Looky there! Another month gone!

So another month has passed. I'm not sure how much there is to report. Grandpa is still in and out of the hospital ---but out for right now. He's supposed to start chemo this week and we hope that everything will be successful with that. Please continue to keep him and my family in your prayers. Thanksgiving is coming soon and we are looking forward to going to Florence for a few days. I can't wait to see everyone.

Since the last post, on Halloween we had all of one trick-or-treater. I blame it partly on the rainy weather and partly because we are on the third floor. However, we did receive a good comment about our decorations. I had the pumpkin Mom bought me that's all painted up out there along with a couple of butternut squash, my small pumpkin from the pumpkin picking, and Daniel's carved Alabama "A" pumpkin. It looked really good lit up! Earlier on Halloween we went out to, I believe Temple Park where they have this huge corn maze, air walk/bounce, pig chase, moo rides, pumpkin picking, pumpkin shooting, corn shooting, and a petting zoo. They had two different routes for the maze and we made it through the first one just fine but somehow we bypassed one number. The second route we took, we could never find #1 and only find #10 so we did the entire route backwards. That was fun! Then we picked out our pumpkins, watched the pig race, and the corn & pumpkin shoots. They had air pressurized guns shooting these things and had different targets set up like hoops or an old beat up truck. It looked like fun but there were lots of little kids lined up so we decided to pass on it this time.

Oh! Before Halloween, I flew to Florence for a few days as well. Basically about a week after mom and dad left, I flew down. I got there in time to celebrate Sam's 2nd birthday and spend a little time there. Then went to Florence for a couple of days--I did get sick and apparently passed it along to everyone. I got to see Grandma and Grandpa and sat at the furthest away point I could sit just to be sure I didn't give them anything. Grandma fixed some bbq for us and it was a delightful supper to spend with them. I also got to spend a little time with Tasha and Ams so I was grateful for that as well! I had an eyeball appointment at Jackie's doctor place and got some new lenses for my glasses. We also helped mom pick out some new stylin' and profilin' glasses. She's a hot momma now in her red frames! With having that doctor's appt, it also gave Mom and I a chance to have a little one on one time with Chloe. I can believe how much all three of our nieces are changing! Just amazing!

We just got back from the Atchison family trip to Gatlinburg. Judy and Richard rented a big cabin in the hills and it was nice to spend time with each other. They also treated us to the Dixie Stampede and to Old Tyme Photos. I really enjoyed taking the pictures--I think they were pretty fun. Daniel and I also took a ride into Gatlinburg and the state park. On our way back down the mountain traffic started backing up really bad and we thought there was a wreck because somehow an 18-wheeler got on this little two-lane winding road (nearly hit us and another car coming around a curve) and we thought maybe it was him...but come to find out as we got closer, it was people slowing down to take pictures. Finally looked around and way up to find a black bear in a tree at the very top. I got a couple of good shots while Daniel drove. We won the best picture category if I do say so myself. We celebrated Susan's and I's birthdays, played a little Wii and pool, enjoyed the scenery, girls hiked/walked/rode bikes, boys played golf, and also did a little on our own (that's when Daniel and I went to Gatlinburg---I had to get a caramel apple) They're so good! And we watched the Alabama game on 60inch tv. This thing was a monster but like our very own theater. It was fun. Thank you Judy and Richard for our special treat!

I found out today that I will be starting as a private contractor for Tier on Nov. 30th. I've very excited to be working with them and to have this opportunity. I look forward to all the new stuff I'll be doing and joining the legal department. Daniel's work is going pretty good for him too. He's been fairly busy though having to stay on for support occasionally until 8pm. He at least gets to come home a bit earlier but he has to stay next to his computer until 8. Saturday he'll have to "work" as well--he's got to be on support from 9-5pm. As for birthday plans, I think we may go out with our friends Astu and Rishi. Oh! and I own a cello now. I'm still not very good but I manage. I'm thinking about getting a few lessons just to make sure I have the basics down. Not sure though. Well I guess that's it for now! TTFN! I hope everyone is doing well and we miss you all dearly! Love you!

Where does the time go?

