friday night with the dunlaps

Our dear friends Don and Nancy Dunlap were in town for the weekend and invited us to dinner on Friday night, along with their friend Harold Ivan Smith. We'd never met Harold, but apparently he's written many books and is somewhat well-known in Nazarene circles. He went to Trevecca (TNU) and was there at the same time as my Aunt Stella. My parents went there too, along with Don and Nancy, and many other friends and family members of mine.

Anyway, we ate at Tony Roma's and had a marvelous time. As always, it's great to see a familiar face. I lived with Don and Nancy for awhile when I lived in Nashville. They have seen me through some really tough times, and I kind of see them as my second set of parents. They are wonderful people and I love them so much!



That's Harold on the left, then Nancy and Don, and me and Brian. I look Asian as usual, since my eyes practically disappear when I'm laughing. The really funny thing is that we were at a place called The Bad A** Cafe which was right next door to Tony Roma's. We got a big kick out of it, so we went over and took some pictures. It turned out to be a fab evening.

nano nano

Our ipod nano arrived yesterday. We had lots of fun uploading songs to it! I tried to upload a book from our library, but it will only let me upload it to my desktop, it's not compatible with Mac. :-( That's okay, though. I've been listening to it while organizing the office.

I went to my Weight Watchers meeting yesterday, and only lost .6 of a pound!!!! I was NOT happy to say the least, it was my first week! I always lose like 4-5 pounds the first week! (Can you tell I've done WW many times?!)

Anyway, then I went to the gym and worked some aggression out while listening to the nano. I love it, it has a great sound, and I can divide my songs into catagories, etc. It's the perfect thing for an organizational freak like me!

Memories Expo is coming to Orlando on Oct. 6-8. I might have to go over there on Saturday to see what's up. I've been behind in the scrapping world because of the move! But I'm getting caught up now. I've been on Lifetime Moments, 2 Peas in a Bucket, and Croppin' Paradise to see all the new stuff that's come out since July. I've ordered a few things too! :-D

office space

My new desk arrived this morning and I've spent all day putting it together. It's now in place, and this evening Brian has been setting up the computer and other electronics, and I've been sorting, organizing, filing, filling up drawers, etc. I'll post pictures when it's all done. I love it, though! It's so exciting! It's going to be a wonderful place to scrap and pay bills. I like to have a nice area in which to pay bills, since that's not such a fun task.

And the exterminator came back today. We've got to get rid of these bugs! They are much, MUCH better, though.

Next week at this time, my parents will be here. I'm SO excited!!!!

illuminations with tara

Our friends Tara and Joe are in town, vacationing at Disney. They invited us to join them on the Illuminations Cruise, and tonight we went. It was one of the most enjoyable evenings I've had in a long time!

We arrived on the dock at the Disney Yacht Club at about 8:15 pm. There was Tara, Joe, and their son Alex, along with Tara's sister and her husband, Joe's mom, and Tara's brother and his girlfriend. They were all SO NICE and we jumped on the boat. It was a beautiful evening, with a nice breeze coming off the lake. We floated around and saw lots of cool hotels and shops. We could see the Tower of Terror at MGM--it looked really cool, all lit up purple in the sky! The boat driver guide was SO NICE. He was telling us about everything! It was great.

We finally entered into Epcot, and stopped the boat under a little bridge. Then this amazing fireworks show started and it was the best one I have ever seen! I didn't even know fireworks could do that! This cool rotating globe came out into the middle of the water and it had TV screens on it and there were all kinds of things--animals, scenery, transportation, etc. It was spectacular.

Afterward, we said goodbye to Tara and her fam--they were headed back to MGM--and we walked around to the Boardwalk resort and went in some shops and stuff. We talked to lots of people (Disney employees) and they were all SO NICE!! Finally, we stopped and got ice cream at this retro sweet shoppe (delicious!) and walked slowly back to the Yacht Club, enjoying the scenery and ambience. It was fabulous.

It was also wonderful to see Tara, Joe, and Alex. They are SO fun and we are so grateful they invited us tonight.

soak up the sun(burn)

OK, I'll admit that my legs are pink, I have some burn marks on my shoulders around my bathing suit strap area, and my nose looks like Rudolph. And I was wearing SPF 30!!!! But I still had a great day.

