst thing ever. I always have a few extra bottles stored under the kitchen sink so I will offer him another scent. But he does not want any of them. He wants soap flavored soap. What kind of nonsense is that? Have you ever tried to find soap flavored soap? Even the soaps at Target and Publix are scented. So Bath and Body Works I am asking you now....please make a soap flavored soap. And call it Diamond Dave soap. You can put a big diamond on the bottle and a picture of Dave.

The Country's Oldest City and One Naughty Kitty

2012-01-23T20:51:00.000-05:00

So Dave figured out where we are going. He is just too smart for me. But it was super easy to figure out. Last year we were planning a trip to Saint Augustine for our anniversary. But we changed it to NYC a couple months out. So I have still been wanting to go. It is less than a 2 hour drive from here. I went for the first time last year on the way to Savannah and loved it. Dave likes to tell stories about visiting there as a kid. But we have never been together. So I booked a suite and the number 1 rated Bed & Breakfast according to Trip Advisor. The TA has yet to disappoint me. I also booked dinner and working on a haunted tour. I hope this nice weather is still around by then.

It was in the 80’s this weekend. I laid out by the Saturday and Sunday. Mahi likes to lay out with me. Too bad she is forever banned from the sundeck. That silly kitty climbed off the deck and on top of the screen enclosure. With each step she took I could just see the screen giving out and her crashing into the pool. And of course she climbed down onto a part of the roof and could not figure out how to get back up. I was about to call the fire department to come rescue her. But after 15 minutes of her crying and me yelling she finally climbed back up to the sun deck.

When I used to layout in the grass outside of the screen (pre sundeck days) I would let her go out there with me. She would run away to the neighbor’s yard and climb on their grill. Such a naughty kitty. This is why an indoor cat should always be in doors. She does not know what to do with the outside world. We only let Mahi and Mako go out in the screened in pool area. That is about all they can take. On occasion we will let them out there when we are inside and leave the door to the house cracked open. On evening I heard a ruckus and then Mahi comes running in the house soaking wet. It took me a few minutes to get her out from under the bed. It was obvious that she had been in the pool. I wanted to rinse the chlorine off of her before she licked it off. So I threw her in the sink. You would have thought I was cutting her leg off by her reaction. It was so bad that Mako was crying and pawing at me trying to get me to stop. But I got her cleaned up and dried her as best I could. I still wonder how it happened. I like to think she was chasing one of those lizards that can run on top of the water. She is so naughty. She has been locked in the garage and a closet before because she sneaks around when we are not looking. I even found her in the dishwasher once. After I repeatedly tried to push the bottom rack back in and it would not go. She also likes to climb and jump. One time she kicked off her kitty condo with such force that it knocked it over and made a hole in the wall. Yes, the 10 lb cat made a hole in the wall. Remember that story about the guy who was traveling and his cat snuck in his suitcase and he found it after a long flight when he checked in the hotel. Yeah…Mahi would do that.

Valentines Day

2012-01-17T21:24:00.000-05:00

I am really not a fan of hot pink teddy bears. That is just tacky. And I don’t like boxes of chocolate unless they are Godiva. I do love flowers but they are so over priced around Valentine’s Day. Going out to dinner on that night is a pain as well. You have to make a reservation 2 months in advance and then still have to wait for a table. Then everyone is in red and acting all lovey dovey and that makes me nauseous. But I do still believe in celebrating Valentine’s Day…I promise I do.

I like to do a nice dinner at home. You know…one that Dave cooks and cleans up after. I don’t care what it is as long as I don’t have to make it or clean it. I skip the gym and he does not work. We both stay home, eat dinner and watch a movie. That is my kind of Valentine’s Day.

This year we are going away that weekend before to a surprise location. I planned it. It is booked. We can drive there so no flight is needed. It is going to be super fun. I have all sorts of planning to do. I am debating telling him where we are going so he can help me plan. Because if I plan the wrong thing he is going to cause a scene…a Diamond Dave scene. But I kind of want it to be a surprise. But as soon as we get in the car he will figure it out so should I tell him or not? Actually he would not know for sure until we get there. There are lots of places we could be going when traveling in this particular direction. But then I doubt he will let me drive because he will want to take the Porsche. And we all know I still (after 6 years) cannot drive that stupid thing. So it will be hard for him to drive without knowing where we are going. It will just be me saying turn here, turn there. I am way to indecisive on this one.

Now since I am planning our Valentine’s Day getaway Dave should plan our anniversary getaway. We did NYC last year and that was lots of fun. This year is our 5^th anniversary. I am kind of thinking we should go back to the Bahamas since we got married there. But Guana Cay is so difficult to get to. Maybe we could 3 or so nights in Nassau or somewhere easy to get to. He does have friends there. I bet they have some connections for hotels. And Jet Blue has direct flights. Just a thought…

Books, Tips and Iceland

2012-01-16T21:38:00.001-05:00

I was kind of lazy this weekend. Which was nice. But I was catching up on reading some blogs and there are few things I just don’t understand. I am not saying they are wrong. They just don’t make sense to me.

Where in the world do all of you bloggers find the time or the patience to read books…like whole books?? I struggle to find time to read all of my emails. And I am writing this blog post in 3 minute increments throughout the day. When I watch tv I am also doing laundry or the dishes. While I am on the phone I am also swiftering and feeding the cat. At work I am on the phone, answering emails and talking to the person in my office at the same time. When I am driving I am planning my day for tomorrow or talking on the phone. At the gym I am working out and planning my next vacation and tweeting. When I am eating I am also working. The only time I am not multitasking is when I am sleeping. Who has time to just sit still and read?? I am way too busy. And I don’t even have any kids. Don’t get me wrong. I like my busy life. It just baffles me that people have time to read a whole book in like 2 days. Maybe if I was on a flight to Africa I could do it. But then again I have never been much of a reader. I get bored and fall asleep if I am not moving around and doing at least 2 things at once. If I lay down to watch tv and only watch tv I will be asleep in 15 minutes.

I really get annoyed with all of these blog posts about how you should tip your server well because they only make $2.13 an hour and they depend on that money to pay their bills. I depend on my salary to pay my bills too. Therefore I show up at work every day and do my job to best of my ability so that I earn my salary. That server knows they depend on the tip to pay their bills. And they know how to earn it. I tip on service and not the food quality. I know the server does not cook the meal. You can serve me the worst food ever but if you take care of me I will take care of you. I have had bad food experiences a few times and had the food comped. But I still tip the server because he/she did their job and provided good service. I am sorry but if you provide bad customer service not only do you not deserve a tip you don’t deserve that job. Your bills don’t make a difference. It is kind of like an employee who has called out from work 30 different times over the past 3 months and been late to work 25 times. In the process of being fired they beg to keep their job because they have bills to pay and kids to feed. Well you should have thought of that when you were skipping work and sleeping in. But somehow this is the employers fault and not the employee’s. No people. That is not how it works. It’s your life…own it.

And this one has nothing to do with blogs…What in the world is going on with airline prices?? Last week there were all these great deals and as of Sunday flight prices has doubled. Seriously…going anywhere on any date…doubled. There needs to be another sale. And I am booking like 5 flights as soon as there is. I need to go to Nashville, Atlanta, DC, and Germany all before September. I need to flight sale magic…or frequent flyer miles. Oddly enough there is still great deals on flights from Orlando to Reykjavik. So maybe I will just go to Iceland. I don’t know anyone that has ever gone there. I like to go places that none of my friends have been.

The end.

The Greatest Show on Earth

2012-01-14T16:07:00.000-05:00

Last night we went to the circus. It was fun. I have not been in over 20 years but it is exactly how I remember it. It was definitely designed for kids but we still enjoyed ourselves. So before I get into my photo recap I have a questions for you. Do people loose all sense of common courtesy when they have kids? I am assuming this will all make more sense to me when I have kids. But I could not help but notice parents lack of respect for people who are not there kids. They would walk in front of you in the middle of the show and just stand there for like 10 minutes. Their kids would spill drinks on people and they did not even apologize or offer to help clean up. What is wrong with people??? They seemed to have an attitude like "screw everyone else, my kids are all that matter". Yes, your kids are very important. But you don't have to completely disregard the rest of the world and be rude to put your kids first. When I am at Magic game and I want to give up I wait until in between plays to do so. Is it too much to ask that you do the same at the Circus...you know, given it is not some type of child emergency. Okay...on to the fun stuff.

OMG...I want to hug them all. The big lion in the middle kept giving the guy kisses. I want lion kisses!

I need a pet tiger. But then PETA would protest in my yard. I would prefer to have no association with PETA. So I guess I won't be getting a pet tiger anytime soon.

I know this looks like a bunch of blurry nonsense. But it is a dude jumping through a flaming hoop made of knives. It was awesome.

The set up looked a lot like the Britney Circus of 2009. You know she was the ring leader, she called the shots.

Look who we ran into...our niece Madison. Love her!!

That is a poodle on a tight rope. I could not make this stuff up. Kitties are going to have to learn some new tricks.

And now the goat is walking the tight rope. He fell off the first time. Silly billy goat.

Shhhh...the elephants are napping.

Elephant pyramid. There were elephant protesters outside the arena. I know it seems cruel to keep elephants in captivity. They are so big. They should be running free in the plains of Africa. But if you set these guys free in Africa and they started making elephant pyramids in the Sahara the hyenas would laugh at them and the lions would eat them.

That is EIGHT motorcycle dudes in that ball. It was madness.

And this was the big dragon finish. A little disappointing if you ask me. But I was still in awe of the poodle and the goat.

All in all it was a fun night. $15 for 2.5 hours of circus fun. You can't beat that. I recommend you check it out when it comes to your town.

Fun in the House O Mouse

2012-01-08T13:11:00.001-05:00

This is my attempt to take our picture while free falling on the Tower of Terror. So it is my hair and Adaya. You can tell by my hair we are really falling.

Outside of the Tower of Terror.

Did you know a balloon cost $15. Sure it lights up at night and all but it is a balloon!

Waiting in the never ending ling for Toy Story Mania. That is the perverted ride ever! I mean seriously...who can yank the ball on the chain the fastest?? It could not have just been a gun with a trigger?

For the record I really sucked at this game.

Time for a milkshake break.

I don't do cherries. However I don't mind posing with them.

The castle is so pretty when all lit up.

So pretty...silly random people in my shot.

Because I am awesome.

This is my scary Haunted Mansion face.

Adaya is better at it than I am.

It's a small world afterall...

The hula dancers were always my favorite.

Yep, still awesome.

Still pretty.

Adaya's phone died. So we plugged it into a random outlet on the side on Main Street during the parade.

I can't believe they still do this one. I have it on home video from 1984.

Same floats from 1984.

I remember this one because he blows out smoke.

There are scary things on the Jungle Cruise.

Fireworks as seen from Main Street. And yes, they still had Christmas Decorations up. Silly Disney...time to take those down!

I told you I would!

2012-01-08T12:56:00.000-05:00

I'm going to bite his ears offf

2012-01-06T15:01:00.000-05:00

Mickey Mouse’s ears that is. Me and Adaya are going to Disney World tomorrow! I am most looking forward to finding a bakery, preferably the one on Main Street, and getting a big Mickey cookie. And then there will be biting. I think it has been just over 2 years since the last time I went to Disney. That place is expensive. It is something like $100 a day. That is insane. But every once in while the Disney fairies sprinkle magic pixie dust on me and I get in for free. Got to love the fairies!

And thank goodness it has warmed up. It got down into the 30’s a few times this week. That is not normal for Florida. I had to turn on the heat….GASP!! But tomorrow the high is 75 and it will be sunny. That is more like it. And let’s hope the crazy holiday tourists are gone. Those people are nuts. I heard that one day between Christmas and New Years there was a 3 hour wait to get into the Harry Potter section of IOA. How is that even fun??? There were several days over the past few weeks that both Disney and Universal had to close their doors because they reached capacity. I want no part in that. Maybe I can convince Dave to go to Universal sometime soon before the crazy crowds come back for Spring Break. I think I need to ride the Harry Potter ride again. I remember not liking it. But everyone else thinks it was fabulous. Maybe I had my eyes closed.

Some People...

2012-01-05T20:00:00.002-05:00

Something strange is going on here. I went to a spin class yesterday and body pump the day before and they were half empty. It is like the gym twilight zone. This is so not normal for January. Usually the gym is full of resolutioners who fill up the classes and then sit there and talk and don’t move throughout the whole thing. I will say that the parking lot is fuller and there were two people sitting on weight equipment eating cookies and drinking coke. Who does that? It is not nearly as bad as gyms I have gone to in the past. I think it is because I now go to one of those big gyms that only serious workout people go to. I can see how a newbie would be intimidated.

I have no problem with people joining a gym and hitting it full force in January of every year if they are serious about it. As long as you follow the rules and are respectful of others I am totally fine with it. I may never even realize you are new. What I do have a problem with is those people who do nothing but take up space for a few weeks only to disappear for the next 11 months. The people who sit on the exercise equipment talking on the phone while I am waiting to use it. The people who bring in bottles of Sprite to spin class and then leave after 10 minutes looking like they are going to pass out. Sugar drinks will do that to you. The people who save equipment for their friend for who is running 30 minutes late only to have said friend finally show up and use it for 5 minutes. The people who try pilates for 10 minutes do nothing but talk out loud about how it sucks and cause a big commotion when they leave. The people who drive around the parking lot for 20 minutes looking for a place close to the door so they don’t have to walk far. Who are these people kidding? They won’t last. Not with those attitudes. Getting in shape is as much mental as it is physical. Some people say showing up is half the battle. I disagree. Stepping foot in a gym does nothing for you if you are drinking sugar and sitting still. We’ll say it is 10% of the battle.

So if you are serious about it follow the rules, be polite/considerate and ask for help if you need it. And for goodness sakes if you start a class and decide it is not for you then leave quietly without a huge disturbance. I’ve done it a few times. FYI…Body Combat will kill you. And one other side note. I know all of us regulars are annoyed about the resolutioners but let’s not talk bad about them right in front of them. Some of them will last and I would hate to make them feel bad. I am not a fan of spreading hate. But if you see someone eating cookies while sitting on a treadmill I suggest you slap them. I know…I am contradicting myself. I will be the first to admit it. The nice side of my brain is arguing with the common sense side.

And so it begins...

2012-01-04T21:10:00.000-05:00

The political banter on Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere. I try not to write too much about politics. Sure, I have my opinions. And they are the best opinions ever. But I would never expect everyone to agree with me. The world would be pretty boring if everyone was just like me. I am not ashamed to admit that I am a registered Republican. But that does not mean I despise the Democrats. They have some good ideas. And some bad ones. But then again so do the Republicans. I don’t mind a little bit of political talk. Like when people are talking positively about their own party. I think it is great to care so much about our government and want to make a difference. What I do have a problem with is when people bash the other side. And more importantly the supporters of the other side. Which means you are bashing me…get it??? That would make be delete you from my Twitter, Facebook and Blog Roll. So I make no promises to stay away from politics. But I do promise not to stereotype you and call you ugly names when I don’t even know you. I will not spread hate around the internet. I feel sorry for those who do. Our country needs help whether it come from a Republican, Democrat or Ross Perot (is he still alive?). So there is no reason to turn against each other in a time of need.

