Is it Time to Wake Up Already??

2010-07-14T21:45:00.002-05:00

I know. It's been forever since I blogged. I think about it a lot, just never actually do it. This time though, I have positive news to report instead of complain like I did last time! I've been working out for a week now. D and I started out walking, and we were walking about a mile a day. Except my stinking fat self was having a hard time with my legs and cramps. So we went and bought bikes yesterday. Today was the first day that we had a chance to ride very long and we both feel great. Though very very sweaty, lol. It is the hottest dang day of the year I think. But hopefully we'll keep it up and see results eventually!! Biking is so much easier for me, since it doesn't make my legs cramp like the walking does.

So, if anyone is still reading, that's what I've been up to this last little bit. Happy summer all!!

The Best of Man's Best Friends

2010-03-29T15:47:00.003-05:00

Today was a very hard day. I've been seeing it coming for quite a while, but it still wasn't any easier. We had to put my childhood dog Jesse to sleep today. She's been battling cancer and arthritis for years, and in the last year or so her health has been declining pretty rapidly. My dogs and cats are members of the family, so losing her has been very very difficult.

We all stayed in the room with her while the doctor gave her the medicine that finally took her out of her misery. I didn't plan to stay in the room, I thought it would be too hard. But I did, and in a way I'm glad that I did. It was a very peaceful procedure, though devastating to watch. She didn't whine or cry, always stoic, even in the end. She was such a caring dog, and faithful no matter what. I'm sad that I don't have any pictures to post, I would like to, but my parents have most of them, and all my pictures are on my external HD (goodness knows where that is at the moment.)

There is so much to say but I just can't get it out at the moment, I'm a mess with emotions right now. What I do know is that she's in doggie Heaven waiting for us to get there and chasing squirrels, I'm sure of it.

Love you Jess.

Missing Piece(s)

2010-03-15T16:45:00.003-05:00

I have been mentally writing blogs in my head for months, too bad I never get it down on paper. Well, not paper, on screen. Oh well, we'll see how this one goes. I have been going through a time lately....not a bad time, and not a great time, just a time. I feel like I am going through a mid-life crisis of sorts. But I don't really think I'm at mid-life and it's not really a crisis, so really? I don't know WHAT it is.

I've been struggling with defining myself lately. Who am I? I am a person who should, for all intents and purposes, be loving life. But I haven't been. Dunno why, just not. I have many great things to be thankful for and I am every day. My family is great, my mom is my best friend. My dad, sister, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles are all fabulous too (WELL, mostly ALL are fabulous). My friends are phenomenal, even those that are far away are always there for me. I have tons of friends that I work with and see regularly that I love spending time with. I have two dogs and two cats that keep me on my toes and that I am proud to say that I take responsibility for. I have a house, car, food on the table, etc.

So, what is wrong with me? Why do I feel like something is missing? WHAT is it that is missing? I know you're all probably filling in the blanks with the usual: husband and kids, THAT'S what she's getting at. But really? I've come to the conclusion that those things will happen if they're meant to happen. Don't get me wrong, I DO want them to happen, just not sure they will. And if they don't well then, I guess I'll just be okay with that.

So what to do? How to figure out just what IS causing this feeling of anxiety? Find new hobbies? Check. Spend money? Check. Shhhh, don't tell Dave. Eat? Check. Clean house? Well, haven't done that one. Wallow in self-pity. Check. Blog/Facebook/Tweet about it? Check/Check/Check. Talk to people? Who?

And really, to address that. Who the hell wants to hear about all my problems, the world doesn't revolve around me. All my friends have their own lives, families, husbands, kids, houses, jobs, whatever. So what then? What to do? I guess what I always do. Cry some, think about what could be, what should be, what might be. Then just keep on keepin' on. Same old same old. Get up everyday and go do what I do.

And maybe someday? I'll figure out what piece is missing from my puzzle.

2009-08-29T15:00:00.003-05:00

Testing the texting feature......

2009-08-29T15:00:00.001-05:00

Testing the texting feature......

Pray for Stellan

2009-07-27T11:57:00.003-05:00

Please pray for Stellan. He's terribly sick and is being taken to Boston now.

If you don't know his story, catch up at http://www.mycharmingkids.net/

or at http://www.mycharmingkids.net/search/label/Stellan%27s%20story

Yes, I'm still here

2009-05-07T20:47:00.004-05:00

I know, I'm a slacker blogger!! I always think I'm going to just do it....and then I don't. I'm still here. Still reading everyone else's blogs I promise!! Things have been rather hectic in my life...but I'm still kickin'.

Me in a nutshell over the past month(ish):

Laura Day
crazy kids
crazy dogs
Jason Mraz
lost cat
floormate
new car
flooding crawlspace
countdown to the end
spending lots of time with great friends
working out for the past month 4-6 days a week!! (go US!)
Dancing with the Stars
Swine Flu
Mom's a librarian now
summer's coming

I know there's more....but I slept for 4ish hours last night, so I'm hitting the hay early tonight. Hopefully I'll keep up the blogging, but who knows.....we'll see.

Weird Night Grace

2009-03-05T21:22:00.001-06:00

1. quick reflexes

2. helpful strangers

3. calm heads

4. kind people

5. great kids

T minus 2 days and counting grace

2009-03-04T19:17:00.002-06:00

1. Today I am so thankful that no one was hurt in a freaky car accident in our school's parking lot.

2. pickels

3. Famous MO coming together nicely like it always does....it always just nearly makes me have a heart attack while getting to this point.

4. kids that finally got their act together (if only for one day)

5. being acknowledged for a job

today

2009-03-03T19:45:00.002-06:00

1. freedom of speech

2. living in a country that allows me to believe and think the way I want to

3. surrounding myself with people who share my beliefs, but also might have other beliefs and that's okay too

4. being what I consider a tolerant person

5. 99 cent margaritas :-) (just had to throw that one in.....)

Monday Grace

2009-03-02T21:29:00.001-06:00

1. Reality tv

2. Stephanie Plum

3. pedicures

4. new collar for Yankee that fits him

5. watching funny threads on facebook

35th Grace

2009-03-01T21:31:00.002-06:00

1. dvd players in the car

2. impromptu shopping trips

3. email

4. dyson vacuum cleaners (one of these days one will be MINE!!)

5. comfy pjs

Pear Tree Grace

2009-02-28T22:52:00.002-06:00

1. a great night with great friends

2. laughing til your stomach hurts

3. you tube

4. sleeping in on the weekends

5. less than a week til my cruise!!

Today's Grace

2009-02-27T21:44:00.002-06:00

1. Obedience school starts April 13th

2. hanging out on the couch with friends and not really having to "do" anything

3. Peartree in less than 24 hours (I've never been, yummy!!!!)

4. kids being good on a Friday

5. sleeping in on Saturday

Stormy Day Grace

2009-02-26T18:21:00.002-06:00

1. Glade Plug-ins

2. People with good manners (The reason why I am thinking about manners is because: Tonight at dinner there was a man sitting behind us that belched LOUDLY, not once but TWICE and never said excuse me at all-SICK!!!!!!)

3. curling up on the couch with a warm blanket after a stressful day

4. spring weather (even though it's not going to last long)

5. candles

Hump Day Grace

2009-02-25T23:17:00.001-06:00

1. online bill pay

2. paypal

3. black pens

4. mardi gras

5. TEN DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One month of Grace done!! :-)

2009-02-24T19:44:00.002-06:00

1. Phone calls from friends I don't talk to very often!!

2. babies!!!

3. nights with 8 hours of sleep!!!!

4. job security

5. Keith Olberman

Day 29

2009-02-23T20:00:00.002-06:00

1. Antibiotics kicking in!!!!

2. winter-cause I don't have to mow!!

3. gratification one gets from having a clean house

4. USB cables

5. Limp Bizkit

lazy Sunday Grace

2009-02-22T17:06:00.001-06:00

1. phase 10

2. DVR

3. webcams

4. long weekends

5. clean bathroom

Saturday Grace

2009-02-21T23:47:00.002-06:00

1. popcorn for dinner

2. movies with good girlfriends

3. playing cards late into the night

4. finally figuring out my new phone's features

5. My California visitor staying extra long (even if it meant her mom was sick, sorry Bev!!!!)

Picture Tagging Post

2009-02-20T10:40:00.004-06:00

Thought this looked like fun. I'm home from work because of illness and went to the doctor today, and thought I would do this. :-)

I've been tagged. This tag is simple and easy to do, quite brainless really.

