There are 3 states I haven't been to...North Dakota, South Dakota, and West Virginia. Well, guess what? In July, that will be 2 states because I just booked flights to South Dakota! Rock on, huh? Ha!!!
I know South Dakota doesn't sound too exciting, but let's keep in mind 2 things - free tickets (please don't tell anyone that we're flying on United!) and we're sticking close to home this year to put some money in the house. So...Mount Rushmore here we come! Badlands National Park...here we come! Minuteman Missile...here we come!
That's all I have for now. Once I do more research, I'll let you know if there's anything else in South Dakota.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Road Trip to a Wedding
Not exactly the recipe for a fun time in Florida:
Wednesday, March 25, 2009 & Thursday, March 26, 2009 – An unexpected change in plans
This didn’t start out to be a road trip, but that’s exactly what it turned into. Bad weather in DFW forced the cancellation of several flights. We searched for an alternative, but because we HAD to be there (Joe was the best man), we decided for the first time ever to throw in the towel and drive. As I told Joe, for every hour we sit at the airport waiting to see if we’ll make the next flight, we lose an hour on the road. What would we do if we were still there at 10:00PM with a 12-hour drive ahead of us? So, at 4:00, we decided to drive. We went home to change our clothes and pick up the car and by 4:55 we were on our way. Not exactly great timing – we were stuck in traffic for over an hour just trying to get to the east side of Dallas!! AND, we followed that darn storm all the way to Destin, FL, too. We stopped for dinner in Canton, TX and the storm edge caught up with us. The sun came out and made this beautiful rainbow right over the DQ sign.
A few short minutes after we got back on the road headed toward Shreveport, we caught it again. The Blackberry came in handy as we kept checking the radar to decide what our best route was. We decided to go through Jackson, MS. So, we drove in the rain until about 11:00 that night and that’s when we stopped in West Monroe, LA for the night.
The next morning, it wasn’t raining anymore, but it was still cloudy. We got up early and were, in fact, on the road at 6:21 because we were afraid we would be late for the wedding. Things went pretty well until we got to Magee, MS. We got stuck in a huge traffic jam and couldn’t figure out why. Well…I got pretty impatient (as I do!) but felt really bad when we realized that our delay was due to tornado damage. Bad tornado damage. We would later learn from the USA Today newspaper delivered to us at our hotel that the town was hard hit the night before. In fact, at least 20 people were injured and 40 homes were destroyed. The traffic jam was due to power lines being down over the road. The city had 2 cranes – one on each side of the road – holding up the mangled lines so that traffic could actually get through.
We made it to Destin in plenty of time – about 3:30. It had been raining off and on all day and that did not bode well for Mike and Amy to get married on the beach. They found a backup at the Marriott Courtyard where Amy’s parents were staying and everything actually turned out just fine. After the “I Do’s” and pictures on the hotel property, we went to the beach for some pictures. The surf was incredibly rough, there were dead jellyfish everywhere, and it was FREEZING!!! But, they got some pictures and in spite of the weather, I think they turned out pretty well.
After the wedding, we had dinner at The Lighthouse restaurant in Destin. Amy’s parents, sister and family, and Joe and I were the only ones there. It was really nice for me to get to know Amy a little bit and her family, too. Overall, I don’t regret driving one bit.
Friday, March 27, 2009 – March Showers bring April Flowers???
We woke on Friday to a thunderstorm. And, it continued to rain. All. Day. Long. Joe had wanted to see the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, so we all loaded up in 4 cars and drove through the rain to Pensacola, which was about 60 miles away. The museum was actually bigger and better than we expected and it was free! I was particularly glad to have something to do besides sit in our room all day.
Joe and I saw 2 IMAX films while we were there. About halfway through the first one, Fighter Pilot, we realized we had seen it before! Hahaha!!! Oh well. The 2nd one was made exclusively for the museum and featured the Navy’s Blue Angels, The Magic of Flight. I liked it, but Joe was lukewarm on it. They compare airplane flight with the flight of birds and showed lots of birds flying. Joe would have liked 45 minutes of exclusive Blue Angels coverage.
There were lots of planes on display, including Pappy Boyington's of Baa Baa Black Sheep fame (the show was based on a real person), and four of the older model Blue Angels planes.