I like to get my news from Fox…you like CNN. That’s okay. I have a good friend that works for CNN so I do watch occasionally to see something she has produced. Don’t tell Dave…he will delete CNN from all the cable boxes in an effort to hide it from me. Remember when Diamond Dave made an appearance at the Republican national debate and Herman Cain talked about him and his question on national TV. Dave was all for Herman Cain. That did not end so well…

Big Plans for 2012

2012-01-01T19:18:00.001-05:00

2011 was a fun travel year. I don’t feel like I did that much traveling but when I write it all down it looks like a lot more.

March – Girls trip to Savannah, GA.

May – Family vacation in Hilton Head, SC.

June – Anniversary Trip to New York City

July – Wedding trip to New Orleans and Southern Mississippi.

August – Girls weekend in Washington DC and Sydney's Birthday in Atlanta.

September – Girls trip to Seattle, Vancouver and Victoria

October – Weekend in Fort Lauderdale.

December – Christmas in TN.

That was 9 trips I took in a year. 2 of them lasted a week. Not enough…

So in 2012 I want to do something spectacular. Dave and I are in the very beginning stages of planning a trip to Germany, Switzerland and Austria. I want to go in August. He wants to go at the end of September to go to Oktoberfest. But flights and hotels are 3 times as expensive at that time. We can still drink beer in Munich even when it is not Oktoberfest…really, we can. He wants to visit the birthplace of Porsche. Apparently he is in some special Porsche club. I can see a Diamond Dave story coming out of this. I think we are going to fly in and out of Munich and stay there for 4 or 5 days. And then we will also stay in Zurich and Zermatt for at least a couple of days. I am thinking we may just do a day trip to Austria from Munich. We have lots of research to do. Did you know that Switzerland does not use the Euro….random. Anyways, it will be interesting to see what we come up with. I have not been to Europe since 2004. I hope it is still there.

I am also working on a girls trip for early March. We are thinking about a long weekend in Ashville, NC. And then I have another group of girlfriends that want to do a weekend in Nashville. That is an easy one. And there are two major events I will have to travel for next year. One in Atlanta sometime in May. (oooooh, what could that be???) and my brother recently got engaged. I am hearing that the wedding may be sometime next fall in Nashville. Maybe we can catch a football game while we are there.

That is about all I have planned for 2012. I think it may be all I have time for. I am hoping to take 2 weeks off for the German/Swiss adventure. Too many work days…not enough vacation days.

More Holiday Fun!

2012-01-01T19:14:00.000-05:00

Holiday Fun!

2011-12-28T17:24:00.000-05:00

The holidays are slowly dwindling down. It is kind of sad. We had such a great Christmas in TN. We flew into Chattanooga and stayed with the grandparents for one night. And then went to Nashville for two nights. Nothing truly eventful happened but it was a good time. We visited Opryland on Christmas Eve. It was pretty packed. But it was beautiful. The grandparents were pure entertainment. On the drive to Nashville my grandfather asked me to call the newspaper and stop the Saturday delivery. We were driving down the highway and he hands me a phone book. Did you even know they still made phone books? I just googled it on my phone. Then we had to pick up my grandmother from the beauty shop. I swear I walked into a scene from Steel Magnolias. Those ladies were a hoot and a half. My nieces are just as cute as can be. Emma is about 20 months and Sydney is 16 months. They would point at each other and say “baby”. It was so sweet. On Monday I got to have dinner with three of my girlfriends. 2 were visiting from out of state. It was so nice to just have a casual dinner and catch up.

We still have some holiday fun left this week. Tomorrow night we are taking Mimi to dinner at the Magic game as a Christmas gift. It should be fun. She has not been to the new arena yet. And then Friday we are doing a Christmas dinner with Michael and Madison. I can’t wait to give her the gifts we got her. We still don’t know what we are doing for New Years yet. I am kind of looking forward to a few quiet days at home. It seems I have been on the go nonstop since Thanksgiving.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and will have super fabulous New Years! I love seeing everyone’s Christmas wrap up post. All the smiling faces, pretty deocrations and yummy food make me happy.

What a Wonderful Christmas

2011-12-26T22:45:00.000-05:00

Some of these are photo perfect and some will make you laugh. It was a great Christmas!!

I am pretty sure this is not supposed to happen...

2011-12-24T10:46:00.000-05:00

The airplane was smoking! I am not to sure about Allegiant Airlines. This was our first experience with them. The plane was at least 20 years old and made all sorts of strange noisse. And the cabin filled with smoke...or what they called "condensation" before we took off. It was so bad you could not see and it was hard to breathe. This cannot be normal.

Ya'll know I like to steal pictures from Facebook....

2011-12-21T20:53:00.000-05:00

I get to see this little pumpkin on Friday. We talk on the phone a lot. Our conversations consist of her saying Ayyie (Ally), Pop Pop, Mima, and no. Baby genius.

And I get to see this little fairy princess on Friday too. I can't wait to see what she can say. The poor little thing has been sick all week. I hope she feels better so we can give her lots of hugs and kisses. And maybe this time she won't sneeze in my face like she did in Hilton Head.

This was Maria and I at the wedding a couple weeks ago. So much fun!

Kisses!

2011-12-15T19:34:00.000-05:00

It is still super busy around here. I will catch you up.

We went to a fabulous wedding this weekend. It was our friends Steve and Jenny. Dave and Steve have been friends for more than 10 years. So Dave was in the wedding. The ceremony was at a lovely church on Park Ave. It was really nice but really long. I am not Catholic so I don’t understand their traditions at all or why it takes more than 10 minutes to marry someone. But nonetheless it was a beautiful ceremony. The reception was super fabulous. It was at the Grand Bohemian downtown. This was my first reception there. They did cocktail hour at the rooftop pool and then we had dinner and dancing in a ballroom. But it was very nicely decorated. There was even a cookie bar and a photo booth. And as place cards they made photo coasters for everyone with pictures from their Facebook pages. I guess they handpicked their favorite photos from your Facebook. I super impressed with that idea. It was such a great wedding. They really did a great job planning and adding personal touches. And you should have seen the brides dress! I won’t post pictures yet because I think it is rude to wedding pictures before the bride and groom. But I will show you pictures of us.

Dave is sick again with who knows what. I am convinced he has the flu. I just hope I don’t get it. He better get well soon. He has not done any Christmas shopping.

We leave on the 22^nd for Tennessee. I am meeting some friends for lunch that day and we are delivering our gifts to the adopt a family. That should be fun. I have 2 families this year. I am all donated out. Seriously…I bought more gifts for strangers than my own family. And people are still asking for donations. And when I don’t donate they get mad. Does this bug anyone else??? I have donated so much this year to adopt a families, United Way, Breast Cancer month, etc….I have nothing left to give. I have bills to pay people . If I give anything else I will be on your list next year accepting donations. Don’t get me wrong. I am happy to help and really enjoy doing it. But I have to draw the line somewhere and you have not right to judge me when I do so. Okay, I am done with that.

I went to have my oil changed Monday. I have 54,000 miles on the Pathfinder and it is 4 years old…ancient. That is the longest I have ever had a car. They tell me at 60,000 miles I have to get new drive belts and flush fluids from random things. All of this cost $1000. And shortly after that I will need new tires. Another $1000…I have big tires. This is why I get a new car every 3 years. Why spend all this money on repairs when I can have a shiny new car that needs no repairs. And then to have to deal with the stress of knowing you could have car trouble at any time. I don’t get it. I was going to try to hold onto this car for another 2 years but I don’t know that I will make it that long. I can’t deal with this nonsense. This is why I will never, and I mean never, buy a used car. My time is more valuable than the money I will save.

Truly Outrageous

2011-12-08T21:44:00.000-05:00

I knew my wardrobe was missing something. Go visit 80s Tees.com to find t-shirts you cannot live without. The "rainbow posse" shirt is on sale for $9.99...probably because it says rainbow posse. Awesome.

For goodness sake....EAT!

2011-12-08T21:15:00.000-05:00

So there is this thing that REALLY bugs me. I have never heard anyone else complain about it so I am wondering if it is just me. I will let you decide. I love to cook. Sometimes I am good at it. Sometimes I burn things and set the kitchen on fire. I also love to entertain. I like to cook a big meal for friends and family. I really enjoy it. So I spend days planning this big meal and exactly how I am going to time it perfectly so that everything is ready at the same time. I then spend hours cooking. And then the meal is done. I call everyone to the kitchen to eat. And they just stand there. I call them again telling them it is getting cold. They still just stand there. Maybe one or two people start moving around. Dave calls them to eat. Nothing. So one more time I ask them to please come eat. They slowly start to move to the kitchen. Then they stand in kitchen and talk. At this point I am like screw you guys I am eating while the food is still hot.

I am seriously offended and insulted by this type of behavior. I spent days planning and hours cooking this meal. And they act like they don’t even want it. When I cook a meal I want my guests to make their plates first. But inevitably I am the first to make a plate due to other people’s slowness and lack of interest in eating. And then I don’t want to be rude and start eating before everyone else. So I am forced to stare at my plate of food and watch it get cold while everyone else slowly, and I mean really slowly, make their plates. And on occasion a guest will excuse themselves to make a phone call or do something else that could totally wait until after dinner. Seriously…I want to slap people. But that would not be nice.

So you may notice if you have me over for dinner that I will always be the first to get my food. Because I know as soon as you say it is ready that I need to make my plate. I have always wondered if people think I am weird to always be the first to get food. But this is where it stems from.

This bugs me so much at times I have considered never cooking for people again.

Shopping, Shopping, Shopping

2011-12-05T21:17:00.002-05:00

There are too many sales out there for me to keep up with! But it seems every time I go Christmas shopping for other people I only find stuff for me. But I have been really good and not bought anything for me. I was at the outlet mall on Sunday and Kate Spade had everything an additional 50% off! They have the cutest black and white striped patented leather tote bag that was marked down to $95 and then it was 50% of that. That is $47.50 for a big Kate Spade bag. It took all of my will power not to buy it. And it even had a matching wallet. Santa needs to book it over to Kate Spade at the Prime Outlets on I Drive like now.

I went back to Coach. Even though I swore them off last week. They had their usual 30% off plus another 10% off. That is the first time I have seen the extra 10%. They had a really pretty red patented leather bag that I love. But I was there looking for other people. And I left with nothing. I did not buy a single thing at the outlet mall. Maybe I should not try and shop for Dave at Kate Spade and Coach. Just maybe…

I got some great deals at Macy’s during their friends and family sale. I think I got the best bargains on jewelry. I really wanted to buy a new dress for a wedding we are going to this weekend. But I was good and I bought a new necklace and bracelet to go with an old dress that I have only worn once instead. They would have been about $75 regular price but with sales and coupons I got them both for $15. Yay me! That is all I can talk about from Macy’s…for now.

I visited my wish list items at Lululemon. I love the purple hoodie and gym bag. I also visited the earrings I want from Swarvoski. They are a lot bigger than they look online. I think I am okay with this.

I am failing miserably at my holiday shopping. I have so many people to still buy for. This weekend is pretty much out because Dave is in a wedding on Saturday. That is an all day event. One that we are looking forward to. We get to stay at the Grand Bohemian Saturday night. And the rehearsal dinner is at one of our favorite restaurants on Friday. It will be fun. And I may have to squeeze in some shopping on Sunday.

Random Holiday Thoughts

2011-12-02T21:44:00.000-05:00

Fake trees look so much better than real trees. They just do. Real ones take forever for the branches to fall. And when they do it leaves random holes in the tree. And they dry out super fast and start to break. I just don’t like real trees.

Everyone’s Christmas tree should look like it is on the showroom floor at Macy’s. Anything less and I am disappointed. I am disappointed a lot.

Where do you hang stockings if you don’t have a fireplace?

I heard the song Merry Swiftmas on the radio this weekend. I know…it is couple years old. But it made me laugh. Especially when he sings about how disappointed he will be if Santa brings him Britney instead of Taylor Swift.

Why do they not sell premade ginger bread cookies dough? I can’t find it anywhere. Do you have any idea how many ingredients it takes to make gingerbread cookies?? Where would I even buy molasses??

I don’t understand the “Elf on the shelf”. Someone needs to explain this to me. Why are parents freaking out if they forget to move the Elf? Does he not live on the shelf??

I love it when they play Christmas music on the radio. Especially the XM stations. It is just fun.

On that same note the following people (maybe they are not people) should not be allowed to sing Christmas songs: The muppets, the chipmunks, barking dogs and Jewel. None of them can sing.

My favorite Christmas song is Mele Kalikimaka. It reminds me of Christmas Vacation and Cousin Eddie.

Our adopt a family at work is going to have the best Christmas ever. Seriously…you should see all that we have for them. I can’t wait to see their faces when they come to the office to get it all. The mom wants to bring her 4 kids to meet their “Angels”. How sweet is that! Someone called me an Angel.

Christmas Wish List

2011-11-30T21:33:00.000-05:00

I know that you are dying to know what is on my wish list this holiday season. Well, you are in luck. I am publishing my list just for you with links and coupon codes. If you see something you want to buy me just click on the picture and you can order it. I sure hope Santa reads this.

I really really want some new casual brown boots. Mine are being retired due to excessive wear and tear. I like these at DSW. Should you want to order them for me I am sure you can find a DSW coupon code online. I could not get the picture to cooperate with me. So you have to click to see!

I also want a mount for the new tv I have in the bedroom. I have no idea what kind or size. All I know is on Christmas morning I want my tv to magically mounted on the wall. Santa should be able to handle that, right?

Don't worry...the rest is in pictures!

I want a purple puffy vest. Kind of like this one. But I don't like that this one does not come in an XS. Maybe the small runs little. I have looked and looked and I think this one is the closest to what I want. And if you should want to order it for me you can use the Macy's coupon code referenced below. Your welcome.

I need some new gym shoes. I think I like these. I prefer pink gym shoes...they are just prettier. And these are on sale at Finishline.com.

I know this is a really odd thing to be on my wish list but I really want a little steamer to get the wrinkles out of clothing that you can't use a hot iron on. I want something small that I can keep in the bathroom cabinet and whip it out when I need it. I like this one at Macy's. And if bought by Dec. 5 you can use the 25% off Friends and Family discount code MACYSFF.

I love these Ugg's. I saw them in the store in Georgetown this year. Unfortunately we don't have an Ugg store here...only an outlet with outdated stuff. But you can order these online and get free shipping...size 7 please.

I need a gym bag. And I really like this one from Lululemon. I love the purple.

And of course I need a matching hoodie...of course. I think I want a size 4. I am usually a 2 but I really don't want a super tight sweatshirt. I visited this one in the new store at Millinia last week. Must have!

I want some Swarvoski earrings...like these. I just love the way they sparkle. And oh my goodness...do you know how much less expensive crystals are than diamonds. Not that I object to diamonds. I love my diamonds. But I could have 15 pairs of these for the cost of my diamond studs.

My goal this year was to be more economical and not only wish for things that cost a small fortune. I think I did pretty good. But if you would like to get me a gift from Harry Winston I will not turn it down. That is all I got for now. So what is on your wish list this year???