Not sure how two months have practically passed by and we haven't posted. I think about it at least once or twice a week while at work but I forget by the time I get home. Tonight was the exception. Let me try to remember what's been going on around here. I've started singing at church every 2nd and 4th Saturdays. It's been really good and I plan to start practice up at church too. For labor day weekend we went to New York and met up with Ben, Celi, and Jason. We we went to the Alabama alumni spot in NY to watch the first game. I actually saw someone I knew---which is funny because he doesn't live in NY so it was all by chance. It was cool to catch up. We also got to try Korean food for the first time. This time we took the Bolt Bus up and back. It was fairly nice. The first time up, the air wasn't working very well and on the way back, the electricity was out. Bolt bus are supposed to be these really nice buses with electrical outlets and internet. The internet was a little slower than we anticipated, but overall it was nice. Leather seats on the way back.

A couple three weekends back we went to Astu and Rishi's apartment. The made us some authentic Indian food that was absolutely delish! I'm not going to even begin to name the dishes because I know I will butcher them but it was soooo good. I've got a couple of the recipes and one weekend I'll get brave and try to make it. After dinner we played some mariokart for a little while. All around, a fun night. I really can't wait to try the recipes out!

My Grandpa has been in and out of the hospital for the last month or so. The found a couple of tumors in his bladder and removed them. They did prove to be cancerous. They also discovered that the left kidney wasn't functioning very well and that the duct from the bladder to the left kidney was blocked. The doctors tried to break through but couldn't. Not sure what this blockage is and they are monitoring how much the kidney is outputing. He recently had a bladder infection that put him in the hospital for at least 10 days and is still recovering from that currently. They haven't started chemo yet, but it is in the plans. He has to get over this infection first. This chemo should be entered directly into the bladder causing less side effects than other forms of chemo could create. Thank you to all of you who have been keeping Grandpa and my family in your prayers. Please continue to do so!

Mom and Dad left today to head back to Florence. We had a great visit with them and enjoyed our time with them. They got here on Wednesday afternoon and on Thursday we took them to Hershey and Lancaster, PA. There we went to Hershey Gardens, Chocolate World, and drove through Amish country. We took lots of time to smell the roses and found some we really liked. The country side was beautiful and very peaceful. On Friday, we took a slow morning and then headed out to Mt. Vernon. Wow! I was so surprised at what there was to do. It was a pretty interesting place and much more than we anticipated to do. We didn't even get to all of it. Saturday morning, I took Mom to Sam's and to Leesburg Outlets. We think we found a Coach purse for her. I'm gonna keep my eyes peeled in case something else comes out that she might like better. After that we headed out to Old Dominion in DC to watch the Alabama game. I think Mom and Dad really liked the atmosphere. It was a good game. Sunday, we went to church and came home for lunch. Later that afternoon we went to Great Falls Park to see the falls, the old canals, and walk around. It was such a pleasant day. Then finally, Mom and Dad left this morning. They drove down party of Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park and from what I can gather, thought the scenery was pretty. However, they said at some of the high points the temp was 44. Yikes, that's cold!

Speaking of cold, it's supposed to be a high of 56 on Wednesday. This Saturday, I will be flying home for a quick trip. Samantha's birthday is on Saturday and I'm looking forward to going to it. I'll also get to see Chloe which I'm looking forward too. I'm hoping to help Mom and Dad around the house as well as Grandma and Grandpa. Amber and I have some plans in the works for me to have lunch with her at SJS or dinner at her house that night. I'm looking forward to the quick trip. My return flight is on Tuesday. I might be able to work out getting an eye appointment on Tuesday.

Congrats to Brian and Cindy who got married this past Thursday! Best wishes to you both and we are so very excited for you! Maw-maw we are glad to hear that your test results were good. She had an arteriogram (sp chk?). And we are looking forward to the family Gatlinburg trip in November! I know we are both very excited to be getting to spend some time with the family. The other piece of news to share is that Tier has asked me to become a private contractor with them that will hold me there at least to March with the possibility of bringing me on permanently then. I'll have to do a little research into how the tax situation works out as a private contractor but overall, I'm very happy about this opportunity! I've already worked with Tier for 5 months which seems unbelievable to me already. Anyways, I guess this is it for now. I need to get a shower and go to bed. My eyeballs are tired! Love to you all!

It's saturday!!!

