Monday, January 25, 2010
happy birthday dad & julez
we had cherry pie for dad's "cake" and chocolate or white cupcakes for julez's cake. julez blew out the candles on both "cakes" multiple times. it was adorable.
love you both!
no pictures from me this time ... 8 days til photography class starts, then you'll all be sick of pictures from me.
a little bit country
for something to do at my grandparent's house, all the boys went out to the barn to build a birdhouse for nathan. while the men were discussing the best way to make the birdhouse, nathan wanted to do a photo shoot with me (really, he wanted to!).
after the photo shoot, some sword fighting, and a lot of "discovering" in the barn, the boys got down to business and created the birdhouse!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
florida finale

beyond the safari where we saw very cool animals, animal kingdom was mostly lame. definitely not a place to spend a whole day. the one other thing worth seeing at animal kingdom is "lion king the musical". good show (except we couldn't take our popcorn in with us so we had to put it in terri's mom bag).

we hit hollywood studios for two partial days. there is a lot to see there. "american idol" show, the stunt show, chip and dale (terri knew the difference between the two, i did not), high school musical show in the street, "backstage" tour, osborn family christmas lights, tower of terror, rock n rollercoaster, and the most amazing show of all, fantasmic (seriously, it's awesome) ... a lot to see.
other florida favorites include cirque du soleil (love it!), downtown disney (home of the largest freakin disney store ever, where it is especially hard to find an exit door), the kennedy space center (well, the parking lot at least, as we arrived too late to go in), the cruise ship docking area at cape canaveral (i've never seen a cruise ship up close and i was seriously amazed), and the very salty ocean water and pre-hurricane waves at a beach in cocoa.
good trip people, a good trip.
the happiest place on earth ...


then we took a million photos in front of the castle.

then we checked out this ride. i don't know what it was called, but it was super lame. luckily, the line was fairly short. in my head, the ride was going to be super fast. i'm pretty sure i could have run faster than those cars, and i do not run fast. and, on top of all that, i got in trouble for not holding onto the steering wheel. i really didn't think i needed to though, since the car ran on a metal rail and the top speed was a crawl.

it was a good day. i'm pretty sure you can't get better than 2 parades, it's a small world ride, disney princesses, tom sawyer island (more specifically, the barrel bridge where i almost lost a flip flop!), a chance to wear our $14 ponchos (if only for a minute), and big thunder mountain railroad.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
my very favorite part of disney ...
we took the obligatory "pictures in front of the big epcot ball" ...

{billy and josie}

{well, i got 5 of us in the picture this time ... it's just not meant to be to have a picture with all 6 of us!}
we took pictures in china ...

{billy, josette, and terri ... all happy to have their photo taken once again (especially josette!)}

the faces of josette
fortunately for me, i have the fancy "take-fifteen-pictures-really-fast" feature on my camera. so, josette and i experimented and laughed through the whole show. hey, we needed something to keep us busy! and while it might not be as hilarious for the rest of you, it's still funny to me. i. am. still. laughing.
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Tuesday, January 19, 2010
a day of oceanic goodness


the sea lion and otter show ...






{don't they look like they're having fun?}it's about time ...

