Epic Fail :(

Last weekend I went with Sarah to the Pottery Room to do a little painting. I wasn't sure what I wanted to paint and quickly remembered, I was in need of a gift for the In-Loves. This seemed perfect since lets face it we really don't need any more platters ourselves. We are having Christmas lunch / dinner at their house so we'd be able to use it then. I went back Yesterday to pick it up (turn around time is abt a week) on my way to a friends house. I was so excited about it and couldn't wait to show it off. It wasn't until I was literally walking out of the store that I realized I totally messed up. 

I spelled MY OWN LAST NAME WRONG!!!!!

How in the world did this happen, I stenciled the letters out ahead of time. Looked over it several times to make sure spacing and spelling was perfect. Clearly I didn't look good enough. I probably write make last name at least once if not more a day. We've been together 8 years, I have it tattooed on my ankle, I have it Monogrammed around my house. How in the world. Maybe it was my nerve's that got to me. Being in a new place, a new friend, not wanting to make a fool of myself. I don't know. 

I laugh about it now, but am still so annoyed with myself. 

I still plan on giving it to them as a gift and seeing how long it takes them to notice it. I sent a picture to the hubbs last night and he didn't notice it till I asked him if he saw anything wrong. 

Heck I'm sure it will make for a great conversation piece for the years to come. 

Daughter-in-Law of the year award right here people. 

"Christmas 2014"

Country Cruising Day 2- At Sea

Our first full day at sea and we spent the entire day literally, in the hot tub other wise known at a Spa by some Californians we met. Sarah's Mom and Aunt were in there and we went in to chat with them and never left. So many people came and went, there were so many different conversation going and of course endless amounts of drinks. Brandy and I got out at one point to go to the restroom and look who we ran into. (below middle) Nancy happened to be walking up at the same time so we were able to get a quick hello in. The only one at that. Brandon (top left) and Joe stopped by to say hello on their way to play a little basket ball before they had to get ready for their evenings performance. 

I really couldn't imagine going on this cruise with anyone else. We have so much fun together and I just love these girls to pieces. 

There were several different artist that played through out the day while we were hanging in the "Spa". Wynnona and her husband came out and did a Q&A session. But the one that caught our eye was Bryan Edwards because of his "Aloha" shirt he was wearing. Nancy and I called him over and we chatted for a bit before we convinced him to get in the spa with us for a picture. 

That evening Montgomery Gentry preformed in the main theater for our show / concert. 

I knew a hand full of their songs, they defiantly made you want to get up on your feet and dance and we did just that. The two of them together were so funny but so genuine at the same time. 

Later that evening we made our way to the Atrium to watch Brandon & Leah. I absolutely LOVE her voice and their songs, well there not country but who cares. She's amazing. If you've never heard of them just google or YouTube their names. They made the cutest couple ever and Joe is the perfect addition to the group. 

Eventually we made our way to Bliss were we met up with everyone for the evening. We hung out, had to many drinks as we always did and did a little dancing ;) I think it was always one of those times of day we all enjoyed the most. You could really let loose and not worry about anything. We always managed to meet knew people each night to. Some stuck around and others not so much. 

We made our way to the Atrium for our late night / early morning food fix and the let down was still there. It was the same as the first night Salad, Burgers, Hot Dogs, Chicken Wings and Spinach did. It was pretty horrible but we some how managed to eat it any ways. 

After eating someone had the bright idea that we should stay up and watch the sunrise. I'm pretty sure it was Nancy's idea but I could be wrong. We toyed with the idea for a bit, Sarah was not so sure of it at first. We were all pretty tired but figured what the heck we were already up and the sunrise was in about a hour or so. So why not. Everyone was on board and we made our way to the back of the ship. We got absolutely no pictures of the sunrise (well minus two but nothing spectacular)

From left to right top- Joe, Brandy, Ben, Me, Nanc, Sarah and Elliot (who we met early that night). 

Carey and Brian. 

