{My Life}

Thanks Peeps!

2009-06-30T22:38:00.007-04:00

I would be lying if I posted that things were good here, so I will just say that I have been busy and am at a difficult time in my life:(

On the bright side, I have been hanging out with some great friends and am truly thankful for them.

The Hangover

2009-06-15T11:07:00.003-04:00

Hope you had a good weekend!

Friday was not fun, since the Red Wings did not win the Stanley Cup. On Saturday I went to see the new Hobby Lobby that opened in our area. I ran into my friend Joanie there. The scrapbooking isles were completely picked over and not much stock. I asked about when they get more stock and their trucks come every Thursday morning. Looks like Thursdays will be my new HL night. On Saturday night I went out with my girlfriends. It was completely last minute. We had a great time! Its good to have a girls night every once in a while.

On Sunday I ran a few errands with Anita and then went home and watched the Lifetime special "Maneater" it was a 4 hour special movie that aired a few weeks ago It was a cute movie. AC was golfing and later in the evening we went to see "Hang Over!" It was a very funny movie and I would like to see it again.

Hope you had a good weekend and have a great week:)

mmm...Catnip...

2009-06-10T09:53:00.007-04:00

Gradutation '09

2009-06-07T21:30:00.001-04:00

Saturday was my sister, Ashley's high school graduation. It started at noon and went pretty quick. She looked great and happy!

Ashley & her Mom & Dad

Aman, Ashley & MeIt was a really nice day for a graduation. After pictures we went to eat lunch at her favorite restruant, Max & Erma's. It was a good day.

Tastefully Simple

2009-06-07T15:36:00.004-04:00

On Friday I hosted a Tastefully Simple party at my house.

My original plan was for our friends to bring their families and hang out for the night. I really wanted AC to be able to try the dips and have a good time. He is such an entertainer! I can't do anything simple as long as he is involved! That isn't always a bad thing, but it stresses me out.

We had 20+ people come over on Friday night. That was a ton of people. Since most of the items for party are dips and snacks I thought that we should have some more food. My idea of simple food is getting a couple of frozen lasagnas and calling it good. His idea was making a ton of pasta, sauce, homemade meatballs and garlic bread.

Thank God I made the dips, bread and cookies the night before. I was cutting vegetables and cleaning the kitchen when people started to arrive. That is when I noticed that I really didn't have anything planned for drinks, I begged a couple friends to pick up some margarita mix on their way over. I tried to greet people at the door and failed miserably! I felt pulled in so many different directions that it was totally stressful.

The kids were all well behaved and the guys all helped out with the kids. I eventually asked the ladies to sit around the table and then the guys to go outside. Then the dips really should have been passed outside, but instead sat inside for a while until they came in complaining about not having anything to eat. It really took a long time to try each dip and sauce. Thankfully the TS rep was awesome and helped a lot. She got stuff ready and then help put stuff away and get people drinks and even clean up at the end.

Next time I will skip the guys and the families and keep the parties to ladies. Maybe it would be more relaxing that way?

Prom '09

2009-06-05T10:17:00.012-04:00

Wednesday was my 3 year wedding anniversary!

On Wednesday after work I went to see my sisters all dressed up because they were both going to prom this year.

Emily is a junior and her boyfriend Josh is a senior:

Ashley is a senior this year and this is her boyfriend Adam:

The pictures turned out good and everyone got home safe:)

Today is our annual bbq at work. I did all of the shopping yesterday. We are having brats, burgers, macaroni and potato salad and chips. Should be fun. We get the grill out in the parking lot and put tables outside to eat.

Have a good weekend!!

Wish Luck

2009-06-02T00:25:00.001-04:00

Monday night after work I went with Anita to Hobby Lobby and Ikea. It was her first time at Hobby Lobby and she was a little overwhelmed. They do have a lot of stuff there. A new Hobby Lobby is opening on Monday June 8th very close to us. Can't wait! Very Exciting!

Ikea on the other hand, is somewhere very familiar to Anita. I could be lost for days in there. She knew the place like the back of her hand. I was impressed:) I don't get out much.

Very early this morning my husband is off to Denver Colorado for a job interview. Please wish him safe travels and good luck on his interview.

Hope you are having a good week so far. Thanks for reading.

Garage Sale Weekend

2009-05-31T18:11:00.004-04:00

Over a week, and no posting!! Ahhh... Now to remember what we did... I set my BB up to post, so if I can figure it out maybe I will post more regularly.

Memorial Day - We went for a BBQ at my sisters Dad's house. We have the same Mom, but different Dads. When they were little they never believed we were sisters and that "their" Mom was my Mom:) I spent a bunch of time getting ready for the garage sale.

The annual subdivision garage sales started on Thursday and went through Saturday, 9 am to 5 pm. Originally, it sounded like fun. Making a "ton" of money and getting rid of items no longer in use. I won't say junk, because not that long ago we really liked these items. Wednesday evening Anita and I priced everything and organized tables. I took Thursday off to work the sale.

AC and I got everything out and filled the driveway Then the sprinkles started. We had to take everything into the garage and it sprinkled the rest of the day:( I made about $90 in the rain. On Friday, my friends Anita & Nancy ran the sale. They had great weather and sold a lot. On Saturday we set it all up and it started sprinkling again! Back into the garage the stuff went. In total we sold about $575, $350 of that was mine. Unfortunately, I did not sell my dining room set, tv stand or desk. I have listed those items on Craigslist, so hopefully someone will be interested in them. The garage sale was a lot of work and exhausting. The people who wanted to ask for price reductions on items marked $2 were annoying!!

I didn't stick around at the sale on Saturday very long because I had already signed up to do a 12 hour crop. After helping setting up and re-arranging I went to the crop. Had a fun time with everyone as usual.

Today, I worked on packing up all of the garage sale items that did not sell. Lucky for me, my friend's Mom has a huge sale every Labor Day weekend, so I am sending all my stuff there:) Needless to say, I think this was my first and last garage sale.

Hope you had a great weekend! GO WINGS!!!

Weekend so far...

2009-05-24T11:02:00.006-04:00

Friday we watched the Wings game at our favorite local hangout. Unfortunately, they lost. Saturday I met a co-worker for lunch and then Aman & I babysat for TJ. We were there for only 2 hours. We took him for a stroller ride in their neighborhood, he really enjoyed that. Aman cooked pork loin chops on the grill last night and Amit, Gaurav and Gregg came over for dinner. I did 3 loads of laundry and cleaned the kitchen 5 times! I finished a layout for Ashley's book:

She probably isn't going to appreciate this on my blog, but that's what sisters are for:)

I brought a table up from the basement and set it up in the garage for the garage sale next Thursday. I am taking Thursday off and Anita is taking Friday off to run the sale. AC is on for Saturday, since Anita & I will be scrappin! The 12 hour will be my last chance to really get a bunch of scrappin done for Ashley's books. I plan on giving them to her on her high school graduation which is in the beginning of June.

Today the Red Wings play at 3, so we are going over to the in-laws to watch the game and BBQ. Hopefully before that I can sneak in a run to Archivers's and the Tree with Anita:)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Graduation Card

2009-05-21T19:34:00.012-04:00

Its been a while since I have posted a new entry. This I believe is directly related to me being busy at work. I am also very behind on my journaling for 365. I have been taking the photos, just not typing out the journaling. I hope to get some done at work tomorrow. If not maybe this weekend. I am excited to have Monday off for Memorial Day. No real plans yet, just stuff we are thinking about.

Last Saturday I got together with my friend, Nancy. We went to high school together and she lives nearby now. It was nice to see her and hang out. Later on a couple other friends called and we met them at the bar for drinks.

I stopped in Archiver's a few days ago and saw a cool graduation card, so I copied the idea and made a graduation card for my sister using her school colors. Not a very good photo, sorry!

On Tuesday Aman & I went over to see TJ. He is getting bigger all the time.
Hope you are having a good week and have a great holiday weekend!

Happy Moms Day

2009-05-12T15:38:00.008-04:00

Happy Tuesday! Hope all the Mom's had a Happy Mother's Day.

On Saturday AC played poker and Ashley spent the night. She scrapbooked and I cleaned and organized in the scrapbook room. I could spend hours cleaning and organizing in there. On Sunday Aman made a fabulous breakfast! We had sausage, eggs, pancakes, toast, hash browns and bagels! Lots of food and it was great. He is a good cook.

I have been toying with the idea of having a garage sale at the end of May when the entire subdivision has garage sales. The subdivision puts ads in the paper and on the Internet. It would be a good time to do it, but on Saturday (May 30th) I am signed up for a 12 hour crop! It doesn't cost anything to put the stuff outside, but AC is going to have to watch it. The sub sale starts at 9 am on Thursday morning and is over at 5 pm on Saturday night. I have to work on Thursday and Friday, then gone on Saturday... I will have to talk to Aman about it some more.

This is my Mom and us girls on Sunday morning...

On Sunday evening we went to my in-laws for dinner. I made my Mother-in-law an according album and she liked it. Here are all of us on Sunday evening...My 365 photo for yesterday was of our front landscaping. I really like the bright purple flowers.Have a good week!

Mega Meet

2009-05-09T19:29:00.006-04:00

My sister, Ashley & me.

Thursday was the Annual Mega Meet in Novi. Ashley came over on Wednesday night and spent the night. We got up at 7 am and Anita picked us up at 8. I was so excited to get there, shop and look at all the cool stuff.

We had a good time and a great day. I bought a few gifts for my family and some stuff for my stash. I bought a ton of black & white textured cardstock, one can never have enough of that! I bought some woodless color pencils that you use gamsil (sp?) to blend, I am so looking forward to using those!! I want to make a bunch of cards, so the pencils should come in handy. A bought a graduation page kit for Ashley. I missed the button guy this year. There was a booth where you could fill up little containers of any color buttons you need/want. I was looking for red and green to finish a Christmas project from 07! Oh well, I can get buttons anywhere. If you went to the MM, I hope you had a great time and the construction on the way wasn't too bad.

Ashley is coming over to scrapbook tonight. My Mom and Emily are coming over in the morning for Mother's Day brunch.

Hope your weekend is going good. If you are a Mom, Happy Mother's Day!

So far behind!

2009-05-05T14:58:00.000-04:00

I am so far behind on my blogging!

My last post was April 23rd and I was still off work with pneumonia, but feeling somewhat better. Well on that same day, in the evening, I started having chest pains, it seriously felt like someone put my chest in a vice and kept cranking it tighter. It was rather awful, so AC took me to the ER for the second time that week. They did an EKG when I got there and I figured it was normal since I had to wait 2 hours to see the doctor! By the time I got to see the ER doc the pain was gone and I felt fine. The doc recommended that I have blood work and chest x-ray to be sure I didn't have a tear in my aorta (which is what John Ritter died of). I waited and after all of that he determined that I had an esophageal spasm. I have never heard of that, but it hasn't happened again and I was told to take Maalox if it did. Very painful and hopping it never happens again.

On Friday, my co-worker dropped off 2 brownie obsessions from TJI Friday's off at my house. She knows I love that dessert, so she was so kind to bring them to me. On Friday night Amit & I had dinner with the Maguet's. AC was playing golf and poker. We took it easy the rest of the weekend and I went back to work on Monday. I had it a full week and was quite busy at work. I was nervous that they would not be busy and re-think my position, but thankfully they kept my co-worker hopping.

This past weekend I stayed home on Friday and did laundry and picked up a bit. On Saturday morning we had Gaurav's (bil) college graduation. AC's parents came over at 7:15 and we left for Ann Arbor. The graduation started at 10 am and Larry Page (co-founder of Google) was the speaker. He did a great job and it was a cool graduation. I have never been to such a large graduation, I was thinking that it would take a life time to call all 5,000 graduates names, but thankfully they did not call each name, they just announced the degree and those students stood while it was Confirmed by the college President. Here is Gaurav excited to be done with school.

Poor kid... a bird crapped on his gown as he was leaving his apartment to walk to the ceremony! Everyone was telling him that it was good luck! I hope it is:)

X-ray

2009-04-23T15:25:00.003-04:00

Hi! Hope your having a great Thursday. I am still home from work. I had a follow-up this morning with my doctor and she ordered a chest x-ray... See Below...

I received an email this afternoon from my doctor saying that the pneumonia is still there, stay on the medicine and go for another chest x-ray in 7 days. She told me to stay home from work for the rest of the week. Too bad it isn't 90 degrees out! At least I got a cool 365 pic for today.

I am excited to watch a new Grey's Anatomy & Private Practice tonight. Finally after 3 weeks of re-runs!! Have a good night!

Garage Sale Pneumonia

2009-04-21T21:56:00.004-04:00

The Scrapbooking Garage sale was a success! I sold 3/4 of what I took and made a little over $300!! So excited about that! This was my table:

Would you believe that I originally thought that I didn't have enough stuff to fill one table! Luckily the girl that paid for the table in front of me (across the isle) didn't show, so I got to use her space for free:) Good thing! Something about parting with old stuff you don't use is a great happy feeling.

