Wonder of Christmas

The Girl Effect

Florida Here I Come!

Well, I am finally making another trip to Florida this year. I am going through withdrawl here. It kind of came up quickly, I found a great deal, cleared it with my friend and I leave in just over 3 weeks for a long weekend in Florida. It might actually be cold here by then so it will be a nice break from the winter weather and a great visit with friends I miss so very much! Can't wait to see you all!!!!

I'm Back

Well, I am back from my Ireland trip and I am slowly getting back into the swing of things. For a few days I kept waking up really early, as early as 4am and having a hard time getting back to sleep. Today I did not wake up until my alarm started going off so that was great. However, I am exhausted today. I am thinking about my next big trip... I would love to go back to Ireland and do Northern Ireland but I am thinking in the back of my mind, that I may try to do some New Zealand and Australia. The trip would be a minimum of 2 weeks though. I have looked at the tours Trafalgar has, and I don't know that I am going to be willing to spend that kind of money. So I am just kind of looking at what I can do on my own. I figure they speak English there and I will probably not do a lot of driving since you really have to fly to get places. I will have to look into what their public transportation systems are like to see if that would be a viable option in the cities. If I have to, I will just do Australia but if I am going to be down there, I may as well just get them both done. It is a long flight and an expensive one at that so I would like to see as much as possible when I make the trip. I am going to pick up some guide books and see what kind of itinerary I would like to start thinking about. This would be a big trip and will be planned carefully and probably not happen for at least 2 years. I will keep you posted though. Plans can and do change frequently with me until the tickets are bought and paid for. Until then, I am looking forward to my trip to Disneyland in January. Maybe I will do a blog for that one too!

Trip blog

Well, I am headed for Ireland in about 6 weeks. I started a blog for the trip. Not much to look at right now. But I am hoping to be able to blog while I am over there. That all depends on 1)How tired I am in relation to what time the wake-up call is the next morning (some are gonna be pretty early) and 2)How easy it is for me to find a computer to use since I won't be taking mine. Check it out...
Daydreamer in Ireland

Bullet post

This seems to be a trend in the blog world lately so I am going to give it a shot...

-My final payment for my trip to Ireland is due in a couple weeks.
-I need to start making purchases for the trip.
-Reference above, I started those purchases today...I got a new rain jacket...


and a new pair walking shoes...


-I need to figure out if I need any new clothes to take with me.
-I want to pack as light as possible so I want to do a practice run with the packing. Maybe next weekend.
-I made final plans for my birthday trip. I am going to California, to spend my 30th birthday with Mickey Mouse and friends.
-Libby is going to be a big sister... That is an entire post in and of itself.
-My dog poisoned herself, eating 2 entire boxes of dCon, rat poison last Saturday night. We made an emergency trip to the vet and she will probably be okay. We'll know more in a couple weeks but for now she is doing well.

I think that is all for now. I will leave you now with a couple pictures from the trip to Glenwood Springs with Libby.

Travel dreams

I haven't really posted much lately. I really wish I had more motivation to get more consistent with this. Maybe one day. For now I will just post whenever and however often I want. Here I am just 4 months away from jetting off to Ireland. I have a bit more to pay on my trip and in addition to that I have to figure out a way to come up with spending money. I am sure it will all work out in the end. In the meantime, I am busy planning and dreaming for my next couple trips. First off, when my friends B&D finally get settled somewhere I am going to go for a visit with them. I miss them terribly. But until that happens, I am planning my trip for my birthday. Since I had originally hoped to be in Europe for my birthday (cost is what made that not happen), I am now seriously thinking I am going to spend that week at Disneyland in California. I haven't been there in a few years and I have really been wanting to make it out there for a visit. So long as things work out, if I can have at least one person with me, it will be really affordable. I am thinking though with airfare so unstable lately, I really should get those plane tickets booked soon. I found them at a great price. Last but not least, I am starting to consider planning a trip to Hawaii either Fall 2009 or early 2010. I don't know yet. I really loved it there last year and I really want to make to back there and spend some more time in one place. I have such a long list of places I want to visit. I don't know that I will ever be able to tackle the whole list in my lifetime. All I can do is try my hardest. Well, I am off to bed to dream...