Woot! So, in the trying to catch everyone up about our summer, I realized I forgot one key detail! We celebrated our 1st anniversary!!! We went to see the Proposal and to dinner at Carabba's --which is where we went the night we got engaged. It only seemed appropriate. I can't believe it's come and gone already. How fast a year flies by and it's only getting faster. With that year comes us, together, being in VA for a year and Daniel for a year and half. It seems so crazy. And then I think about the nieces---Elizabeth now two, Sam almost two and Chloe a year and half. They're getting so big and definitely more entertaining! Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here before we know it! I'm already starting to gather ideas for folks for Christmas and gearing up to start shopping early. I would rather get it all over early than wait and rush. And Congrats to Michael, Jackie, and Chloe!! Another baby is on the way and due in Feb! We are so excited about being an Aunt and Uncle again!

This week is restaurant week in Reston which means all the restaurants have really superb deals on 3 course meals--including the fancy restaurants. Next week DC will be having theirs and we may participate in that too. DC will have a lot more choices and it's a really good opportunity to go to a place that we wouldn't normally go to or be able to afford. We'll see though. Tonight, I will be singing at church for the first time with a couple of ladies and we'll see how it goes. I'm pretty excited and I've really missed being involved in the music end of things. After church we are gonna meet up with our friends Astu and Rishi and partake in restaurant week. We tried out a bbq place last night called Red, Hot and Blue--it was okay but not anything close to the BBQ we are used too. We have plenty of leftovers though so we've been able to get two meals out of RW deals. I went to the farmer's marketing this morning and got some squash, okra, and peaches. I hope to make some peach jam in the next couple of days. My peaches have to ripen a bit though. They are a little firm and I'm not sure which is better. I would think a riper peach would make a tastier jam but I don't know. On Sunday, Accenture bought tickets for employees and guests to attend a Nats game and they also preloaded our tickets with $20 bucks. The Nats are playing the Brewers so it's not a fantastic game but it will be our first time to go to a Nats game. Should be fun--we'll see Astu and Rishi there too!

Other than that, we've had quite a bit of rain in the last day and most likely will get more but at least it's cooled us off some. I also repotted some of our plants. I got rid of our strawberry plant and put our pepper plant there--which is starting to grow some more peppers. And our squash plant died out so I replaced it with all our basil which was severely needed a bigger pot. We are giving our green beans a second chance and I took out all the random plants, loosened the soil, threw the remaining packet of beans in the pot. Maybe we'll get lucky this late in the game. Okay, well that's all I got for now. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!! Love you!

Hey Kiddos

So, I thought I would update you a bit on what we've been doing this summer. I know it's been a while, so I thought I would try to catch you up a bit. In April, Brian, Janie, and Samantha came to visit us and to see the Cherry Blossoms. The blossoms were beautiful but it was sooo cold. Sam did such a great job putting up with us while we toured the city. (Oh, okay! Brian and Janie, you were good sports too.) We got to give Samantha her Easter bag and I think she liked the bubbles best. A close second was opening the easter eggs to find surprises in them. Also during this time, some of Daniel's family visited too--Judy, Richard, Maw-Maw, and Mr. Gene. Together with Uncle Bill we visited Harper's Ferry, WV and Great Falls Park in VA along with several other places. Those were some neat things that neither Daniel or I had seen. Great Falls was unexpectedly beautiful. I had no idea they had that kind of falls there. After visiting there, we only wished we had known about it before Brian and Janie had left so we could have taken them there. We definitely enjoyed having all of our family members here to visit with us. It brought a little bit of home our way just before Easter! As for the rest of April not much else happened other than I took a temp job with Tier Technologies and as for right now, I'm still there, going strong. I have no end date at this time and the people are superb!

In May, I headed to Atlanta for Amanda's 1st Holy Communion. She did beautifully and I'm so happy that I could be there to share that special moment with her. I also got to celebrate Adam's and David's birthdays with the rest of family, which was a pleasure. I really enjoyed spending time with everyone and getting to be a part of their family for the weekend. In the middle of May, we both flew to Birmingham for our friends Libby and Greg's wedding. It was so good to see everyone and be their to celebrate their love for one another. We also got to see Michael, Jackie and Chloe that weekend. I couldn't believe how much little Chloe had grown! I tried hard to get her to dance with me but she just wanted Mommy and Daddy. Oh well. We want to thank Steve, Susan and Elizabeth for letting us crash with them. Elizabeth's growing like a weed and likes to repeat things you say. She also likes you chasing her with the shopping cart around the circle. Daniel and I both got our miles in that weekend. For Memorial Day weekend, we went to Hershey, PA and camped out. We had our tent, grilled at the camp site, visited the Hershey story museum, the Hershey gardens, the outlets, and just enjoyed the general setting. It's a pretty neat place and we look forward to going back there.

