Thanksgiving
We bought our tickets for the Georgia Aquarium yesterday. My SIL and her two girls along with my bro and his daughter, possibly his son as well are going to join the 5 of us. What a group! I was talking to Jac and I don’t think they have seen each other since our wedding. It’s not like we live near each other or have ties together somehow for a big reunion. It’s cool how it worked out though. I’m SO excited!!
We’re driving down on Wednesday (pray for us traveling with an 18 month old) and then spending all day on Thursday with my brother and his family along with Jess. Friday is a half work day for Jess, then spending time with her and probably seeing my SIL and her girls that night. Saturday is the aquarium and then back to my SIL’s house for a while. We drive back on Sunday.
This is the first road trip Violet has taken that’s over 1.5 hours. So, it will be interesting to see how she does. We’re taking Greg’s car (with the huge trunk that can hold 3-4 dead bodies) and using duffels vs. suitcases. Diapers and snacks along with toys in the trunk, an umbrella stroller, booster chair and my camera stuff as well as laptops and books. We have iPods for the car, so at least we’ll have music. We have a pack and play at the hotel and TWO rooms, so we all can have some privacy. Violet is usually out all night, so hopefully this will be true in a hotel, although she didn’t do too badly back in May when we were gone for a night, she’s older now and is more aware of everything.
One of my SIL friends has a pack and play we’re borrowing for my bro’s house, just in case she needs a nap. Now that she’s on table food, that’s so much easier for traveling! I guess we should stick our small coolers in the car too, eh? I usually drink just water and have to stop every 2 hours, so we’re estimating about a 12 hour trip even though it’s only about 10 to drive it. Stretching our legs will be good for everyone.
We’re checking the weather on Saturday and again Tuesday night for both the trip down and while we’re there.
Monday, Monday
Keeping busy around here!
This past weekend was nice, Greg was off on Friday as well. We did get a lot accomplished:
- Halloween/Fall things put away in attic.
- Oil changed in Impala.
- Saw new James Bond movie.
- Organized our DVD movies.
- Finished Christmas shopping for Jac and almost finished for Storm.
- Got a table and 2 chairs for Violet.
- Caught up on DVRed shows.
I went to a Creative Memories open house thing on Saturday and I had a good time chatting with Sami. I scrapped with her and some others last month. They are having a crop on Sat. from 3-11 and I’m going! There’s only 6 people that can go as it’s in her home this time. I did buy another coverset, this one is for Greg’s scrapbook.
Yesterday Jac and I went to a Slipada jewelry party. It was at Tammy’s house. She’s best friend with Sami. Jennifer is the jewelry and Pampered Chef gal. While I was getting directions from Tammy she told me that they would probably be using me in the very near future for a photo session! YAY! Breaking into this group would be great, just takes a few and then business will start rolling. Tammy and Sami’s kids are the same age, 15 and 17. Both girls are older, they will be uprising seniors next year. So, I will be busy this summer! Hopefully the referral incentives I have set up will bring in some of their friends as well. Anyhow, we had a good time at the party and I ordered two things, neither for me! I have a wish list though. Jen and I talking I’m going to have a Valentine’s open house for Mary Kay and have a Slipada party at the same time. My SIL did this and got a lot of jewelry free as well as some MK bookings! 
I have booked 3 Mary Kay skin care classes for the first weekend in December. If you are local and wouldn’t mind me borrowing your face, let me know. I just need to get 15 faces done in 2 weeks and I get something called “Perfect Start”. No one in the unit I’m in has gotten it and there’s a lot of them, like 25 or so. I have 9 faces booked, including Jac! One of the gals at the gym used to use MK, but, her gal moved, so that’s very cool for me. Just going to do the class and then take reorders. I’m going to do a follow-up with her the next week for color. Storm’s mom is going to get some church gals together and I invited my friend Jen to a class with Jac. I need to borrow your face, Alisa, Ginger, Joanna.
I got weighed and measured at JC this morning. Didn’t gain, didn’t lose, but, I’ve lost a total of 16″. Wow, eh? It’s coming off, slowly but surely. I’m kicking it up a notch this week at the gym, varying my routine, not just running. I think I’m PMSing, so that’s probably why I didn’t gain or lose. 
Violet has been sick since Thursday night. Not eating much, but still drinking and slept almost the entire day and night on Saturday. She’s a little better today, eating crackers and drinking milk and water along with juice. I think that Jac said she was going to call the doc today about her. Poor baby, she’s exhausted and so is her mommy. I’m a little worried, but not overly as she’s still got wet and dirty diapers, she’s not running a fever, no puking. Maybe it’s going around.