Friday, January 8, 2010
happy birthday marcia & harper!
i'm only sad that i'll be travelling for the next 2 weeks and won't get to see her!
on another note ... happy birthday to marcia! i've known marcia for about 9 years (that sounds like such a long time!). i think one of my favorite stories about marcia is from about 5 years ago. rob, marcia, aaron, stephanie, and i all piled into rob's volkswagon gti for an overnight trip to nauvoo. arriving without incident, we attended the city of joseph pageant, hung out at the hotel, and had a great time. on the ride home, however, things took a turn.
rob was driving and i was in the passenger seat (i get sick in the car if i can't see out the window, at least that's what i tell everyone ... ha ha). marcia, steph, and aaron were squished in the back seat. we all started singing songs on the way home, and by singing i mean at the top of our lungs. rob was annoyed, so we started singing louder. well, rob missed a turn he was supposed to take, and blamed us loud singers for it! after he yelled at us no one said anything for about 20 minutes! of course now all we can do is laugh about it!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
wake up call ...
i wanted to say "i'm mostly irritated that your email at 6:42 am woke me up", but i didn't.
i told him i didn't care about the performance evaluation unless it was holding back my big fat raise and that i assumed he'd tell me if i was doing something wrong.
he followed up with "nothing wrong, in fact, you are doing very well, which i don't say enough ..." and other nice things.
i can't complain about a wake up call like that.
a little celebration ...
once upon a time (december 31, 2009), 5 people sat together for a countdown to the new year ...
Monday, January 4, 2010
It's a New Year ...
maybe it's because
- it's a new year, a new beginning
- business is back to normal after weeks of people being out-of-office
- i won free lunch and chair massages for my office tomorrow
- edward is the january picture in my new moon calendar
- i put on a sweater this morning that's a size smaller than i usually wear and it's too big
- vancouver olympics start in 39 days
- i was reminded this morning of strobe ball ... super fun
- i'll have a new niece on friday
but whatever it is, i'm happy today!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
if you traveled as much as I do ...
You would learn that the Chevy HHR is a little better than the PT Cruiser, but not by much. (ps ... i couldn't remember the name of the PT cruiser so I googled ugly cars and it showed up ... just fyi).
You would find that a brand new hotel is everything it's cracked up to be.
You would get to visit friends you haven't seen in a very long time.
You would know that there's a walkway to the terminal from the 4th floor of the parking garage at O'hare.
You would recognize the gate agents in Memphis, Denver, and Manchester.
You would obtain Premier status at United Airlines, finally. And all that goes with that (separate security lines, first seating on the plane, economy plus seats, free baggage).
It was worth the wait!
no excuses ... just a post
I've had a bunch of pictures on my desktop from my last trip to Memphis that I wanted to blog about. Now that it's been a few months, I don't have a ton to say about it. But, I'll post the pictures anyway.
After my first trip to Memphis, i decided that before I left for the last time I would go tour Graceland. I don't know really why I wanted to, as I've never been a huge fan of Elvis, never really even knew anything about him or his life. I just thought it'd be cool, even though I had to tour alone.
And cool it was. I enjoyed every moment of the tour ... and was thrilled to see that it was an audio tour, so everyone was walking around with earphones by themselves!

{the pool room ... that is fabric draped all over the ceiling and walls!}
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
rad bike for josie
Monday, August 10, 2009
Travel Blog ... Memphis, TN
I made appointments with AT&T and with some furniture installers on Monday morning and therefore needed to fly in on Sunday. I really am not a fan of flying on Sunday, for multiple reasons, but I had to do it this time. My flight was at 9:00pm (I wanted to waste as little of my Sunday as possible), which would have put me in Memphis around 10:30. Except my flight was late ... and my suitcase decided that it didn't want to fly on Sunday and stayed in Chicago for an extra night.
So at 11:45pm on Sunday evening, I pick up my rental car and head to the hotel, with no suitcase. The front desk clerk looks in her drawer of toiletries and comes up with a toothbrush (no toothpaste) and a comb. That's it. I figured that I needed at least toothpaste and deoderant for the next day (and would still be sporting the "no make-up, wet hair pulled up" look), so I asked if there was a wal-mart or walgreens nearby. Nope, nothing that's open 24 hours, and it is, after all, almost 1am by now. My best bet will be the convenience store down the road. And by convenience store, she means the gas station that smells like sewage and sells toothpaste for $4 for a tiny tube. So, toothpaste and deodorant in hand, I head back to the hotel.
It is then that I realize I didn't buy anything for my contacts. I'm faced with the "would you rather" question ... sleep in your contacts all night or soak your contacts in water overnight. Seems that neither is a good choice, but at 2am I decided that the water would be better and went to sleep.
I did set my alarm so that I'd wake up at 6:00, be ready to leave by 7:00, and arrive at the center by 8:00am. At 7:45 I woke up, bolted out of bed, and jumped in the shower. I was late, I couldn't get ready, had to put on old clothes, and was worried about what I was going to find when I tried to put my contacts in. The contacts had turned from a shade of blue to an ugly green in the water, and my eyes did everything they could to reject them. But, I got them in and walked around with itchy, red, watery, sensitive eyes all day. It was pretty.
First thing I found at the center when I arrived ...


I'll just tell you ... cockroaches. And all the locals know how to kill them. We saw about 3 of them throughout the day.
By the end of the day my suitcase had been delivered to my hotel, my eyes had been relieved by my glasses, and I had another center open and crossed off the list. yay!
On Tuesday I hit the road again, headed towards Forrest City, AR. There's not a lot in that city, let me tell ya. Our IT guy found 3 pairs of underwear in the ceiling. I have NO idea how they got there ... but he pulled one out to prove it to me ... so I took a picture.

And, by the end of Tuesday, I had another center finished. Woo hoo! That's 5 centers down, 3 to go!
Before I left Memphis, I had to check out Graceland ... by myself, because Gina and Robbie wouldn't join me. It was excellent! I'll post about that next ...
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Cirque du So-lame? I think not!