1. Go to my documents/pictures

2. Go to my 6th file folder.

3. Go to my 6th picture.

4. Blog about it.

5. Tag 6 people to do the same. (I'm not going to tag people, please if you want to do it, do it. Also, if you do it, leave me a comment and let me know and I will check yours out!!)

This is Donia and Mark Corbett. The picture was taken when Donia came back to visit in February of 2008. We went to the bowling alley and hung out with Mark and his wife Liz. It was a fun time actually. There were just a few of us, but it was nice to hang out.

That was also the night that I slipped and fell on some ice outside of Liz's mom's house. I landed on my elbow. I thought I broke my arm actually. It swelled to at least twice its normal size and hurt for a long time afterwards. In fact, it took months for it to feel semi-normal. I also had to run home and change my clothes before we went to the bowling alley, because when I fell it was on ice, but I got totally soaked on my pants. Long story short, I didn't bowl that night because of the arm feeling crappy, and I drank a little alcohol to help ease the pain (just a 'lil). :-)

Missing Holly Grace

2009-02-19T20:56:00.003-06:00

1. cough syrup with codeine

2. ronzas

3. cherry coke from the fountain

4. survivor

5. indoor plumbing (well that's a BIG grace, but you get the idea)

Sleepy Night Grace

2009-02-18T22:34:00.002-06:00

1. This is my 100th blog post, go me!! :-)

2. Cough syrup with codeine

3. fantastic friends who helped me get it

4. woot off

5. a new phone, it's fun!!!

Day 23

2009-02-17T17:18:00.002-06:00

1. Afterschool art's Scrapbooking Class

2. Digital Picture Frames

3. cuddle bug dogs

4. friends that are easy to talk to

5. my Chuck coming to see me again!!!!!!

Back to Work Tomorrow Grace

2009-02-16T21:44:00.001-06:00

1. Coming home to happy pups (and NO messes in the house after 7ish hours of being out of their rooms!!!!!!)

2. Food Network

3. A 4 Day work week!!!

4. Aleve Cold and Sinus

5. a warm bed waiting for me

Long Weekend Grace

2009-02-15T11:40:00.002-06:00

1. Dogs letting me sleep 8 straight hours again!!!! (two times in one week, woop woop!!!!)

2. seeing friends that I've been missing

3. My parents went out and had a good time on the town last night, yay!!!

4. Feeling better-not 100%, but better!!

5. the smell of clean sheets

Day of Sickness Grace

2009-02-14T14:16:00.002-06:00

1. NOT having a Valentine to have to spend money on (I'm saving money here people!) I knew there had to be a way to put a positive spin on not having a Valentine.

2. Saturday

3. Having my computer back and working rather decently

4. chicken noodle soup

5. sprite

Friday Grace

2009-02-13T17:49:00.002-06:00

1. kids being surprisingly good on the day of our Valentine's Day party, shocking!!

2. comfy pants

3. my education

4. new deodorant that smells yummy (I know, I'm a dork)

5. new cell phone in 5 days!!

Grace today

2009-02-12T19:40:00.003-06:00

1. Friday-eve after a really long shitty week.

2. Friends who listen to me and want me to feel better when all I feel is that I am being a horrible friend by complaining all the damn time. (wow!)

3. three day weekends

4. Presidents who have come and gone to give us that three day weekend

5. the prophy jet teeth cleaner at the dentist's office....I lurrrrrrve it!! I would go WEEKLY to get my teeth cleaned if I could!!!!!

Day 17

2009-02-11T06:34:00.002-06:00

1. being healthy

2. my family in OKC missing the big tornado by MINUTES and half of a mile. SCARY. Literally, my grandma went through an intersection mere minutes before it hit, which was also half a mile from the place where my great-grandma was in her nursing home facility.

3. my dogs letting me sleep ALL through the night. This is something that happens once every month, maybe. That's enough to make me to feel very optimistic that it's going to be a great day!!

4. 24 days until my Spring Break Cruise!!!!

5. Waking up and realizing my dream was just that, a dream. It wasn't true and thank God for that!! :(

Beautiful Day Grace

2009-02-10T19:27:00.002-06:00

1. fast checkout at wally world

2. itunes

3. house plants

4. toilet paper

5. new easy pin number for my debit card

Day 15

2009-02-09T20:44:00.002-06:00

1. Donia

2. Ronzas

3. Cherry coke

4. grandma's excited smile to see her baby girl

5. being lazy on the couch

Day 14

2009-02-08T20:39:00.001-06:00

1. DVR

2. my indoor/outdoor thermometer

3. stripey socks

4. the smell of clean laundry

5. a visit from my donia denee!!

65 Degrees in February!!!!

2009-02-07T16:24:00.002-06:00

1. Hugs from friends on a rough day.

2. iHome

3. computer fixer-people

4. vacuum cleaners (though mine could be a dyson and it would be perrrrrfect!!)

5. children's literature

A good day's Grace!!

2009-02-06T22:46:00.003-06:00

1. THIS!!! (click it!)

2. Friday

3. Humid southerly winds

4. my cat finding his way home after 5 days!!

5. chapstick

Today

2009-02-05T22:10:00.002-06:00

I am having a really really rough time right now. I'm trying really hard to find grace. I feel lost, but here goes.

1. visits from friends

2. movie theater popcorn

3. candles

4. bamboo

5. above normal temps in Feb.

Grace

2009-02-04T23:25:00.004-06:00

1. silly things kids say. I should seriously start writing them down, in fact I think I'm going to, starting now. Today a kid was telling me that another student moved. He said, "I'm pretty sure she moved to Blossomfield." The town is actually Bloomfield. teehee, haha.

2. Reading others' simple graces

3. little encouraging notes

4. water-i love to drink it!! (sorry Diane, I know you're having issues with water right now!)

5. My mom's hot tub on a night like tonight (it's 16 degrees outside right now). It was nice and toasty at 102 degrees Fahrenheit.

Day.....I don't know anymore!! :-)

2009-02-03T23:15:00.002-06:00

1. Daily Coyote

2. Small town living (I could go both ways with this.....) But, I really love the fact that the town I live in is small enough that I don't have to leave more than 15 minutes before I really need to be anywhere!

3. Recognition for a sometimes thankless job

4. Lost

5. Movie nights with friends!!

Today's Grace

2009-02-02T17:12:00.004-06:00

1. woot

2. crying-sometimes it's nice to just cry after a hard day. tears are cathartic

3. google

4. reassuring words from a friend

5. scrapbooking

Superbowl Grace (I'm not watching the game, can you tell?)

2009-02-01T18:06:00.002-06:00

1. Looking for one thing and finding another....I've been looking for a CD with pictures on it from our visit to New Orleans a couple of months after Hurricane Katrina. I had pretty much given them up for lost and was pretty sad about it, WHEN, I found them today while looking at work for my hot glue gun (of all things).

2. pizza

3. giving things to other people-I love the look on someone's face when you give them something whether big or small. I usually spend way more than I should on gifts, but, for me there is great joy in giving.

4. text messaging

5. my sister-she's not a small grace, but one I am thankful for everyday. She is such a brave, independent young woman. I envy her in so many ways. Although we are almost totally opposite one another in practically every way, we get along pretty well and I enjoy her company. I am also extremely proud of the woman that she is becoming. She sets her own path and makes her own decisions, and for that I super proud to call her my sister.

Lazy Day Grace

2009-01-31T12:31:00.002-06:00

1. Sleeping in!! (til 11:30 today) I can't wait to have a family, especially a baby. However, I know that selfishly, that will essentially be the end of my sleeping in days-unless I am lucky enough to have a baby like I was (one that would sleep til 11 am when she was 6 months old). For now, I will cherish the fact that I can still sleep in when I want to, and one of these days I will have a part of my life that will neccesitate that I don't.

2. Cinnamon toast-brings back childhood memories

3. blogging

4. grace in the small things-it has really helped me change my perspective on things. Instead of thinking about the negatives I can blog about, I am always looking on the positive side of life.