In June, I flew down for Uncle Roy's Diaconate Ordination in Huntsville. It was such a blessing to share in his ordination. I was so proud of him and he looked very "Father" like. I can't wait for him to become a full priest. I know he will do well! I was lucky to see a lot of my family on Dad's side at the reception for Uncle Roy. I also want to thank Michael and Jackie for letting me stay the weekend with them. I did come down one day early and stayed with Mom and Dad on Friday night. I got to see Dad's handy work on the sunroom. It's quite impressive and totally changes the look of the back of the house. I can't wait to see the final product. I know Mom will be excited to look out all her new windows at the birds and nature. For the rest of June we wanted to relax because we had been going so much. So we did. Only other thing we did was visit with our friends Astu and Rishi which we hadn't been able to do since before we went to Paris. We checked out this restaurant downtown called Zengo and then to an irish pub called Fado. It was a great way to relax and catch up with them.

Now to July. As Daniel mentioned in the last blog, Ben and Celi came down to visit us. While they were here we checked out Natural History and American History Museums and also took them to Zengo and Fado. On the 4th we went downtown for the fireworks (which you already knew) and also took them to our local Gelato place. It's Daniel's new favorite "restaurant." It is very delish and quickly becoming our weekend stop. So far my favorites flavors are grapefruit, local strawberry, concord grape, (sorbets) and cinnamon. I know what you're thinking. Cinnamon??!!?? Well, it is fabulous! It doesn't taste anything like you'd think it would. Oh the other new thing is that I rented a Cello. I have always wanted to learn and now I can. It's coming along pretty well. I can play Jingle Bells, Old McDonald, and Twinkle Twinkle. I've learned 10 notes and I think I know two more even though I haven't learned them yet. Two weekends ago, Daniel took me to see Taylor Swift in Charleston, WV. She did a great job with her show. It was quite different to any other concert I had been too. It definitely catered to the younger crowd but still, it was superb. Wardrobe changes, set changes, lights, effects, videos, it was all pretty cool She even played in the back of the arena where we were so we got to see her up close an personal. We ended up being about 10 feet away from her. Her opening acts were Gloriana and Kellie Pickler, of which both did great jobs too. We decide that her show was about the most happening thing in Charleston. Daniel's commute has started to take a little longer now because of the metro crash and because the bus route that used to drop him on/off at our apartment got discontinued. He now walks to/from the bus stop in the Town Center everyday. In the evenings, I've started taking up running. I'm not very good at it yet, but I'm definitely getting better. I can run .5 mile without stopping now and I'll be winded but it won't take me but about 10-20 secs to really catch my breath. Which is a big improvement from when I started. So now, I go out about 20-25 mins before Daniel gets home and run/walk and meet up with him at the bus stop for a cool down walk. Okay, so I think that's about it for now. Oh yeah, I've also enjoyed watching all the gooses again. The babies are here and have grown up so fast. The look adult sized now, just a bit skinnier and shorter. Okay, really, I'm done. Have a good night! Love to all!

4th of July

Hello! It's been a while since we've posted to our blog, so we thought we should! Last weekend, we spent the 4th of July in DC with Ben and Celi. We had a lot of fun and were able to make it downtown for the fireworks show that night. It was a really good fireworks show (although I thought they were a little close to the ground). And I just found out that I could upload video to the blog, so I did that too! We got a pretty good video of the finale of the show. Hopefully it comes up pretty clear on everyone's computer.

We also made it to some museums that we haven't been to yet. We toured the Natural History Museum for a few hours and saw some pretty neat things, including a huge squid! On the 4th, we went to the American History Museum but, as you might imagine, it was pretty crowded and we didn't get to see a whole lot. Afterwards, we found a place to get a hamburger and fries and then found a spot of grass to sit down and wait for the fireworks show to start. There was a very long line to get through security to get a place around the Washington Monument, so we decided to stay around the Natural History Museum, which is right next to the Mall. It turns out that that was a very good spot, as we had great views of the show as well as a quick escape once the show ended and we were able to make it back to our car at the metro station in a little under an hour.

We'll post again soon to give more updates, but I just wanted to go ahead and put the video up. Enjoy! Hope everyone is doing well!

