HELLO!

Whew!
We're all back from our "world" travels...DH, DD & I went to Disney World and took the Disney cruise. We had a VERY nice time!

DS is back from Alaska - he took a week long cruise and week long land tour. He LOVED it - is maybe thinking he'd like to live there....I say go back in winter and see if you still feel that way!

The concert was AMAZING last week! We sat & cooked in the sun for about 4 hours while we were there before the sun went down but it was GREAT! (Yes - I can admit I'm a dork!)

Watch for more pictures...

Hope you're having a great summer!

Countdown's on....

4 more days until the Kenny Chesney concert! Woo hoo! Oh how I love that man!

Happy Father's Day!

To all the dads, grandpas, uncles, brothers, cousins, etc...may you have a FANTASTIC, relaxing day!

HUGS!!!!!

Summer reading

I signed up for our summer reading program at the library. The challenge is to read 5 books before July 31 and one has to be a "game themed" book.


So, my blogging friends - I challenge you to read 5 books before July 31. :)

Back from "enemy territory"

That's right....St. Louis! Those blasted Cardinals...

Just kidding! DH & I went this past weekend for my work's conference. We had a nice time. The speaker was a bit long and not that exciting, BUT what are you going to do!?

Anyway, our choice of activity for Friday evening was to have dinner at Busch Stadium's Champions Club. It was very nice! It was really neat to be there by ourselves and watch them set up for the Dave Matthews concert. Then we went to the City Museum for a couple of hours - that place is REALLY cool!!!!!! Lots of climbing, hands on - VERY kid friendly place!

Saturday, we walked to the Arch and took the ride to the top. The view is so neat from up there and that structure is just amazing! Then we walked to Union Station for lunch and some shoppping. After that, we went back to our room and took naps until we had to get ready for the theater. Our entire group went to see Mama Mia - cute show but I don't think I'd go see it again. They fed us dinner AT the theater before the show and it was yummy!

Sunday we left the hotel early and decided to go to Meramec Caverns. The neon sign should have been out tip-off that this was going to be SUPER TOURISTY!!!!!!!!!! (I would also like to add the mirrored ball hanging from the ceiling of the "ballroom" did nothing to deter that feeling) But we enjoy caves and over all - we saw some really cool formations and the thought of how they got there is amazing! The tour itself - QUITE disappointing!!!!! Oh well!

But we had a nice time overall, despite the heat, rain and St. Louis humidity. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Annnnd...that's a wrap!

Today is my "little man's" last day of freshman year. He has his last final today then he will officially no longer be a freshman. Next up.....DRIVER'S ED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! {insert "Psycho" music, me covering my face and screaming here}

I LOVE my job!

Really! I do!

I feel very fortunate that I love what I do and who I do it with (for the most part...)! Our company has an amazing philosophy of "teams" (aka: office staffs) doing things together.

Today our team had an outing - we played paintball! It was the 1st time any of us had ever gone and we all had SUCH a GREAT time! Minimal injuries (mostly bumps and bruises), many laughs and a great way to build trust and leadership. It stormed on the way there, so the fields were wet but none of us seemed to mind getting wet and muddy - and we were! But by the time we played the last game, the sun was trying to come out.

I just wanted to share the fun.... Off to put ice on my welts and bruises! :)

WTH???

REALLY? WTH?
I was walking to work today and as a lady (complete stranger) comes around the corner with her husband, she dead stops in front of me and squeals (yes, squeals!):

"Oh my God! We're twinies! Isn't that cool?" I apparently gave her the WTH look because she points to my pants "We have the same pants."
My reply: "Ah, ok. Great." And walk around her to work.
Weirdo....
It's not jr. high - we're strangers on the street.

#300

Yep, blog post #300! :D

For those of you who have heard me talk and those of you who have not, (read: complain/bitch) about the one co-worker that I have that I do not like, sit back and enjoy!

