Silence is golden ... but duct tape is silver. Unknown

This is what I did today

When the world says "Give Up," Hope whispers "Try it one more time."

I miss my ‘rents.  I live too far away from them.  It is hard sometimes not to resent Bey for moving me all the way over here to this city so far away from people that love me.  Of course Bey loves me, but I still miss the ‘rents.  Daddy just bought a new boat, and we had a fun taking the boat out on Lake Lanier.  My entire family likes to be connected to the water. 

Since my parents have retired I have gotten to spend lots of quality time with them.  It is so great to see them so relaxed.  I am so grateful that my parents were young enough to retire at 57.  It has allowed them to enjoy their retirement.  My mom and dad both are in good health and just are really enjoying their lifestyle. 

And then there is SD.  I took SD with me to Atlanta this week.  I came upon SD whispering conspiratorially with my mom.  SD was trying to convince my mom to let her stay in Atlanta until school starts.  I guess so.  If I was spoiled like SD over there I would want to stay too!  :)

“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J. R. R. Tolkien

"Travelling is like flirting with life. It's like saying, i would stay and love you, but I have to go; this is my station." Anon

What all has been going on?  LOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First and foremost I should mention I am once again out of town.  Out of the country.  Out of my mind.  One thing I have just recently realized is I hate being separated from the man.  Bey is an outstanding man!  I can’t believe how much I miss him. 

Let’s see I believe I mentioned I bought a new truck, and the pool was finished.  Work has been hectic and fun all at the same time.  My parents came for a visit which was nice to see them.  I can’t ever spend enough time with them!  It is so great that my dad is now retired.  I have never seen him so relaxed. 

Bey and I have been having a great time.  One thing that has been a lot of fun is settling in to our schedule.   Having SD every other weekend allows us to have alone time.  We are able to spend some quality couple time.

We went to a crawfish festival back in April.  It was nice to listen to Zydeco music and eat Jambalaya.  It was even nicer to spend the time with our friends and hang out with people from Louisiana that have been transplanted in Phoenix like us! 

SD was inducted into the NJHS (National Junior Honor Society).  We are so proud of her!  She looked so pretty at her induction ceremony.   I was so proud seeing her standing there with her candle. 

SD has been attending Bible study at church.  She is very dedicated and enjoys the study.  She has also made quite a few friends at church. 

My stepmom group is going well, and I have been enjoying getting to know my fellow Stepmom’s in the valley.  On Saturday, we went and painted our own pottery.  Not really my thing, but I still had such a blast with the girls. 

I’ll have some new school stuff to report directly.  Additionally now that all the projects are done around the house Bey and I can just settle in to our little love nest.  J

“A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day.” Bill Watterson

We bought a new Dodge Ram Laramie this weekend.  It is a 2010, black and tan, and gorgeous.  Good Riddance to our old truck.  I put the entire truck on my credit card, and then I came hoem and paid it off.  In that one quick purchase I earned enough air miles to go to Bali.  Now it is time to plan. ;)








One of my most favorite songs to make myself smile.

I have been so naughty I am putting myself in timeout.

Ok I am just being funny.  I haven't been that naughty.  Maybe just a little.  Mostly I have been working my little tail off.

However here are a few pictures I have been meaning to share...note I have some better pics but these are the ones I have handy.    These two pictures prove once and for all why I am not a photographer by trade.  Actually I just took them with my Blackberry and although my phone takes outstanding pictures these turned out grainy.  This is SD's first cheerleading game.  :)  She is the one I circled with the big black oval.  I promise that I will put some better pics up.  My mom, dad, aunt and uncle all went with me to cheer on the fabulous SD at her first game. 

These next two are scenes from Tortilla Flats and Canyon Lake.  The boat needed to stretch its propeller yesterday so I had to give in to the urge and take it for a spin.  I couldn't resist snapping some pictures along the way it was just so beautiful there! 

Probably the most exciting news is Bey is destined to be here TODAY.  Which is fantastically exciting!  I can not wait to see him.  Let the festivities begin!

I have signed up to participate in a gift exchange. If you are interested you have to respond by November 25, 2009.  I am excited about the prospect.  You are supposed to describe yourself to help your exchange partner shop for you.  I have modern tastes and like neutral colors.  I love flip flops, New Orleans, Auburn, and football.  Hope that helps. :)

I pledge allegiance to The Saints, and to the great city of New Orleans; and to The Super Bowl, for which we will win; One city, below sea level, under God; with Mardi Gras & alcohol for all. AMEN!

"Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey." -- Fitzhugh Mullan

Bey is in the car. Packed up and driving towards me as we speak. Oh let the count down begin. My precious man is IPGZona bound. We are so very blessed. I can't wait to welcome him back to our beautiful home.