Charlie Bit Me

Happy 4th of July... I think

Okay, this is going to sound really bad. But I am not all that crazy about this holiday. I think it is a combination of things. First off, it is in the middle of summer and it is blazing hot out. I HATE the heat. I sometimes think I should be living in Alaska, or Antarctica. Somewhere cold like that. Second... fireworks... Don't get me wrong, I love me a great professional show where they have all the good ones. However, I never really understood the people in the neighborhoods setting them off. To begin with, most of the good ones that some people purchase, are illegal in the state of Colorado. These bozos drive up to Wyoming to get these things. They are breaking the law, and wasting all that gas, which comeon lets be real, is more valuable than gold these days, all to buy something that they are going to light on fire, and they usually aren't that good to begin with. If you want some good fireworks go to a professional show and see some good ones. I haven't been able to see a great fireworks show in a few years. I tried to see one while I was in Florida last year, but it was so windy they cancelled the show. But I am one of those lucky ones who have a dog who is terrified of the noises they make. Don't usually get a lot of sleep on the 4th. Or the night before. Last night some bozo was setting them off (the illegal ones) in the neighborhood at 1:30 in the morning. I would love to go up to them and stuff one of them up their.... Happy 4th of July!!!!

A Bit of R&R... at Least That's the Idea

I am away for three days in Glenwood Springs. For those who don't know, it is a hot springs town in the mtns of Colorado and they have a huge pool that uses natual spring water from the local hot springs. The water comes out of the spring at about 122 degrees but for obvious reasons, they do cool it with fresh water. My family has been coming up here for years... since my dad was a kid. When I was younger, the whole family would load up in their cars and drive up for a 3 day break. You swim all day and when not in the water, you just hang out by the pool munching on cookies, chips, and whatever other junk food you may desire. Well, the family stopped coming up here awhile back. Everyone just got so busy as us kids were all getting older. We all usually make it up here about once a year, just not all together. We are fortunate enough this year, we have my cousins little girl with us. She is a complete beauty and I absolutely adore her. I hope to get some fun pictures while we are here but it will take me a little while to get them up on here. Well, I am off for a night of sleep so that I am ready and refreshed for a day at the pool tomorrow!!!

Friday's Feast

It's been awhile since I feasted and I thought I would partake this week.
 
Appetizer
When someone smiles at you, do you smile back?
 
Of course... unless I am having a bad day.
 
Soup
Describe the flooring in your home.  Do you have carpet, hardwood, vinyl, a mix?
 
Mostly carpet... an ugly brown carpeting.  The kitchen and bathrooms are all linoleum... that is shrinking and so it is pulling apart at the seams as well and the walls and it is disgusting.  I would love to put hardwood in the kitchen and ceramic tiles in the bathrooms and entryways.
 
Salad
Write a sentence with only 5 words, but all of the words have to start with the first letter of your first name.
 
Rabbits run round red raspberries.
 
Main Course
Do you know anyone whose life has been touched by adoption?
 
Yes, many.  My own to begin with.  I have two cousins who are adopted and I myself am considering adoption.
 
Dessert
Name 2 blue things.
 
The sky and... the ocean.  Two of my favorite things.

Dreaming... and hoping

So I have only just been back from San Francisco (still haven't sat down and gone through all my pictures, better things to do lately... like sleep), and I am already dreaming of my next trip to plan. I'm not talking about Ireland either (which I am going in October). Well, not only have I already booked hotel and kennel for the dogs for my parents and I to get away to Glenwood Springs at the end of June, but I have been furiously researching hotels and such for us to all go to Hawaii together for about a week and a half. I am hoping that we may be able to island hop and see all of the larger islands. I had such a great time when I went last year... was getting ready to head home a year ago tomorrow. I really wished I'd had more time to spend there and see more. I would like my parents to go with me too. I am serious when I say that I would move there... but the financial aspect prevents me from doing that. How could I possibly enjoy living there if I had to work 2+ jobs just to get by and that wouldn't leave me any extra to travel with. Just not realistic. I read a blog and the authors family travels to Maui every year. It is so beautiful and I have to admit, I am jealous... So now I am off to dream and hope that it is possible for me to do this with my parents.

I'm a...

I am really hoping to work on my post about my trip to San Francisco tonight. I may break it into a couple posts, but I just haven't had the energy this week to weed through the 300+ photos I took on the trip. In the meantime...

