These are the clothes I'm taking to the consignment shop tomorrow. They're all too big. And there are more - these are only the spring/summer ones! I still have fall/winter ones to take later! I guess it's a good thing, but it makes me a little sick to think of how much all these cost! Maybe I'll at least make a little $$ from them!
I have lots to talk about today! Be prepared, because we took a trip to Charlotte, NC, and I have a big long rant! So if you don't have 10 or 15 minutes to read this post, come back later! LOL
So we went to Charlotte to see Brian's sister in her play, "She Stoops to Conquer." Amanda is graduating in May and she wanted us to come see her last play - and she had the lead role! We were excited to see Amanda and the rest of the family. But when we got to the airport, about 1.5 hours early, we had to stand in line forever at the AirTran counter. This really irked me, because we had already checked in online and had printed our boarding passes - all we had to do was check one suitcase.
Well, by the time we got up to the counter, we were apparently "too late" to check our suitcase! This horribly rude and extremely slow lady was doing her best not to help us. We were SO livid - I can't even describe. I didn't even know there was a time limit for getting your luggage in! I've never heard of that before, and just the night before I had read the entire AirTran website, making sure we met all the requirements.
Anyway, to make a long story short, we were originally supposed to arrive in Charlotte via direct flight at 12:15, but now she said we had to be on the same plane with our luggage. So she booked us on another flight that stopped in Atlanta and arrived in Charlotte at like 4:30!!!! Oh, and she put us on standby - so no guarantee we would even get on that flight! :-(
So when we got to our gate, I went directly to the counter, hoping that someone ELSE would be KIND to us and maybe help us. Then we heard our names being called over the loud speaker - our original flight was about to leave, and we were, after all, checked in. So Brian ran over to that gate and that lady was nice enough to let us on our original flight.
We got to Charlotte, (I won't even go into the story about the drunk, rambunctious mom and dad with their 2-year-old who made the whole plane miserable), rented our car, and tried to figure out where our luggage was. The NICE people (imagine that!) at the AirTran counter said it would be on one of three flights, and gave us the arrival times. We got in the car and went and had lunch, drove around a bit, and came back in 2 hours for the first flight's arrival. Miraculously, our suitcase was on that flight! So we were off for the 2-hour drive to Amanda's college.
The play was great, we had a wonderful time with the family, and we had booked a hotel to stay Friday night in Charlotte, with our flight leaving Saturday morning to come home. We stopped at a mall on our way back into Charlotte and did a little shopping and saw a movie. We got to our hotel at about 8:30 that night, and we were ready for bed - we were exhausted!
Well, they had put us in a smoking room, and I had specifically requested a non-smoking room. They were out of non-smoking rooms. So I thought, maybe it won't be that bad. Well. We walked in the door and my throat immediately closed up and both our eyes began burning. It smelled worse than you could ever imagine. It was like someone had stuffed two lit cigarettes up my nostrils. Brian's skin started tingling.
Luckily, we called hotwire and they were nice enough to refund our room. We used the crappy hotel's internet and booked a room at the lovely Sheraton hotel by the Charlotte airport. It was beautiful and wonderful, the people were friendly, we were so comfortable, and even though it cost a little bit more, we got a good night's sleep. Our flight the next morning went off without a hitch.
Needless to say, we were more than thrilled to finally be home. Sunday afternoon, we worked in the garden. Last week I weeded the whole thing, planted a gardenia, and pruned the Sago palm - now it looks like a pineapple! Anyway, yesterday we continued the rock bed around to the back of the garden, and I planted some salvia, phlox, and petunias. Then we mulched the whole thing. I'm pretty happy with the end result!
I can't remember if I've mentioned this on my blog or not, but I'm about halfway through my Kindermusik training. I started it 2 years ago, but then we moved right in the middle of my training and I never finished. So I've picked it back up and I'm really excited about it! The closest KM teacher is over 20 miles from my area, so I'm hoping to fulfill a need here - and make some money too! I've been kind of on fire about it - so I hope I can keep up this energy! I'm trying to get one lesson ahead so I can enjoy the cruise and not worry about falling behind in class.
We're finally down to single digits on the cruise countdown! :-D We leave on Saturday and I'm so excited! I've got to get my hair cut and colored, my legs waxed, and a pedicure - all this week! I'm busy, but it's an exciting time. I can't wait to relax on the ship.
