Paige's Deep Thoughts

As of 4:45...

2008-04-23T15:59:00.001-05:00

The Rancher!

New House!

2008-04-23T15:03:00.002-05:00

We've been house shopping!

The first house we attempted to buy was sold. The second...sold. The third we put up an offer. We got our home inspection. The house was falling down around us. We still loved it though. Due to an incompetent seller's Realtor the house fell through. One might say it was all for the best.

So here we are again...waiting to see if this offer is going to go through. I have high hopes for this one. It's a beautiful three bedroom, one and a half bath rancher.

Here's to hoping!

Making it Lovely
More Ways to Waste Time

I seem to have already started planning out the rooms.

The Green Girl

2008-02-11T15:15:00.000-06:00

Recently I have have been trying to make my life "greener". And by "greener," I mean harder. But not really. Well, maybe sorta. My husband and I have been making our own cleaning products, soaps, breads, and several different types of foods. I'm still searching for perfect recipes for this and that. I've found a pretty good chocolate muffin recipe, a good, if not flat, bread recipe, and a fairly decent soap recipe. Most, if not all, are still in the trial and error stages. We've been doing this for about two months now. I guess you could say it was part of our "new year's resolution." But not really. We are quite committed to the program however. If you call not eating processed mysteries a "program," or washing your skin in chemicals that could literally give you chemical burns. (We've been making lye soap.) It all seems to be sort of ....dare I say....fun. Of course I get the "hippie" comments frequently and whatnot, but I don't mind. I'd rather be a hippie than a mutant. :)

Visit these guys! They helped us...
The Simple Dollar
Tree Hugger
My Two Dollars

More to come...

Knoxville Craft Mafia

2008-01-28T11:00:00.000-06:00

Long time, no blog. :) It's been more than a hiatus, it's been 8 months. Shame Shame!!! Oh well.

We moved to Knoxville and I have recently joined the Knoxville Craft Mafia.

Check them out, Knoxville Craft Mafia

I did it!

2007-05-01T11:38:00.000-05:00

Well i've done it! I hope it works. For weeks now I have been creating craft projects in the hopes that I could sell the items on Etsy.com . Well, I did it! A Crafty Woman is my new store on Etsy. I hope that everyone who visits this site will stop by and see what I have to offer.

(Which isn't much because I hate everything I do. I'm sure nothing will sell and this is a complete waste of time.)

But my husband likes my stuff. My mom likes it. And that's saying a lot! haha. ;)

Seriously though, please stop by. A Crafty Woman.

Couples Dating..."Not Swingers!"

2007-04-04T15:09:00.001-05:00

For years now my husband has mentioned ideas from time to time pertaining to his "million dollar ideas." His most popular, The Bean Infuser! Basically this particular machine would infuse beans with hot sauce. "A spicy kick in every bite of bean!" He is nothing if not creative. Recently though, my husband has been pushing the "million dollar idea" of a Couples Dating Website. (Not for swingers, we're not that social!) Basically this website would be somewhat similar to Match.com or other similar 'singles' websites. Couples would put up profiles and find other couples in the area that match with their interests and 'date.'

Now, don't think that this idea is not well thought out! OHhhhhhhhh no! We've done much, much research. It wasn't until recently, however, that we truly realized just how much research we've done into this matter. I was having an innocent conversaiton with my mother about our social activities when Hubby interjected with his Couples Dating Plan. My mother was floored that we actually have 'dated' several couples. At this point in our lives, late 20 somethings with no children, we are desperate for friends and have no resource to find them.

I thought that I might share some of our more recent escapades into the wonderful world of couples dating.

Couple #1, Mr. Army and Mrs. English Major
Mr. Army was a little quiet but very friendly and he and hubby got along wonderfully. Mrs. English Major and I bonded quickly with our love of writing and many common interests. We all talked and played board games till the wee hours of the morning. We had a fantastic time. Then the question happened. "Where are you guys from?" Turns out they were headed to South Carolina and we were headed back to Alabama. We're still friends, though on an email basis. Not exactly who you call on a friday night to have a little fun.