5. music-while I am not musically inclined one single iota, I LOVE music. I love all kinds of music. I have all genres on my ipod from classical to rap and everything in between.

Day 5

2009-01-31T00:29:00.002-06:00

Grace Day 5 (30 minutes late)

1. coming home to excited, smiling dogs

2. spending couch time with wonderful friends and their hubbies.

3. warm gloves

4. Breaking Dawn-for the second time!

5. sleeping in on the weekends (!!!!!!!!!!)

Fourth Day of Grace

2009-01-29T18:50:00.004-06:00

I was glad to think about this grace after the day I had!!

1. phone calls from friends I hardly get the chance to talk to

2. pounds falling off

3. scrapbooking

4. overpaying my electric bill last month so this month's bill is low, yay!!!

5. dishwashers=heaven

Day Three

2009-01-28T11:50:00.002-06:00

1. having only 20 students today, usually I have 24. that might not sound like a big difference, but 4 kids being gone makes it feel like my class has been cut in half!

2. lightbulb moments

3. being caught up on my grading

4. cleaning the classroom

5. kids that genuinely want to be good

Today's Grace

2009-01-27T12:21:00.002-06:00

1. Q-tips

2. Foaming soap

3. Face wash that wakes me up

4. Breakfast on the go

5. The look on the dogs' faces when they get treats and go to their room for the day!! Ü

Totally stolen but I LOVE the idea!!

2009-01-26T17:19:00.003-06:00

Grace in Small Things

1. Leo's grin

2. Yankee warming my feet

3. inside jokes (warm beer anyone?)

4. sand between my toes

5. clean baby smell

Missin' Holly Dawg

2008-12-15T19:39:00.006-06:00

One of my closest friends died almost four years ago. Today would have been her 26th birthday. I find myself thinking about Holly very frequently, in fact I don't think a day passes that I don't think about her or something happens that triggers a memory of her. Her life was too short. I wonder what she would be doing today if she were still alive. No doubt still loving life, laughing all the time, and living in the fast lane. She was such a wonderful, heartfelt person, always had a smile for a friend, and very rarely met someone that didn't instantly fall in love with her charisma and charm.

I miss you Holly, and I can't wait to see you again someday.

Stolen from Rebecca....Things I've Done

2008-12-14T13:41:00.003-06:00

Things I’ve Done (In Salmon)
1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Rode an elephant

Yes, yes we are!!!

2008-11-19T21:33:00.001-06:00

Get Your Countdown

Leo and the Chipmunks :-)

2008-11-05T22:18:00.006-06:00

I was going to blog tonight about the election and Gobama(!) but that is just too serious for me tonight. I have lots of thoughts and lots of ideas that I might or might not blog about soon, but for now....enjoy a little tidbit from my night.

P.S. This wasn't the first video (or my favorite) but the first one was too large to put on here...

Hope you enjoyed anyway!! :-)

Vote

2008-11-03T22:07:00.002-06:00

This is a really good video! I wish I knew how to imbed it in the blog itself, but I don't. So click on it, and watch it. It's really good, no matter who you're voting for. (thanks for sharing it with me, M.) :-)

Vote people!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo_iExUsQWE

Don't Boo, Just Vote

2008-11-01T14:52:00.032-05:00

On Thursday, October 30, 2008 I witnessed history. I was so lucky to be able to attend a Barack Obama rally in Columbia, Missouri on the MU campus in the Mel Carnahan Quad. That event left me reeling, in many ways. I wish I was a more eloquent writer, so I could really express how I felt that night and how I am still feeling today. But I'm going to try.

Just to give you a quick run-down of our afternoon, here's how it went. First, as SOON as school was out, I got quickly to Mom's house. Ashley and mom were waiting for me, and we headed up to the Truman campus. We had planned on following the two buses leaving from Truman, since we didn't really know where we were going. While we were there we were waiting and taking pictures. Ashley talked to a friend of ours who was helping to organize the buses, and she told Ashley that there were still seats on the bus. Ashley decided to join the TSU students and rode down with them. Mom and I followed in Mom's car.

When we got there, we were really lucky to get a parking spot in the nearest parking garage on the ground floor, woohoo!!! Then we joined the TSU peeps who were gathered by the garage waiting for their "tickets." We were really confused about the whole ticket idea. Everything we read about the rally said "No tickets needed" so we didn't really know what good tickets were going to be to us. While I ran back to the car to get my camera, the tickets were passed out. Ashley begged the girl to give Mom a ticket. Since we weren't on the bus, the girl didn't really want to give her a ticket (I guess they were supposed to be for bus riders only). Then she told mom, "I'll give you one since you're a mom." Mom thanked her profusely and then sheepishly said, "My other daughter ran back to the car, can I have one for her too? Please?" And she gave us one!!!

So, yellow tickets in hand we joined the line. We really had no clue what the tickets were going to get us. But we just obediently waited, and waited, and waited. We stood in that line for about 2 hours and 45 minutes. All the while we were hearing about yellow tickets, blue tickets and general admission lines. We knew that they called the yellow tickets "VIP Tickets" and the blue tickets were like "VVIP Tickets." But we still weren't convinced that we were going to get anything special out of the deal. However, waiting in line was about all we could do at that point.

7:30 Finally arrived and our line started moving. That was the time that the "gates opened." Barack wasn't scheduled to speak for another 2 hours; at 9:3o. The excitement began to build as we started moving faster and faster and we realized that the big white tents ahead of us were the security checkpoints. They began to prep us for security by telling us we had to have everything out of our pockets and all electronics turned on. We went through the metal detectors, they searched mom's purse and looked at all our electronics and we were FREE!!!

We began to notice as we had gotten closer to security, that basically as soon as we made it through the security checkpoint that we would just be going as fast as we could towards the rally point....some people were flat out running. So we took off quickly and soon we were told where to go if we had yellow or blue tickets. We followed the signs and people shouting "Yellow Ticket People HERE!" As we came up the hill we saw the podium, RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!!! We began to realize that those yellow tickets were indeed something special. The people with yellow tickets made up the crowd of people directly in front of Barack on the ground. We quickly found a good spot and settled in for a long wait. We were about 40-ish feet directly in front of the podium!! I know that we all looked like kids in a candy store for the first time ever. We were just gushing with excitement, gleaming grins on all of our faces.

Next, it was hurry up and wait time again. As soon as we claimed our spot, with people crowding in on all sides of us, I began to realize how long we would be standing in such close proximity to these people. 2 hours. That is how much longer we stood. Mom, Ashley and I were separated from one another, but we could still pretty much see each other if we stood on tiptoes and careened our necks around. It was CRAZY the number of people that were there. And I have to say that I have never felt short in my life. But I did feel short that night, there are lots of really tall people in this world.

Pretty soon, people began to file in behind the podium and took seats. We found out later that those were the people with the blue tickets, those "VVIP tickets." We were jealous of them, they got to SIT! Soon after that, a few people came to the podium to speak, several from the MU campus. Next, several political figures from Missouri took the stage to speak and rally the people. (Like we needed any help, the energy was frenetic by about 9:00) You could just feel the people buzzing, pushing, talking, singing, praying, laughing, shouting. It was intense. Susan Montee (MO State Auditor), Robin Carnahan (MO Sec. of State), Judy Baker (MO State Representative candidate), and Jay Nixon (MO Governor candidate) all took to the stage. Jay Nixon finished up and about four minutes later, here came Barack!!!

It was amazing, breathtaking even. I can't even begin to put into words the excitement of all the people that were there that night. He took the stage and it was an uproar of screams, shouts, camera flashes exploding. He talked for about 35-40 minutes. He spoke about all of his platform issues, including the economy, health care, the war, and education (just to name a few). I was especially happy to hear his talk about education. On the way down I was telling my mom that it just seemed like the media doesn't show him talking much about education. I was constantly taking pictures while listening to him talk.

After it was over, there was a push of people trying to get out of the quad and just trying to get away from the throng of people was nearly impossible. We actually snuck through a building so we could use the bathroom (I began worrying at about 7:45 that I wasn't going to be able to make it the rest of the night.....but I did!!) Then we found our car and Ashley boarded the bus and we all headed home. We made it back around 12:30, so all in all not too bad!!

