The Life of Me - Amy

Find me on my new Site....

2011-06-22T01:10:00.000-04:00

As you can tell, it has been awhile since I have posted anything on this blog. With work and all I have been busy and just too tired to type anything out for awhile.

For a birthday gift, Rob created me my own domain for me to post pictures, blogs, and whatever else I want on the site. From now on please follow me over at: www.amyrschumaker.com. I am still learning what I can and can not do on that site as it is more advanced than what Blogger.com has to offer. So just give me a bit, but I would love for you to still know what I am doing. There is a way to follow my site with the RSS Feed, and I have added a "Follow Me" widget to the site as well. One though has to add each posting possibly. I am not too sure how that works. I was hoping to find something where one could register their name an be able to follow the entire site with one click.

Quote Frames!!!

2011-05-05T21:03:00.000-04:00

While at the retreat this past weekend we had a craft session. I had so much fun doing this craft that I had to share with the rest of you. Coley posted how to make our craft earlier today on her blog and I thought I would just link her blog to mine. Click on the link below to see what supplies you will need to create one of these cute Quote Frames!! Coley's Corner: Group Craft: Quote Frames **Come back to my blog once you have read her little blog on how to make one of these!**

Now that you have read how to make one...be creative and make one of your own!!! Most of the supplies you could probably find at the dollar store!

Here is the finished product of my own frame. I had so much fun making one this past weekend that it makes me want to make a few more!!

Below is what my frame looks like with something written on the glass:

Birthmother's Weekend - Charlotte, NC

2011-05-03T01:56:00.000-04:00

27 women, 27 unique stories, less than 5 hours of sleep each night, 3 days in 1 city all combined together creates a very exhausting weekend. Sound like fun?? Well I was one of the 27 women doing exactly that, this past weekend!!

For some of you who follow me on Facebook will know that I went down to Charlotte, North Carolina this past weekend for the Birthmom Buds Birthmother's Day Celebration. Birthmother's day is the day before Mother's Day. Since a lot of birthmothers may be parenting children as well, Birthmom Buds put on the retreat the weekend before. This was my first year to be able to go. I had been wanting to go for several years but could never figure out how to go. I was given an amazing opportunity to go this year and I took it. Thank you to the person who gave me this opportunity!! I flew out early Friday morning and met Lani at the airport as her plane landed just about thirty minutes after my flight. We then shared a taxi ride over to the hotel. I met up with a couple other birthmoms who were sitting in the hotel lobby eating some breakfast. I sat for a few minutes while my room was being straightened out as our party was all suppose to be staying on the 10th floor. Once I got my room I went up and took a shower to try and wake myself up as I knew it would be a long day and probably a very late night.

Once I was ready, I heard a kock on the door and it was several other ladies wondering if I was ready to go. I grabbed what I needed and made sure I had my camera. Our hotel room was just across the street from the brand new NASCAR Hall of Fame. Two other birthmothers were already inside of the Hall of Fame and so Coley called them to see how far into the exhibit they were. They were not very far and so I embraced my inner redneck and excitedly walked up to buy a ticket for admission. If you are a NASCAR fan, please take an entire day and spend it at the Hall of Fame if you are ever in or very near Charlotte. Completely worth it, and discounted tickets can be found through your AAA membership!! After spending the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon at the Hall of Fame, we went back to the hotel to rest for a bit. I went back to my hotel room to get dressed for dinner as we were headed to a nice Italian place.

Ladies at dinner - Friday Night

Friday evening was spent with 19 other birthmothers and a few of their mothers. I shared an entree with someone as the entrees were huge!!! So yummy and I have found a place to eat at again when I go back to Charlotte! Friday night some of us ventured out to a bar called Howl at the Moon where there was some dueling piano playing going on. I didn't know what to expect, but found myself singing along to songs like "Brown Eyed Girl" and "American Pie". When we got back to the hotel a small group of us sat in Coley's hotel room telling each other our placement stories. I has been awhile since I have verbally told my story and it was great to hear other women their placement stories. It was amazing the bond that was really felt in that room. Women who were all like each other in so many ways young and older. 2:30a rolled around and it was definitely bedtime.

Saturday came quickly and I found out that I should probably share a room with someone next year. My alarm went off, and I thought I had hit the snooze button. Well the snooze never went back off and I woke up 40 minutes before the actual Birthmother's event started!! Talk about a rude awakening!! I took a very quick shower and tried to look as presentable as I could. I skipped any eye makeup as I figured it would be a pretty emotional day. I am a sympathy crier at times and didn't need to end up with burning racoon eyes!! The morning consisted of sitting through two different break-out sessions. The first one I chose was on close adoptions. Now before you say anything, "Yes I do have an open adoption, but I wanted to learn something new and I find the closed adoption world very interesting!" The session was on what to expect if a reunion happens and it goes wrong, or if a reunion never fully happens and how to cope. Most of the women who gathered around the table were all from the era of closed adoptions. Myself and another woman were the only ones who had an open adoption. I am just in awe at the women who were not given a choice of why type of adoption they wanted due to the time period of when their placement was. The other breakout session that I chose to sit through was how to deal with the shame and guilt one may have when dealing with adoption emotions. Once again very interesting and some got very emotional with this session. I am at peace at where I am for the most part in my adoption decision and so even though I may have some shame and/or guilt...I have been able to process a lot of these emotions already.After session number 2 we all ventured over to a different room and created a fun little craft tht was extremely easy. I will make sure to blog about that later this week!!!

Katrina - one of the speakers who was a birthmother and an adoptive mom

After lunch came a pretty emotional afternoon. Speakers that ranged from all sides of the Adoption Triad that had different walks of life and how they have dealt with the emotions from being in that part of the adoption triad. Once the speakers were done we did a balloon release and then watched the annual slideshow. I am one who can only watch the slideshow once a year and then I am done with it. I love viewing it each year but it is something that I can't watch over and over.

2011 Balloon release

After the slideshow came probably the most emotional part of the day which was the Birthmother Candle Ceremony. Once the actual event was over I went back to the hotel room and took a nap before the next set of evening festivities would start. I was dragging and full well knew it could be another very late night. Dinner was spent at Rock Bottom Brewery and then we all headed over to an 80s/90s dance club. Some of us dressed up in 80s/90s clothing and jewelry. I left early as I was just needing some time to sit and be alone. It had been a long day and I was looking forward to going back to a quiet room.

The dance club had glow glasses!!

Yesterday I woke up and got ready to head on out. I didn't know what time check-out was and so I wanted to be prepared that it may be an early checkout right after breakfast. I said "see you later" to some of the women who had early flights to catch or were headed back home by car sooner than some of the rest of us. I l and 6 other women who all had late afternoon or evening flights spent the afternoon together exploring a little bit more of Charlotte. I fell in love with everything that Charlotte has to offer and I was sad when I was in the airport having to say goodbye to such an awesome city and the amazing women who I met over the weekend.