Sarah, Elliot and I made our way down to a lower deck for a better view. While they sipped on some coffee, I enjoy a cup of Hot Chocolate (I don't do coffee). As we watched the sunrise, it was nice to sit down and just chat away from all the craziness and nonsense. 

Eventually the rest of the group caught up with us, there was talk of going back to the room and going to bed. Which seemed funny because there was people getting up and coming out for breakfast and here we were still dressed from the night before. Someone came up with the idea to go change into our swim suits and go lay out by the pool and get a few hours of sleep. This way we had good pool side seats for the day's concerts. It sounded like a crazy idea at first and again we all went back and forth with it and finally agreed we do it. Everyone split and went their separate ways with the plan to meet back up by the pool right after changing. 

When we got to our room there was a little something waiting for Sarah, she loves loves the towel animals. So to say she was a little excited to see them would be a under statement.

We changed and headed back up to the pool deck were we continued our day…..

Getting to Miami….Disaster!!!

I had a half day Friday at work and headed to the Charlotte, NC airport from there to meet up with the girls. Only to quickly find out that Sarah's flight was delayed causing her to miss both her connections and wouldn't make it to Charlotte in time for our 5:40 flight out. No big deal she'd make it to Miami the same time as Brandy and I just on a different flight. After I took a few things out of my suite case seeings it was over weight by 2 lbs and the stupid gate agent refused to let it slide I finally made my way to my gate. Only I would have to carry my Cowboy boots through the airport. I was excited to meet Brandy. She and Sarah have known each other since high school and she was joining us on the Cruise this year. Whelp a short phone call later from Sarah and Brandy's flight was canceled and she wouldn't be making it in to Miami till around 10pm two hours after we were getting there. Back up about a month ago, Sarah and I spent a hour on the phone booking our flight and had it all planned out that the 3 of us would meet in Charlotte as a surprise to B and fly to Miami together. Well looks like I was going to be the only one going with our original plan.
A couple hours later S and I both arrived in Miami, at complete opposite ends of the airport. We told each other we'd get out bags and meet in the middle. Mine came and I headed Sarah's way, seriously from baggage claim 1 to 24. Talk about a LONG walk. Sarah had to take 3 different airlines to get to Miami, because of delays and canceled flights her bag was no were to be found. We checked with each airline we though might be of help and got no were. Although after making her claim with American they did give her a sweet little over night kit. It was nearly 10pm at this point so there was no point in us leaving and coming back for B. We went down and waited for her at the baggage claim only to find out her flight was delayed again. Talk about a night and little did we know it was just getting started. Finally she was here, her bag made it and we clicked right away. I was semi nervous about meeting someone new. I'm the quiet shy one out of the group and well lets just say you would have though we'd known each other for years.
We had to lug our stuff for what seemed like forever all the way through the Miami airport to get to the rental car company area. We were able to check in for the car with out any issue and even got a free upgrade just by me simply asking and making conversation with the guy. Hey doesn't hurt to ask right!?!? We decided we'd head to the hotel get checked in and then figure out what we were gonna do for dinner. It was so late but we were still hungry. We'd planned to stay at the same hotel that we did last year because it was really nice, close to the airport and stores. Only Nancy gave Sarah the wrong information and it was a complete disaster.
(back up) Last year before we went on the Cruise Nanc and Sarah were at the beach and Nancy booked a hotel not reading the reviews. Afterwards Sarah read the reviews and lets just say she quickly x'ed that hotel and booked a new one.
When it came time to book the hotel for this year we asked Nanc if she remember the name of the hotel or had the information from it still. Well she did, from the original hotel she booked that was. Non of us caught it though. After all this was 15 months later. So Sarah, Brandy and I pulled up to this hotel that was right off the highway and immediately we KNEW it was NOT the hotel we stayed at last time. Just from the way we entered the parking lot. Brandy questioned us and asked if we were sure it wasn't were we stayed. Yes we were 110% positive it wasn't the hotel we stayed at last time. We pulled towards the front and feared for our life, seriously. I can't even begin to describe the type of people we saw walking in and out of the hotel. I pulled over into a parking spot so we could try and figure out what we were gonna do. After about 10 minutes of going back and forth we decided to brave it up and go in. We proceeded to check in and when he asked if we still were staying for 2 night I quickly told him NOPE, we only needed one night. We had no clue what we were gonna do for the 2nd night yet up we'd figure that out later.
