hitting the highlights

Sorry I haven't posted in over a month. I've been out of town and busy...you know how this time of year goes. Where do I even begin? I think I'll just type stuff as it comes to me...

Thanksgiving leftovers
Chip and I went to Dahlonega, GA for Thanksgiving. Dahlonega is a small town north of Atlanta. Chip's aunt lives there as well as her daughter and her family. Chip's parents and his sister Erin met us up there for the holiday as well. We had a good time with his family and did a little sightseeing in another small town called Helen. It is a fun little town that resembles an Alpine Village. A fun place to stop there is Hansel & Gretel's Candy Kitchen. Is the candy good? Not really, but the name of the shop is fun to say.

One of my Thanksgiving traditions is to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I have done so since I was a small child. This year's parade was hands-down my favorite parade EVER! It started like any normal Macy's parade with the scary clowns and the bobble-head pilgrim people, then moved on to the old-timey looking turkey with the blinking eyes. Some more balloons and floats passed and then a float for "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" came on the scene. Apparently it is some show that is on the Cartoon Network. Anyways, the muppet-type characters begin to sing a song and Matt Lauer said to lookout for a muscial surprise. I figured it was another Disney teenie-bopper pop star. All of a sudden I hear the familiar sounds of a classic 80's tune. Could it be?! It is!! It's Rick Astley singing "Never Gonna Give You Up"!! I just got Rick-rolled watching the Macy's Parade!!! AWESOME!!! That stunt put the parade over the top for me. Here is a video of it for your viewing pleasure. If you aren't familiar with Rick Astley or Rick-rolling, go Google it. It would take me too long to explain.

Christmas is coming...and soon!
I can't believe Christmas is only a little over 2 weeks away! Where did November go? This year we decided to drive to Kansas City to visit my parents. Airline tickets are really expensive this year, and with the falling price of gasoline we decided it would be better to drive. KC is an 18 hour drive from Niceville. Ugh! We decided to split it up into a 2-day trip to make it a little more manageable. We plan on stopping in Memphis since it is a good half way point. What else is in Memphis? Graceland!! I'm totally not an Elvis fan, but if I'm in Memphis and I can see Graceland, than I'm going to do it. So that should make the trip a little more fun.

Tims Tams...available at a store near you!
We were at Target today and happened to wander past the food section and saw that there was Tim Tams! I guess Pepperidge Farm is bringing Australia's favorite cookie to the good ole USA. We snatched up a pack of the chocolate cream flavor, which I will happily slam in some hot chocolate tonight. Yay! Go out and grab yourself a pack!

New cell phone = big headache
I got a new cell phone today. It is a touch screen phone kind of like an I-Phone, but Verizon's version of it. I thought it would be really cool to not have a keypad and just have a touch screen, but I'm starting to reconsider. The touchscreen "keys" are really small and it is very easy to punch the wrong key. We'll see if it gets easier the more I use it. Stay tuned.

I think I have a toothache
Recently I have spent quite a bit of time at the dentist. About a month ago I noticed I cracked a tooth, so I called the dentist and went in. The bad news was I needed a crown, the even worse news was I had several cavities. Lucky me! So after 4 office visits, a temporary crown, several fillings, and $700 I am all fixed up. Thank the Lord I have dental insurance, otherwise my bill would have been twice as high. I never had a problem with cavities until the past few years. My teeth have apparently gone down hill, and fast! I guess it is just another reminder that I am getting older. Apparently I have inherited my father's not-so-great teeth which he got from his parents. Of course, Chip has never had a cavity and still continues to be cavity-free. Maybe there's hope for our kids.

Well, I think that is all of the updating I'm going to do. I hope you have enjoyed my random musings and feel like you are all caught up on my life.

A Pres I can vote for

Last night Chip and I went out to eat at a restaurant in Destin called Callahan's. We like it because it is locally owned and serves good, reasonably priced food. They are currently running "early bird" specials for $8.99 - and no, you don't have to eat before 4:30 pm. Being the bargain-lover that I am, Emma knows this well, I ordered from the list of specials. I got enough food for 2 meals, plus soup, and yeast rolls! I was a happy girl.

After Chip and I ate we decided to go to the Fresh Market for dessert. Our first stop was the gourmet chocolate section. We were scouting out some Joseph Schmidt Truffles, thank you to my parents for raising a little chocolate connoisseur (or chocolate snob), when we hear a voice say "you two are in the right place at the right time". All of a sudden a man comes from behind the counter and asks what chocolate we were looking at. We point to a box of Joseph Schmidt truffles - no Hershey's for this girl! He picks up the box and takes off the plastic and tells us to eat one! He just opened a $13 box of 4 truffles and tells us to eat one! Of course we do, and of course it is divine. He introduces himself as Pres and tells us anything else we want to try he will open for us. He then proceeds to give us white chocolate covered pretzels and yogurt & peppermint coated pretzels. He then gets out his favorite - a dark chocolate bar with pieces of applewood smoked bacon in it. It was definitely different, but not necessarily bad. In the end Pres probably gave us $6-7 in free chocolate. Who says you are too old to Trick or Treat?

My parents recently went on a trip to the Southwest US. They went to Albuquerque, NM, Las Vegas, Sedona, AZ, and a few other cities to look for a place to move to when they retire in a few years. They must have had a good time because my father sent me this picture tonight...