I went to work on Monday and around 11 am I started feeling horrible, so I went home. I had a pain on my left side by my lungs. It wasn't getting better and around 3 pm I told AC that we should go to the ER. It was hurting when I took deep breaths or moved/twisted on my left side. We went and it took a while but after blood work and x-rays they determined that I have pneumonia! They could see the infection in my left lung. Thankfully I didn't have to stay the night, but at 11 pm we got home. The pain is much less than yesterday, but still there when I take deep breaths and move certain ways. I have two doctor appointments over the next two days but I think after my antibiotics tomorrow I should feel substantially better and be able to go back to work.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Discontinued!!??

2009-04-16T15:05:00.003-04:00

This has really been bothering me...

On Monday a visit to Panera Bread revealed that they no longer carry the delicious mac & cheese! Tuesday I became aware that Sub Way has discontinued the wraps! Everything must be on bread now! On Wednesday I went to lunch at TJI Friday's and they no longer have the fried mac & cheese!! What the hell else will happen this week?&%$#!!

If only these could be my biggest problems:)

This week so far...

2009-04-16T10:52:00.001-04:00

It is Thursday already! I am happy to have another short week, my office was closed the Monday after Easter. I am glad we have the Monday after Easter off, because it lets us relax on Easter knowing that we have Monday off. I spent Monday getting more things ready for the scrapbook garage sale here on Saturday. I am amazed at how much stuff I actually have! More like appalled! The money wrapped up in this stuff is crazy and now I am selling it at 25% of the original cost! Oh well, I am just going to stop buying paper just because I like it. I need to only but paper when the photos are in hand and ready to be scrapbooked! The paper I buy because I like it, rarely gets used. Something newer and prettier always comes up, so I have to stop buying on whims! Obviously I hope I sell a lot, but I am amazed at how much I have.

On Tuesday I went to sketch club. I got 2 12x12 2-page layouts completed, more than the last 12 hr!! Last night I went with AC to drop his car off at the shop. He has to get some minor repairs done before we turn it in on Friday. Then we will be down to one car and only one car payment! Even though it isn't ideal, we can do it.

I am bummed that Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice are not new tonight! I can't wait for the new episodes to be back on. The good thing is that it gives me time to work on more garage sale stuff tonight.

Hope you are having a good week!

Easter

2009-04-15T23:41:00.000-04:00

Hi! Hope you all had a great Easter!

On Good Friday the Maguet's came over for dinner and to decorate eggs. I haven't decorated eggs in 20 years (man that makes me sound old) and the last couple of Easters I have wanted to but decided at 28+ I wouldn't. Since baby TJ is here that was all of the justification I needed to decorate eggs this year. AC made a comment about an article he read in the paper about decorating cupcakes instead of eggs. Then I thought about bunny shaped sugar cookies. I was excited and off to get supplies. To my surprise, Target didn't have any Easter candy or decorating kits!! Luckily I was able to find this stuff...

Then I boiled the eggs, made the cupcakes and started the sugar cookies.

For the sugar cookies, I cheated and bought the pre-made roll of sugar cookies. I just had to roll them out and use cookie cutters to get the shape, then bake. Sounded easy enough. Well, What a pain in the a$$!!! No problem with rolling the dough, even through I didn't have a rolling pin (I improvised and used my straw holder) no problem using the cookie cutter, but for the life of me, I couldn't get the cookie off the counter and onto the baking sheet!!! Now I am remembering why I don't do this!! After a few calls to my step-mom, Denise, I used much more flour and rolled them out on wax paper. Evidently I put them a little too close on the cookie sheet:

Here is TJ wearing the bunny ears I got for him:

Here is Tiger wearing the bunny ears:

Here we are decorating the eggs after TJ went to sleep for the evening:

The longer the night went on, the sloppier the cookies got. Actually, this is one of only two cookies that got decorated this evening.

The cupcakes turned out good:

On Saturday AC played poker and I started getting my scrapbook stuff in order for the Scrapbook Garage Sale this weekend.

Sunday morning we went to my Dad & Denise's house for Easter dinner. My Grandma was up for most of the day and even played cards, so that was nice.

It was a very nice Easter, hope you had a good one also.

Baby Mama & Layouts

2009-04-08T00:32:00.000-04:00

I have been a bad blogger lately, not updating or reading any other blogs! I can't believe that Easter is this weekend! I am lucky and have Good Friday off as well as the Monday after Easter. I am excited about that. We are going to my Dad's for Easter dinner on Sunday.

This past Saturday Ashley came over and we scrapped. AC was playing poker, so it was a good night for sisters to watch the MSU game and scrapbook. Since Saturday I have left my scrapbooking stuff out on the dining room table and I have actually been scrapping every night! I have a beautiful scrapbook room upstairs, however I would rather be down stairs watching tv with AC.

Tonight we watched "Baby Mama," it was a really cute movie. We were both surprised that we liked it. We thought that it might be an over the top trying too hard to be funny movie, but it was really good. If you haven't seen it, check it out.

Here are some of the recent layouts:

The layout below was a page kit from Archiver's.

Hope you are having a great week! I will be blog reading tomorrow:)

Lansing

2009-04-02T22:42:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday I met Emily at her high school and we left on a school bus with 20 other kids and 10 chaperons. We were headed to the state capitol, Lansing. We stopped to eat at a mall in Lansing at 10:30! I guess the kids are used to eating that early. I was surprised that the food court was all open that early. Neither Emily or I have never been to the capitol building, so it was exciting.

The inside was really nice.

The girls preformed and were awesome!

Governor Jennifer Granholm is the first female Governor in Michigan. She was not there while we were, but we got to take pictures of her office:

Our tour guide was really great. She explained that a painting of every Governor is hung up after they are out of office and she showed us where Mrs. Granholm's would go. Then a boy in the choir piped up with a question, "Does Kwame have a painting here?" How embarrassing! For those of you that do not know, Kwame Kilpatrick was them mayor of Detroit and forced to resign when he was placed in jail for perjury. Oh well, at least it wasn't my sister who asked that!

We toured the building and were allowed into the Senate while they were in session. It was neat to see all of the senators and their aids eating pizza and surfing the net. A few Senators spoke their reason for "No" vote on a bill. One Senator announced that his Granddaughter was born. Then Senator Dennis Olshove introduced the Warren Mott Choir and had us stand while they clapped for us. That was cool too. Right before we left the capitol, I decided to use the bathroom. I found the bathroom, used it, and as I was walking to the exit, a guy in a suit was coming in! That is when I noticed that the door said, "Men's!" Oops! There were not any urinals, so it looked like a normal women's bathroom! That was a little embarrassing also! We both laughed!

Vote for TJ

2009-03-31T11:00:00.000-04:00

Another weekend gone at lightening speed! On Friday I worked a 1/2 day, went home to pick up Ashley and off to scrap we went. I was so completely unproductive it was pathetic!! I finished nothing! Sometimes I do that. Ashley had fun and Anita got there really late. On Saturday I went with Ashley to the mall to look at prom dresses. She saw a few but nothing she really wanted, so she will continue on the quest for the perfect prom dress. The mall is so dangerous for me, all I want to do is buy clothes!! I have bought some stuff for summer, but we can't even get spring weather here!! I can not wait for spring!

Saturday night we went over to our friends Jamie & Michelle's house. They recently bought a new home and it is beautiful. Michelle made a good dinner and we played 4 games of Euchre. Guys won:(

Went to brunch with the Maguet's on Sunday, always a nice time. We found out on Monday that baby TJ was one of 500 randomly selected kids chosen by 96.3 for a year supply of diapers. Please vote for Tyler M here. One vote per email address per day! I just found out from Anita that the votes on Monday did not count do to technical difficulties!! Bummer! Please vote again and often:)

Tomorrow I am going with my sister, Emily, on her varsity choir trip to Lansing. That should be fun! Looking forward to hearing them sing and spending time with Em.
Have a great week!

Sick Cupcake

2009-03-26T15:22:00.002-04:00

I started feeling better on Wednesday, so back to work I went. I even cooked dinner last night! Don't laugh - I made shake-n-bake pork chops and twice baked potatoes (frozen from Costco). I know there should have been a vegetable, but who wants to eat those?

On Tuesday AC took Cupcake to the vet. She has been throwing up and not running to eat like she used to. Cupcake's appointment summed up: an x-ray, temperature of 104 (I guess 102 is high for cats), blood work, a rectal exam, 2 shots and $320. They are not sure what causes this could be irritable bowel syndrome or pancreatitis, so they are just going to treat her symptoms for now.

We have to start giving her a 1/4 tsp of Benefiber & 1/4 of a tablet of pepcid. At least the otc drugs work on flex spending! The vet also got to experience how difficult it is to give her any oral meds, so we have 2 different meds that are in cream form (one is an antibiotic and the other one is to calm her stomach). We have 2 rub 1 cc on the inside upper part of her ear, only once per day for 7 days. Hopefully all of this helps.

Today we had a pizza party at work. I picked up 15 pizzas from Alibi. I am scrapping with Ashley & Anita tomorrow. I have my layouts selected, paper picked out and my photos cut. I am taking supplies to make 6 layouts so hopefully I am productive! I am hoping to work a half day and go around noon to the Tree and start cropping, it goes until midnight. It is funny how fast those 12 hours go by. I can't even explain why or how they go so quickly. The last time we went at noon, I checked the clock at 4 pm, 10:30 and then time to go. I always have fun and like to spend the time with friends.

Speaking of time going by fast, why doesn't that happen at work??

Have a good night!

Sick

2009-03-23T21:30:00.003-04:00

Ugh, home from work at 10 am today; with the chills, fever and overall feeling poorly. I hope I will feel better tomorrow.

Weekend Catch up-

On Friday AC played poker and won! I went with Anita to the Scrapbook Zone. On Saturday we stayed around the house and I forgot to take my 365 photo until 2:30 am on Sunday!! We watched "What happens in Vegas" with Cameron Diaz & Ashton Kutcher, it was a cute movie. On Sunday we met the Maguet's for breakfast then Anita and I did a little shopping.

Hope you have a great week!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-17T22:41:00.001-04:00

I don't own anything green that I could wear to work today, so no green for me. This past Friday we had our friends Mel & Sean over for dinner. AC made a roast chicken with potatoes & baby bellas. We had a great meal and fun catching up with friends we haven't seen in almost a year.

I really think the excuse "We are so busy" is over used. The bottom line is that we make time for what we want to do. I really need to make it a point to call friends and set up get togethers or time slips away and we don't see them. Especially since we do not have children, we should be using this time to visit our friends.

On Saturday night we went to Tin Fish to celebrate Tracy's 30th Birthday!

We had a really fun night. The guys were there too, just didn't make the photos!

On Sunday we celebrated my Mother-in-law's birthday. We went to her favorite Mexican restaurant.

Gosh, I am glad that I don't stick out in family photos, I mean you hardly notice me! Being sarcastic is one of my hobbies.

We had a gift card, so we used it last night and had dinner with the Maguet's! Little TJ is getting so big! We love him!

As for exciting news today... We got our new trash & recycle bins! Our city is going to a one-hauler trash pick up. Now the cost is going to be part of our taxes. We will now have a special recycling program that weighs the recycling we put out every week and we earn credits that can be turned into gift cards for local restaurants! That's exciting, especially since all of my office recycling gets brought to my house.

Have a great week:)

Entryway Freshen Up

2009-03-13T01:17:00.000-04:00

I am glad it is Friday! This week seems never ending! It is funny how time seems to go by faster at different times.

This photo is from last Saturday - We went to a Euchre tournament. There was 22 people in all and it was very organized. It seems to be a game that everyone knows how to play, but I guess not everyone! I like playing cards so it was something fun to do with a big group of people. We had a lot of fun:)

On Sunday we went to brunch with the Maguet's. Here is Anita making TJ laugh:

This was AC's order:

We always have fun hanging out with Anita, Jason & TJ. On Tuesday I went to sketch club at the Scrapbook Tree. I actually got 2 12x12 2-page layouts done! Yahoo!

I ordered an entryway bench and shelf from JC Penny's a couple of months ago. AC put the bench together and we hung the shelf last night. I always loved the set that Pottery Barn sells, but I would never pay that much! Here is the shelf:

I went to Michael's last night to get a wall rub-on for our foyer to go above the bench, here it is:

The units from Pottery Barn came to a total of $787 for the bench, shelve, baskets and cushion; JC Penny total $249 for everything!! Neither price is including tax or shipping/handling. Not much else is going on. The temperature is back to 29 degrees today. I hope it warms up soon!

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Gelato Caffe

2009-03-07T13:32:00.004-05:00

Okay all finished with the Bachelor rant! I think I am going to watch the Bacherlotte with Jillian when it starts.

Not much has been going on. AC was sick all week. Thankfully he is feeling better now. It was a pretty quiet week. On Monday the temp here in Michigan was 7 degrees and by Friday is was 65 degrees! We were lucky and had a few spring days. Today it is really foggy out. I have to remember to turn our clocks ahead one hour tonight. Pretty exciting huh?

Last night we stopped at a new place in town called, Paciugo Gelato Caffe. Gelato is so good! The owner said it is a franchise and the first one in Michigan. Here is a picture of some of the flavours...

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Jason Mesnick Sucks!

2009-03-03T14:57:00.004-05:00

Last night we celebrated my sister, Emily's 17th Birthday!

