be my friend

Dear friends,

I don't condone caving in to peer pressure, but I have. Inadvertently, really. I have now joined Facebook. So, all you people out there that told me to do it need to now go on Facebook and add me as a friend, if I haven't sent you a request already.

That is all. Thank you. :)

my girl

Say hello to our little girl!


I had my 12.5 week check up a little over a week ago and the doctor told us she could tell us the gender if we wanted to know. Chip and I both wanted to know...I don't think I could have waited the whole 9 months. Anyways, she did the ultrasound and said we are having a girl! We were both very excited - especially since we won't have to deal with the whole Philip John Flater V name debacle. We're keeping our fingers crossed that she really is a she and that we won't get a surprise at the next appointment that it is really a boy. Which would be fine if it did happen, honestly. We'd be excited either way - just as long as they don't find a hidden twin in there :)

Now that I'm in the second trimester I am feeling much better! The queasiness has pretty much disappeared and food is starting to taste better again. Woohoo! I'm not craving anything yet, but at least sweets seem slightly appealing again. I ate chocolate the other day - the first time in months and it actually tasted good!

In other news, Chip and I are looking to buy a house in the area. No luck yet. We've seen probably close to 30 homes over the past few months, but I've only seen one I'd consider putting an offer on and it was way over our price range...of course! Most of the homes in this area are old, which I'm fine with as long as they are well maintained. Most aren't. Some don't even look like they've seen a fresh coat of paint since 1983. So who knows what will happen. Our lease doesn't run out until the end of April, but with the first time home buyer tax credit expiring the end of November and now a baby, we have a little more motivation. Though I finding it hard to "give up" and call Niceville my permanent home. Moving out of state doesn't seem like a option anytime soon. Oh well, I'll deal.

I'm so excited that this weekend marks the start of the college football season. I'm ready to park it on the couch and watch a few games. It somehow makes me think it is Fall even though the 90 degree temps outside remind me it clearly isn't. FYI to those of you with a Chick-fil-a, if you wear your team's shirt on Monday you can get a free chicken sandwich. Yes!! I love Chick-fil-a!!

Last weekend also marked the first Sunday service of our new church, Beachside Community Church. Chip and I have been involved with it the past 5 months. Up until this past Sunday we had only been meeting in small groups on Wednesday nights and occasional Saturdays for planning meetings. The first service went very well. Everything looked great, we had over 250 people attend, and over 70+ volunteers all make it happen. Hats off to the Shaun, Jim and the rest of the Beachside staff for their hours of hard work over the past 2 years to make this a reality. Chip and I are blessed to get to be a part of it and help invest our time and resources into helping start up this church. Our next service is September 13 at the Boys and Girls Club in FWB.

One last random story. We bought a new vacuum cleaner 2 weeks ago. Our old one wasn't broken, but it was a 10 year old hand-me-down that just wasn't cutting it. I know everyone says how great a Dyson is, but I refuse to spend that much on a vacuum. For that price someone should be doing the vacuuming for me. Anyways, we bought a Shark Navigator which is basically a Dyson but less than half the cost - plus if you buy it at Bed, Bath and Beyond and use the 20% off coupon it gets even cheaper. All I can say is wow, and eww! I couldn't believe how much dirt, dust, lint, pet hair, etc it sucked out of the rug!! It was really gross, but our rugs looked and felt clean. They even looked fluffier. So we are very pleased with it and recommend it to anyone in the market for a vacuum.

Ok, I'm done writing for now. I'm sure you all enjoyed the bit about the vacuum. I know, I'm a dork. Whatever! I hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend watching football, relaxing, and eating free Chick-fil-a :)

Summer Recap

I'm still here! I know I've been really bad about updating my blog the past two months. After surviving the terrible 4-day work week with the incredibly long days, I just didn't want to come home and spend anymore time on a computer after being on one for 10 hours. Can you blame me?

Here's a quick update of our summer (I liked Emma's Facebook-style list so much, I am going to copy it):

July:

-4th of July weekend we had our 4th annual "Party till the Cows Come Home" at Ashley Henkel's parents house. Fun was had by all. No diving contest; it's just not the same without Emma plus no one wanted to compete with me. I did eat plenty of homemade chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Mmmm!

- Double Birthday Weekend - Austin and Ashley came later on in July to celebrate Austin's birthday and mine as well. We went to see the college's summer musical Beauty & the Beast, I got to be Queen for the Day (awesome!), and we went to the beach where I burnt the tops of my feet really bad. Not fun! I did get a steam mop for my birthday (yes, I wanted that). I really like it. It is a Shark Steam Pocket Mop.

August:

- Chip went to Monterrey, CA for the annual Bombs and Warheads Conference, yes there is such a thing.