My mother is sure letting loose and having some fun. Good for her! Though I'm pretty sure she is yelling at the computer right now :) I'd better get going. I think my mother is calling me on my cell phone...

a post for the sake of a post

I had a few free minutes before dinner was ready so I decided I'd update my blog. This post is pretty much going to be a long string of thoughts, so try to keep up. :)

Chip and I were both sick last week with the stomach flu. It took me down on Monday and Chip on Wednesday. We are finally feeling back to normal and in to eating again. Food was not our friend for several days. We lived off of Gatorade and chicken noodle soup for most of last week.

This past weekend our friends Austin and Ashley were in town from Jacksonville. We always enjoy getting to spend time with them. Saturday night we hung out with A & A, Austin's parents, and Austin's parent's friends Steve and Gail. We played dominoes (chicken foot) and ate pizza...we'll they ate pizza. Pizza was what I ate the night I got sick, so needless to say I wasn't interested in partaking in it so soon (sorry for the TMI). I had never played dominoes before. I never really knew a game was part of it. I just figured you lined up the dominoes to knock them down. After a brief lesson we started the game. It was fun. I wasn't too bad at it, but I certainly wasn't as good as Chip who won the game. Of course! :)

I'm so glad the election is drawing to a close - I don't think I can take anymore! Every time I turn on the TV that is all they are talking about. I've even received 3 phone calls from Barack Obama's campaign. Apparently his campaign bought a bunch of phone numbers of voters in FL and mine was one of them - lucky me! I asked them to remove me from their list. I don't know who I am voting for at this time. I have issues with both candidates. I just want to know the facts - in an unbiased way. I don't trust the news, the newspaper, or either candidate's website. If anyone knows of any good non-partisan websites that list the stances of the candidates please let me know. I originally wasn't even going to bother voting since I can't decide, but the thought of all the "you can't complain about the way things are if you didn't vote" people running through my head prompted me to change my mind. * Chip just told me about a website where you answer several questions about your stance on issues and it matches you up with the candidate whose answers most closely match yours. Click here to go to it. I did it and my closest match was only a dismal 38%. It was still interesting to find out nonetheless. Check it out if you're lacking direction like me.

Work has been very busy lately which is a good and bad thing. At least I have job security this way. A lot of businesses in the area, and nationwide for that matter, are cutting back jobs. One of the largest employers in our area, other than the Air Force base, just laid off a bunch of people. I wish the economy wasn't in the crapper like it is, but if I had to find a bright side in all of this maybe people are learning the valuable lesson of want vs. need.

And with that, I bid you all adieu! I promise I'll try to update my blog more than once a month.

that's our boy!

Today was Dog Daze at the Fort Walton Beach Landing. It was an all day event for dogs which included agility tests, obedience training, booths from local pet-related businesses, and the best thing of all, dachshund races!!

Frank had never participated in a dachshund race before, so I wasn't sure how he would do. Any of you that have met Frank before knows he tends to get easily distracted and scared. A few days ago I started "training" him for the race. Basically I would get him to sit and stay in a particular spot and then I'd walk 10 - 15 feet away and then call him to me. I would also have a squeaky toy with me to keep his attention. We would practice this 4 or 5 times a day. He picked it up pretty well, but again, who knows how he'd do at the actual race with tons of people and a bunch of dogs.

Well today was race day. There were about 25 doxies participating. Frank's competition included: Oscar, Crazy-Eyed Molly, Paco, and Rhemus. I am proud to say my little turbo weiner dog won every one of his heats and came in second place in the final!

Frank won a prize bag that had dog treats, a pair of dachshund socks (for me, not the dog), a sticker from the Florida Dachshund Rescue, and a beaded collar that said "Second Weiner".

Here is a video of the races.

In other news, I wanted to wish a Happy Birthday to my sweet husband. His birthday is tomorrow. As I write this Alabama is beating Georgia pretty badly, FSU won, and Frank won 2nd place in the races - not bad way to start celebrating. Not bad at all!

a trifecta tribute

Yes, I am still around. I have been lazy lately and haven't felt like posting. Well, that and the Olympics were on and I was glued to the tv. Those were some good games! Alas, they are over now and I have found new things to occupy my time...mainly spider solitaire and channel surfing.


Now it's that oh so wonderful time of the year when military families PCS (permanent change of station) to new places. Our friends Mark & Emma are one of the families that are moving. Mark & Emma moved here the same time we did 4 years ago. Chip and Mark worked together at the test range and became friends. We all happened to go to the same church and that is how I met Mark's wife Emma. We all hit it off and have been friends ever since. A few weeks after that we met Austin & Ashley. Answering their call for friends at our Sunday School Christmas party, we all hit it off. That started the super power known as the trifecta, as Emma affectionately dubbed us. Here is a picture of all of us at another Christmas party in 2005.



We spent many a weekend hanging out, going to movies, playing Goofy Golf, and going to movies. Last July Austin & Ashley moved to Jacksonville, but we all remained in contact and still got together every now and again. But now Mark & Emma are moving to Ohio so that kind of diminishes the chances. Of course, there is the phone and the internet, but come on, it doesn't replace actually spending time together.


A few weeks ago Austin & Ashley came into town so we could all hang out one more time before Mark & Emma moved. We went out to eat at the Crab trap in Destin for Ashley's birthday. We also all cheered on Team USA together watching the Olympics. One highlight of the weekend was playing Rock Band on the PS3. Few of us had played that game before, but we had a great time living it up. From me belting out Creedance Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate One"(oh yes I did!), Emma playing the heck out of the cowbell on Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper", or any of the guys playing the guitar or drums, we made quite the band. It was a lot of fun.


Here are a few of the pictures from the weekend.