Our snorkeling trip in St. Thomas is booked and paid for! Yay! We're going snorkeling around Buck Island (just north of St. Croix) off of a 65-foot catamaran! I'm very excited, needless to say! Neither of us has ever been snorkeling before, and from what I've read, Buck Island has snorkeling trails (don't even know what that is!) and over 250 different kinds of tropical fish to look at! Very cool.
Also in St. Thomas, we're going on the Skyride to Paradise Point. It looks like the coolest place to get pictures and there are shops and a restaurant at the top. :-) We're going to be in St. Thomas for 10 hours, so we have plenty of time to do lots of cool stuff! Blackbeard's Castle is there and Brian will probably want to see that, although we do plan to go to the Pirate Museum in Nassau. Also in Nassau we're going to check out the Atlantis Hotel and Paradise Beach, and possibly Cabbage Beach if we have time.
I don't know what we're doing in St. Maarten yet, but I'm researching it! To prepare for the snorkeling, I bought an underwater camera today! It looks very cool. I figured I'd better start buying a few things at a time so I don't have to get it all at once. Can you tell I'm just slightly excited about this vacation?! Only 22 days!
Last night, Brian and I went to the mall. He needed some new shorts (which we didn't get) and I needed a bathing suit. We ended up getting B a nice shirt and tie to wear on Easter Sunday, and I actually found a bathing suit! It even makes me look thin, which is amazing! Here is the one I bought:
Except I got a little teeny skirt for the bottom, and I got it in brown. I've never had a tankini before. I suspect it will be MUCH easier to use the restroom in this! (It's torture in a wet one-piece!) Anyway, I'm quite excited.
I have a ton of laundry to do and mail to go through, but I'm going to go get a pedicure instead. :-)
I've started thinking more about my blog again, so I guess I'm back to posting a little more often. We had a great weekend, with the band playing a gig on Saturday night that went very well - and it was a lot of fun, too! We had a great service on Sunday morning, and then we had lunch at the Olive Garden with Tim and Christy. After that, we went over to Downtown Disney and saw "Premonition." I thought it was a good movie!
After walking around Downtown Disney for a bit and admiring the Lego sculptures outside the Lego Imaginations store, we headed home where we relaxed a little and ended up ordering pizza for dinner (Domino's thin crust - lower fat and delicious!) and renting "Infamous," a movie about Truman Capote. I had already seen "Capote," the other (almost identical) movie from awhile back, and that really sparked my interest about the famous writer. I then read the book that is profiled in the movie, "In Cold Blood." I must say that I loved both movies and the book. Although I didn't like Sandra Bullock's interpretation of Nelle Harper Lee (author of "To Kill a Mockingbird" and one of Truman Capote's best friends).
Today is an "off" day for me - I get to rest up from the weekend and exercise and catch up on laundry, etc. We're going shopping tonight - Brian needs some shorts and I need a bathing suit!
I'm dreading Idol tomorrow night. I'm just so afraid that Sanjaya is going to stay again. If I were him, I would be mortified. I mean, people are calling him "the worst" by voting for him via Howard Stern. I believe I would figure out a way to bow out gracefully, but I'm not him, thank goodness! I can't wait to hear Melinda, though.
That's how much I've lost in the last year. I lost the majority of it from April to October, then maintained for several months, which I've never done before. Sometimes I still can't believe it.
But now I'm ultra-motivated since we've booked the cruise. I've been walking like crazy and doing tons of Pilates, which I really love. Today I tried on some old dresses, and every one of them fit, and a few of them were too big! I fit perfectly into my "little black dress," the dress I wore for my senior recital in college. (Yeah, that was 1995. I'm hoping little black dresses never go out of style.)
Brian found out yesterday that he has high cholesterol. It's not REALLY high, in fact, it's considered borderline high - but his LDL and HDL are flipped. So we'll be eating extra healthy to get those numbers fixed.
I've done pretty much nothing all day today - except weigh myself and try on some dresses from my closet. I feel lazy - the weather is rainy and cloudy and dark. I think I'll go do some Pilates and then take a shower. Tonight we're going to some friends' house to play games.
OK, I'm about to stop watching Idol. Seriously! What's the deal? Sanjaya should have gone home AGES ago!!!! :-( It's starting to really make me mad. I mean, he's not even in the bottom three! UGH!
Brian says that Howard Stern is encouraging people to "vote for the worst," the worst being, of course, Sanjaya. That just makes me so mad! But I know he does it just to rile up people like me!