At risk of sounding cheesy, I feel changed. After I went to this rally, it left me wishing I had seen him speak MONTHS ago. His speech and the people around me energized me. Before the rally I was really annoyed with politics in general, especially the local and state issues that surround us daily in Kirksville. It has gotten really ugly in some of them, and I'm so tired of hearing negative ads and mud-slinging. And don't get me wrong, I'm still annoyed about the negative campaigning and the horrible things that I hear daily around me at work and in the media. But I just feel different. I feel like I need to do more and be more informed about the world around me. I am so worried about what is going to happen in this election next Tuesday, that I make myself sick with worry. Our country is not in great shape right now, and I worry that if things aren't changed very soon, that it's only going to get worse. I was also left with a feeling of how important our democracy is, and realized how thankful I am to live in this country where I can vote and express my opinions.

I don't think it's a surprise to most reading this (is ANYONE even going to read it?) that I will be voting for Barack Obama. Most of his ideals are my ideals. He has some great plans for our country. Do I think he'll be perfect? I don't know. But of course he can't be any worse than what we already have. I was touched with how humble he seems to be, and how serious and touching his rally was. At one point when he mentioned John McCain and one of his policy ideas (the topic escapes me right now), the crowd erupted into groans of disapproval and some people started booing. Barack said, "Don't boo, just vote." I was impressed with that. And after that, it was like the crowd was listening, they didn't boo again, maybe a few groans here and there, but no outright booing.

He was inspirational. It was amazing to see him in person and to see how his words inspired people of all backgrounds. The crowd was huge! I don't honestly know the numbers and can't seem to find much online, but I think one number I heard was 40,000 people attended that rally. Amazing.

The pictures below begin with us in KV, waiting to leave behind the buses.

This is the line that we waited in.

Our Golden Tickets:

The security tents:

Looks like either people praying or raising their hands in a classroom. Actually they are trying to get some handwarmers that people were throwing out.

Sharpshooters on top of the building in front of us. It was kind of eerie to see them up there the whole time. Sorry for the blurry picture, the light in the picture threw off my camera.

Jay Nixon, who introduced Barack:

Here is the moment when Barack came out. I know it's blurry and I apologize for that, but I also kind of really like this picture. It shows all of the energy and excitement that everyone there was feeling.

Here he is:

Again, a little blurry. I was REALLY wishing I have a better camera:

Here is the only smile I caught. It was at the very end of the speech.

And he took a drink, and POOF, he was gone:

This is the press corp that was right behind where we were standing. They were begging people for interviews the whole time and especially after Barack was done talking.

Here we are at the parking garage, getting ready to head home. As you can see, though we were both very tired, we were both still beaming from ear to ear!!!!

This picture I stole from Barack's Flickr site. I was amazed to see this picture. It's just amazing how many people were actually there. Seeing this picture made me feel SO lucky for being able to be so close. Breathtaking!!

Sigh

2008-10-14T17:35:00.002-05:00

I had a really hard day. Someone asked me, what was wrong with your day, did something really big happen? No, nothing really big happened, just a MILLION little things happened. Sometimes those million little things can be SO much worse than one big thing. I can't seem to keep my head above water, I feel like I am drowning.

Sometimes I think it may be because I have overextended myself with Tiger Club and Math Masters everyday after school. But I don't think that is it. Not "it" all by itself anyway. And I would never quit Tiger Club again. For one I need the money, and for another I really do like it. (well most of the time when I'm not dealing with annoying hormonal fifth grade girls, ughhh.)

I feel so overwhelmed. School, Home, Students' Parents, Friends, Kids, House, Family, Pets. None of them are bad things, I love every aspect of my life. But at this moment in time they are all clashing together to make one big bang. That big bang is rattling my cage. It's making me have blurry vision. It's making me not want to get out of bed in the morning. It's making me sad. Sigh.

I hope that it's the change in weather that is just kicking my butt, and that is the reason why the kids at school are being so crazy. I'm going to the movies tonight with great friends, so hopefully that will take away some of my blues. I'm hopeful.

Well, at least I get to have popcorn for dinner, right?

Jamaica-mon!!

2008-10-08T18:54:00.034-05:00

In light of the fact that my parents are leaving on their cruise tomorrow, I have been getting rather nostalgic. I thought what better way to cruise down memory lane than to blog about Jamaica, so here I go.

Because we had heard some rather scary stories about Jamaica, we decided to just go to a resort for the day that we were there. We went to Sunset Beach a beautiful, beautiful place!

I was so excited to see an open air reception area. I had only seen places like these on tv and in the moves. It was SO COOL!!

We almost had the beach to ourselves, it was SO nice. Donia and I decided to ride the paddle boat early-on in case they were hard to come by later in the day.

We weren't very good at steering, so my dad helped us out some:

Most of the day we spent just lounging in the water near the bar. We were actually really close to one, and since we were the only ones down at that end of the beach, it was like having our own personal bar. :-)

Since the resort was all-inclusive, all our alcohol was included in the price. We ALL pretty much had two drinks in our hand all day. They were so yummy. Most of the pictures we took for the day showed us holding up our drinks, we just had to show that we were getting our money's worth, lol.

We saw a starfish while we were out walking around in the water:

After just a few drinks (snort) Donia thought she would snorkel with one of her straws:

Here she is, Miss America:

After spending the morning on the beach, we went over to the water park portion of the resort. They have several slides, a couple of pools and a lazy river.

Donia being silly. This picture and several of the others was taken with my awesome camera gadget called an aquapac. It allows you to put your digital camera underwater to take picture and video. It is so spiffy!

Donia taking a picture of herself going down the slide:

Next we headed up to the swim-up bar. Again, I have never seen anything like this except in the movies. It was FLIPPING FANTASTIC! We could just swim up and get any drink we could ever want!!!!

We were all pretty silly by this time:

Donia and Christie decided to end the afternoon with some synchronized swimming. Dad gave them both two points:

As we got back to the ship, there was a band playing. It was a group of kids, probably ranging in age from 10-14. It was actually kind of sad. They played songs as we all got back onboard, and they were actually pretty good. They were asking for donations, and were so excited when they got any. Then we headed back up to our balcony and watched them from above. People actually continued to throw money down to them, and they ran around catching and scooping it up:Jamaica was such a beautiful place! We had THE MOST fun of the entire cruise in Jamaica. We were glad we were able to go there and feel so safe in the resort that we chose.

Next time will be my absolute favorite thing of the entire cruise, Grand Cayman Island and the Stingrays!!!!

Totally random randomness

2008-09-26T21:08:00.005-05:00

It was quite a week. There were lots of us that just came off of this week saying, "Wow, glad I lived through this....." It was a particularly trying Friday today. I am sitting here watching the presidential debate and I have tons of random thoughts flying through my head. I have to get them out, so here goes. (and I apologize in advance because I feel they're mostly negative....)

I am feeling:

scared of the possible future president

annoyed at people who keep having tons of kids when they can't afford the ones they have

worried about money

I miss Holly more everyday, and I thought that would get better

so happy for having my dogs

especially loving Yankee right now

Leo's kind of on my shitlist....he won't stop barking his fool head off

stressed about my dirty house

okay about my car at the moment

happy that I was able to get my car fixed for SUPER cheap

worried about saving enough money for a new car soon

wondering how I will afford Christmas

wondering if I will be able to cruise again soon

worried about my students

annoyed at a parent of one of my students

wonder how people can tell kids some of the things they come to school knowing

pissed that McCain will never look at Barak when he is talking....what the hell?

annoyed that my ipod is a "classic" and not a "fifth generation"

loving the books that I am reading about vampires....I know, right?

sad for my friend and her baby woes

excited for my other friends and their awesome families

worried for some people and their houses

annoyed that I pulled a gray hair this morning

cold, Yankee just came in from outside and there is dew already

worried about my sister and college

worried about my friend's daughter and her mental health

thinking my grandpa might be really really sick (really)

praying that it's not what I think it might be

wondering if I should go the doctor for this damn cyst

wishing I could eat healthier

wanting to find myself

wondering why I'm so dang sad

excited to see NKOTB (you laugh? bring it!!)

missing D

excited to go to Archivers and STL next weekend

wondering how C's doing in second grade. second grade?? where does the time go?

wanting to get obediance training for Leo

sperm donor?