Adventures in Shopping

2011-11-28T21:20:00.000-05:00

I was not one of those crazy early morning shoppers this year. I am sorry but I will not camp out in line for 12 hours to save $100…never gonna happen. Plus that is mostly on electronics and I never seem to need electronics this time of year. Anyways… I left the house around 8am to go to Millenia. I stopped in Best Buy for 5 minutes to look for a mount for the new tv I have in the bedroom. They had them advertised for $29.99 but the cheapest one in the store was $129. Major fail Best Buy! When I got to the mall the parking lot was practically empty. I was a little worried at first. But then I realized that crazy bargain shoppers don’t shop at the Millenia Mall. This is the more upscale mall in Orlando anchored by Macys, Neiman’s and Bloomingdales. But there were some deals to be had. I found a few great door busters at Macy’s. Gymboree had a great sale. Too bad all the Mom’s that shop there are morons. I had to wait in line for 30 minutes to check out and there were only 8 people in front of me. Every one of them walked up to the counted with 10 plus items all in sizes they did not want. So they had to have the cashier go to the back and look for the correct sizes. Do you lose all common sense when you have a kid??? There were 2 other employees dedicated to helping people on the sales floor. Why could you ask them for help? I almost walked out but I had already dedicated so much time and I was not leaving without the outfit I picked out.

I was severely disappointed with the Gap sale this year. Last year they had 50% off until noon. This year it was just a random discount here and there. I was not impressed. Ann Taylor Loft had 50% off everything. But there were 200 people in line to check out. Not worth it…plus I am supposed to be buying gifts for other people and not me. I got a few things at Old Navy. They had some great deals. Ulta also had some good deals and I had a coupon. And I did get a couple of fabulous toys at Toys R Us.

After all this I went home for nap. Later that evening my friend Natalie picked me up to the outlet mall. She really wanted to purchase her first designer purse. Kate Spade had the entire outlet 40% off. It was very hard to not buy something. Most everything was already 20% off and then another 40% after that. Juicy had 30% off everything too. And then another $25 off every $150 you spend. They had the cutest winter coats! Natalie was set on a Coach bag. I don’t think she was impressed with Kate Spade and Juicy. She is more a classic style girls. I think things bold and girly. There was a line outside of Coach…seriously… a line. And there was no one in the store. After a 20 minute wait they finally let us in. Natalie was not allowed to leave without a purchase. She got a great deals on a purse and matching wallet. I still don’t get the line. The store was empty. There were six cashiers waiting to help us when we went to pay. There was no one in line to check out. They had to have lost business doing this. What was the point? Maybe they were worried about shoplifters. I don’t get it. But Coach just lost some credibility with me. I am not sure I will be back there anytime soon.

It's Officially Christmas Time!

2011-11-26T21:57:00.002-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T12:33:00.001-05:00

Someone at work brought up Thanksgiving memories yesterday. Funny thing…the first memory that popped into my head was the Thanksgiving my brother ran over our cat Frisco. He accidently backed over him. That poor kitty went into shock. He ran off behind a bush and started gasping for air and a clear liquid started pouring out of his mouth. We thought he was not going to make it. But he did. Frisco lived another 5 or 6 years.

And then I remember the Thanksgiving that Dave and I flew to London. Mostly because there was not Thanksgiving. It was spent in airports and on planes. You would have thought the first class international lounge at the Atlanta airport would have served turkey. They did not. Sadness.

And of course I have lots of happy memories of our big family Thanksgivings when we were kids. We always went to Aunt Peggy and Uncle Bobby’s house or to Gran and Granddad’s house. Aunt Peggy made the best mac and cheese. And Gran always made me cheesy potatoes. And every once and while Mom would make brownies with mint icing. I loved the brownies. I tried to make them myself but know that I know there is liquor in the icing I can’t eat them.

I remember Gran making homemade gravy with the turkey giblets. I can bear the thought of doing anything with those giblets other than taking them straight from the turkey to the trash. That and the neck are just yucky. Who cooks those things??

I don’t remember going Black Friday shopping as a kid. I am pretty sure Mom and Dad waited until the last minute to do a lot of their shopping. I had no idea what kind of deals you could get on Black Friday until I worked for Express in college. It was madness working that morning. But it opened my eyes to a whole new world of shopping.

When we were little Dad would take us each shopping alone to pick out gifts for each other. Devin and I would always get each other the same thing. I specifically remember this little cabbage patch kid toy we picked out a Sears. I kind of wonder if Dad planned that or if we just used our secret twin powers.

Turkeys and Shopping

2011-11-22T18:52:00.001-05:00

Apparently I am missed in the blogging world. I had 3 people tell me today I need to get back to blogging more than once a week. How sweet…ya’ll miss me. I promise to start blogging more again. I have just been so busy.

I have a million things running through my mind right now. I am cooking Thanksgiving dinner on my own on Thursday. There is only going to be 5 or 6 of us. So it is not a huge group. But I am making a pumpkin cheesecake, twinkie pie, corn cake, sweet potatoe soufflé, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, squash casserole, and a turkey. The cranberry sauce is coming from a can. Deal with it. I already have all of my wine chilling and I found a pumpkin flavored cheese spread. Don’t worry Dave… I got the regular garlic and herbs one too. I usually make deviled eggs too but Dave told me once that he does not like them. He just eats them because they are there. So no eggs this year. I still need to figure out what kind of bread or dinner rolls I want to serve. I have table decorations and everything ready to go. My housekeeper cleaned the house today so that is all done too! Yay! Now someone just has to get the outside ready.

I am still trying to come up with a game plan for Black Friday. I really want to go to the Millenia and Florida Mall. I am thinking I will get out around 7am. There are a lot of sales that end between 10a-12p. I might go to Toys R US on Thursday night. I don’t really have a particular item to buy but with all the nieces (the little ones...Sydney, Emma and Madison...don't worry Kayli & Cheri I am not getting you toys for Christmas...unless you want toys) and nephew (well....technically a grand nephew...or great nephew....I am not sure how you say that....let's just call him Hopper,,,that's our niece Kayli's little boy) I am going to need some toys. And I might be ready to get out of the house on Thursday night. I need a mount for my new TV in the bedroom. They are normally $80 and Best Buy will have them for $30. But there are only 6 per store. I will stop by just to see if they have any left. But I am not about to camp out over night to save $50. Actually….I would pay $50 to not have to camp out over night. I refuse to go anywhere near the outlet malls this year. I am not a fan of stupid people and that is where they congregate.

Whew! That is all I got for now. I will be sure to take pictures on Thanksgiving just for you!

Yay Christmas!

2011-11-20T20:16:00.000-05:00

I did this all by myself. I deserve an award.

Busy Busy

2011-11-12T13:17:00.000-05:00

I have not been blogging a lot recently. There is not too much going on around here. We are just busy with work and getting things done around the house. On weekdays I leave the house at 7:20am and most of the time don’t get home until about 7:45pm. So after making dinner and cleaning up there is not much time for blogging. But I will give you an update on what is going on around here.

Dave painted the garage walls and floors. So I have to park in the driveway (oh the horror) for 72 hours. And it got cold all of the sudden. It was 49 this morning. That is below freezing for us Floridians. I had to use my seat warmers. And because of the drastic change in temps my tire pressure light is on again. I hate that light. It scares me. This would not have happened if my car was in the garage. Cars belong in garages. Despite our neighbor who think the garage is an additional room in their house. It is for cars…not tv’s and sofas. That is tacky.

In the process of emptying the garage Dave somehow managed to get all of my Christmas stuff down from the attic. And he refuses to put it back. So I guess we are decorating this weekend.

We have been trying to get our screen enclosure fixed since March. We have been through about 7 screen companies. They either don’t call us back or don’t show up to the appointment they scheduled with us. It is one screen that needs to be replaced. They could do it in 20 minutes. What is going on here? You would think if you run an ad for your business that means you want new business. Apparently it does not. That screen needs to be fixed so Dave can repaint the patio. And this has to be done next week so that we can have Thanksgiving dinner outside. It will be a perfect 75 degrees out. We need to enjoy it. Anyone know of a reliable screen company in Orlando???

I am still waiting to see who all can make it to my Thanksgiving dinner this year. I think it may actually be more than three of us. Not that we don’t love our little Thanksgiving dinners with Mimi…because we do. I have all sorts of things planned for the menu. I am most excited about the Twinkie Pie. And I thinking about making a Krispy Kreme bread pudding. We are real health freaks around here…can’t you tell??? I have yet to decide what I want to do with the turkey.

Holy Cuteness!!

2011-11-02T18:37:00.000-04:00

Bring on the Holidays!!

2011-11-02T18:21:00.000-04:00

We finally made it to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Sunday night. It was packed. We had fast passes and still waited about 20 minutes on some of the haunted houses. Without the fast pass it would have been 60-90 minutes. That is madness. They sold out of fast passes but the lady at the ticket booth really took a liking to Diamond Dave and gave them to us anyways.

We made it through 7 of the 8 haunted houses. We had the time to do the eighth one but I was so sleepy and done with things jumping out at me. The 3D house was pretty impressive this year. It was kind of intense to have monsters and goblins really jumping out and trying to grab you and then also being in 3D. And it freaks me out when they hang from above and try to grab you. They also started to hang these almost invisible strings from the ceiling. That is really creepy when you can feel but it takes a minute to actually see it.

My favorite house was the holiday themed one. Each room was a different holiday that went horribly wrong. We are talking Santa’s elves beheading Santa and then coming after you with their toy making tools and chainsaws. In the Arbor day room there was a giant killer tree that chased after you. Yep…that really happened. Made me laugh, not scream.

Halloween was pretty uneventful. We had several trick or treaters. One kid walked right in the house. He almost knocked me over. But he was maybe 6 so I just laughed.

Now to start prepping for Thanksgiving! I am actually staying in Orlando until Christmas. A miracle, right? So that gives me lots of time to prep. Mom and Dad are supposed to come down from Nashville. And I am hoping Mimi, Michael and Suzanne join us as well. If everyone makes it I am going to have to put the tree up the weekend before just to show it off. I am super excited about this! And I think I have decided that my little tree will be a peacock tree. Yep…that is going to happen.

A Weekend in South Florida

2011-10-25T20:28:00.000-04:00

This weekend we visited Fort Lauderdale. A few months ago Dave won a 2 night stay and the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort in a charity poker tournament. That place is super fabulous! They have a great beach with free beach chairs. You can also rent cushions and umbrellas. They bring you food and drinks right on the beach. There is a huge pool surrounded by waterfalls. And I think there were 3 or 4 restaurants on site. The rooms were pretty big too. We were super impressed! And 90% of the staff were extra friendly.

When we arrived on Friday we found out that the Denver Broncos were staying at the hotel as well. And they were about to arrive. You see the main reason we choose this weekend was so that we could go to the Dolphins Broncos game on Sunday. I am sure you all remember Dave’s obsession with Tim Tebow when he played for the Gators. He is a Bronco now. And Dave is still obsessed. I think we ran into every Bronco except Timmy. They were all over the hotel all weekend.

Anyways…there are other things to talk about besides Timmy T. On Friday we stumbled upon and big charity event for the Childrens Miracle Network on site. So we went in for a bit. It started about 2 hours before we arrived so there was hardly any food left. But there were lots of drinks! We befriended the Florida Regional Manager for Belvedere at the event. She was super cool. After a few cocktails and a hand rolled cigar (Dave…not me…yuck!) we went to the hotel bar for some food. It was 10:30pm so nothing else was open. Our Belvedere friend was there too. She was so nice. She bought us dinner, drinks and shots…oh my. We made some new friends and the bar and then I was done.

Saturday we lounged on the beach all day and took a Hobie boat thing out for a bit. The water was rough and it was windy. Dave was determined to flip us…he did not. But somehow in between holding on for dear life and trying not to spill Dave’s drink we managed to take some pictures. We had dinner on the beach that night. It was cold and windy. But still a nice dinner. After that we drove over to Las Olas for some ice cream. There must have been a street fair going on there during the day because the roads were closed and full of empty vendor tents. That kind of ruined Las Olas for the night. So we went back to the room to watch football after ice cream.

Sunday was game day. I was up early and while waiting for Mr. Sleepyhead to get up I ventured down to Starbucks in the lobby. Me in my Dolphins attire and 4 huge Denver Broncos football dudes all in the elevator for 9 floors. That wasn’t awkward or anything. When we got the lobby to check out the whole team was leaving for the game. Still no Timmy.

We loaded up on tailgate essentials at Publix and headed to Sunlife stadium. While there I saw on Facebook that some friends were there as well. We invited them to join us for a burger. Fun times! As for the game…well, the Dolphins are 0-6. They were winning the whole game and then they lost is all in the last 2 minutes. Dave was all sorts of confused. He cheered for the Dolphins and Tebow. There were more fans in Gator gear than Dolphins gear. I do not get Florida’s obsession with Tebow. FYI…if you start to bash Tebow Dave will run up 12 rows just to yell at you in your face.…twice. Save me some trouble and don’t talk bad about Tebow if Dave is within a earshot. At one point the entire stadium was chanting Tebow sucks. Dave almost cried. It was a long drive home after the game.

The hotel wanted to make sure Diamond Dave was not bothered with people wanting his autograph.

Lovely Fall Day

2011-10-22T11:58:00.001-04:00

What? Are you not relaxing on the beach in your bikini today? I am. It is what Fall is all about in Florida.

We are still here...

2011-10-18T20:59:00.000-04:00

We are just busy! Nothing exciting going on right now. We are looking forward to a relaxing weekend and some beach time. Dave and Tebow will be reunited this weekend. You will hear more on that later.

Random things currently on my mind:

I am really annoyed with the whole process of the neighborhood streets being paved. I can't get in or out of my driveway and have to park down the street. And of course it is raining. Is this really necessary?

Can we rename the occupy wall street people the it's not my fault/pass the blame generation? It makes more sense. You are the one who signed the paperwork on a $500,000 adjustable rate mortgage with a $40,000 a year salary. Maybe next time you will actually read the papers you are signing. But of course that is not your fault...the loan officer held a gun to your head and made you do it. You poor thing.

I miss my nieces. I want to hug and kiss them. But only if they promise not to drool on me. Sydney is going to be Cinderella for Halloween. I hope she has her very own pumpkin carriage.

Our new AC is super cold! Awesome.

There is a cold front coming through this week. The highs are in the 70's! That is what we call winter.

That is all for now.

Holy Hotness!!

2011-10-11T21:58:00.000-04:00

I have been back from vacation for a week now. I miss vacation. The AC died on Sunday afternoon in our house. Okay…maybe it did not die but it refuses to put out cold air. It was not such a big deal on Sunday because it rained all day and never got hot. But on Monday it was 87. And for some reason the repair guy could not make it until today. That may have something to do with the holiday yesterday. If Florida experienced the seasons like the rest of the country this would not be a big deal. But it is still summer here. So after spending all day working on the AC it was pronounced dead. And we cannot get a new one until Thursday. Oh joy. It is almost 10pm and still 80 outside and inside. And do you have any idea what a new AC cost??? Just hope you never have to know. But I hear the new one will cut our electric bill in half.

And now they have decided to pave the streets in our neighborhood. Oh what fun that is going to be. They said they were going to start at 7am this morning. So I either had to park my car around the corner or leave before 7. As I left the house at 6:57am this morning there was not a paver in sight. I bet they did not show up until after 8. So I got up early for nothing. I have to park around the corner tonight. Dave refuses to park “the car” in the street. So he is staying home for 48 hours. Unless he decides to take my car for a joyride while I am sleeping. I have a feeling my car will wind up in the Ale House parking lot sometime tonight after 10.

And then our big tv blew it's bulb last night. What is going on here??? Luckily Dave was able to buy a new bulb and replace it himself. We would have bought a new tv if we did not have to spend thousands of dollars on the new ac. I personally prefer cold air to television. And then one of our toilets broke. It just keeps getting better. The pool is doing something crazy too. I am sure it will require some major repair soon enough. I miss the days when we rented and the landlord had to handle all of these things.