Now, the Blue Angels fly F-18's and there were a couple of them parked at the hangar behind the museum:
Saturday, March 28, 2009 – Rain, Rain, Go Away
Is it Groundhog Day? It sure felt like it in Florida! We awoke – again – to thunderstorms. Not that we were surprised. We had been watching lots of Weather Channel trying to figure out our chances of driving OUT of the weather on the way home.
Fortunately, we did drive out of the rain – and fairly quickly. By the time we got back to Pensacola, the skies were clearing. It turned into a beautiful day as we drove through Alabama, Mississippi, and into Louisiana, where we spent the night.
Our drive took us through Foley, AL where we stopped for some photos. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a nice city limits sign that Joe could stand by, but we did see the Foley Library and Foley City Hall and about a bazillion people heading down the Foley Beach Express highway to the beach.
We hit I-10 in Mobile, AL and stayed on it until we got to New Orleans. We stopped in Ocean Springs, MS at a spot from Diners Drive-Ins and Dives and had dinner. The place was called “The Shed” and featured BBQ. It was very, very good. The sauce was really sweet and the sides were all homemade and awesome!!!
In New Orleans, we hit the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway and drove north to I-12. The Causeway is 24 miles across the middle of Lake Pontchartrain. When I was a kid we went to New Orleans and I wanted to drive across then, but we didn’t. So, this time, Joe indulged me. It was kind of fun and I wasn’t even scared. Ha!
Sunday, March 29, 2009 – The Long Road Home
This morning we woke up to a beautiful day. Too bad we couldn’t have had one of those in Destin. We made our way home from Lafayette, LA . Our only real stop today was in Natchitoches, LA for lunch. One of Joe’s co-workers, who is from Louisiana, recommended a restaurant there so we stopped for a Louisiana po’ boy. It was good and the town was cute. It’s a big tourist attraction, but Joe and I aren’t sure what is really there. We did read on Wikipedia that is one of the top 5 retirement communities in US, so we decided it’s a tourist attraction for old people. Ha! It is the town where Steel Magnolias was filmed, so we stopped a took a picture of the house they used, which is now a B & B.
We pulled into our driveway about 5:30PM. Even though we didn’t plan our trip, I thought it turned out just fine. It was a long drive for a short visit and we had the horrible weather, but we were glad to see Mike and Amy get married and that was what was most important!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009 & Thursday, March 26, 2009 – An unexpected change in plans
This didn’t start out to be a road trip, but that’s exactly what it turned into. Bad weather in DFW forced the cancellation of several flights. We searched for an alternative, but because we HAD to be there (Joe was the best man), we decided for the first time ever to throw in the towel and drive. As I told Joe, for every hour we sit at the airport waiting to see if we’ll make the next flight, we lose an hour on the road. What would we do if we were still there at 10:00PM with a 12-hour drive ahead of us? So, at 4:00, we decided to drive. We went home to change our clothes and pick up the car and by 4:55 we were on our way. Not exactly great timing – we were stuck in traffic for over an hour just trying to get to the east side of Dallas!! AND, we followed that darn storm all the way to Destin, FL, too. We stopped for dinner in Canton, TX and the storm edge caught up with us. The sun came out and made this beautiful rainbow right over the DQ sign.
A few short minutes after we got back on the road headed toward Shreveport, we caught it again. The Blackberry came in handy as we kept checking the radar to decide what our best route was. We decided to go through Jackson, MS. So, we drove in the rain until about 11:00 that night and that’s when we stopped in West Monroe, LA for the night.
The next morning, it wasn’t raining anymore, but it was still cloudy. We got up early and were, in fact, on the road at 6:21 because we were afraid we would be late for the wedding. Things went pretty well until we got to Magee, MS. We got stuck in a huge traffic jam and couldn’t figure out why. Well…I got pretty impatient (as I do!) but felt really bad when we realized that our delay was due to tornado damage. Bad tornado damage. We would later learn from the USA Today newspaper delivered to us at our hotel that the town was hard hit the night before. In fact, at least 20 people were injured and 40 homes were destroyed. The traffic jam was due to power lines being down over the road. The city had 2 cranes – one on each side of the road – holding up the mangled lines so that traffic could actually get through.
We made it to Destin in plenty of time – about 3:30. It had been raining off and on all day and that did not bode well for Mike and Amy to get married on the beach. They found a backup at the Marriott Courtyard where Amy’s parents were staying and everything actually turned out just fine. After the “I Do’s” and pictures on the hotel property, we went to the beach for some pictures. The surf was incredibly rough, there were dead jellyfish everywhere, and it was FREEZING!!! But, they got some pictures and in spite of the weather, I think they turned out pretty well.