This last picture cracks me up. Yes, I am well aware that it isn't remotely in focus. After we ate at the Crab Trap we walked out on the beach and took a few pictures. We thought it would be nice to get a picture of us all together. So we asked the first guy that walked by to take our picture. We don't realize until after he takes the picture that he is drunk and doesn't hold down the shutter on the camera to focus the picture before he takes it. He didn't give us warning when he took the picture either. I mentioned to him I wasn't sure if we were all looking and he said "It's too late now" and handed the camera back and staggered away. Thanks!

We'll miss you Mark, Emma & Sarah Beth! Best of luck to you as you move on to Ohio! Enjoy having seasons again - I'm jealous!!

hello mother, hello father

I just got home last night from spending 5 days in Kansas City, MO visiting my parents. I hadn't seen them in 8 months, plus I had never seen KC in the summer. I struck a deal with my parents to pay for half of my ticket for my birthday present. They agreed, and so I went.




My first night there we had a little belated birthday cupcake treat to celebrate. My mother made them and frosted them with real chocolate frosting. They were pretty tasty.


I was watching the news the next day and noticed that it happened to be Missouri's tax free week. Perfect timing! So of course, I did a little shopping since we don't have the best selection in this area. Sales tax there is quite a bit higher than Okaloosa County's 6%. One place the tax rate was 9.5%, so think of the money I saved :) Sure...


Besides shopping, we also played my dad's Wii. We played Mario Cart, Wii Sports (baseball, tennis, bowling, boxing), and Cabela's Big Game Hunter. It was nice to have two people who are worse than me playing Mario Cart. For once I wasn't last...yes!! The highlight of the Wii playing though had to be when my mother and I boxed. Let me tell you, electronically taking out 28 years of frustrations on my mother never felt so good :) Just kidding...well, sort of. She still loves me. I knocked her out. I think we also knocked my father out with laughter. He was dying watching us air punch and throw jabs.



Of course, no trip to my parent's house would be complete without mentioning their dog Charley. Charley recently had knee surgery, but has healed completely. She is one spoiled bichon frise. She lays around and eats treats all day. But at least she does it looking cute, as my mother would say.


One night my dad decided he wanted to take pictures of me and his corvette at the front entrance to the neighborhood. It has a waterfall/fountain feature that he thought would look nice in the background. After we took a few pictures, I thought it would be fun to stick my foot in the fountain to see how warm or cold the water was. I thought my dad told me to get in the fountain and he'd take my picture. I thought that might be fun, so I stepped in. It appeared to be only knee deep, but no, it was about waist deep. So I lose my footing and fall in. Fabulous! Now I'm all wet and really embarrassed. My dad is laughing and so am I. All of a sudden some dude on a bike rides up and asks us if we want him to take our picture. Why not? At this point I can't be humiliated any more.




The next day we went to the Ameristar casino to play the slots. I only had $3 in my wallet so I didn't last long, but I still had fun. My mom and dad had better luck and made their $15 last a while longer. We had some good luck on the "Mr. Cashman" machine. Ultimately they lost it all, but we had fun playing.


One thing I wanted to do while in KC was eat some barbecue. I saw on the Food Network that a famous place to go was Arthur Bryant's. There just happened to one inside the Ameristar. The special of the day was the beef sandwich, so we each got one. They were huge sandwiches. The meat was good and had a nice smoke ring and flavor. There were 3 different sauces to choose from as well. I liked the sweet heat. We all enjoyed our sandwiches and a little taste of "legendary" KC barbecue.


And with that, my five day trip drew to a close. It went by pretty fast. At least I'll get to go back for Christmas in 4 months. I'm glad I got to see my parents. Shame on a certain sister of mine, who lives in KC, and was "too busy" to come see her only sister. She knows who she is. Don't worry, I'm not bitter :)

Two week recap

I'm feeling lazy and not wanting to post multiple messages, so I decided to combine them all into one. Sorry!

Two weeks ago we went to Grand Ridge for the 3rd annual "Party Til the Cows Come Home". For the past 3 years Chip and I have gone to Grand Ridge with our friends Mark & Emma and Austin & Ashley to Ashley's parent's house to swim in their pool, bbq, and have fun. Ashley's mom always makes us homemade ice cream in chocolate and vanilla, and I always eat 4 bowls. Emma and I also have a diving contest. No winner is ever named, but she kicks my butt in technique. I'd like to think I get her in creativity. I like to name my dives.

As always, fun was had by all - even Frank. We swam most of the day, ate a lot, and had fun spending time together. This, unfortunately, marks the last year we will have this party. Austin and Ashley moved to Jacksonville a year ago and will be moving within the next year to wherever Austin gets accepted to medical school. Mark and Emma are moving to Ohio in 2 months. Mark is in the Air Force and got orders to go to his next station. It is sad we will all be in different locations, but at least we had 3 years of fun.

Here is a picture of us all - the trifecta, as Emma refers to us all. Good times, good memories!

In other news, I celebrated my 28th birthday on Friday. Am I seriously 28?! Where has the time gone? I had a pretty good day. For my birthday I asked Chip if we could do a double-feature at the movies. So we saw The Dark Knight and the X Files movie. I enjoyed both. It was fun spending the day, literally, at the movies. The last time I did a double-feature was about 8 years ago when Bethany and I saw Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Gift in one day. Both were totally different movies, but they were good. I recommend trying a double-feature movie day in the near future if you haven't ever done that.

