Florida!

So after a site visit for work in Orlando, where we got wined and dined by Mickey and friends, as well as Harry Potter the next night, I was able to see my sister and the girls, and had some fun with some extra back to school shopping for them. I had dinner with them at my sister's favorite, Maggiano's, and our friend April and her daughter Brianna came too! Saturday night I headed down to my folks house to hang out with the rents and got to have dinner with Brian and Mandy. Sunday morning I helped my Dad mow the grass, however he neglected to inform me the mower was self propelling until after half the yard was done and I was dying!
In short my week was work, Mickey, Harry, grass mowing, yummy seafood, and shopping!



C ya' real soon!

Friendsick...the new Homesick

So this weekend Cristi and Jenny and Jenny's new beau Daniel came to Kentucky to play, hang out, and harass Kentucky in general. Seeing our pictures and a few phone calls this weekend, along with being around them make me think of so many things a few of which I can outline here...
1. I am going to go back to my regular exercise routine; I have nine chins in some of these pictures, good grief! Married life will sure fatten you up!
2. I miss my friends immensely. It is hard to describe exactly what you miss until you experience it again. It is nice to have people who truly look out for you, who are on your team no matter what, and who long after your parents, siblings, spouses have gone (cause let’s face it the men will kick the bucket first! :)) you will have someone to sit by the beach, drink margaritas with, and reflect on the sunset of your life with.
3. It is a different kind of bond and love that you have for one another that seems to not age as we change and grow.
4. Good girlfriends are rare, so many girls are manipulative, lazy, out for their own interests, irresponsible with the relationship, or conceded. Also few women have female friends that have stood the test of time. Lucky for me in life I have found a few that break this mold. They are scattered throughout the US unfortunately but we always seem to be a phone call away, or a short plane trip out from each other.
5. Life is short, Jenn’s Uncle lost a long battle with brain cancer on Saturday and I have had to watch her grieve slowly as his health deteriorated. It made me realize the loyalty that Jenn and all these women have is something that runs deep, it is a part of their character, their grace and their very being. While it was hard to not be physically present to comfort and console Jenn, it made me realize that each day is a call to action. To take charge of your happiness, your anger, your love and your hate and to truly seize the day.
6. This “seize the day” mentality is what I think has bonded me individually with these women. Each of us are driven, motivated, loving, loyal, honest, passionate, and energetic. These traits all in one individual compose us, even though our personalities are different, we each have these traits in various doses. Until recently I did not see what a rare combination this is to find in a single person, let alone five women who also all know each other and that I am lucky enough to have found in my life’s journey so far.
I am happy to have these fun women in my life! My own set of fearsome foursome!


A little pic of a Rednecked Cristi to close out my post!:

Amanda and Jeff get hitched!

So after my horrible flight from Connecticut to Knoxville I finally got in at around 2AM. Nathan picked me up at the airport and we stayed the night there since we had to get flowers and supplies for Mandy and Jeff's wedding! I got to work at the lodge around 2:30 in the afternoon and was able to get finished with everything that night. I was pretty tired I have to admit! They did turn out really well.






The wedding went well and we had fun getting to know all the fun folks that turned out for the weekend.






Nathan and I went to the Aquarium on Sunday and he was his typical kid in a candy store about the place! That guy loves him some fish! :)







And they had a cute little Penguin exhibit!! They were swimming around everywhere! I loved it!

My trip to Connecticut

So I had a work event at the Mohegan Sun last week in Connecticut. It was a cool place and they even had a Chihuly piece! One of my fave artists, he does these amazing things with glass. I have seen several of his pieces in the Bahamas and the ceiling of the Bellagio in Vegas.

Check him out I put a link below!






To close out the week we our entertainment was Santana!

Loren and Steve's Wedding in Cincy

Saturday was our friends Loren and Steve's wedding in Cincy. It was a great day and the rain held off! Here are some pictures of the fun night!\

The BIG DIG

So the backyard is coming along nicely, we worked on it again this weekend some more - Well Nathan did. I weeded and picked my veggies, tried to mow the grass and 15mins later I quit. Too hot. Here are some pictures from a few weekends back when Nathan rented a mini excavator to dig up the yard. Danny and Moo came up to help and dig in the yard! :)

Nathan really liked the Shark Reef in Mandalay Bay. After that we went to his first Vegas stage show - The Lion King!


My new favorite place - The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida. We took the girls there for a few nights and they had a great time too! It was close to Uncle Brian too!