Anyway, I've had the same top three from the beginning. (Like since the very first auditions, even before Hollywood.) Usually I start changing my mind about people by now, but I haven't done that this year. Here are my top three:
Melinda
Lakisha
Blake
There are several others that I like, but those are my top three, with Melinda being my #1 pick.
I would love to stay around and discuss more, but I've gotta jump in the shower before my piano students get here! More to come.
Today is the 33rd birthday of my sweet love, the light of my life - Brian. I went out this morning and got donuts for him to bring in to work (and I had one, of course. First donut I've had in over a year!) B, I hope you have an awesome day!
It's also my wonderful friend Sera's birthday, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SERA! I hope you have a fabulous day, too!
I have lots of fun news to report! First of all, it was a year ago today that I was diagnosed with high blood pressure. I never imagined this was where I'd be a year from then, and I'm so thankful I'm much healthier and happier. And I feel a TON better! :-D
A couple of weekends ago, we went to Ft. Myers and spent some time with Nan and Pops. Their birthdays are a week apart, so we celebrated them while we were there:
They were both 83 this month! Don't they look great?!
And my most favorite news of all: WE BOOKED A CRUISE YESTERDAY!!!! Wooooooo! We're going on a Caribbean cruise at the end of April. We've been planning this cruise for awhile, and we were gonna go for our anniversary in October. But then our wonderful friends, Jason and Alicia, called and said they were going to be in our part of the country (they live in California), and so we decided that we should ALL go on the cruise together! We are so BEYOND excited. Jason and Alicia lived near us in New York, and Jason and Brian worked together. We hung out with them quite a bit - we share a love of cats and cards, among other things! They moved to California about the same time we moved to Florida, so we haven't seen them since the summer of 2005. So we are VERY excited about this vacation!
We're going to St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and Nassau. Brian and I are trying to decide what fun things we want to do at each stop. So if any of you readers (as if there ARE very many readers of this blog!) have been to any of these places and have recommendations, email me! We'd love some input. We are so so so excited!
OK, well I'm going to have to go walk off that donut. Plus we're having company for dinner tomorrow night, so I need to clean up a little bit. And Sam is BEGGING for attention. Everyone have a wonderful day, and I'll try not to wait so long in between posts! See ya!
I was sitting at my scrap desk on Sunday afternoon, working on this layout:
...when I received the news that Jenni's father-in-law had passed away. He was diagnosed with cancer around Christmastime, and he had been very sick. Brian and I were so sorry to hear this sad news. Eric and Jen, we're praying for you guys and we love you.
...I think it's absolutely hilarious to jump out and scare Brian as he comes in from work. :-) A few weeks ago, I stood inside our tiny pantry and scared the crap out of him! And for some reason, after I do it, I just dissolve into laughter! I mean, I think it's funny, but after I've scared him, it's just the funniest thing in the world! I did it tonight, but he came around the corner looking for me because Max was staring at me. Max gave me away! =^..^=
Well, this past weekend was busy busy busy, again. On Saturday I went to the Scrapbook Expo at the Orlando Convention Center. I went with my friend Tiffany (her husband works with Brian) and while we were there, we met up with Christy, a girl I know from online at Lifetime Moments. Christy lives in Tampa and is just the most adorable. We only got to hang out with Christy for about an hour, though. But Tiff and I had a ton of fun and probably spent too much money! I'll have to take a picture of my stash and post it.
After I dropped Tiffany off at her house (we stayed almost till the end of the Expo), I rushed to church for rehearsal. It was a really fun rehearsal and the guy who used to play piano with us was there, so he stayed after rehearsal and showed me a few jazz chord voicings that I wanted to know. So I got home really late. And we got up early of course, headed to church, did the rehearsal/sound check/service, then had lunch with our guitarist & drummer, then went to my cousin's for a little while, and then back to church for more rehearsals. It was revival weekend and we combined with the musicians from the first service for Sunday night's service. It was really fun and I thought pretty much everything went well.
Needless to say, Monday I was exhausted! Tuesday I went to Winter Haven for vocal rehearsal, and then I went shopping. Again. I went shopping last week too, but haven't blogged about it yet! Anyway, over the last week, I've gotten 3 pairs of capris, 2 skirts, 2 pairs of shorts, 2 tops, and one pair of shoes. I think I'm just about done shopping for awhile - I could still use a few more tops, though. :-) I love shopping now that I can fit into stuff! By the way, it looks like I'm down another size! I can't even believe it.
Well, it's about time for me to get dinner. It's almost done - Dream Dinners Orange Mongolian Beef with rice and veggies. I'm starved!