When I got home it was 9:30, so I tuned into the Bachelor, just as Molly was walking up to be dumped. That was sad, but Melissa was so happy and that was nice. Melissa is beautiful and looks so happy! Maybe they will be another Trista & Ryan, happy ever after...

Then comes the 3rd hour of the Bachelor, After the final rose...

Jason has noticed that the chemistry between Melissa and himself has changed. He didn't say how or why or even what happened, just that it changed. Anyone out there who still feels the same way they did at the beginning of a relationship? I doubt it, because eventually reality sets in, no more helicopter rides, lavish dinners and hotels, no more island vacations, the real world is hard and he jumped out as soon as the chemistry changed? WIMP!! Marriage is real work! He also stated that he still has feelings for Molly. He tried to push the feelings away and just couldn't do it. Out comes Melissa, with the engagement ring on her finger, and no idea that she is going to get the worst form of humiliation, dumped on national television! Melissa handled herself very classy and really showed disappointment with Jason for not trying to work on things. She said she was mad at him for getting engaged in the first place if he was not willing to do everything possible to make it work. I think Jason is an ASS. I really hope Molly tells him to get lost and I don't think at this point he deserves to be happy! Yes, that is harsh, but why go through the trouble if you weren't going to stick in it for the long haul, give it your best, which Ty and Melissa deserve. Ugh! Melissa did call him a bastard under her breath, which he deserved! She is a nice woman who deserves to be the next bachelorette!

Exit Melissa, in comes Molly. Yes, of course she still loves Jason and she wished that he would realize that he made a mistake and come back to her. In comes Jason, I have made a mistake and I love you too. BLAH! BLAH! BLAH! I hope Molly watches herself and Jason doesn't hurt her as well.

Did you watch the Bachelor? What do you think?

Brothers & Sisters

2009-03-01T11:30:00.005-05:00

Here is the display that my Mom gave me back in November. I finally brought it upstairs a few days ago and started hanging things...

The room is a mess and I need to spend some time organizing. AC is not feeling good, he has the cold & sore throat that is going around. I sprayed Lysol all around the house, hopefully it helps me from getting it. I did some shopping yesterday, needed some clothes for work that fit! I got a bunch of stuff on clearance at Macy's and also bought stuff at New York & Company. My mother-in-law is so funny. She saw my bag from NY&C and insisted on taking the receipt and using a coupon she found in her entertainment book to save me some money! She is a great lady! It should save me $50, which is fantastic! She works at the mall, so she picked up the clothing this morning and will drop it back off this evening.

I am excited to watch the 2 hour special Brothers & Sisters tonight! I am sad that both Tommy & Robert (Rob Lowe) are scheduled to leave the show. I think Robert dies tonight.

Well, off to wash the sheets! Have a great Sunday!

MSU

2009-02-26T16:14:00.000-05:00

I am so happy to report that my sister, Ashley, received her Michigan State University acceptance letter yesterday!! She is so happy and we are happy for her:)

On Monday AC had school and my Mom and her friend stopped by to chat. I couldn't sleep last night, so at 2 am I went to our basement and made a couple trips up to my scrap room with a display. My Mom gave it to my a while back and I just decided a week or so ago to set it up and hang anything and everything I can on it. I have the clip-it-up, but even the two tiers do not hold that much. I need to organize and plan some pages.

We have to go to Costco tonight and after we are meeting my in-laws for dinner. We didn't get a chance to have dinner all together for Gaurav's birthday. Last night I stopped at a restaurant/bar and met AC & his brothers along with Gaurav's 5 buddies as well. I needed a pic for 365, so I got my camera out and said I needed a photo, Amit & Gaurav instantly got together in this pose:

It is funny because they are so used to me taking pics, they don't even think twice about it:)

Tomorrow is Friday! Have a good night and great weekend!

Sunday Evening Post

2009-02-22T21:52:00.010-05:00

The weekends go by so fast, even with an extra day!

Ashley, Anita and I had a great time scrapbooking on Friday. Ashley & Emily came over on Thursday to spend the night. It was nice to get some sister time in.

Here are some of the pages I did...

I actually used my Bazzill Stitch'z!

I got 5 one page & 2 2-page layouts done.

On Saturday I went to make cards at Anita's...

On Saturday night we went out to dinner with Amit and then saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It was good, but I like funny movies better than serious ones. Hope you had a great weekend. Have a good week!

Vacation Day

2009-02-19T20:01:00.000-05:00

I have been keeping up on my project 365, but a couple of nights ago I was feeling tired of looking for stuff to take pictures of. If I take the photo during the day I am fine, but when I don't take it until 11 pm, I have a hard time looking for something other than the cats to photograph. If I was unable to purchase the CK kit, I would probably stop now. The kit really makes it easy to drop the photos in and add a little journaling. I have been using the website to the right (ShutterCal) to keep track of the photos. I did take a photo yesterday, however it isn't working right when I try to upload it.

Today I left work at 1 pm and took my boss & his wife to the airport. On the way back I turned in our company lease car. My company has decided not to lease cars anymore. This didn't affect me, because I did not have a company car. Just another area where company's are cutting back.

I am so happy to have tomorrow off work! My sister, Ashley, is on winter break so she is coming over tonight after work and spending the night. I believe she is also spending the night on Friday. Being a senior, she is so busy now. She works a lot at KFC and my younger sister Emily, 16, is now working at Subway. I am glad they have jobs and are getting a sense of how expensive the world is.

Have a great weekend! Thanks for reading!

Hot Coffee

2009-02-16T19:45:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday!

We had a busy weekend. On Friday we went out to dinner and then to a couple of bars for a friend's birthday. We got home at 3 am. On Saturday we went to see Ashley play an indoor soccer game. On Saturday night we went over to our friend's to play cards. Sunday morning we went out for brunch with friends. Not to long after we sat down to brunch I was taking a photo of our friends and while trying to move a water glass, I knocked AC's hot coffee all over the table and his lap. He ran home to change and then we ate when he got back to the restaurant. Sorry, no pic of the coffee spill. The bathroom is almost finished, I need to hang a picture and AC needs to help me with a shelf, then it will be finished. I have to go to Costco after work tonight. I have photos to pick up as well as the normal shopping items that we need.

I purchased a cuttlebug 50% off at Michael's this weekend. I am looking forward to making a bunch of cards with it. I have made a couple so far:I have Friday off and am going to my favorite scrapbook store to crop from 11 am to midnight. So excited:)

Have a good week and thanks for reading:)

Layouts!

2009-02-11T22:16:00.007-05:00

Just some layouts from my last 12 hour crop...

AC's knee surgery in May '08

My 30th Birthday

Facebook

2009-02-09T14:31:00.003-05:00

It has been a while since I put a new post up. A few of my friends have encouraged me to join Facebook, so I signed up this morning and it is a little time consuming! I could search for old classmates and people I lost touch with forever! Anyway...

On Friday night I went with my girlfriends to see "He's just not that into you" It was a great chick flick! We all had dinner and then saw the movie. We had fun. AC left on Friday morning to go to Las Vegas for his brothers 21st birthday. & guys in total went. They had fun and got in at 5 am today.

While AC was gone I finished painting the half bath. What a pain painting is. I am so not a painter! First AC painted the walls, he got a little on the ceiling and so I wanted to just cover the marks on the ceiling, however I used the trim paint instead of the ceiling paint. So on Saturday I painted the ceiling and the walls. On Sunday I painted all of the trim, two coats.

I also picked up my mom on Saturday and we went to the scrapbook store in Farmington Hills. After that we hit Michael's and had dinner. After dinner, she came over and we made cards. This is the first time she has really seen my house. This is the first time I hung out with her in over 2 years. We did have dinner for my sisters birthday, but this was the first time we really spent time together. We just do not always see eye to eye and I can't really let things go, so because of some of her actions I just found it less upsetting to just stay away. We'll see how it goes.

So I saw my boss's son on Facebook, but decided not to request to be his friend, because I don't think him telling his Dad that I appear to be on all day, would be such a good thing!

On Sunday after the trim painting I helped my good friend Anita, start to clean her Scrapbook room! What a mess! We spent a couple of hours, but it needs a couple more.

Ohh, I met Benita this weekend! She was at the same Scrapbook Store and I recognized her! She is an absolute doll and a genuinely great person! Have a great week!

Same Shirt

2009-02-03T19:01:00.009-05:00

Weekend update...

On Friday evening Amit (my brother-in-law) called and wanted to go out for dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Sagebrush. When I called ahead to put our name on the list there was a 2 hour wait! We went anyway and had a good time. I needed a pic for 365, so I asked the lady sitting next to me if she would take one. She did and when I looked at it I realized that we were all wearing the same Under Armor shirt!! How funny that we didn't even notice!

On Sunday we met The Maguet's for brunch. TJ was so cute:

For the Superbowl they came over to our house to watch. We ordered pizza and had other snacks. Anita & I scrapbooked a little during the game. TJ was a little tired and unwilling to fall asleep. Tiger was checking him out:

When it was time to feed TJ Anita noticed that she forgot a bib, so we made due with an ugly kitchen towel...

We had a big demo at work on Monday morning so I got into the office at 7 am instead of the 8:30 normal time. By 9 am I was yawning like crazy. I didn't do anything so I snapped a photo for the cats for 365:

Today I went to get my allergy shot after work, this is so I can live with my cats.

I got there 2 minutes before they close, then I wanted them to take a photo of me getting my shot, they thought I was nuts and went to do something else, so I just took it myself.

Have a good week!

Blog Award

2009-01-30T17:09:00.003-05:00

Thanks Sarah for the Blog Award! The Fabulous Award Rules:
1. You have to pass it on to 5 other fabulous blogs in a post.
2. You have to list 5 of your fabulous addictions in the post.
3. On your post of receiving this award, make sure you include the person that gave you the award and link it back to them.

My 5 Fabulous Addictions:

1. Reese's Big Cups

2. My Blackberry

3. Taking Photos

4. Checking e-mail

5. Blogging & Reading other blogs

The 5 fabulous blogs that I am going to link to:

So glad it is Friday! Looking forward to 2 days off work. This week seemed to go by so slow. Have a great weekend!

Paris Hilton Scrapbooks!!

2009-01-27T10:46:00.003-05:00

I just came across this information while reading some blogs. This deserves an emergency blog post. Paris Hilton Scrapbooks!! Man, what won't she put her name on??

"Paris Hilton debuted her new craft kits line yesterday at the Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) Trade Show. Paris Hilton partnered with Wooky Entertainment for a line of craft kits targeted at teens and tweens called The Creativity Collection." (http://www.shoppingblog.com/cgi-bin/sblog.pl?sblog=126091)

Check out these blogs for more info:

Allison Orthner

Craft Critique

Scrapbook Update

The Bachelor

2009-01-27T09:04:00.003-05:00

Not much new here. AC played poker on Friday night, so I spent time getting photos & paper together for my 12 hour crop on Saturday. I had a good time. I got about 5 2-page(12x12) layouts done. I think this was a record! I also went home at 9 pm, so in 11 hours I did that. I have to go back through the layout and add journaling along with a few embellishments, hopefully I will get to that this week. It was really cold on Sunday, so we stayed in all day.

Last night I watched the Bachelor, for some reason I am hooked on that show. I haven't watched that show since the first one a few years back. I came across it this season and now I have to watch it. It helps that the Bachelor (Jason) is cute and seems to be a great guy. Some of the women are crazy, well maybe most of the women.

I am keeping up to date with my project 365. Not sure what the photo will be of today, but it is early. AC has the first coat of paint on the bathroom walls, he is hoping to do coat #2 today. Last night I did the dishes and when I looked under the kitchen sink to get something I noticed that there was an inch of water in the cabinet. One of the pipes under the sink came apart from another pipe. I got everything out of there and cleaned up all the water then AC got home and checked it all out. Luckily it was an easy fix. We ran a fan in the wet area so that today we can put everything back. I needed to clean under there anyway:) Have a good week!

Layouts & Icicles

2009-01-21T15:04:00.000-05:00

Here are the layouts I made on Monday night...

We Celebrated Josh's 12th Birthday & Jacob's 9th Birthday in November.
Here is my 365 pic for today, It is a little restaurant down the street from my office, as you can see they are growing some large icicles:

Not much else going on today. AC wants to paint our 1/2 bath and we purchased the paint. We have had the light fixture & faucet since last September. Now I need to get the new towel bar, so that he can figure out if he has to patch the existing holes or if they will work, we currently have a gold towel bar & toilet paper holder, so we would like to switch to brushed silver. The temp is up to 21 degrees today, not to bad. I have a 12 hour crop this Saturday. I have been trying to get a bunch of page kits made up with cut photos, paper & a layout so that I can get a lot done and do not spend any money at the crop. I am happy to report that the above layouts were completed with products in my inventory. I have used that American Crafts paper on a bunch of layouts, I really like it for birthdays. Have a great night!

Inauguration Day 09

2009-01-20T14:00:00.004-05:00

In honor of today, we went out to lunch where we could watch the Inauguration on TV. I have never watched it before. I bet Mr. & Mrs. Bush are glad to get on with their lives and no longer be in the White House. I did not think that an African American president would ever be elected in my lifetime. I am happy to see how far our country has come in the last 60 years. I wish the Obama's luck during Barack's presidency. Change does not happen overnight and we should not expect miracles, however I think he is committed to doing the best that he can while in office.