23 months and counting

glad our atmosphere at school is so much better this year (adult-wise)

missing my kiddos from last year

thankful for a really nice comment from a fifth grade teacher today

really wanting to go to bed

would love to sleep through the night.....although it was almost all night last night!!!

glad that dang possum isn't coming back anymore

jealous of my parents and their upcoming cruise

so totally happy that my parents are traveling together, just the two of them

NEVER would have guessed that would happen just a few years ago

wondering how Galveston is coming along

relieved "The Spot" is still standing

I am happy that my kids had a super Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

not sure what happened Friday

happy we got the shelf elf award again

That's everytime we've gone to the library and we've gotten it

Barak is being too nice

wish I were scrapbooking

wondering where my tiger club paycheck is

annoyed at after school people

thankful for supportive parents

wondering if there is something wrong with me, what the hell is up with all these random thoughts?

thinking most people have moved on to another website by now

Yankee has sleepy eyes

me too

shocked at the audacity of people

in awe of some

sad for kids that don't have a chance in hell because of their worthless parents

happy for those that will make it despite their parents

wondering if my dvd player will ever work again

I need to return Juno

I need to print pictures

grading is all caught up except for today's math test, go me!!

I think I could keep going, but I should probably stop

I WILL sleep in tomorrow, come hell or high water

one random picture, I'm going to pick number 789 from our summer cruise....wonder what it will be?

Well that was interesting.....wonder if it will help me to stop obsessing about all this c-r-a-p.....?

Obsess Much? Yeah, That's Me!!

2008-09-13T10:33:00.014-05:00

I have been obsessively still watching the hurricane coverage, as well as watching the flood waters in KV go up up up!! I went to the Galveston webcams this morning to see if there were any back up and running. There aren't any that are running yet, but some of them are stuck on yesterday's shots (Friday). So, I saved some pics to show sort of before and after pictures.

Here is a shot from 87th and Seawall, which is where the Spot Restaurant is. It looked like this before:

And this was before Ike hit, on Friday:

Here's a view of the beach, with a little walk-out pier and some water condition flags when we were there in July:

Here's a spot just down the road on Friday evening just before Ike. Keep in mind, there's a 17 foot seawall there, the water is so high, it's level with the wall.

Here we are sitting at the Spot Restaurant, calling and texting all our friends to check us out on the webcam. We felt like celebrities:

Here's the exact location of where we were sitting on the deck, with all the windows boarded up. The ocean is coming up over the seawall onto the road. Scary!!!

The last shot, is one of the cruise ship leaving the pier. The picture below is from last October. Look at the red building in the foreground.

Now look at that same red building yesterday before Ike hit. Notice the water? It's up over the boardwalk around the building:

Ok, I'm going to try and stop being so obsessive with the posting of the pictures. It is always sad, though, when you can look at devastating pictures or live shots of places where you just were and remember it for its beauty. And it always makes me wonder if and when it will ever look the same.

Stay dry my friends!!! (Kirksville peeps especially!!!)

My Thoughts and Prayers are with Galveston

2008-09-12T23:08:00.010-05:00

I am so worried about Galveston and the people that live down there that are being pummelled by Hurricane Ike. It is such a beautiful city, and I am so thankful we got to see it this summer. I have a feeling that if we are to go back anytime in the next couple of years, that things are not going to look the same. I just wanted to post a few more pictures of us in Galveston.

Galveston sits right on a bay, with the main drag being Seawall Blvd. When you visit there, most of everything you do is right there along the Seawall. You can just walk up and down the road with restaurants, bars, shops along one side and the beach along the other. There is a 17 foot tall wall that was built quite a long time ago to help with storms. I am sitting here watching reporters standing in spots that I was just walking a couple of months ago, and keep saying, "Hey, I was there!!!"

The next two pictures are from The Spot restaurant that I talked about before. I wonder how the building is holding up under the pounding that they are getting right now.

Reporters say that the area shown below was already under water early today, well before the storm even hit. We are wondering how the cruise ship terminal is holding up.....

Here are just some more pictures of us on the beach, with Seawall behind us. Imagine that where we are standing, all you can see is water now, no land to be seen.

This is a good shot with the seawall in the background. It's hard to tell from here, but the wall is WELL above a person's head. I really wish I had gotten some good shots of it. There are actually paintings all along the wall, that are REALLY cool. It was pretty dark when we were close enough to them to get any pictures, so we didn't really get any good ones. I wonder if any of those paintings will withstand the storm?

This building was at the end of a little pier that was almost directly across Seawall from our hotel. We walked out there to take some pictures and look around. What is amazing is that I was at mom's house this afternoon and we were watching some hurricane coverage and we saw this building. The whole pier was pretty much under water and all you could see was the top of this green building. Keep in mind, this was also well before the hurricane even really hit. Hope this cute little building makes it through the surge!!

As I sit here and watch water rushing down Seawall Blvd like a river, I am hoping that the people of Galveston stay safe tonight and into tomorrow. I also pray that their city is not completely devastated. Here's to hoping!!!

Fun Day at Sea #2

2008-09-12T22:18:00.017-05:00

Ok, well in light of watching all the hurricane coverage, I am sitting here feeling nostalgic about our cruise. And while I was feeling that, I decided I need to continue to tell you all about my last cruise. I still have the coolest stuff to come!!!!

For now, I think we are on Sea Day 2. This was the day after Hurricane Dolly rocked and rolled us. The day was beautiful, we couldn't ask for a more perfect day at sea. I actually ended up getting a pretty nasty sunburn, one that I couldn't shake for the rest of the trip!!!

Dinner that night: D's only camera appearance that night at dinner, she ended up pretty darn sick that night and left dinner during the appetizers.

Mom and Christie have been best friends for many years!! Then there's Joel in the background, goofy as always! :-)

This was Johnathan our head waiter, he was phenomenal!!!! We couldn't have asked for a better server. He was hilarious, smart, funny and engaging! It's always fun to meet people from all over the world. Both Johnathan and Joel were from the Philippines. It was fun to learn about their lives!

Mmmmm, my favorite!!

Chelsea doin' double dessert duty!! Isn't she adorable?

Our bunny chillin' on my pillow:

Next up, Jamaica-mon!!!

Ok, Crisis Averted!!

2008-08-20T18:49:00.002-05:00

Ok, not sure if anyone is even out there reading this (except the one I talked with about it....), but I thought I would let you know that things were MUCH better than I expected. THANK GOD.

I know that today was the honeymoon period and the rest/best/worst is yet to come. But things today were really promising!! I am so happy for that, and I think that if today went so well then I know that the rest of the days are going to be bearable and happy ones!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I will be crashing very very hard tonight!!! :-)

Feeling Extremely Overwhelmed and Petrified

2008-08-19T21:27:00.004-05:00

I am taking a short break from blogging about the cruise (just for this time...). The reason why is that I need to get something off of my chest. I am terrified. I start school tomorrow, and for the first time in my four and a half years, I am so scared. Don't get me wrong, I am always a little jittery and nervous. But this year I am so downright scared I am making myself sick. I can't quite decide what it is that is different about this year.

Kids? Curriculum changes? Not being quite ready? Not ready to come back? Parents? Teacher changes? Establishing routines? New challenges with kids? Behavior issues? Medical issues? Home? Family? Friends? Car? Animals? Future? January student teacher?

I am sure it is a combination of everyone one of these things, let's be real. But my thing is that ALL of these things happen every year pretty much. So, why am I so scared about this year? I don't know....I wish I could pinpoint it, so I could try to fix it.....

Sigh. For now I guess I'll just hope that tomorrow goes well and do my best to put my fears on the backburner. Going to hope for sleep tonight.....

Good luck to all my fellow teachers. I hope tomorrow goes well for you all! And may you all have the confidence and excitement that I feel I am lacking at the moment!

Hello Dolly--Day 2

2008-08-16T21:46:00.025-05:00

Our first "Fun Day at Sea" started innocently enough. D and I woke up and went up to the Lido Deck to eat breakfast around 10. After we ate, we went directly to the pool. It was pretty hard to find a spot to sit, everyone had the same idea we did, to get in some sun!! Here are some shots of the calm before the storm:

Pretty soon, there was a little storm on the horizon. I took a picture of it thinking, "Well, we've never had it rain on us on the ocean, it'll be a first." Man, I had no idea!!