We got to Daytona a little after noon and headed straight to the beach. David and Mona had been there since like 8:00 am. We sat under their umbrellas on their beach chairs and talked until we were hoarse, taking frequent ocean dips to cool off. OK, OK, I sat in the sun. I KNOW it causes wrinkles, but I had on sunscreen and I live in Florida now, so I should at least TRY to stop looking like a ghost!!

We stayed out till about 5:00 or so. For about the last 20-30 minutes, Brian and I went out in the ocean and rode the waves. It was so fun! The ocean was pretty choppy, so there were some fairly good-sized waves. We had a ball. I haven't done that in years! Usually when we go to the beach, the ocean (or gulf) is pretty calm, so we really enjoyed today's waves.

We went in and I showered (I can't stand the sand!) and Mona cooked dinner. They have a condo right there on the beach and it was really nice. She made what she calls "camp burgers." It was chopped sirloin, surrounded with potatoes, carrots, green peppers, and onions, topped with cajun seasoning and cooked all together in an oven bag. YUM! It was DE-LISH! She had also made homemade rolls and homemade cinnamon rolls for dessert! Scrumptious! It was a perfect dinner.

Then we sat around and talked till we were hoarse again, and Brian and I finally headed home at about 10:45. David and Mona are so fab. They are just absolutely pleasant to be around. They know all kinds of funny stories from when my parents were younger (pre-kids) and also from when I was little. I remember some things too. We were remembering all the trips we used to take in the motor home. We went EVERYWHERE in that thing! It was SO FUN! I love them like my own family. Well, they pretty much ARE part of my family!

I must say a few words about the crop on Friday night. There were only about 8 ladies there and the room was huge, so I didn't meet everyone, but I talked to quite a few people. The girl working at the store was super nice, so I hit it off with her. I did talk to one older lady about cats (of course)--well, she had on cat earrings and I complimented them, so we had to talk about our furbabies. Another lady was cropping alone so I sat at the table across from hers and we talked some. She was really nice.

Some of the people did a lot of Creative Memories, some did simple scrapping, some did elaborate pages--there was just an eclectic mix. I finished 1.5 layouts. I have to put the finishing touches on the last one tomorrow afternoon. It felt good to scrap again--I haven't done ANY scrapping since NY.

When I got home, Brian asked me if I met anyone, so I told him about some of the ladies. He said, "Anyone who you think you can hang out with?" I said, "Not really." He said, "There's no one like your NY friends. You guys are the Sex and the City of scrapbookers." I thought that was cleverly put--we really kind of are! (Except there are five of us. Well, I guess there are four now without me!) :-(

I really, really, REALLY miss my NY friends. I can't WAIT to see them in November!

i'm the proud owner....

....of a brand new Florida driver's license! Woo-hoo! That's about the best thing that's happened all week. Real exciting, huh?

BUT I do have a stellar weekend ahead! First of all, on Friday night, I'm going to be brave and go to a crop at the Local Scrapbook Store--by myself! Yes, folks, I'm going it alone. But I'm sure I'll meet some nice scrappers there. I'm psyched about it! I need to pre-plan some pages!

And on Saturday, we're going to Daytona Beach to spend the day with David & Mona. I can't wait!

Finally, on Sunday night, we're going to meet our friends Joe & Tara and their son Alex at Disney! They're coming down from NY and we get to go on a fireworks cruise with them. I'm SO excited about that! I haven't been to Disney since the 3rd grade! (Well, I went to Epcot when I was 20, but there are no rides there so it doesn't count.) I know I won't be riding anything on Sunday night except a boat, but it will be cool to just GO because Disney has changed so much! And it's always awesome to see a familiar face.

In other news, the GREAT DESK SEARCH has finally ended. I've found my perfect desk, and yes, it's white. :-) It has different pieces that fit together, so I'm about to go measure and see what pieces I need. Maybe I'll go and get it tonight! It's on sale, too!

Oh, some of our shows have FINALLY begun again! Our very favorite, "Lost," premiered last night for its new season. It was incredible! Just as good as last season, if not better!!!! We can't WAIT till next Wednesday's episode! Also, "The Biggest Loser" is on again. We love love love it! And this Sunday, "Desperate Housewives" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" are coming back on. We can't wait.