- I went to Kansas City to visit my family and celebrate my dad's "milestone" birthday a little belated. (I'm a good daughter, I didn't even mention the age he turned). I was able to give him his birthday gift in person, which was the news he was going to be a grandfather. Yes, you read that right.

Introducing....

our wee one! I'm currently 11 weeks along and due March 8, 2010. I seem to be feeling better now. I had a few week bout of all-day sickness. As long as I had a little something on my stomach at all times, I was ok. I still don't want any sweets, which anyone who knows me is rare! I'm feeling a little less queasy now, so maybe I'm getting past the morning sickness part? Woohoo!

It was priceless to surprise my parents in-person with the news - especially since this will be their first grandchild. I made a print of this sonogram picture and put it in a frame that said "grandkids". I'll never forget the expression on my dad's face when he opened it! He just stared at it for a few seconds and then his eyes widened and he asked me "are you pregnant?!" My mother, who was on the other side of the room, said "WHAT!?" They both were speechless for a few seconds, a rare occurrence, but then were excited. Telling my sister the news went even better! We simply put the picture frame on a table along the wall in the Family Room. She walked by and it was liked her eyes just found it. Her first words were, "is this a joke?!" Once she realized it wasn't, she was speechless too and then had to sit down. I think she was a little shocked. I guess she still sees me as a kid, so it is weird a "kid" is having a baby. Need I remind her I just turned 29?

- We need to watch the Weather Channel a little more. Apparently there was a Tropical Depression/Storm something off the coast that was coming towards us yesterday. We figured it out after a call from my mother. It wasn't so bad until our power went out at midnight...until 4:30 am. And then as soon as it came back on it went out again for another 30 minutes. Needless to say I didn't get much sleep last night. No AC=no sleep for me. I'm going to bed early tonight! I also noticed when I came home for lunch today that a big old oak tree fell on our neighbor's townhouse. They are out of the country right now, and we're looking after their place. Luckily after going in the house and looking around, it missed breaking any windows and doesn't look to have caused any damage to their place. Phew!

Well, I think I have sufficiently covered the past few months. I'll try to be better about updating my blog a little more frequently. I probably will also cave at some point and setup a Facebook page. Apparently people might be looking for me on there? Whoopee, yet another thing for me to try to keep up with...and fail :)

they always come in threes

Thanks Mother for reminding me today that deaths usually come in threes. Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett and now....Michael Jackson!! Say it isn't so!

I talked to my mother at lunch today to see if she had looked at the CD of pictures I had mailed to her of our London/Paris trip. We talked briefly about Farah Fawcett dying. She then mentioned, "You know, these things always happen in threes. David Carradine died a few weeks ago, so it has been too long. I don't know who'll be next, but I bet someone else will die soon."

Well, two hours later Michael Jackson dies. Seriously, did she jinx him?

I have always enjoyed his music. I mean, come on, who hasn't danced like a zombie to Thriller?? Who hasn't mimicked his moon walk, crotch grabs and high-pitched shrieking? Well, maybe not the crotch grabbing.

Michael, you'll be missed...for your music. Not all the alleged things that you did behind closed doors.

a tale of two cities

We're back from our trip to London and Paris - actually we got back last Monday night, I've just been too busy to update my blog. It's hard to whittle down 1800 pictures to 30 or so of the highlights.

Our trip started in London. After our 9 hour transatlantic flight (LOVE the tvs in the back of the headrests on the planes and the 200 free movies!!), we landed in London around 9 am (3 am US Central time). After making our way through immigration we got on the Tube and went off to our hotel. Around 3 pm we met up with our tour group. There were 26 other people in our group from all over the US. Our tour was through Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door. We highly recommend his tours - small group, they take care of everything, and you really learn about the history and culture of a place. Our guide's name was Martin. He was from Wales. Martin was great fun and had a fun personality. Chip and I ate dinner with him one night in London at an Italian restaurant called Ask. It was nice to get to know him more and talk about life in the United Kingdom and how their economy is going through a similar time like ours is.

I found London to be clean, friendly for the most part, and full of interesting history. It was weird to see all the cars driving on the left side of the road. After nearly getting run over by several taxis, I finally figured out which way to look when crossing the street.

Some of the sights we saw in London were: the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, took a Thames River cruise, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, the British Museum and Library. We saw the crown jewels, Henry VIII's armor, the Rosetta Stone, the Gutenberg Bible, pages from Leonardo da Vinci's journal (in his own handwriting), and many other neat things.

One of my favorite places to see was Westminster Abbey. You couldn't take any pictures inside, but I wish we could have. The architecture was amazing, especially the ceiling detail in the Henry the VII Chapel. One neat thing were all the people buried there: Sir Isaac Newton, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, and George Fredrick Handel just to name a few. Like them or hate them, these people had an impact on our lives. The Abbey is also where every king and queen of England was crowned.