Monday, July 20, 2009
You May Not Know ...
1. I'm a nerd and I'm OK with it. I like crossword puzzles, gadgets, useless knowledge, puzzles, numbers ... you name the nerdy thing, i probably like it.
2. I'm a TV junkie if I allow myself to be. Among my favorites: Law & Order, Ace of Cakes, Wizards of Waverly Place, Chelsea Lately, Friends (I'll always watch a rerun!)
3. I judge restaurants as much for their bathrooms as for their food. I heard one time that bathrooms will always tell if a company cares about their customers. The restaurant i go to regularly with the best bathrooms? probably Cheesecake Factory
4. I really enjoy making new things ... particularly crafts and recipes. And I take great pride in something when it turns out well.
5. My favorite summer food is BLT sandwiches with white bread and tomatoes fresh from the garden.
6. I am totally a night person. It's not that I'm grumpy in the morning or anything, just that I prefer night.
7. I try to not let people know how easily I become annoyed. I know it's not a becoming trait, but if I can't get rid of it, it's better if I hide it, right?
8. Sometimes I think I should stop drinking soda. And then I decide that I need a really good reason to stop. So far I haven't found one, so Diet Coke continues to be my drink of choice.
9. I like reading the book before I see the movie. Maybe it's because i don't like surprises, but I think it's just because I like to compare the two afterward.
10. I wish I could write well. And I hope that "practice makes perfect" applies to writing. I have so many ideas that I want to make into books ...
Monday, June 22, 2009
Travel Blog ... Claremont, NH
The hotel is right on the river and the rooms overlook the falls:

The rooms all have wood floors, antique(ish) furniture, flat screen TV ... it's awesome!

GPS, lizard, and OOOOOKLAHOMA!
So Kim told me about this place called Discoveryland in Tulsa ... it's kind of a dinner and theater (OKLAHOMA!) kind of thing. We, however, opted out of the dinner and did our own thing, italian style. The night went something like this:
Kim, Taber, and I get in the car and head to Carrabba's for dinner. Mostly uneventful except for 2 things. The first was this conversation between Kim and the waitress:
Kim: I'll have the lasagna.
Waitress: soup or salad?
K: Salad
W: What kind of dressing ... house or caesar
K: Caesar salad
W: house salad with caesar dressing?
K: Caesar salad
W: house salad with caesar dressing?
K: Caesar salad
W: I'm confused
And the second was this conversation between me and the waitress (we should have known by now what we were dealing with):
Natalie: this diet coke doesn't really taste like diet coke, could you bring me another one?
Waitress: (picking up the drink smelling it) oh, that's definitely diet coke
N: well could I have another anyway?
I thought she was going to take a sip of the drink ... so i was happy when she only smelled it, but still. Can you really smell the difference between coke and diet coke? I think not.
After dinner, we were headed straight to Discoveryland for the play. We type it into the GPS and hit the road. Before we know it, we are "arriving at destination" according to the GPS. Except that we weren't actually arriving at our destination. Far from it, actually.
We call the real Discoveryland, they give us general directions, and we type a general address into the GPS. This time, as we're approximately 2 miles away, there's a "road closed" sign. Except Taber points out that it's closed to thru traffic. So we go down that road thinking that they're ok with local traffic using the road. A couple miles down there's a sign that says "bridge out ahead". What do you think ... only for thru traffic? Forge ahead. We get to the bridge, which actually is there, only it's rough ... dirt, etc everywhere. But there are tracks around the sign, and we can see the opposite side of the bridge, so we decide to go around the sign. On the other side of the bridge, there are also signs. Only there isn't room to go around them this time. We made Taber get out of the car, move the sign and sandbags, and help us through. All while laughing hysterically. I almost peed my pants we were laughing so hard!
We finally found the real Discoveryland! A little late, but it was OK. We bought our tickets and took our little hike down to the amphitheater. A quick trip to the bathrooms before we took our seats. I looked up, and saw this:

yes, a lizard, or some kind of nasty reptile! Luckily, it was dead. At least I think so.
Intermission brought snow cones. During the 2nd half, Kim and I were sitting there eating our snow cones. I was holding a spoonful of ice when I leaned over to say something to Kim. I believe I had gotten out "eating this is like chipping ice off the iceberg that sank the Ti ..." when a gun shot went off in the play. It scared me so much that I jumped enough to send all of the ice on my spoon flying! I think Kim and I laughed through most of that scene!
Here's a couple quick pictures of the show. The lights are too bright for the photo, but at least you can see the scene!


The return trip took significantly less time ... and all in all, it was a fantastic evening ... complete with good fun and great friends!