Today's Photos:

Last night I scrapped & got 2 layouts done! I am so happy about that. Hopefully I scan them tonight and can post photos tomorrow. Have a good night! Keep warm!

Weekend Update

2009-01-19T09:54:00.005-05:00

On Friday night I went out for dinner & to see Bride Wars with a couple of friends.

This was my Friday photo:

The movie was cute & funny. We had a good time. On Saturday it snowed all day. We ran a couple of errands and the roads were really slippery. In the evening we had some friends over for dinner. I forgot to take a photo while everyone was over, so I took this one of AC:

I woke up on Sunday feeling horrid with a temp of 101. I stayed in bed all day & just felt like crap. Thankfully it was just a 24 hr thing, because I am feeling better & at work today.

Sunday's Sick Day Photo :

Thanks for reading & have a great week!

Tuesday's Layouts

2009-01-15T20:42:00.011-05:00

I knew when I went in the garage this morning that it was cold because the snow didn't melt off my car even in the garage overnight.

Here are my photos for the last couple of days...

Our Back Yard

Since I have a real short commute to work my temp gauge only got time to get down to 2 degrees, however my co-worker's temp said -5! Here are my layouts from Tuesday's sketch club.

The Kit

2009-01-13T23:18:00.003-05:00

My Project 365 Kit from CK arrived yesterday. I was very lucky that AC spent a bunch of time trying to order this for me. The sale of the kit started on January 1st at 11 am and I tried for a while and couldn't get the order to go through. AC, having more patience than me, spent an hour or more and got the order to go through. Thanks Honey! This is my day 12 photo:

Tonight I had sketch club at my favorite scrapbook store. This is my day 13 photo:

Back Row: (L to R) Anita, Joanie, Michelle; Front Row: Me & Kathy

11/365

2009-01-11T18:03:00.002-05:00

Baby Sprinkle

2009-01-10T17:30:00.011-05:00

Update on my 365...

#8 - My Office#9 Husband fixing the light fixture that has not worked since we moved into our house (2 years ago).#10 Heather's Baby Sprinkle
So happy that the above light fixture is now working! Today, I went to a baby sprinkle for Heather. She is prego with #3, a girl this time. She is so happy to be getting a girl, since she has 2 boys. Anita always comes up with the coolest ideas for party's. This is the "cake" and the table, to cute...
It is now 5:40 pm and it has been snowing all day!
AC has snow-blown twice today, and you can't even tell 20 minutes later!

New Mouse Toy

2009-01-07T23:31:00.010-05:00

I have been taking daily photos, however today it is hard to pick just one!

Our little Cupcake loves this new toy. It is a mouse on a piece of elastic that hooks to a plastic device that hangs over the door.

She really isn't that little anymore.

Balloons

2009-01-06T21:55:00.005-05:00

AC had an interview in New York yesterday. He thinks it went pretty good, just waiting to hear. It was nice to have the time off between Christmas & New Year's, but it is nice being back at work also. I got my allergy shots on Monday evening and all day today I have been sneezing & blowing my nose. Allergies SUCK! I am allergic to cats & dust among other normal seasonal stuff.

Here is my photo for today...

My 30th birthday balloons from one month ago today, still floating around. I know, pretty exciting stuff!

365 Photo Update

2009-01-05T23:02:00.018-05:00

Project 365 is basically committing to taking at least one photo a day for an entire year. I am participating in this challenge and excited about it. Wouldn't it be cool to do this for the next 5 years? I think it would be fun to look back after some time.

Here are my photos so far...

The last photo is of our bedroom. Remember when it was painted and I was going to post before & After... You may not remember because it was back in May 08!

Here is the before - AC hated this bedding.

After - This is the little art project that I was working on for the room... It is different sized canvases with the edges painted, scrapbook paper & modge podge.

This great bedding was a gift from AC's relatives in India. It is beautiful and these photos do not do it justice.

I still have a bunch of frames that I need to get photos or paper in and then hang, but I figured if I waited for that to happen you might never see the photos!

My photo for today is of our spare bedroom:

Marley & Me

2009-01-02T12:30:00.004-05:00

Yesterday we went and saw this movie...

The movie was cute, funny & sad. We received gift certificates for the movie theater, so we use $10 of those to see the movie. Of course I wanted nachos & lemonade and that came to $12.50! We made breakfast for dinner last night and AC s getting his hair cut now. I am doing laundry and planning on organizing some photos and maybe a little scrapbooking.

Project 365...

What a pain to order! I gave up, but AC kept working on it and we got one kit with the $0.00 total, not sure if it is on back order or what. So many people are doing this project, I think it is really cool! You can read about it here. I chose to start the project yesterday and my photo was of the movie theater and I have am saving the ticket stubs. Not sure what today's photo will be.

Have a great weekend. Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T18:18:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone has a safe and happy evening. May 2009 bring us joy & happiness!

Is it Over Yet?

2008-12-29T23:19:00.004-05:00

Our holiday events are now coming to an end. On Sunday we went to Northville for brunch with our friends Ajay & Aditi. They have the cutest little boy, Jadin. He fell asleep in his high chair while eating a banana. He was just a little tired & it was nap time:)

After that we went to Milford to see Denise's side of the family. Kids grow up so fast, especially when you haven't seen them in years.

Today our friend Brad turned 35! We went out to dinner with him & his family, then back to his parents house for cake & ice cream.

I have this week off and love it! I love having this break from work. Hope you are having a good week.

Engagement Party

2008-12-29T23:18:00.001-05:00

On Saturday night we went to an engagement party for our good friends Tim & Tracy. I have known Tracy for 18 years! She babysat for Ashley when she was just days old, which is how we met.

Congratulations!

Post-Holiday Gathering

2008-12-27T14:55:00.010-05:00

Our good friends Joe & Robin moved away 3 years ago, but came into town for the week. So, we decided to have a get together on the 26th to hang-out with them.

AC is such a good cook, he made a bunch of appetizers for the party. Amit & Gaurav helped also!

Gregg, who also went to High School with AC, Joe, Robin & Brad

Anita & I, in front of my tree

J & TJ

AC, Me, Jamie & Michelle. Jamie & I work together. Black seemed to be a theme with us.

Joe & Robin

Brad

Christmas Day

2008-12-27T14:43:00.008-05:00

Originally the holiday plan was for AC & I to go to my Dad's on Christmas Eve and stay the night. Denise, my step-mom, usually celebrates Christmas on the 24th with her family, so we would stay with my grandma and they could go and celebrate with Denise's family. Well, due to the bad weather Denise's family postponed their holiday celebration until Sunday the 28th. So, we drove up to my Dad & Denise's on Christmas day and spent the day with them.

Santa brought the kids a Wii, so we bought a game and accessory pack. They had a lot of fun playing.

Grandma seemed to really like her home-made cards. She said, "I really needed these!"

Jacob got a deer for Nerf shooting practice.

Happy Birthday Ashley!

2008-12-27T14:33:00.008-05:00

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone survived the holiday. It is a stressful time and it really shouldn't be. This is a photo from last Friday's snow day.

On Wednesday December 24, my sister Ashley turned 18! We went out to dinner to celebrate. Not too many restaurants were open late on Christmas Eve, but we found a nice place.

This is a picture of my mom, Ashley, Emily & me.

Emily & her boyfriend Josh.

The girls and their Dad.

Snow Day

2008-12-22T22:33:00.000-05:00

It has been a while!

AC made it home from DC. The interview is re-scheduled for January 5th. Last Friday I had my first snow day in 10+ years! We got about 8 inches of snow and the roads were in poor condition. I live so close that I figure I have to make it in. I was told to call the office in the morning and when I called I was told not to come in! How exciting! It was a nice lazy day at home. AC used the snow blower and cleaned out our neighbors as well.

On Saturday we went out for dinner and then to the mall. We were originally going to dinner and a movie, but I wanted to go to the mall. I bought AC a few things for Christmas, so I picked out a few items for him to get me.

On Sunday AC's family came over and we had brunch. His brothers stayed most of the day to play Wii and watch football. I ran a few errands in the morning. Sunday was so cold. It was 1 degree and 20 below with the wind chill. Today it was 20 degrees.

I have to work tomorrow and that is it until January 5th! Work today was about empty, most people took Monday & Tuesday off. I have a lot to do this time of year, mostly because we close until Jan 5th, so I need to get payroll done ahead of time. Then update information to prepare for 2009.

On Saturday I decided to make some cards to give as Christmas gifts. I used only scraps and so far have make 38! I always buy so much paper that I always have at least one full sheet plus more remaining. I also scanned some layouts I finished recently:

Have a wonderful, happy & safe Holiday! Thanks for reading!

Interview?

2008-12-17T14:05:00.000-05:00

Yesterday AC had a phone interview. It went ok and he isn't expecting to hear back until January '09. This morning his flight to the New York interview left at 6 am, flew to DC and then to NY. Well, we got a bunch of snow last night and he didn't get to the airport until 5:30 am then was randomly selected to go through the extra security screening. Missed his flight at 6 am, made the 10 am flight (which was late) to DC, missed his connection in DC and now is stuck in DC until at least 5 pm. He is waiting to hear from his headhunter about what they want him to do, either go on to New York and get a hotel for the evening or come back to Detroit and try it all again tomorrow. Always something...

Canterbury Village

2008-12-14T20:59:00.000-05:00

Sunday night, my favorite night of TV! Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters.

Weekend Re-Cap...

On Friday evening AC was going to play poker, so we met some friends for dinner quickly before he had to go. On Saturday we went to Canterbury Village to get into the holiday spirit. Canterbury Village is one of the biggest Christmas stores in the world. I like to see all of the different trees & ornaments.

After a couple of hours there we called Amit to see what he was doing and he was going to visit Gaurav. We decided to pick up Amit and headed to Ann Arbor.

Gaurav has one more semester at U of M and then he will have his Bachelors in Economics and Political Science. Gaurav told the funniest story... When he was getting ready for a Mock Trial event he went to get his suit out of the dry cleaning bag and realized that they had mixed up the items and put his mom's pants with his suit. He had no choice but to wear them. He will never live this down. He was going to an Ugly Sweater party on Saturday evening...

Today I got up and made Peanut Butter Temptations... A recipe right off the Reeses Peanut Butter Cups bag! They were great!

Anita & J took us out for our birthdays. We went to Crust, a pizza place by our house. We had never been there, it was good. Hope you had a good weekend and have a great week:)

AC has a phone interview on Tuesday with a company from Chicago, then on Wednesday he is flying to New York for an interview with a different company. Please keep your fingers crossed!

Potluck!

2008-12-11T15:15:00.004-05:00

I mailed our Christmas cards today. I had bought a Christmas card kit from Creating Keepsakes last year and didn't end up using the cards, so I used them this year. I included the photo below...

Every year I say I am downsizing the list, so this year I removed about 15 people and my plan is next year to only send cards to people I receive cards from this year. I like sending them, a lot of people quit sending Christmas cards.

We had our annual potluck luncheon today. Everybody brings such good food in! I probably gained 10 lbs at lunch today! My favorite was a seafood salad and cheesecake. I brought cocktail sausages in my crock pot. AC mixed everything together last night. I suggested that the potluck be on a Thursday rather than Friday, so we could eat leftovers on Friday.

I got a call from an old co-worker today. He works as a recruiter for the big three & other automotive suppliers. He was calling with good news. He got a job in Florida and is moving after Christmas. I am so glad for him to have found a new job because it is such a scary time here right now. All of us depend on the auto industry for so much. I sure hope all of this is fixable.

30!

2008-12-10T16:07:00.000-05:00

I turned 30 on Saturday December, 6th!

On Friday, Anita picked me up and we went to Max & Erma's for dinner with Jen, Stacy, & Sally.

We had a good time. I just stayed in on Saturday until it was time for dinner. We met a bunch of people (family & friends) at Macaroni Grill for dinner. After dinner we went to CJ Mahoney's for drinks.

After getting the above photo with our free CC shirts, someone stole mine ON MY BIRTHDAY!! The nerve of some people. Thankfully I left my purse at home!
It was a great birthday and fun to celebrate with everyone.

On Sunday we went to TJ's baptism... He is such a cute baby!

Yesterday at work 2 people got laid off and another this morning. This is all due to the uncertainty of the auto industry. The Michigan unemployment rate is going to go through the roof! Hopefully the loan from the government will go through and help ease the pain around here.

Scrap Palace

2008-12-02T21:14:00.007-05:00

We had a good Thanksgiving. We had enough food to feed an army. Amit & Aman (AC) cooked and the food was great.

On Friday I went to the Scrap Palace for my scrapbooking weekend. I met a bunch of cool people and had a good time.

I got 3 12x12 2-page layouts and 5 12x12 1 page layouts completed! That is great for me. I also left on Saturday night around 10 pm. I am glad I went and had the experience, but I don't think it was worth the money. I would rather spend that money on scrapbook supplies and attend local crops for way less money.

Here is tiger wishing I would lose my camera...