Still slightly fearing for our life and trying not to touch anything we made our way up to our room. OMG, talk about a scene out of a horror movie. The room had a horrifying stench, the sheets had a yellow tent, the lamp shades were falling apart, the AC controls were broken and there was rust in the bathroom. I didn't even want to set my stuff down, let alone go to the bathroom and Brandy and I both bad to pee. YIKES!!!! This was seriously not happening. We called Nancy who wasn't flying into Miami till the next evening, to tell her what was going on and that she was never going to live it down. No joke we got some good laughs out of it but we were determined we were NOT staying here. No way I was getting in one of those beds, Hell I didn't even want to sit on it. We both started calling around trying to find another hotel for then night. We figured we cut our loses to save our selves. Brandy and I went down stairs and checked out telling the front desk guy that something had come up and we wouldn't be able to stay. We were in the room for not even 30 minutes, it was just awful.
Sarah was able to get us a new reservation for both nights at a different hotel closer to the airport. At this point we were starving and needed food then. We stopped at the first place we saw that was open at 1am in the morning. Wendy's. There's a reason my husband doesn't eat here.
After deciding what we wanted I ordered, for us only to be told they didn't have anything we wanted. So we changed our order, again to be told they didn't have anything we wanted. So I asked what do you have. "Chicken Nuggets" Ok, fine we will have 3 orders of chicken nuggets as the meals, all the same. But for the drinks I want Sweet Tea for two and Coke for anther. You do have sweet tea right, "Yes we do". So they aren't all the same if the drinks are different. Oh dear lord shoot me now seriously. I was about to go off on this guy but I kept my cool. We get to the window and he informs me that they do not have enough nuggets to make 3 full meals. AHHHHH but they had enough of the spicy ones to make up the difference. Ok fine that will work we will take it, just give us our food.  A minute or so later he comes back to the window and say's he has more bad news after he's already given me one Sweet Tea which I gave to Sarah. They were now out of sweet tea, are you FREAKING KIDDING me. How are you suppose to stay open till 2pm but you have no food or drinks to serve. "Do you have lemonade" ?? Yes we do, ok fine I'll take a Lemonade. Finally we were on our way to the hotel when Sarah took a big drink of her, what was suppose to be Sweet Tea and it was most certainly NOT. I DIED!!!!! I couldn't take it any more, the night was beyond crazy and at this point I'm pretty sure we were laughing so hard we were crying. Stuck in traffic on the highway we saw a group of girls with next to nothing on in hand-cuffs. We'd seen some pretty crazy things in Miami and we hadn't even been there for 24hrs.
We got to our new hotel checked in and went to our room. It was so nice, had a full kitchen, a living room, 2 queen beds, plenty of room for all of us to spread out and be comfy. We sat down to eat and well lets just say we completely wasted our money on crappy Wendy's food. Such a disappointment.
We laid in bed till early in the morning talking and catching up. It was definitely one of the best first nights we'd had together. One we will never forget all while there was a new person (to me) in the mix.
The first of many nights to follow!!!!!

Back on the Water......

(picture over load but worth it!!!!)
Sunday night I met up with my brother, a few of his friends and we all drove down to our river house. Its about a hour away from were we live, we grew up going down there every weekend and water skiing. It's absolutely so much fun, If I could pick any sport that I LOVE it would be water skiing for sure!!!! Sadly since I've gotten married and moved away I haven't been able to do much skiing which sucks. So to say I was looking forward to the next couple days on the water would be a understatement.   After we got up to the house and everyone got settled in we all set out on the patio, had a couple drinks and had a good time hanging out listening to music way to loud. Next thing we knew it was almost 2am and we were suppose to be getting up in a few hours to go get our boat.