Couple #2, Mr. Hardrock and Mrs. Workswithhubby
After our second couples dating experience we were full of hope and anxious to try again to find some more local couples to hang out with. Hubby suggested we date a woman he worked with and her husband. I was warned they were a little hard, in that they appreciated rock music and beer. I can hang with that I thought, I'll try it. We decided to have dinner at a local Indian restaurant. First impressions are sometimes wrong right? They arrived in full 80's goth/punk attire. I was dressed fairly prissy considering I was meeting new people for the first time and wanted to look nice. Opps! Who knew I should have pulled out the mohawk and torn jeans. My bad! The conversation throughout dinner was forced as she and I had nothing in common and Mr. Hardrock was highly opinionated about everything. Though the date wasn't great I agreed to give it another shot, but thank goodness that didn't happen. Mr. Hardrock didn't like us anymore than I liked them. We were dumped.

Couple #3, Mr. Pokergame and Mrs. English Major
Ahhhh. I thought I'd struck gold with these folks. They were perfect...until we got to know them. This one ended before it started. I dumped them over email.

Couple #5, Mr. and Mrs. Friendsroommates
This went so well for a period of time. That is, until I began to think about the activities on our dates. This is the "only fun when they're intoxicated" couple. Oops. Still good, extremely shy, people, just only fun to hang out with when there's nothing for them to do the next day. I think they were dumped via text message.

Couple #6, Mr. and Mrs. Coffeeshop
Yes, our lives are so pathetic that we've resorted to picking up couples at coffee shops. We've yet to date this couple. We have a semi date planned. Here's to hoping that it's better than the rest.

Update: Couple #6, NEVER CALLED US BACK!! Can you believe that!!

bloggity blog blog

2007-04-04T15:02:00.000-05:00

So I seem to have gotten out of the habit of blogging.
Maybe it's that or just that nothing terribly good has happened to blog about.

My rants:
1. Both cars died.
2. Bought a new car and couldn't get the title in our names. (I have much love for the DMV.)
3. Still no jobs for either my husband or myself.
4. We're in a lawsuit because the siding on our house is rotten. (NICE!)

So with that life goes on!

Highlights as of late:
1. I went fishing for the first and second time. I've still yet to catch a fish.
2. I tie dyed with my husband. We had some pretty cool shirts. See flickr.
3. We shaved the dog. She's much happier for some reason.
4. It's spring.

Can you say... "Hiatus" ?

2006-10-23T12:46:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've done the whole "blogging" thing. I've been questioned by several people if I'm leaving this world behind...my answer is no. I needed a small, couple month long, hiatus.

My rational for my several month hiatus... my world crashed down around me.

I'll explain. (This is a long one and may require coffee. Go, now. I'll still be here.)

When my husband and I decided we would get married I was working at Walgreens, a drug store. I was working in a 'bad' part of town. The decision was made that I should quit that job after a phone call one night going something like, "Hi, um..Tim... Can you come get me from work? No, no my car is fine. Why do you need to come get me then? Well, I think there's a car load of guys outside waiting on me to come out. Why do I think that? Well, um...they may have come inside and asked what time I got off and if I liked to party. No, I didn't tell them YES!! They just took it upon themselves to wait on me to get off work. I don't know what they want. Well, ...well, yea...I guess I know what they want. That's why you should come get me. If you don't the manager is going to call the cops. What's that noise? Yea, that's them yelling from the door. Yea, yea they said that. No, no don't bring the baseball bat."

My husband managed to find me a "student worker" position at his place of employment in one of the departments he covered. It was great for a while. We could ride to work together, go to lunch together, I could leave for school, I had the weekends off, we were both making good money. Life was good. We got married and it was all sunshine and roses.

Then my husband was fired for sexual harrassment 6 months after we were married. WOW! And they say the first year is hard...what do 'they' know?!! (My husband blatently denies, even to this day, of his guilt in the situation.) I was working in the same department as my husband. Never a good idea. Even more horrible idea when your spouse is fired from said department. I had a choice to make. Do I continue working in this horrible situation? My answer was yes. I loved my job, I loved my coworkers, I loved the money, I loved the freedom, and I truly loved learning about my job. So, I stayed. I worked out a deal with my boss that I could finish school, do my student teaching and work on the weekends, and continue on in a full time position after I finished my student teaching and graduated school. Wonderful! Everything was working out perfectly. I would have a degree, I would have a job directly, and I would have money while my husband was unemployed and I was student teaching. GREAT!

