New Year ... New Resolutions (and holiday party photos)

This year I'm vowing to become more healthy and to get back into shape. There is absolutely no excuse for having the fat I have on my body or my lack of cardio fitness ... I have no kids ... I have the time ... I'm just LAZY. So, with my new roomie I'm hitting the gym. I've bought a beautiful Tommy Bahama bathing suit that shows all the things I hate about my body right now (which, according to my friends, is all in my head) and I am going to try my darnedest to make sure I look good in it by summer!

Today was book club. We read Life of Pi ... of course ... I only read the first quarter. Honestly I just couldn't get into it. I've been told that it's a good book and I think that eventually I'll go back and finish the book but I think that really right now I'm not really in that frame of mind. Our book for next month is Jane Eyre. I never had a chance to read that book so I'm looking forward to it. Plus, it's a quick read and quite interesting so I'm sure I'll be finished by our next meeting on February 1st.

Work begins again tomorrow. Not that excited. Thankful that I have a job in this economy though. Well, still haven't uploaded pics from my Christmas vacation ... I'm such a slacker ... but I'll try my hardest to get them uploaded soon. :-)

For now I'm posting pics from my holiday party. Enjoy!

My sister, Lauren, with my Mom and Dad

Jeff and Phil

Wendi and Jarrett

Stef, Me, and Heather

Erica, Rachel, and Renee

Rick, Phil, Randy, and Jeff, with Myself

Melissa, Me, and Wendi

Me and Jeannie

the temps are dropping

YAY! The past few days it has felt more like Virginia than Florida and I, for one, am quite happy about it. I know, I know ... if I like the cold I should move back up north ... or so my friends tell me often. But, I can't. So, I shall enjoy the cold snaps we rarely have and our month of January (also known as winter) where I get to wear all my nice warm coats and boots, etc.

Mom and dad came up this past weekend to help install new track lighting in my kitchen, a new fan in the guest room, and hang a pic on the wall in the dining room. I tell ya ... parents truly come in handy sometimes. ;-)

Lauren moves back home from Arkansas next month (in 10 days to be precise). I couldn't be happier! I can't wait for her to get back into school and get back to focusing on the things she should be concerned about at the age of 20 instead of living the tough life - working all week to barely make ends meet. I'm happy that she's making the smart choice.

Ashley is thoroughly enjoying Los Angeles. She's officially gone to a Hollywood birthday party now and met a few celebs. Too cute! She truly is living the life. Now if only we could figure out how the hell we're going to afford to fly her home for Christmas! $600 is the going rate right now. AHHHHH. I mean, I know it's Christmas and all ... but that is way out of our price range. I think Ashley, Mom, Grandma, Aunt Trish, and Myself are all going to have to go in on this one. Mom is determined to wait it out and fly Ashley in last minute. Which might work. I mean, the last minute fares are quite cheap if you don't care about the times you're flying, etc. Ashley really just wants to come home ... she doesn't care if she has to hop a flight at 4:30 am. It's a good thing because that's just what might happen. ;-)

Well, I'm off to do some reading and head to bed. Didn't win the camera from PioneerWoman. DARN. I have the worst luck. Oh well.

P.S. I went and saw Steven Levitt last night at the University. He gave a lecture on his book, Freakonomics, and was quite funny and poignant. I was afraid I would be bored to tears but he is in person as he is in his book ... good sense of humor and very interesting stories. I highly recommend his book and if you get a chance to see him lecture ... GO. You won't be disappointed.

More old pics ...

Family trip to Walt Disney World

Just for the heck of it I'm posting more old pics. I'm watching the Skins kick some Rams bootie and feeling nostalgic again today ... so here we go:

Ashley and her bottle

Lauren asleep on the beach

Pet-A-Pet Farm Park

home sick and homesick

Me and my sisters at a pumpkin patch in northern Virginia

I have a freakin cold. It's so annoying ... it's not like the flu or bronchitis or something that makes you really feel awful but it's just enough to completely annoy you. The runny/congested nose, the achy-ness, the fuzzy-headed-ness. Well, when you're sick you get to make up whatever words you'd like ... so there! Speaking of runny/ congested noses ... how the heck is that humanly possible? I'd like someone to please explain to me how you can be so congested that you can barely breathe through your nose yet out of nowhere you can have a stream of ... well you know ... suddenly like a faucet has been turned on? GROSS.

Me and mommy in Hilton Head

And lying in bed all day seems pretty awesome when you're at work but as soon as you're home and you actually have to lie in bed all day ... it's boring as hell. I have a paper for class I could be working on of course. But then of course I'm dealing with the fuzziness of my brain (very scientific terminology here folks). Anyway, to help me cope ... because my family is far away and I really want my mommy ... I'm posting old photos for nostalgia's sake and to brighten my mood. Enjoy!

Me and bunny in the apartment in Fairfax

Me and Great Grandma

baby Ashley Lynn

baby Lauren Kimberly

random thoughts

Wow. It is so much more interesting to read about other people's lives then it is to write about mine. I guess you never think of your own life as exciting ...