Bonjour mes amis!

We are home from our journey! It was an absolutely wonderful trip. It started off just a bit rocky because the airport didn't like that my passport didn't match my ticket name. We originally planned to have my old name on the ticket, but were told differently. You would think the passport office could tell you the correct information, but apparently they can't. I was told that as long as I took a certified copy of our marriage certificate along with my passport, license, and ticket--that everything would be fine. They didn't like it too much. Lesson learned--in the future always match your ticket to your passport when going overseas. PS, the price for changing your name: 30 mins and $150 lighter. 

We saw some pretty incredible things while in Paris. The Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees was probably one of my favorite things while we were there. We made it to the top of the Arc right at sunset and it was so beautiful. Of course the Eiffel was pretty awesome too. Daniel was stuck to the wall at the very top but it was really neat being that high up. The wind was blowing extremely hard so it made it difficult to get some good pictures. We also saw Notre Dame, Sacre-Coeur, Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, Tuilieres Garden, Pantheon, the Concorde (not the plane), the Moulin Rouge, we took a Seine boat cruise, Versailles, and I'm sure there is more but I just can't think. We saw the Mona Lisa and one of Monet's water lilly paintings and many others. We have pictures to show so hopefully we'll get those up soon. We still have to go through them and get rid of the bad pictures. London was lovely too. It was pretty rainy so we ended up taking a tour bus around. We saw Buckingham Palace, The Mall, Big Ben, Westminister Abbey, Hyde Park, Picadilly Circus, the Tower, London, and Millenium Bridges, St. Paul's Cathedral, and much more. We stopped at Harrod's and went in--what a massive place. We didn't explore the whole place but it did have a grocery store in it which seemed weird for a department store type place. Of all things, it also had a Krispy Kreme so we took advantage of an American delicacy. We saw Margaret Thatcher coming out of a church service so that was pretty neat too.  

Can you believe it?

It's March! I cannot believe how fast this year is going by already. Saturday, I got up early to go to Old Navy because I had seen an ad for $12 adult jeans and $7 kids jeans, but when I got there, there was no sign of it. They did have $19 jeans, so we each got a new pair. That's still a pretty good deal as compared to their normal $30. I also got Daniel two new shirts for his birthday. I gave them to him early so he could have them for Paris.

On Sunday we got about an inch (maybe a bit more) of snow in the morning. When Daniel and I went to Sam's, we had to clean off our car and ended up getting in a REAL snowball fight. It was a lot of fun and we had snow everywhere. We also went by Old Navy to return some things and they had polos marked down even further so we each got one. Daniel (of course) got a green one (it is a pretty green) and I got a navy blue one with an purple argyle print on it. By late afternoon, most of it had melted. It's unbelievable how the second we leave Alabama, they get snow twice--and real snow at that. Not the normal ice and sleet situation. What's up with that? Well, I think it was made up for Sunday night/Monday morning. It was incredibly beautiful. We had white outs Monday morning along with some really strong wind gusts. I think we got a good 6 -7 inches. I went to work about 30 mins late. It was coming down so hard that I wasn't about to attempt it. Our complex and the road in front of us (Town Center) wasn't in Good condition. The normal two lane road became a one lane road because you couldn't see any of the markings. No one dared drive next to each other except when someone had to turn at the lights. When I turned onto Sunset Hills, the crews had worked there and as a result the roads where mostly slush with some compacted ice spots. I thought I was about to get rear ended because some guy wasn't taking normal precautions like everyone else. Most people were leaving about a car's worth of space between them and the next person and this idiot was right on my bumper. I could only see about half of his hood and he was in on of those Ford Aerostar vans. Luckily, he didn't and stopped but, that was a little too close for comfort. Other than that, the trip was fine. By the afternoon the roads looked like a rainy day except for Town Center and our complex. They were solid sheets of bumpy compacted ice but at least people were driving in two lanes. Daniel was able to work from home. I was a bit jealous, cause I really wanted to play in the snow and just enjoy looking at it. When I got home, we went outside and took some pictures, I made a snow angel, and we frolicked through the deeper drifts. I'm gonna try to post some pictures before we leave for our trip. That night, I also made snow cream. (And yes, I watched out for the yellow spots--we took it from our porch--we figured it was safest.) It was actually good as opposed to the sleet cream we had attempted when we were kids. Just like ice cream. I made more last night and had a coke float with it. Pretty tasty, I must say.