I can't believe how long it's been since I've blogged! I guess it's just been a boring week.

sunday, happy sunday

We didn't go to the beach. I was feeling yucky all day yesterday. I think it's because of lack of sleep. Friday night, we went to bed with Max locked in our room/bathroom. We put the empty litter box in the bathroom and left the normal one outside our room for Sam. Every time Max made a noise, I was INSTANTLY awake. And he got bored, too. He scratched at the door and meowed. He tried to chew on my glasses. He knocked everything off the nightstand. He jumped on top of the tv and clawed around on it. He meowed at Sam under the door and Sam meowed back. (Brian slept through it all, of course!!) I believe I was awake more than I was asleep.

Finally, at about 7:15 am, I heard scratching in the litter box. I jolted awake. It woke Brian up, too. He went and checked--sure enough, Max had peed. Hallelujah! Brian sucked it up in the syringe and put it in the fridge. We let Max out and he RAN to the sliding glass door to watch the lizards, and Sam promptly came and got in bed with us. We went back to sleep for a few hours, and then Brian got up and took the pee to the vet. The vet tested it, discovered that Max had a small bladder infection, and gave us meds for him. Brian didn't have his check card, so they called me for the card number. By that time, Brian had already called me twice, so I was up and on the couch, watching "A Different World."

So I was in and out of sleep all day, with a horrible headache. Brian took good care of me--he fed me Aleve all day and finally put me to bed around 11:00. I played some Spider Solitaire, watched some TV, and was out. I slept great, and felt much better this morning.

We went to Apopka Calvary Church of the Nazarene, where we've been a few times. It was a good service. Then we went to Sonny's BBQ for lunch. It was YUM! They had banana pudding for dessert, but I was too full, so I got it to go. It reminded me of my dad--he LOVES banana pudding. Maybe I'll make some when they come in only 2 weeks!!!!

And now we're home and it's quiet. *sigh of contentment* The cats are napping and Brian is working on my computer. I'm about to go to Home Depot to get a curtain rod and price some cabinets for my office. We're going to go to Daytona next Saturday.

a trip to the vet

Leave it to my cats to get sick when we don't have a vet yet.

I woke up this morning with both cats sleeping with me, Max snoring and Sam chirping. Everyone was behaving normally. I got up and did a few things, then sat on the couch to eat some cereal. I noticed Max going in the litter box, then getting out and not burying anything. This was not normal--he always scratches around in there for about 3 hours after he's finished. He scratches even the sides of the litter box--he's very meticulous.

Anyway, I saw him do this a few more times with no success. I cleaned out the litter box, but by then he was hiding under the bed and not looking happy. Max is not a hider--he likes to be right in the middle of things. When he hides, I know he doesn't feel well. After a little while I finally pulled him out from under the bed and examined his butt. (Brad, I know you're loving this!) It looked a little inflamed, but I wasn't sure.

So I called a local vet and made an appt. for this afternoon. Soon after, I noticed Max go in the litter box and pee. Then in awhile, he started acting normal, rolling around on the floor and showing me his belly, purring loudly, getting in my lap, staring at the lizards on the back patio, etc.

But I took him to the vet anyway, and the vet thinks he probably has a urinary tract infection, brought on by stress. Poor Maxie, we've stressed him out with the move. The doctor said it usually takes a few weeks after a traumatic event to develop an infection.

So now we have to figure out a way to get a urine sample into the vet tomorrow. We have to put Max in the bathroom overnight with an empty litter box and hope he pees in it. Then we have to suck up the pee in a syringe and take it in to the vet.

And we had planned to go to the beach tomorrow! So hopefully, everything will be fine and he'll pee and we can still go to the beach. If not, we'll have to wait till Monday to bring in some pee, because it needs to be fresh. Sigh.

BUT--we had a blast with David and Mona. We ate at T.G.I. Friday's, and the food was delicious. We laughed and talked for hours. Brad and I used to sit with them in church because our parents and grandparents were all on the platform (min. of music, organist, choir members) And when I was little, BB, (before Brad), I used to spend every Saturday night with them. They are SUCH fun people, so laid back, just enjoyable to be around. We have lots of wonderful memories together.

Like the time they were supposed to take me to the public pool and I was SO excited. I woke up not feeling very well that day, but I didn't dare tell Mom or she wouldn't let me go. Well, at the pool, David and Mona got me a cherry slush and I drank it and then promptly threw it up, IN THE POOL! How embarrassing. But I was only like 4. I've never had a cherry slush since!!

Hopefully we'll get to go to Daytona tomorrow and spend the day with them. Don't worry, we'll lather up in SPF 50 before we leave.

