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I have been SO TIRED this week! I don't know if I'm still trying to get caught up on sleep from the weekend or if I'm fighting off some virus or bug! But I just can't seem to wake up this week. I REALLY hope I'm not coming down with something. :-( B and I keep trying to go to bed early every night, but then something will happen that deters us from getting to sleep. Of course, Brian is on deadline at work and is working overtime, so he's not getting home till late. And I've been working extra at the church - the newsletter goes out this Sunday (I've never done one before!) and I just finished it today. Tomorrow I've got to copy, fold, and put the labels on them. And there have been tons of funerals lately, the church is calling a new pastor, and they're having their annual elections a week from Sunday. Oh, and their Fall Festival is in about 2 weeks. Needless to say, things have been busy!

Other than that, things are going great. It's starting to act like it's going to cool down a little bit soon - we had a lovely cool breeze today and I didn't even sweat all day!! Shocking, I know. Brian and I bought seasonal passes for Disney and we're excited about being able to come and go in the parks during the holidays. AND Jenni, Eric, and Evan are coming from Ohio next week and I'm so excited to get to spend some time with them!

FINALLY, here are some pics from the inlaws' visit. (Click on any picture for a bigger image.) The first 3 are Brian (doing his famous "evil eyebrow" look) and both of his parents at the Harley Davidson store at Downtown Disney. :-)


Here's me and Brian on the pier right before our boat ride (here's a good example of my clothes being too big for me!) and then a picture of the lighthouse near Disney's Yacht & Beach Club Resorts. (I just thought it was a pretty picture. I think Brian took it.)




As you can probably tell, I don't do so well with the picture feature on Blogger. Does anyone know how to make them look better? If so, can you please teach me??!! Last but not least, here are the jewelry sets I made for the auction:

it's been awhile

Well, it's been way too long since I posted! We've been crazy - this past weekend, we were gone to Tennessee for my family reunion, and the weekend before that, Brian's parents were here. The weeks in between were spent preparing for the weekends!

I took TWO cameras to TN and didn't even take ONE picture the whole time I was there! Why do I do this???? But I did take some pics when Brian's parents were here, so I'll be posting those soon. I also have some pics of the jewelry I made for the auction at our reunion - it all sold, amazingly! (Of course, my mom bought one of the sets! LOL)

Anyway, I just wanted to check in. I'll put up some new and exciting stuff soon, I promise.

Oh yeah - and the best news I've heard all day is that my wonderful friend Leslie is expecting her second child sometime around May!!!! Congrats to Scott, Leslie, and big brother Joshua! (Check out Leslie's blog on the right.)

instant gratification

What could be better? Our sidewalk has been moldy and gross looking for a long, long time. (Welcome to Florida's humidity.) And with it being so hot, I couldn't stand the thought of doing anything about it. BUT - now that it's getting cooler, I rented a pressure washer from Home Depot tonight and B and I pressure washed the sidewalk, the front porch, parts of the house, and part of the driveway. I could have stayed out there all night - it's SO GRATIFYING! The difference is unbelievable!
After I FINALLY relinquished the pressure washer to Brian and let him try it for awhile (I just love it so much!), I ran to get my camera and took these pics. Oh, did I mention it was raining? We pressure washed in the rain, it's true. I am a fiend with the pressure washer when it's making the sidewalk look that good! Can you even believe that??

Brian's comment: "I could just see every OCD bone in your body light up like a Christmas tree!"

77 degrees

Aahh - it was 77 degrees as I drove in to work this morning. It feels great outside! I'm SO GLAD it's cooling down a bit!

We've got a big weekend ahead of us - Brian's parents are coming to visit! They haven't been to our house yet, so we're really excited to show them around the big metropolis of Apopka. :-) We're taking them out to dinner at Disney on Friday night, and then we're going on the Illuminations cruise to see the Epcot fireworks! It will be a good time.

I've been doing quite a bit of jewelry making lately. I've been making things for the auction at my family reunion NEXT weekend. Today I'm headed to Mt. Dora after work to take a wire-loop/wire-wrap class. I'm excited to learn this since I only know basic stringing! Pictures to follow.

musings on an outdoor walk

This evening, I took my first outdoor walk since June. Oh boy, did I miss it! It was such a nice walk - probably one of the most pleasant walks I've ever had. I went 3 miles and there was such a nice little breeze - I hope the weather stays this way so I can continue to walk in the evenings!

Some things I noticed while I was walking:

*There are nine houses for sale in my neighborhood.
*Seven of them were for sale when I started walking in March. (!)
*The local high school marching band is playing Stevie Wonder's "Don't You Worry About A Thing" on the field this year! It sounds awesome! (the high school is RIGHT NEXT to my neighborhood - so close that I can hear the bell ring and the intercom announcements)
*At least one person in my neighborhood is putting in a new pool.
*One person has painted their house since I stopped walking outside in June.
*When I heard the marching band practicing, I was so overwhelmed with wonderful memories of my OWN high school band experience, I couldn't even concentrate on the book I was listening to.
*I LOVE walking outside; I hate the treadmill.
*My exercise clothes are getting too big for me - especially my shorts!

Brian and I saw a great movie with Tim and Christi on Sunday evening - "The Illusionist." I'll admit that I wasn't so excited to see it. It seemed like a "Brian" type of movie, so I went along just to humor him, all the while thinking, "Why don't we ever see movies I want to see?" But it ended up being a really great film. And there was no language (that I can remember). Plus, I've liked Edward Norton ever since I saw him in "Fight Club."

I calculated today that I have lost 17.6% of my body weight!

In other news, work is going great, Brian's work is going great, church is still awesome, and we're happy. We still miss New York. I may never stop missing New York. But we are enjoying it here more and more. Ooh! My best-friend-ever-in-the-whole-wide-world-since-birth, Jenni, along with her husband and adorable son, are coming to Disney in less than a month! And we get to go hang out with them! I can't WAIT to see them! :-)

I did my weight training today.

We're going to my family reunion later this month - we haven't gone in FIVE YEARS!!

I can't wait till tomorrow evening when I can walk OUTSIDE again!!!!

Is anyone else coming to Orlando anytime soon? If so, please let us know! We'll do dinner or something!