Yea, theories are fantastic. Turns out I'm a horrible teacher. Student teaching was hell. I was placed in one of the worst schools in the county for my first assignment and was literally younger than some of my students I was teaching. I was working my ass off 10 or 12 hours a day only to come home do to lesson plans and assignments for the class I was taking along with my student teaching. Then the weekend would come. I would thank god that the week was finially over and I could rest and regain my sainity only to realize that I had to be at work, the work that actually gave me a pay check and offered bennefits...as oppose to student teaching, which I had to pay for. So, for five months I did this. Needless to say by the time it was over I was 50 pounds lighter, sick as a dog, and dead tired. BUT, I still had my job and I was excited about that. I could wait to go full time at my 'real' job and make a difference somewhere.

Student teaching finished, my husband found a job, and I went full time and graduated. Life was good again! I progressed at work, went to inservices, took on more duties and was so excited about my life and the path it was taking.

Then it all went to shit. My coworkers started meetings to which I wasn't invited. Some of my duties were revolked. I was reduced to secretarial work. I caught obnoxious comments around every corner. No explanation, no conversation, no warning. I went from exceptionally happy to miserable in the matter of a month. Here's where I should have gotten a clue and turned in my notice. I, however, was still under the impression that no matter what, even if I had to leave my place of employment, I still loved what I did and wanted to do that for the rest of my life.

Then I was fired.

Then I was bitter.

Then my car died. (Not really of any meaning, except that it was my FIRST car and I have severe emotional attatchment issues to inanimate objects.)

So, here I am. Jobless. Directionless. Aimlessly searching for my next venture. I have a degree in Education, which I don't need to use. I have three years experience in the Cancer field and no desire to continue on with that. AND...last but not least...I have an English degree. I don't EVEN know what that's good for.

My perfect situation, that I "fell" into, turned from a rose bush to just thorns. 3 years wasted. All the plans for advancement in my field, gone. Now, I have no field. I'm as free as a leaf in the wind and I hate it.

My answer to the situation... Let's Move!

My husband, in his quest for greatness, would like to get his MBA. So, we have the choice of moving further south, Tuscalusa, or moving back to Tennessee, UTK. I vote TN! We're headed to Knoxville. Just as soon as my husband can find a job there. He's been looking for a month. 5 weeks. 5 weeks, 30 applications, 5 he's heard back from. Let's hope that the "no news is good news" is key here. Hopefully in the next week he'll hear about some interviews.

I'm ready to start over. I'm ready to lose everything to have everything. Let's lose the job, the career, the car, the house, the town. Fresh start. Hopefully a better start.

I've Been Found!

2006-07-30T17:46:00.000-05:00

Everyone wave!

Hi Mom.

My mom found me. I knew it wouldn't take her long. 6 months...that's a little slow. Usually she's faster with these types of things.

Did you really think I didn't know what a blog was? Or an RSS feed? How about flickr? You really didn't think I was into that anymore?

Please. I'm a dork to the core. I'm such a dork, I married a dork.

We're internet dorks together.

I have friends on here too. :) I won't even mention that I may have been part of the "Huntsville Webloggers Meetup." We've formed a group.

Yes mom, this means I don't get out as much as I should.

But really, I mean, at least I'm not on BitTorent!

Oh, and mom... I would stop reading this. Now. The internet and I...we have a special relationship.

Mom, you stick to this.

The best flickr out there...

2006-07-13T21:50:00.000-05:00

I love this flickr set. It's so creative...for someone. The girl that takes these pictures finds graffitti around San Francisco. Don't even get me started on my love of San Francisco and the art surrounding the city. Such a creative vibe. But I love the fact that such a wonderful statement as above can be lying beside this:

My Bed, The Hotel Room...

2006-07-10T21:02:00.000-05:00

My husband and I recently found a dresser. We love our dresser. We have a wrought iron bed and side tables and were not quite sure what type of heavy duty dresser would look alright with it seeing as how we were unable to have a wrought iron dresser because of the whole "it had to hold things" idea. Driving around one day we stopped at our favorite little furniture store halfway to Athens. Much to our delight and dismay it was going out of bussiness. They had the most awesome furniture EVER! Very modern and VERY expensive. So, of course, we could never afford anything in the store. Because the store was going out of business we WERE able to afford the items. We're talking 5 or 6 piece bedroom suites for 800$. Had Hubby and I had a storage facility we would have put the entire store on our credit card and paid on it for eternity. Thank god we don't have ANY storage room!

