this, that, and the other

Sorry I have written in a while. I figured I'd write when something interesting and blog-worthy happened. Hence the silence. But, after talking to my mother this afternoon and hearing, "why don't you update your blog?" I was guilted into it. So, here is the low-down on my January.

It has been a pretty uneventful month. I haven't travelled anywhere exciting (though Bethany and I are planning a trip to NYC in April...fun!), I haven't had anything funny happen to me, Frank hasn't done anything miraculous - I've just been "living". Not that that is a bad thing.

I do currently have a cold. It seems like I am always sick this time of year. Two years ago I had the flu (awful!!) and last year I had some sort of indeterminable viral infection (not the flu, mono or strep throat). So if a cold is as bad as it gets this year I will gladly take it. No fever, no body aches, no chills? DEAL! Other than some congestion and a raspy voice, I feel fine. Word of advice, if you feel like you are getting sick take Zycam. It really does help shorten the length of a cold. I use the nasal swabs and they do work. Yes, I still did get sick, but it could have been a lot worse.

In other news, my coworker brought a king cake to work today!!! She went to New Orleans this past weekend with her grand kids to see Hannah Montana and picked one up. So this king cake is from NO, so to me that makes it even better since it is authentic. It was delicious - it had a tasty cream cheese filling and lots of icing. I don't know what it is about king cakes that make me like them so much, but I do. I had my first king cake when I went to Mardi Gras my senior year of college with Bethany and Holly. We enjoyed it then and I have gotten one just about every year since. Who wouldn't like a big cinnamon-roll type bread with icing and sugar sprinkles? I highly recommend it. So if you are at a grocery store anytime soon, pick one up. They sell them in most bakeries. I think you'll like it. If you don't, send it to me and I'll be happy to eat it. Talking about king cakes and Mardi Gras prompted me to go find a picture of me and Bethany at Mardi Gras. Wow, I can't believe this picture if 5 years old now. Wow, I forgot how blond my hair used to be. You'll be happy to know I have come to my senses now and have opted for my natural mousy-brown hair color with some subtle blond highlights. :)

Well, I think I am tapped out of stories for now. Hope everyone is doing well! :) Until next time...

happy new year!

Happy 2008 everyone! We just got back yesterday from spending 2 weeks in Kansas City visiting my family. It was good to see them, especially since the last time we saw them was last Christmas. We had fun hanging out, refereeing the dogs, playing in the snow, and gaining weight(there was too much food to pass up)!

I was SO excited to see snow again! It had been a while since I had been somewhere it snowed. It was so pretty to see it falling and how it made the trees white. The only bad thing was it made the roads really slick.

Me, Chip and my dad shoveled the driveway and played in the snow. I built a tiny snowman and made a snow angel. Even Frank liked being in the snow - he hopped around like a rabbit.



My family finally got to meet Frank. They liked him and thought he was an obedient dog -which makes me proud. Frank had fun chasing around my parent's bichon frise, Charley, and my sister's dachshund Petey. They ran around like crazy dogs and would steal each others toys. Frank has been very exhausted since we got home. I also think he misses the other dogs.

We had a fairly uneventful New Year's Eve. We stayed at home and vegged out since we were tired from the flights. It was nice to have some down time to relax before we have to go back to work tomorrow.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope 2008 is a great year for everyone. I'm looking forward to all this year will bring.

relief

Well, we've come to our decision about the job. We decided to pass on it. We ultimately felt like this wasn't the right time or right job for us to move for. We are saddened because we liked the idea of moving somewhere new, but know in the end that it is for the best we stay. The company understood, but said to call them in a few months and see if they have any open positions because they really like Chip. So that is encouraging.

I am relieved I can now focus on other things - like the fact that Christmas is only a week and a half away and I don't have any gifts for anyone! Guess what I'll be doing this Saturday...

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us and has heard us out lately. We have been blessed with wonderful, caring friends. We love you all! :)

a fork in the road

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. Life has been busy lately with holiday parties, baby showers, trips here and there and visits with family.

