Wednesday, July 29, 2009

The Weekend

Projects. Lots of projects running around in my head, and I finally got to unleash a few of them this weekend. I have a couple of Wal-Mart bookshelves that have been moved around from house to house since college.
They're nice and all, still in pretty good shape (which is amazing, after half a dozen moves), but they're lacking in prettiness. So I decided to fix that. I started with the little one, took it apart and sanded it down. (btw - plastic does not make for a good drop cloth outside, it kept sticking to my feet!)
I painted it white, it probably took 3 coats to get it even, and then attached some lovely wrapping paper I bought at Hobby Lobby last Christmas to the back panel with some spray adhesive. And here's the final result!

Cute, eh? I love it! My next project was to tackle the living room, which I'll save for another post. :)

Monday, July 20, 2009

The Weekend, briefly

I got my Blackberry in the mail on Friday!! I bought it off of ebay on Tuesday (I think?). I've been looking for a new phone (the Hue still works pretty well, but I'm tired of it), and when I saw how many Blackberries are on eBay, well, I decided that's what I needed. It's cute and pink and awesome. I shall call it my Raspberry.
Spent almost 2 hours in martial arts on Friday, and it was much needed. I was in Florida for a week, and then was sick the next week, so I was pretty rusty. It's amazing how quickly you can forget things when you don't practice them regularly. My instructor is awesome, he'd been pushing for some one-on-one training and I finally gave in. He wants me to start training for my blackbelt. Hopefully I can start on that soon. You've been warned! ;)

Saturday, Cassi & Jess and I got up at the crack of dawn and hit the garage sales. We scored lots of fun items, a few of which will likely appear as a Before & After project in the next few weeks. I also found some cute little outfits for Roxanne (she was super excited).

We went out to the Buffalo Gap flea market (which they have once a month). Got some DELICIOUS tomatoes. Seriously, they are homegrown amazing. I wish I had a photo of them. Maybe I'll do that tonight. But I only have two left.

On Sunday, I said goodbye to a good friend who's heading to California today. I will miss you, but October 17th is not too far away. You should probably start preparing yourself for a loss, though. :) BOOMER SOONER baby!

Had a wonderful little rainstorm last night just as I was going to sleep, and another one rolled through first thing this morning. Kevin Fowler put it perfectly: "I love the sound of rain on a tin roof on a hot summer's night..."

Happy Monday!

Friday, July 10, 2009

Vacation! Part Deux - Kristie's Florida

After a few hours of driving, we made it to Kristie's house, which is adorable and a half! And I didn't take any photos of it, shame on me! She had just painted it the week before, and it's so beachy and cute! Anyway, a quick freshen up and then we took off for her boyfriend's BBQ. He's training to be a firefighter, and his class had their first Burn that night.

Scott is at the top right.

Their campus is awesome, they've just completed a new burn building. It's several stories tall and they run drills there (with smoke filled rooms and ladder rescues - too cool!).

That night we had some yummy BBQ and watched the guys work in their squads to put out fires. It was really awesome to watch, even in the perpetual rain. We actually had a downpour for awhile, but luckily we were under cover.

On Thursday morning, Kristie and I headed to Stuart Beach. In the SUNSHINE. Yes. It cleared up, I'm convinced, just for me. The water was gorgeous and clear, but a bit too cold for swimming (at least for me). But it was perfect for laying on the beach.

There were LOTS of dragonflies out there. I mean, they were everywhere!! And after reading the wikipedia article on dragonflies just now, I'm kind of grossed out. But anyway.

A few pelicans entertained us for awhile, swooping in and out of the water looking for dinner. (Hop into my mouth, if you want to live...)

After a few hours we did a little souvenir shopping, a little grocery shopping, and then went back to her house to bum around for awhile (it had started raining again, anyway). She made some amazing shrimp scampi for dinner and we watched Defiance. GREAT movie.