Dear Co-Worker:
1. You are not my boss. I hope you can remember that! If you would like help with something, then please, by all means, ASK for help! I don't appreciate you dictating me to do your clerical tasks while I am buried under paper and files of my own.
2. When you are on hold with someone, do we all have to listen to the muzak? Seriously! I don't need to know that your call is important to them, followed by the musical sounds of instrumental Copacabana! Turn your damn speaker phone off!!!!!!! Stick it to your ear like the rest of us.
3. You are capable of waiting of clients when they come in. Please don't make them stand there and wait because I am on the phone or waiting on another client. CUSTOMER SERVICE!
Sincerely,
Your irritated coworker

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My Cubbies are doing great! I am SO excited about how well they're doing!

Have a GREAT weekend!

May update, part 2

I guess all that's left to update on is Memorial Day weekend...

Friday, we went into the city to have dinner with my sis and brother in law. Despite the 3 hour (it should have been a little over an hour) trip - love Chicago area traffic. :) Anyway, we arrived safely, took the El (made DD's night! - she's still talking about it) and walked a couple of blocks to "Piece" - yummy pizza!!!!!! Thanks, A & D for a fun evening and good company. DD's favorite part, of course was the "train ride" and the "shoe store" (we just walked by one and I thought she was going to wet her pants with excitement...girls...)

Saturday was pretty quiet - we picked up DD's glasses, DS had an orientation for his cruise with my in laws next month, and I worked at the library in the afternoon. I use the word "work" very loosely - it was VERY dead in there so I managed to finish the book I was reading - time well spent....

Sunday we went to the zoo with some friends. It was a GORGEOUS day! Sunny, mid-70s. The animals were out and playing. The zoo was packed! (Zoo pictures to come in a few days...) We spent the night at a hotel about 15 minutes from the zoo. We had dinner at Ed Debevic's, then went back to the hotel to relax.

Monday we had breakfast and swam in the pool for a while. We checked out by 11 and headed our separate ways. We swung by Archivers (oh I love their $1.99 spot!) and picked up some embellishments. We picked up McD's on the way home for lunch and crashed after we ate. DH & DS went to go see the new Indiana Jones movie - they weren't real excited about it.

I hope you had a nice Memorial Day weekend!

May update, part 1

Greetings fellow bloggers and blog readers!

I do not know where May has gone. Geez... The weather this month has been up & down.

Oh let's see, what have we been doing this month?

The first weekend of May was BEAUTIFUL! Sunny, 70s...so that Sunday, we loaded up the bikes and drove about 20 miles to the bike path and rode for about an hour. It was lots of fun and it was nice to see spring coming. Then we accidentally stumbled on a parade, so we sat and watched that for the rest of the afternoon. We came home with about 5 pounds of candy...

Mother's Day was very nice! We went to the Cubs game - the weather was HORRID! Rainy, windy (20 mph with 40 mph gusts) and a high of 46. More like football weather, BUT we waited out the delay and the Cubbies won! :) Complete with some fan action - an idiot in the bleachers jumped the wall and was running around the outfield during the game. Hope that moron collected enough money for his bail AND took it with him!

DD got her new glasses - FINALLY this past Saturday! What a fiasco! We waited 6 weeks for them! Hello? Customer service people! She had her exam 6 weeks ago and tried on frames that she really liked but they didn't have them with the long temple bows so they had to order her a similar frame, 5 - 7 days. A week & a half pass and I finally call them - Oh, ah...well they should be coming. Another week passes, I call again - they're on back order. No one called!!!! HELLO????? SO, I wait until the back order date and wait a few extra days. Stop by to see what's going on. They should be another 3 or 4 days. I wait another week, and call. Nothing. Of course, the next day when we have a million things going on, they come in but I leave early and we get them fitted and order her lens. So they call this past Friday - they're all in. So, we go pick her up early and take her - the temple bows are WAY too short! The lens are pressing against her eyeballs and the girl says "I think she could be ok". Ahhhhh - NO!!!!! So, of course, we leave to go out of town for the evening (that will be update part 2) and when we get home at 10:30 there is a message that they have worked on her glasses and they should be fine. So bottom line, she has them now and LOVES that they turn into "sunglasses" now.