The movie on Saturday night was really good. Really, really good. I liked this one a lot more than the one before it with Daniel. He’s not the best looking guy, but, he’s alright body wise. 
The trailers at the begining were good, even though it was a 20 minute time frame. We saw a few that we want to see when they come out, especially since Vin and Paul are back for “Fast and Furious” as well as my girl Michelle. The movie with Jim Carrey looks hilarious! It’s been a long time since Greg and I went to the movies, the last one we saw was The Dark Knight back in July! How did that happen?
Getting back into the swing of things.
You know the old saying, “I need a vacation from my vacation”? That’s SO true! Just today everything is back to normal. It’s crazy! We unpacked suitcases downstairs and then unpacked them upstairs as well.
We had a great time in Atlanta! We saw Jess on Friday after bowling for a few hours, then spent the day with my sis-in-law and her family on Saturday. We never did get to the races, it rained, so we went for Mexican food instead. *LOL* We met with my brother and my niece for lunch at Subway on Friday and then met him and his wife for brunch on Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon we shopped with Jess and then finished our Phase 10 game and just hung out. I did upload some photos to Flickr, although there’s a few missing that I have a feeling are on my laptop’s h/d. I will have to get into that tomorrow.
I’m pretty much caught up on the laundry, just have to clean the bathrooms tomorrow and put the Scooba and Roomba out tomorrow on the floors.
I just ordered this yesterday. I’m SO excited about getting this, finally. I currently carry my D200 in a Crumpler 6 million dollar home and my D40 in a 4 million dollar home. I also carry my laptop in either a case or a backpack. Plus I have my tripod to carry and then light stands for the flashes if I’m inside, the background stands…tons of stuff. This will make it nice, only one thing for 2 cameras and all the accessories and my laptop. I’m going to order either this one or this one next month.
I went to a few specialty stores today to drop off some business cards and card holders. I also grabbed a few business cards from the bridal store, I plan on contacting these people and hopefully get some business networking going that way as well.
My sis-in-law, Tina, is a Mary Kay consultant, so if you are looking for one, let me know and I will hook you up. I haven’t tried any Mary Kay stuff in about 15 years when it made me break out in hives everywhere on my face. Very attractive. She gave me some samples while I was there on Saturday and I was very nervous using it as I have extremely sensitive skin, like hyper-sensitive. But nothing happened! My skin is acting really well to it actually. Yay! I haven’t worn blush since I was like 20 as any blush would make my cheeks break out. I’m getting ready to order some things from her, she ships for free, just charges the tax for her state which is 6% as they charge her. She just started in March of this year and is really doing well at it.
Greg and I are off on Saturday morning to Kings Dominion. Then we’re spending the night and coming back on Sunday afternoon. The trip is literally just costing us the price of the discounted tickets ($40 total) and gas and food money. The hotel is free as we reserved it with the Comfort Inn points we had accumulated two years ago with our cross-country trip! Nice! Greg’s off of work on Monday and next Friday as well, so it’s a short week!
Jacqueline is starting college on Wednesday. Her schedule is really good actually, we worked it out so I can watch Violet for her! YAY!! She’s taking one online course and the rest are at the college. One she and Storm are attending together. Awwww! One is in the mornings and the other is at night on the same day. It worked out just perfectly, none are on Friday’s either. She’s so excited, we’re off to get her some new sneaks tomorrow.
Violet is growing by leaps and bounds. She’s walking and crawling everywhere and is now 15 months. She has her next doc appt. on Tuesday. She eats everything and tries everything, which is great. Only baby food now is the veggies so her mommy knows she’s getting it somehow and sometimes cereal at night. She’s sleeping all night from 8 p.m. or so until around 7:30. I don’t know any parent that can complain about a 12 hour nights sleep from a toddler! I hope it lasts! 
I’ve been getting back to working out as well. I ran today and on Monday for a few minutes. I just have to get past the 10 minute mark on the treadmill and I’m golden. Funny how strong your mind is, eh?
TTFN! 
Trip to Atlanta
We had a couple of hours to kill at the airport before our flight yesterday morning. We took out our PSP’s and played head-to-head “Buzz“. Too fun!
The flight was really good actually. There were two babies in the row next to us and they were SO GOOD! I didn’t even hear them cry once. One was a year old, slept most of the way, the other was 8 months and too cute. Both girls, maybe that’s why they were good, I don’t know. When we boarded the pilot asked me if I wanted a tour of the cockpit, I said “no thanks”…but wasn’t that nice?