Sooooooooo, we leave for Paris tomorrow and I am excitttted!! We both are! I think Daniel might be more excited about the airports and the airplane than anything. I know we are going to see some incredible things. We have made our itineraries out and are keeping a watch on the weather. We've tried to plan for some days of rain where we do more of the museum thing. It was looking like the trip was a going to be a bit rainy but that's already changed since Monday and looking more sunny now. That's good, I hope it stays nice. It will be a bit cold, but I think with all the walking we will be doing, we'll stay warm enough. We are making lists of all the things we need to pack and trying to be prepared.

About a week after we get back, Ben, Celi, Amanda, and Kevin will be here. Kevin and Amanda are on spring break so they wanted to visit and see some sights. I think we are planning on taking them to the International Spy Museum--we've heard it's really good. Then a couple-three weeks later, Brian and Janie should be here (hopefully with Sam), my mom, Aunt Therese, and I think Aunt Cindy will be coming, and also Daniel's mom and dad will be visiting. We haven't nailed down firm dates with everyone, but most are coming within the first couple of weeks of April. Some for Easter, some for cherry blossoms, and some for both. It's gonna be a good month coming up. We are looking forward to all of our visitors.

Well I think that's about it for now! I hope everyone is doing well!

Parlez vous francais...

By now, most of you have heard that Daniel and I will be going to Paris! We leave on the 5th of March and actually arrive in Paris on the 6th. We return on the 12th. On the 10th we've decided to take the "chunnel" to London. We are still nailing down our itinerary for each day, but we are accumulating a list of places we want to go. I am super excited about our opportunity and can't wait to go! It's somewhere I have always wanted to go in a few weeks I will be able to say that I have accomplished one of my dreams. I am trying to refresh my french skills and we are both trying to decide on clothing and things that we need to take--packing lightly and all.

What else has happened lately you ask? Not a lot in our world. It snowed a few more times here, but nothing really stuck. The last two weeks it snowed enough to stick for a little while and had to clean the cars off but the roads were completely clear. This morning it started snowing before we went to church around 9am and it was still going strong when got out around 10:45. It stopped closer to 11, but again it didn't stick. It was pretty watching it fall and it kinda made Mass this morning extra special.

I'm still working the same temp job and it looks like it will be continuing into March for a little while. This job might also turn into a possible permanent job too--just have to wait and see. Daniel's job is still going good. This past week was a little difficult because there were some bad Metro delays and one night it took him almost 3 hours to get home.

Today, I ventured into a new world. I decided to make a King Cake! It was kind of interesting. I looked up some recipes and finally settled on one from Emeril and one from a chick from Mobile. They were fairly similar so I combined the two to form what I thought would be the ultimate recipe. So far, they look really great. I had a little trouble put the twist into them, but overall the look pretty good. I'm going to put icing on them tomorrow. I've made one for Daniel and I and one for the ladies at Beeline. We went to lunch a week and half ago and they really weren't sure what a King cake was. I mean they knew what I was talking about, but they had never had one.

For Valentine's day, we had an extravagant dinner of Pizza Hut at Target. Then we headed to church for the "Dancing through the Decades" Valentine's dance. They had some professionals there to teach us swing dance. I think there were more people there than they anticipated, so it was a little crowded and to top it off they were having some sound issues. Overall, we did have fun and enjoy ourselves, but I think we would have had more fun if there weren't the issues and if we knew more people within the church. It was a good Valentine's. (Our real Valentine's is coming in about a week and a half.)

We are glad that MawMaw is home and feeling better. She even got to get her hair done the other day and I know she was excited about that. We hope Mr. Gene continues to feel better too. Mr. Gene had a small bout of Amnesia brought on by stress but from what we know, he is doing much better now too. We hope both continue to feel better and stronger everyday. My mom has had some sinus cold problems that's been going around and put her out of commission for a few days and just when she thought she was better and going back to work, she relapsed. I think the worst is over now. Feel better Mom!

Okay, well I guess that's it. I hope everyone is doing well! We miss everyone dearly!

It's been a picture of a day...