Pam, one of the ladies who I hung out with Sunday afternoon

I am looking forward to next year as I am definitely going back. I have already made plans that the day after I get back from my trip next year I am not doing anything but staying home and sleeping if I can. The retreat/girls weekend or whatever you want to call it was completely worth loosing sleep. I made friendships that I feel will last a very long time. I look forward to getting to know some of these women a little bit better (on their adoption life and their non-adoption life) over the next year and hopefully see some of them in person before next May!!!


Melanie and I who share lots of things in common!

Spring Season = Baseball Season

2011-04-21T23:09:00.000-04:00

When one thinks of the start of spring they probably think flowers starting to bloom, the weather starting to get nicer, and spring cleaning. When I think of spring I think of two things warmer weather on its way and BASEBALL!! I was one who never grew up counting down the days until the start of baseball season, but ever since I got married to Rob my love for baseball has grown more and more.

This year had even a stronger excitement for me since Rob and I are in Cleveland. Opening Day tickets were purchased before Thanksgiving and so they stared at us every time we opened the refrigerator. I kept looking to see if April 1st was coming any closer. I would drive past Progressive Field and see the large countdown that was posted and I would get even more excited. Some people may think that Opening Day is bigger than Christmas. By Opening Day, I felt like a little kid on Christmas Morning. It was a cold cold day, but I didn't care. I was going to sit outside and cheer on the opening season of the Cleveland Indians Baseball. By the end of the game, I had my fleece lined stocking cap on, my hoodie over that in addition to wearing gloves and my coat zipped all the way up. My feet had went numb, but it was all worth it.

The Indians didn't do too well with their opening series against the Chicago White Sox, but I couldn't complain. The Opening Ceremony was a tribute to the late Bob Feller who passed away this past winter. A sad day for any true Cleveland Indian fan as Bob Feller was one of the greatest players who ever played for Cleveland. I had tears in my eyes when Mrs. Bob Feller was escorted out to the pitchers mound to lay a baseball in honor of her late husband.

Since opening day, I have been to two home games and Rob has been to three. Rob's office at school is just a little over a mile walk from the ballpark. He scored a great deal on tickets from Stubhub.com and enjoyed an afternoon game after doing a little bit of work at school. We then used a set of our free tickets for last week's game for a Friday evening. It was Dollar Dog Night at the park, which I have decided that I don't ever want to go for ever again. The concession lines were extremely long due to everyone wanting cheap hot dogs. I told Rob that I would rather go on a regular night and pay full price for a hot dog! He laughed but understood where I was coming from. We are headed to a game a week from tonight on the 28th of April. Great way to spend the evening together before I head out of town for the weekend. A friend of mine asked me why we don't go and buy season tickets. I thought to myself, "Why? Well because it is more fun to be spontaneous for which games to go to rather than feeling as if we have to go since we have tickets!" I want to see the Seattle Mariners play when they come to town next month. Rob will be out of town, but that is ok. If I can not find any people to go with me on the day that I want to go, then I will just go by myself. It just always is a bit more fun to go with other people.

The Indians are doing great this season so far, and I hope they keep it up!!! Even if they start to slip **knock on wood they don't**, I will still be out at the ballpark cheering on the guys to keep up the good work. Baseball is a long season, so get out to the closest ballpark and enjoy yourself a hotdog and watch a game.

Daily Joy Project 2011 - Feb 16

2011-02-16T23:36:00.000-05:00

Like I stated in yesterday's posting, I will post my daily joys to keep my attitude in check. So here goes it for today!!

DAILY JOYS: WEDNESDAY

1) had a decent day at work even though I wanted to strangle several members

This is a great praise as I was extremely moody when I woke up this morning. If I could have, I probably would have stayed in bed all day. The sun was not out and I was just frustrated at life, even though nothing was really happening. The phone calls today were difficult, but I took deep breaths and got through it.

2) I found out that in January I averaged 6 calls per hour, which I can improve on

This seems like a lot if you think about it on an eight hour work hour scale. I pretty much average around 48 calls per day. I though know that I can do better than that. I need to learn how to talk and type at the same time and make my notes while I am speaking with a member or provider. I then also need to place myself back into the holding cue rather than wait for my phone to do it for me. I am going to challenge myself for the rest of the month to try and raise my daily call intake. I will update you next month!

3) It is pretty warm this week for temps and I love it!

I like everyone in the NE Ohio area are very tired of the super cold weather and drab days of winter. I am very excited that the temperatures this week have been in the mid-40s to low 50s!!! This is huge!! I never thought how warm 40 degrees would be!! Spring is on it way soon, even if we do have one more snow storm before everything is all over with.

4) My chef salad from Cracker Barrel hit the spot

Rob and I couldn't agree on where to go to dinner until he said, "I wish there was a Cracker Barrel near by!" I being one who remembers where food places are, replied with, "I know where one is!" It was out of the way from where we were in town, but the chef salad did sure hit the spot!!

5) 2 weeks from today I will have had a total of 24 hours in Oregon!

I am so excited for my trip to Oregon! I am feeling a bit on the homesick side right now only because my sister, nephew, and niece are in Oregon visiting my family. I know I will be there soon visiting my family members, being able to see Kaylee, and bonding with my close friends. I sure wish Ohio was closer to Oregon, so that the trips home could be more often than once a year!

"Don't come back for 7 to 10 days!"

2011-02-15T23:59:00.001-05:00

1991 the movie "My Girl" with Anna Chlumsky and Macaulay Culkin. The scene when Vada (Anna's character) learns that her period started. The next scene, Vada answering the door as Thomas (Macaulay's character) rings the door bell to see if Vada is able to come out and go swimming. Vada pushes Thomas and yells at him, "And don't come back for seven to ten days!" She then turns around walks in the house and slams the door.

Vada learning she will have her period for the next 7-10 days.

As women we can all relate to this scene all too well every month. Well I am feeling that way tonight, and it is just the start of PMS. I had a decent day at work, but then this evil poisonous monster took over me on my way home from work. Not too sure where it came from...but I hate it!! I wish that I could yell at everyone from my front porch to not bother me and to not come back for seven to ten days, but if I did that then I wouldn't have a job after those ten days were up. I guess I will be like any other woman and have to suck it up.

I will force myself to post my daily joys each day as I think this will help me keep daily life into perspective. So here is to today's joys:

1. The sun was out on my way to work this morning.

2. A fairly good day at work with not too many challenging phone calls.

3. I spent the evening with my husband and three dogs.

4. Bravo's Real Housewives of NYC started back up tonight.

(Ok, for most of you, the last joy is a stretch, but I love the NYC housewives. I admit, I have a television junkie, but this is one of the shows that I can sit back and laugh at because even people with too much money have relationship issues with men and women.)

