Happy New Year to All!

Happy New Year's Eve! Chris is at work tonight, so I am at home watching movies and surfing the net. We were very happy to get to visit with everyone over Christmas. This year has flown by. I can't believe that another year is gone. It has been an adventurous year anyway. Chris and I welcomed two nieces into the family this year and witnessed two of our very good friends get married. We have also had our own adventures. I graduated from APSU with my BA. (Yea me!)My car has had two major accidents. Chris got to be first on scene to a fire. We redid our living room and master bath. We celebrated our fourth anniversary. We drove to Texas and back. 2008 has been a busy year. I think we are doing well with our lives, though. It is very quickly going to be a new year with new adventures. I hope that everyone had a wonderful 2008 and will have an even better 2009. I know that Chris and I will have a wonderful year. We both have our ten year high school reunion coming up. We will be celebrating our 5 year anniversary. Chris and I are tentatively planning a vacation for the upcoming year. I hope that everyone is happy and healthy in the new year and is safe tonight. Have a great one!

I dreamin' of a white...

Friday! It is snowing here in Columbia! For the past couple of days, we have had serious rain, but this afternoon, we started with sleet. Around 5, it turned into big snow flakes and now it is white. The ground and road are white. I am hoping for a snow day tomorrow, but will settle for going in late. It is now a lot whiter and we are beginning to wonder if we are going to get the pizza we ordered. Oh well. Peggie and Katie, bring your warm clothes!

I'm still allive..

Ok, all. I am still alive and doing well. (Just a note: this blog will probably be choppy, but I hope you can all understand it.) We had a wonderful trip to Texas as Chris and Peggie have pointed out. I enjoyed everything (except the snake) and Maddy is absolutely beautiful. Katie and Bryan have a great home as well. It is worth noting that we passed the Texas State Fair. I got to see the big ferris wheel. When I got back to school, I had to really step it up to get everything ready for the teachers to come back. Chris and I put up a new swing in the back yard. I got to dress up for Halloween at work. I decided to be a Harley girl. A teacher let me borrow some boots and a red leather Harley jacket. I even added 8 or 10 "tattoos" to complete the effect. I also did big hair and lots of makeup. The sad thing is that more than a few people told me I looked good! We are going to east TN this weekend for my grandmother's birthday. We are also going to have a family meeting about a cruise we want to take in January. We have decided that may be a better option than doing presents. Anyhoo...The biggest news is that I went and got my hair done today. I told the stylist that I wanted color and a cut, but was up for anything. I LOVE MY NEW HAIR!!!!! Chris really likes it, too. I told him that I finally got a big girl hair style. I am adding pics of it. Ok, now that all my pics have downloaded, I will add them. Again, sorry this is so random.

Nash and lil sis.

Uncle Chris and Maddy.

The new swing.

Halloween 08.

New hair

More new hair!

Sorry this was so long! Have a great hump day!

Celebrate!

I just wanted to wish Katie and Bryan a happy 2nd anniversary! At least they got to spend part of the day together. I am so happy for both of you! Enjoy your last anniversary alone!

Pictures!

First of all, I would like to say that it looks like everyone had a great time in Atlanta. Happy birthday to Nancy! Now, I actually have some new pictures for you all! This first photo is of my new scarecrow. I love Fall and love to decorate for it.

The photo to the right is the arrangement I made out of a glass pitcher. I know that Katie is great at this stuff. This was my first attempt and I think it is ok. There are amber and green glass pebbles in the bottom of the pitcher.

The last photo is my table setting for Fall. It is a rare occassion that I set the table for anything other than a meal! But, I got these great dishes and glasses to put on the table. The glasses have fall leaves on them. So, there is my big week. I cleaned and decorated.

Chris and I are getting very excited to go and visit with Katie, Bryan, and Maddie. We are going to make an adventure of it and drive there. So, I hope that everyone has a great week!

THANKS!

Thanks, everyone for the anniversary wishes. I am going to be toasting alone tonight, though. Chris had to work. We have made plans to go to Chattanooga around the end of Nov or the beginning of Dec. I want to see Rock City with all the Christmas lights. I think it will be very pretty. I have also found a Christmas themed luncheon cruise I would like to take. Anyway, I can't believe it has been 4 years, either. It has been 6 years since we met. I ate at Sonic tonight to commerate our day. (For those of you who don't know, we went to Sonic on our way back home after getting married.) We are moving right along! Oh well.