Tim & Tracy

2008-12-01T22:20:00.004-05:00

My BFF got engaged this weekend...

Tim surprised Tracy with an engagement ring this past weekend in Frankenmuth. We are so happy for them and wish them the best in everything. Congratulations!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T10:43:00.003-05:00

May you have a happy, healthy and safe holiday!

Tagged!

2008-11-27T10:26:00.004-05:00

I was tagged by Toni...

To complete the tag, you go to the photos folder on your computer, open the 4th folder and post the 4th picture to your blog....
My 4th picture is of my good friends Anita and Jason. This photo was taken at Stacy's Birthday party last month. I only keep the current year of photos on my computer, so it is a recent one.

I also received this blog award from Benita...
Here are the rules:
1. Write seven strange things about yourself. They interest us all!
2. Tag six other people at the end of your post.

My 7 strange things:

I could eat Taco Bell everyday
In the winter I sleep in socks
I hate leftovers
I put ice in my milk
I don't like my food to touch on my plate
I sing while driving
I usually take the Christmas tree down on December 26th

I think everyone has been tagged already, if not consider yourself tagged:)

Cakes & Trees

2008-11-27T10:24:00.000-05:00

I am a little behind here...

We went to my Dad & Denise's house this past Sunday to celebrate birthday's. It was Jacob's 9th Birthday...

and Josh's 12th Birthday...
As you can see, Denise makes the coolest cakes ever! I got to see my grandma, who is living with my Dad now.
On Monday after work I decided to put the Christmas tree up. I bought a new tree last year on December 26th.

We have the room for a tall tree, but I really didn't think about decorating a tall tree. I didn't decorate it on Monday, I waited until last night (Wednesday). AC was playing poker, so what better time to get some decorations out. You can even see Cupcake sitting under the tree. This is her first Christmas tree experience. Last year I think she would have ruined it, so we decided to wait another year.

Sump Pump & Book Sale

2008-11-18T15:55:00.015-05:00

Last night AC found this...

That would be our sump-pump hole filled with water too the top! AC went to Lowe's and bought two different sump-pumps to use as replacements. We are keeping the one with the motor up and not in the water. This gave AC something to worry about and fix last night. I went down to the basement and took a few pictures...

I took some photos of our basement and could not believe what a mess it is!! I always put stuff down there and don't really pay attention. It is not a finished basement and we do not entertain there, so I forget about it and it is not a priority. I can not post the photos here, they are to embarrassing!

My Mom called me on Sunday because she is cleaning out her basement and wanted to know if I wanted a few items. We took this for the cats:

They are enjoying it now, but soon it will also be in the basement.

She was also getting rid of a couple scrapbook items...

Two of these 12x12 paper racks:

And this rack with the little hooks to hang items on.

This is the bottom and it spins.

I will be using these soon. It was nice of her to call me and give them to me. I have a few scrapbooking books that I am going to try to sell. Anyone have any luck with Amazon selling books?

I am up in the air about the Becky Sketches book...

Your Own Font!

2008-11-17T10:53:00.002-05:00

I have been participating in the "Stories at Hand" class by Jessica Sprague this past week. Jessica is a brilliant Photoshop/Computer Chick. She makes very cool stuff. See her blog: http://spraguelab.squarespace.com/

While visiting the forum for the class, someone posted a cool website! At this website you can make your own font in minutes. Just print the form, scan it, upload it and presto chango your handwriting is a font!! Check it out here: http://www.yourfonts.com/ I made my font and it looked like a second grader wrote it, so you won't find me using it!

I really like the idea of your own handwriting font, so that you can preserve your handwriting and years from now people can see how you wrote, but if your like me, you don't want them to see!

We had a good weekend. AC & Amit went to see the new James Bond movie - they were both disappointed, no cool gadgets, more questions raised without any answers.

AC's mom makes food for AC's brother that is in college and takes it to him, so he doesn't have to cook too much. Yesterday she called us and wanted us to come and get some food, because there is no way they could eat it all. We picked up lasagna, fettuccini alfredo w/ chicken, Orzo pasta, and butter chicken. She spent all afternoon on Saturday and early Sunday morning cooking. Since I love cooking, this works out great for us:)

Have a great week!

Cut the Holiday Stress

2008-11-12T16:24:00.003-05:00

I went to sketch club last night. Always fun with the ladies:)

The 2P's challenge for today: Have you started to make plans for any retreats or crops for next year?

I have not started planning crops for next year yet, kinda hard to spend the money to sign up with a husband laid off. Hopefully he is back to work in no time and I can sign up. I have only gotten a form of a January crop so far. I am excited to go to the Scrap Palace on the 28th. That is my big outing this year.

Have you started your Christmas cards? I broke out a kit I purchases last year and have been putting those together. It is so hard to believe that it is that time already. Our sub-division put the Christmas lights up and they are turned on! I like the lights, but wait until after Thanksgiving!!

Speaking of the holidays... Ali Edwards has posted on her blog cool ideas for cutting down on spending, stress and making the holidays easier overall. Couldn't we all use that!

Top Chef returns tonight! Happy Wednesday!

Snow!

2008-11-10T13:01:00.003-05:00

It's Here! Snow... It is 34 degrees today and feeling chilly. Hopefully it won't stick but either way it is just a matter of time before we have to get the snow blower out.

I got a call on Friday with some bad news... My husband got laid off. It is such scary times in Michigan now. The automobile industry is falling apart as we speak and the economy is in the tank. The company that AC was working for lost a couple big programs in the last month, so naturally they need to cut back on employees. He has been making calls and updating his resume. Hopefully he will find something soon. It helps that he is willing to travel.

The news put a damper on the weekend, but we still went to a birthday party for my friend Anita on Friday night. AC had poker on Saturday at our house. I went to the mall with Amit (brother-in-law) to help him buy clothes. He only shops every 5 years for clothes, so he got a bunch of stuff. Since Mom works for Macy's we just shopped there. That was pretty exhausting. He is funny because he wanted dress pants with pleats and cuffs at the bottom. You know the stuff you bought 5+ years ago. Since everyone now wears flat front pants I encouraged the change. Hopefully he wears them!

On Sunday we cleaned and did laundry. Not much else is going on. Tiger's paw is healing nicely and Cupcake is now jumping onto our dresser at night. She then proceeds to tear any paper that may be up there. Then walks from the dresser onto the tv, the tv squeaks and creaks from her walking on it. It is an older heavy tv and she can't knock it down, so we just yell at her to get down, but of course we have to actually act like we are going to get up in order for her to actually jump down.

Since I have already paid for November & December's sketch club, I am going tomorrow night. Looking forward to that. I also have already paid for my scrapbooking weekend getaway, which is coming up Thanksgiving weekend. One income will certainly make me use my scrapbooking supplies on-hand, which is a good thing.

Have a great week!

Sister Dinner

2008-11-06T13:07:00.003-05:00

My sisters came over for dinner last night. AC made a fabulous dinner of fettucini alfredo & garlic bread. It was better than any restaurant food! I am lucky he likes to cook and is so good at it. Growing up AC's mom (a vegetarian) only cooked Indian food, so if the men in the house wanted something else, they had to cook it. I always hate looking in the kitchen after he cooks, because everything is a huge mess, but worth it. It was so nice visiting with the girls. Ashley is a senior this year and Emily a junior. I can't believe how fast they grow up! College applications already!

Tiger's doctor called me this morning to see how he is doing. My doctor never calls me to see how I am feeling a few days later! I think that she is a great vet.

On Saturday evening AC is having poker at our house, I have to find something to do so I am not stuck at home. However, I could just shut the door in the scrapbook room and scrap all night.

So happy tomorrow is Friday:) Have a good night.

44th President

2008-11-05T15:05:00.004-05:00

I set my alarm early for Tuesday morning, so that I could stop to vote on my way into the office. I got to the school and jumped in line at 7:30 am. The voting was taking place in the school gym and I was number 9 in line to get into the gym to vote. To my surprise I stood in line for an hour!! People were leaving the gym, but they would not let anyone else in to vote. Apparently the lines got very long inside the gym and were interfering with the voting areas. Eventually, I got in and placed my vote, I was number 184 for my precinct. AC & I had dentist appointments in the evening. He voted during my appt and it took him only 20 minutes! I am happy to see that America has voted the first African American as our 44th President, history has been made.

Tiger did good at the vet. He cries on the way there and in the office, but is pretty quiet on the way home. His allergies are bothering him more and the Doctor said that is why he was chewing the hair out of his paw. He got a steroid shot and is already healing nicely. Last night he was sitting in the chair licking the paw area and I was calling his name so he would stop. He ignored me, so I went and picked him up. Eventually he went back to the chair and would sneak licking his paw when I was pretending not to look. I would call his name and he would look at me as to say, "What?? I wasn't doing anything."

Vet Appt

2008-11-03T15:44:00.002-05:00

On Friday I passed out candy. I realize that you can't let the children pick the candy out of the bowl. For one, picking for some children is quite an event because they really have to think about what they want and of course there are children who pick up as much as they can get in one hand. Cute kids, but this little monster was by far the cutest... This is TJ, my friend Anita's son.Anita & Jason came over for dinner on Friday. It was a fun evening. On Saturday AC went golfing and I did laundry & errands. In the evening we went out for dinner with Amit. AC & Amit really like wine, so they bought a bottle with dinner. As we were leaving AC asked about purchasing the wine because he enjoyed it so much. So they charged us $31 for the bottle with dinner. It was $8 after dinner, so we got 4 bottles for the price of the one at dinner!! Sunday was another lazy day. We met my in-laws for dinner at Olive Garden in the evening. I finished some layouts that needed a few final touches, then scanned them all.

Tiger has to go to the vet tonight. He got his paw wet and litter stuck to it, then in order to get it clean he ripped out all of the hair between his 2 back claws. I did not see a thing until he had pulled all of the hair out. He is still acting normal, but we decided to take him in rather then it turn into a bigger problem later. The most traumatic event will be the trip to the vet. He shakes and gets in the farthest possible spot in his carrier, so we have to take it completely apart in order to get him out. He does not enjoy these trips at all. I have to go into the house and to the basement to get the carrier and then go upstairs grab him and put him in the carrier before he sees it.

Have a good night and don't forget to vote tomorrow!

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T15:09:00.003-04:00

A blog that I frequently read is Sarah C. She posted a link to a woman who collects post cards from all over the world. When in India, I sent her a postcard. See the postcard and site here.
Pretty Cool!

Happy Halloween! Hope everyone has a safe and successful (lots of candy) evening. The Trick-or-Treaters will be out from 6 to 8 pm this evening in our city. 2 hours to get as much free candy as you can carry! We are having friends over for dinner tonight. Hope to post photos tomorrow. I also hope to scrapbook tomorrow. Have a great weekend!!

October 28th already!

2008-10-28T09:40:00.005-04:00

Where does the time go? It seems to be flying by faster all the time. It is only 36 degrees here today, chilly! I had a great time scrapbooking on Saturday. I was really happy because I got so much done. I still need to do a few final touches, but haven't even unpacked my bag. On Sunday evening we had a reception to go to. I am so proud of myself because I put my sari on all by myself! This is the first time! I wore a navy sari that was given to me from AC's Uncle and Aunt in India. Everyone is so nice at the India events, everyone always seems to happy to see me and they always compliment me on how I look. Just genuinely nice people...

AC & I:Us with the Bride & Groom: Naveen & Pooja

Naveen is a DJ and was our DJ at our Indian reception. I always laugh because we are always assigned seats with the other mixed couples. On Sunday we were sitting with 2 other Indian men and their white wives. It is always a nice time, but it makes me laugh. There was a comedian at this reception. He did some stand-up in between the speeches and videos. The invite said cocktails at 5:30 and dinner at 7:30, however we didn't eat until 9:30! We got home at 11:15 ish.

Have a Good Week!

Boring Afternoon

2008-10-21T16:13:00.002-04:00

I finished watching Dexter Season 1 & 2. It is a boring day at work, but I get to leave in 45 minutes. It is 49 degrees and windy here today. We had leftovers last night for dinner, so I really need to go to the grocery store today. We are liking the new fridge and also enjoying the old one in the garage. We have put the stuff that we don't use everyday in the garage fridge and now our new fridge looks organized. We moved the old fridge around in the garage last night, so that my car would fit better. We watched The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother last night. After the shows I went through some files in our office. I brought a huge bag of papers to work to shred today. We have a large shredder at work, so it is much faster to shred at work. I am going to a 12 hr crop on Saturday. I am excited about that. I need to start getting my photos and paper together, that way I am prepared. It is so funny to see how much stuff some people bring to the crops. I try to only pack what I am going to use. Also if I know my friend is bringing something I leave mine at home. I haven't worked on my Week in the Life project yet. I get so lazy after work. The evenings seem to go by so fast after work. AC has a golf lesson after work tonight. Not much happening here. Hope your week is going good;)

Escape Cat

2008-10-19T16:39:00.008-04:00

I failed to mention that we had to order a new refrigerator last week. Our fridge came with the house and started leaking water, had a broken handle and the freezer stopped working all together. We went on Monday night to Lowe's and ordered this: Samsung26.0 Cu. Ft. French Door Refrigerator (Color: Platinum) ENERGY STAR®

The fridge was delivered on Friday morning and wouldn't you know that the old freezer started working on Thursday and re-froze everything. I could not believe how much stuff was in the old fridge and freezer. We had a side by side, so we are trying something new with the freezer on the bottom.