We went to Roy’s last night for their 10^th anniversary dinner. Roy was there. We met for the second time. I told him he was my Twitter buddy. Because we tweet each other a lot. He was not impressed. I am kind of disappointed. People should be honored to be my Twitter buddy. He was nice but he rushed off to talk to other guests. I have yet to decide how I feel about this. I have to say this was the worst meal I have ever had at Roy’s. The service was still great. And the food was not bad. It was just not food that I like. For the anniversary dinner they have a preset 5 course menu. This consisted of octopus (Dave is probably still gagging over that one bite he took), crab stuffed tortellini (it was okay but not something I would order again), Ahi tuna and macaroni balls (the mac was yummy but I despise tuna of any kind…it just taste bad), pork shank (I actually had to send my first one back, it was all bones and fat…no meat. That made it kind of hard to eat the 2^nd one they brought me although it was mostly meat), and finally beignets with mocha chocolate dipping sauce. If you remember my trip to Café DuMonde then you know I don’t really like beignets It is fried bread and I am not a fan of bread. These were slightly better than the Café DuMonde but still not something that I would willingly order. So for what it was I am sure the food was excellent. But I would never order any of that. I like Roy’s regular menu a lot better. And their New Years menu is to die for…lobster everything!

There were 4 Porsches parked in front of Roy’s last night. And ours was the cheap one. Poor Diamond Dave…but he cheered up when the valet told him that his drove better than the others. The valet did not realize the others were $250,000 cars. Don’t you think if a car cost that much it should drive like you are floating on a cloud?

And on a happy zombie note…We are going to Halloween Horror Nights on Thursday. I am kind of in the mood to be chased by zombies with chainsaws. And afterwards we should be returning home to a cool house.

Last Day of Vacation - Mount Rainier

2011-10-09T20:17:00.000-04:00

Monday was our last day in Seattle. We had saved this day to drive up Mount Rainier and do some hiking. Unfortunately there was a 80% chance of rain. But that did not stop us. It rained the whole way there. As soon as you enter the national park you loose all cell signals. So no tweeting on the mountain. I think it was 14,400 feet tall. We started at the base at 60 degrees and by the time we were 18 miles up it was 40 degrees out. I hear it was 10 at the summit but you can't drive there and I am not hiking in 10 degree weather. We stopped at one of the inns on the way up and had some yummy chili and the most amazing blackberry cobbler. That kept us nice and warm on our journey. We made it to Paradise and Natalie and I decided to hike 1.7 miles to Reflection Lake. It had stopped raining so we decided this was our only chance. The ranger told us we should be able to do it in 25 minutes. An hour later we arrived gasping for air, soaking wet and covered in mud. Turns out we are not expert hikers. We blame the altitude. My watch died on this hike. We joked about the altitude killing it. I had the battery replaced yesterday and they confirmed it was the altitude. I never even knew that was possible. Anyways...it was a beautiful but uneventful hike. No bears, no mountain lions and no moose. After this we drove back to Seattle and had the most amazing dinner at Toulouse Petit. It is French Cajun food and is rated the number 1 restaurant in Seattle according to Trip Advisor. We had no idea until we were already seated. If you are ever in Seattle you must try this place. Words cannot describe the yumminess. After dinner we walked up Queen Anne Hill for an amazing view of the city. Then it was time for bed and on Tuesday we made the long 8 hour journey home in the sky.

They make bridges out of fallen trees here.

We saw a lot of these signs but luckily no rocks landed on us or the rental car.

You can see the top of the mountain peaking through the clouds.

Adaya thinks she is cool with her fluffy hat. I think I need one.

This was a 3d map at the visitors center. You could push a button a light up trails and stopping points.

This was the inn at Paradise.

We ran into a few of these on the hike. I am glad they did not expect me to jump across the creek.

Self portrait on our hike.

Reflection Lake. On a clear day you can see the reflection of the mountain top.

The clouds started to lift as we were leaving.

Vacation Day 5 - Granville Island Market and Seattle

2011-10-09T14:02:00.000-04:00

On day 5 the weather cleared up and it was sunny again. We checked out of out hotel in Vancouver and drove across the bridge to Granville Island. We spent a couple of hours shopping at the market and stopped for lunch. They have an amazing food hall there. We got some yummy chocolates and cookies. After that it was time to drive back to Seattle. We were super excited as we approached the boarder and picked up a Verizon signal. This meant we got to turn our phone data back on and could once again be connected to the world.

We made it back to Seattle just in time to grab some peaches, pears and raspberries from Pikes Place Market. They have the best fruit! By the time we got back to the hotel it started raining again. We decided we wanted some local seafood so we wound up at a place called Seastar. They had excellent scallops and salmon. And that was about all there was to day 5. I did not take many pictures on this day. But stayed tuned for a recap of our final day on Mount Rainier.

A floating house on Granville Island...you can see downtown Vancouver in the background.

Adaya and Natalie taking pictures of the floating houses.

The US boarder...land of phone data.

Vacation Day 4 - Vancouver/Capilano

2011-10-08T19:25:00.000-04:00

This was the first day that we really experienced the gloomy, rainy weather everyone had been talking about. It was not that bad. There was a light rain and some serious clouds all day. So this ruined our plans of visiting Grouse Mountain and going on the zipline. Boo!! But we still made it to Capilano for the suspension bridge, tree top adventure and cliffwalk. This was lots of fun and we got some good pictures. I decided that I am not afraid of heights...like at all. These things did not scare me. I skipped across the bridges while Adaya held on for dear life. After this we did some shopping on Robson St. and then went back for some rest and to watch the UF Bama games. Then we wound up a gay sports pub for dinner. That was interesting...a true Vancouver experience.

I am the tour guide. This place was pretty big so I needed a map.

My long arms allow me to take great self portraits such as this.

This is the cliffwalk...it was really high up and stuck out from a cliff.

Natalie and I on the big bridge.

Adaya was a bit terrified. I had to hold her hand. BTW...how much do you love my furry boots?

Group shot.

Natalie and Adaya on the treetop adventure.

The cliffwalk also had the glass floors you could walk out on. This was pretty cool. Kind of freaky when you look down though.

Vacation Day 3 - Butchart Gardens. Wine Country and Vancouver

2011-10-08T13:08:00.000-04:00

Day 3 of vacation started off with breakfast at a cute little deli in Victoria. From there we drove through twisty windy roads that my gps seems to love until we arrived at Butchart Gardens. I almost threw up on that stupid gps. I don’t know why it insists on going through neighborhoods and not on highways. Anyways…the gardens were beautiful. I was kind of surprised that there were still so many flowers in bloom. I can only imagine what it looks like in the spring and summer. Next we started to drive north on Vancouver Island. We stoped at Cherry Point Wine Estates in Cowichan for lunch and blackberry wine. It was yummy. Then we drove up to Nanaimo. It was a cute little port town. We took a break for hot chocolate and a Nanaimo bar. Yumminess. We hopped on the 5pm ferry to Vancouver. It was kind of cloudy, rainy and cold so Natalie and I stayed indoors and enjoyed some chicken soup. But Adaya was up on the deck the whole time taking pictures and making new friends. We arrived just north of downtown and it was about a 25 minute drive into the city. But it was neat to cross the Vancouver bridge at night and see the city from afar. After checking into our hotel we went out for some crepes. Double yumminess. And then we went for a drink at a local pub and chatted with some locals who tried to tell us they don’t have accents. So you don’t have a accent, eh? Yes, you do. And that was the end of day 3.

Vacation Day 2 - Olympic National Park and Victoria

2011-10-06T21:16:00.001-04:00

So day 2 of our vacation was an adventure. I was up at 5:30am because I was still on eastern time. But that turned out to be a good thing because we decided to catch the 7:55am ferry to Bainbridge. I still think it is weird to drive your car on a boat. This was only a 30 minute ferry but it shortened the trip by over an hour. Upon arriving in Bainbridge we went to the Blackbird bakery. Yumminess. They had great coffee and teas and the most wonderful pastries and blackberry scones. This was a total small town bakery and we loved it. On the weekends the line goes out the door at this place. From there it was about a 90 minute drive to Olympic National Park. I am kind of surprised at how many people think this park has something to do with the Olympics. It is a national park…with forests and mountains. That is all. It was there long before the Olympics came to the states. It was beautiful. We just did a drive through and stopped at Hurricane Ridge for some photos. And then we caught the ferry in Port Angelos to Victoria. The weather was beautiful. We spent almost all of the 90 minutes on board up front taking pictures and enjoying the view.

We arrived in Victoria at 3:30. It only took about 5 minutes to clear customs and they did not even stamp our passports. Silly Canadians, eh. And yes this is when we started adding “eh” to the end of every sentence. When in Rome… We checked into the Fairmont Empress and then it was time for high tea. We loved it. The food was great, especially the desserts. And the tea was fabulous too. I just loved all the pink in this place. It was at this time we realized BC has a 12% tax on everything. We loved the tea and all but with tax and tip I think it was $78 a person…and it was not even a full meal. But totally worth the experience.

After tea we wondered the streets of Victoria and did a little shopping. Victoria is a precious town but not at all what I expected. I don’t know what I expected. We found this great Scottish pub called Bard and Banker. It was super fabulous. We had some drinks and a great meat lovers pizza. There was live music. The waiters were all in skirts (guys and girls). It was a fun time. After that we did some more shopping and found the most charming bookstore. We took some more pictures and then it was time for bed. We actually stayed out until 10pm. That was a big deal for us east coasters.

Blowing away atop the Bainbridge ferry. Don't you love Adaya's Cuban afro. She is the one who made up that term. I think I like it.

Mouse cookie at the Blackbird Bakery. You know I love my cookies.

Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. Blowing away again.

A close encounter with Bambi in the park.

Goodbye USA.

On our way to Victoria.

This was such a nice ride with perfect weather.

High Tea at the Fairmont Empress.

The yumminess.

My random fun in the streets of Victoria.

Posing in front of our hotel. Pretty, right?

The lovely bookstore we stumbled upon.

Those two are such bad influences on me. But we had lots of fun at the Scottish pub.

Check out the government building behind us.

Pretty flowers in the lobby...these things made the entire lobby area smell like flowers. Seriously, it was overwhelming.

Vacation Day 1 in Pictures - Seattle

2011-10-05T21:39:00.000-04:00

Can you believe there are sunny days in Seattle??

The Space Needle was not as big as I thought it would be. Especially compared to some of the other buildings. But it was still neat to visit!

There is random artwork all over this city.

The waterfront was pretty nice. But the ports down at one end are not so pretty. I never realized how much of a port town Seattle is.

Flying fish at Pikes Place Market.

Shopping in the market.

So many pretty flowers...and they smelled so good.

They have the best, most juiciest peaches ever.

Did you know you can decorate with peppers?

This one is hard to see but it is the first Starbucks store. This place was a madhouse!

View of Mount Rainier from the top of the Space Needle.

The food up there was amazing....expensive but amazing.

Seriously...it was delicious.

Seattle at night.

Stay tuned for days 2-6...so much fun to share!

They let me back in the country, eh.

2011-10-04T16:20:00.000-04:00

I am currently 30,000 feet above Wyoming. Random, right? But thank goodness for inflight internet or I would be bored out of my mind. It is a long journey from Seattle to Orlando. And I have to stop in Dallas for almost 2 hours. They better have some good food in their airport.

We had a amazing time on our trip. Gogo Inflight is not currently allowing me to upload photos. So it may be a few days before you get to see any of my fabulous photos. We did lots of exploring of Seattle. Including dinner on top of the Space Needle and some shopping at Pikes Place Market. We toured Olympic National Park. We took a ferry to Victoria and did some wondering around there. We visited the Butchart Gardens and then drove north on Vancouver Island to Nanaimo to catch a ferry to Vancouver. With a quick stop in the wine country. We loved Vancouver. We visited the Capilano Suspension bridge, tree top adventure and cliff walk. No one fell off. So that was a success. We did some shopping at the Granville Island Market. We then got to drive back to the states and got lectured by customs for using our phones. But we were so excited to get our data back that we could not put them down. Then we made it back to Seattle for some amazing seafood. And finally we hiked Mount Rainier...okay so it was only 1.7 miles of it. But we did it. And no one face planted in the mud or water. That was an accomplishment. On our last night we walked up Queen Anne Hill for an amazing view of the city. I can't wait for you to see all of the photos.

But for now I will find other ways of entertaining myself on this never ending journey home. I can't wait to see Dave and the kitties. I sure have missed them. I hope they ate while I was gone. I am not so sure about that. I do most of the feeding at home.

BTW...did you know British Columbia has a 12% tax??? Holy expensive Canada, eh.

Diamond Dave is now more famous than he was before....

2011-09-24T22:35:00.000-04:00

He thinks he is a celebrity...really, he does. After this aired in the national presidential debate on Fox News Thursday night Dave has been in high demand. He was on our local Fox News the next morning and a local radio station. He has another radio interview tomorrow night. Do you have any idea how much Dave is loving people talking to him about his thoughts on politics? Now he is considering running for office...

Watch for yourself...
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1176885350001/rick-perry-mitt-romney-on-incentives-for-small-business/

They All Float Down Here

2011-09-24T18:40:00.004-04:00

Prepare for awesomeness!!

This morning, at the crack of dawn, we got to go hot air ballooning. Dave won a trip for 4 at a charity poker tournament. The company was Orlando Balloon Rides. I highly recommend them if you are in the area. These guys know what they are doing...and will make you laugh. We had to be there at 6am. Dave is usually going to bed at that time. The pile everyone in a van and test the weather with a little balloon. Once they figure out which way the wind is blowing you start driving. So technical...little balloons. We drove to a field in the middle of nowhere and they unloaded all the balloons. They start by blowing air in it to inflate it. I never realized how big hot air balloons were. They are like 3-4 stories tall!

Dave was a little too excited at this point...or maybe he was just nervous. Or maybe he was just being Dave.

Next they add heat. That is what gets the balloon up right. It was seriously hot. Like it will burn your hair off your head hot. We made Dave stand closest to the flame.

See...now it is upright. Time for everyone to climb aboard. Can you guess who was first?

Mr. Diamond Dave...of course. That poor guy next to had to settle for second on board.

Steve and Jenny were smiling at this point...we were still on the ground. Most people would fight to stand on the outside of the basket. These two fought for the middle...far away from the edges.

Dave was still smiling while on the ground too. We are ready for take off!! I think I was the only one in our party not afraid of heights.

I thought the camera was going to melt taking this picture. Don't worry Mom. I did not melt your camera.

Taking off...just look at the look on Dave's face. That is fear. Or maybe he just a good actor. I mean he was on national tv this week.

This is the competition's balloons. A little close don't you think? Luckily our company knew what they were doing.

So pretty...they did dip us town in the trees. I seriously thought we were going to take out a tree and we almost did. We scrapped the top of a few trees. It was just part of the experience. Fun times!!

I'm floating...like a little red balloon. If I did not have to get up at 5am I would have styled my hair.

It was so neat to see so many balloons while in the air. They were everywhere.

I love this picture because of the background...Facebook profile pic!! Still wish I would have done my hair.

You can see the sun was starting to come out in this shot.

Another great shot with the sun shining and a balloon in the background.

I just love this one. The reflection of the balloon in a lake...so pretty.