The day after my birthday we went to Mobile, AL to see what's there. Chip and I had never been before and decided it would be fun to check out. Our first stop was the Eastern Shore Center. It is a big outdoor mall-type place. It was ok. We then drove around some more and got stuck in some traffic around the George Wallace Tunnel.

One of the things I was looking forward to on our trip to Mobile was stopping at the Dew Drop Inn. Our neighbor recommended eating there because the food is good. He even gave us a cooler and some money to buy him a few of their hot dogs. Apparently this restaurant serves excellent ones. It also happens to be Mobile's oldest restaurant. So we find our way there and pull into the parking lot. I go to get out of the car and notice a girl is outside turning the open sign to closed. WHAT!! I look at the sign and see that they close at 3 pm on Saturday. I glance at the clock and it is 2:55!!! GRR!! We just missed it. I was crushed!

So we leave disappointed and probably destined for something lame like Krystal hamburgers. We get back on the interstate and make our way back to Niceville. We see a sign a few miles away for a bunch of food at the next exit. Since we were starving we decided to stop. We start driving down the road, but nothing jumps out at me. Since I was so bummed, nothing sounded good. We keep driving and driving and end up nearly to Foley. I remembered our other neighbors, Mike & Stephanie, talking about a place in Foley where they throw rolls. So we call them up and get directions to the restaurant.

It's called Lambert's and they really do throw rolls. We get there about 4 pm and there are literally a hundred people waiting outside to get in!! Something tells me it must be pretty good for so many people to be willing to wait. We had to wait 45 minutes before we got seated.

Lambert's prides themselves on big portions of southern style food. Chip got country fried steak and I got meatloaf. We both got mashed potatoes and fried apples as our sides. The servers bring "pass arounds" to all patrons. These include fried okra, black-eyed peas, macaroni and tomatoes, fried potatoes and onions, and the aforementioned rolls. The roll guy comes to the front of the dining room and all you have to do is raise your hand if you want a roll and he'll throw you one. It was quite funny to see bread flying through the air!

The rolls are quite large - one did me in, but boy was it good! All the food we ate there was quite good. Real mashed potatoes, yummy gravy, a huge piece a meatloaf. I was stuffed! It was good and helped sooth the disappointment of the Dew Drop being closed.

Well, I think I've hit the highlights of the past 2 weeks. At the end of this week I will be going to Kansas City to see my parents. It'll be nice to get away for a few days. I'm sure I have more stories to tell when I get back!

a kayak, a grill, and a "thank you" bean

Last Saturday Chip and I went kayaking in the Shoal River up in Crestview with our friends Greg, Lauren, and Gene. It had been almost a year since I had gone kayaking. Last year Chip and I tried kayaking in the Boggy Bayou (SO not even kidding about the name. Need I remind this is Niceville?) but there were too many boats wizzing around which made the water choppy. Prior to that I had been taking a little sabbatical from kayaking after a wildlife-filled trip down Turkey Creek in Niceville with our other friend's Nathan and Leigh Ann. We had several run ins with spiders, a snake, and I had a 5 foot gator about a foot away from my kayak! So I wasn't looking for another experience like that! Lauren and Greg had gone down the Shoal River before and told me I would be fine and have fun. So I decided to give it another go.

We got in the river around 9 am and started off just fine. It was a nice day, slightly overcast and a little humid. The river was a decent width so we weren't constantly ducking trees. Shortly into our almost 4-hour trip it started to sprinkle. No big deal. Then it started to rain pretty steadily for what seemed to be 30 minutes. We all got soaked to the bone! Then the sun came back out and helped dry us off a little. Luckily the rain helped to cool the temperature down a little, so it actually made it nicer.

A little while later, I didn't wear a watch so I had no concept of time, it started to get dark again and then the thunder started. So we all started paddling faster so we could get to the end before the lightning started. My shoulders got quite the work out! We finally got to the end and the sky opened up, so we got a nice soaking again. Oh well, at least we didn't get struck by lightning. My poor weenie shoulder muscles were SO tired from paddling I could barely lift my arms to have Chip help me out of the kayak. As soon as I got back to Lauren's house I took some ibuprofen...I know, I'm weak!

All in all it was a fun trip, one that I'd do again. Though, Chip apparently saw an 8 foot alligator. Luckily I didn't find out until we were way past it. Other than that we only saw a few turtles. Now that's my kind of kayaking.

After kayaking we went back to Greg & Lauren's house to grill out. Michelle, Gene's wife, was their watching the babies so we could go kayaking. At least she got to stay dry :) The guys grilled the meat while I made some less-than-stellar mac & cheese. I have got to find a better recipe! If you've got one, send it my way please!

On a random note, Chip and I received a gift two weeks ago from our neighbors, Mike & Stephanie. It was a "thank you" bean. Basically it is a tin can with some sort of metallic soil-type stuff and a bean inside. You water the dirt and a bean grows up and out of the dirt and the word "thank you" will be written on it. The bean then turns into a plant and you can replant it and enjoy it. Mike & Steph were intrigued by it and decided it was a fun way to say thanks to us for taking care of their plants while they went on vacation.


So we've been faithfully watering the dirt and little by little and stalk and a pod appeared. Then yesterday afternoon the pod fell off revealing the bean. Sure enough, it did say thank you! It grew pretty quickly, almost so fast I swear you could stand next to it and hear it grow! In a few days I will probably transplant it and try to keep it alive. We'll see...I don't exactly have the best track record with plants. I have been managing to keep an aloe plant alive and kicking! :)

one hour and $75 later

**I forgot to mention in the original post that this isn't contagious to pets or humans. Those of you who have pet Frank or had your dogs around Frank recently need not worry.**

My poor, sad puppy! As you can see above, Frank is wearing the dreaded lampshade - or an Elizabethan collar as the label on the cone called it. Sure, try to make it sound like a fashion accessory! It doesn't make him hate it any less.