Childhood memories...hmmmm. Well, you guys don't know my family history, so I don't know if you will get the whole picture. (BTW, this is tough.) I guess a good one would be our trips to Opryland theme park. When I was in the 6th grade, we started accompying my dad to a yearly convention at the Opryland Hotel. I can't even explain the feeling I got the first time we walked into the hotel. It was so amazing! We would get up in the morning, my dad would go to a session and my mom would walk us over to Opryland. We would come back for lunch, sometimes go swimming, then pick up my dad and go back over to the theme park. It was so much fun! My dad would go on the thrill rides with us and we all loved the Screamin' Delta Demon. There was a catfish place in the park on the river we would eat at. I remember the last time we were there before it closed. We were riding the Grizzly River Rampage. It is one of the wild river rides where you are in a big inner tube with seats and velcro seat belts. The loading dock was elevated. You got in, and went down into the river and at the end of the ride, you went up a conveyor belt. I was sitting beside my mom and we were on the downhill side on the conveyor belt going up. The ride jerked to a stop to load an older person and my seat belt came undone. I was going over the edge of the boat and my mom reached over and pulled me back into the boat. The theme park is gone, but the remains of the Grizzly River Rampage are still there. I think about that every time I see it! There are so many memories to share still, but that is the one I still think of often.
I hope that everyone is having a great week. Chris and I will be on our way to see Maddie and the crew on the 11th. Katie, you better talk that girl out on time!!! We want to see her! Anyhoo...again, thanks to all who wished us anniversary wishes. Have a great week!

Quick Thought

I just wanted to weigh in today, too. This day has a special meaning to me. This is the day that things changed for my family. I remember that my mom and I looked at each other during the news coverage and said, "He's gone." Because of that day, my day, uncle, cousin and numerous friends ended up on active duty for two years and in Iraq for a year of it. They were on the ground in the hostile zone. Chris and I have talked about it a little, but I am still deeply affected by the coverage of 9/11/01. I watch the coverage of the memorials every year. I will have to say that I was disappointed today by the lack of support I saw. Only two or three of my co-workers dressed in red, white, and blue. But, that is ok. It is each person's option to show support or not and that is why our soldiers are fighting still. I do want to say that I am very proud of all our service personnel, not only military, but fire and police as well. I am very proud of Chris for what he has chosen to do. So, I will leave you guys with Patrick Henry's last words, "Give me liberty or give me death."

Big Day

Ok, it has been a long time and a lot has happened. One weekend, I saw "Mama Mia!" with my mom. My parents went to Hawaii. I got to go to Arrington Vineyard for a friend's birthday (it was Chris' little brother Scott). Chris and I went to see the new Mummy movie on Saturday. We both liked it a lot. School has started. This past weekend we got the monstrosity of the desk out of our office and rearranged the bedroom. My parents came down yeaterday and Chris and my dad built a nightstand/dog bed for me. Friday we had 2 kids have seizures at school, but they were not serious enough to call an ambulance. Today, we had a 14-year-old have such a severe asthma attack that we did call an ambulance. We found out that it takes about 30 minutes to get one to the school. I was with the girl the whole time, along with the nursing teacher. I am not sure what would have happened if the EMTs had not shown up when they did. She was starting to pass out at that point. I will be honest when I say that it scared me to death when her eyes started rolling back and dialilating. Chris is good with this stuff, I don't know what I am doing! I was definately going on pure adrenaline for about an hour and a half. It was an exciting day. I really hope that she is going to be ok. What made this situation really bad is that we didn't even have an inhaler for this girl. Oh, and one of our teachers went to the ER (undiagnosed now) and another one's grandmother died. Eeehhhh...that's how it goes sometimes. I am going to bed now. I am tired. Hope everyone's week is uneventful!

Funny story...

I just had a funny experience at Kroger. I take cloth bags with me when I shop. They hold more and don't rip. Plus, I am trying to be responsible. So, I bought a few groceries and the bagger was doing a good job putting them in my bag. I finished my transaction before the bagger was finished. I could tell the cashier was trying to hurry me out, so she "helped" by bagging some of my things in plastic. I wanted to look at her and ask if she missed the whole point of cloth bags. I just couldn't believe it! Some people.....

I'm still here

I just wanted y'all to know that I am still here. It has been super busy here. We had registration day yesterday and school starts on Monday. I have spent countless hours editing, revising, and printing our teacher's handbook. We made a lot of changes to it this year. There is about 115-125 pages in it. I think I remembered to put in all the new policies. :) On top of that project, I have had the bills, ordering the supplies, and getting the teachers ready for Monday. It has been a madhouse! That's work.

Chris and I have been trying to figure out how to rearrange our house. We have almost picked out our paint colors. We are going with a basic off-white for the majority of the house with different accent colors. We have chosen a rusty red accent for the living room and kitchen. The guest room is going to stay a shade of yellow (to be determined later) and the office is either going to be green or a khaki green. For our bedroom we are thinking of doing one wall a dark blue. We are also wanting to rearrange our bedroom and living room furniture. So, that is what we have been up to.