Hope you're all well and I'll update you further soon!

Which Princess are You?

Which Disney Princess Are You Most Like? (thorough!) created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Belle You are Belle! Belle 80% Ariel 60% Cinderella 57% Jasmine 50% Snow White 47% Mulan 47% Pocahontas 40% Sleeping Beauty 33%

Still alive...

Yes, I'm still alive - just seem to be lacking in the time department.
I hope you are all well! We're doing fine - just busy!
I hope and I said HOPE to catch up here very soon!!! Stay tuned....

Scraps so far....

I haven't gotten much done but here they are...

I did the card as a sketch challenge (thank you, Nunu!) This is just a quick color challenge digital layout.

Hopefully I'll have some more in the next few days....

Tomorrow is....

National Scrapbooking Day! Yes, that's right - it has it's own "holiday". :D However, I won't probably be doing much during the day tomorrow - gotta work... Hopefully tonight and tomorrow night, I can do a little scrapping and have a little "show" soon!

To my scrapping friends - I challenge you to do a layout using YOUR handwriting - NO computer fonts anywhere.... You can do it! (Please link me to your layout)

Have a SUPER Friday!
Happy Scrapping!

Happy May Day!

I just wanted to wish you all a Happy month of May! May you have a spring filled month!!!!!

HUGS!

YES!!!

Much to be happy about....

The Cubs just finished a 7-1 home stand and their overall record for the season, so far is 14-6. Yesterday's win was number 9,999 for the orginization. If this keeps up this year, and I hope it does, it's gonna be a GREAT season! : )

Phase 1 of the basement has been completed! The carpet is in and the furniture is back. It was GREAT to lay on the floor and watch TV. DD was THRILLED that the TV was back and that she could be down there again.

I will once again say that I work for the greatest company! We had an all-team meeting yesterday and as much as I wasn't looking forward to it, it was pretty good. There were a lot of creative skits and the speaker was pretty good. As a "thank you" for our work in the 1st quarter, they gave each of us an iPod Nano. I almost fell out of my chair... quite a thank you!

DS is off today - due to the mandatory Illinois ACT test. Our district makes the juniors go to school but the rest of the high school has a day & a half off.... First, I think it's silly that ALL the juniors have to take the ACT. Second, I'm sure the middle school & elementray teachers aren't happy THEY all have to go to work! Third, yet another day off of school...brother!

DH & I started walking again. We have been out every night for the past week. I can't believe the difference in how I feel - SO much better! Why do I let myself go like that? LAZY!

Nothing real creative going on with my right now...I would like to try to get some sewing done this week.

Hope you're all having a great week!

Quick catch up

Sorry I've been away so much. There seems to be tons going on and now that the weather is getting nicer, it's hard to sit at the computer at home.

DS had a karate tournament last weekend. He took a 1st and a 2nd. We're very proud of him! He works very hard at his karate. He's scheduled to test for his adult black belt this December.

My sis came out last week. We had lunch and a girls afternoon. It was very nice! I had a great time and hope to do it again soon. She taught me to knit. : )

We have had some very nice weather - I believe spring is finally here. I got some sewing done for DD this past weekend, with more to do.

The basement is nearing completion (ok, phase 1). The carpet is going in today. Then it's moving back in there...

I hope you are all well!

Greetings!

I am still alive. I have been MEANING to post something meaningful but the time slips away. I have pictures and updates galore...

I hope you are all well and when I have more than 2 minutes to sit down, I will post it. I am HOPING to go blog visiting this week - have a good one! Thanks for stopping by!

HUGS!

Happy weekend

LAST Sunday, it was GORGEOUS out! Mid 60s and sunny... I took advantage of the weather to go do a shoot at a local historic home - I had the place to myself. It was wonderful! Here's a few of the pictures I took...

This weekend, NOT so nice! It snowed/rained this morning! Hello? It's mid-April!!!! BUT, I hear the 70s are coming this week.

I hope you're all having a good weekend!