That is our reflection below. I think if you zoom in you can see me leaning over to take this shot.

This is what they call a "ballooner eclipse". I love it!

Check out Dave's new Bono sunglasses...purchased at Bvlgari in the Atlanta airport. So good things do happen at Hartsfield International...who knew?

See how happy Dave is too be landing. I thought he was going to kiss the ground.

This was an amazing experience. You must go floating if you ever have the chance. In the end we even got to help deflate and put the balloon away. It was hard work but still neat to do.

***Bonus points if you can tell me where the title of this post came from!

Wanna see Diamond Dave on TV??

2011-09-22T20:07:00.000-04:00

Tune into the Presidential Debate on Fox News tonight at 9pm EST. Out of 19,000 You Tube video questions his was selected. And he is there. So if we are lucky he will get some live air time as well. Surely Diamond Dave can pull that off.

Can you hear me now? Not if I am in Canada...

2011-09-19T20:29:00.003-04:00

I am putting together all the final touches for my Pacific Northwest trip next week. So today I called Verizon to add Canada to my plan. Because ya’ll know I need to tweet and facebook all about it. If it is not online then it never happened. Verizon wants an astronomical amount of money for me to tweet in Canada. The most data you can buy is 1 megabyte a day for $4 a day. That is the equivalent of sending/receiving 10-12 emails. No facebook, no twitter, no gps. And then they want to charge $2.35 for each additional megabyte. In the past 2 weeks I have used 261 megabytes. And I have only had my 4g Bionic for 6 days. I hardly used any data on the blackberry. Oddly enough texting in Canada is free. And calls are only .69 a minute. So I will be turning off my data while in Canada. So you won’t know where I am. Unless you are lucky enough to get a text from me. That would mean that your name is Mom or Dave. But I might buy a netbook for this trip. Then I can check in wherever there is free wifi. I have been wanting a netbook for a while anyways. And they are not that much. I don’t want an Ipad or tablet. The touch screens drive me nuts on my phone. I want a mini laptop. Dave won $500 in a scratch off yesterday…I think he needs a netbook…a pink one. Don’t you agree?

In other Diamond Dave news…He submitted a video questions to Fox News for the upcoming Republican debate that is to be held here in Orlando. And they selected his video. The debate will air nationally. So Diamond Dave will make his national tv debut. I really hope he cleaned up before filming this video. I can just see a pile of dirty dishes and a meowing Mahi in the background. I will keep you updated on this one. Because I know you all will be watching the Republican debate! I had no idea debates had even started yet. But Dave is all over that kind of stuff.

Busy Busy

2011-09-18T13:24:00.000-04:00

No time blog...

My big trip is coming up in 9 days so I am trying to make sure I have what I need. You know...sweaters and boots! Dave is making the most out of football season. He went to Gainesville yesterday to the TN FL game. That did not end well. At least not for me. For him it did. Today he is in Miami at the Dolphins game. Let's hope they win too.

Our hot air balloon trip was postponed until next Saturday. I am hoping the weather will cooperate. I am very excited to go up up and away in a hot air balloon.

Not much else going on around here.

Happy Birthday Madison!!

2011-09-12T07:37:00.003-04:00

Madison and Uncle Dave have too much fun together!

She turns 4 today.

Happy Birthday Dave!!!

2011-09-10T16:47:00.000-04:00

No time for an explanation on this busy weekend. Just know that fun was had by all! And yes, that is Dave singing.

Sydney goes to the Georgia Aquarium

2011-09-06T19:40:00.000-04:00

On Sunday we took little Miss Sydney to the Georgia Aquarium. I have been wanting to go there for years. It is one of 2 aquariums in the world that have whale sharks. The other one is in China. The whale sharks were massive!! And they are actually tiny compared to the ones you can find in the wild. We got to see them feeding. Which was interesting because they just filter out the plankton in the water to eat. But it was still impressive. The only thing that would impress me more than a whale shark is a great white in an aquarium. But according to Dave they die in captivity. So that is not likely to happen. I have to say this is the nicest Aquarium I have ever been too. And I have been to many aquariums…Chattanooga, Maui, New Orleans, Cape Town…I know I have been to more than that I just can’t think of them right now.

Walking though an aquarium with Dave is quiet the experience. Most people see pretty fishes…Dave sees dinner. I think Sydney was in sensory overload. You can tell by the look her face in some of the pictures.

Happy Birthday Sydney!!!

2011-09-05T20:43:00.001-04:00

The world looks a lot cooler through Uncle Dave's Bono glasses.

The birthday girls and her Meema.

All eyes on the baby.

Sydney and Pop Pop.

Don't you just love the birthday dress.

Sydney and her favorite Aunt.

So many presents so little time. Good thing Mommy was there to help.

She had a hard time moving on from this one.

And of course she got her own cake!

Playing with the tunnel that Meema gave her.

A busy birthday that ended with dinner at the Outback...everyone should eat steak on their birthday!

Best Picture Ever!

2011-09-04T22:11:00.000-04:00

We has a blast in Atlanta this weekend celebrating Sydney's first birthday. I have lots of pictures to post but I am exhausted so you have to wait until tomorrow. For now you can laugh at me and Sydney crawling through the tunnel at the Georgia Aquarium.

Bring on the Fall...

2011-09-01T22:16:00.000-04:00

I think September – December is my favorite time of year. There is so much to look forward to this year!

Birthdays galore…as mentioned in the previous post. And this year Dave is having a special party that involves his brother playing at a bar downtown like he used to…years ago. Oh the memories…or lack there of. It is a bar after all.

New episodes of my favorite TV shows start in late Sept. I am not a fan of this reality show trash that is on in the summer. I much prefer the traditional 30 minute sitcom. I am excited about How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, The Office (although I don’t know how good it will be without Michael Scott), 2 and ½ Men ( I can’t wait to see where this one goes) and The Big Bang Theory. I really cannot deal with a show that last more than 30 minutes. I think that is how Glee lost my attention.

My big trip is coming up on Sept. 28. I am so looking forward to seeing Seattle, Victoria and Vancouver. I have everything booked….hotels, rental car, flight, ferry crossings, high tea at the Fairmont Empress… you know, the essentials.

Mom, Dad, Sweetpea and Emma are supposed to come visit in October. I think we are going to take Sweetpea to Halloween Horror Nights with us. Ya’ll know I love me some horror nights! I hope Sweetpea likes scary stuff. And no, we are not taking Emma. No babies allowed in the horror nights. But we will take her to either Disney or Universal one day. You would be surprised at how much Universal has for little kids.

I am trying to make it to Nashville the first weekend in November.

Then it is Thanksgiving. We will have some family over and I will be cooking. We just need to confirm who all is joining us. And I need to see what kind of fancy Thanksgiving things they have at Williams and Sonoma this year.

Next up is Black Friday. I hope the deal are as good this year as they were last year. I can’t believe how many stores had 40-60% off everything last year. The Baby Gap awaits…

One of Dave’s best friends is getting married in December. So he is in the wedding. It should be a fun weekend.

And finally we have Christmas and New Years. We will be back in Nashville for Christmas. Who knows what we will be up to for New Years.

Oh...and there is this little thing called football. Nothing excites Dave like football and his 27 fantasy football leagues.

September

2011-08-31T17:23:00.001-04:00

We need to retire September 10 as a special occasion date. I can’t handle any more. That is Dave’s birthday. We have 2 friends that had babies on 9/10 and next weekend we have some friends getting married on that date. There are 364 other days in the year…pick one of those. September is just a crazy birthday month. Sweetpea and Dave’s step mom are 9/6. Our niece Madison is 9/12. My mom is 9/20. And I can think of about 5 other friends with birthdays in September.

I was shopping Publix this past weekend and overheard a conversation between a mom and her daughter that was maybe 8 or 9 years old. The mom asked the daughter to grab a gallon of milk but to make sure the expiration dates was well out. So the daughter reaches to grab a milk and the mom asked what the date was. The daughter said September 11. The mom told her that was a bad date and to get another one. And the daughter asked why. She had no idea. She was not even born yet. Has it really been 10 years? Are they not teaching this stuff in schools?

When I was flying to Washington DC last month I started reading an article in Glamour about 9/11. It was letters that people wrote to their loved ones who died on that day. I got through one story and had to stop. People on the plane were wondering why I was crying. I decided this was the worst article I could attempt to read on an airplane while flying over the pentagon. I really can't believe that was 10 years ago.

My thoughts on the VMA's

2011-08-30T20:21:00.000-04:00

Lady Gaga makes a pretty convincing guy. I think she was just happy to not be wearing 12 inch heels. She can’t just dress down like the rest of us…she has to dress up like a dude. I was confused hearing her voice come out of that little man. I think that is what she wanted.

Britney was actually one of the more conservative people of the night. Did you notice when Gaga tried to kiss her that her lips where shaking. She was having none of that. I think she was afraid of Gaga.

How cute were the little girls dancing to Britney! I loved that. But when they said Britney tribute I was thinking other pop stars would be performing her songs. Instead there was a 3 minute dance tribute and then Britney accepted her award and introduced Beyonce. That was weird. MTV just wants to squeeze in everything they can and they don’t care about anyone.

The MTV “black” carpet people are the worst interviewers ever!

Congrats to Beyonce and Jay Z. They looked so happy about that baby. Beyonce is just on a whole other level from all the other pop stars. How does she do it?

I think Nicki Minaj was dressed up as one of those baby mobiles you put over the crib. That is the only way I can describe her outfit.

Don’t hate me…but….did Amy Winehouse really deserve a tribute? Did she have more than one song? Because I only know the one. Maybe she was more popular in Europe. But as far as I am concerned she had one hit and was a horrible performer because she was always too wasted to sing and stand at the same time. It is sad that she died and all but let’s not make her out to be more than she really was.

Justin Bieber looks like a girl. I really don’t understand the obsession with him.

Adele is super talented but she is so freaking boring! I almost fell asleep. If there is no dancing and sparkles I don’t want any part of it. And I know most people say that real music does not need dancing and sparkles. That is your opinion…and I disagree. ***Sparkles***

Chris Brown is a fabulous dancer. Too bad he has a bad attitude and beats up girls. I want to not like him but I really do like his music and dancing. Although I was not impressed with his lip synching. No one but Britney should lip synch.

I thought Jessie J was from the islands. She is British. This bothers me. I don’t know why.

I love Katy Perry. She is just all sorts of girlie fun.

Who is Tyler the Creator? Does he even have a song? He is just awful. Such a disrespectful kid. It a shame that other kids look up to people like him. And it is a disgrace that his mother cheers him on. Wait…maybe she is just cheering for the money.

Miley Cyrus is still around? I am kind of over her.

Goodbye Irene!

2011-08-28T18:51:00.000-04:00

I hope everyone made it safely through Irene. And hopefully your yard does not look like this! That is Dave in our yard after Charley hit in 2004. That was the year we got hit by 3 hurricanes in a row...each 2 weeks apart. That was not fun. Never take electricity for granted.

It's almost family time...

2011-08-28T18:47:00.000-04:00

I can't wait to see these girls...minus the furry one. I don't think she will be making the trip to Atlanta.

Celebrity Weddings...what's the point?

2011-08-23T21:10:00.001-04:00

Sometimes I think celebrities have weddings just so they can throw a big fancy party and all the attention is on them. Most celebrity marriages last less than 5 years so why bother. It seems like waste of time and money to me. But what do I know about fame.

So this brings me to this Kardashian wedding this past weekend. I like the Kardashians. I watch their show. They make me laugh. But I like the earlier seasons better. They are too caught up with fame and fortune these days and I am starting to get bored with them. They are no longer “real” people. I am picturing this wedding to be way over the top on everything. As if it is a contest to show the guests how wealthy they are. I can see video camera crews everywhere stepping on people left and right. Because the day is not about a marriage. It is about a tv show. And if it is not on camera it might as well have never happened. So the guests are either annoyed with the cameras that are being shoved in their faces or they are competing for camera time. It just seems like a nightmare.

Will I watch the wedding special on E? Of course. I want to see this hot mess they call a wedding. I am sure they will make it look super fabulous. If I was a celebrity, and I am not and nor do I ever want to be, I would escape to an obscure island for my wedding and invite on super close friends and family. Oh wait…that is what I really did do.

I give this marriage 3 years…tops. I think they did it for the attention…and money. I hear they got paid something like $18 million to have it filmed. And not to mention whatever they were paid by People for photo rights. Those Kardashians are smarter than they look. They know how to capitalize on every little thing. And they have made millions doing it. So they might as well enjoy it while they can. It won’t last. Look at Paris Hilton. Eventually it all goes to your head and people start to not like you. It has already gone to their heads. It is kind of sad because I really liked them in the beginning…when they were real people. When people start to think they are better than everyone else they move to the bottom of my list. A false sense of entitlement does not look good on anyone.

Has it really been almost a year???

2011-08-18T21:12:00.000-04:00

Can you believe that little miss Sydney is about to be one? It seems like just yesterday I was in Atlanta waiting for her arrival...only to have to go back a month later when she actually arrived. I can't wait to see her in a couple of weeks and celebrate. So...at what age do they stop drooling? I can't deal with that. Devin tells me that the droling is the least disgusting thing they do. Oh joy...

Help me understand why...

2011-08-17T20:37:00.002-04:00

I understand that Facebook is your individual page. You can post what you want on it. No one can stop you. Well…I am sure there are some guidelines. But for the most part you can make it your own. But there are some things that I just don’t get. These things truly annoy me. I am not saying you should not do them. I am just asking for an explanation so maybe next time I won’t contemplate defriending you because I will know where you are coming from.

1. Why do people put messages on there for their kids? Such as: “Mommy is so proud of your for going to school today. I love you!” I am pretty sure your 3 year old does not read Facebook. These type of posts make me think you need a social life…with grown ups. But I don’t have kids so maybe I just don’t get it.

2. Why would anyone post details of an illness they or their child have. I am okay with “I home with the flu today”. That I can handle. But something like “Baby Bob just sneezed and green stuff came out of his nose and ears. He also threw up chunky yellow stuff in the crib”. That is not okay. I almost threw up myself writing that. Are you looking for medical advice? Because I can promise you Facebook is not the place for that.

3. This next one I am pretty sure is just my lack of parenting talking so please don’t hate me. Why do people say things like “I am so blessed to be a stay at home mom with 3 beautiful kids. I am loving every minute of it”? To me that screams “I am miserable. Please…someone over the age of 2 talk to me.” If you truly are loving every minute why are you ignoring your kids and playing around on Facebook?

4. What is up with the hateful political messages? I know everyone has their political opinion. I will respect your opinion when it is tastefully written to get a point across and not to simply hate on the opposing side. I know this will be 100 times worse next year. You are entitled to post political messages. Just leave the hate out of it. It makes you look ignorant…especially when you write it in ghetto slang.

5. Please don’t beg for donations. I am okay with you asking once or maybe even twice for people to donate to your team in the race for the cure. It’s a great cause. But you cross a line when you ask 5 times a day and start accusing people of not caring. At that point only the cure suffers. You have to realize that not everyone is able to donate. Even just $5 can be hard on some people. So for you to keep asking and insinuating that people don’t care or are too busy is just rude. And you have to realize that you are not the only one asking for a donation.

6. Pity Posts. You know the ones where you know the person is only looking for attention. For example…if your kitty (that you had for 6 months and gave away 7 years ago and have not seen since then but just happened to run into someone who told you about this) dies don’t put some sappy post about it online leaving out the details. Let’s be honest…you have not thought about kitty in 7 years. You are just fishing for comments from people you most likely have not talked to since before kitty was even born. Yes, I notice these things.