My parents and brother are going to Hawaii either this week or next. They are going to fly military transport and stay on base, so their departure will depend on space. I asked if I could tag along in their luggage! It has been far too long since I have been to the beach. Anyway, I just wanted to check in and tell all of you that I am alive and doing well. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Busy week

Well, it has been a busy couple of weeks. Chris has filled you in on our bathroom remodel. I think it turned out really well. Just to add, I made homemade ice cream the day we had ribs. Since then, I have been back to work and it really feels like a crunch now. The teachers will be back in 2 weeks and registration is on July 30th. It is getting crazy. Chris and I had a nice Saturday yesterday. We went to Franklin to have our picture taken. The picture is of Chris in his uniform and me. We ordered a package that includes a yearbook of the department, a pic of us, and 2 different pics of Chris. After the photo, we went to Ghengis Grill for lunch. It is Mongolian stir fry. After a great lunch, we bought tickets to see "Hancock". Because it wasn't for another hour, we went to Target to shop for Katie & the baby. We made an interesting discovery. The prices that print on the registry are the online prices and can be different from the store. Something we were going to buy was $10 more expensive in the store. Oh well. The movie was really good. It was better than what the critics said. We had a really good time. Today has been quiet. Chris is at work today. Today, I have been watching a "Bring It On" marathon. I did go to the gym and to Kroger to buy Lean Cuisines for lunch. Oh, and Katie, I had a Boca burger for dinner. I really like them! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

I need a reminder...

to blog more often! As Chris has said, I am on vacation this week. It's kinda silly, but they close down the school system for the week of the 4th; however, we have to make up 30 hours or take 3 vacation days. I have already worked my hours. Ok, this is going to be long, so bear with me.

First, the wedding. We had an amazing time at the b&b and with Brandy and Jason. It was so great to be there with them for their day. Chris and I were beside the best man and maid of honor. The first picture is of our bedroom at the b&b. The bathroom is really neat, too. The walls were the original brick because it was the outside of the house before additions. The second pic is of me and Brandy before the wedding. She looked great! Chris and I got down there early on Friday and we went to lunch with Brandy and Jason. After lunch, Chris went with Jason and Brandy and I went for pedicures. After that, we picked up our dresses from the shop and took them to the church and then I went to check into the B&B. Then, we ran to her house to change for the rehearsal and ran back to the church. The rehearsal dinner was at Jason's sister's house and it was great. We had BBQ and just an overall good time. The day of the wedding went very well. I bought food for the bridesmaids to have while dressing and the guys went out to eat. The ceremony was beautiful and the flowers were gorgeous! After the reception, we went to Riley's house for a party. There was food and homemade ice cream. We left Sat. night to come home. We picked up Shiloh from the kennel on Sunday and had a nice weekend.

So, now on to more things. I have been cleaning the house on my vacation. I am making an effort to get things where they need to be so we can paint. As previously noted, Chris suffered a major sunburn last week, so we didn't do much over the weekend. Yesterday, we embarked on an adventure to Lynchburg. It was a great day. I don't think it got over 85 all day. When we got there, we went downtown to eat lunch at a BBQ place. They had great fudge pie. :) After that, we went over to the distillery to take the tour. I had never done it before, so I found it very interesting. The place smelled wonderful. Our tour guide talked about the stills and it made me think of my family! I have some distant relatives who were moonshine runners! We had a wonderful time. Then we came home and Chris went to the volunteer fire dept. to log in some time. I am hopeful that we are going to be able to go canoeing this week.

Today, I had to take Shiloh to the vet. I hate to take her becuase she is terrified of that place. She is having some bad allergy problems and we need to give her some new medicine. When I got her there, she tried to run back to the car. In the waiting room, she hid behind me, shaking. We finally got her in the room and she hid under my chair. As the doctor was examining her, he literally scared the poop out of her. She does this almost every time. I don't know why she is so scared there. But, we got some steroids and have to consider giving her allery testing. She is better now.

That is about it for now. I told you this would be long. Katie, I made a bacon, cheese and spinach quiche for dinner. It was the first one I ever made and not bad. Not as good as some I have eaten, but not bad.

It's been a long, long time...