Friday night AC had poker at our house and I went scrapbooking with Michelle and Anita. We had fun. Anita says I have scrapping ADD, because I get bored quick and tend to want to do something else. I got 2 2-page-layouts semi-completed. It was kind of funny because the other 3 women at the table were, how should I say this, Creative Memories Scrappers? They used lots of deco scissors and probably finished an entire book at the Friday evening crop! Don't get me wrong though, we all started scrapping that way.

On Saturday I got my haircut and in the evening we went out to dinner with Anita & her family, as well as AC's brothers. The brothers left early to see a movie and they we went to play cards at Anita's house. I am reading this book: Songs Without Words by Ann Packer. I am almost finished.We have an escape cat on our hands... All last year he never once tried to escape. Now as soon as the inside door is open, he is gone. Luckily he just sniffs around on the deck. We just grab him and put him back inside. Then he sits like this and cries... Have a great week!

Weekend Update

2008-10-13T16:09:00.015-04:00

Busy weekend here...

Friday: A lot of scrapbookers are now using both digital and regular scrapbooking supplies, a hybrid-scrapper is what they are referred to. I have seen many layouts where people have used Adobe Photoshop to make a collage of photos and scrap that on a one-page layout. I like it a lot but never was able to do it. Well, on Friday I played around with Photoshop and look what I did:

I used a "drag and drop" template from Scrapbooks Etc website.

Friday: I went with the girls for dinner and see Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. It was a cute movie and I had a good night.

Saturday: AC had a poker game to go to and we were also invited to a birthday party. It was Stacy's birthday and we celebrated (a little too much) at a local bar, CJ's. The bartender has very unique ways of making his shots...

We sampled way too many shots, AC came later in the evening. It was fun!

On Sunday we met Anita, Jason and baby TJ for lunch and then headed to the cider mill.

Monday was work as usual, looking forward to Tuesday for Sketch Club. I woke up early Tuesday morning having an asthma attack. Not fun, lots of constant coughing, multiple puffs on the inhaler. I felt awful after, but I got up, showered and went to work. I didn't feel well enough to go and ended up telling my boss when I got there that I was leaving. I felt like crap all day and did not go to sketch club. Anita got to go in my place, so that was good.
Today I went back to work and there were so many things going on that I was stressed and in a bad mood. It's over now. Thanks for reading.

Tagged: Six Secrets

2008-10-09T08:59:00.006-04:00

Almost Friday! It is weird not taking photos of everything like last week. I participated in Ali Edwards Week in the Life project. It was fun to take photos of everything and write all the details of your days. Ali has completed her project and of course, it is awesome! You can see Ali's here. I have developed all of my photos, but haven't scrapped them yet.

Linda and Sarah tagged me for "six secrets"

I miss my apartment. Only because I could clean it so much quicker than the house we have now. I use to clean all the time, but I hate it now.
I want a mastiff puppy. See photos below...

My in-laws we really against my relationship with AC, in the beginning. Now you would never know that there were any problems. If only I had been blogging then!
I am in the process of watching Dexter Season 1 at work.
I try to avoid cooking or grocery shopping like the flu.
I am obsessed with purchasing scrapbook supplies! There is always something new to checkout and I always love it! I think that I have been doing better this year.

I am going out with the Girls tomorrow night. We are having dinner and seeing a movie. Have a great day!

Bunko

2008-10-06T10:59:00.007-04:00

It's Monday again. Done with the Ali Edwards project, Week in the Life. I am looking forward to scrapping that. I have seen people use 6x6 page protectors with 2 "O" rings instead of an actual book/album. Then you tie ribbon on the rings. I think that is what I will do or maybe 8.5 x 11. I don't know.

On Friday I went to my friend Tracy's to play Bunko with a bunch of her friends.

Tracy & I:

Tracy & the Bunko Gang:

Tracy has a fantastic aquarium at her house:

This is her Lucy:
We didn't do too much on the rest of the weekend. I drove AC to Ann Arbor, dropped him off at the game and then I went to a scrapbook store in Ann Arbor that I have never been too. It was ok, nothing special. I got home at 6 and AC got home at 10:30.

Hope you had a good weekend. Have a great week.

Week in the Life

2008-10-02T10:49:00.008-04:00

It is only October 2nd, but it feels like winter here. It is 50 degrees outside and cold inside.

Here are some pics from last Saturday's game. The MI football team did not show up until the second 1/2 and luckily squeaked out a win.

The "M" below was in the student section, pretty cool. The attendance was 106,000+.

After the game we went out for dinner to celebrate the birthday's. Amit is in the beginning of Sept, Dad is in the middle, and AC is at the end of Sept. Both of my brothers, my mom, my grandma, & aunt also have birthday's in September.

We have to get Mom and U of M t-shirt!

I decided to participate in Ali Edwards "Week in the Life" challenge. You can read about it here. Basically the idea is that for one week, you document everything that you do and take pictures along the way.

Day 1: Monday: September 29, 2008

Alarm goes off at 7:30 am, since I stayed up so late on Sunday I am not ready to get up.
Snooze it until 7:45 am
Get in shower and rush to get out the door.
Aman feeds the cats, because he is on his way out.
go to BK for hash browns and oj
Get to work at 8:32 am
Busy all morning at work
Lunch - Ran to Panera Bread for a bowl of Baked Potato Soup, guy at work calls in Pantera Bread
Leave work at exactly 5 pm
get home and take a nap
Aman is getting a massage
get up at 7:30 pm, when Aman gets home
Get turkey burgers ready to grill
Aman grills them
I heat up homemade orzo pasta
We eat and watch Big Bang theory and How I met your Mother on TV
I spend time adding cd’s to my iTunes collection
I clean out closets to get clothes documented and in plastic bags - Pick up is Tuesday morning
Aman tries some clothes on to decide if he wants them
I write on Bags for St. Vincent De Paul
Go upstairs and watch 1 episode of Nip/Tuck
Midnight check email on work phone
12:30 go to sleep

Pretty boring, but you get the idea. I am going to try to take more photos and keep up with the documentation. It will be interesting to look back at this sometime and see how I spent my time. I am going to try to do 2 weeks per year. Hope your having a good week!

India: Final Installment

2008-09-30T14:45:00.000-04:00

Thursday (09-11-08)

I woke up with a bad sore throat/cold and ready to go home. I changed my ticket, but the only day they had was tonight. AC was mad and so I ended up getting another ticket to leave on Sunday night. I will spare you the rest of the details. We stayed in at Praneet & Himani’s all day. AC called the driver to pick him up for golf at 5:30 am, but he said that was too early so they settled on 6 am.

Friday (09-12-08)

The driver showed up at 7:30 and made AC late for golf with his uncle. I wrote out my postcards and when AC got home we went shopping. We went to Select City Walk. This was a nice mall and just like the malls here except it was larger. After shopping we went to Noida where AC’s Uncle and family live. We all had dinner and hung out talking (everyone spoke English). We didn’t get home until 12:30 am.

Saturday (09-13-08)

We got up and packed our stuff because it make more sense to stay the night at Cha-Cha’s. AC’s cousin met us at Praneet’s house and we went to a mall in Noida. Lots of little kids wanting money outside the mall. I bought a couple pair of jeans and pants. We were done shopping and picked up our stuff at Praneet’s, said goodbye to Himani and Anoushka. It was so nice to see them and spend time with them. We got to Cha-Cha’s house around 6 and slowly people started showing up to see us. Since it was my last night, they made dinner and asked a bunch of relatives to stop by. Again, it was hard with the language barrier, but it was my last night.

A scary situation took place on Saturday evening, luckily we learned about it on the news. At 6:07 pm a bomb went off in the Karol Bagh market that we had visited. At 6:34 another bomb went off somewhere else, again at 6:35, at 6:37 & 6:38 bombs went off in the GK shopping area that we went to. There were bombs at India Gate (we were there), a movie theatre, and in central park, thankfully these 3 were defused and did not cause any harm. All of these locations are in the capital of India, New Delhi. This was the 4th terrorist attack in 6 months. I had never heard of any attacks there until this one. 23 people lost their lives and 110 more were injured. It is scary to think that we were in so many of those locations.

Sunday (09-14-08)

I got up at noon and mom insisted that I get a massage. The massage was quite different than in the US. Anytime I have had one here, the woman makes sure you are covered up at all times and wants you to feel comfortable and not hanging out there. This was different. I laid on my stomach in only my underwear and no sheet, I also had to lay on my back with the same situation. It was just different. After the massage I went to get money to give her a tip, but mom stopped me and wanted to know how much I was giving. I had 150 rupees, which is only $3.49 USD and she said I could only give 100 rupees. If I had been thinking I would have taken the money in with me and given it in private, whatever as long as I could give something. After a shower we went to the sweet shop to get some stuff to bring back. I wanted to take some sweets to work. After we got back from the store mom helped me pack my suitcases. We had to get everything in them and not over weight. Bitu drove me to the airport and Dad & AC came also. I checked my bags and then went back to wave by.

My flight was on Continental Airlines from Delhi to Newark New Jersey 14 hours and then onto Detroit for 2 more hours. The flights were not bad at all. Of course I could have been strapped to a donkey and that wouldn't have been bad either since I was going home. I got home at 10 am and my cats were happy to see me. They really didn’t leave me all day, just followed me around. There is no place like home.

I forgot to mention in these posts that often I would see a woman dressed in a beautiful sari and riding side saddle on the back of a motorcycle. I also would see a Dad with 3 little children on a motorcycle, the littlest in front.

When AC got back I was quick to look at his photos and it looks like he visited the most beautiful place after I had gone home. These are some of his photos:

He also got some great monkey shots:

Happy Birthday!

2008-09-27T12:44:00.003-04:00

Today is AC's 34th Birthday! We are going to the Michigan football game today. AC's parents along with his 2 brothers will all be there. GO BLUE!!

More India stuff coming later. I am glad that I kept a journal while I was there. I mostly want to get my memories typed out so that I have them forever. Glad to hear that you are enjoying my trip:)

Taj Mahal

2008-09-26T15:50:00.000-04:00

Tuesday (09-09-08)

I woke up feeling awful with heartburn and stomach issues. I stayed in bed until 1 pm. It seems like every other day there is something wrong. I have been having blurry vision and can’t read mail on my BlackBerry. Do I need glasses? WTH is going on?

We decide that we are going to go to a mall for something to do. AC’s cousin is going to drive us. Then everyone is speaking in Hindi and I am asking what they are saying. AC says they are talking about whether I want to eat at the mall or not and which place is better. 10 people having a conversation about my plans and nobody asks me if I want to eat there. I just got up and went back to the neighbors. I am getting sick of the language barrier and all of the family being involved in my decision making. We only wanted to go to the mall for something to do. We made it to the mall and just walked around for a while, didn’t buy anything.

Wednesday (09-10-08)

We woke up early (5:45 am) today to head to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. We stopped along the way so that the driver (Bitu) could get tea. AC told me to look outside my window and there way a man with 2 pet monkeys on leashes. I rolled my window down to take some pictures. The guy would tell the monkey in English to sleep and the monkey would lay down. He would shake a drum and tell the other monkey to jump. I reached my hand out to give the guy money, which is what he wants for showing the monkeys off, and the monkey came and took it from my hand. It was cool since I have never seen pet monkeys.

Then the next thing I know we are off the main road and Bitu is taking us to a temple he went to as a child. Yes it was something to see, but we are supposed to get to the Taj Mahal before it gets hot! The temple was a Hari Krishna temple and there were all different people there, even white people. I was not allowed to take my camera or cell phone into the temple, so no photos from inside. The area outside the temple was a little rough, really old people begging us for money.
Sights along the way... Finally 1 hour + we are back on the main road to the Taj. We get to Agra and Bitu wants to eat, so he takes us to an obvious touristy restaurant. I say touristy because I was not the only white person in the place. There were 4 tourists from the UK there and another one came in later. It’s the small stuff. All of the places we go to with Bitu, he goes into a separate room or downstairs and eats with the other drivers for less money. Even hotels have accommodations especially for drivers. I took Dramamine, the motion sickness medicine and am doing ok in the car. I am wondering if that is giving me the blurry vision.

After lunch we begin our walk to the Taj Mahal. We walk to a park entrance and there are all kinds of people selling small replicas of the Taj, key chains, and rides to the entrance. The people were talking to us and I just said no and did not look at them. I have noticed that if I look at the people it is very hard to not sympathize with them. The government in India says not to give people on the streets money because it perpetuates the situation. Children are choosing to beg on the streets and turn to drugs rather than going to school. I did not give money to anyone on the streets. I was also afraid that if I did there would be 100 people swarming me for money. It is hard not to give the children money. The people would also hound Bitu, thinking he could tell us where to spend our money. Below are two guys bugging Bitu...
We did pay for a horse & rickshaw to take us to the entrance. The price for Indian residence is around $1 and the price for tourists is $20. AC couldn’t get in for the resident price either. There is security and you must pass through in order to enter. The ladies line was short and fast, then men’s line was long and slow. This building is to the left of the Taj.