After getting our luggage and making our way to the hotel, it was nearly 3:30 and even though I brought something to eat on the plane, Greg hadn’t eaten anything all day. He skipped breakfast and drank some coffee before we left. We went to Subway so he could eat and the Kroger for a few things.
Jess came to our room last night, it’s so good to see her again! She had a dinner meeting with some vendors who are in town for a few days.
Today we went to Centennial Park and The World of Coca-Cola. I found some scrapbook paper, stickers and a new mouse pad for my desktop there. We also bought a pack of playing cards for Jacqueline (yes, she’s still collecting them), some postcards and a cute little toy for Violet. We’re saving the aquarium for November so Jacqueline and Violet can go with us! I really wanted to go today though, they have some of the artifacts and a replica of the Titanic there. We ate lunch at the Hard Rock. Jess is making us some dinner at her new apartment. I can’t wait to see it!
Tomorrow she’s off at noon from work, then we’re going to try to meet my brother and my niece for lunch in Alpharetta. Then we’re going to bowl as she needs to make up 3 games from last night. She has 21 games, so, we’re going to bowl a few with her tomorrow afternoon.
Saturday we’re spending the day with Greg’s sister, Tina and her family. It’s been 5 years since we’ve seen them, so we have a lot to catch up on! We’re going to the dirt track that night and sit in the pits. Her hubby, Dave knows the guys that run the cars on the track, so we’ll be nice and dirty. Good thing she gave us a heads up about that, I packed old sweat pants and a t-shirt that we painted in.
Sunday we’re meeting my brother and his wife for brunch, then spending some time with them. Our flight doesn’t leave until dinnertime, so we’ll have a good visit.
I’ve taken TONS of photos so far, I’m going to upload them to Flickr, but I’m not going to have a chance to tag or describe anything until we get back home.
Peace!
The weekend
The weekend is filling up. Going to upgrade to the latest and greatest new version of WP. Probably on Sunday as tomorrow is filled with patching holes, painting over those holes, hanging things and sleeping. And I will be meeting my new Creative Memories person. She keeps my tape runner and photo file box needs met. I found her through the gal that runs the crops on Friday nights. Hopefully some business cards will make their way into her goodie bag to hand out to her friends.
Speaking of cards…I handed out cards and talked to a family waiting outside the JC Penney studio this morning. They brought their 3 kids and a week old newborn to the mall for photo time. She thought it was awesome that I would drive to them vs. having to schlep everyone. 
Hopefully she will call me when they need their holiday photos done. She liked the idea of having the photos on a DVD a lot. 
I also handed out cards to the gal at Borders and the one at Best Buy. They aren’t doing me any good unless they are in someone’s pocket!
I found a bathing suit to try on in JC Penney’s. I then ordered it from the catalog through the gal there, it may be here before we leave, but, I don’t plan on wearing it except for when we go to Kings Dominion in two weeks, so no biggie. I could only try on a top in one suit and a bottom in another suit to gauge the sizes. I think I’m going to be another size smaller by the 30th, oh well. I gave that gal a couple of cards as well.
Tomorrow night Greg and I will have our first date night in three weeks. I think we’re going out to eat and then to the movies. I’m a Star Wars geek just like he is. We may end up shooting pool instead, who knows.
I bought some really cool cards for Greg, Gary, Storm and Tina. They all have birthdays this month. Gary and Greg on the same day, of course. Tina is the 28th and Storm is the 29th. He will be 21. It’s pretty sad that they don’t make any really nice cards for someone’s 21st birthday. He doesn’t drink, so, the options are pretty limited. At least where I went they were. I did get a good one though, one from Hallmark. I wish they carried cards for a twin to his brother, that would be awesome to have to give to Gary.
Greg’s gifts are this (the catapult) and this. I hope he likes them! I cannot believe he asked for a book, that never happens. I guess he will read it on the plane. I’m taking a book to read.
Hopefully on Sunday I will get a chance to decide what to take on the trip, we leave Wednesday morning. Hard to believe we’ve never traveled on a plane anywhere alone, eh? I guess this is our time.
TTFN!
Keeping busy.
I’ve been keeping busy here. We leave in a week for Atlanta! I’m SO excited! I get to see Jess, Greg’s sister Tina and her family and my brother David and his family.