We did, however, find a dresser. It was light wood, which I would have never thought to put with our dark black wrought iron, but it looks excellent. The dresser was 6 drawers with a 3ft mirror and wrought iron handles. Beautiful. AND......200$. We bought it. We didn't think, we bought.

We should have thought a little.

It was huge.

HUGE!

Our bedroom....small.

REALLY small.

So, hubby and I and two friends help us get this big ass dresser in our tiny bedroom and we discover that not only are we going to have to move the bed, but the bed, the end tables, the chest of drawers, the tv, the fan, and a wrought iron dvd rack.

Like I said, small, and already it was packed with stuff.

So we moved around, and around, and around.

We put the dresser against the wall, the bed under the window, the tables and either side of the bed, the chest of drawers behind the door, with the tv on top (so you couldn't see it from the outside because I hate the way tv's look in a bedroom, I know, I'm weird, whatever.) and we finished.

It looked great.

A little too good.

Ever since we moved everything around Hubby and I can't sleep.

We feel like we're in a hotel. (A hotel with crappy sheets, but a hotel all the same.)

And honestly, It looks like a hotel room. I don't know why.

It's clean, it's neat, and almost dare I say, sterile.

So, that's where we stand, or sleep.
(I know, I know...another meaningless blog entry. I try.)

I'm baaaaaaaacccccck!

2006-07-10T21:00:00.000-05:00

I haven't stopped blogging. I just took a break. I've been swamped at work, swamped at home, and going different places all over in general.
Whew!
Makes me tired just thinking about it.
Bear with me, the posts will be spaced out a little more than the THREE ENTRIES A DAY that I started out with. Man, I don't know where I got all that time.

My dog, The Graduate!

2006-06-28T09:49:00.000-05:00

(We're the ones on the right. Hubby's shirt has a picture of Coal with the words, "Daddy's Girl" underneath. That was Hubby's Father's Day present. Aren't I cute?!! hehe)

Allis's Birthday Painting

2006-06-25T21:22:00.000-05:00

I painted this weekend while Hubby was at work.

I started with a piece of plywood.Next I painted the plywood black and had this:
Then the painting began.
(Clover, as requested by Allis. *Could you possibly pick something a little more vague next time Allis, thanks.* This is her belated birthday gift. )

Next came the frame.
This is where I had to stop.
Notice how the flowers are a slightly different color in the unframed painting.
(You probably can't tell as I'm a horrible photographer as well as a painter.)
I can't stop touching it.
It needs to leave my house.
I'm seriously going to mess it up, have to paint it black and start all over.
(The frame isn't finished because Lowe's closes at 7 on Sundays, but seriously Allis, as soon as the frame is finished you better come get it. I'll be in the corner playing the 'mad' artist crying and screaming about how my art sucks and it's never good enough and how I hate everything about my paintings.)

If you actually can paint, this seems like it would be a really neat idea. The plywood gives an awesome texture and depth to the painting. I got the medium crappy plywood as to have a little more texture in the wood. The SUPREMELY crappy plywood would be way too time consuming as you have to account on the paint soaking into the plywood. The frame, that was my bright idea and unless you have an excellent concept of 45 degree angles and a proper saw, I would skip that part.

PopArtPaige

2006-06-23T16:16:00.000-05:00

Movies and Makeouts

2006-06-21T18:35:00.000-05:00

Friday night after work my husband and I ventured out to a drive-in theater we'd heard about in Boaz, AL. I had packed us up a picnic dinner with sandwhiches, veggies chips, wine, and leftover brownies. It was great. We watched the new Pixar movie Cars. Cute little movie if you haven't seen it. I would recommend it to everyone, little kids or not. I would especially recommend the sex scene right in the middle of the movie. It was HOT!

What's that you say? "No sex scenes in Pixar movies!"

Well, there's a trick to it you see.