About 2 weeks ago I noticed Frank had a spot near his butt that looked a little reddish and the fur looked like it was falling out. There were also small black spots on the skin. Chip and I thought it was a mild skin irritation, or hot spot, and bought him some hydrocortisone cream to put on it. We did that for about a week, but nothing happened. Then it looked as if the spot was getting larger. Luckily Frank wasn't biting at it or scratching at it, so at least we knew it wasn't really bothering him. Since it didn't appear to be getting any better, I decided to take him to the vet.

The vet took a look at Frank and thought it could be one of two things. So she did a skin scraping so she could check it out under the microscope. It was quite a sight! Frank was already freaking out being at the vet with all the other dogs, but now the tech had pinned him down on his side while I held his head down and the vet took a scalpel and scraped his spot till it bled a little. Luckily he didn't yelp. It did bring back memories of a similar incident that happened to my guinea pig, Dusty. He had scarcoptic mites that caused him to itch until he bled. My mom and I took him to the vet and they did a similar scraping. I'll never forget the screams, yes screams, that came out of that tiny animal's mouth. You would think we were killing him!

Anyways, the vet looked at the skin under a microscope and diagnosed him with Demodex or Canine Demodectic Mange. It is a parasitic skin disease caused by microscopic mites that live under the surface of the skin. All dogs, and even some humans, have this mite on their skin. As long as the body's immune system is functioning properly, these mites cause no harm.

Apparently Frank has a "immature immune system" as the vet called it. His immune system isn't strong enough to keep these mites in check, so they can flare up and spread rapidly and erupt into an irritated patch. This immune system problem could be a temporary thing, something that he could grow out of, but there is a chance he won't and he could have flare-ups of this for the rest of his life. The immature immune system is a hereditary trait passed on by Frank's parents. So the other puppies in Frank's litter have this too. Apparently when this trait is discovered, the affected dog shouldn't be bred and the parents should not be bred together again. That was kind of sad. I have a defective dog :(

The vet gave us some ointment we are supposed to put on him and hopefully it will clear up the spots. We also have to put the cone on him so he won't lick off the ointment. The poor dog is like a statue when we put it on him! He just stands there paralyzed. It is kind of funny. The cone has to be a little longer since Frank has a long snout. Sometimes his upper lip gets stuck on it and it looks like he is smiling. It's hysterical! I laughed so hard I cried.

Anyways, so that is the current drama going on in our house. I know, I have the most exciting life!

a little more than a 3 hour tour...

This past weekend Chip and I went boating with Chip's Mom, Dad, and sister Candi. We rented a pontoon boat from the Eglin Air Force Base Marina. Chip served as our captain. BTW - this was his first time piloting a boat. The marina makes you take an open-book test to get your license...makes me feel safe! :( But seriously, he did a great job driving the boat.

Our first destination was Crab Island. It's not really an island. It is a shallow spot at the foot of the Destin Bridge. Most people drop anchor there and hang out, throw a frisbee, float around, snorkel, and socialize with other people. We got there early in the day, so it wasn't quite "jumpin'" yet. The water there is very pretty - it reminds me of the Caribbean. We hung out there for a while and even bought some ice cream from the "ice cream boat man". The boat even plays the traditional ice cream truck music.

After Crab Island we cruised around the bay some more and then ate lunch. We started to head towards Fort Walton Beach when we noticed the storm that was building over land. We knew the weather was going to be sketchy that day, but we hoped it would hold out. It started to lightning pretty bad, so we headed for the marina. They told us when we picked up the boat that if it started to storm, we needed to come back in.

We tried to get there as soon as we could; it was getting really stormy. Anyone that is familiar with a pontoon boat knows they aren't known for speed, so it took us a while to get back. Of course we got caught in a torrential downpour! At least we didn't get hit by lightning!

All in all it was a fun day and a good way to celebrate Father's Day.

a visit from the governor

Florida's Governor, Charlie Crist, came to OWC (the college I work at) to sign the new state college bill into law. Well, technically he already signed it...this was just for show. This bill turns OWC and 8 other community colleges in Florida into state colleges. State colleges still offer 2-year associates degrees; they just can now offer bachelor's degrees. OWC already offers three, but this new law will make it easier for us to add more. The reason the state did this was to increase the number of bachelor's degrees awarded in FL. Currently we rank pretty close to last.

Anyways, when we heard the bill would be passed, the speaker-elect of the FL House of Representatives (who is from Destin) asked for the Governor to sign the bill at our school. The governor obliged. So today was the day.

The event went well, except for the Governor changing his schedule at the last minute and arriving an hour early. So we had to scramble and alert the media and community, but got it taken care of.

I didn't actually get to meet the Governor, but I got really close to him (see the above picture I snapped). He's extremely tan - like fake & bake brown. I stood about a foot away from him at one point and he asked me where the college president was. Other than that, that was my only interaction with him. I really wanted to say, "hello, gov'na", in a really cheesy British accent, but I didn't think that would be very professional.

After 30 minutes his motorcade swept him away to his next destination and the event was over. I was bummed that I didn't get an official Charlie Crist blue sharpie. That was his ceremonial bill signing pen...a blue sharpie with his name on it! I guess I thought it would be something more executive looking. Only the legislative delegates and college presidents got them. I hate being a peon!