=^..^=

my faux-hawk

I really hesitate to post this picture. My mother is going to have a fit. But I have to show you because it's funny. I got my hair colored today, and my stylist fixed my hair into a faux-hawk. (You know, like a mohawk, but without the sides shaved.) It's not for good, and I will probably never wear it this way, so I had to take a picture.



Is that crazy or what??!! LOL I have to re-do it before David and Mona get here!

I must say, I look pretty silly with this punky hair-do and my very conservative clothes! I love the color, though--she put some streaks of red. I think you'll be able to see it here:



That's what I look like today. :-P

the gym

One of the great perks of Brian's job is that we get a greatly discounted rate at a local gym, the RDV Sportsplex. The Orlando Magic practice there, and it's a pretty amazing place--a bit intimidating! Anyway, they have this cool program where new members get 3 free sessions with a personal trainer, and the trainer sets up an exercise program for you. They have these keys and they program all your info into a computer, and when you come to work out, you give them your membership card and they give you a key. You go to a little kiosk and check in with your key, and then proceed to the machines. You put your key in and it automatically switches the machine to your seat position, amount of weight to be lifted, etc. And the little screen tells you how many reps to do. It's WAY too high-tech! But it's very helpful. I've actually been going about 3 times a week, which is unheard of! I used to work out in college and some after, but it's been years now and I'm totally out of shape. So this is a big lifestyle change for me.

SO--I usually go during the day, anywhere from 1:00-3:00. It takes me about an hour and 15 minutes to do my entire workout. (About 10 or 12 weight machines and 25 minutes on the treadmill. The treadmill KILLS me! My trainer programmed it to switch to different inclines while I'm walking. Ugh!) Anyway, I've seen this guy there several times. I'd say he's in his 40's or 50's, very tan, always wearing a NY Yankees shirt. He is ALWAYS on his cell phone.

This cracks me up. WHY would you bring your cell phone into the gym? But nearly everyone there does it! Today, I was on the treadmill with my headphones, watching TV, when I heard someone talking next to me. I looked over and the lady next to me was talking on her cell while walking on the treadmill!!!!

Back to the NY guy. He always talks REALLY LOUD and he has a big NY accent. (I can say that since I lived there.) He's ALWAYS chomping on a big wad of gum. And I've NEVER seen him working out. Once I saw him sitting in the cafe, talking on the phone. Mostly, he's just walking around in the treadmill area, talking on the phone. One day recently, I saw him standing on a stair machine, (the machine wasn't moving), leaning against the top railing, watching TV and talking on the phone. Why would he pay for a gym membership just to walk around and talk on his cell? Can't he just do that at the mall or something??!!

Working out at the gym alone is interesting. There are lots of old people (this is Florida, mind you) and today I noticed this little old guy lifting hand weights and staring at himself in a mirror, smiling and admiring his muscles every time he lifted. Highly amusing for me. I'm sure people are watching me, too. But I'm not so interesting. I just listen to my music and do my workout.

In other news, our new sofas arrived today. They are RED. I love them!!!! I spent most of today really working on the house--hanging curtains and pictures, rearranging the den, rearranging the big bookshelf, cleaning up the kitchen, etc. We are having company tomorrow. My godparents, David and Mona Webb, are coming! They are in Daytona Beach vacationing, and they are driving over to take us to dinner. (We live about an hour from Daytona.) Then I think we're going over to the beach on Saturday to spend the day with them. No one has been in our house yet (besides us and a bunch of delivery men), so I'm excited to have someone over.

Also, today I bought Harry Connick, Jr.'s "Red Light, Blue Light" on iTunes. I'm enjoying it right now. I used to have the CD and lost it somewhere. Actually, I think someone borrowed it and never returned it, but I don't know who. I think it's safe to say I haven't seen that CD since college.

Off to bed for me. I'm going to get my hair colored tomorrow, yay! :-D

not-so-great day

Today has not been the best day. Granted, some good things have happened, but I have an overall sense of melancholy as I prepare for bed. I'll share a few happenings here.

I got up (really late) and eventually went to the gym. This was a good thing, and the day was off to a good start. I had a great workout; I actually did an extra set on the ab machine! Go me! Then I had a pina colada smoothie with fat burner added in, which was de-lish.

On my way home, I needed to stop at the bank. Our funds were released from esgrow from the NY house (finally) and we had gotten a few small checks from our old mortgage company for overpaid funds. So I stopped at the bank to deposit them. I got in the shortest line at the drive through. Have you ever seen the movie "Office Space?" If so, imagine the first scene, and that was me. I waited for at LEAST 20 minutes, and there were only 2 cars ahead of me! It was the lady directly in front of me taking up all the time. I finally noticed people behind me backing out and going to a different line. So I did, too.