 Here are a few pictures from our river house that I snapped while we were there. 

That morning my brother and I went for a run down to the boat ramp while the others decided to sleep off their hang overs from the night before. Its about 3 miles from the house down to the bottom of the hill to the boat ramp and back to our house. The water was smooth as glass and surprisingly pretty warm.

After we got back showered and ready we headed up the storage to get the boat. The rest of the day was spent on the water, listening to music, water skiing, having a few drinks and a all around FABULOUS TIME!!!!

 Working up the nerve to put my ski on and get behind the boat. YIKES!!!! 

 Rebecca and Myself soaking up a little sunshine. ----------Supporting the good old USA---------

My little brother and me cruising down the river. 

I finally worked up the nerve to get in the water. It was a wee bit chilly at first and I was a bit nervous about the fact if I was even going to be able to get up on my ski or not. It had been a good 4-5 years since I've Slalomed. 

You can see me skiing & my brother driving in the above pic. :)

  But guess what!!!!!!! I DID IT!!!!! I got up on my first try and didn't even struggle one bit, its like riding a bike right?!?!?!? Well not exactly, I'd like to believe its quite a bit harder. I was so excited and couldn't stop smiling. I almost started crying I was so stoked and proud of myself. The only thing that would have made it any better was if my hubbs would have been there to see me. My dad used to give me a hard time because I'd never get my hair went when I skied and well guess what.....My hair was completely dry when I finished!!! That's called not crashing yall!!!! 

 Let me go ahead and brag a little bit on my little bubbly. He's a freaking pro when it comes to Barefooting, the kid used to compete in competitions all the time and plans on getting back into them. Kids got skills and I've got the proof to show you!!!! JT getting ready to go Footin. 

 JT from start to up on his feet going at a speed of 45mph in a matter of seconds. It still amazes me that he can do this. He did learn from the best though, our dad. 

He moved up top the boom (I can barefoot but only off the boom) to show off a bit more. 

 Toe-hole up, this is were he rest's his foot (one) in a loop on the handle and the boat pulls him up. This is seriously hard and takes skills but of course he's got them!!!! I even got the crash in action lol. 

I have a couple short videos' from JT Footin & Wakeboarding I'll try to upload them soon. 

Just a few bloopers from our day. :) 

JT on the Wake Board, I've gotten up a time or two on the Wake Board before but its just not my thing. Justin's pretty good at it though!!!! 

This was a new one for me, it's called a Wake Skate. I've never heard of such a thing but the guys seem to enjoy it  quite a bit. 

 Just a few more shots from one of my many runs of the day!! Perfect start each time and never crashed or fell!!!! 

 My true passion is water skiing and I couldn't imagine not being able to do it. 

 Our boat is almost 20 years old but she's still running just like new. She's a 1996 Outboard Master Craft. It's not often at all that Master Craft makes a Outboard. I grew up learning how to ski behind this boat. We did have a Barefoot Sanger before this one but when my dad had the opportunity to get this one he jumped on it. Miss. Hawaiian Tropic of 1996 won the boat, some how my dad found out about it. She didn't want the boat she wanted the money. So she sold it to my dad, before it was built. He got to go through and customize every little detail about it. Down to the colors, seat placement and every little thing. She's been through alot and I'm glad we've been able to keep her in the family. I can't wait to go home with hubbs and take him out on our boat. 

!!!!!!!!!!!!Isn't she a beauty!!!!!!!!!!!!

The rest of the evening once we got back to the house was spent hanging out, listening to music once again probably way to loud but when your in the country were our house is that's OK. We all pitched in a made a fabulous dinner of course with a few drinks to go along with it. It felt so great to be back down at our RiverHouse and I can't wait to go back. I loved being able to hang out with my brother and get to know his Girlfriend as well. 

Day-5

Spring Break in Texas!!