Friday morning, we headed out to Jupiter Beach. Again, sunshine! Yay! Kristie then took me to Blowing Rocks. It was absolutely gorgeous! We walked around for awhile, took lots of photos, and then strolled down the incredibly hot sand.
After that, we drove around and looked at all of the gigantic houses on Jupiter Island. Apparently a lot of celebrities have homes down there. Their landscaping bills probably equal my yearl salary. And yes, I'm jealous. We stopped at a restaurant on the water and had lunch (and beer) and then went back to Kristie's.

After a little nap, we made our way to the movie theater and watched Transformers. It was really good! (Yes, that's three movies in one week, a personal record, I think). Hit the hay early so we could get up and watch the sunrise before they took me to the airport. It was early, but beautiful, and there were lots of folks out fishing. Looked like they were having some success too.

My flight home was FAR less stressful, no stress actually. Every flight was on-time, one was even early to our destination (which resulted in us sitting on the tarmac for about 30 minutes), but it was all good. Lunch with the parents in OKC and then a short drive home to Duncan.

It was definitely a vacation. Definitely in my top 5.

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Vacation! Part one - Orlando

What an amazingly relaxing vacation! I read two books and started a third, saw three movies, and was completely lazy all week long, and enjoyed (mostly) every second. I say mostly, because it did rain a lot. But let me start at the beginning.

We had a great time at Garage Sale Part Deux. We had more people show up in the first hour (though SEVERAL were early...which is annoying) than we did all day the previous weekend. Sold a lot, got rid of everything else, drank beer, had pizza, and shot the bull with good friends for awhile. Good times. I sobered up (mostly) and finished packing. Then it was off to Duncan for a visit with the fam before taking off for Lawton's airport on Sunday morning. Got there at 10 (my flight was supposed to be at 11:15) and found out the flight was cancelled. Nobody called me. Upsetting. They rebooked me on the 3pm, which didn't end up taking off until after 4, causing me to miss my original connection to Orlando. I managed to book it across the terminal and snag a seat on the next flight (barely). Got into Orlando at 10 and had to take a taxi to the hotel because it was so late, and Carol was busy studying for her class. You better believe American Airlines is gonna get a letter from me. I called them, but they were completely unapologetic about the cancellation. All I needed was a phone call. Sigh. What has happened to customer service?
The hotel was gorgeous! And on Monday morning, I had the pool entirely to myself. Glorious! After a few hours of pool time, I headed out to Lake Eola park, which was just a block behind the hotel. It started to lightly rain when I got there, but it didn't last long, and I was able to enjoy the scenery and the 1 mile stroll around the park. Had lunch at a little grill right by the water and then headed back to the hotel for a short nap before Carol got back.

We spent a little more time at the pool, and then went to dinner at Shari Sushi Lounge. It was AMAZING. Delicious sushi with crazy ingredients like mango and kiwi and cashews (I'm drooling right now) and a super swanky atmosphere. If you're ever in Orlando, you must dine there. Oh, be sure you try the Ginga Kogen beer. Delish.


Back to the pool on Tuesday morning, but only briefly, because a nice little rainstorm moved in. Booooo. Luckily there was a movie theater just a few blocks away, so I booked it on foot and was not too drenched by the time I got there. I saw Year One. It was a bit like Mel Brooks's History of the World: Part One ("It's Good to be the King"), except with Biblical stories, and (sadly) no musical numbers. But hilarious, in true Jack Black and Michael Cera style. I got soaked on the way back to the hotel and was in desperate need of a beer, so I stopped at the hotel bar. Bad decision. $5.17 for a Michelob Ultra. Are you kidding me? Ridiculous. It was good, but not that good.

Carol and I went to see My Sister's Keeper that night (sad!!) and had dinner at Kafe Kalik, a Bahamian/Caribbean restaurant. It was pretty tasty.

On Wednesday morning, Kristie drove up from West Palm Beach to pick me up and we wandered around Lake Eola Park for awhile.



After our park stroll, we had a quick bite at Chipotle and then Carol was on her way to the airport back to Abilene, and we were on our way to Stuart, FL.

Stay tuned for Part Deux - Kristie's Florida. :)