Well, this past weekend I went home to spend some QT with my sis ... she leaves for LA tomorrow. She got the job at NBC (well, Reveille). She's super excited. She's super broke. She better be super good at saving her moolah or she'll be super emailing her sis for help ;-) I can't believe she's going to be so far away from me. It is weird to think that I won't be able to hug her whenever I want ... I mean look at her smiling face (pardon the drunk idiots in the background) ... Okay, don't get me started on missing my baby sister ... next subject ...



Oh, by the way, I've noticed lately that I use the ellipsis way too often in my writing (pause) and it is never for for any omitted word, phrase, line, or paragraph from within a quoted passage. It is merely me gathering my thoughts (pause) and thinking (pause). I use the ellipsis when I'm dragging out a thought or I feel like a full stop is just too harsh. Sometimes you have to leave a sentence trailing and the pauses I inserted in that sentence above just don't give the same feel to my thoughts as an ellipsis. I know, I know ... but y'all will have to get over it because:

a) I don't really think anyone reads this blog anyway
b) We all use and abuse the English language as it is with the happy faces, etc.
and c) It's my blog and I'll do what I want :-P

Man, I'm tired ... can you tell? Night y'all!

going great

So, This week so far has been pretty excellent. I had a date on Sunday that has turned out to be pretty awesome ... he's making me Thai on Friday night :-) And I've been having lunches this week with good friends (Rachel even made pork chops last night and we're having them for lunch today). Tonight I'm going to dinner with Renee ... good times! Grandma and Grandpa B come into town Thursday evening and we're going to dinner. I have off work Friday through next Wednesday. Friday morning I'll go to Cracker Barrel with the Grandparents and then maybe catch some rays. Friday night is dinner with the new man. Saturday morning I help Rachel move into her new place. Saturday night Ashley comes into town! I'll be in Flagler until Wednesday spending lots of time with my family! I'm so happy right now ... it's ridiculous ;-) Anyway, I'm happy to be writing to you. This is just a quick post to fill you in on how happy I am right now, did I mention I was happy? Oh, because I am ...

University of Dreams

Hey y’all … as you may or may not know, my sister, Ashley, is participating in a summer internship in Los Angeles, CA, through the University of Dreams.

This internship allows her to partner with a company and pursue her dream of working in the film industry. She is working for 8 weeks with a company called In The Mo. They go around and find the latest greatest places to eat, party, etc and it’s shown on local L.A. television. She’s hoping to build some good connections while out there so please think good thoughts, pray, whatever you feel compelled to do.

Their site isn’t fully up and running yet but they are getting ready to launch. If you want to check it out here’s the link. http://inthemo.com/ If you would like her address to send her best wishes, etc. please let me know...

wow how time flies ...

So, not sure if anyone still reads this thing ... but I just realized I haven't posted anything since April of 2007. Good golly! So, it feels to me like not much really happens in my life anymore which is why I hadn't posted anything ... but then when I talk to people they say, you've done this and this and this, etc. SO, I'm going to start blogging again. Mostly to keep up with my friend, Shay, who just created her own blog and I know she'll be much more faithful than I am ... which is a powerful motivator!

So, let us see now ...

First, they opened a new bar downtown called Mavericks. It's a "rockin honkey tonk" according to their website. It's like Crazy Horse but cleaner, less smokey, and with better looking bartenders. Hee hee. It's super fun! And me and the girls have been trying to go every other weekend. I even purchased a pair of boots at Western World in Orange Park. They're fantastic!

Second, most recently I went on a cruise with some girlfriends a few weeks ago. We went on a Carnival "booze cruise" ... I'm not going to lie ... parts of it were hella ghetto ... but overall it was super fun! We left on a Thursday afternoon out of Port Canaveral, went down to Nassau, and back early Sunday morning. Right away we found a bar on ship with an amazing band and became their groupies. They are a group of Asian men who sing classic rock. One minute they're on stage talking with Asian accents and the next they're singing Lynard Skynard and you can't even hear the accent. They rocked! We had so much fun although I think we're all planning on going Royal Caribbean next time.

Let's see ... I finished up my teacher's certification coursework and am now fully certified with no job in sight. Gotta love the budget crisis. YAY for Amendment 1 ... I swear, people really don't realize what happens when you cut taxes from one area it affects another. Now, I'm not saying we should be like France and fork over 60% of our incomes ... because I don't trust that our gov't will use the money correctly ... however, things like education, our national park service, etc. are grossly underfunded. It's pathetic. Anyway, I'll keep y'all posted on all of that should something change. For now I'm continuing to work at UNF.

This past year in 2007 I went to France in September with my good friend, Jeannie. We spent 7 days (including travel time) and visited Paris and southern France for my cousin Matthew's wedding. It was quite a trip. Very whirlwind ... but fun! We spent a few days in Paris, toured around, and took the train down to Brignoles. Matthew was married in a beautiful monastery and the reception was at an old chateau. It was absolutely beautiful! We went down to the coast and put our feet in the Mediterranean. I wish I had more time but it was so worth it!