After the above rain shower hit, they moved the sky pool's roof, so that people could lay by the pool, in spite of the rain. This is a shot of the roof as it moved.

We decided to head toward our cabin, even though we only had about 30 minutes by the pool. However, by the time we made it around to heading back in, the skies had cleared. Everyone else had left, so we claimed another couple of chairs and soaked up about 20 minutes more of the sun. Hehe, while we were sitting there, I had Donia pose in front of me. What she didn't know (until later) was that I had her stop right where the fantail would look like it was coming out of her head.....me, I know I'm evil sometimes!! :-)Before long, our new spot was also dampened by another rainstorm. We decided to call it quits on the laying out idea.
Here are some shots of the storm, as it continued that afternoon. Pretty soon, we began to hear a buzz that we were actually going through Tropical Storm Dolly. This was really a shock to us, because on Embarkation Day, the captain made an annoucement that we would NOT be affected by the then tropical depression in the Gulf. In fact, he told us that we would be going completely away from it, staying 250 miles away! Yay, we were in the clear, no worries.

So that is why I didn't believe it when I heard that we were going through a tropical storm, surely it was just a little rainstorm, right? WRONG! I went down to the internet cafe and checked the weather.....Our little rainstorm was actually Tropical Storm Dolly. We went actually pretty close to the eye from what I could figure....crazy! I think that the captain was trying to go around it, and it blew up so fast and filled the entire gulf. That made it very hard for him to "go around it." Also, with the intensity that it blew up, it was pretty shocking to learn that even though it was actually a TS, it was only 4 miles an hour away from being a hurricane. And in fact it did become a hurricane just a few hours after we went through it. So....we pretty much went through a hurricane.....crazy crazy crazy!!!

Poor Donia didn't do well with the storm. I think she was actually a little sick before we came, but the rocking of the boat during the storm made it worse for her. She actually napped that afternoon while I went to lunch with the 'rents. I brought her lunch in bed, but she was puny for most of the rest of the afternoon.

She did get up for the newlywed game in the main lounge. Here we are, just enjoying some time inside.....with Dolly raging outside.

The video below was a shot of the ocean outside our balcony during the storm. I wish I had a video to show the way the ocean is when there's not a storm raging, it's really quite calm most of the time.

Not long before dinner the skies starting clearing a little, we were hoping that it was the beginning of the end of the storm. It was actually just a little lull. It started back up pretty soon, and lasted well into the middle of the night.

The motion in the ocean didn't keep us from dinner of course!!! Here we are eating, it's what we do best!!

Got back to our second towel animal, and thank goodness Donia took some motion sick pills, so she was feeling much better!!

That's it for now, next time will be our second "Fun Day at Sea."

Embarkation Day-Finally Done!!

2008-08-15T22:16:00.024-05:00

Ok, I know that a lot of people have been asking me about when Embarkation day was going to be continued.....Sorry, I know it's been a while. School has really been consuming my waking time and when I am at home, I'm just too tired to post. It's not that I don't have the energy to tell the stories, it just takes me FOREVER to get through the pictures to choose a good representation of our time. We just took so dang many!!

Anyway, here we go with Embarkation day. These are just a few snapshots of our first day on board. So, here ya go!!

In the picture below, Donia is on our balcony, and I was on my parents' balcony taking her picture. We were all supposed to have rooms in a row, but it just didn't work out that way, which was a bummer. But we weren't too far from eachother, just about 6 rooms between my parents and I, and then 6 between my parents and Christie, Jeff and Chels.

We actually unpacked all of our clothes this time. Since we were going to be in the room for 7 days this time, we decided that would be best. We were actually impressed with ourselves because we neatly unpacked everything and our room was REALLY clean and tidy. My mom was shocked! :-) The first cruise we just lived out of our suitcases but that made for a really messy room. Anyway, this brings me to the following picture. D and I decided to just put all our shoes together, since we often wear eachother's shoes. As we were unpacking it was getting pretty clear that we had brought quite a few pairs.....in fact I think we counted at least 26. Hehe, I know it's pathetic. The really sad thing is that this is a VERY small sampling of how many shoes we both actually have. So, here is the shot of most of our shoes (obviously almost only flipflops!) in the drawer we kept them in.

A shot of the elevators in the atrium area, can you believe this is in a SHIP on the OCEAN????

Being goofy in the cabin:

This map is on the wall near some of the bars. It is pretty cool because it shows where the ship is in relation to our whole intinerary. We looked at it each day!

Hehehehehe:

I have some weird thing about taking pictures of my feet. Here's the first of many that I took of my piggies.....

Chillaxin' on the balcony:

Checking out our first sunset:
I thought this was pretty cool. The ship and the sun were both in just the right spot for us to get shots of our shadows on our balcony wall:

After the sun went down we went to dinner in the dining room. We met our FREAKING AWESOME waiters Johnathan and Joel. They took such fabulous care of us. I will talk more about them later when I show some pictures. Here are a few shots of our first dinner:

Ok, this last picture does need a bit of explanation. On our first cruise there was one guy on staff who I had a super crush on. He was working on the Fantasy back then as one of social hosts. The social hosts are in charge of having tons of fun onboard. They lead pub crawls, games, contests, etc. Anyway, they called him Papa Smurf. At one point he had blue hair even. I was so in love with him!! He was hilarious, very cute and was always around the ship where we would see him having fun. I went so far as to take a picture OF HIS PICTURE on the wall....lame I know! I never really got close enough to get a good real picture of him.

So, you're probably asking yourself, why is she telling us about Papa Smurf when he was on her first cruise? Well, I'm about to tell ya!! We were at dinner on the first night, when the Matre 'D introduced the assistant cruise director Henny. I was eating and halfway listening really. But then I heard his voice.....it was PAPA SMURF!!!!!!! He has been promoted to Asst Cruise Director and is now on the Conquest! Oh, and he goes by Henny now-his real name. I guess the promotion made him want to grow up a little and drop the cartoon nickname. I was so so so so so excited. I think all the people at my table thought I was nutso!! So, I ran up to take his picture, I didn't even care that people were looking at me funny (including Papa Smurf). But it was pretty dark in the dining room, so the pictures didn't really turn out very well.

Then, as we walked out of the Welcome Aboard Show later that night, Christie said, "Look, it's Papa Smurf!!!!!" I RAN, and I mean RAN up to him and said, "Can I PLEASE have a picture with you??" I then went on to tell him that I had seen him on the Fantasy and we talked for a few seconds about that and he was super proud that he was promoted and showed me his new nametag with Asst CD on it. Ok, so THAT is the super long story behind the following picture. And he is making a pretty funny face in this picture, but it doesn't hold a candle to all the rest of the funny faces that he usually makes. He is the king of really weird faces!
Pretty soon, it was time to head back to the room, and our first towel animals were waiting for us. Awww, she had a baby!!
That's it for now!! Next time will be Day 2 and Tropical Storm Dolly!!!

Embarkation!! (Part 1)

2008-08-05T10:39:00.017-05:00

Ok, Embarkation Day is here!! We got up in the morning on Sunday and got all of our things packed back up and ready to hit the road. We called a cab (van) to take us to the port. It was really ridiculous how much luggage we all had. There were seven of us, but I swear we had enough luggage for about 10 people at least!

We also were amused to see that we started our day with quite a character. Pinky was our taxi driver this morning. She was like nothing I have ever seen really. She was quite a character, very opinionated about many things, and not afraid to speak her mind. She was too funny. Jeff said one of the funniest things that day, right to Pinky, in fact I wrote it down because I felt like it was one of the funniest things. Probably to those who weren't there, it won't be too funny, but I guess you had to just be there to see Pinky; and Jeff's reaction to her. Jeff was just so amused and he said, "Pinky, you got it goin' on!" But when you read this, you have to read it with Jeff's southern accent. Anyway, we never really got a very good shot of Pinky, but I'll try to show what we have.

(A side view.....)

After we got to the port and gave our bags to the porters, we got through check-in pretty fast actually. This was the first time we were just little peons....the other two times we had a suite booked, so we got VIP boarding. I was pretty nervous that boarding in Galveston without VIP would be hellacious, but it wasn't too bad, I think it was because we were there pretty darn early. We were actually among the first passengers onboard.