As SOON as I got in the other line, that lady moved. And then I was behind grandma. I waited another probably 10 minutes. FINALLY it was my turn, and I sent my deposit through the little tube thing. In a minute, the lady informed me that $100 of this deposit would be available on Wednesday morning since it was after 2:00. And the rest of the deposit (around $1600) would be available on Sept. 20.

!!!!!!!!

This has been happening since we opened the account. It's because our account is "new." We opened it at the beginning of August. 3 of Brian's paychecks have direct-deposited in there by now. We've made numerous transactions. So when I got home, I called the bank and they said they couldn't do anything about it, I'd have to go in and talk to the bank manager. Adding that to my list of things to do tomorrow. It's just really frustrating, because that money belongs to us and we should be able to access it immediately!!!!

Then, while I was making calls to customer no-service, I decided to call Sprint to see about changing our cell phone numbers over to a FL area code. The customer no-service rep told me that 1. we couldn't keep the same number and adopt the new area code (I was SO in hopes we could!) 2. we would have to renew our contract for another 2 years if we switched our number over (our FIRST 2-year contract isn't up yet, the first year will be finished in November. So that put me in a worse mood.

So I decided to go out and sweep off the back patio. When we moved in, we pretty much just threw our patio table and chairs out there, and they weren't even fixed up--the chairs were in a pile on the ground. So I grabbed the broom and headed out. The first thing I noticed was that the grill was crooked. (You know, I have to have everything in straight lines! It's part of my OCD!!!! LOL) So I rolled it over a little to straighten it out.

And then I noticed. I had injured a lizard.

It was on the wheel of the grill and I must've rolled over it. It was bleeding a little and I felt horrible! I was SO distraught! I'm still feeling bad about it now. I prodded it a little with the broom, and it would move a little, but barely, and it couldn't lift up its head. So I swept off the patio and fixed the chairs, and checked on it again. It had curled up a little, so I prodded it again and its tail fell off. So I swept it over into the grass. When Brian got home, I showed him the tiny puddle of blood and then I noticed the lizard in the grass all shriveled and covered with ants. I can hardly live with myself.

In awhile, we decided to ride bikes around the neighborhood, so we were outside and Brian was pumping up our bike tires when our neighbor came over--a new one we hadn't met. So I talked to her for a long time and then her husband came out and we talked to them till dark. Then we rode our bikes around the block one time. It felt great.

And now it's time for bed. We watched some TV--well, we actually watched the final episode of "Six Feet Under." (We had it on TiVo and hadn't seen it yet.) It was great--sad and hopeful at the same time. We've loved that show--we're sorry to see it end.

Blah blah. Time for me to turn in. I can't stop thinking about that poor innocent lizard.

baby b

Have you SEEN my nephew Braden?? He is ONLY the MOST PRECIOUS baby in the universe!! I can't even believe that Brad is a dad. I can't believe I'm an aunt. I can't believe we live 4 million miles away from my Baby B! I can hardly stand it, he's so cute. I saw him in June for the first time (he was a little over a month old) and he's changed so much since then! You must go and view the latest picture at his blog; you can click on it to the right. Also, click on Brad's blog (that's my brother) to see more pics.

a place to lay my head

It seems like forever (nearly 4 years) that I've wanted a new white bed. With the color that we painted our room in NY (and we're going to paint it the same color here, asap), white furniture looks great. We have white nightstands and a white dresser. (I bought the dresser unfinished and painted it myself.) We had a 30+ year old bed, box springs, and mattress that used to belong to my grandparents. And we sold it in NY so we could buy a new bed.

I've searched far and wide for a white bed that is reasonably priced. Now mind you, it must be WHITE white, not cream or antiqued or anything like that. There's a DIVINE one at Pottery Barn, but it's so expensive! I saw one at Eddie Bauer Home a few years ago, but it was expensive too--about the same as the PB one.

ANYWAY, I've finally broken down and bought my Pottery Barn bed!! I figure it's an investment, right?! You can view it here. Except ours will be white instead of black. AND IT'S COMING TOMORROW!!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Please understand that Brian and I have only ever owned a king-size bed since we've been married. On the occasional trip where we have to sleep in a full, we're usually very uncomfortable and don't sleep well--we're just used to a big bed! Well, for the last month or so, we've been sleeping in a full bed. We're about to die. (We're spoiled, I know.) So we cannot WAIT for the new bed.