Valentine's Day: Love it or Hate it?

2011-02-14T23:22:00.000-05:00

Pink, Red, Mauve, Crimson, and Black. These colors are ones that one typically sees on a day like today. Movies, dining out, candles and flowers are items that you either see or do on a day like today. Yes, today is Valentines's Day and for many it is the one day of the year that they either love it or hate it. I don't think there is a happy medium for a day like today. The single women hate it because they are constantly reminded that they are not with someone, and the married or coupled women love it because it is the one day they hope to get flowers from their mate.

I am one who tends to love Valentine's Day. I even enjoyed Valentine's Day when I was single. Yes it was bummer to realize that I was single and a bit depressing to see classmates or co-workers recieve flowers at school or work, but I still smiled on the outside. I knew that even though I was not in a relationship, I could be happy for those who were in one. I though could also treat myself on a day like today!

Being married though and going through Valentine's is a bit different. When Rob and I were first married, we had been talking about different holiday traditions and what our expectations were for each holiday. He asked me, "How can I keep you happy?" I said, "I would like flowers and a card on Valentine's Day, our Anniversary and Birthday." I had to respond like this as my husband is one who needs a very direct and precise answer. Since we laid out the rules...I have never been disappointed on any of these days. I was surprised today when I got home to find a potted plant of flowers on the counter with a heart shaped balloon attached to the basket. I say that I was surprised because I didn't think he would get me anything since my Valentine's gift came early for both of us, since he got me the Xbox Kinect last week, and the painting I bought for him came in the mail early last week as well.

My flowers and balloon from Rob

So here's to you who are married and single, "Happy Valentine's Day!" I hope that you had a wonderful day. If you are single please know that your friends and family love who you are. If you are married and your husband forgot to get ya something, be thankful for who he is and know that he still loves ya!! Treat yourselves to something a bit extra this week!

Travel, Fashion, Cookies, Yoga, Writing and Jewlery?!

2011-02-07T23:59:00.001-05:00

If you are an avid blogger, like me, you probably follow a ton of different blogs. Ever wondered who some of your friends are following?? Thought I would give you a list of a few bloggers who I tend to follow on a daily/weekly basis depending on the time I have to sit and read!!! I hope that you will follow some of my fellow blogger journey's and see what you can learn from them, too!

1. Adventuras en Espana: This blog is my friend Nicki who I use to work with at AMC Theatres. She is studying abroad this spring in Barcelona, Spain!!! She tries to post a couple times a week about the life she is living as a student and trying to take in the city, food, and sounds of what Spain is. I love reading her postings as she is very down to earth. You will find yourself laughing and thinking, "Wow...I am sure I would have done that too!" Follow Nicki and show her some blogger love!

2. Need some Fashion Advice? Well check out Pick Pocket Molly and Missus Smarty Pants! Both sites are perfect for anyone who needs a little refresher course on help in the fashion department. I went to church with Alice who is Pick Pocket Molly. No one can go wrong with Missus Smarty Pants, especially if you are over the age of 30. My mom introduced my sister and I to Missus Smarty Pants, and I can not thank her enough. Missus Smarty Pants will actually tell you which design shape you are and what to buy to make yourself look great for any occasion!!

3. Love baking creative looking cookies? If so, don't look to Martha Stewart, look at The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle! I just stumbled upon her blog yesterday as she is the niece of one of my birthmom friends. Her post from yesterday was extremely cute. She made cookies, fruit, and fruit dip. You ask, "What is so creative about that?" The cookies were made to look like tortilla chips, fruit was your salsa, and yup you guessed it, the guacamole was the fruit dip. Check out the photo!! I instantly had to start following her!

4. We all want to be fit right, but don't have the time or energy to go to the gym?? Now you can do Yoga at home with Fit2Bmama! My dear friend, Bethany, is the creator behind this blog. Read along with life as she blogs about being a wife, a mom of two, fitness enthusiast, and one who loves to go as organic as possible. You will laugh and see that even fitness people have their days were they just want to sit and consume a whole medium pan crust pizza alone due to a stressful day. You though will also find inspiring little notes to keep you going and pushing forward with your fitness goals and being encouraged to take one day at a time!

5. Want to know what it is like to being a writing student who has a passion for film and television? My high school friend, Megan is just that. She is one who I love reading her thoughts for the latest television show and or movie that she may have watched. She is an aspiring writer who would love to move to Las Angelos one day and be a writer for film or television. Great goals!! Follow Megan over at Musings from the Farmgirl and see what she has to say!

6. Lastly, I am sure I have posted about another classmate of mine who make jewelry, but if not, I will post about ~Pamela Susan~ again. Pam is awesome with her creations and I love reading to see what she has made next, espcially now that her Etsy store is open only a couple days a month. In addition to the jewelry that she makes, she is always making little things for her adorable little girls. This week she is doing a necklace give-away so go and check her out! I bet you will not be disappointed!! I wish I had just half of the creativity as she has!! :)

So there you have it, I gave you several different blogs you can follow and share with others as well!! Have a wonder week my friends!

Which Purse?

2011-02-06T15:59:00.000-05:00

As women, we probably have more or close to as many purses & handbags as we do to our shoes. Think about it. How many purses do you have?? One?? Two? Fifteen? How many? Now, how many of those purses do you use on a regular basis? Just like shoes, we tend to use one over and over until we see a new one in the store that we can't pass up, or need a different one for a special occasion or the upcoming trip.

I was walking through Macy's Friday after my hair appointment, and since I like purses I stopped to glance at the purses that were on display. I had no intention on buying because like everyone else, I have bags hidden in closets that should see some light, soon. One bag caught my eye that said, "Ooohh...this is cute, but I will be good and not buy it because I have one similar at home."

The purse that caught my eye:

Kipling Handbag, Alvar Shoulder Bag

Just as I was going to walk away a woman walked over to me and said, "Isn't that a great purse?! Look at all the storage?!" I first thought she was a sales woman but when I looked up it was a woman in her early to mid-60s. She was clearly not a sales woman as she had about seven different purses on her shoulder. She said, "I don't know which one to choose!" All the purses she had were all very similar as they all were shaped the same with about the same amount of storage. I said, "Well this one is cute, but it is on the casual side." since it was not made out of leather, and the zippers looked to be a chunky plastic. Cute, but I surely could not see this woman walking around with this purse. She then told me that she is needing a purse as she is headed to Key West, Florida for a vacation and asked me which one I liked the best out of the ones she had on her shoulder.