Day-1

I flew out Thursday evening for Texas and couldn't be more excited to get out of the South for a little while. Only down side to the whole trip is I was going solo, hubs had to work. Darn you life on the trail. I was going to finally get to see my baby brother and hang out with him after way to long. We had plans to go down to our river house and send a couple days on the water and ski. Other than that I didn't really have any big set plans, just to take it day by day and see what came. My plane arrived about half a hour early and I was a bit worried bc my little brother was picking me up at the airport. I just knew he was going to be late be we landed at the time he said he was going to leave his house. Much to my surprise I called him right away and was already almost there and already knew about me getting in early, the gate change and everything. Boy's got skills, gosh he's growing up. Be time I got my bag and walked outside he was pulling up. When I went to get in the truck I was greeted by this beautiful face!!! Sweet little Calli, his Pit Bull that he's had since 2004. Her and my brother have been through a lot together she's much more than just family.

 From there we headed to our Mamaw's house were I was going to be staying. Since it was late and I hadn't had dinner yet he offered to stop some were for me. CHICKEN EXPRESS PLEASE!!!!!! He went to order and I was quickly disappointed. They were completely out of what I wanted. Epic fail, I was no longer hungry. 

We visited with our Mamaw for a bit before he left and I called it a night, it had been a long day. (I worked that morning before I left and even with only a hour time change I could feel it.)

Day-2 

Friday my little brother came to pick me up from our Mamaw's house with his Girlfriend (whomed no one in our family had met yet) I was a tiny it nervous, not so much about meeting her but about how she would be and just her personality in general. My brother's been through a lot and he needs a girl that's going to help keep his head on straight and not some one that's going to steer him down the wrong road. We met up with our mom at one of my favorite places OTB. We hit it off great, her name is Rebecca and she's 2 1/2 years younger than my brother. We joked around exchanged stories went shopping after lunch, then to visit with our Nene before they dropped me back off at my mamaw's house.

I went to my Aunt Vonda's house to visit with her and my cousin little Robert for a bit before dinner. She has a tree swing in her front yard and I always love swinging on it. There's just something about it that's so fun and carefree. I may or may not have almost busted my butt a couple of times. 

My Uncle Richard, absolutely LOVE HIM!!!! My Aunt Vonda and LiL Robert - her grandson. 

Later that evening I met up with Denise and her two boy's in the Highlands for some dinner. She's a fellow blogger herself, stationed in Texas just a couple hours away from were I'm from. It was great to finally meet her in person after chatting and blogging back and forth with her over the last year or so. She's such a doll and I can't wait to get together with her again. So glad we are "real life friends" now. 

I finished out the evening hanging out with my favorite Uncle Richard, Aunt Holly and little Cousin Shae. I alway's enjoy catching up with them, we always spent so much time together when I lived in Texas, its so hard being away from them now. Thank Goodness for being back on the Mainland, its a little easier to come home now and def. not as expensive. 

New Year....New Me

It's a New Year and I'm starting it off on the right foot. Literally!!!! February 2011 I got into running and have taken off with it since then. After moving to the South (fall 2011) it took me a while to get back in to a regular routine. With the move, getting settled and of course because of the climate and temperature change I kinda slacked. Once the winter months were behind us, I really didn't have any excuses. Plus the hubbs had given me a Nike GPS running Watch for Christmas that I had / wanted to put to use. I started out working my way back up to were I was before I left Hawaii and did so quite well. I've continued with it and stuck it out since then and feel so good about it. I never though I would enjoy running as much as I do, but I DO!!! It's such a great stress reliever and I feel so good about myself after I finish a run no matter how long it was. I'm determined to focus 100% on my running during the year 2013. I think believe by starting out strong and hard like I am, I will set myself up for success. Really it can only go up from here, there's not looking back or quitting, it's just not a option. 

Jan. 3rd, first run of the new year!!! 3.5

I've found the best running partner here in the South. She just so happens to be one of my moms in my class. We've become really good friends over the last 4 1/2 months. We make a good team to, we encourage and push each other along. Which I believe is key to getting any were in life. Everyone NEEDS encouragement and a little extra push and shove some times. I only wish we would have met sooner, better late than never right. 