It’s going to be great to see Tina and the whole family, been 5 years since we’ve seen her and her oldest daughter and we’ve never met her youngest daughter. She was pregnant with her the year Jess graduated high school, 2003. I don’t think her hubby came up to see the high school graduation, I cannot remember, but I think it was just her and her daughter. So it’s been longer since we’ve seen him!
We haven’t seen my brother and his family in years. I have, when I went down to Florida a few years ago, but, Greg hasn’t, so that will be good.
We haven’t seen Jess since mid-June and that was just for breakfast when she was in Northern Virginia for a wedding. We get to see her new apt. and meet her roomie and finally see all the places that she’s been talking about visiting but has been holding off until we get down there.
I have no idea what to pack. I haven’t even had a chance to think about it until today and we leave next Wednesday through Sunday night. I have to get a bathing suit this week and I plan on packing workout clothes as there’s a gym in our hotel. I don’t know what’s in it, but, I’m prepared to do whatever they have there! Read more
Hey you! Yes, you!
We didn’t have a great turnout for the cookout, but that’s okay. The people that did show up had a good time. We have a TON of food leftover! It was fun though, we got to see some folks we haven’t seen in a few months.
I’ve been trying to keep busy around the house. We did get some more things hung up and put away before the cookout, so that’s good! There’s two boxes of random things in the living room. We still have NO furniture in that room except for a bookcase that we want to replace or move to the basement and Greg’s Lazy Boy.
Greg and I are heading to Newport News/Hampton VA (our old stomping grounds) from the 22nd-24th of July. He’s got a business trip down there, so we’re driving the night of the 22nd and spending that night and the night of the 23rd down there. We’ve got a few friends in the area still, so hopefully we can touch base with them for dinner or the day or something. I will be really bored if my friend Karen cannot spend the 23rd with me. Greg will be in meetings all day at the shipyard. It’s only a 3 hour drive, so doing that after work on the 22nd will mean less traffic! We’ll be home sometime mid-day on the 24th unless he’s got a meeting there that morning. *He’s off on the 25th, so we may tag something onto the end of that, but I have to be back here on the night of the 25th as I have a meeting the 26th with the wedding couple.* It’s going to be so weird to be there all day in our old town. We haven’t lived there in 4 years, so much has changed from what I’ve heard! Business trips like this are great, the gov’t pays for his meals (which the money usually enough for me to eat on as well), his gas and his hotel room. AND the best part is that we are alone. 
We may be going to Pittsburgh the beginning of August, we’re not sure what the job is doing with that. I hope it’s not over the 9th, which is the wedding I’m shooting. I don’t think it will be as that’s a weekend.
Then we’re in Atlanta the 20th-24th of August seeing Jess, Greg’s sister and her family and my brother and his family!
We’re also thinking of going to Vegas for a couple of days in October. My best friend Lisa and her hubby will be out there for business. We could stay at the Luxor hotel pretty cheaply, hopefully and then we just have to pay for food and plane tickets. She will be all alone otherwise, since he’s going on a business trip and has meetings and such…we can’t let that happen, can we? 
Greg and I really had an okay time last time, (we were there with Jacqueline in 2006) but this time it will be just adults, so it should be better, right? Plus, we know what we want to do and see again AND we’re not driving, we’re flying!
Lots going on trip wise I guess!
My tattoo is pretty much healed up. I had a skin reaction to the red ink, so my back has been filled with hives all around the tattoo for the past 10 days. I used Cortaid on those and Eucerin on the tattoo. It’s still itchy here and there, I think I’m allergic to red ink. I did have a reaction a few years ago when I got my first tattoo, but I didn’t really think about it as it was my first and I didn’t know.
Anyhow…just wanted to pop in and say HI! TTFN!
Protected: Time flies
Catching Up
We went to Jess’s graduation this past weekend, it was overwhelming and awesome at the same time. I cannot believe that I have a college graduate! Her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree is in Fashion Merchandising in case anyone wants to know. I posted a few photos on Flickr.
Greg’s parents arrived Thursday afternoon, luckily the cleaners were here in the morning. Everything was spic ‘n span and I didn’t worry about what they thought. I don’t know if that’s because I don’t really care, or because we have a cleaning service. Anyhow, we had dinner with them, I fixed my Southern Baked Fried Chicken and they really liked it. You can download it if you like. It’s here in .pdf, here in .doc and here in .txt. It has a little bite to it, so be prepared. This is the first time that my MIL has ever asked for a recipe and we’ve been married nearly 24 years!