I looked at her and said, "Well, I would pass on the white one as it is before Memorial Day and I am sure you already have several different white bags at home. Then I like the black leather one, but once again you probably have more black bags at home." I then noticed that she had a metalic silver bag. It was cool, fresh, and something that I knew she probably didn't have hanging in a back closet at home. I said, "How about this one?! The color is cool and very in right now. Plus it would look with either jeans, capris, or even a dress when you head out to dinner." She looked at me and said, "Wow, you are right?!" I told her, I am all about trying to find one purse that does everything so that I am not having to take more than one bag on vacation with me. She thanked me and said, "I wish you could go shopping with me all the time!" I smiled and wished her well, and left the store before I walked out with the other cute bag.

The bag that was selected for the woman but she got one in Silver:

Tyler Rodan, Kansas Crossbody Bag

I walked away feeling that I did something good for someone who may not have someone to go shopping with. I luckily have a husband who enjoys going shopping. With that being said some of the purses that I do have, he has picked out even when we were at a Tag Sale. I had posted this as one of my daily joys as I walked away feeling good and so did someone else!

For your next trip, think about the current purse that you have. Will it work storing all of your travel items with out weighing it completely down? If so, check out one of these two purses to see if they would work for you. Both were very deep with lots and lots of pockets!! Plus they both look great!

Seven...

2011-01-31T22:16:00.000-05:00

Kaylee celebrating with her friends for birthday #5 (2009)

Seven is a big number in life in general. God created the the earth in seven days for those of us who believe in creation. For all of us who enjoy color, there are seven colors of the rainbow. For those of us who enjoy science there are seven base units for measuring and if you get three sevens while playing a slot machine you win the jackpot. This year though, the number seven is very special to me.

Seven years ago today I had been up all night sitting in a hospital bed doing what women know best. A bit of yelling, laughing, watching cooking shows, trying not to get annoyed from people and oh ya...HAVING A BABY!! Today, seven years ago I became a mom. One thing that no one can ever take away from me. I pushed every 2 minutes for 2.5 hours straight to be able to hold a five pound four ounce baby girl in my arms for the first time. I will never forget that night for as long as I will live. I couldn't believe what had happened, as if it was a dream. I do then remember looking up at this baby girl's adoptive mom and saying, "well mom what is her name?" She said, "How about Kaylee Rae?" And so be it...I was holding the cutest little Kaylee Rae in my arms. No one could even start to prepare me for the emotions that I would have with seeing her for the first time. You can read all the books and try to be prepared, but it is something that every woman who has given birth can only understand with out words.

I try to do something special each year when Kaylee's birthday comes around. Last year I blogged about how I was going to spend the day and so forth. Since I am doing the Daily Joys each day, I figured my blog should be something centered around that since Miss Kaylee's birthday is a joyous occasion!!

1. I cherish her hand drawn pictures, craft projects, and school photographs that are sent to me a couple times a year.
2. I see her on a yearly basis when I head home to Oregon.
3. I am loving how she gives me a call every so often to either wish me a good day or to tell me about her loosing a tooth at recess.
4. I can not ask 2 better people to raise my child!
5. I try and tell people in a positive way how adoption has affected my life
6. I have been blessed with some of the most amazing women who all share the same emotions I deal with on a yearly basis
7. I look forward to the many years to come and developing a close relationship with Kaylee as she gets older.

I am sure I could go on and on about mindless things...but I truly am loving her birthday this year. I hope that each birthday gets better!!!

Happy birthday my Lil Miss Kaylee!!

I hope that you had a wonderful day!

Women, Drama, and Meetup

2011-01-30T20:50:00.000-05:00

Why is it that anytime there is a group full of women there is always drama?? I really do hate this aspect of being a woman. It is as if every woman is competing with each other to be bigger, better, and more successful than the person she is sitting next to at a dinner table. This year I made a pact that I would try my best to eliminate the drama in my life. I get tired of the drama as it tends to affect my relationship with my husband and other family members. I get negative and just want to sit and bicker and pick at everything that is going on. I didn't want to be like that for 2011. I wanted to look a the best possible outcome for each aspect in my life.

Just shortly after I moved to Cleveland, I found a Tea Society group on Meetup.com and loved it!! I loved the women who were in the group as we all shared a common interest. The group owner stepped down due to life activities that prevented her to attending the events that she herself had planned. She handed the group over to another member in the group. This new leader, we will call her M. I gave M the benefit of the doubt as she took over the tea society and tried to keep it running as the original owner had planned. I would attend the events, but something just didn't seem right. I tried to ignore the drama that M was creating in the group among members who were just asking simple basic questions that would then be blown out of proportion. I stayed out of it as much as possible, but did notice that either people were dropping out of the group like flies or something was up as not many people were showing up to each event. M claimed that she was British and wanted everyone to wear hats to each Afternoon Tea that was planned. I had explained to M that I didn't own any hats that would be appropriate for tea. I attended an event in November with no hat and was scolded as if I was a child. I was so upset but tried to not let it ruin my time there at the tea house. Later that day I was sent a very rude email from M who told me that she didn't think that I was best suited for the group as I am not complying to the group standards and continued to bring "negative" energy. I tried to ignore it everything, but then had to fight back. She then removed me from the group as I was correcting her on semantics because each event she expected people to wear hats even if it was not posted in the event details. Oh well...such is life. About a month after being removed from the group, I started my own Tea group. Since M is such a control freak she was very agitated to say the least that I outsmarted her and beat her at her own game. I felt like I got justice, as she couldn't do anything about it as everyone is entitled to have their own public group. Since creating my own group I have close to even in numbers as her for members AND my events are always packed full. I know members who are in the other group who are members of mine and have told me that my group is better as it is drama free.

Next on the list, late in 2010 a new ladies club was created on Meetup. I was very excited about this as I was really looking for a group where I could meet some women my own age to hopefully have a friendship with. I tend to have the personality that gets along better with men. I always have and probably always will. I though still miss having a set of girlfriends who can relate to just being a girl. I started going to the new club and met some awesome women. The organizer was yet another control freak who only really wanted to talk to the "stylish" "skinny" girls of the group. I attempted to make conversations with her and we just didn't click. I though did find a small group of women who I am going to miss seeing on a weekly basis if Rob and I move come this summer. I though yet again found that an all women's club or group had high drama. The organizer didn't like people suggesting things of what to do even though she had asked people to do so. I guess once she found "her group" of women she didn't really care about the rest. I just realized that the group was not for me as I didn't want to feel resentful at every event because the leader doesn't know how to interact with people who do not live up to her own standards or who may have a disability. Since I have left the group, I just feel a lot better about myself. Now do I miss getting together on a weekly basis with the women that I truly connected with? For sure I do! The women who enjoy having me around, we tend to do things every couple of weeks. Not much drama with my little small group.