The mattress and box springs were delivered today, and we set them up on the floor so we can sleep there tonight. Yay! (Never fear, the bug situation is MUCH better! We haven't seen any for a few days now. Well, except a couple of dead ones--my favorite kind!)

I'll post pictures when I get the new bed set up tomorrow. Our room is not painted yet (right now it's an icky olive green-ish/gray-ish color) but should be done soon. The painter just has to fit us into his schedule!

In other news, we're having dinner at Logan's (my favorite restaurant) with my cousin Chris tomorrow evening. Should be fun. It's nice to have family fairly close by. Chris lives in Winter Haven, about an hour south of us. He's minister of music at Winter Haven First Church of the Nazarene.

samsonite and maximillian von trappenstein

Meet our cats.






Their real names are Sam (black) and Max (orange), but we call them all sorts of "pet" names, haha. It's mostly Sammy and Maxie, but if you frequent our house you'll also hear Samalama, Cutus Maximus, Samalot, Maxel, and etc.

I've had Sam since November of 1997. He's my first husband. No, really! He was my companion when I was single and living alone. He would always greet me when I came home from work, and he guarded the house. He was also a good judge of boyfriends--he always snubbed the bad ones and that's how I would know. He loved Brian from day one, although he did try (and succeed) to sit between us on the couch. After we got married, he slept between us for the longest time. He still does it sometimes. Sam turned 8 in May.

We adopted Max in October of 2002. We decided Sam needed a playmate, and Brian wanted a cat to call his own (even though Max loves me more! haha!). Max had a great personality right from the start, and he put up with Sam's bossing him around. Sam is still pretty domineering. I have will have to get some pictures of Sam "disciplining" Max.

These cats are the lights of our lives. (Don't lecture me about having kids, maybe I'll get around to it someday, but for now I'm perfectly satisfied with my kitties, thank you very much.) They provide much entertainment and laughter around our place. I often call Brian at work to tell him what they're doing, or sometimes I attempt to capture their shenanigans on film.

I now have tons of pictures saved up on the digital camera, so I'll try to upload those in the next day or so. Our boys have done some naughty things in the new house! We love them anyway, though.

Right now I have to go get some pineapple sherbet. Or do I want banana ice cream? Decisions, decisions....

sleep, movies, and love

We haven't made it to the beach. In fact, we've only ventured out of the condo complex twice--and that was to get food! We've been SO lazy. We've watched I think 5 movies so far, lounged around talking and enjoying the quiet, been swimming, sat by the pool reading magazines, and slept a LOT. I'm so NOT tired now, I'll probably NEVER be able to sleep tonight at home. Back to the bugs. *sigh* It's Tylenol PM for me. :-(

I brought stamps and beading supplies with me on this trip, but I haven't made anything. I have, however, been cross-stitching a little, thanks to my friend Sara! Like I don't have enough crafting hobbies with scrapbooking, stamping, & beading! Well, in all fairness, I've been cross-stitching since I was like 8, but I haven't done it in awhile. Then Sara was talking about it and I found my cross-stitch stuff when I was unpacking the house. I thought, "This is extremely portable and I don't have to sit at a table to do it. AND I can watch TV!" So I brought it along. Thanks, Sara!

My favorites of the movies we've watched this weekend are "Amelie" and "The Terminal." If you haven't seen these movies, rent them today. They are both such feel-good movies! They put me in a great mood. (Although I spent the first half of "Terminal" feeling really sorry for Tom Hanks.)

In October, Brian and I will have been married for 5 years. Some days, it feels like I've never been without him. Others, it seems like we've just started this journey together. But one thing is for sure: we love each other. It's okay for us to be quiet together. It's okay for us to spend a holiday weekend in our pajamas, not combing our hair, hanging out on the bed. It's okay for us to be silly and crazy! He understands when I jump from one subject to the next. He tries to stay awake when I can't sleep at night. He's funny--he does clever little things to surprise and shock me. I love it. I love him.

Have you noticed how some people's blogs are very serious? I guess that's not mine. This blog is turning out to be pretty frivolous and flighty! haha! Kinda like me sometimes. I guess I should go eat lunch now. I REALLY want a baked sweet potato from Lone Star Steakhouse. Maybe I'll fix my hair and we'll actually go out!