Hello All-

We've uploaded a couple of new slideshows to our blog so be sure to check those out. They are Christmas 2008 & Our Apartment 2 - The Outside Edition. Besides that, I've been working on my computer trying to convert it to purely a computer for music and pictures. I've been going through files, deleting them or copying them to cd, switching files and pictures to different drives, removing programs not needed and just general maintenance. I must say, it gets a little frustrating at times but overall it's not been too bad. We also cleaned the apartment again today and it feels better around here. Our condo owners came by to check on our water heater. We've been having trouble getting through even one shower with continuous hot water. We don't think anything is wrong with the water heater, just that because it's in an outside closet and the weather has been colder than normal around here, we think that's the problem. Anyways, the owners bought a water heater blanket and came by to put it on. Daniel wanted to watch 60 minutes and the Grammy's so he's been taking that in. Yesterday, we were pretty lazy. We did go to church and then afterwards, we took a walk around the town center. We returned the movies we had rented and stopped by for ice cream. It was good. We are looking forward to the weather--it's gonna be in the 50's this week and it feels sooooo good.

I'm still working the same temp job that I was four weeks ago. Tomorrow, will be the start of the 5th week. Still going strong. Our thoughts are with MawMaw right now. She's been put in the hospital, but it hasn't been easy. Her and Mr. Gene went on their cruise around Mexico and somehow, she came down with pneumonia and got hospitalized in Mexico on Thursday the 29th. They thought she was doing better but then she got put on a ventilator and they weren't even sure if they were going to be able to Med-flight her out of there. They finally got the okay and she arrived in Birmingham Saturday morning. She's still in the hospital now, but she is out of the ICU and in a regular room. We are hopeful that she will get out tomorrow. Last weekend, we tried a restaurant called Benihana (Japanese). Daniel was itching to try it because it's where they had eaten once in The Office. We also played a rousing game of scrabble. I lost but it was only because he took my spot at the end of the game. I came from behind and then it stayed close till the end. Oh yes, it was Brian Atchison's and Papa Joe's birthdays--so Happy Birthday to you both! We love you very much! Okay, well that's a positive note to end on, so that's where I'm ending. Hope you have/are having a good week!

It's early

Doust my ears deceive me? Do I hear Daniel waking up at 8:30?---We'll see. It's early. I woke up at 7:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. I had an interesting dream. I was hosting an art gallery showing in the bottom of St. Joe's gym. It was successful and everything was closed up. During the night, our friend Max broke into the gym and was starting to take the art pieces. For some reason I went there to check on them and caught him in the act. I asked him what he was doing and he said his grandmother was getting married and she didn't have enough money for a reception so he was trying to make her reception special. I told him not to take the art, that we would have the reception here. There were plenty of leftovers and we could make it work. So, we all got busy decorating and I must say as of when I woke up, it was really looking good. I won't into those details because it's too long but it was lovely. (My ears deceived me!)

I'm not sure if I mentioned this yet, but my temp job got extended for at least two weeks, maybe three. So this week was one of those weeks--I will be there at least through next week. The job that I thought they were putting my resume in for, didn't pan out. It turned out they hired someone the day they asked me about it. But, I was told a few days ago that they were putting my name in for another job in Fairfax. Maybe that one will work out. We'll see.

Other than that, nothing much exciting has happened here. It was a little warmer this week but it's gonna be cold again next week. We did go to the inauguration concert on Sunday and we were slightly disappointed. The speakers and screens weren't timed together so it echoed a bunch and turned out to be rather muffled. We didn't stay for the whole thing but we did hear Bruce, Denzel Washington, Jamie Fox, Martin Luther King III, and someone else, but I can't remember who. On Monday, we watched a movie or two and just hung around the apartment. It was too cold to go out--it snowed on Monday. Nothing really stuck though. The pond outside our complex froze over and stayed white with snow. Okay, well I guess that's it. We are supposed to meet some friends for dinner tonight. We are both looking forward to that! Ttyl. Love you!

It's been awhile...

To all those reading, we are super sorry that we haven't been keeping up. With everything that has been going on, time has just flown by. At any rate, I will try to get you caught up with what has been happening with us the last several months.