Two things to do on my 30 b4 30 list are to run a half & full marathon. So during our run last night Kelly (my running partner) mentioned to me about a half marathon coming up in March to our area. We talked about doing it and debated it for about half a day and then decided to do it and commit 100%. So what does that mean you ask?!?!? Well I'll tell you......THIS GIRL signed up to run her first Half Marathon and It's only 2 "TWO" 2 months away. I've got some mega training to do but I'm super stoked and excited about it. Starting the New Year off STRONG. New Year New Me!!!! 

To help us build up to it and train we also signed up for a 10K that's at the end of January. WooHoo!!! 

LOOK OUT WORLD, there's nothing stopping me now!!!! 

I would definitely say that running has changed my life. I'm much more confident, it also helps me tell myself that I really can do anything as long as I put my mind and heart into it. I'm more motivated than I ever have been and I love that feeling. Not just in running but life its self and taking on what ever the day my bring.

Jan. 4th second run of the new year!!! short quick 2.5 ~ intervals 

 I'm planning on blogging more about my running and experience with it to help keep myself accountable and motivated. Any advice, tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 

Old & New Friends

Last night I made the 5 hour drive from Lansing, WV to Belvoir, VA in the pouring rain. I'm talking buckets and buckets of rain, so bad that I ended up pulling off the highway. I've never been so terrified driving in my life, not to mention I was still in the rental so that didn't help. Thankfully everything worked out with the whole car catastrophe in a good way. I have a good friend from Hawaii that is now station in DC so I camped out at their house Friday night. We stayed up for our catching up and chatting. Her husband works at Arlington National Cemetery so he was able to explain more of why they do things the way they do. It was nice to see them because it was planed during this trip, just so much to do and so little time. I guess everything happens for a reason right. 

This morning Rae made us all (her hubbs, lil dude & I) breakfast, how sweet of her. She new I wouldn't be able to stay long since I had to get the rental car back by noon which was a hour away. Not  to mention I wanted / needed to get on the road headed home. After breakfast we were cleaning up the kitchen when we looked outside to find her lil dude taking a swim in his little pool. It was so funny, he said he wanted to go swim and well he went. How can you get mad at that cute face though right, we just laughed it off and went back to what we were doing. 

A bit later I packed up my things and was on my way, it was so nice to see Rae and her fam again. Its been 3 years since they've left Hawaii. We always hung out, did bbq's & holidays together so having a slice of that back in the middle of chaos was nice. 

Just as the rental car company was dropping me off at the dealer, the service tech pulled up with my car. Everything checked out fine and works properly just if it was brand new. Thank goodness because I don't think I could handle a single ounce of bad news in regards to this car. After handing over my payment gulp :( the detectable I was back behind the wheel. I've never been more happy to get rid of a rental, that thing was AWFUL!!!!!!

One last stop before I really headed home, another one I'd been looking forward to today. I was meeting up with a fellow blogger friend for the first time. She lives just outside the DC city and happened to be free this afternoon. We met up at a local park right near her home so her cute little one could play while we got to know one another more. I love how the blog world can bring people together from all over the world and all walks of life. Aside from the fact that we totally 50 questioned each other trying to get to know one another you would have though we would have met before. It was a wonderful afternoon and I can't wait to met up again and see whats in store. 

When I was driving to the park I noticed signs for local fresh BBQ, and if you know me at all you know I LOVE LOVE BBQ. Its one of my all time favorite foods, since it was just after lunch time and I hadn't eaten yet I figured I'd try to find were the signs were leading and grab me some grub. Sure enough I found my self pulling into a local parking lot were there was a couple different vendors set up selling fresh fruits, veggies, other things (that I didn't check out) and BBQ. I ordered me a plate doubling up the slaw vs. beans and I had myself a tasty lunch. It was just the pick me up I needed to tell myself I COULD make the long drive home. 

I made it home just a little after 8pm not late at all, just shortly after the hubby got home from work. Boy was I glad to see him and the pups again, I sure did miss my love. 

~DAY 233~