First you have to be drinking a ~~bottle~~ glass of wine while watching the movie very intently during the cat and mouse driving scene between the Racecar and the Porshe. Next you have to turn the volume wayyyyyyyyyyy up so you can hear their wonderful engines purring. Then you have to accidentally lay your hand on the "play" button on your steering wheel. This of course turns the cd in your car stero on, which happened to be Secret Machines, the last song on the albumn. (For those of you who don't know, which you should, it is a ballad about a 'whore' type girl with the majority of the first of the song being lyrical.) If you time it just right the music picks up speed right about the time the two cars sneak off into a garage and start tapping each other on their bumpers.

It was at this point that my husband and I looked at each other and said, "Bow Chicka Wow Wow."

Then as we were laughing at the naughty bits in Cars, we realized how stupid we were, quickly turned the cd off and sunk down in our car seats so the cars, which are exactly one foot away from us couldn't see our embarrassment.

It was at least another half hour before we stopped laughing. I mean, it's Pixar folks, how could we have been so dumb as to think they put a sex scene in their movie.

I'd like to suggest that they do though, because it was HOTT!

I sure hope so...

2006-06-20T08:20:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

pisces horoscope

Your Tuesday Horoscope Paige!

Sudden possibilities abound in your career field. Plan for a better life; refine your creative expression. There are some opportunities that balance your field of specialty with your desires to make a grand impact.

If this is true...I'll be posting more. :)

Never a dull moment...

2006-06-13T22:47:00.000-05:00

This weekend I attended a party at a friend's house in honor of his new Deck. (He built it himself and was very VERY proud. Good for you. You handy, handy man.) The Deck party was quiet and I didn't really know a lot of people there so Sweets and I baracaded ourselves in a corner of the deck overlooking two of our friend's dogs. As we stood there watching the dogs, making small talk I told her a few stories about my weekend leading up to the deck party.

(Actual stories to follow at a later date.)
Story 1: Sex and Silverware
Story 2: My dog has Mange!
Story 3: Coal can fart and hurl simultaneously. Who knew?!

Her comment:
"Nothing exciting ever happens to me. Day in, day out same thing. Shit is always going on with you guys." (She's right. It's like we've angered the universe in some passive aggressive, humorous, ironic way and the universe must pay us back ten fold.)

So Sweets, this is especially for you...

Broken Badge And The Hole In My Tire

I work at Huntsville Hospital. I park in a parking garage. In order to park in said parking garage I must badge in. Meaning I swipe my little badge in a little card reader thingy through my rolled down window, the gate opens, and I travel on. Sounds simple really.

But...it's not.

Obviously.

Because if it were simple then I would not have had to buy a new lanyard today.

It all started with my little routine in the mornings. I get in my car, I clip on my badge, I buckle my seatbelt and I turn the car on. *Key point here is that my badge is on a clip that I attatch to my shirt. There is a rubber band type thing that then attatches to my badges and my key ring with my keys on it. So everything I need for work is right there, handy, in a tidy little package attatched to my shirt.

I drive to the parking garage and pull up to the badge reader, roll down my window, and I slide my badge through the reader....

Then the trouble starts.

The clip attatched to my shirt slingshots off, the badge slips out of my hand, and the whole deal falls under my car. So, now absolutely everything I need for work in under my car dead center *I think. I managed to badge in though, so the gate is also up. People are also beginning to line up behind me to get into the parking garage.

So, I think. Hey dummy! Open your door and lean out and pick it up, no biggie.

I can't. I've pulled too close to the badge reader and I can't open the door enough to get my fat ass out of the car.

I need to back up.

So I wave to the people behind me, who are becoming more and more irate at me for taking too long to badge in, to move back, which they are ever, EVER so thrilled about.

They back up, I back up. Then I hear whoooosh.

Shit!@##%$#@$%$@$^@ * (and every other curse word imaginable)

I've run over my badge, my badge holder, MY KEYS, and my key ring.

Now, not only do I have to pick up my badge, but I also have to pick up the million pieces of my life. Three keys, my bent key ring, two badges with tire prints, and my destroyed badge holder. The people behind me are ELATED.

To date, front left tire is still ok, but I'm waiting. The sound....the horrible sound.... it sounded just like a flat. (That may have been my badge holder exploding, who knows.)