After we boarded we wandered around the ship and had our first meal on the Lido deck. It was fun to explore this ship, because it is HUGE!!! You would think I wouldn't have been so in-awe of the Conquest because I have cruised twice before, but I was totally shocked by how majestic that ship is!! Here are some shots of us wandering the ship. Some need no explanation, others do.

Donia's first attempt at posing on the piano bar. I just happened to catch her in mid-fall. Too funny!!!

That's better!!!

Thirsty Donia???

I have so many more pictures, so I am going to drag the embarkation day and our first evening at sea out. I will finish this up on the next post. For now, you've probably read enough for now, eh? Until the next post......

Galveston-Beautiful City!!

2008-08-04T09:55:00.014-05:00

Ok, so we drove and drove and drove and we eventually landed in Galveston, TX. Even though I lived in Texas for almost five years, I never really went south of the Dallas/Fort Worth area. So it was fun visiting a place I had never been. I wish that we could have had a little more time there either before or after the cruise. We did get to spend an evening there though, so that was nice. We got to Galveston early evening and got settled into our hotel. Our friends from Oklahoma had some travel vouchers that they needed to use, so we got our ocean side balcony hotel rooms for FREE, WOO HOO!!!!

Here's a view from our balcony and a few shots of us too:

After we got settled we walked across Sea Wall Blvd to the ocean and splashed around for a while. It was cool to see all the people just swimming and splashing around in the ocean even though it was almost night time.

Then we ate at The Spot. It is a biker bar/restaurant that we have been watching on webcam for the last year or so. We were so excited to go there but weren't sure what to expect. It totally exceeded our expectations!! The food was AWESOME and the ambiance was so laid back. We sat on the deck and ate outside right across from the ocean. We could watch the moon come up while eating and watching all the people enjoying themselves. We even had our friends check us out on the webcam, and that was really fun!! We felt like celebrities! Hehe

We headed back to the hotel and went to bed (though I don't think ANY of us slept very well, since we had such a BIG day ahead of us!!!!)

So, that's it for now. Next time I will share our Embarkation day with you!!

A travel retrospect

2008-08-03T11:34:00.012-05:00

Well, I'm home now, sigh. I haven't written here yet because I just don't want to admit I'm almost done with summer....Because in my mind as soon as my vacation was over, summer is over. And that could almost really be true I guess considering the state of my classroom at this moment.

Anyway, another reason I haven't posted is because I really don't know even know where to begin. But I guess I'll just take it day by day.....I really wanna skip to the cruise but I'll just start with the first couple of days. :-)

On Friday morning we got up to prepare for our drive. It was myself, my mom, dad and Donia. Check out the Beverly Hillbillies crap strapped to the top of the car....hehehehehe We had so much stuff it wouldn't fit inside the car, we had to put it on top.

Donia had to fill up her head at Ice House on the way out of town:

Ashley stayed at home to watch all the animals and take care of both my house and my parents' house. The drive was decent really. We had really good weather the whole way and we made it to Cushing, Oklahoma in about 8 1/2 hours as planned. But not before we took our picture at EVERY place that we stopped on the way. (and I mean EVERY!!!!) These are just a FEW.

Cushing is the town that my mom grew up in and where a lot of her friends and family still live. Her best friends Christie and Jeff live there still. T hey and their 18 year old daughter went with us on the cruise.

This picture is D and I with Chelsea-Christie and Jeff's daughter:

We're ready and heading out of town Saturday morning, yay!!!!!!

This is Jeff being Jeff. He is one of the funniest people I know, and it was AMAZING to be on vacation with him. He was such a fun time and made our trip extremely memorable!!!

That's it for now, I don't want to bore you completely and I want you to keep coming back for more reading and pictures!! We'll eventually get to the actual cruise, I promise!!!

Stateside

2008-07-27T22:01:00.002-05:00

We're home!! I am happy but sad. We had such a great time, I really don't know how to put into words the joy that I experienced. It was even better than I could have ever thought!! I will post pictures and more about the time later, for now I'm at my grandma's house in east Texas.

I can't wait to get home and see you all, it's been so long since I've seen many of you! Miranda, I didn't get any chimis ....but I did have some damn good nachos!!!!!! :-) Oh, and Guacamole.

I'll post again as soon as I can!!!

Paradise

2008-07-25T15:34:00.003-05:00

I am here in Paradise...Paradise Beach that is. Sorry for the lull in posting the last couple of days, we have been busy busy!! After Jamaica we went to Grand Cayman and swam with the sting rays, oh my GAWD it was so awesome! I have never experienced something like that in my life. I can't wait to post pictures for you all!!! We are now in Cozumel, Mexico at Paradise Beach at the moment. We rented a van and as always yours truly is the driver....that is a trip let me tell you!! Anyway, there is a time limit here so I better hurry. We will be back in the states Sunday and I will blog again with pictures as soon as possible!!!

Wish you were here!!!

Goodbye Dolly!!!

2008-07-22T15:53:00.000-05:00

Things are much much better, today, thank goodness!! TS Dolly has moved away from us and we have had clear sailing since early this morning!! We watched a comedian last night and had a pretty late night, so D and I slept in until around 10:30, yay for sleeping in!!! Then we got dressed, had a late breakfast and headed to the pool. We spent most of the rest of the early afternoon by the pool, frying ourselves to a nice little crisp pink. We hoped to not get too pink since we are heading to Jamaica tomorrow, and plan to spend the day at the beach!

Anyway, just wanted to let you know (if anyone is still reading) that we are just fine, Dolly is gone and things are the way they should be on a cruise ship!

Cheers!!

Barf Bags and Stumbling

2008-07-21T16:50:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Tropical Storm Dolly our first day at sea has not been a cup of tea. We got about 30 minutes by the pool today and the first little rain shower hit. We ran inside and it soon cleared up. We then got about another 30 minutes and the big one hit!! It's TS Dolly, and she's a little pissed off at the moment. The waves are pretty rough, about 4-6 feet swells. That is far from the little "wavelets" that we had last night according to our cabin television.

So anyway, we are hoping and praying that the weather clears by tomorrow so we can have one more fun day at sea before we go to Jamaica, GC and Coz. Wish I could post pics, but the connection is pretty slow at the moment. Until next time, have a dry day, I know we wish we could!!

Ocean Waves and Sand in my Toes!!

2008-07-20T08:48:00.002-05:00

We're here!!! We arrived in Galveston yesterday evening and got settled in to our hotel. (which is super nice btw, thank you Lyle!!!) We ate at The Spot, a pretty well-known bar/grill right on the ocean. Lots of you were able to see us on the webcam, so that was cool!

This morning we got up and I am now in the lobby checking email/eating a bowl of cereal and waiting to board the ship around 11.

I will hopefully post some pictures later today or tonight...we'll see.

For now, I'll chat at ya later!! :-)

Here we come!!

2008-07-18T00:54:00.003-05:00

We are leaving in the morning...Well in 8 hours to be exact. And I should really be in bed. And I'm going, right after this post, I promise. So, not sure when I will be posting again, maybe hopefully tomorrow when we get to the hotel in Galveston....not sure. BUT, don't stop looking here while I'm gone, I hope to upload some pics as we go. We will be getting an internet package while onboard to keep in touch with Ashley who will be here holding down the forts and taking care of all the animals. So, if I have a decent enough connection, I will hopefully be able to share some pictures while I'm gone. For now, I'll see you all and talk to you soon, hopefully with a much more tan face! :-) One more Day!!!!

Busy busy, but still blogging....Shouldn't be though!!

2008-07-17T17:29:00.005-05:00

Often people have to meet the ship after it has left shore, or have to be taken back to shore. When this happens a little boat comes by and attaches itself right on the side of the cruise ship. A ladder comes out of the ship and people either go right on up, or right down into the little boat. Here are some pics that show that:

Two DAYS!!!!!!!!!!

Three Days!!!

2008-07-16T09:19:00.004-05:00

On a cruise it is amazing how the staff takes such wonderful care of all the passengers. On the last cruise we had an amazing waiter. Each table actually has two waiters that take care of you. Our head waiter was pretty good, but our assistant waiter was phenomenal!!!! We loved him so very much! Even though he had several tables to take care of, he always made us feel like we were most important. His name was Thanet and he is from Thailand.