What have I learned from both of these groups? I have learned that I have to find a small group of women to put myself around that accept me for me. I have also learned that I tend to have problems with leaders who tend to be control freaks. I am a leader of a new tea group like I said earlier, and I am trying a new approach to the thinking. I am just going with the flow and trying to keep the drama out. So far, so good!! I try not to imprint my own beliefs and thinking on others and most people become a bit weird or it makes them feel uncomfortable. I fully believe that we live in a society where we all are human and can believe what we want, even if the women sitting next to you at dinner doesn't believe that. Just accept that everyone is different and enjoy the moment while it lasts.

Daily Joy Project 2011

2011-01-24T21:26:00.001-05:00

A friend of mine from high school started a Daily Joy Project last year. It was so inspiring that I thought I would try it this year. Basically what she did was posted five positive things on her Facebook status near the end of the day about her day. It was something that I and other people looked forward to reading each evening. Since it is the new year, I figured I would try and do the same thing. I am hoping to post something each night, and there have been a few times that I have not posted anything only because I forgot!! You know, life happens and tends to get in the way.

To catch you all up on how I have been...here are the past several days just so that you can see what I am doing.

Sunday: Jan 23rd

"Today's Joys: relaxing Sunday with not much going on, went grocery shopping before the after-church rush started, bought a new camera to replace the one that I broke last year, and picking the winning teams for both NFL playoff games tonight!!"

Saturday: Jan 22nd

"Today's Joys: Another successful tea event, oil change for my car finally got done, the sun was out today despite the bitter cold temps, and ending the evening having dinner with some girl friends!"

Thursday: Jan 21st

"Today's Joys: My first call today ended up being around 20 minutes with the sweetest ladies who just needed her medication changed down to a tier 2, a tea house that i have been trying to get a hold of FINALLY got back to me, had amazing service when I went out to dinner with the husband, and TOMORROW'S FRIDAY!"

Now you get the idea of what I am doing. Since I have been posting these, my mom has noticed that I have a better outlook on life when she and I talk on the phone. I will admit that I was and can be a pretty negative person. I figured this would help fix the attitude and force me to think of at least a couple good things on a day that could be such a crappy one!!

Now for today's joys!

Monday: Jan 24th

"Had a quiet day at home even though I really felt yucky, I put a whole chicken in the slow cooker before going back to bed this morning and it turned out awesome, and in just once week until a special little girl in my life turns 7 years old!!"

East side vs West side

2011-01-23T23:00:00.001-05:00

Living in any large city there is a debate: Which side is better? East Side or West Side?? You see this in NYC, Cleveland, and even Portland. I find it comical now when people make statements of "I will only go to functions on the west side of town." or "I have lived here all my life and have never been to the other side of town!"

Growing up, I didn't really know about this debate as I lived in a Southern Suburb of Portland, Oregon, I went to church on the NE side of town, but yet my family would also go to the west side of town for dinner. I never really gave it a thought which side of Portland was better. I just knew that I preferred the mall on the east side of town, but only because it was a larger mall that had a movie theater attached to it. I also knew that some of the nicer neighborhoods were on the west side of Portland. Now days though each side has its amenities with nice and rough areas. As an adult, there was a time where I lived on the east side of Portland but worked on the far west side, so I was still breaking the rules.

I have found that this "East vs West" mentality is very prominent in Cleveland. I live on the west side of town, but work on the east side. No big deal right?? Well to some people this is a huge deal and do not understand why I would drive back and forth everyday. I first explain to them that I did look for a job closer to my home and the only thing I could find was out n the east side and then I explain to them that I have always driven quite a ways to and from work even when I lived in Oregon. I have met people here in Cleveland who have lived on one side of town their entire life and have never went to the other side. I just am in shock at this!!! People in Cleveland treat Interstate 77 like the Berlin Wall. It is what could be the divider between each side. People even joke about how one needs to have a passport to get to either side. What people do not understand is that there are great things on both sides of town!!! I just wish people would suck it up and drive to the other side and try the different restaurants, parks, and outside markets.

I fully believe, though, that if one lives in a large city, one must experience ALL of the city and not just a 7-10 mile radius from one's house. If people only went only 7-10 miles from their home they would never fully experience what the whole city has to offer. Now granted, there are spots in each large city (in any area) that may not be the safest, but you get that. So you have to know the good and bad spots and which spots are ok to go to in day and night. I know that here in Cleveland there are places that are acceptable to go in only the daylight and not have to really worry about anything, but if I am in that area of town after dark I tend to be a bit more on guard. There were parts of Portland where I would rarely ever go because it just was not really that safe any time of the day!

I know I can not make one get out of their comfort but when someone asks me how I know about the cool little tea house way out on the east side of town, I will smile and tell them that I am not afraid to drive an hour to an hour and a half experience something new.

My challenge to you this year, break out of your comfort zone and explore the opposite side of town that you live on at least once a month. You might be surprised in what you will find!!

2011...

2011-01-01T23:16:00.000-05:00

I love reading the first blogs of each new year that people post to their page. Most are either reflection of the past year and or goals that they want to accomplish for the new year that has just started. I thought that I would join the crowd and post a blog before the first day of the year comes to a final close.

What a year 2010 was for me!! Lots of changes that is for sure, and 2011 will be possibly even more changes!! I do see quite a few things that 2010 and 2011 have in common. I moved in 2010 from one state to another and I will do the same this year in 2011. I found close friends in 2010 and found three women here in Cleveland that I can see calling good close friends by the time I move later this year. Lastly, 2010 I ended a job in one state and found a new one (even if it took me awhile) and I will do that yet again this year.

I am glad though 2010 is over for me. It was a rough year and the month of December was especially rough for me. My paternal grandfather lost his battle with lung cancer mid-month and it took a toll on my emotions in one of the busy months at work. I was glad though that I saw him one last time in November, full well knowing that he would probably not make it to Christmastime.

For 2011 I am going give more personal time to myself this year, and take care of myself. I tend to get so busy that I forget to do things for myself and allow myself to sit and just breath. I want to try some new things like Zumba at least once this year, just to see what all the talk is! I am going to stand up for myself and not be around negative people this year. I will spend my energy getting to know people who actually want to know who I am, not because of how I look, dress, or speak. I will go out of my way and speak to people who may have a disability even if it is uncomfortable to me at first.

So here is to 2011...may it be better than last year...and I can walk away feeling good that I have accomplished some new things!