I got back in my car, thanked god the gate was still up, and rolled on through to a few honks of congradulations of my supreme driving abilities.

All in all, VERY embarrassing. Very depressing, that I had ruined my badge, my keys, and my holder.

Note: I picked up a new SUPER cool badge holder today, my keys were bent back into place and my badges came clean with an eraser (soap and water didn't cut it). All is well and nothing was hurt but my pride. And really....who needs pride.

The Coolest Thing EVER!

2006-06-06T21:48:00.000-05:00

Freecycle is a program where you donate your items you no longer want for others to pick up for FREE! This allows you to be able to PICK UP items for FREE also. Isn't that cool?!! It's a large scale swapshop for FREE! I love FREE, can't you tell. :) I plan to use it very, very soon. There are some black padded chairs that are calling my name. I may have some items in my garage calling someone else's name. hehe. I love this!

Slackerific! (Not so slackerific!)

2006-06-06T08:23:00.000-05:00

Yes, that's right. I'm a slacker. That's fine. You'll deal.

Saturday my parents came down to visit with us for my dad's birthday. I decided to take them to the new Brazilian restaurant, Cafe' from Brazil. This place is excellent. It was SO GOOD! If you have one in your area you should definately go and try it out. When there you should try the fried cheese thingys, the ham and onion pie, the pasta salad, and each and every one of the deserts because they are like big huge pieces of heaven (The chocolate is the best.). Seriously though, I've NEVER had a cake like that. It was the moistest, yummiest, sweetest cake I've ever had. DELICIOUS! (I'm drooling, literally, right now.)

After our wonderful lunch we made our way over to the Botanical Gardens to view the new butterfly exhibit. It was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. We all really enjoyed it. Click the picture to view my flickr documentation.

As for yesterday, well...

This had my attention. We're going to see it today. I hope it's horrible and it's falling down and in a bad part of town and not what we want at ALL! Because we really, REALLY need to wait another year.
But it's so nice and everything we want and not in a bad part of town and close to work and And AND.....

On another side note, my dogs fur has started to fall out from around her eye. What's up with that? It's gross. (We have a vets appointment for friday. That was the soonest our vet could get to her.)

Where the hell is my muse?

2006-06-01T22:33:00.000-05:00

Tonight I have surfed blog after blog. I've read and i've read and i've read even more. My final thought? I'm no longer as creative as I used to be. Some of you guys write so very well. You're so creative and eloquent and the posts are well thought out. Mine...mine are whatever comes to mind, whenever it comes to mind. I'm a freaking English major for christ sakes and I can't write a coherent post. I used to write beautifully. I used to have these wonderful thoughts that I felt were brilliant (at the time, I read them now and they're garbage, all garbage I say!) I've had stories and poems and drawings published and yet now....now I can't even bring myself to paint a picture because I'm scared I'll mess it up. So what if I mess it up? I've wasted valuable time, that's what! I have so many creative things that I would like to do, but yet, I just don't want to.

Here's my list:
1. Paint my black plywood canvases.
2. Sew pillows from my wedding material. (That's right, 2.5 years ago, still haven't done it.)
3. Rearrange my living room and make it artistic and classy.
4. Rearrange my bedroom. (to make room for my new dresser)
5. Sew little doggie bandanas. (the only clothing I'm allowed to place on my dog)
6. Scrapbook my vacation photos.

And here's my excuses:
1. It's too wet outside to paint and I'm not painting on my white carpet.
2. my sewing machine is broken.
3. I haven't had time.
4. I'm too tired.
5. my sewing machine is broken.
6. There are too many excuses to name.

And here's the truth:
1. I don't think I can paint anymore because i'm not creative.
2. I can't figure out how to thread my sewing machine properly and therefore my thread breaks.
3. Totally had time tonight but read blogs instead.
4. I'm not too tired, I'm just lazy.
5. See #2.
6. I go to the craft room, sit for five minutes and decide that I "can't."

So, you see, I'm totally a loser. I probably won't do any of those things this weekend either.
We have puppy school at 11, dinner with my parents at 1, and poker tournament at 5. And sunday...sunday is laundry day, go get gas day, and grocery day. I have to be at least a little domestic.