They even got Ashley up to do the Macarena!! She did a great job!!

Four Days!!!!

2008-07-15T17:16:00.001-05:00

I am grasping for pictures at this point....I have hundreds more, but not sure anyone really cares about them....I thought this one was pretty cool, cause for some reason my camera decided to focus on the boat and the water in the background, but not on the trees in the foreground....have no clue about why, but makes for a kinda cool pic!!! (though also slightly dizzying)

Five Days!!

2008-07-14T09:24:00.001-05:00

I always liked this picture of the hallway outside our door, it kind of looks like it's on fire!!

Six Days!!!

2008-07-13T09:44:00.002-05:00

I love pictures like the one below. It always amazes me how the world DOES look flat when you are staring out at the horizon. I can see how all those explorers thought that the world was flat, I am totally on their side!!!

Feet and Sand

2008-07-12T15:34:00.003-05:00

Brittany took this picture at Paradise Beach in Coz. It is almost an optical illusion because if you look at it one way the sand appears to be coming up out of the sand:

And when you flip the picture it looks like it is a foot that has pushed down into the sand:

Awesome!!! Seven Days!!!

She's commmmminnnnngggggg!!!!!!

2008-07-11T08:11:00.004-05:00

One of my bestest oldest friends is coming today, yay! She has really perfected the hold-the-arm-out-to-take-my-own-picture technique!!! Here are just a couple of them. I think we have AT LEAST 100 of just her taking her own picture, not even including her with other people.

She's coming with me on the cruise, so we're sure to have at least 100 more of her picture, look for more when we come back!! Eight days!!!!

Nine Days---Single Digits Baby!!!!!

2008-07-10T07:02:00.000-05:00

Formal Night!!!

2008-07-09T06:51:00.002-05:00

We have ten days until our next cruise, man I can't believe that we are almost into the single digits!! Seems like just yesterday we were saying, only 150 more days, or only 100 more days!! HEHE Time really flies! The following pictures were taken on formal night.

This is a picture of all the officers onboard. I really didn't know there were that many......and of course the most important one is the one on the far end to the right....the head CHEF!!!

11 Days!!!

2008-07-08T12:39:00.003-05:00

The wake on a cruise ship is massive!!! This picture is one of the many that I took of the wake of the ship, and I could sit and just stare at it for hours.....

Here is one of the wake that I took between the banister of a staircase, thought it was pretty cool!!

Twelve Days!!!

2008-07-07T08:30:00.006-05:00

When we got off the Fantasy the last time, we spent an extra day in New Orleans. We took the day to run around my favorite city doing lots of fun stuff. We made it back to the pier in time to see the Fantasy leaving again for her next Voyage. It was cool to see it from another perspective. These pictures show the ship docked next to the big bridge, then pulling away and turning around. The first time we got on board we were wondering how the ship was going to be able to make it underneath the bridge....but it doesn't, it turns right around in the river. It is pretty cool!!

13 Days

2008-07-06T13:56:00.004-05:00

These parrots hang out at Paradise Beach in Cozumel. They have their own little hut and just pretty much stay there all the time. They aren't tied up or anything, that is just their home. It was cool to see them up close and personal like that.

Fourteen Days!!

2008-07-05T15:00:00.002-05:00

Two weeks until our next cruise, and I can't tell you how excited I am! My thoughts are so consumed with thinking and stressing about my cruise, that I am even dreaming about it at night. Last night I had a dream that we got all the way to Galveston and I didn't have my passport!!! Talk about a scary dream! :-)

This picture was taken from one of highest points on the boat that people can wander around:

Happy Fourth of July!!

2008-07-04T14:12:00.005-05:00

To celebrate the Fourth of July, I have decided to post a video of fireworks that Brittany took on July 4, 2007. My family, Brittany, Donia and I were in New Orleans, and this was the day before we got on the Fantasy. This fireworks show was right on the Mississippi River. They had two huge barges on the river that shot up dueling fireworks. It was pretty amazing! So, it's kind of like a cruise picture, to continue my countdown.

15 Days!!! Enjoy

16 Days

2008-07-03T09:49:00.002-05:00

Don't know if I've posted this one or not, I'm too lazy to go back through all the posts. This picture was taken right before the muster drill on my first cruise.

The lovely ladies:

17 Days!!

2008-07-02T15:33:00.003-05:00

On our first cruise out of New Orleans, it began to rain as we were in the terminal waiting to get onboard. This wasn't a little rain, it was a downpour like no other. My dad was driving away from the terminal and almost had to stop his truck because it was raining so hard he could barely even see the road. When we looked out the window of the terminal, we could barely see the ship that was 20 yards from us, that's how hard it was raining.

Then we walked over the little sky-way that attaches the terminal to the ship. The rain had slowed, but was still coming down pretty heavily. We looked down below us where the luggage guys were working very hard to transport the luggage from the terminal into the hull of the boat. We noticed that there was a crate of luggage out in the pouring rain, just sitting there! There was no worker near, the suitcases were just chillin' out there in the rain. We were all just chatting and someone said "Hey wouldn't it suck to have your luggage sitting out there in the rain?"

"Yeah we said, that would suck!" Then we continued walking a little further. As I was walking I was also looking down at the crate of luggage sitting in the rain beneath us. I slowed to a stop as I realized and shouted, "Wait a minute, that IS our luggage!!!" LOL

Well, of course we had to take a picture of it! So here it is, our wet luggage:

All was well, and when the luggage finally made it to our room, it was all dry!! Nothing inside was wet or anything, so we were thankful for that! Memories memories!! :-)

The leaning tower of drink cups......

2008-07-01T15:26:00.001-05:00

18 Days:

I only drank a couple of these I swear......(uncrosses her fingers from behind her back.......)

Back by popular demand....

2008-06-30T16:56:00.003-05:00

So, I got more comments than ever when I posted food pics, so I figured why not? I'll break out some more!! 19 Days, we're in the teens baby!!

These are my chicken chimis: Yummy!! Notice my drink is already empty.....hehe!!

Miranda, this one's for you by the way!! :-)

Going, Going, Gone. Twenty Days!!

2008-06-29T12:15:00.006-05:00

This is a series of sunset pictures I took at the end of our last "Fun Day at Sea." This is the evening when we were coming back into the states. You can actually see one of the oil refineries in one of the pictures. They are a pretty common site when you are cruising out of and back into Louisiana. Also, the ocean was SO calm that night, it was almost like a lake on a really still evening. It was the most relaxing evening on the ocean I've ever had. (Well, except for the fact that we knew we had to get off the ship the next morning!) Enjoy!!

Can't get more majestic than that....

2008-06-28T17:17:00.001-05:00

21 Days......THREE WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!

22 Days.....

2008-06-27T17:43:00.002-05:00

A fun little turkey looking thing made up of ice cream and wafer pieces:

A tower of onion rings at Bubba Gumps in Nawlins'. One of my favorite places to eat in the world!! Too bad I was feeling yucky that night....almost too yucky to enjoy my dinner...sigh. :-(

And that concludes my food theme.....at least for now until I see another picture that looks tempting. :-) I think sunsets might be next......Til then, adios!!

23 Days.....

2008-06-26T20:32:00.002-05:00

Veggie Quesadilla onboard the ship....One of my favorite appetizers!!!!

Oh, and there is most definitely NOT a diet plan on a cruise, except the eat-everything-in-sight diet!!!! :-)

Mmmmmm......24 Days!!!

2008-06-25T19:18:00.000-05:00

Can you guess the theme?? :-)

2008-06-24T16:13:00.002-05:00

25 Days.....

The beginning of a theme

2008-06-23T19:31:00.001-05:00

26 Days.....

Doin' the Doc Dance!!!!

2008-06-22T17:31:00.003-05:00

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you a very important announcement from the makers of Happy People: Our cruise documents are here!!! That fun blue envelope came in the mail yesterday, and I had the distinct pleasure of Doin' the Doc Dance!!!!

Now back to the program already in progress........(26 1/2 Days......):

Twenty-Seven Days....

2008-06-22T07:41:00.000-05:00

28

2008-06-21T08:46:00.001-05:00

Twenty-nine Days....

2008-06-20T15:29:00.002-05:00