A bit closer:

Now we are able to see the Taj, but have to walk to be able to tour it. We had to take our shoes off and pay for someone to watch them or put covers on our shoes. We did the covers. At this point it was very hot and I was getting overheated. The Taj Mahal is huge and beautiful.

Unfortunately is was too hot to hang out there for a while. There were photographers everywhere wanting to take your picture and sell you the photos. We had these taken:

We left Agra and were going to Masi's neighbors to pick up our suitcases and then going onto Praneet's house. Himani had plans, since we told her we wouldn't be back until the weekend. So, we had to get to her house before she left in order to get in.

We finally get to Masi's neighbors house and she has went for a walk and locked the doors. We walked to Masi's house and called her. She was just around the corner so we ran down there and threw our bags into the car. AC's cousin was "helping" and instead of unlocking the car with the key, like the driver told him to do, he used the key fab. The key fab does not work properly, so the car alarm was going off and the car would not start for 10 minutes. I thought I was going to lose my mind. We finally get onto the road and decide that we are not going to make it to Himani in time, so she drops the key off with her mother-in-law. Of course we have difficultly finding the house and end up getting to their house at 9 pm. Now we have to hurry and get ready for Sonum (AC's cousin) other reception that the groom's parents were having. It was 45 minutes away.

The reception was outside and huge. This was the fruit bar:

Bride & Groom

Mom, Me, Masi

Now it is getting late and I have a sore throat, maybe from being in the car all day? As I am walking to the car I see this: An itty bitty mouse drinking out of a container of water. Instead of giving everyone plastic bottles of water they hand out water in these containers, a little bigger than an applesauce.

We get to Praneet and Himani's house and discover that she has accidentally put the chain lock on. Oops, now we have to call her to let us in. This was a long day.

The Wedding

2008-09-24T15:41:00.017-04:00

Monday (9-8-08)

I woke up late today and we had to run and pick up my clothes for the wedding. We waited at Masi’s house for over an hour for a driver to pick us up to get my clothes. This is very frustrating! We are used to having our own car and leaving anytime we want. I am also sick of not understanding anyone. Everyone speaks Hindi, not English. The kids in high school and college speak English, but not all of the adults. Like yesterday getting the mehndi done should have been fun, but when there is nobody to talk to it is kind of lonely.

We finally get our ride and get back in time to get ready for the wedding. AC is still sick and isn’t going to go. I get ready and walk down to Masi’s house. I notice when I get there that my foot is bleeding because of the new shoes. No big deal, 2 band-aids fixed that. AC’s dad is going to go and talk to him about not coming. I told him if he isn’t feeling well to just let him be. AC decides that he is going to ride with the neighbor, that we are staying with, to the wedding a bit later. Meanwhile, I am waiting for Mom and 2 Aunties to get ready. Finally we are all ready and now waiting for a ride to the wedding. If you couldn't tell India is testing my patience.

I should have mentioned that this is not like a wedding in the US where they say get there at 2:00 and the wedding starts at 2 no matter what. It is 8:30ish and we get to the wedding. It is outside and huge. Everything is decorated so beautifully. My photos do not do it justice. There were 2,000 people there! The actual ceremony starts at a pre-determined time according to the stars (astrology). This wedding will take place sometime after 1 am. Most people will not stay to see the ceremony. It was really hot, so people turned the fans to face me, so I wouldn’t be as hot. Nice People. My heals sunk into the grass every time I stepped, so I took them off for a while. Then I saw someone spit on the ground and decided that it was time to put them back on. My outfit was really heavy and hot, so I took the wrap off and tried to get away without it.

The groom showed up on a horse with his family, then some of the family members trade garlands, welcoming each other to their family. The father's trade garlands then Uncles and so on. The groom is then lead to the stage to sit and wait for the bride to come out.

Poor guy, it was hot!

Mom & Masi

AC & Dad (The men in the brides family wear these when the groom comes in)

The Beautiful Bride

Walking to the stage to be with her Groom The Bride and Groom, now they pose with everyone for pictures and then the ceremony is in the middle of the night.
AC's Grandmother, eldest living relative in India

We left before the ceremony. Everything was very nice and beautiful:)

Mehndi & Sangeet

2008-09-23T15:40:00.018-04:00

Sunday (9-7-08)

We got up and went to GK to pick up my lehenga for the wedding, but the top was a little snug. They promise it will be ready at noon on Monday the day of the wedding. Ok, we get back to Praneet’s and Masi’s driver picked us up to take us to her house. Masi is the term for Mother’s sister. Masi and her family live in a very large home that is actually homes to 2 more families also. Masi married the oldest brother in a family and now the 2 younger brothers live in the same house. The thing is that they have a 3 level home, where each level is a complete house. Everybody has bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens and dining rooms as well as living/family rooms. Each family has kids, 15 people in total living there.

Time for Mehndi! What is Mehndi?
Courtesy of the Internet… “Mehndi is the art of applying Henna on the body. It is a beautiful form of temporary body decoration. Mehndi is a traditional form of decoration for both men and women in countries such as India, Morocco, and Pakistan. It is generally used for special occasions, particularly weddings.”

Masi’s daughter, Sonam, gets much more detailed and elaborate work done because she is the bride.
Masi’s house was very full, so we are staying with her neighbor. Her neighbor has a beautiful home and lives just down the street, so we can walk back and forth. Below is the neighbors house.This evening is the Sangeet party.

Sangeet defined by wikipedia: “A Sangeet or Ladies Sangeet is an event in a Hindu or Sikh wedding. This event takes place 2 or 3 days before a wedding in a Banquet Hall or if a small affair, then at home. Ladies are the only people to take part in the event. Some men are there if they are close to the bride or groom. During this event ladies will sing traditional Indian songs, and joke around with guests. This event is also like a dinner and dance, because there is a lot of dancing and lots of food! The Sangeet is a good natured ribbing of the couples in-laws. Some Indian instruments like the dholki accompany the joking. The dholki is like a two-sided drum. The Sangeet is also a good time for the wedding guests to get acquainted with each other.”

I was only a foot taller than some of the women.

Me with the Brides Sister: Aman with Cha-Cha & Cha-Chi:
AC was not feeling well and had been sick to his stomach since the day before. No matter what he eats, he is sick. We took one last group shot and called it a night. I would compare this Sangeet party with a wedding reception here in the US. It was in a hall, decorated beautifully, catered and everything.

India: Thursday - Saturday

2008-09-21T14:24:00.025-04:00

9-4-08 Thursday

Today we went to Karol Bagh shopping. This area is basically a few streets lined with shops and lots of items for sale on the streets as well. It was a very hot morning and we did a bit of walking. It really tires you out. The wiring on all of the poles looks like this:

The market was very dusty and busy. We went at 11 am, which is when the shops open. I guess in the evening it is so busy that you can't get a car down the streets. I have noticed that people just throw their garbage on the ground, no matter where they are. Shop owners sweep their shop and just broom it outside, instead of using a dust pan and throwing it away. Pretty dirty.

After shopping in the market we went to visit our friends Praneet & Himani. On the way to their home the driver took us to India Gate and around the capital buildings. This was my kind of sightseeing because the driver stopped the car I jumped out and snapped photos and we were off to the next spot.

Government Buildings:

India Gate:
Description of India Gate courtesy of the Internet:
The India Gate is awar memorial in New Delhi commemorating the Indian dead of the First World War. The India Gate today also houses the Indian Army's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Amar Jawan Jyoti.
Situated on the Rajpath in New Delhi, the India Gate was originally called the All India War Memorial is a monument built by Edwin Lutyens to commemorate the Indian soldiers who died in World War I and the Afghan Wars. The foundation stone was laid on 10 February 1921 by the Duke of Connaught. The names of the soldiers who died in these wars are inscribed on the walls. It was completed in 1931.

Interesting pictures along the way...

A guy on a horse using his cell phone:

A school bus taking a bunch of kids somewhere. All of the back packs are on top of the bus. All the children in school wear uniforms. They are packed in there. Auto-Rickshaw:

A woman waiting for a ride in a regular rickshaw:

We finally got to our friends home and it is beautiful. We truly enjoyed spending every moment there. They have a daughter, Anoushka, who is 3 years old. This was the first time we got to meet her. They moved from the states when Himani was pregnant. She is a cutie who loves the Disney Princesses and the color pink. They took us out for drinks and dinner to a couple local places. We went to a very nice restaurant; to my surprise you could get steak! I don’t eat it, but you can order it. Our friends were wonderful lending us a cell phone to use and letting us use their driver all the time. We are lucky to have such good friends.

Friday 9-5-08

AC & Praneet went golfing early this morning. AC had a great time and loved the course. We waited for AC to come back and then wanted to go shopping. As we were getting ready to leave I felt really light headed and sick to my stomach, so we decided to stay in. We just relaxed. I think the time change was getting to me. This evening was also a family dinner at Mom’s sisters house. We were not planning on going, but everyone was calling and wanting us to go. We went and got back at 2:30 am. The drive was 45 minutes and once we got there they did not want us to leave. We were not planning on staying the night, so we did not bring anything with us. We ended up getting a ride home but it was very late. After dark the police set up check points, but we were waived on through, probably because they didn’t see me. The communication issues with family can get a bit aggravating.

Saturday 9-6-08

We went shopping at GK this morning with Himani. I bought a bunch of Indian clothes. I got a beautiful lehenga for the wedding. They took the measurements and I can pick it up in the morning. In the afternoon AC and I went for head oil massages. I was in one part of the salon and he was in another. I also got a manicure. It was nice, but I felt weird because everyone was speaking Hindi and I don’t speak it. I new they were talking about me, but oh well. I bet they were talking about my hairy arms, because all of the Indian woman have their arms as well as legs waxed. Ouch!

AC & I shopping in GK

Showing me the clothes:

In the evening we went to AC’s cousin Poonam’s house. It was her daughter’s birthday. We had dinner and got back to Praneet’s at 12:30 am.

India: Wednesday (9-3-08)

2008-09-20T19:21:00.007-04:00

Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that I visited a very overpopulated, very busy city in India. I didn’t travel to the rest of the country. It is like if someone visited Manhattan, New York the rest of the United States is hardly like that.

I forgot to mention that the flight from Paris to Delhi was only ½ full so I went to a row of 3 empty seats, put up the armrests and slept for a while. That was nice. I spent time charging the portable dvd player before we left, but it wouldn’t turn on:( The laptop battery was charged, but only enough to watch one Nip/Tuck episode. We went to bed late at night on Tuesday when we got to AC’s Aunt & Uncle’s place. Instead of calling them aunt and uncle, we call them Cha-Cha (term for Dad’s younger brother) and Cha-Chi. The names differ according to mother vs father’s side of the family and whether they are older or younger than Mom or Dad. It was confusing at first, but now I get it. Cha-Cha owns a factory that makes rubber seals. Since he owns the place he doesn’t go in everyday, but when he needs to.

This is the neighborhood where they live. Even though these look like apartments, each house is much bigger than an apartment in the US. Wednesday (9-2-08)

I woke up early Wednesday morning and sent some emails, them went back to sleep until 10 am. I woke to what sounded like 20 people in the house. It was only a couple of cousins that came to see us. I drank lots of juice in India; they had Tropicana mixed berry, OJ, and cranberry. The house we were staying at also had water filters, so water was not a problem. The shower was being worked on, so the shower head did not work. Most people in India fill up a big bucket of water in the shower and then turn the water off, so they don’t waste water. Every bathroom that we saw had these buckets in the shower. The bedroom that we stayed in had a window air conditioner and a ceiling fan; the master bedroom had the same. The rest of the house only had ceiling fans. We did go to India in a Hot month, but because AC’s cousin was getting married. It is better to go in November or December. In the evening we went to Cha-Cha’s daughter Minoo’s house for dinner. She has 2 cute kids. Everyone in India went out of their way to ask what I wanted to eat. I like chicken and can’t handle real spicy food, so everyone made special food for me.

Minoo's family:

Something else that warrants a post all to its self is the Driving In India, if you want to call it that. The roads that we traveled on are all paved. The driving is a free-for-all. Cars share the roads with large trucks, buses, motorcycles, scooters, auto rickshaws, bike rickshaws and cows. This is a very interesting mix. Nobody uses there side mirrors, so everyone honks their horns whenever they are passing someone, as you can probably imagine this is constantly. They drive fast and stop fast. Sometimes they follow the traffic lights, sometimes they stop then go anyway. Cha-Cha hired a driver to take us around in a mini-van. This driver was horrible. His name was Bitu and he says he gets a little confused at night. Our response: A LITTLE CONFUSED?? He drove the wrong way on 2 different one-way streets!! He missed an exit off the express-way so he backed up! It was totally nerve-wrecking. I get car sick here, but I sit in the front and am ok. In India I got sick every time I rode in the car. That made it difficult to want to travel far.

Wednesday was also the evening that AC and Cha-Cha went to the airport to pick up the golf clubs, which took 3 hours. Cha-Chi does not wake up for the door bell, so I had to get up and get the door when they came back. The problem was that the door was locked from the inside and I had to wake her up to let them in. That was kind of scary to find out that the door locks from the inside. I was thinking about fires, but AC said the houses were all concrete and we didn’t need to worry about it.