I need a muse. Where the hell is my muse?!! Maybe I'll find it under a rock somewhere this weekend.

Back to the daily grind...

2006-05-31T08:53:00.000-05:00

Ahhhhhhhh, so the days after you come back from vacation...not so fun. :) But! Three more days and we have a fun filled weekend planned.

Now, on to more important stuff, such as how I desperately want to go back to Hilton Head, like now. Now's good. I can have a bag packed in 30 mins. Ok, screw that. They had outlets there. I'll just buy new clothes. Let's go!

That is my idea of beautiful. I mean, just look at that. Really. Take a minute from the daily grind and feast your eyes on that beauty. White sandy beaches, cool breeze, warm water. Ahhhhhhh...

Now, back to the trip. Can you tell I had fun? Well, I did. We drove up on Thursday. It was an 8 hour drive. We left Huntsville about 9 and arrived at our villa around 7.

Friday we visited the beach, did a little shopping, ate lunch at some terrific places and scouted for Saturday's events. Friday night we went to a welcome party at a local inn and said hello to the bride and groom and some 100 of their closest friends. We also saw the groom's mother's toes as she danced around and posed for Hubby, the picture taker. :) It was a blast.

Saturday, we started off the morning with a dolphin cruise. It was wonderful. The weather was beautiful and not too hot yet. The water was cool and the boat was fast.

We then went parasailing. (Well, I didn't, but my hubby did.)

That was followed by a little time to relax, including swimming, showers, and ironing of 'fancy' clothes. The wedding was at 5:30. At 5:25 it decided to rain cats and dogs. The groom opened the bar and told everyone to wait. By 6:30 the rain had cleared and the beautiful ceremony was begun.

Awww...Aren't they cute!!

Sunday we met new friends and spent the day together before we headed back to Huntsville. This is at a pirate themed putt putt course. There was a coy pond running throughout the course. It was really neat.

We headed back to Huntsville around 10 pm Sunday night. We arrived back in Huntsville at 6am. We got to see the sun come up. At least some of us did.
Thanks baby for driving. And that was our Hilton Head trip. It was a blast! I can't wait to go back!
For Even More Hilton Head Excitement click here to see all of my pictures on Flickr.

I <3 HH!

2006-05-30T12:27:00.000-05:00

I REALLY wish I was still on vacation. It was more fun than one person should have.

Because of that time off that I so much enjoyed though...I must now work...and work...and work!

GYAH! don't these people know that the sun is out and it is calling my name.

Don't these people know that I bought a new dresser yesterday and now my bedroom is totally a mess and needs me home to clean it?!!

~~Don't these people know that I totally need to be at home watching tv and eating ice cream?!!~~

Just Kidding.

Prepare yourself, this is going to be a long one.

2006-05-24T09:30:00.000-05:00

There are times in my life when people ask me,
"What did you guys walk out of the church to when you got married?"
My reply, "Well, we didn't get married in a church. We got married in an art museaum and walked out to Dee by Ozzy Ozbourne."
Then they look at me and run away!

What seems perfectly normal to me, always amazes me how it affects others.
First of all, Dee is a beautiful, melodic song that went along with the Renaissance theme.
(I didn't mention that, oh yea. It had a Renaissance theme. Sorta. My dress did anyway. And the music. Sorta. Everything was played acoustically on guitar by Hubby's friend. The one we're going to Hilton Head this weekend to see married.)
It's not even like we didn't plan to get married in a church. We just lucked out to get married in an Art Museum (In the Great Hall, it looked just like the picture).
You too can have that luxary!
4 steps to an art museum wedding:
1. Book a place somewhat resembling a church. (It actually used to be a Babtist church)
2. Have it bought by some Indians (Like from India. Very nice people.)
3. Have the new owners turn the building into an actual church. (I think it was Budist)
4. Finially, have them void your contract within two weeks of your wedding.

The art museum I would love to say was planned, but it was the only place in Huntsville that wasn't booked for New Year's Eve. And yes, I thought it would be a fantastic idea to be married on New Year's Eve. Honestly, it wasn't that bad of an idea. Just a pain in the neck to plan.