Handel's Messiah Rocks: A Joyful Noise

2010-12-15T16:57:00.000-05:00

It is that time of year where the traditional and non-traditional holiday concerts pop up everywhere you live. As a kid in a family of five, my parents tried to take us to at least one holiday events each year. Now as an adult I try to do the same thing when the holiday season comes along. I have a soft spot in my heart for Handel's Messiah. Why? Well in high school my orchestra & choir teacher (yes I had the same teacher twice a day for four years) loved this oratorio so much that selections of this oratorio were sung and played every year at the Christmas concert. I had the luxury to play the music for three years and was to sing it my senior year. I love love this large piece of music. In the mid-90s a group of Contemporary Christian artists created a group called "The Young Messiah" which took the original piece of Handel's Messiah and brought it to well the 90s making it a bit more up to date. It turned out amazing. This year in Cleveland, I saw an event that I had to go to. The event was called Handel's Messiah Rocks: A Joyful Noise. I said, "I have to go to this...and if it is done right then it will be very cool!"

The description of Handel's Messiah Rocks: A Joyful Noise that I read was more or less of, "Come join us for a night of Handel's Messiah put to rock music mixed with the traditional orchestra." I thought..."Sweet!!! I have to see this!" I had mentioned it to Rob and he didn't know what to think as he had never heard the original oratorio before. I told him that if this was done correctly it would be very cool, but if it was done wrong then it would be an utter mess. Below is a clip of what I should expect!!

The night of the event we sit in our seats at the Palace Theatre, located in Cleveland's Playhouse Square in Cleveland. I start looking at the information of the show to see which songs would be played or sung from the original oratorio. I look at the listing and they had changed the names of the songs. I was kind of in panic, but I told myself that they were just taking the songs to the next level and making them a bit more modern. The performers were described as THE TENOR, THE WOMAN, THE BARITONE and THE CHOIR. Just before the show starts, some of the cast members come out on stage to get the crowd riled up by starting the wave. I personally think that the "wave" is meant only for sporting events of large arenas. I was thinking, "Ok, this is awkward! This better not be a foreshadowing of what is to come." The lights then dim to notify people to take their seats as the show is about to start.

Part One: The Mystery of Faith
Overture
Comfort Yet
He'll Come in Glory
He is Fire
Rejoice

First up, the Overture. A guitarist starts playing and it is not what Handel's Messiah Overture sounds like, but it didn't sound too bad at first until then the rest of the musicians started playing. Oye...this is not a good combo. The guitarist was not in key or was just really bad and I knew that this may have been a big mistake. The guitarist stops playing and the orchestra starts up and plays what the beginning of the original should sound like. The guitarist then steps in to try and do a solo which just really goes down hill. I looked at Rob and said..."What?!!" Next the Tenor comes out and sings one of my favorite songs of the oratorio which is Comfort Ye. This song won me back over just like taking in a good drink after having eating something bad. The next song, He'll come in Glory which was The Woman and the choir. By listening to the song I gathered that this was suppose to be And the Glory of the Lord as that is what would have came next if I was listening to the original oratorio. The next song I was very confused about. The title was called He is Fire. The images on the big screen were of fire and very dark images. I thought to myself, "I know that the original song, And He Shall Purify is written in a minor key and it a bit dark...but what I was viewing on stage was well really dark. Here I thought The Baritone was suppose to be depicted as the devil. I was very confused and really wanted to get up and leave, but I knew I had to sit through it until the end of the whole show. The last song of Part One was called Rejoice which was more or less, Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter of Zion. The Woman did an amazing job and I loved every song that she came out to sing.

Part Two: The Power of Love
Behold
He was Despised
He Trusted You
King of Glory
He Is My Son
PIFA

Next up was the second part. I was hoping that this would get better, but it never did. Out of the songs that were sung the one that was probably was the one titled, He was Despised. It was very very dark and it didn't make much sense to be part of what Handel's Messiah, and didn't sound like any of what the original song was suppose to be. By this song I started to see people get up and leave. I think they had enough and just wanted out. I was really mad, but sat hoping that it could turn around. The song PIFA reminded me of the Pastoral, very mellow and pretty.

Part 3: The Hope for Peace
How Beautiful
I Know My Redeemer Lives
We Will All be Changed
If God Is For Us
Amen/It is So
Hallelujah
A Child Is Born

By the time the third part was starting I couldn't wait for this show to be over. The song I Know My Redeemer Lives was amazing!!! If they could have sang this song and a few others that I liked over and over for two hours, I would have been satisfied!! This song and Amen/It is So were awesome. I got goose bumps when these songs were sung. When the show came to the Hallelujah Chorus would probably be butchered and it was indeed, and when the last song was being sung I was in the process of trying to get my jacket on so that we could leave very soon.

I walked away feeling ripped off and very frustrated. The Woman and The Tenor had amazing voices, though. I know that in the future, I will have to look for the traditional version of this Christmas Oratorio. I told Rob that what he saw was not a good depiction of what the original was and so still too this day he still hasn't seen Handel's Messiah. What I would love to find for next year (and if I were in Portland, I would totally go) is to find an event that is called "Sing your own Messiah". Portland did this for many years and may still be doing it where other Handle Messiah lovers come together in a venue and sing selections of the oratorio together. I have had friends who have went to something like this and said that it is very cool. Until then, I will just have to pull out my Handel's Messiah CD and my Young Messiah CD to listen to while I drive to and from work.

The best Turkey recipe...

2010-11-28T22:45:00.000-05:00

I posted earlier that I was thankful for my very first turkey that I made this year. I wanted to share this recipe that I found while I was clipping coupons late last month. Now mind you I didn't use all of what was called for with this recipe and I will tell you that it still turned out amazing. I will be keeping this recipe for a very very long time!!

Herb Roasted Turkey with Roasted Apples & Root Vegetables
Prep time: 40 mins (and yes...it did take about this long)
Cook time: 3 hours (I cooked mine at 3.5 hours only because I put stuffing in the bird instead of doing the root veggies and apples)
Yield: 10-12 servings (probably small servings!)

Ingredients:
1/2 c Extra Virgin Olive Oil (I used 1/4 cup of my Italian herbed bread dipping oil)
2 tsp Dried thyme leaves, crushed
3 tsp salt, divided
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp paprika
3 large sweet potatoes (about 3 pounds, peeled and cut into 1" pieces)
4 medium parsnips (about 1 pound, peeled and cut into 1/4" slices)
2 large red cooking apples, cored, sliced and slices halved
3/4 c pecan halves (optional)
6 Tblsps firmly packed brown sugar

Preparation Directions:
1) Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray roasting pan (I just used the typical throw away roasting pan) with a no-stick cooking spray. Rinse, pat dry ans place turkey breast side up in pan. Whisk oil with thyme, 2 tsp. salt, garlic, pepper, and paprika. Reserve 1/4 cup for vegetables and 1 tablespoon to brush roasted turkey with remaining 3 tablespoons herbed oil. Roast turkey as directed on package. 3-3.5 hours until the meat is 165 degrees F.