After the wedding, we had dinner at The Lighthouse restaurant in Destin. Amy’s parents, sister and family, and Joe and I were the only ones there. It was really nice for me to get to know Amy a little bit and her family, too. Overall, I don’t regret driving one bit.
Friday, March 27, 2009 – March Showers bring April Flowers???
We woke on Friday to a thunderstorm. And, it continued to rain. All. Day. Long. Joe had wanted to see the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, so we all loaded up in 4 cars and drove through the rain to Pensacola, which was about 60 miles away. The museum was actually bigger and better than we expected and it was free! I was particularly glad to have something to do besides sit in our room all day.
Joe and I saw 2 IMAX films while we were there. About halfway through the first one, Fighter Pilot, we realized we had seen it before! Hahaha!!! Oh well. The 2nd one was made exclusively for the museum and featured the Navy’s Blue Angels, The Magic of Flight. I liked it, but Joe was lukewarm on it. They compare airplane flight with the flight of birds and showed lots of birds flying. Joe would have liked 45 minutes of exclusive Blue Angels coverage.
There were lots of planes on display, including Pappy Boyington's of Baa Baa Black Sheep fame (the show was based on a real person), and four of the older model Blue Angels planes.
Now, the Blue Angels fly F-18's and there were a couple of them parked at the hangar behind the museum:
Saturday, March 28, 2009 – Rain, Rain, Go Away
Is it Groundhog Day? It sure felt like it in Florida! We awoke – again – to thunderstorms. Not that we were surprised. We had been watching lots of Weather Channel trying to figure out our chances of driving OUT of the weather on the way home.
Fortunately, we did drive out of the rain – and fairly quickly. By the time we got back to Pensacola, the skies were clearing. It turned into a beautiful day as we drove through Alabama, Mississippi, and into Louisiana, where we spent the night.
Our drive took us through Foley, AL where we stopped for some photos. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a nice city limits sign that Joe could stand by, but we did see the Foley Library and Foley City Hall and about a bazillion people heading down the Foley Beach Express highway to the beach.
We hit I-10 in Mobile, AL and stayed on it until we got to New Orleans. We stopped in Ocean Springs, MS at a spot from Diners Drive-Ins and Dives and had dinner. The place was called “The Shed” and featured BBQ. It was very, very good. The sauce was really sweet and the sides were all homemade and awesome!!!
In New Orleans, we hit the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway and drove north to I-12. The Causeway is 24 miles across the middle of Lake Pontchartrain. When I was a kid we went to New Orleans and I wanted to drive across then, but we didn’t. So, this time, Joe indulged me. It was kind of fun and I wasn’t even scared. Ha!
Sunday, March 29, 2009 – The Long Road Home
This morning we woke up to a beautiful day. Too bad we couldn’t have had one of those in Destin. We made our way home from Lafayette, LA . Our only real stop today was in Natchitoches, LA for lunch. One of Joe’s co-workers, who is from Louisiana, recommended a restaurant there so we stopped for a Louisiana po’ boy. It was good and the town was cute. It’s a big tourist attraction, but Joe and I aren’t sure what is really there. We did read on Wikipedia that is one of the top 5 retirement communities in US, so we decided it’s a tourist attraction for old people. Ha! It is the town where Steel Magnolias was filmed, so we stopped a took a picture of the house they used, which is now a B & B.
We pulled into our driveway about 5:30PM. Even though we didn’t plan our trip, I thought it turned out just fine. It was a long drive for a short visit and we had the horrible weather, but we were glad to see Mike and Amy get married and that was what was most important!
Monday, March 23, 2009
What I've been up to...
Sometimes I find it truly amazing how fast time goes by. You know - the old roll of toilet paper theory. And I wonder to myself what have I been doing? I mean, geez, March is almost over!!! Wasn't it just January 1st yesterday? So, I decided to think about that...what have I been doing for the last 3 months?
1. Working. It goes without saying that I have been working and I feel like I've been doing way too much of that. But, that's all I'll say about that right now.
2. Remember my big cross-stitch project? Well, I finished that. I know that a shout to the heavens should have been sung out, but I just quietly finished it one night, washed it, and it's in the closet waiting for the completion of the last 2 to go with it.