So that is about the most excitement I've had lately. That, and playing Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. For some reason Chip and I were talking about that game the other day and remembered how we used to play it a lot as kids. We googled it and sure enough they still sell it! You can even download it so you can have it right away (for those of us with no patience). It's not the same version I had when I was twelve, they've fancied it up a bit, but it is still fun. Writing this made me think of the old TV show of the game they had on PBS. It has a catchy theme song by Rockapella. I found a video of it on YouTube...enjoy! :)

happy anniversary to us!

Chip and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on May 22. I can't believe 4 years have gone by so fast! It seems like just yesterday we got married, but in other ways it hasn't. I have very much enjoyed the first four years of our marriage - the things we've learned about ourselves and each other, the new places we visited, and just going through life knowing someone is always there for me. Here's to many more!

Chip surprised me with a very sweet anniversary gift. When I went into work the day of our anniversary, I noticed there was a digital picture frame on my desk that wasn't there the day before. Near it was a card with my name on it. I opened the card and saw it was an anniversary card from Chip. Inside was an instruction sheet on how to work the frame and a sweet note. I turned on the frame and on it was 100+ pictures from our engagement, wedding, honeymoon, and our trips to GA, SC, NC, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and NYC. It was great to see all of the photographic memories from the past 4 years of our lives. It was such a sweet thing for him to do! It made my gift of the DVD of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade seem pretty lame. In my defense we said we weren't going to buy each other gifts. I should've known better. Oh well, I'll do better next year.

weekend trip to jax

This past weekend we went to Jacksonville to visit our good friends Austin & Ashley Henkel. They moved there about a year ago from Niceville. Lately Chip and I have been suffering from a case of the Henkel-withdrawals, so we packed our bags and headed east for the weekend.


Above is a picture of Austin & Ashley we took in front of the surprisingly polluted St. John's River. We forgot our camera this weekend (!) and took this picture with our cell phone. Hence the poor quality.

Austin and Ashley are doing well. Ashley is still enjoying being a nurse and Austin is getting closer and closer to his goal of going to medical school to become an ophthalmologist. Congrats to Austin for getting straight A's this semester!!

We had a great time with them while we were there, as always. We went down to the Jacksonville Landing and even went to the Jacksonville Zoo. I love zoos, and this one was pretty good. A few of the highlights were the giraffes, the monkeys, seeing an anteater (I don't believe I've ever seen one in person), the train ride, and the Hawaiian shaved ice.

Another thing I saw at the zoo was a century plant. I hate those things! They are like a giant, freak aloe plant. They are huge and ugly! After a bunch of years (25 I think), they grow a big asparagus-like stalk out of the top. The stalk gets about 20 feet tall. It blooms a few flowers and then falls over. Then the whole plant dies. Great, huh? I don't know why I hate these plants so much, but I do. I think they are disgusting in a way. It looks like it could lie in wait for a person to walk by and then swallow them up in its large "arms". Eww! (This century plant rant is for Stephanie)

While we were in Jacksonville we met up with one of my former college roommates, Lindsay, and her new husband Stephen (they have been married for 4 months now). I hadn't seen Lindsay since my wedding almost 4 years ago. It was great catching up with her and reminiscing about life in our old apartment. We also enjoyed meeting their dog, Bella.

While at Lindsay & Stephen's house, she showed me her craft table. I was way impressed with Lindsay's jewelry and other artsy projects she was working on. She is a music teacher by trade, but she could have a side career with all of her projects. I was inspired by a t-shirt she created for her sister for her birthday. It looks like something you could buy at Anthropologie, but obviously way cheaper and a one-of-a-kind. Maybe one day soon I'll try my hand at doing something like that. Thank you Lindsay for the creative inspiration!

Since we forgot our camera I didn't get a picture with Lindsay, so I dug through my photo albums from college and found these two. The first one is Lindsay and I at our BCM's State Student Conference. The second is Lindsay and I at our friend's "tacky mismatch" party. Good times!

After a full and fun weekend we had to leave and come back home, darn real life! Thanks to the Henkels and Kellers for hanging with us. Come and see us in Niceville anytime!

chocolate snuffs out life with gusto

Chip and I were on SNL's website tonight watching video clips (why, I don't know). I thought these videos were funny, but also kind of disturbing. "Chocolate" has this eerie clown-ish face painted on. It reminds me of a mime, which I find terrifying. But, the faces he makes at the end are really funny and the cartoonish jingle that goes along with it is funny as well. Here are the series of three videos for your viewing pleasure. FYI - they are pseudo-violent, comically...if that makes any sense. Please don't lose any respect for me as a person after watching them :)I have a weird sense of humor.

NYC Part III - Videos

Here are a few videos. The first is of Times Square just after we saw Phantom of the Opera. It was about 10:45 pm.

The next video was taken while we were at the Today show.

The last video was taken from the Brooklyn Bridge. The Staten Island Ferry and Statue of Liberty can be seen first. Next is the Financial District and southern Manhattan. To the right of the bridge is the Empire State Building and Manhattan Bridge. Brooklyn can be seen last on the opposite side of the bridge.

NYC Part II - Food, Glorious Food

I guess I should have mentioned in yesterday's blog about all of the sights we saw. I got carried away trying to get the slide show just right. Here's a rundown on the things we did/saw:

Empire State Building, Rockefeller Plaza, Radio City Music Hall, Staten Island Ferry, Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, Ground Zero, Trump Tower, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Today Show (we were on TV), China Town, Little Italy, Chelsea Market, taping of the Conan O'Brien Show, Times Square, walked Brooklyn Bridge, Flat Iron Building, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park - Bethesda Fountain & Belvedere Castle, Phantom of the Opera. I think that is it...I know, it's a lot!