After a few days in London we took the Eurostar train to Paris. The train ride lasted about 2.5 hours and went under the English Channel. We arrived in Paris' Gare du Nord. I was SO excited to be there. From the train station our group got on a bus and headed out to our hotel. Along the way we saw the Moulin Rouge, the Champs Elysee, the Arc de Triomphe, and made a quick stop at the Trocadero to get a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower - one of many for Chip and I.

Paris was as wonderful as I hoped it be, though there was a lot of graffiti and pigeons everywhere. We found the people to be very nice and treated us well. It was fun to get to use my french. I was very proud of how hard Chip worked to learn key phrases and how he always tried to speak french when we went out.

Some sights we saw in Paris were the: Eiffel Tower, Seine River cruise, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame Cathedral, Saint Chapelle, the Conciergerie (prison where Marie Antoinette was kept before going to the guillotine), countless museums including the Louvre, Montmatre, and several others. We saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Rodin's The Thinker, Whistler's Mother, several Van Gogh paintings, and Monet's Waterlilies. All were amazing! I still can't believe how many original paintings we saw! I was so happy when Chip finally agreed with me how cool it is to see the real painting as opposed to a print. You can see the brush strokes these famous artists made on the canvas as they painted, the globs of paint, and their signature. That is just the coolest thing to me!

Our last day in Paris we took the train out to the Palace of Versailles where King Louis the XIV, XV, and XVI lived. The size and opulence of the palace was still amazing even considering today's standards. Again, it was just the coolest thing to be in a place where so much history took place. We tour the palace and saw the famous Hall of Mirrors where the Treaty of Versailles was signed that ended WWI. We also saw Marie Antoinette's bedroom. Our audio guide said 19 princes and princesses were born in that room and 2 queens died there.

After 10 wonderful and action-packed days we boarded a plane for home. I always get vacation let-down when I have to come back to real life. This time was no different. At least I have the 1800 pictures and dvd of videos to remind me of what a wonderful time we had.

Ok, ok time for the pictures! Click here for about 30 of the pictures from our trip. I'd love to write more about my trip, but know most of you are falling asleep at the keyboard right now. Even my mother won't read it all, she'll just scroll down to the pictures so don't feel bad :) Enjoy!

anniversaire heureux et bon voyage

Today is Chip's and my 5th Anniversary! Yay! Five years have gone by pretty fast it seems. I'm very grateful to have such a wonderful husband who takes such good care of me and loves me.

In celebration of our anniversary we are taking a trip to London and, drum roll please....Paris!!! I'm over-the-moon excited to be going to Paris!! I can't wait to see the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame Cathedral, go to the Louvre and see the Mona Lisa (!). I also plan to eat my weight in crepes and pastries :) I promise I'll post tons of pictures when we get back. Until then....au revior mes amis!

old friends, new town

This past weekend we went to Tallahassee to see some old friends, help some other friends move to town, and see a show 15 years in the making.

On Friday afternoon we went to the Leon County Civic Center and saw Cirque du Soleil's show Saltimbanco. I have been wanting to see it for 15 years. Long story short, when I was turning 13 this show was in Chicago (where I lived at the time) and I wanted to go for my birthday. I ended up not getting to go, but 15 years later I made it! Chip and I both enjoyed the show. Cirque's shows are always artistically beautiful and fun to watch.

While in Tallahassee we got to see our friends Joel and Kristine. It was great getting to hang out with them and catch up. Kristine is almost 12 weeks pregnant, so it was cute to see her starting to show. I also realized this weekend that I have known Joel for 10 years - that's a long time! I can credit Joel for introducing me to Chip - thanks!

On Saturday we helped welcome our other friends Austin and Ashley to Tallahassee from Jacksonville. Austin is starting FSU's Medical school in just a couple of weeks. I still think it is too perfect that the biggest UF Gator fan I know is now a Seminole! Life can be funny!

As part of their welcome to town, Chip and I took them on a tour of FSU's campus. I showed them my old dorm and buildings I had classes in. Ashley even asked about the location of a certain "incident". The highlight of the tour was taking them to Doak Campbell Stadium. As luck would have it, the gate was open so we went inside. Austin, being the staunch Gator fan he is, was hesitant to enter, but we made him. Hello, he's a Seminole now!

Once we got inside we noticed the gate to the field was open, so we went out. It was SO tempting to go run out on the field, but there was a "Stay Off the Grass" sign. Not very official looking though. So after a moment of hesitation, I made a break for it. I didn't go far, but for those few seconds it was pretty awesome. How many people can say they ran on the turf at FSU's Stadium?

We had a great weekend! It was so great to get to spend time with everyone and help some great friends move closer to us! :)