7. Ultrasound pictures. I just don’t get it. It does not even look like a baby. The 4d ones give me nightmares. Email those to your close friends and family so that I can sleep better.

8. Mystery messages. You know the ones that you know they are talking about something but you can’t figure out what. I have to admit part of my annoyance with these messages is that I am not clever enough to come up with one of my own. So how do you do it? And do you want people to figure out what you are talking about or are you just venting electronically?

Adventures in Shopping

2011-08-14T19:51:00.000-04:00

I went to the outlet mall this weekend...tax free weekend. I knew I shouldn't go. But I was so excited to find out that we have a Lululemon outlet I had to go. I sat in traffic for 15 minutes to get into the parking lot. I then spent 25 minutes looking for a parking spot. The lesson of the day is that UK tourists are rude and should not drive in America. I don't drive in the UK and therefore you should not drive here. They were awful. They have no respect for other people and think the rules do not apply to them because they are on "holiday". I know this is not true of all the Brits...just the ones who were at the Premium Outlets on Saturday.

Lululemon was a total bust. Half the store was these weird tops that can only be described at maternity tops. They were a really odd design for a workout top. Everything else was either this really light, almost white, grey color that no one should wear to the gym or a size XL or XXS. And the prices were only 10-20% less than retail. I expect more from the outlets.

They closed the Dior outlet. I almost cried. They also closed the real Dior at Millenia. Where will Dave get my Christmas present from?

On a happy shopping note: The real Lululemon should open any day now at Millenia. And they are opening a Henri Bendel this fall. I love their stuff. They have cute handbags and stationary.

I was on a mission today to find some new cross training shoes for the gym. I spent 20 minutes in Finishline and could not get anyone to help me. I actually had to look up the shoes on my phone to see what they were for. I was excited because I had a $20 off coupon for there but I would rather pay an extra $20 and go somewhere that has employees who care. I then went to Macy's because I had a 20% off coupon and they sell Nike shoes there. An employee stood 2 feet from for 15 minutes while I was looking at shoes and never said anything to me. So now I am ordering my shoes online from Nike.com. What happened to customer service. I literally had cash in my pocket ready to buy shoes and no one would help me. It is just sad.

I have officially started shopping for little miss Sydney's 1st Birthday. Baby presents make me happy!

It's okay...

2011-08-11T07:00:00.001-04:00

I see these blog link ups all the time. I love reading them and have always wanted to participate. But I am so busy and they are for one day. And it never fails…I am always super busy on that one day when I see one like. I am not sure what it is that takes up so much of my time (working, traffic, gym, cooking, cleaning, laundry) but there are many days when I cannot find time for blogging. Except for maybe on my phone while waiting for a meeting or class at the gym. Blogging is not at the top of my priority list. Plus I have been traveling a lot recently. Anyway…today I have made time.

It’s okay –

To not blog every day. Really it is. The world will not stop spinning. I promise.

To unfriend people on Facebook and block them on Twitter. Who needs drama. Not me.

To get offended when someone unfriends you on Facebook. What did I do to you?? (I know I am contradicting myself)

To watch reruns of HIMYM and King of Queens instead of the new reality shows that are on in the summer. Even if you have seen each episode 10 times.

To think if it is not on Twitter or Facebook that it never really happened.

To watch the Disney channel if you are in your 30’s and have no kids.

To have a conversation with your cat. She talks to me, I swear. She talks to Dave too.

To feel like if you go for more than week without going to the mall you are missing something fabulous.

To want pink sequins sneakers and be over the age of 10. (Ugg.com)

To take at least one vacation a month and still want more.

To not jump on the Ikea bandwagon. I will never understand the obsession with cheap, poor quality furniture.

To buy something just because you have a coupon.

To go get your nails done instead of going grocery shopping. Who needs food when you can have hot pink nails? I promise I will grocery shop this weekend. Dave thinks I forgot how to cook.

And most importantly...It's okay to eat a cookie everyday. "Me love cookies!!" Cookie Monster.

Things that run through my mind while flying...

2011-08-10T07:00:00.001-04:00

I am not afraid of flying. I fly all the time. But there are some things that really bother me about the flying process.

How does one use 5 bins to clear security? Each shoe does not need it’s own bin.

Outside of first class I think it is so rude when people recline their seats all the way back. You are ready so cramped on an airplane. And if the person behind you has their tray table down with a laptop on it you can actually break their laptop if you recline. If you must recline just glance to see what is going on behind you first and recline slowly. A little bit of courtesy goes a long way.

Delta is by far the worst airline…ever. They have the dirtiest planes, the rudest flight crew, the worst customer service and they are delayed 99% of the time. They even shut down their phones when they get busy. So when you are stranded in the airport you can’t even call to get on another flight. You have to stand in line for 7 hours to talk to someone who hates their job and everyone they come in contact with. Don’t fly Delta…ever.

You know what was a great airline? Song. Remember the Austin Powers looking planes with orange, purple and green seats. They had a tv on the back of every seat and a menu you could order off of.

It really freaks me out to see another plane while I am flying. I don’t know why. One time we got close enough to another plane that I could see the people in the windows. This just seems wrong at 20,000 feet up and 500 mph.

It bothers me when turbulence makes the wings shake. It just looks they are going snap. But if I don’t look out the window turbulence does not bother me.

How do people not know how to put their carry on’s in the overhead compartment. Wheels first…it is that easy. Do you know why they run out of overhead space? Because of the morons who put their bags in sideways. And if your bag will fit under the seat…put it under the seat. It amazes me how people only think of themselves when flying.

I truly dislike this carry on revolution. Every since airlines starting charging for checked bags everyone started carrying on everything. This slows down security and causes passengers to get beat up by other passengers with their over sized carry on’s they cannot control.

If the flight attendant comes on the loud speak FIVE times to tell you to sit down, get out of the way and stop trying to trade seats you should probably do as you are told. This may come as a surprise to you but there are other people on the plane and they would like to get to their seats.

Can the flight crew really tell if you still have an electronic device that is still on? Because on my flight home Sunday night they told us we would not push back because there were 8 electronic devices still on.

Do parents not realize when there kid is screaming, jumping, kicking and playing with the tray table that it is disturbing those around them or do they just not care. Some kids fly well. Others do not. Plan accordingly. Don’t put the burden on kidless strangers.

I should not have to be the one to tell your kid to stop climbing over seats to get past people in the deboarding process.

Why does everyone assume that people flying to/from Orlando are on a Disney vacation? People live here too. I can promise you I fly in and out of this airport way more than the family who flies here once every 5 years. So why do you only cater to those families?

Okay…time to relax…3.5 weeks until I have to fly again.

Running Through Vineyards

2011-08-08T20:29:00.000-04:00

This weekend was a girls weekend and it was a blast. Kim, Natalie and I used to hang out together all the time in Orlando. In August of 2007 Natalie moved to Atlanta. And then in Feb. of 2008 Kim moved to Washington DC. They both still have families here in Orlando so they visit several times a year. I try to get to DC at least once a year and I go to Atlanta often because I have family there. I miss seeing them more but we tend to make the most out of our time together. So this weekend we all met in DC for some fun adventures. I still can’t believe we crammed so much into 48 hours.

We landed in DC at 6pm on Friday. Kim picked us up and we went to dinner at Cork in DC. It was a cute little wine and tapas bar. I love the dining options in DC. Orlando is the land of chain restaurants so it is nice to try new things. This place was pretty good. At dinner Kim mentioned there was a new Serendipity in Georgetown. No questions asked…we went there for dessert. We had to wait about 25 minutes for a table. That fried oreo sundae was so worth the wait! At this point we were so stuffed we could barely walk. So we decided to go on a walking adventure…at 10pm. We walked over to the Georgetown campus. It is beautiful there. It was dead because I don’t think the kids are back in school yet. The chapel was still open so we got to go in and explore that. That school has been there since sometime in the 1700’s…or at least the buildings have. They are so pretty. We wondered through some local neighborhoods after that. I love all the old houses there. They are so big. I would love to see the inside of one. We ran in to a fox in one of these neighborhoods. He let us get within about 15 feet of him. Usually they are really skittish. Maybe he was the local neighborhood fox. Kim also took us to walk down the stairs from a scene in Poltergeist. I have no idea what seen…but it was kind of creepy.

On Saturday we ventured out to Virginia. After driving down an one lane (yes, one) dirt road for 30 minutes we stopped at the Linden Vineyards for some wine and cheese. It was really good and the vineyard was so pretty. We took some time to run through the vineyards and take some pictures. I know it sounds silly but it was fun. From there we drove to the Luray Caverns. This was a 1.25 mile walk underground. It was so neat to see. We got some great pictures down there. After exploring underground we raced through the garden maze. It kind of made me feel like we were in Alice in Wonderland. It started raining when we were halfway through so we got to use the little umbrellas they gave us. This made for some cute photos. Since a storm was rolling in we headed home….after a quick stop for candy and fudge, of course. We went to a fabulous Mexican restaurant, Lauriol Plaza, for dinner that night and had some yummy fajitas and margaritas. And may have taken our picture with the Obama’s….scroll down for photos and try not to laugh. On the drive home we randomly ran into the White House. It took us all a minute to realize it was the White House. It is just in the middle of the city and does not look like it does on tv.

Sunday morning we went canoeing/kayaking. We started in Georgetown and made it all the way to where we could see the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. Okay…I know that is not that far but we only had an hour. And Natalie and I canoe in a zigzag and not a straight line. And we may have stopped to rest in the shade for a bit…it was hot! After that we went to Kim’s yoga class. It was fabulous of course! Then it was off to lunch, a little shopping a Lululemon, and then ice cream. As soon as we got in the car to drive to the airport it started to storm. But it stopped just in time for my flight to take off. Natalie was not so lucky. She was flying Delta…and we all know they never take off on time.

Just wait until you see our fabulous photos:

The Serendipity fried oreo sundae.

Creepy fox staring at us.

Cheers at the Linden Vineyards.

The vineyards were so pretty.

Kim made a new friend. Kisses!!

Posing with the Chardonnay grapes.

Lots of grapes.

This was the main house on the vineyard.

This is one of my favorite running through the vineyards pictures. It looks like she has devil horns.

Run, run!

Natalie looks like she is going for the gold and I am flopping around.

Inside Luray Caverns.

Creepy caves...

I love this picture. What you see on the top is real but what looks like rock formations on the bottom is actually the reflection from the top. The water is so still you can barely see it.

Ooops...they told us not to touch anything. So I lean against it.

These are called drapes because...well, they look like drapes.

Time for some garden maze fun. Kim looks confused.

Who will get there first??? Ummm...the exit is in the other direction.

Let's pause for a group shot.

And then there was rain when we were in the middle of the maze.

But rain makes for pretty umbrella pictures.

We made some new friends at dinner.

Just a casual conversation.

Let the canoeing begin!

Kim zipped right by us on her kayak.

Natalie posing with the monuments behind her...look closely and you can see the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.

Georgetown University from a far.

I so over Summer!

2011-08-05T12:56:00.000-04:00

Is summer over yet? When I was a kid and college student I loved summer. It meant no school and sleeping until noon. Not anymore. It just means doing the same thing I do in all the other seasons. Only it is 100 degrees out with 100% humidity and my home town of Orlando is packed to the rim with tourists who don’t know how to drive. It is a little frustrating being constantly surrounded with people who are on vacation. I know you are on a leisurely stroll enjoying all the lovely sights of I-4 but I need to get to work. So please go…faster than 30 mph.

I am ready to put out the pumpkins. Fall needs to hurry up and get here. August is my least favorite month. It is just too hot to do anything around here. Although August 31 is a good day. That is the day that Sydney was born. I am hoping this month flies by and before you know it we will be in Atlanta celebrating Sydney’s first birthday.

I am off to Washington DC in a few hours. Until next time...

Fun Times in the Deep South

2011-08-01T21:24:00.003-04:00

Last Thursday night we flew to New Orleans. We landed around 8pm. We got our luggage and a rental car and were off to Southern Mississippi. Stone County/ Wiggins to be exact. Dave tried to tell me that Mississippi was west of Louisiana. He would have driven to Texas. It was a 90 mile drive. The first 60 miles were on the highway. But the last 30 miles were on a 2 lane road in the middle of nowhere. No cars, no houses, no light…nothing. Dave decided he needed to pee. He wanted to stop on the side of the road. I told him no. That is how the Texas Chainsaw Massacre started. At this point we were going about 100 mph and decided if cop tried to pull us over we would not stop until we found civilization. We made it safely to Wiggins in record time. Wiggins consist of a bank, 2 hotels, Popeyes, the Sizzler and a Wal-mart. And somehow we got lost and had to call the hotel for directions. We had a garmin and a phone with a GPS. We still needed directions.

We stayed at the Hampton Inn. AKA the nicest hotel in town. We had a suite and it was $94 a night. When is the last time you stayed in a regular room that was that cheap? It was pretty nice. The hotel was only 5 months old. The people who worked there could not have been nicer. We are going to have to write Hilton and compliment the staff. Nowhere else in the world will you find such nice and considerate Hilton employees. Dave handed them his expired “diamond” card and they proceeded to give him all sorts of free drinks and snacks. One night he stopped by the front desk for a free snack and the girl wanted to look him up in the computer. He said his name was Diamond Dave and the proceeded to spell out Diamond for her. This actually worked. The funny thing is when we checked out the receipt clearly said “Hilton Honors Silver”. So they knew he was not diamond.

On Friday the guys played an 8 hour round of golf. This is what happens when Dave and Dan try to play golf together. I am sure they drank every beer in site. Us girls went to a brunch on the farm. This farm was beautiful. I think it was 22 acres. There was a stable with horses, a chapel that seated 40 people and was made out of stone from a really old church in Ireland, a pool/pool house, guest house that sleeps 10, a three car garage with an apartment on top and the main plantation style house. And you should have seen all the antiques and other collectible items on the inside of these places. Every room including the screened in porch and a fancy chandelier.

Later that night was the rehearsal dinner. The food was delicious. We had smoked brisket, fried okra and jambalaya. At some point on Friday we learned that Stone County had never repealed prohibition. So not only was it illegal to buy or sell alcohol it was illegal to drink it or be in possession of it. There were still three people that needed to die before they can get rid of prohibition, the mayor, a southern Baptist preacher and some other guy. There was this lady who worked on the farm, Darla, She was super nice and drove us to and from the hotel so we did not have to worry about driving. She told us a story about being pulled over with a couple of beers in a cooler and getting charged with possession amongst other things and being slapped with $1000 in fines. Luckily she played cards with the judge or somebody who knew the judge and got out of it. We really appreciated Darla and all she did for us. She is one hard worker!

On Saturday we had some time to kill before the wedding. So we did what people in Wiggins do on Saturday. We went to Popeyes and Wal mart. The people at Popeyes were a little slow to say the least. We ordered 2 meals and 20 minutes later we got three meals. Then we stopped for sno ball and a freshly made donut and stand next to the hotel. I got a pineapple sno ball. Dave gladly pointed out that I was eating yellow snow.

Then we went to Wal-mart. There are no words to describe this. You know I won’t even go to Wal-mart here in Orlando. We lasted about 15 minutes and had to leave. So we drove to the local water park. It was a huge lake with water slides and lots of people swimming and boating. It was pretty impressive for a lake water park.