Today's slide show showcases the reason I gained 5 pounds in a week. As you'll see, I enjoyed every bite of it (I did over-indulge at Chocolate by the Bald Man and nearly got sick). NYC has a ton of different foods available and I wanted to try some of the most famous - pizza, cheesecake, cupcakes, hot dogs and soft pretzels, cannolis, and deli sandwiches. I did notice food portions are RIDICULOUSLY huge here. See for yourself...

NYC Part I - The Sights

We're back from New York City. It was an awesome time! We saw so much and did so much. I was thoroughly exhausted when I got home. We had a great time with our friends Bethany & Ben. We have to go on another trip with them soon.

Below is a slide show with some of the many pictures we took. I'm new to the whole slide show thing and can't get the captions to work right, so if you want to know what's going on in the picture just click on it and the description will come up. Also, if you want to speed up the slide show, click on a picture and in the top right hand corner there will be a speed adjuster. Enjoy! Tomorrow I hope to post a slide show of all the tasty, and huge, food we ate so check back in.

spring break relaxin' - day 2

Today was day two of my Spring Break. Again I enjoyed another morning of not being awaken by a screeching alarm. I did have to get up by 7:45 am so I could get ready for my dentist appointment. Luckily it was just a 6-month check up and not drilling. I was in and out of there in about 30 minutes.

I had a few minutes to kill before I headed over for my bread making lesson so I swung by the local Methodist church's Bargain Box. I hadn't been in a while and hoped to find something great, but I didn't. Oh well! Off to bread making I go!

I went over to my coworker Becky's house for my lesson. Her sister Sammie is in town from Houston, TX. Sammie is the yeast roll/cinnamon roll queen and I was hoping to glean some bread making wisdom from her...and some freshly baked rolls :) My other coworker, Carla, joined the bunch.

Bread making is quite a process - more than I originally thought. You have to "proof" the yeast and then add the rest of the ingredients. Then you mix that together and then turn it out onto the counter to knead the dough. Then you have to let it rise for an hour and a half. Now comes the fun part...making the rolls. Here is a picture of me, Carla, and Sammie forming the rolls.

Voila! Here is our finished pan of rolls. Now they have to rise again for another hour before they can be baked.

We saved half of the yeast roll dough to make cinnamon rolls. We mixed in some cinnamon, sugar, and butter chunks and kneaded it into the dough. We then took golf ball-sized pieces of dough and pulled it into a 4-5 inch log and rolled in melted butter, cinnamon, and sugar. Here is Carla and I getting our hands dirty in the tasty mixture.

Here is our finished pan of cinnamon rolls. Again, they had to rise an hour before they could be baked (and devoured). That hour was torture...the smell of melted butter and cinnamon sugar was filling the air and driving us nuts! And yes, I thought about licking my fingers when I was done rolling the dough. I didn't though, Sammie said that would be gross.

So after the hour of rising and then 20 minutes baking time, I got to savor the sweet taste of success!


I ate 3 yeast rolls and 2 cinnamon rolls! What can I say, they were good! I had a great time with Becky, Sammie, and Carla. It was fun to spend time with my coworkers outside of work. Thanks to Becky for opening up her home to us and thanks to Sammie for sharing her bread making wisdom :)

Another blog entry...two days in a row!? I'm on a roll! Wow, free time is a glorious thing. Can you tell I'm really glad to not have to go to work this week?

spring break relaxin'

Woohoo - I'm on Spring Break! The college I work at was closed all week for students, but staff had to work Monday and Tuesday and then got the rest of the week off. So today I enjoyed a day of relaxing. Let me tell you, it was SO nice not having to get up and go to work this morning!!

Today I got my very first facial. Chip bought me a gift certificate for one for Christmas (yes, I'm just now using it in April). It was pretty good, though I don't think it is something I would do on a continual basis since it costs a lot and it was just "ok". It's not that I didn't enjoy it - I would just rather use the money on a massage. I enjoy those more. Plus my skin isn't so bad that I need it deep-cleansed frequently.

Facials are relaxing. You lay on a table in a dimly lit room with soothing music playing. Then they use like 7 different sprays, cleansers, scrubs, and masks on your face. My favorite part had to be the warm, damp towels they put on your face. That was very soothing. Each product had a different scent - cucumber, fruit, and cinnamon. So you also get a little aromatherapy, too. The whole facial lasts about 40 minutes. It seemed kind of fast, but it was still nice - especially since I could have been sitting at work!

Later on this afternoon I went to Sonic for "Happy Hour" with my neighbor Stephanie and her baby Addison. Sonic has half-priced drinks and slushes everyday from 2-4 p.m. We sat outside at one of the tables on the patio and talked. It was a good time. Plus we scored free refills on our cherry-limeades. We just asked one of the carhops if they did free refills and she said they didn't, but that she'd bring us one anyways. Nice! We did a double-take and had a good laugh when we saw the nametag of the girl who brought us our refills. Let's just say it was a part of the female anatomy. Since this is a "G" rated blog I won't say what it was. I'm sure that wasn't actually her name - which begs the question why anyone would put that name on there in the first place.