“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air…”-Ralph Waldo Emerson

I want my money back. It has been cloudy 4 days in a row. I moved here for the sunshine. :) Actually I moved here for precious SD, but some sunshine would be nice as well.

Darling Bey leaves the great state of Mississippi a week from today. They are throwing him a large going away party that is is a secret I believe. He will have a great time, and I am glad they are honoring him this way. I don't know what his poor boss is going to do with out him.

My sweet daddy is spending the night in my old stomping grounds...El Paso, TX. He should be in Phoenix either tomorrow or Sunday. I am so grateful that we are going to have such a large group at Thanksgiving. I am also excited that I will be able to share my new beautiful home with my family.

My sister met Stephen King today. I am VERY jealous. I love him. He is one of my most favorite authors. It is pretty exciting that she got that opportunity.

Work has been washing over my head like waves. I am so over worked it seems. Now is the last big push until the end of the year. This is not a problem, but I would just like a break.

I saw the movie 2012 with SD and mom this evening. During the movie I realized I have burning desire to go to Tibet. So I will probably be planning something along those lines in the next year or so.

The car search has stalled. Mostly because I have been in mad preparation for family. Hubby has gotten a much better position and a substantial raise so I may bump up my desires a bit more.

I believe I have blogged before on our desire to live a debt free life. Other than our mortgage Bey and I are debt free. So I won't be buying a car that we can't pay for outright. If I were to sit tight for a month or so more I could afford a bit more. But I don't really care what I drive. Mostly if it has four wheels, an automatic transmission, and cranks when I put the key in I am pretty happy.

My dissertation has stalled. My advisor emailed to find out if I was among the living. Thankfully I had something to report and could answer in the affirmative.

"Success doesn't come to you…you go to it."Marva Collins

SD heard a rumor that she made the cheer squad at her school. That is SO exciting. I am hoping it is true. Will update when I know for sure. I am packing up and heading home. Flying from east to west is so nice. I get home the same time I leave. :)

I have a busy few days ahead of me:
Get home
Get the rest of my belongings out of the rental
Get the maid over there to get it clean
Pick up SD
Halloween (SD is spending the night with her besties and I have a party)
The Great Cajun Cookoff on Sunday
Monday night football with all my lovely Saints fans in Phoenix
Pick my mom up from the airport

Busy busy schedule!

Proverbs 18:22 - "He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD."

Just a little reminder to Bey. LOL. I am blogging from Atlanta. My parent's dog died. I came to spend some time with my mom cause she is having a hard time.

I go home Wednesday then my mom comes out for the month of November. My 'rents are retired so they can do whatever they want. My dad is coming too but instead of flying he is driving because, "I have always wanted to do that."

Bey came over for the weekend and spent some time with me. We enjoyed a good weekend of quality family time. The leaves are changing and my parents new home is so beautiful. I believe I made it here for the peak fall foliage weekend.

I have gotten to see my friends that live in Atlanta, and just have a good time in general. Bey has some testing and interviews in Phoenix coming up. He is testing with the Police Department and some school district positions. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

My plane points west on Wednesday, and I will be desert bound once again. It is hard to believe that I have already been here a week. When I return back to IPGzona I have to get the rest of our stuff out of our rental. Then I will be living in the Barbie dream home full time. :)

SD made straight A's on her report card, and today she is trying out for the cheer leading squad.

“The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out” Voltaire

I am going to catch everyone up on the most boring stuff first.

OK FIRST...

School dissertation work will recommence on October 1, 2009. Blah. I haven't got much left to do, but I have been putting it off for a few reasons. First of all I can keep health insurance through Mississippi State as long as I am a student. I was concerned for a bit that I might have to insure both Bey and I (spouses count t00). However it doesn't look like that is the case. Bey will be staying put until he finds his perfect job. So there is no need to lolly gag.

Work

So much work I could scream. Life is too full. Too much going on. I have so many classes and they are all starting like NOW. :) October is always like that! ;) Anyway, most of my course development wraps up at the end of next week. SIGH. Relief.

Furniture

I ordered an entire house full of new furniture and it is all being delivered on Friday. The furniture is contemporary and some of it is custom so the only place to find it is in IPG's home. For example I have a six foot long wall in my foyer that needed something and so IPG's sweet Daddy agreed to build her a fascinating plant and indoor water feature to her exact specifications. Once the house is finished it should look like a show place. Will definitely post pics.

Family

My dad retired in May and has been furnishing his own retirement casa. He and my mom are planning a much anticipated trip to IPGzona. They should be staying between 3 and 4 weeks and we plan to see much of the state as well as just spend some great quality time together.