**Now this is where I stopped...I actually used all the oil on the turkey making sure that the whole turkey was completely covered with the herbed oil. My mother inlaw had rinsed out the turkey and had rubbed salt on the inside of the turkey as she said it would make it taste better as well.**

2). Prepare vegetables about 15 minites before turkey will be done. Place sweet potatoes and parsnips in large glass bowl; cover. Microwave on High for 10 minutes, stiring once. Add applies and pecans. Spray 2 rimmed backing pans with no-stick cooking spray. Stir 1 tsp. salt and brown sugar into reserved 1/4 cup herbed oil; toss with vegetables and spoon into pan.

3) Remove turkey from oven, brush with reserved tablespoon herbed oil; cover loosely. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. and roast vegetables 15-20 mins until tender. Place vegetables round roast turkey on platter and serve.

So there you have it. Try this out and see what you all think as well. If you cook it just like I have typed out here for steps one...the meat on your turkey should be falling off the bone when you try to carve the turkey. I tell you it was the best turkey I have had in many years. I was told by a good family friend of mine that if you want a good juicy turkey breast, cook your turkey with the breast facing down. This allows the white meat to sit in the juices. I didn't do that, but even the white meat was nice and juicy for me. :) I wished I would have taken a picture of what our Thanksgiving feast looked like, but when I remembered I only had a picked over turkey carcass left.

Things to be THANKFUL for...

2010-11-25T22:38:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!!! I hope that you all are having a wonderful Thanksgiving with your friends and family. I had a pretty good Thanksgiving. I normally feel pretty homesick when the holidays come around, but this year I didn't have those feelings. I am thankful for that! Throughout the day I have thought about different things that I am thankful for. Thought I would share them with you in no particular order.

1. TURKEY
Ok...you are probably thinking, "Why on earth are you thankful for this?" Well, this year I made my first turkey!! I was really scared that it would turn out bad, but needless to say I will be keeping the recipe that I found one day while clipping the coupons out of the weekly paper. The meat was falling off the bones, it was that juicy! Even the white meat was pretty good!! This recipe called for a 10-13 pound turkey and so it only took 3.5 hours to cook.

2. JOB EMPLOYMENT
I am thankful for now having a job! I am really enjoying my Member Services job at Universal American (UAM). For those of you who do not know, UAM is a Medicare Part D provider, which is the prescription drug assistance side. Lots of things to learn, but I am really enjoying most of it. My training group was placed on the phones this week, and I was really scared once I started taking calls. I got through it though and my shift on Wednesday went a lot smoother. Then tomorrow is considered a "Floating Holiday", which means I will get holiday pay plus my regular pay!! Thank you!!! :) I am also thankful that Rob found a teaching position at Cleveland State for the time being!

3. FAMILY & FRIENDS
I am always thankful for the family and friends that I have. I realize that I am one who really tends to lean on my family and friends for support. I don't know where I would be with out having the support system like the that I have!! This holiday I am thankful for a few things though. Thankful for my brand new niece who is just 2 days told today!! Madigan Ellen Nation finally graced us with her presence on Tuesday the 23rd. I am also thankful for the time I was able to spend with my Grandpa Morse. Earlier this fall he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Even though it was a bittersweet visit to Nebraska earlier this month, I knew I had to go. I am thankful for my best friends who I have been able to keep in touch with, even if I am two time zones away. Oh some days how I wish I was living in Oregon, again.

There are other things that I am sure that I could list...but I am just going to stick with these. I really do hope that you had a wonderful day, even if you ended up spending it alone!!

How can we stop?

2010-10-07T21:03:00.000-04:00

National Breast Cancer Awareness, Domestic Violence Awareness, Stop Cyber-Bullying are just a few of the issues that October stands for. Out of these two of them stick out to me. I thought I would pick one today to touch on since it has been in the news quite a bit these past couple of days, which is this cyber-bullying.

A friend from high school blogged about this a couple months ago and it really got me thinking. Then this week with all of these news stories of these young kids committing suicide due to being bullied, I have thought about this issue even more.

I do agree that today kids are being bullied more than ever. These days there are more outlets to bully someone using email, text messaging, instant messaging, blogs and various social network sites. I started to think about my life and thought that I am glad that I am not a kid in today's times with all this technology. I remember back when I was in I believe third grade it was a big thing to have 6 small Apple computers in the classroom at school, which were used to play games such as Oregon Trail on our lunch breaks. Now days schools have large computer labs for students to use for typing out papers and anything else.

I like probably any other child who grows up in the world, had my share of being bullied or teased. I was pretty chunky for my age, didn't have a whole lot of money, extremely pale skin, not athletic, and had a speech impediment. With all of these issues I was a prone target for being teased. I would come home on a daily basis in grade school in tears because some girl had called me fat or asked me if I was stupid because I couldn't form one sentence with out stumbling over easy words like dog or garden. I didn't want to go to school in times and prayed on the first day of school that some of these kids who picked on me were not going to be in my class.

I look back now and still have one saving grace and that was my mom. She put me in speech therapy from Kindergarten through fifth grade to help with my stuttering, she gave me the support I needed when I came home in tears from being picked on, and she even had me look up words in the dictionary to use when others called me names. One of the words that I learned was "rhesus" which we all know is a monkey. Well when I started to call the mean kids these wierd names...they stopped because they realized that their picking on wasn't going to phase me.

Over the years of being out of school I have come to deal with what went on in school. At one my high school class reunion, the girl who picked on me in grade school came up to me and apologized for everything that she called me and did to me. I was just shocked and blown away, but I smiled and felt like it was good. She told me that her children are starting to pick on kids at school and she is trying to correct them.

As Dr. Phil stated this week, "If you are even an innocent bystander you are still part of the problem." I am sure all of us have been on the end where we have been in the group that has teased someone else. I know that when I was in high school a classmate of mine didn't bathe on daily basis and my group of friends one day had placed bars of soap under her chair in choir. Now as a kid this is innocent, but now looking back I feel awful that I would do such a thing.

But really, if I had to go through school today with all this technology I can see why kids are attempting or commiting suicide. This has to stop. The social work side of me comes out when I hear about these stories. There needs to be groups in the schools where it is a safe haven for these children who are being teased. There needs to be some coping skills taught rather than the "don't listen to it, don't respond, and tell a trusted adult". The three steps are good starting points, but in the mean time while the teasing and what-have you is still going on...these children need to know how to deal with it. I don't know what the answer is on this, but it is something worth looking into.

If you have kids...talk with them and lets help try and stop this issue.

A phrase that really bugs me...

2010-10-06T16:58:00.000-04:00

Are there phrases that other people say to you or that you read or hear from someone and the phrase just rubs you the wrong way?? Or you walk away thinking, "Is the person really feeling that way or are they just being nice?" There are certain phrases that have been getting on my nerves lately. I can not really explain why...but I wanted to voice them and see what others thought. I appologize in advance if I offend you. None of these phrases are directed to anyone directly.