In November we took a family trip to the southern Caribbean on the Holland America Cruise line. It was a week long. We visited their private island, Grand Turk, St. Thomas, and Tortuga. I loved the little port area created for the cruise boats in Grand Turk ... even had a Margaritaville! We walked around St. Thomas and took a taxi van to Mountain Top, had a banana daiquiri, and took lots of pictures. The British Virgin Islands are hella scary. It was dirty and disgusting and unfortunately we quickly decided never to go there again. The ship's stabilizers were broken and crossing the gulf stream put quite a many guests into awful seasickness. I would say that Holland America is not really worth the price and is also full of the elderly. But, overall it was a great vacation!

For Christmas, the family rented a cabin in Blowing Rock, NC. It was super cute but super run down unfortunately. It was nice and cold and we even got to play in the snow a bit! I drove my car and she got to experience the cold and snow for the first time ever! I took pictures, don't you worry ... ;-)

I know there are things I'm forgetting but I'll try and post more later. I'll be sure to post some pics of all my trips as soon as I get a chance. Now that I'm not working full time and taking courses at night I should have much more time to keep up with this thing!

Happy Easter ... He is Risen

Hey y'all ... this past Sunday was Easter and I went home to be with the family. We had some good quality time together and the church service was nice. We even hunted Easter eggs! We're such kids ... no matter how old we get it's still exciting when the Easter Bunny comes!

time to play catch up ...

Okay ... so mom's birthday was in February and I forgot to post some pictures, etc.

Mom celebrated her 40-10 with about 75 friends and family members!

Aunt Lisa and Uncle Charlie flew down from Virginia as well as Aunt Julie and Uncle Michael drove down from GA to suprise her. She was so excited to see all the people that came to celebrate her special day. There was a DJ so you know us girls tore up the floor ... and the cake was just amazing (great job Publix)!

obviously ...

I have obviously shown how awful I am at keeping up this blog ... I never was able to keep a diary for any length of time. I always seemed to forget about it eventually and move on to something else. Kinda reminds me of other aspects of my life but I won't go there. At least not today. Today I'm feeling: a) guilty for not writing more seeing as I have received several comments on how people keep checking my blog but I haven't updated AND b) frustrated because I have been having some awful dreams lately and have been suffering with a bit of anxiety. I am struggling with the whole 'give your problems to God' thing ... I've never been really good at that, unfortunately. I'm definitely the type that tries to handle it all myself. And of course, that means I take on way too much ... am concerned with things I have no control over ... and worry about things that don't really matter. SO ... here I am ... turning 28 this month ... and I think I'm aging myself more just purely by the stress I am self-inflicting. Good times!

Well ... where do I go from here?

I know I need to force myself to work out more ... I know that will do wonders to my stress. I know that I need to take more time to de-stress at the end of the day and to not take my work issues home with me. I already have enough to worry about with school, etc. I think that it is also hard being in limbo right now in my personal life. I just have to remember that May 4th is not too far away. This too shall pass. Soon I will be completed with the chapter that has taken the longest so far. I can't believe that I will actually have completed my bachelor's degree! And before my sisters complete theirs! Which, of course, was my main goal. It will be nice to not worry about the work-school-social life balance as much. I might even start to work on other things ... like maybe marriage and family. Who knows.

Anyway, I hate to be a downer. I promise that I'm alright. Everything will be alright. Spring break is this coming week. Thursday through Sunday I will be in Austin, TX, visiting my very good friend, Shay, with another good friend of mine, Terry. I am so excited to be able to get away! I only wish I had time to go to the Caribbean again this year. Although the Ritz was beautiful I think that next time I'd like to stay at the Westin in St John or at the Caneel Bay Resort. I do have my cousin's wedding to look forward to in September. It's in France ... woo hoo! It will be nice to see him (I miss him so very much) and of course, to see more of France. The last visit was to northern France so I think I will fly in to Paris and explore the city before heading down to Brignoles for the wedding. YAY!

As a little update: I was in Orlando a few weekends ago. I visited my good friend, Greg, and my sister, Ashley Lynn. We ate at the greatest little Italian restaurant in downtown Orlando, Bravissimo. It was fantastic! And it rained on Saturday night so Greg and I went to Winter Park for a glass of wine and a good chat. Sunday we had lunch with Ashley on Park Avenue in Winter Park before she had to head to work and that evening I had dinner in Palm Coast with my mom and my sister, Lauren, at Barbara Jean's. YUM! Yesterday I had someone come fix the water damage from the leak from the upstairs unit. It seems to be fine. Good thing. Ah, the joys of home-ownership!

Sadie

So ... I'm going to brag a bit about our cute little kitten, Sadie. She's adorable and has such a great little personality ... she's so tolerant and loving ...

Although we miss Ralph ... Sadie has truly established herself as a member of the family.

Lauren's birthday

YAY! Lauren turned 19 this past weekend! She came home and mom fixed pot roast and Lauren opened presents ... Good times! She even taught our cute little kitten, Sadie, how to drink from the faucet!