Sorry guys! I have been soooo busy that I finally got a chance to sit and write. First of all, I want to say that I got my audit materials turned in! I was the second person to do so. That is over. I received my diploma in the mail, too, so I am official now. I have been trying to get things together for the wedding this weekend. Chris and I both love Jason and Brandy, so we are willing to do whatever it takes. This time, it takes going to Winchester on Bonnaroo weekend. :) I have looked everywhere for a hotel room. There was one in Winchester, but because of Bonnaroo, they were charging $250 a night! I found a room for $75/nt, but it was 35-40 min away and another that was $100, but it was 20-25 min away. I finally just settled on the Antebellum Inn b&b in Winchester. It is very close to the church. It is mid-priced and we get a "full plantation breakfast" in the morning. Today's pic is the b&b. We finally got over that hump. Now I need to find a place to stick the dog! I have been without a car for about a week now. It is in the shop getting a rebuilt transmission. After that, we are going to try to trade it in. I am here tonight with just the doggie. I think I am going to take her for a walk in a little while. We both need it. I am now on summer hours at work. It is 7-3 now. We are going through the long process of cleaning out old files and rotating them. We have to keep 5 years of records and burn anything older than that or anything with "sensitive" information on it. So, after July 1, I get to go on a burn fest. Chris said he would help me. Oh well. I know I am going on and on. I hope you all didn't get bored. Hope everyone is having a great week!

Ladies' Night

As Chris has already said,I went to a bachelorette party this weekend. Today photos are all of us (Katie, me, Brandy, Josie, Amy, Jennifer & Riley) in front of the limo we rented for the night and the bride and me in the limo. We began the day with a shower Saturday at 3. Then we grilled out and had a nice dinner. At this point, many of the girls were drinking. After dinner, we got dolled up and waited on the limo. We went to downtown Nashville to the Cadalliac Ranch. It took the place of the Red Iguana. We got there around 9:30 and stayed there dancing until 12:30. Then we called the limo driver and we went to a new place called Stampedes. That was bad, so we left 15 minutes later and went to Steak N Shake. Eating at 1:30 in the morning is probably not a great idea, but hey, why not? We then napped in the limo on the way home. I did discover that I am getting a little old for this because I didn't want to drink (I'm not keen on hangovers) and was ready for bed around 11! It was fun, though.We had a great time. Oh, and Katie, we did not find a Peter for Brandy.

In other news, as Chris said, we did not get a car. I was very upset with the salesman. I told them I wanted a base model with NO extras. He kept talking about the cars he can get in and they all had the "preferred package", which is about $2000 worth of stupid extras like first aid kits. I told him I wasn't paying $60 for a first aid kit and he told me that if that was what he could get in, that is what I was going to have to take . I don't think so. So, back to the drawing board.

School is now out and I will start my summer hours on Tuesday. My audit is on June 6th, so wish me luck. All is well and I hope that everyone is doing well.

They got me

Today the senior class got me. Today was there class day and they do gag gifts for some of their teachers. Well, I was included. They called me into the theater and made me stand on stage. Then Krista said, "Because you like to dress up so much...you know, Marilyn at the Murder Mystery, Baby from "Dirty Dancing"...we thought you should have your own dress up kit. Now you can dress up anytime!" I got a funny set. It is a pink feather fan, pink tiara and jewelry set and shoes. I work the tiara all day for them. At least I didn't get the Metamucil and anti-wrinkle cream!

Things are going pretty well. Chris wants to keep looking at some other cars, but I think I have finally settled on the RAV4. I really like it, as far as large cars go. We really need to replace my car soon. It appearantly has a terminal disease. :) I am starting to get excited about the prospect of a new car. I love mine, but it is time to upgrade!

That is about it for now. Tomorrow I am going to a pancake fundraiser at O'Charley's. Then, I have to go to a baby shower and drop off my rings at Kay's for refinishing. I think it will be a productive day. I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Crazy days!

Ok, I know it has been a long time since anyone has heard anything from me, so here it goes. I finally graduated last Friday with a BA in Public Relations. Unfortunately, no one thought to bring a camera, so we have no pics. I am going to order a couple of the pics they take when you graduate. They are a little pricy, but it is worth it to have a record of the event. Steve and Peggie came down for it. I appreciate that. We ate at Chris' choice of Cozymel's. It was very good. Chris and his mom spent all day Saturday woking on this blog thing and I went grocery shopping. Although I love my husband dearly, it hurt my feelings that he did not mention me in his blog on Saturday. Anywhoo.....we found out that my car needs to be replaced. The guy Chris took it to told him it would be about four grand to put a new transmission in. So, we are looking for a new car. As much as I would love to have another convertible, we need a car that is comfortable to take trips in and has good gas mileage. My front runner right now is the Toyota RAV 4. It has all the room we need and it gets 29 mpg. (That is actual, I know someone who drives a new one. And, she has had it for a year.) I tried on my dress and shoes for the wedding we are in this summer. That is about it. Graduation for Santa Fe is on Chris' birthday. He won't tell me what he wants to do, so that is still in the air. Anyway, happy Mother's Day to all and have a great week!