Then it was time for the wedding. The ceremony took place in the farm chapel/church. It was lovely. Then a saxophone player walked us all to the main house for the reception. It was more like we danced our way to the reception. They had a jazz band from Louisiana playing music all night. The lead singer kept trying to teach us all how to be “Cajun” all night. He would tell all sorts of Cajun jokes that were really long and just not funny. But you could not help but laugh. It was pretty bad. But the music was good. The food was fabulous. Although we did learn that Dave does not like fried green tomatoes. There were lots of cupcakes. I may have eaten 4 of them. The wedding was a lot of fun!

Sunday morning we drove back to New Orleans just in time for brunch at Brennan’s. It was delicious. Thanks to Jennifer and Dee for recommending it. Dave said he has been before but this was during Mardi Gras so he did not remember much about it. This is the place that invented Banana’s Foster. When you order it they bring over this little stove and make it right there in front of you….3 foot high flames and all. Some people there were really dressed up. It was 100 degrees outside and they were in suits. That is madness people!

After brunch we strolled around the French Quarter. It was too hot to make it more than a block without going in somewhere for cool air. The French Quarter is the dirtiest, stinkiest, hottest and stickiest place I have ever been. It is street after street filled with strip clubs, bars and tacky gift shops. Every so often we would stumble upon a cute store. Dave bought some gator beads and some Slap Yo Mama seasoning. I got some pralines to bring back to work. That was all we found that was worth buying. We did stop in Pat Obriens. It looks just like the one at City Walk. But…don’t hate me…the one at City Walk is cleaner and nicer.

At this point we were about to have a heat stroke so we went to Harrahs to cool off. 10 minutes and $50 later we were done with the smoky casino. Although I must say it was a pretty nice casino. We then noticed the aquarium across the street. That seemed like a nice cool place to hang out. It was packed with kids. But it was nice. We strolled around for about 40 minutes looking at fish. Dave would not go near the frogs and was frightened by the screaming parrot.

We stopped in the Hotel Monteleone for a drink at the rotating bar. That made me nauseous so we moved on. It was thundering and lightening at this point but not raining…yet. So we ran down to Café DuMonde to get some beignets and then ran back to the car to eat them. I was so not impressed. Dave said we let them cool too much. It only took us about 5 minutes to get back to the car. I say it was a ball of fried bread covered in powdered sugar and would not have tasted any better if it was piping hot. This may also be due to the fact that I was still stuffed from brunch.

We got stuck in awful traffic trying to get to the airport. So we had to take a detour. The gps should really have a “no ghetto” button. We made it back to Avis to return the car and it took another 35 minutes to get back to the airport. People there are beyond slow. Seriously…I thought TN was so but not compared to this. I was starving when we got the airport. We had 10 minutes to board the flight so we decided to grab food to go. We should have known better…this also took forever. Dave boarded the plane and I waited on the food. Can I tell you how happy the 102 people on our flight were when I boarded with a big plate of red beans, rice and sausages. But it was so good. Dave was giving me evil looks as he held my plate so that I could eat during take off. It was not like I could pull the tray table down during take off!

We made it back to Orlando and everything was moving too quick to be true. Our luggage came right out and the parking van was there when we exited to take us back to our car. Maybe it was not that quick…maybe had just adjusted to the slow.

It was great weekend. There is a lot of culture and tradition there and I loved that. I am glad I went to New Orleans but I don’t think I ever want to go back. Maybe if I was there with some people that are from there I would like it better. It reminded me a lot of Key West (another place I never want to go back to). Maybe it was the stinky bums on every corner. It would have been fun when I was in college but now it is just not my thing. Who dat??? Dat me leaving and never coming back.

And here are some pictures for your entertainment:

Dave posing with the groom before the wedding.

How pretty is this little chapel? And Pastor Dave...

The saxophone player leading everyone to the reception.

This is as close as I will get to a horse.

Cupcakes galore!

Me and Emory (the groom's daughter)

I think you know who we are.

The bride and groom sharing their first dance in the foyer.

The groom dancing with his daughter.

He caught me trying to sneak a picture. How much do you love her hair piece?

Dave, the mother of the groom (aka Dave's 4th grade Sunday School teacher) groom and bride.

Us with the bride and groom.

This is us trying to take a picture of ourselves in the mirror at Brennan's. Yes, we are cool like that.

The sausage eggs benedict.

Eggs Houssarde...their signature breakfast dish.

Banana's Foster in the making.

Strawberry Crepes.

We had to stop here to cool off. No hurricanes involved.

I don't really know what this is but isn't it pretty? And no, I am not talking about me.

I wanted to buy this but it was not for sale.

Leave it to Dave to find a gator in the bayou.

We found a lone hog fish in the aquarium...yummy, dinner.

Ugly looking shark.

And last but not least...the turtle!

Pinwheel, Pinwheel Spinning Around

2011-07-27T20:06:00.000-04:00

FYI…if you are under the age 26 this post will mean nothing to you. Babies…

I saw that Nickelodeon has brought back some of their 90’s shows. But they only show them in the middle of the night…or at least that is all I am seeing. Don’t they realize the people who grew up watching these shows have real jobs not and are sleeping in the middle of the night. I used to love Clarissa Explains It All and Pete & Pete. Wasn’t the lead singer of REM and the red head from the B-52’s on Pete and Pete? I want to watch Are You Afraid of the Dark again. I don’t think I will be scared this time. I also want to watch Double Dare. It was filmed here in Orlando. I wonder if I will see anyone I know on there. I think I do know someone who was on it. Anyways…all the other shows they are bringing back are cartoons. (Doug, Ren & Stimpy, Rugrats). I was too old (11 in 1990) for cartoons by this time so I never watched those shows. I know… I am old. But whatever happened to Hey Dude and that other show where they were at a camp. I can’t remember the name of it. Wasn’t that the 90’s? Maybe it was the late 80’s. And do you remember Fun House? Best game show ever!

I think they need to bring back the 80’s. I would like to watch Pinwheel and Today’s Special again. Remember the 2 sheep who were always walking up a hill on Pinwheel? What was the point of that? And who knew if you took your hat off you would turn into a mannequin? That was quality programming. And how about You Can’t Do That on Television? That was another great show. Was Punky Brewster on Nickelodeon? Whatever channel it was on it needs to come back for sure.

Dave dvr’d Fraggle Rock the other day and we tried to watch it. That was painful. We had to turn it off. It was going to give me nightmares. There was a talking pile of trash steeling everyone’s radishes and casting spells on the Fraggles. I don’t remember that part from my childhood. It was seriously creepy.

Speaking of the 80’s. Did you hear that Debbie Gibson and Tiffany are touring together? They have only released a handful of dates. I am hoping they come to Orlando. Me and my black hat are ready!

How do these things happen?

2011-07-26T20:21:00.000-04:00

Thing # 1: So today I got a coupon email from Ulta for 20% off my entire purchase. The email had pictures of new products from Too Faced, Benefit and Tarte. Three of my favorite brands. And at the bottom in tiny print it says the coupon cannot be used on “prestige cosmetics”. So you lure me in with these great products that I love and then tell me I can only use the coupon on some cheap make up that I could get at Target. No thank you. I swear you used to be able to use those coupons on everything. And yes, I know I am a make up snob. It happened slowly over time. I blame my Mom and QVC. I can’t go back to drug store make up. It makes me cringe. Now all I can think about is how I need that new Benefit mascara. I may have to go Sephora. I won’t go back to Ulta until they send me a real coupon that I can use on things I like.

Thing #2: Apparently we are being dropped by our homeowners insurance. We filed 3 claims in 6.5 years. All 3 were mold/water damage in the same spot. Had they done a proper appraisal and given us the money to fix claim 1 there would have never been a 2 or 3. And when we got to claim 3 it was no longer a leaking window…it was the entire back of the house, inside and out, that had to be replaced. And did I mentioned our rates tripled in 6 years. They were rude and it took them 3 weeks to return phone calls. And on claim #3…you may remember the rebuilding of the back wall from earlier this year… they refused to pay for all the work. They capped us at $10,000. It cost three times that to fix. So if you do the math at $3000 a year for 6 years we paid them $18000. It would have saved us money to not have insurance. Of course then you run the risk of a total loss. But I am sure they would have found a way out of covering that as well. ASI…American Strategic Insurance…don’t use them…ever.

Thing #3: Over the past few years I have accepted friend request from people I went to high school with. Some of them people I never said 2 words to back in the day. But I did not want to be rude and not accept their request. I had nothing against them. I should have been rude. There was this one girl who was straight up ghetto. And she put a lot of effort into being trashy. She would talk in ghetto slang. That is a little disturbing for a 32 year old white woman if you ask me. She is a Democrat. And she loved to trash Republicans and talk about how they would be the death of us. Note that she never said anything good about Democrats. I don’t think she really knows anything about either party. I think she just likes to hate on the “rich people”. Why is it that the people who talk politics the most online know the least about it? I also deleted few people who do nothing but play games and clog up my news feed. I tried to block the applications but there were so many I could not keep up. And if all you do is post quotes you may notice you are no longer my friend. I use Facebook to keep up with friends and family. I like to read about what you are up to and look at your vacation pictures. If I want a quote I will google it.

Beach Day Pictures

2011-07-24T18:13:00.000-04:00

It was a fabulous weekend!!! I am too exhausted to tell you anything else. So you can use your imagination as to the story behind these photos. Time to sleep...

Step 1...We can have lots of fun!

2011-07-24T11:30:00.000-04:00

On our way to the show.

Key Lime Martini's at the Dessert Lady...a pre-concert tradition.

I could not finish my "Savannah Ice Tea". These two refused to let it go to waste.

A slap bracelet, glow stick and light up ring. We are ready for 1989.

I think Jessica is slightly confused about what to do with the slap bracelet.

We are ready!

You got the right stuff...

NKOTBSB

I want it that way...

Notice Nikki singing along.

NKOTBSB and Boyz2Men....why? Because we are Orlando, home of the boy bands.

BSB is representing their home town team, Go Magic!! And NKOTB are representing their home town...Boo Celtics!

I just liked this picture...two NBA rival teams dancing together. This will upset Dave.

This was a fabulous concert. I think my favorite part is when the video monitor cut to Joey Fatone singing along to Step by Step in the audience. Only in Orlando. And then they brought out Boys2Men to perform a few songs. 3.1 boy bands in one arena. We loved every minute of it! Matthew Morrison from Glee opened. That boy danced more than Britney. He had some serious moves!

1, 2, 3....Peter, Paul, and Mary

2011-07-23T19:30:00.001-04:00

Don't you love the shirt???

Waiting for Ms. Spears to take the stage.

Nicki Minaj and her Barbies.

See...she dances now.

Happy Birthday kid!

This had to be the best 18th birthday present ever...to bad she is behind him.

See ya...he's mine now.

This is trademark Britney performance.

Toxic encore.

Britney brought her Femme Fatale tour to Orlando on Wednesday night. And of course I was there. It was a great show! My 6th Britney concert.

Nicki Minaj was the opening act. She is quiet the character. She has very few songs she sings on her own. For the most part she sings a small part in other peoples songs. This makes for an interesting live concert. They played those other people’s songs and then she jumps in and sings her part. It was the most elaborate opening act I have ever seen. There were costume changes, a story line, video effects and lots of dancing. She only sang for about 30 minutes. She is kind of dirty when not edited for radio. But her songs all have a beat and are high energy. So she was very entertaining.

Britney performed (not singing) for 90 minutes. She was much more into it this time than on the Circus tour. She looked like she was really enjoying herself. She actually danced this time. On Circus she did a lot of walking around in circles. There was still some of that but mixed in with some old school Britney moves and lots of hair tossing. She played some remixes of some old stuff and a lot of new stuff to. I loved the mix of “Hit Me Baby…One More Time” and “S&M”. Two of my favorites. She did have another mic malfunction. You think they would have learned from the Circus show in Tampa to not leave her mic live. She was up on a platform and was supposed to take off flying with giant wings and I guess the thing was stuck. So in the middle of her singing a song you could hear her say “it won’t go”. The quickly fixed the problem and she took of flying. It was a fabulous show! I would highly recommend it if you are a Britney fan.

I tried to buy one of the $1000 front row seats where you get to meet her. But they sold out in like 1 second. I am pretty sure that it was the people who had those tickets that got pulled on stage to dance with her during the show. It was funny because when the song stopped the dancers surrounded Britney to make sure no one tried to hug her or anything while they were escorted off the stage. They tried to make it not so obvious…but it was. Katy Perry also brought people on the stage at her show and I think she hugged them all and even took a picture with one of them. What is it that makes Britney so untouchable? That just dehumanizes her. But that is really the one complaint I have from the whole show.

Such a Disappointment

2011-07-20T17:30:00.001-04:00

This was supposed to be fun!

In planning my trip to the Pacific Northwest I have come across several things to do that I think are beyond fabulous. I was telling Dave that I booked a high tea at the Fairmont Empress in Victoria. It is supposed to be super fancy. He told me he went once and it made him throw up. First of all, you deserve to throw up if you put a cucumber sandwich in your mouth. That is just nasty. There are so many other things on the menu that don’t involve cucumbers. Secondly, I would not expect Dave to like high tea. He says he upset the wait staff when he asked for meat on his sandwich. High tea is not a meal. Only Dave… I am still going to high tea with my fancy hat and white gloves. There will be pictures.

So this got me thinking about things I have planned on vacation that I thought were going to be fabulous only to be severely disappointed.

Random disappointments from around the world:

1. The Mona Lisa – It is tiny people…tiny!

2. Canoeing in the tidal pools of Long Boat Key – It was 110 degrees, the water was hot, still and brown and there was no sea life.

3. The entire city of Durban, South Africa – Dirty and scary…don’t go there.

4. The Nashville Zoo – I was really excited about this one. After a safari zoos just aren’t the same.

5. Hiking Diamond Head – The view from the top is amazing but it is hardly a hike. You drive into the volcano and park in the center. Then you walk up 5 million man made stairs to get to the top.

6. South Beach – the beaches are great and the food is delicious but everything else is all about being rude and pretentious and a mandatory 20% tip on everything. Because you deserve a tip if you are rude.

7. Kayaking off Conch Key – The water is 6 inches deep for about a mile out at low tide. Dave got us beached. He had to walk the kayak back…with me in it.

8. Nassau – All of it…it is just kind of ghetto compared to the rest of the Bahamas.

9. The Great Salt Lake – Talk about nasty. You can smell it from a mile away.

10. The Lady and Son’s in Savannah – I refuse to wait in line for 4 hours for lunch. They need to start taking reservations. I can’t comment on the food because in the three times I have been to Savannah there was never less than a 4 hour wait.

11. Outlet malls in any city other than Orlando – I don’t know why I bother. We have some of the best in the country. The ones in other cities are sad in comparison. Although I have heard that some cities have Pottery Barn outlets. We need one of those!

Anything, Really?

2011-07-19T22:01:00.000-04:00

This is just something that annoys me but so many people do it. I just don’t understand how they don’t get it. Here is a made up conversation example:

Random Person: I am looking for a job can you help me out?
Me: Of course. What are you looking for?
Random Person: I can do anything. I just need to work.
Me: Okay. I know a company that is hiring a neonatal brain surgeon to work nights out on the coast. Can you do that?
Random Person: Well, no.
Me: Why not?
Random Person: I am not a surgeon. I don’t want to work nights and I refuse to drive to the coast for work.
Me: Then don’t tell me you can do anything.