The next question:
"Weren't your uber religious Church of Christ inlaws upset with you guys for having a wedding not in a church?"
short answer- Yes.
Long answer:
Hubby's parents are uber religious Church of Christ. Church of Christ do not allow music in their church. I told them I would not be having a wedding without music. Tim and I love music and weddings are for things you love, including music. I was supposed to walk down the isle to silence. I think not!
My parents didn't want to go to a Church of Christ church, Hubby's parents didn't want to go to a Babtist church, my father wanted me to be married Catholic because that would be proper. A Catholic church seemed to jab at Hubby's parents, mom didn't mind, dad wanted it, so Hubby and I looked into some really pretty Catholic churches around town. (Yes, I know this isn't a good reason. It doesn't matter anyway, keep reading.)
No priest would marry us.
The Catholic churches we looked into used their own priests for their own churches. No brining preachers of a different faith and no Catholic priest would marry us because we were not involved in the church.
We finially found a Church of Christ preacher that had agreed to marry us. (And he is the sweetest man on the face of the planet and we love him. )

And that's the story of our beautiful, well planned wedding. It was a fluke.

Just a note:
I made ALL the decorations for the previous venue, not the art museum. I used silk flowers, blue and white roses, and silver sparkles. I borrowed an ourdoor arch with lights from a family friend and decorated it with silk flowers. We used fish bowls on the tables with floating candles (which previously were allowed to be lit, but not at the museum. But it was fine.) and silk flowers and velvet squares (the Renaissance thing again). Thankfully they didn't look too stupid in the Art Museum. My dress and three bridesmaid dresses were purchased from Bridal Discount Warehouse in Nashville, TN for less than 400 dollars. The art museum, in her ultimate kindness and regret for our situation, lent us pedistals for flower arrangements and gave my husband and I a case of Champagne. (Really, really good, GOOD expensive imported Champagne. Still the best I've ever had.) All in all, my wedding was a calamity of errors. (Like that they forgot I was in the little room alone and no one helped me into my dress so I walked down the isle with it unbuttoned but no one noticed.) But it was good. Our friends made up the majority of the attendees and families stayed on seperate sides of the rooms and it was good.
(But I still can't look at the pictures of it two and a half years later because of the stress that it brings forth.)

The moral of the story:
Weddings are not for the bride and groom. If the bride and groom truly love each other...go to the court house and use the money you would have spent on the wedding for the best honeymoon ever. :)

My Crowes Nest

2006-05-23T09:39:00.000-05:00

I have a love like no other for The Black Crowes. It's a borderline obsession and has been since my early teens. My husband knows that should a member of the Crowe's (or John Cusack) ever propose to me, his butt will be to the curb. These were part of the conditions of our marriage. (He's worried about this...really. Can't you see him shaking?) I am that fan though, that has "every record you've ever made man." (I even have the coveted anniversary box set with every album up until Lyons and know exactly where it is and that it is in a safe place. I made my father buy it for me off ebay. It was our first ebay purchase.) And I LOVE every second of sound they've ever produced. 3 snakes and a charm being my all time favorite albumn (I've still never played the one in the box set. I actually bought another one so I wouldn't scratch it up.).
I've seen them in concert once (along with Bob Dylan).
June 27th they're coming to Starwood.
I'm actually debating not going.
Yes, that's what I said. Not Going...
I don't know why though.
These are the events that we take time off for, right?
If Ozzy Ozbourne/Black Sabbath (my hubby's favorite) were in concert at Starwood we'd so be there (Oh wait, we did...twice. Ozzfest.).
54.00 dollars to experience their music live and directly in front of me (along with two days of time off). I mean, it's two days off (2 days missed pay), a nights hotel bill, 54 dollars in tickets, gas and the fact that by the time they actually play I'll be too drunk to notice. (I mean really, 5$ for a bottle water or 4$ for a beer. What would you do?)
I'm beginning to wonder if I'm so old that money is actually MORE important to me than the best rock band EVER! (And I don't mean old in years, I mean old in life. Heh...there's a difference. In life, I'm like a hundred and ten.)
I'm feeling the need to rebel against my need to be a hundred and ten.
I feel black fingernails, purple hair, and bad eye makeup welling up from my soul.
I have a feeling I'm about to make a major credit card purchase. My wallet and I need some time alone.
Excuse us...