(PS--Isn't it great that Brian's laptop is set up for wireless internet??!! We found a signal here in the condo!)

life's a beach

Tonight we're headed to Ft. Myers, FL for the long weekend! I'm so excited! Usually when we go to Ft. Myers, it's a big trip, with planes, time off work, etc. Now it's only a 3.5 hour drive!!!! I love to go and relax, get some sun, shop. But this time I'm most excited to get away from the bugs!!!!

The condo is situated on a lake, and there's a wrap-around screened-in porch. Our family's condo is on the second floor, so we have a great view of the lake and all the wildlife surrounding it. In the morning, there are water turkeys that make the strangest sound! I can't wait to see what the cats do when they see them! (Yes, we're taking them.) Of course, it's too hot this time of year to spend much time on the porch, but we'll have to venture out a time or two.

There are also 2 pools, and we'll be 10 minutes from the beach. Maybe we'll even visit Sanibel Island, which is about a 20 minute drive if I remember correctly. I've packed bunches of magazines that I'm behind on. I'll read them by the pool. Maybe I'll even take a few scrapping items. I haven't done my "we've moved" cards yet.

It occurred to me last night that the last time we were in Ft. Myers, we had just found out we were moving to NY. Ironically, it was over Labor Day in 2001. That trip was quite....well, thoughtful, I guess. We were dealing with so many emotions. And we were broke.

We saw another spider last night. It was big. I saw it in the corner of the kitchen. It must have known its fate, because it was facing into the corner like the Blair Witch Project. Brian sprayed it with kitchen cleaner and then squished it. Ha HA! Maybe word will get around in the insect community that bugs go in, but they don't come out!!!!

OK. Today I have to go to the gym, finish packing, vacuum, and pick up a little around the house. If there's one thing I loathe, it's coming home from a trip to a dirty house.

happy september.

The best thing about today so far is the cherry blossom bubble bath I took this afternoon. And it wasn't long enough, so maybe I'll take another one tonight!! We have a great tub in our master bath, and now I'm addicted to baths. I've always loved them, but it got better when we had a big garden tub in our house in GA. Then in NY, we just had normal tubs, so baths were just mediocre. Now they're great again. This tub fills all the way up to my neck. It's also slippery, and I've slid under water a few times now! We need a mat in there!

I woke up with a headache today, and it was storming. It stopped raining eventually, but kept that dreary weather all day, so I don't feel like I've ever really woken up today. I've basically done a whole lot of nothing all day, although I did decide to go to the library late this afternoon. I checked out 9 DVD's--yes NINE. (I already have 5 audio books checked out, and 1 CD.) We're going to Ft. Myers this weekend to my g-parents' condo, and their cable is not hooked up. So we'll just watch movies!

When I got home from the library, I decided to fix chicken casserole for dinner, so I've been doing that. It's now in the oven and while it's baking, I'm going to try to organize a little in the office/scraproom. This is a nice room, but I don't have all the cabinet space I had in NY, so everything is just out in the open. I'm going to bring in a table and start fixing up my stuff. As I get the house more in order, I'll post some pictures.

I also watched Rock Star INXS today. (We had it on the DVR from Tuesday and Wednesday nights.) This is my new favorite show. Of course, I've been a huge INXS fan since high school. Betcha didn't know that! Anyway, I like everyone who's left except J.D. and Marty. (I truly HATE J.D., but that's another discussion.) It's funny how my top 3 faves have changed as the show has gone on. I'm not especially fond of Suzie, but she does sing some songs well. I did NOT enjoy her performance of "Bohemian Rhapsody," but INXS went on and on about it, so maybe it was better in person. I really liked Ty, and I'm sorry to see him go. He was awesome. I used to like Jordis a lot, but as the show has progressed, she's not in my top 3 anymore. I feel like she doesn't show any emotion on her face when she's singing; she looks kind of dead inside. So that brings us to Mig. I want him to win. I love his voice, he's an all-around great musician, and he's Australian, so he'd fit right in. I think he's kind of "pretty" for a guy, but he can't help that. I would SO go see him in concert.

I seriously can't believe it's September already! It seems like 2 days ago that we were telling our friends we were moving. The whole summer has passed now, and everything blends together in my mind. If I were in NY, I would be getting ready to start teaching again. I guess I should start thinking about getting some students here! When I get the house all settled, I will. Until then, I'll be a stay-at-home blogger.