Funny story - we went to Bonifay yesterday to visit Chip's family and spend time with his aunt who was in town. Chip's family owns 14 acres of land and have a horse. We were outside trying to get a picture of me, Chip and Frank for our Christmas card when Frank trotted out under the barbed wired fence into the pasture. He was sniffing around and found a large pile of horse manure and proceeded to roll in it! His expression was priceless -it was like he was blissfully happy rolling in crap! Luckily it was dried horse poop, so he just ended up smelling really bad. I couldn't believe he did that. What a gross dog :) He got a bath as soon as we got home! Here is one of the pictures we got. It is so hard to get a dog to cooperate for a picture!




Anyways, life has been full of confusion lately. Long story short, a few weeks ago Chip met some guys in a training class he went to in CA. They had several conversations about work (they do similar things) and it was mentioned that the guys had an opening at their job in Huntsville and told Chip if he was interested he could send them his resume. So he sent his resume when he got back home and got a phone call a few days later. He got asked to come up to Huntsville for an interview. I decided to go with him because I have never been to Huntsville, wanted to see a place I could possibly end up calling home, and because I NEVER turn down a free trip. So we went up there right after Thanksgiving. Chip thought the interview went well, and the company must have agreed because they offered him the job 4 days later. Now we have to give them a decision...by this Tuesday. One may think it would be an easy decision, but it isn't. There are a lot of details to consider - which we have mulled over a million times. I won't go into them all because I don't feel like rehashing them for the thousandth time. There are several good reasons to go and several to stay put in Niceville. We just have to decide which are more important. So anyways...please pray for us. This is a big decision to pack up and move away and leave our life here behind for a new one. It is an exciting and scary prospect. I know we will not have a "ah ha" moment when the clouds part and the answer to what we should do is clearly laid out. We just have to trust God's will in this all and know that He is with us every step of the way.

I'll keep you posted as to what happens. If we do take this job, we'd move right after Christmas - so scarily soon. Thanks to everyone who has heard me out lately and given us advice and support. It means a lot. :) Hope every is doing well and getting excited that Christmas is just around the corner!

give thanks

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all have had a wonderful day counting your blessings, spending time with friends and family, and of course, enjoying a good meal.

This was me and Chip's first Thanksgiving where we cooked the meal. Since my parents live so far away now and Chip's family spent Thanksgiving with their daughter in Naples, we decided to have Thanksgiving at our house with Chip's other sister Candi and our friends Mark & Emma. We were intimidated at first since we were doing all of the cooking, but in the end it came out well and was actually fun. We had turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, mac & cheese, rolls, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, and some double chocolate gooey butter cake (courtesy of our friend Emma & a Paula Deen recipe). Everything tasted good!

I also watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I have watched that parade every Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember! I always look forward to seeing the old-timey looking turkey float at the beginning and Santa at the end.

Here are some pictures of our Thanksgiving meal. I look forward to making it again next year. Hope you all have a great day!

vote for frank!

I entered Frank into our local newspaper's "Best Pet" contest because, in my humble opinion, Frank is the best pet. He is very sweet and cute and loves everyone! Here are a few pictures to encourage you to cast your vote for Frank.

To vote go to http://www.nwfdailynews.com/bestpet/vote/?page=6 scroll down and look for Frank. His name and my name are there to identify him.

Feel free to vote as many times as you'd like. I know Frank won't win due to some problems the site has had with cheating already (several people used a program that would automatically vote for their pet - like 16,000 votes in 5 hours), but it is still fun to see how many votes he can get. Thanks for your help :)

ooh...scary

Happy post-Halloween! Sorry I haven't written in a while. I have been busy planning and throwing baby showers, a costume party, and now a dinner party. I should start my own business!

One of the parties I hosted was a costume party that was last Saturday. Chip and I procrastinated till the day of the party on our costumes, so we ended up with this...

What are we, you ask. Well...we never really quite figured that out either. We aren't goth, we're not bikers. I guess we are "Miami Inkers". We're not portraying characters on the show per se, just people who might be customers on the show. All we did was spray Chip's hair black and buy one of those tattoo sleeves for his arm. Basically it is pantyhose with fake tattoos on it. It is pretty clever. For my look I put on a black wig, slapped on some faux eyelashes and went to town with some black eye liner. Not the most original. Oh well, we can't win the costume contest every year!

Well...that's about all that is new and exciting with me! Hope you all are doing well :)