3. I started on the new cross-stitch project and here's how far I've gotten:
4. I read a couple of books - The Book Thief and The Art of Racing in the Rain. Both are very good!! The Book Thief is actually labeled as a "youth" book, but it was a Cargo Book Club selection and I wanted to try it out. It's the story of a young girl in Germany during WWII. She is not Jewish, but there is lots of talk of Hitler and the mis-treatment of Jews and I wonder how much the youth know about this. I guess they SHOULD know, but I can see my friend's wanting to protect their children from some of that truth (Barnes & Noble says 12 and up is the age). It's a very moving story and I really enjoyed it. It's kind of long, but reads fairly quickly. The Art of Racing in the Rain is a story told from a dog's point of view. It's a really, really quick read - very good, but I found myself crying off and on throughout the entire book. Oh, yeah, and I also read Agnes and the Hitman. It was cute, completely unbelievable, but entertaining. Ha!
5. Movies. We have seen a few movies this year. We totally got into our Netflix list for a while. We had been slacking at the end of the year, so this year, we picked it up. Here are a few highlights: We watched Tropic Thunder which although pretty silly, made me laugh out loud many times. LOVED RDJ and Tom Cruise!! Martian Child was a recommendation from my best friend, Sheli, and we loved that one, too. Get Smart was horrible. I put it on the list because I thought Joe would want to see it because he's a big Steve Carell fan. What Happens in Vegas was cute, but predictable, of course. And most recently, we watched Babel. I really liked that movie. It moved kind of slowly, but I liked the story, loved the way they had 3 stories going at once, but brought them all together in the end.
Sure doesn't seem like much, especially since the only trip we've taken was our weekender to Atlanta. We're getting ready to go to Florida in a couple of days. I'm not sure if things will pick up or slow down when we get back, but here is to the next 3 months of 2009!
1. Working. It goes without saying that I have been working and I feel like I've been doing way too much of that. But, that's all I'll say about that right now.
2. Remember my big cross-stitch project? Well, I finished that. I know that a shout to the heavens should have been sung out, but I just quietly finished it one night, washed it, and it's in the closet waiting for the completion of the last 2 to go with it.
3. I started on the new cross-stitch project and here's how far I've gotten:
4. I read a couple of books - The Book Thief and The Art of Racing in the Rain. Both are very good!! The Book Thief is actually labeled as a "youth" book, but it was a Cargo Book Club selection and I wanted to try it out. It's the story of a young girl in Germany during WWII. She is not Jewish, but there is lots of talk of Hitler and the mis-treatment of Jews and I wonder how much the youth know about this. I guess they SHOULD know, but I can see my friend's wanting to protect their children from some of that truth (Barnes & Noble says 12 and up is the age). It's a very moving story and I really enjoyed it. It's kind of long, but reads fairly quickly. The Art of Racing in the Rain is a story told from a dog's point of view. It's a really, really quick read - very good, but I found myself crying off and on throughout the entire book. Oh, yeah, and I also read Agnes and the Hitman. It was cute, completely unbelievable, but entertaining. Ha!
5. Movies. We have seen a few movies this year. We totally got into our Netflix list for a while. We had been slacking at the end of the year, so this year, we picked it up. Here are a few highlights: We watched Tropic Thunder which although pretty silly, made me laugh out loud many times. LOVED RDJ and Tom Cruise!! Martian Child was a recommendation from my best friend, Sheli, and we loved that one, too. Get Smart was horrible. I put it on the list because I thought Joe would want to see it because he's a big Steve Carell fan. What Happens in Vegas was cute, but predictable, of course. And most recently, we watched Babel. I really liked that movie. It moved kind of slowly, but I liked the story, loved the way they had 3 stories going at once, but brought them all together in the end.
Sure doesn't seem like much, especially since the only trip we've taken was our weekender to Atlanta. We're getting ready to go to Florida in a couple of days. I'm not sure if things will pick up or slow down when we get back, but here is to the next 3 months of 2009!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Spring 2009
I woke up this morning and realized - it's Spring! But as I looked out the bedroom window, I didn't expect to SEE Spring because it hasn't felt like Spring lately. Oh, it's been warm, then cold, then warm, then cold, now warm again. I know the trees at work bloomed and have already turned to leaves, but most of the landscape still seems so ... brown. Much to my surprise, this is what I saw:
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This is our backyard. And my goodness...somehow I had missed the fact that the tree is getting it's leaves back and the grass is turning green (what grass we have) and the sun is shining!!! It is INDEED Spring (clearly, I need to get out more).