Friday afternoon we set off for Richmond. Violet slept for a while, it’s different now that she’s in the car seat facing the front. She can see everything and is interested in seeing everything! We arrived, checked in, unpacked, then Jess came over for a visit. Her house is right around the corner from the hotel. We went to dinner and then back for the night. Jacqueline wanted to put Violet to bed, so, Greg and I went to Books-A-Million. I don’t know the last time I was in a BAM. Seriously. There was no one working there, just one poor girl running the coffee shop and checking out purchases.
Saturday morning we ate some of the free food they offered at the hotel, yummy! Then we headed out to the Richmond Coliseum. The ceremony wasn’t until 10 a.m., but, Jess had to be there by 9 a.m. We sat and waited and then finally her department arrived! I’m lucky enough to have a great zoom lens and I put it on so I could see her face in the crowd. I snapped tons of photos from our seats and then a few outside after the ceremony with my new portrait lens. Then we got back in the cars and drove to Five Guys burgers for lunch. After that we loaded back in the cars and headed to VCU for the departmental ceremony. Somewhere along the line Jess lost her tassel! I feel really bad about that. She had it on for the first ceremony and photos, but then we went for lunch and we think she lost it in the parking lot when she was getting out of Brian’s truck. It was really hot in the little lecture hall where they did the ceremony. I think there was 400+ people in there and the room is made for 150! I did get some good photos of her crossing the stage and getting her degree. We went outside after her degree though, it was too hot for me. Jacqueline had taken Violet out already and I soon followed. Greg’s mom sat with us, but, Greg’s dad, Greg and Brian had to stand even though we could have had 5 seats, we only took up 3 of them. Unlike some families that put children in seats, Violet sat with her mom. That’s another post though! We took some photos outside, I’m not really happy with how those turned out at all, but it was really hectic and hot and full of people everywhere. I did get a few shots of her near the cornerstone on the way out though, I’m happy with those. Jess had a great party on Saturday night and we met her co-workers at S & K. They are going to miss her very much! We knew all her friends, so it was nice to catch up with them all again. It’s weird to think that her life will be in Atlanta now vs. Richmond. I guess we’ll have to drive an hour to the airport to visit vs. 2 hours to see her now.
We came back on Sunday afternoon. We had brunch with Jess before heading out, earlier though, Greg’s parents left from Richmond to drive back to Ohio. Storm came over with food which was great and stayed for the rest of the day and left later that evening.
I’ve been busy getting the paperwork done for photos. I launched the business website last week! I finally received my trade name information, so I will open a business account once I have some money flowing. I have 3 people at the gym interested, on top of the others and I received a phone call yesterday from one of the gals that I crop with. One of her co-workers at her car dealership job wants some photos done of her daughter. Very promising! I’m excited!! I received my Lexar card reader, some memory cards, my new Western Digital 250 GB portable hard drive the other day. I chose that hard drive as it uses a USB port for power vs. a power cord. It’s so little and very RED! I need to stop by Ritz Camera and get lights, I have the stands and umbrellas already from Greg’s brother, but I don’t have any soft box lights.
The rest of this week holds gym workouts, cropping this weekend and then a crop lunch on Sunday where we bring something to share and our scrapbooks for everyone to see. Greg and I are going to use the movie tickets I won back in March to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Storm and Jacqueline are seeing it tomorrow night.
Violet’s first birthday is in 10 days. I can’t believe how much our lives have changed in a year. We’re having a little party for her, just the family, Storm and maybe Jacqueline’s friend from high school, David. Jess will be here, I don’t know if Brian will be here though. It will be the last time that Jess will visit for a while, weird. We just put a bunch of her baby things up in the attic. Her swing, cradle, baby clothes. She’s growing up quickly! She has 7 teeth with another one coming through any day now, is pulling up, walking around the furniture, crawling, getting into everything. Yesterday she took her first real big girl bath, no baby tub! She took it with her mommy, Jacqueline was wearing her bathing suit, so I popped in for a little visit. She’s so smart, has amazed us all at how smart she is. She lights up when anyone she knows comes into the room! And Jacqueline is relieved that she is good in the daycare at the gym. She leaves now and there’s no crying, and none when she comes back either. She is also playing with the toys on her own vs. being held part of the time. I think she’s figured out that her mommy is coming back.
Oh, Jacqueline cut her hair! She donated to Locks of Love. She did it the other day. She’s one of the few people in the world that can wear her hair any length and look great. If you have me on Facebook, I uploaded a mobile photo, or I sent it to your cell if I have you in my contacts. I have to take a photo and put it on Flickr today.
Hope to update again soon! Thank you for reading!
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