Anyways, I have thoroughly enjoyed my first day of Spring Break. Tomorrow I get to have my teeth cleaned - woohoo! After that I am getting a lesson in making yeast rolls and cinamon rolls from my coworker's sister. I've had them before and they are really good, so I'm looking forward to that. Plus I am getting ready for our trip to New York City. I'm kind of busy, but at least it is with fun things to do so I don't mind.

Oh, as promised, here is a picture of me from my church's Passover Easter production. No, I'm not angry, this is just a scence I'm in. You can find the rest by clicking here -> http://gallery.mac.com/thepianostudio#100083

short and sweet

I have a free minute - literally - so I thought I'd update my blog (per Bethany's request). I have been very busy lately preparing for my church's Easter musical production "The Passover". I sing in the choir and am also acting in a few scenes. I have been at rehearsals just about every night the past 2 weeks. I'm exhausted! Hence no update to my blog in about a month. We have our first performance at 7 pm tonight and two performances tomorrow (at 2 pm & 7 pm). If anyone reading this is local, please come. It is at Rocky Bayou Baptist Church in Niceville.

I'll try to post some pictures from the show next week.

I hope everyone has a Happy Easter!

d-day

This past Sunday Chip and I went to Bonifay to help his parents get their new donkey. A friend of theirs bought a female donkey for his farm and unbeknownst to him it was pregnant. One day he went out to feed the donkey and there were two baby donkeys (I don't know the official "baby" donkey name - maybe colt?) in the pen. One was a female and one was a male. Because he didn't intend to go into the donkey breeding business he offered the male donkey to my in-laws. They have a lonely horse that they thought the donkey would keep company. So anyways, Chip and I were asked to come to Bonifay to help them load it in the trailer and bring it back to their house.

It was pretty funny trying to get the donkey out of its pen and into the trailer. Donkeys are stubborn and the poor little guy was scared as well. Eventually he went in and we brought him back to the house. He ran out of the trailer and into the fenced in corral they plan on keeping him in until he gets used to his new surroundings. My in-laws have named him Donkey, pronounced "Dun-key" like the way Shrek says it in the movie. He is pretty cute! The horse was kind of unsure of what this new animal was and what he was doing there. Every once in a while the donkey would bray fairly loud. Everyone would just laugh. I think he will make a great addition to their animal family. Here are some pictures of the donkey.


Here is the donkey with his mother and sister. He is the littlest one on the far left.


Here is Rose checking out the donkey.

Chip in the stall with the donkey.

He's pretty cute. I'm usually scared of large animals, but once I realized he wasn't going to kick me I had a little fun with him.

Welcome home Donkey!

valentine's day and other exciting stuff

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Thank you to my sweet husband for these beautiful flowers and the half dozen treats from Au Peche Mignon :)

I've been quite busy lately reading up on all of the places and things to do in New York City. Chip and I will be going in April with Ben and Bethany. I'm really excited to go and also to see the sites with such great friends. I think that will make the trip even more fun. We've already bought our planes tickets and reserved our hotel. Now I'm working on our itinerary. We plan on going to the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Plaza, Times Square, take in a Broadway show, see the Statue of Liberty, and even stand in the crowd during the taping of the Today Show. We are also going to try to get tickets to Conan or Letterman. If any of you reading this have ever been and have any suggestions of places to go or things to eat let me know.

Last night I went to a class at the college I work at about European travel. The teacher is the travel writer from the local newspaper and an avid european traveler. I am currently trying to persuade Chip to go to Paris and maybe London this fall. We'll see. Neither one of us have been overseas before and he is leary about going somewhere by ourselves where they don't speak english. I think we'd be ok. This class has already taught me quite a bit about how to plan and pack for such a trip. By the end of the class I should be ready to go. I can't wait! I have always wanted to go to Europe, especially Paris - as I'm sure more of you know :)

Recently I found out that I won an Gold Addy! Addys are awards for creativity in advertising. These were the local Addy's for the Emerald Coast region. From here the winning pieces go on to the district competition and then nationals. Addys are well-recognized awards in the advertising industry.The college/performing arts center I work for entered 9 different projects we did this year and 8 won awards! The one I am most proud of is the Art Center's season brochure. It is the only one of our pieces that won the gold, the rest won silver - which is great too. The season brochure was my project. I designed the front cover and worked with our graphic designer on the layout/design of the rest of the brochure. I'm very proud to have our marketing department win these awards.

Well, that's all I've got for now. I'll write more later.

a blog for my birthday dog

Today is Frank's first birthday! My little peanut wiener dog is already one! This is the first picture of Frank I saw when I found our breeder's website. What a sad little puppy!

And here is what he looks like now...

Don't worry, I'm not one of "those" people that have parties for their pets. I know some of you are saying, "Now wait just a minute! Aren't you the girl who's family had brithday parties for your guinea pigs?!" Well, yes, we did...in a way. We would have cake, but who wouldn't want a reason to eat cake? Usually we did have a small birthday cone hat for the guinea pig to wear. Stop laughing! It's not like we sent out invitations and had guests over! In present day, people do a lot worse and more to celebrate their pet's birthday.

We, however, are not doing anything to "celebrate" Frank's birthday...other than this blog. I didn't bake him a cake (though I do have some left over from our Super Bowl party we could eat), he will not be wearing a party hat, and we didn't buy him any presents. Frank is a simple dog. Besides, it's not like he realizes it is the anniversary of his birth.

But I did want to mark the occasion with a post. I have really enjoyed having Frank around and he brings a lot of fun and laughter to our lives...frustration too. Like when he peed on me this morning! Oops! I still love him.