I get this all the time. People want me to help them find a job and will tell me they will do anything. They refuse to give me any more details than that. It does not work that way. I realize the brain surgeon is a bit extreme but it gets the point across. I am more than willing to help friends of friends or family members find jobs but there are things I need to know.

Like:
What part of town do you want to work in?
What is your most recent job experience?
Do you have a degree?
Full time or part time?
What are your salary requirements?

And please understand that if I don’t personally know you I am not going to give you a glowing reference. I will forward your resume onto someone but it will say nothing more than this is a friend of friend looking for work. I am not going to put my name on the line for someone I know nothing about. I am happy to help but I have to draw the line somewhere. Now if you are my best friend and I happen to know you have the best work ethics ever then of course I will make you look as fabulous as you are.

I really thought this stuff was common sense.

Random thoughts on food...

2011-07-15T22:28:00.000-04:00

Do you any food that you just cannot eat…like if it accidently touches your tongue you might die (and not because if allergies). Lettuce is my worst enemy. It seriously makes me gag. If there is one little spec on my sandwich and I bite into it I will throw up. Even if I get a sandwich with lettuce and I take it off I can still taste it. It tastes just awful. How do people eat this stuff? I read an article online today that said lettuce has very minimal nutritional value. It is not bad for you but it does not really do anything for you. So now I don’t feel so bad for never eating lettuce.

Other things I cannot eat:

Ketchup – it’s just nasty and taste like vinegar.

Mustard – I gag when I have to make a sandwich for Dave with mustard on it.

Dr. Pepper – I don’t drink soda at all but this one is the worst. If I was dying of thirst and it was all I had I still could not drink it.

Cucumbers – It especially makes me gag when restaurants put them in water. Why would you do that to water?

Pickles – It is still a cucumber and it better not touch my food.

Things I could eat every day:

Mango – has to be fresh none of that canned stuff.

Pineapple – the really dark golden ones…they are the sweetest.

Edemame – I could eat this by the pound.

Panera Brownies – my favorite!

Bacon – everything is better with bacon. The best bacon I ever had was on a salad at Prime 112 in South Beach. It was huge 1 inch thick chunks of smoked bacon. So good! I might drive to Miami just to get some more.

Things I used to love but after going without for so long they now make sick:

Coke – I used to drink 3-4 a day. Now a few sips and I feel sick. It tastes like syrup.

French Fries – every once in a while I get a craving and they taste good to me but for the most part the thought of them makes me sick.

Sweet Tea – I can do about ½ glass and be fine. Any more than that and I am sick for at least 24 hours. It’s the sugar. I do love my unsweetened tea though…Tazo Passion Tea is my favorite.

Food everyone loves and I just don’t get:

Sushi – Yuck! The raw fish does not bother me. The seaweed does. That is all I taste and it taste like stinky rotting seaweed that washed up on shore. And why does most sushi have a little piece of cucumber in it? Way to ruin it.

Starbucks Coffee and other concoctions: It is not that I don’t like their drinks. It is just not something I ever want. If a friend drags me to Starbucks I get an ice tea. Unless it is freezing out then I will get a hot chocolate. But how often is it freezing in FL? I just don’t get the Starbucks addiction. But those little cake balls on a stick….they are to die for!

Chicago style pizza – That is just wrong. Pizza should not have that much cheese and toppings on it. I know people will hate me for it but I much prefer Papa Johns (with the garlic sauce of course). That is just my personal preference.

Exiciting things happening around here....

2011-07-12T22:28:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow night I am going to Roy's with Adaya and Natalie. We are in desperate need of Hawaiian martinis and chocolate souffle's. Dave will playing poker and a charity event. Hopefully he will win a trip to Vegas! Because I have time for another vacation....maybe next year.

I just realized I never did a post on Dave and Michael's trip to Miami 2 weeks ago to see U2. They were in the "red zone" so they were leaning up against the stage. It may have been the closest Dave has ever been to Bono. If you are lucky I may post a video in the next few days.

Next week is when the craziness starts. On Wednesday Adaya and I are going to see Britney!! This will be my 6th Britney concert. I paid $25 for my first Britney ticket back in 2000. My how times have changed. I heard this one is supposed to be better than Circus. We shall see if it lives up to the expectations. Then on Thursday Nikki and Jessica arrive from Knoxville. We are going to see NKOTBSB on Friday and will lounge on the beach all day Saturday. I will be having TRL flash backs all next week. TRL before I was a on it…because after experiencing it live and in person I never watched it again. Never ever go on an MTV show. It is the most horrible experience ever. I still cringe when I see a show on there with an audience just thinking about how poorly those people are being treated.

Anyways… The next week we are jetting off to New Orleans for a wedding in Mississippi. And we will do some exploring in New Orleans before flying home. I have never been. Dave went to Mardi Gras every year for about 10 years so he thinks he knows everything there is to know about New Orleans. I doubt he ever left Bourbon Street.

The next weekend I am flying to DC to have some fun with Kim (who lives there) and Natalie (who will be flying in from ATL). Kim is now a certified yoga instructor so we will get to try out one of her classes. We may embarrass her…well, I might.

Then I have almost 4 weeks at home before our trip to Atlanta for Sydney’s first birthday. We are super excited about this one. And I think we will catch a Braves game while there.

And then I leave for the Pacific Northwest on September 28. We are finalizing all of plans for this now. I expected it to be rainy the whole time we are there but the average rainfall in Sept. is 1.62 inches and October is 3.82 inches. That made me laugh. I think we get 8 inches in July alone here in Orlando. One year we got 17 inches of rain in the month of July. I think that was 2005. I remember this because I would find random catfish in my yard and driveway. But I guess we get full on typhoons and flash floods and maybe it just drizzles all day there. I am still buying zebra print rain boots. Try and stop me.

I think we will be home for most of October and November. And then we will be off to Nashville for Christmas. I may do a random weekend in Nashville in early November….just maybe. I think I know some people who would like to go sing karaoke and line dance.

On another random note…I get a new phone next week! Yay! This stupid Blackberry sets off the alarm in every store I go in. It is so annoying. I am definitely going 4G. And no Iphones. I am just not an apple fan. And everyone I know who has an Iphone has dropped it and shattered it.

Do you sometimes wonder if we do anything besides go on trips and go to concerts? I do. We do work. I promise. Work hard, play hard.

What's on my mind tonight...

2011-07-07T20:29:00.000-04:00

There is nothing that annoys me more than getting a marketing email from a company with misspellings. Personal emails I have no issue with. I am the worst speller ever. But if you are a company sending out a promotional email to thousands or even millions of people please spell check and then spell check again. I just got an email from a fancy restaurant here in town with the subject line “4 Couse Summer Menu”.

Dave shaved his head. Yep…that really happened. Someone dared him to do it. Please don’t dare Dave to do anything when I am not around.

I don’t understand how people are so shocked by the Casey Anthony verdict. If you know anything about law then you had to see this coming. Yes, I think she did it. And it is sad that she will walk out of jail next week. But the evidence was not there and that is the way our justice system works. I think she is going to have to move to a tiny island in the middle of nowhere if she wants to live a normal life. The entire city of Orlando has it out for her. But that is what happens when you kill your baby.

I am going to Roy’s next Wednesday night with Natalie and Adaya. I am super excited because it will be Adaya’s first time there and I have a $20 off coupon. It does not take much to excite me. Chocolate souffle’s will do it every time.

In 2 weeks Jessica and Nikki will be arriving at my house. A super fun weekend awaits us!! We are talking drinks, burgers (a la Hamburger Mary’s), boy bands, sun, sand and the ocean.

Does anyone else get annoyed at people who have their Facebook and Twitter set up to say the same thing? It just screams laziness. The same post every once in a while is fine. But every single time…come on people. And that’s a double whammy if all you write is quotes. There should be a limit of 1 quote a week…maybe 2. If you never say anything original how do I know you are not a robot?

That's all I got tonight.

Wrapping Up a Lovely Weekend

2011-07-05T18:05:00.000-04:00

This weekend was nice and relaxing. It was nice to have a couple of days off and no real plans.

On Friday I went for a mani pedi while Dave met a friend for lunch. Later that evening I met Adaya for dinner at PF Changs and a little shopping at Millenia.

On Saturday we hung out on the deck and in the pool all day and then went to Universal City Walk that night. We ate at Emeril’s for the first time. I think it is the only place at City Walk we have never been. Dave has a friend that works there so we got excellent service and got to try a little bit of just about everything on the menu. It was so good! After that we reclaimed my premier pass that had been confiscated a couple of months ago. Thank goodness they gave me a replacement and Dave did not have to cause a scene. We went into Universal for about 15 minutes for the Trey Songz concert. He did not sing the whole time we were there. It was awful so we left and headed to Margaritaville for a drink and a new ring game. Dave broke his when he tried to rig it so only he could win.

On Sunday Dave went to the gun range to shoot things and I layed out but the pool and then ventured out to the Florida Mall. I was very disappointed in that mall. I went for a specific top at NY & Co that they did not have in my size. And for a couple of Too Faced items at Sephora or Ulta. Neither store had the items I wanted. Anyways…Dave and his friend Dave washed all of our cars that evening and then went to the Fresh Market to get some steaks for dinner. They were delicious!

On the 4th Dave had to work for about 2 hours and I was super lazy and took two naps. That was fabulous. It was too hot to lay out by the pool for more than a few minutes. Later in the evening we went to a friend’s condo downtown. They live in one of the high rises that overlooks Lake Eola. So we watched the fireworks from their balcony. It was the perfect location! They had lots of yummy food as well. Fireworks are better with cookies and cupcakes…just so you know. Dave kept looking for a group of 12 people who seemed very out of place walking around downtown. He was convinced the Casey Anthony jurors were out and about.

That was pretty much our weekend.

Sydney is mad at you...

2011-07-01T22:00:00.000-04:00

This is her new special talent.

Cuteness!

My Thoughts on Boy Bands

2011-07-01T14:00:00.000-04:00

In preparation of the upcoming NKOTBSB concert I am going to share with you my thoughts on boy bands.

The New Kids are the original boy band if you ask me. I think I was 10 when they first hit the scene in 1989. I loved them. I really wanted to go their concert but my Mom would not let me. It was general admission and she was worried I might get trampled. Well Mom…I have a seat this time so hopefully there will be no trampling.

I was always a Donnie fan. He just seemed fun and liked to interact with the fans. And he is Marky Mark’s brother so that makes him cool. I cannot stand Jordan. He tries too hard and thinks too much of himself. He is also a panzy if you ask me. I find all of this to still be true today based on his tweets. Jonathan seems like the nice boy. He always kind of hid in the back. He is like that guy you would want to be best friends with. This makes sense now more than ever. You know…because he is gay. Danny looks like Frankenstein. That is the only thought I have really ever had about him. Joey I never really noticed. I am not sure why. I think he is married with a couple of kids now. He is just kind of average.
After that there was Hanson. Sweetpea loved Hanson. I think they all looked like girls. I think it is funny that they are in that Katy Perry video “Last Friday Night”. I think they are all married and have kids now. They seem like family kind of people.

Then there was N’SYNC. I loved them as well. I did not like them at first until they started performing and touring with Britney. If they are good enough for Britney they are good enough for me! Justin used to annoy me with his bleached curly hair. But now I think he is super fab and hilarious. I don’t really have much to say about the rest of them. Except for Joey Fatone. He lives a couple miles from me. He went to the high school down the street from my house with a few of my friends. I see him every once in a while out and about. I did get the chance to see them in concert back in the summer of 2001. My friend Kim and I drove to Tampa after work. We had tickets waiting at will call but we found an open exit door so we just walked in. We never got the tickets. We then proceed to Joey’s parents sky box to watch the concert from there. Kim went to school with Joey so it was no big deal. That was a great show. It was a stadium tour so it was a huge production.

Then there was the Backstreet Boys. I was never a huge fan. I don’t even know their names. But I love their music. I got to see them in concert in college. Some friends had tickets and someone backed out last minute so they called me to go. I don’t remember a whole lot about it. But I think it was a good show. It was soooo long ago.

Do you remember O Town? They were from the original Making the Band. Obviously they were located here in Orlando…O Town. They were another one of Lou Pearlman’s creations, before he went to prison. They used to play basketball at the apartment complex I lived at when I first moved her 10 years ago. And I remember driving through Windermere one day and someone pointed out the house they lived in and filmed the show at. I don’t even remember any of their songs. Nice try…

That is all the boy bands that I care to remember.

Stalking Boys...

2011-06-26T20:35:00.000-04:00

That's what us girls do.

In less than 4 weeks Jessica and Nikki are coming down from Knoxville to spend the weekend in Orlando. So our Savannah foursome will be reunited. We have tickets to see NKOTB & BSB while they are in town. We are already planning our stalking activities. I am pretty sure I know what hotel they will stay at. There is really only one nice hotel downtown. And it is where all the away teams stay when they play the Magic. And I know that BSB will be at Taboo night club after the show...they own it.

Nikki was lucky enough to to run into Nick Carter last week in Nashville before the show. Could we be so lucky as to run into him again. We shall see...

Bring on the Skymiles...

2011-06-21T19:25:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. We have just been busy with everyday life. There has just not been a lot of time for blogging. This is what we have going on now:

I finally booked our flights to Atlanta for Labor Day weekend. Sydney turns 1! We are also going to a Braves game while there.

I think we are going to the middle of nowhere, Mississippi, at the end of July. Dave’s business partner (and good friend) is getting married. We are having trouble figuring out how to get there though. I am not used to states with no major airports. We have so many of them in Florida. We can fly through Atlanta to Gulfport and then drive 30 minutes to get there. Or we can fly direct to New Orleans and drive 90 minutes. We all know my hatred for the Atlanta airport runs deep. So it looks like we might be going to New Orleans. I have never been there. I kind of hate to just pass through but I won’t really have time to do much else. We may fly out Sunday night so we can do a little sightseeing before the flight.

I might be going to DC the first weekend in August with the girls. This one is still in the works.

I need to start booking hotels for my trip to Seattle and Vancouver. It is just three months away and we have nothing planned!

Sometimes I think all I do is plan vacations. But yet I feel like I never go anywhere.

We are actually staying in town for the 4th of July. We looked into going to visit our niece and grand-nephew in Boise. He is turning 2 and we have never met him. But it was $750 a ticket with 2 stops for total of a 12 hour trip. It would be cheaper and quicker to visit them if they lived in London. That is craziness. We are hoping to convince them to make the trip here because you know a 2 year old would have a blast at Disney. And they could stay for a while and visit the rest of the family here in Florida. Let’s hope this happens. We do really want to see them!

I want to plan an international trip for next year. I have pretty much used or scheduled all of my vacation days for this year. I am thinking about going somewhere in early March before the spring break madness starts. We shall see how the business does between now and then and that will determine where we go. On the affordable end of the scale I want to go to Iceland for about 5 days. I think there is a direct flight from Sanford. Or we could stop in Nova Scotia for a night. On the middle of the scale I am thinking about Europe…maybe Italy or Germany (birthplace of “the car”). And on the Diamond Dave end of the scale I want to go to Maldives and stay in one of those cottages on the water. A coach ticket to Maldives is $4000. And when you get there you have to book another little flight to get to your island. And if we are going that far we may have to stop in India and pet a tiger. I am pretty sure a flight to Maldives involves a layover in India anyways.