Overwhelmed

Wow.  The last few weeks have been a bit overwhelming for me.  Nothing real big happened but it's just a bunch of little things.  First off I want to share something that has been on my heart since Feb. 3.  My parents and I were headed to the grocery store (not the one we usually go to) and while on the way there, we saw that there was an accident on the highway that we were going over.  While we couldn't actually see the accident, I knew it wasn't good because they had the highway completely shut down.  I work for the PD in the area and I was pretty sure this was going to be our accident.  I had this feeling that this wouldn't have a happy ending.  Well, later that night after we got back home, I saw on the news that there was in fact a VERY serious car accident in which 2 people were killed.  A man was driving down, had some sort of medical episode, swerved into the lane of traffic next to him and struck the side of a van carrying missionaries.  The van had 6 people in it including an 18 month old little boy.  On top of that the people in the van were missionaries preparing to leave the country to take the good news of Jesus Christ to people around the world.  The two people killed instantly were two women, one from South Africa.  I am unsure where the other was from.  The people transported to the hospital were a woman from Michigan and a family of three from California.  On Monday morning I got to work and sure enough it was our accident.  We got word that the little boy didn't make it, and his mom was in serious condition and at that point they did not know if she would make it or not.  The man who caused the accident came away from the accident uninjured.  This whole situation has tugged on my heartstrings from the very beginning.  Today the father of the little boy came in to get a copy of the accident report.  I gathered all the paperwork and the accident report and gave it to him.  When I returned to my desk I was telling my co-worker how the whole thing just broke my heart, and then I started to cry.  I see this kind of this day in and day out in my job.  But for some reason, this one really touched me.  I can feel that connection with them as brothers and sisters in Christ.  It is a bit overwhelming.  I don't know these people from the guy on the street corner and I just wanted to take this man who has just lost his son so tragically and is fighting for his wife to heal, and hold him.  It is truly heartbreaking. 

 

Some other news, is my grandmother has decided to move.  After my grandfather died back in October, she said she wasn't going to make any decisions about moving and selling the house for a year.  Well, she realized how lonely she was in that big house and has decided to move.  She is putting the house on the market and she is moving to a senior community where she will have a 1 bedroom condo and all the wonderful amenities there are.  I will have to come back one day soon and put a link on here for their website.  They are a registered 501( c) (3) (registered non-profit) and they have locations all over the country. 

 

I found out that a really dear friend of mine is having a baby girl this spring.  I am so excited.  She and her husband live in the Kansas City area but they are going to be out here in a couple weeks for a shower and I will hopefully get to spend some more time with them. 

 

My cousin is doing really well.  She is apart from the loser boyfriend who beat her up and right now is out of town with a new guy.  This is a guy we were not too sure about when he first appeared, but suprisingly he has turned out to be pretty good.  He is taking care of A and L and treating them well.  My aunt believes he truly loves A and I can only hope that it is true.  Although it would be a lot easier if he wasn't in his 50s but if this is God's answer to our fervent prayers... Who are we to question Gods' will? 

 

I am working with a travel agent this week to book my trip for this fall.  I am so excited!!!!  I will post here exactly what I am doing once it is booked. 

 

My television is on the fritz... and my windshield is cracked... Again (I just replaced the windshield this summer).  I ordered a new TV tonight and hope it is as good a deal as it sounds. It is a 20" flat screen LCD for less that $250.  I think I got a steal on it.  We will see when it gets in in about a week.  Since I bought a TV, the windshield is going to wait for awhile.  Probably after my trip. 

 

Well, I should be getting to bed now.  I am exhausted and it is snowing out which means I have to leave for work a bit early. 

Another year older and Another Getaway

First off, I am a day late on this... but Libby turned 1 on Friday. I can't believe she's 1! She has had such a turbulent start in life, I can only hope and pray that it will be a better year for her. Sweet darling girl, I have loved you since the day I first met you. You are a ray of sunshine in this world that can be so very dark. Happy Birthday!

I was fortunate enough to spend my own birthday with her on Monday. I turned 29, creeping up on 30 much quicker than I would like. I was telling a co-worker, that it isn't so much the age, but the fact that I am not at all where I hoped and planned to be at this point in my life. I am trying to focus on the blessing I do have in my life, like my family and my dear friends. Dawn, BobbieJo, Amy and Dara, you have no idea the ways you have touched my spirit this last year. Thank you! Aside from a day with Libby, the night before I went to dinner with my parents and grandparents to The Cheesecake Factory where I had the best meal I have ever had. I had the Kobe Burger (oh. my. goodness.), a Bikini Martini (which hit me hard, I am embarrassed to say, in front of the parents and the grandparents), and the Dutch Carmel Apple Streusel Cheesecake. I litterally thought I had died and gone to heaven. On Monday, after the fun with Libby, I met up and Dara and Amy and had dinner and caught a movie, P.S. I Love You. I had actually already seen the move but I really liked it and it's a good girly movie and since it was the girls... I was a nice evening.

Yesterday after work, my mom and I went to the movies. We went and saw Juno, that is a GREAT movie!! It made you laugh out loud, I even cried a little bit at the end. My mom loved it too!

On Thursday afternoon I take off for a long weekend in sunny (possibly rainy) Florida. I will be staying with Ben and Dawn, and will get to enjoy the antics of my kiddos, Chloe and Judah (man how I miss them) I am really looking forward to it. We are going to Blue Springs (with hopes to see the Manatees), and St. Augustine where we will hopefully meet up with BobbieJo and her family. Just 3 1/2 days left of work till I leave. I can't wait!