Sad Stuff

The family dog (not my dog Shug)...my mom's dog Licorice has been diagnosed with cancer. This has delayed my parent's trip. They do not know how much longer they will have with their sweet dog. So they obviously need to spend time with him.

Bey has turned down a few job offers that just were not a good fit for our lifestyle and this family. So the job hunt continues. I am happy I got to spend time with him, and although I know that this separation is difficult it has also made me appreciate some things.

1. Some women are not loved their entire lives as much as my husband loves me. I am not bragging or trying to be mean. I just know that I am the very center of my husband's world. The two of us together create a universe. Not having him here has made me appreciate that in brand new ways. Knowing that our bond is that strong means it is ok that we are not together right this second. We will be, and when we are it will be great.

2. Having a man around the house is handy. I am all for a little girl power, but my goodness when it comes to lifting 150 lb boxes of patio furniture from Home Depot. It is nice to have some muscle around (and it doesn't hurt that it is DELISH) lol


Car

The time has come to get rid of this piece of crap in my driveway I call a truck. :) We are considering some vehicles. I haven't had a chance to go check them all out. So here they are in no particular order....

1. H3
2. Mercedes GLK
3. Jeep Liberty
4. Dodge Ram
5. Chevrolet Silverado
6. Saturn Vue

I have gone and seen a few of them, but haven't had a chance to work through the entire list. I am pretty systematic and will have to just work at my own pace. Notice there is not a BMW z4 on there.


Upcoming events

My social life in Phoenix has expanded. I have met people through Auburn clubs, and Saints clubs, and sorority events. It has been fun getting to know different people. Bey and I have even gotten to be such good friends with a couple here that we have planned a trip to Vegas with them in February. It is a surprise for the guy's birthday. We have all told him we are going on a couple's retreat to Napa Valley. It should be pretty funny when he finds out we are actually planning a trip to somewhere way more fun than Napa. :)


Big 5

So Bey and I started planning our 5th Anniversary trip. We were thinking about going back to Belize where we got married, but have sort of decided to do something different. I will give you a hint it starts with a capital A and is continent!

“The duality of St Petersburg and Leningrad remains. They are not even on speaking terms.” Joseph Wechsberg

We have finished up Moscow and moved on to St. Petersburg. It is AMAZING. I really like it here a lot better than Moscow. Things are so strange. I have also picked up quite a few words in Russian. I will be able to annoy others with it when I return home.


The first is a picture of the cathedral in St. Pete, the second of a church built to atheism, the third is St. Basil's in Moscow, and the fourth is Lennin's Tomb.

Have good night (it is 3:46 AM here!)

From Russia with Love

Hola from Moscow. It is hard to believe that I am fixing to go to bed, and everyone I love is just getting started this Sunday. :)

It is amazing here. SO amazingly beautiful I wonder why it has taken me so long to get here.

Ordering lunch was a challenge. We stopped somewhere that did not speak English and had no English menus. Luckily I ended up with a steak and some vegetables. Jet lag is getting to me although I got some excellent sleep on the plane.

For tomorrow Red Square...

xoxox

"My wings are a thousand books." — Gill Robb Wilson

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am blogging via the airplane. I got a coupon for free Wifi on board. And of course I so used it!!! Whoot! Fun stuff! I am blogging and flying.

I am en route to Atlanta. SUPPOSEDLY our flight is oversold by 13 seats if everyone shows. We are going to give up our seats and get 750 bucks and an upgrade to first class tomorrow if that is true. The best part though is that Bey is in Atlanta and I could stay at my parents. YEAH!!!!

I really hope we get bumped because I want the 750 bucks and I want to see Bey and the 'rents.

“Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Winston Churchill

I have been busy. I am leaving to for Russia tomorrow so I have been getting all the ducks in a row because I close on my house September 15th and I roll back into town on September 12. So I have been a busy girl. :)

But the best news!!!!!!!!!!!! The best news....is Bey is going to be here September 12 - 20th!!!! I am so excited. We will have SD that week with us. So I am very excited. I am going to do cartwheels.

Thank you to Eyes Wide Open for providing my blog with an award!

I will be blogging next week from Moscow and St. Petersburg! :) Stay tuned!!!!

“Happiness consists of living each day as if it were the first day of your honeymoon and the last day of your vacation”

I am still here in Palm Springs. I shouldn’t still be here although if you know me at all you should not be in the least bit surprised. I do adore a vacation.

My BFF and I have been having a great time! I might not go home tomorrow. She has to leave on Wednesday so surely I will head back then! LOL :) However she is going to be back here in December so yeah!