So far I have really only seen India at night, but I have been able to see wild dogs everywhere and cows on the road. I have also seen homeless people sleeping off on the side of the roads, some under mosquito nets.

Day 1 & 2: The Plane Ride

2008-09-18T15:46:00.010-04:00

Ok, so we left on Monday, September 1st. The longest I have been on a plane is 4 hours. We had an 8 hour flight from Detroit to Paris and another 8 hour flight from Paris to Dehli. AC was quick to see about getting us better seats on the plane, so we thought we were lucky by getting the bulk-head seats. What we didn't realize is that they were right by the bathroom! After dinner there was a line and where did the people stand, right in front of us, especially the people with gas! GROSS!! We will not make that mistake again.

As we were landing in Paris I kept saying to AC that I could not believe that we had to do it all over again, another 8 hr flight!

The plane had TV screens that showed the flight path as well as speed, altitude, and time remaining. That was cool. Each seat also had their own mini TV that we could play games or watch movies on.

This was the meal we received before landing in Dehli. I thought it was funny because I only recognized the corn, and not sure what was with it. Oh, and the OJ.We landed in Dehli on time but AC's golf clubs did not. They were left in Paris. It took 2 hours to wait in line and fill out forms for the clubs. Then AC spent 3 hours at the airport the next day picking them up. This was the rest of our luggage.
AC comes home tomorrow. I will be picking him up from the airport. I have been trying to clean before he gets home, but I am still feeling the jet lag, I guess. I went grocery shopping after work last night, after putting everything away I went to sleep for the night. I shouldn't still be tired, but not feeling back to normal yet, plus I still have a head cold.

I'm Back!

2008-09-16T12:29:00.004-04:00

Lots of updating to do. I did come home early. I got home on Monday (9/15) at 10 am. I have been emptying suitcases and doing laundry. My kitties look great and are happy to see me. Since they went without brushing while I was gone, (I forgot to mention this to anyone) I took each of them outside this morning and brushed them thoroughly and they both received a bath. They are not missing me anymore! I have lots of cleaning to do, blogs to read, photos to upload, so I will update more later.

Thanks for all of the good wishes. I had a good time. Special thanks to Anita and Amit for taking great care of the fur babies:)

Zero Days!

2008-09-01T00:53:00.003-04:00

That's right, zero days because we are leaving today! We have been busy doing laundry, running to Target for luggage locks, stopping at Meijer and returning movies to Blockbuster. It has been a busy evening. AC has decided to take his golf clubs, so we have 3 suitcases to pack a maximum of 50 lbs each into. We will be checking the 3 suitcases and golf clubs. Then we can each pack a carry-on suitcase + a laptop bag or purse. I am hoping to get away with a medium sized bag filled with plane essentials as my purse. I bought a few books for the trip as well as a bunch of DVD's. I hope to catch up on Tip/Tuck, I have 1/2 of season 3 and all of season 4 to watch. I also have Dexter season 1 & 2 to watch. Dexter is usually on showtime, but this past season they ran it on CBS.

Oh and we were on a mad search for our passports. I originally took them to work to make copies and leave with relatives. Then AC said I should scan them and email them to us, so we have an electronic copy. Did that and can't remember having them after that. I am sure that AC thought it was my master plan to sabotage the trip, but we found them.

Thank you so much for all of the well wishes. To say I'm not nervous would be a lie, but I am looking forward to learning more about my husbands culture, meeting his family, seeing a new place and of course, scapbooking the trip! Have a happy & safe Labor Day!

Kitty Allergies

2008-08-29T23:24:00.000-04:00

Tiger has allergies! Hopefully they are just seasonal and not food allergies. I noticed that his hair around his temples is really thin and hair is missing from the outside of his ears from scratching. He is getting a pill for a month and we will see how he does. Hopefully he will get better and not have anymore issues. I noticed on Wednesday it looked a little worse and took him in on Thursday, so the cat sitters don't have to deal with any problems.

I also went to the doctor on Thursday because a couple of days ago my foot started hurting, right in the middle of the ball on my right foot. As it turns out I have soft tissue inflammation caused by flip flops and sandals!! Flip flops and sandals are the best part of summer! I have to start wearing shoes with good support in order for it to get better. I swear it is always something!!

Anita and family came over tonight to get the low down on cat sitting. I need to look for the treats that you can put pills in,to make it a little easier on them. A couple of my husbands good friends also came over and we all had dinner. We had a good night. Enjoy your weekend!

Classes? What Classes?

2008-08-27T15:48:00.002-04:00

I am finished!! I have earned my Bachelors degree! No more classes! Unless I decide to get a masters degree? I don't see that happening. Only 5 days left. I have been feeling stressed about packing, errands, and just getting my stuff together. Yesterday I got my second Hep B shot. I only need one more in a few months to complete the series. After the doctor I went home studied and took my final exam. Then I ran to Costco & Target to pick up a couple things that have been requested by friends and family in India. When I got home I finished an essay question and completed my final class! I am so glad that I have finished. I will probably be bored now! It will be weird not going anymore. Yahoo!

We purchased season tickets for the U of M games this season. The first game is on Saturday against Utah. As of now, Saturday looks to be about 83 degrees here, so that will be great for the game. We will only miss one game while we are gone and we have already sold those tickets. My sisters came over on Monday and we went out for dinner. They are also coming over on Friday to see AC and spend the night.

I got a new phone for work and it will work in India. Work will be able to contact me and I can contact anyone! Different subject... The earrings from India have really large posts and I have a hard time getting them into my ear. It is weird because one side goes in easy and the other won't go in at all. I thought I would prepare myself by wearing my earrings from India. Well, after 2 nights of sleeping in them, I had to take them out because I never wear earrings to bed and they were bugging me. Ever since then I am having trouble getting a normal post earring into my ear. I think the Indian earrings may be retired from my house.

Happy Wednesday!

Monday Update

2008-08-25T10:16:00.002-04:00

It is getting closer! I was not able to sleep last night, thinking about everything that needs to be done before we leave. Nothing major, just set up payments for the bills, send birthday cards, buy cat food. All small things that seem to add up and cause stress. I also have to put some movies on my ipod.

On Saturday we went to my cousin's high school graduation party. After the party we drove the rest of the way to visit my Dad's gang. It was a nice hot day. Sunday was spent doing laundry and hanging out at home. My mil came over to help me pack my Indian clothes. I felt bad, but I was honest about some of the clothes she has given me, so she is going to have them altered to fit her. Everybody likes different colors and styles, so it is hard to have someone else pick up clothes for you.

We were talking over Thai carry-out last night and it sounds like we will be real busy visiting relatives and with the wedding that is taking place. Hope everyone has a great week.

Mystery Solved

2008-08-20T13:40:00.003-04:00

It finally occurred to me, I started feeling poorly on Friday, I saw my allergist on Thursday night and he gave me a new medicine, AlleRx. I looked up the side effects and BINGO Mystery Solved. After 5 days, finally feeling better.

I went for a sleep study last night. AC says I move my legs and arms constantly at night, of course this doesn't bother me at all. I will just have to wait for the results.

Only 12 days left... I have been trying to figure out what is the best way to get my email from work and text messages. I don't think I will be able to check my email everyday, but I would like to know that in the case of an emergency, people could get a hold of me. Maybe it is because I am leaving for 3 weeks and it is so far away. I am afraid of being dis-connected. I have never been away from home for that long. No matter where I go, I am always ready to go home early. I hope we stay busy and I don't get homesick. With traveling and the fact that they are 10.5 hours ahead of us, will kill a few days.

At Home

2008-08-18T22:37:00.000-04:00

I was home from work today, because I am not feeling very good. I didn't feel good on Friday evening, Saturday morning I was fine, Saturday night I had a slight fever of 99.6. on Sunday I just laid around all day and the same today. I did complete an on-line test for school, which I am glad to have gotten out of the way. I went out side tonight and watered the bushes and flowers. We are supposed to water them every three days, so I am doing just that. By not feeling good, I mean that I am tired and have a weird cold thing going on. I feel like I have a head cold, but not like the usual colds I get. My nose is not running nor am I sneezing, but my nose and head are stuffed. Weird.

I got my shots a while back for our trip to India, and AC didn't want to get any of them in fear that he would have a bad reaction and get sick, preventing him from working. So, I finally convinced him to get the necessary shots that the doctors recommend, he has an appointment for this Friday. Then what happens, I get sick and he thinks it is from the shots. I got the shots (hep A, Typhoid, polio) 2 weeks ago today. I got the Hep B shot a week or so before the others. Could it be from the shots?? You never now.

AC left for work early this morning, I called to be sure he got there ok, and he tells me that he didn't see some oil on the shop floor, slipped on it and fell, banging his hip and head on the concrete floor. Poor guy! Just what you need to have happen on a Monday, or any day for that matter. I can't believe that the automaker doesn't keep up the safety procedures at the plant. When you see oil on the floor, mark it with cones until someone can clean it up!! AC or anyone could have potentially really got hurt.

I can't believe that we are leaving in 14 days! We worked a little on our schedule and are going to finalize it in the next couple of days. I have been watching season 1 of Nip Tuck, it is something to pass the time at home. Have a good week.

Before, During, After

2008-08-13T13:15:00.000-04:00

My boss gave me this today... I think it is cute.

Yesterday I was invited to go on a weekend crop! I am excited and going in November. I hope to scrap my India photos there.

Our landscaping was completed over the weekend!

Before, but after I started using the round up! The bushes below have been cut down, but were originally taller than me! It was a jungle.

During: After;)

We are so happy with the new landscaping! We just had the company complete the front of the house. We will probably wait until next year to do the rest of the areas around the house.

My sister Ashley came over on Monday night and spent the night. Tuesday I had sketch club, so it has been a busy week already. Have a good one!

New Baby & Wedding

2008-08-05T16:49:00.000-04:00

On Sunday morning AC & I went to see Anita & Jason's new baby, Tyler James (TJ). He is such a cute little guy. A good baby also. We had a wedding to go to on Sunday. It started at 4 pm and I made the mistake of saying that I wanted to see the actual ceremony. I was interested because it was an Indian/Hindu and Christian mixed ceremony. After about 45 minutes they had made there way through page 1 of the 3 page list of ceremony steps! The ceremony lasted 2 1/2 hours. It was ridiculous. After 45 minutes I went out into the rest of the hotel and talked to everyone else that was bored out of their mind. I won't make that mistake again. It was a long night, not getting home until 11ish.

Here are some photos from the wedding...

On Monday morning I went to the hospital travel department to prepare for our trip. Hepatitis A, B, typhoid, and polio - Check.

Blog Awards!

2008-08-04T10:24:00.006-04:00

I have been given 2 blogging awards!

The first one is from Janet:

The second is from Toni:

Thanks Girls!

Here are the blogs that I read regularly and enjoy, in no particular order.

Cut & Paste

of cats and cardstock

matt, liz and madeline

Moved to the Mountains

It's just me, Heather

Gingerkitty

icanhascheezburger

The last link is full of funny cat photos, like this...

Layouts and Joke

2008-08-01T13:04:00.007-04:00

Here are some layouts from the last 12 hour...

Friday Joke --> One Wish Genie
A woman rubbed a bottle and out popped a genie. The amazed woman asked if she got three wishes. The genie said: 'I'm a one wish-genie. So.... what'll it be?'

The woman did not hesitate. She said, 'I want peace in the Middle East. See this map? I want these countries to stop fighting with each other and want all the Arabs to love the Jews and America and vice-versa. It will bring about world peace and harmony.'

The genie looked at the map and exclaimed, 'Lady, be reasonable. These countries have been at war for thousands of years. I'm out of shape after being in a bottle for five hundred years. I'm good but not THAT good! I don't think it can be done. Make another wish and please be reasonable.'

The woman thought for a minute and said, 'Well, I've never been able to find the right man. You know - one that's considerate and fun, likes to cook and help with the house cleaning, is great in bed, and gets along with my family, doesn't watch sports all the time, and is faithful. That is what I wish for...a good man.'

The genie let out a sigh and said.........'Let me see the f&cking map again.'

Emily's First Job

2008-07-30T16:33:00.008-04:00

On Monday night I went to the Mall and snapped some photos of Emily at her first job. She is working at the clothing store Forever 21. Here are the photos...

I took these photos before I was told that people are not allowed to take photos in the store.

Last night I had to go to the Sprint store to pick-up my replacement cell phone. I finally dropped my phone one too many times. I met Ashley at the mall after and she turned in an application at the same store as Emily. They would like to ride together and work the same schedule. Hope that works out for them.

I bought a couple of things for our trip... A new purse, it is a cross-body - meaning that it goes over your head and one arm. I think that it will be easier to keep track of my stuff if I am wearing it. Since I have been known to leave my purse on the floor in Kohl's. I went into Borders and bought a travel journal. I want to have one spot to keep track of the trip and a bonus is that it comes with pockets for keeping track of tickets and such. They happened to have a map of India, so I picked that up also. I would just like to understand where the family lives and exactly where we will be going.

I leave you with a cute pic of Tiger...