Unfortunately, Spring in Texas lasts about 2 days. I expect it to be 100 degrees by the end of the week.
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This is our backyard. And my goodness...somehow I had missed the fact that the tree is getting it's leaves back and the grass is turning green (what grass we have) and the sun is shining!!! It is INDEED Spring (clearly, I need to get out more).
Unfortunately, Spring in Texas lasts about 2 days. I expect it to be 100 degrees by the end of the week.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Welcome to the world, Jordan Mathew
Well, this is a post I should have done about 2 weeks ago...
On March 4th, Joe and I welcomed our 8th nephew to the world and with our 4 nieces, that makes an even dozen! This nephew is also special because Joe will be his godfather.
Big Brother, Tristan and Big Sister, Alaina are waiting patiently to meet the new addition to the family:
Here's daddy, Tristan, Alaina, and Jordan:
Joe actually met the little fellow last weekend, but he didn't take a camera. I guess that's what happens when the scrapbooker stays in Texas!
On March 4th, Joe and I welcomed our 8th nephew to the world and with our 4 nieces, that makes an even dozen! This nephew is also special because Joe will be his godfather.
Big Brother, Tristan and Big Sister, Alaina are waiting patiently to meet the new addition to the family:
Here's daddy, Tristan, Alaina, and Jordan:
Joe actually met the little fellow last weekend, but he didn't take a camera. I guess that's what happens when the scrapbooker stays in Texas!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Disconnected
Last Saturday morning Joe came to me and said..."The lights on the router are blinking. Is that normal?" Hummm...I can't say I've ever paid much attention, but I will say that the when I did my last post, I had a little trouble with the internet connection. I turned the router off and back on and voila! It worked. Apparently, that was foreshadowing. Because...no, honey...the lights blinking is not normal. Nor is it normal when the lights all turn orange and/or red. So, I called Verizon and they did their tests, but to no avail. It was dead. D-E-A-D, dead. A new router would be required, which couldn't go out until Monday, and couldn't be received until Tuesday. Do you have any idea how disconnected from the world you feel when you have no internet??? It's maddening!!! I seriously do not know how we existed before it.
Fortunately, my new phone has internet access so when I needed to know bits of trivia like "Isn't Donald Trump, Jr. married?" I could look that up on my phone. (And, I mean, how could I live another moment without that information??? Oh, and btw, YES, he is married and Donald Trump III was just born on February 18th. I'm not sure why he doesn't wear a wedding ring.) But, I couldn't blog and I couldn't make vacation plans and upload photos, so stupid trivia aside, it's been a weird few days.
I'm so glad to be back.
Fortunately, my new phone has internet access so when I needed to know bits of trivia like "Isn't Donald Trump, Jr. married?" I could look that up on my phone. (And, I mean, how could I live another moment without that information??? Oh, and btw, YES, he is married and Donald Trump III was just born on February 18th. I'm not sure why he doesn't wear a wedding ring.) But, I couldn't blog and I couldn't make vacation plans and upload photos, so stupid trivia aside, it's been a weird few days.
I'm so glad to be back.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
A 5 Starbucks Week
I guess I must admit that I find comfort in the strangest places. Wait. That didn't sound right, did it? What I mean is ... take for example a lovely mocha from Starbucks. It's warm and creamy and chocolate-y (even in it's non-fat state). It warms me from head to toe and just makes me feel yummy inside. And sometimes, it comforts me when I'm preparing for a bad day at work.
This has been a 5 Starbucks week. I've "needed" that warm, yummy, comfort every day this week. Bad sign, but oh so tasty. It goes without saying that weeks like this do not help with the big resolution. And, to top it off, I owe Jesus 12 miles. Or is it 15? Hummmmm....
As I sit here tonight I'm already anticipating my 5th of the week and looking forward to that chocolate-y goodness. Sigh.
This has been a 5 Starbucks week. I've "needed" that warm, yummy, comfort every day this week. Bad sign, but oh so tasty. It goes without saying that weeks like this do not help with the big resolution. And, to top it off, I owe Jesus 12 miles. Or is it 15? Hummmmm....
As I sit here tonight I'm already anticipating my 5th of the week and looking forward to that chocolate-y goodness. Sigh.
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