In November, we loved seeing a large number of Daniel's family. They were here to see Uncle Bill and Janet get married. It was a lovely wedding and the reception was fantastic. We had a 5 course meal which was to die for. It was one of the best meals I've ever had. I tried something new--a quail's egg and I tried to try lobster, but it just didn't work. I had a physical/emotional response to it and Daniel had to get it off my plate. Hat's off to him for that. We celebrated Susan and mine's birthday while everyone was here and Daniel made me a red velvet cake while I made Susan a german chocolate cake. If I must say, they were de-lish. Since everyone was in town days before Thanksgiving, we went ahead and celebrated early. We had 12 people enjoying Thanksgiving dinner. We had deviled eggs, turkey, ham, squash casserole, green beans, cranberry salad, rolls, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, dressing, and I feel like there was more but I can't remember. I have a picture that I intend on posting. On Thanksgiving day, Ben and Celi drove down to have spend the weekend with us. Again, we celebrated Thanksgiving with a lovely dinner--green bean casserole, pineapple casserole, dressing, turkey, ham, rolls, cranberry salad, pumpkin and pecan pies and leftover cake. Ben and Celi also joined us at Old Dominion which is the Alabama alumni spot to watch the Iron Bowl. That was a good day and a happy victory! That about does it for November.

In December, we ventured to Alabama for the first time in a while for MawMaw and Mr. Gene's wedding. The ladies that helped put on the reception did an excellant job and it seems that all the planning paid off. We enjoyed getting to see everyone and I even got to meet some of Daniel's family that I had never met before. On the 12th, I had my work party --which I got to help plan and then on the 17th we got to go Daniel's work party. Right in between those two parties, I lost my job. Because I was still "on contract" with staffing agency, I found out about my job on my lunch break and was told I couldn't go back or make contact. That was the worst part of it all. I didn't get to say bad and I know my boss at Beeline, felt the same way. I know it was difficult for her too. I have been able to stay in contact with several of them their, so that's been good. We plan to have lunch next week. Anyways, that was that and I realize that their was a reason for it--just figuring out what that is, is the key. It was kind of a blessing in disguise because just in a few days we were leaving to drive home. So, it gave me extra time to wrap presents, finish those last minute items, do some baking, clean-up around the apartment, and pack--plus we could take an extra day or two to be at home. We left Friday night and drove through the night to B'ham. We made really good time and it worked pretty well. We were Daniel's family Saturday through Wednesday morning (Christmas Eve) and with mine from Christmas Eve til Monday morning. We celebrated Christmas with the Atchison's on Tuesday evening and ordered food from Jim N' Nicks. Elizabeth got to open her presents first, then we ate, then we watched "The Gift", and finally opened the rest of our presents. I think we all fared out pretty well. On my side, we opened gifts on Christmas Eve at G & G Eckl's, had Christmas lunch at Peepa's and played dirty santa, Christmas dinner at the Eckl's again, and on Friday morning we opened gifts at home. We let Samanatha and Chloe open their gifts on Christmas morning. Watching all three nieces open gifts was really cute and fun. Their faces were the best part. I got the stomach bug on saturday night and so instead of driving part of the way on Sunday like we planned, we ended up driving it all on Monday. I felt better Monday but I still felt nauseated several times throughout the week even though I could eat pretty normally. Daniel had to go back to work on Tuesday and Wednesday and was off for New Year's and then had to go back to work on Friday.

Now we are in January and I resumed the process of job hunting. I've had two temp jobs so far and I'm still on one right now. They have found a possible job and were submitting my resume for it, so we'll see what turns up. We had our first snow this past Tuesday. It didn't do a lot but just kind of cover the ground. Didn't hurt the roads or anything. The big talk up here is the Inauguration. All the planning, the events, traffic, can the metro handle it, etc. I'm really ready for some other headlines. There's a big concert lineup today and we were thinking about going but it's so cold and it's gonna be packed out with people! We took down our Christmas tree yesterday--it was kind of sad, but suddenly we have so much more room in our apartment. You wouldn't think that a Christmas tree makes that much of difference but in a small apartment, it really does. We also had a major overhaul--cleanup here. It really needed it, I feel like spring cleaning has come early. We invited Uncle Bill and Aunt Janet over for dinner. I made a loaded baked potato soup with broccoli, cheese, sour cream, and taco meat for toppings. Daniel made cake squares for dessert. We also went to church last night. So, I guess that kind of catches everyone up. Oh yes! Daniel is still on assignment with the Dept of Ed, but he got to move to another job there and I think he likes it better than where he was before. I'm looking into taking the possibly taking the GRE or MAT with a friend who wants to take it too. I think that's where we are at now. Again, sorry for the long delay but hopefully we'll do better. Love you all!