The most fun about this weekend away is that she and I have gotten to plan our upcoming trip to Russia. We will be leaving September 5 and be gone until September 12! YEAH! The only scary bit is that she and I probably are going to have a hard time finding something to eat while traveling.

Upon returning home on the 12^th I am going to drive down to Auburn from Atlanta, and catch the Auburn Mississippi State game. Then I will head down to spend a week at the beach with my parents and the long suffering Bey. THEN I will come home, and promise to be good and stay in town for at least 10 days at a stretch. :) I have to find out if I can take SD out of school for that amount of time…HOPEFULLY everyone deserves a week at the beach!

Sometimes you need a hairbrush

On my way to Palm Springs for a short Vacay in San Diego. I made sure to capture the empty passenger's seat signifying my childfree weekend.

“Knowledge is always accompanied with accessories of emotion and purpose” Alfred North Whitehead

Now that I live on the “west coast…” or near the west coast anyway, I can read post secret before I go to bed on Saturday night. But it seems so sad because I don’t get to read the secrets with Bey.

I just returned from my vacation with my SD. Some notable things happened on the trip. First I discovered a passionate love for a town in northern Arizona called Jerome. It was once a mining town that became a ghost town in the 50’s. The kids LOVED ghost hunting at our hotel and took 2 ghost tours. I am a skeptic and don’t believe in ghosts, but the kids had so much fun…who am I to be a kill joy?

Another notable occurrence is SD bragged to me that she got to use the word “sought” the other day. This obviously needs a little bit of back story. I am a vocabulary nut. Scoring nearly perfect on my SAT verbal section, GMAT, and GRE, I have an infatuation with words. In fact, I can tell you the two words I missed on my SAT…in case you are curious…which I know you are…aplomb and hoi polloi. (Don’t worry I know what they mean NOW). Anyway, not only do I love words, but as I grow tired or frustrated I tend to use larger and more complex words. For example, if I am in an argument with Bey instead of saying, “You hurt my feelings”, I might say “The belittling of my banal requirements must cease and desist post haste.” Nevertheless SD hates when I use words that she doesn’t know. I typically do not define them for her, but have her look them up herself so that she can remember them. She told me that she had the opportunity to use sought, and was very proud.

I need to remind any of my gentle readers that do not know this, but I am her stepmom. So on occasion I get the crumbs. I sometimes wonder what impact if any at all do I have on this child’s life? It is always so gratifying when something like this occurs. Case in point, it is because of my constant badgering that she is such a bibliophile. Perhaps in a few more years she can score PERFECT on her SAT’s! If they ask “sought”, “aplomb”, or “hoi polloi”. She will get a perfect score NO PROBLEM!

I got some AMAZING calla lilies from the man for my anniversary. He has never gotten them for me before and they are my most favorite flower. He is so thoughtful he also sent a small floral bouquet to my aunt. I one time told him that if one woman in a house gets flowers everyone should get flowers. Isn’t he amazing? He listens, he is loving, he is warm…who could be better?

I still have pictures of the trip that I will be uploading tomorrow. I dropped SD off with her mom today, and I get her back on Tuesday. It is always so weird when she is not around after having been around for so long…like I am missing an appendage. :)

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

Ghost Hunters the show took pictures and saw spirits in this mirror. I saw the picture, but I am not sure if I saw the spirits. :)

The tree SD is standing in front of was growing in the ground when the Museum club was built around it. A man was hung and burned on this tree.

Also in the Museum Club a man shot himself in front of this fireplace. His ghost is rumored to still haunt the establishment.

The haunted Hotel Monte Vista.

The lobby of the Hotel Monte Vista...perhaps there will be a new ghost....;)

Not just Deer Crossing...Elk Crossing!

A bubble gold fish in a shop in Flagstaff!

We are on a Vacation to the Grand Canyon, Route 66, Ghost Towns, the Out of Africa Park.
Tonight we are in the Hotel Monte Vista in the Bob Hope Suite (trust me it sounds WAY nicer than it is). LOL here are some pics of our trip so far.

Some party pics

Some fantastic pictures of SD's birthday party. :) She won't be in glasses for much longer. Her daddy and I decided to give her contacts for her birthday. :)


I am usually a pretty upbeat person but life has really been kicking me in the teeth lately. Sigh. Last week it was one thing after the next. FINALLY this week it appears life is turning around for me.

So I am declaring this week a happy one. :) I leave for a short vacation with SD tomorrow. We are going to the grand canyon, and four corners. We are also staying at a Ghost hotel in Jerome, Arizona. Finally we plan to go to the African Safari place just outside of Phoenix. SD is excited! :)

The following week my best friend will be in Palm Springs, CA. We are going to spend a MUCH deserved weekend on the beaches of San Diego.