The phrase that really really bugs me 

right now is: 

"I miss you" or "I miss you so much!!"

This has got to be the number one phrase that just irks me. Is our society really missing who they say they are missing or is it just something to say in social settings or internet sites?? Lately I just think that this word has been thrown around and it doesn't really mean anything. I tend to laugh to myself when someone tells me that they miss me since I have moved away. I wonder why this person is missing me since I rarely hung out with them outside of say my job or any other social setting. Someone just a couple years ago had told me, "I miss you so much!!!" A sick feeling just ran through my body once this phrase was said. I wanted to respond with, "How can you miss me so much when we have just been reacquainted after ten plus years with Facebook?" and "How can you really miss me, since we NEVER really spent time together as you were better friends with someone else!" I didn't say anything, though. I figured it was just a ploy to get me to feel good so that I would show up to their social event that they were having while I was in town. I had other plans though...so I didn't feel bad not responding to the message.

The only time I really take this phrase to heart is when I hear this from loved ones or my very small circle of best friends or close work managers. I know that when they say, "Hey Amy, I miss you..." they are truly meaning it. A close friend of mine asked me last week when we were chatting online when I was coming home to Oregon. I hadn't really thought about it and asked her why she was asking? She said, "Because I am missing you right now and could use a married friend right now who has no kids to relate to." It warmed my heart when I heard that. I told her that as soon as I knew when I was making my next trip to Oregon I would let her know.

I will admit that I have fallen under this trap and told people that I have missed them...but in reality...I probably didn't mean it. I am now trying to not just flip this phrase around all over the place...because it is a phrase that should be taken seriously. I now only tell this phrase to people who are in my small circle of close friends or family members. When I would tell someone that I missed them I tended to wonder later if I just missed having the memories with them. Such as, telling an old boyfriend that I missed him after we had broken up. There was a reason why we had broken up and so I didn't miss the drama that was with the relationship or even who the person had turned into. I had just missed being around him when we had first started dating.

I also, asked a couple friends of mine if I were crazy for having a problem with this phrase. They first agreed that I was already a bit crazy but yet they both agreed with me that this phrase is really tossed around. One friend even said, "It's the new thing to say when you have nothing else to say to someone!" Another friend said, "If I tell you that I miss you it is because I honestly do!" They said, "I tell people that I miss them because I miss having them around to just act normal to, or to have an amazing good time with."

So the next time you tell someone that you miss them...stop and and think about it. Do you really honestly miss them or do you just have nothing else to say and feel the need to fill in the gap?

Welcome to Fall!

2010-09-23T14:48:00.000-04:00

Spiced pumpkin scent, crunchy leaves, mountain sides in full color of reds, oranges, and golds, corn mazes, hot cider, turkey, big chunky sweaters, and much more. These are some of the things that I look forward to every year to the fall season.

Like many...I am one who enjoy the transition from summer to fall. This year especially. It has been quite a hot summer and so I am really looking forward to the cooler weather. I love watching the trees turn from green to the vibrant red, orange, and gold colors. This is one thing that I am going to miss for not living in the New England area. One has not experienced the full meaning of fall until you have seen a whole mountain side in full amazing color! I know...I have said that for the past several years...but if you have seen what I am talking about, then you understand. I will miss that this year since I am now in Ohio. I am sure I will find something here in Ohio to admire for this fall season.

Have you all went into Yankee Candle lately?? Well they have some good fall scents that are smell really yummy. I was good and didn't get any only because I have several scents at home that need to be burned before new ones can come into the house. I did buy a new scent from another candle place last month when I was out in Vermillion. The scent is a coffee scent. Smells real yummy. This candle is a soybean candle. It burns to liquid just like the other good candles.

So what your favorite part of Fall??

Busy Summer comes to an end....

2010-09-07T00:33:00.000-04:00

Well like everyone else is saying...summer is coming to an end. What a busy summer Rob and I had this year!! I know it seems like every year I am saying that...but we really did have a busy summer, from moving to spending time with his family to attending various events that we both wanted to do.

Late June started the big move to Ohio. I am glad that after four trailer loads full of stuff, we are finally all moved into the house that we will call home for a year. For those of you who don't remember, Rob and I are in a western suburb of Cleveland until next summer. Rob has a one year visiting professor position at Cleveland State University. He was told to pretty much keep his bags packed, as he will not be there next year. *sigh*

This past month, Rob and I have been busy running around. I have been busy seeking employment and I have not had too much luck. Gotta love moving to a state where the unemployment rate is around twelve percent. But I hope to have something by the end of this month. We have been busy exploring the west side of town and even parts of Cleveland that Rob has not been to since he was little. We went to several county fairs, tractor pulls, baseball games, and even an NFL football game. By the end of this month we will have added a couple other county fairs, an Octoberfest, and another baseball game before the season is over. I have to say that I am truly blessed with what all I have gotten to do.

I will admit that sometimes I forget all the things that I do and then get into a jealous mood when I find that other people are doing something cool. I have to thank my own mom for putting this all into perspective for me this past weekend. I really did have a hard time this weekend when I read the status updates over on facebook of all my friends back in Oregon headed out for one last camping trips and bbq's. I guess I was just feeling down and out since I don't really know anyone here in Ohio that is my age to hang out with. So I just had a bad attitude. I really miss being around people who actually enjoy hanging out with me. There is only so much that I can handle with spending time with Rob's parents. It's just not the same.

But I am looking forward to this fall. I love the color change of the leaves and the cooler crisper weather. So overall I had a good summer. Fall time for me equals to football, Octoberfests, and the start of the rainy seasons (well that is if you live in Oregon like where I grew up). I am sure I will have yet an eventful fall. :) Only time will tell!!

Meetup.com

2010-08-14T23:20:00.000-04:00

Ever moved to a new area and not known anyone? Ever lived in the same location all your life and wanted to meet other people who share the same interests?? Ever just wanted to let loose or learn something new?? If you answered yes to any of these questions then I have the best site for you. It's called Meetup.com.

Since moving to the Cleveland area, I have joined this great website that I just mentioned above. Rob came across this site and started looking around. He found a couple groups that I may be interested in, and so he sent me the links. One of them was called "The High Tea Society". It is a group devoted to tea!! The main purpose of this group is meeting other people who share your interest in learning new teas and visiting different tea houses in the area. I am really enjoying this group. I signed up last month for a tea event and loved it!! We all met at The Ashley Place which is a tea room located in Medina, Ohio. Four other women showed up for that one and we had a lovely conversation over some tea and food. I tried a raspberry flavored tea and found it to be ok...I am not too sure if I would get that one again. Today was another event with the Tea Society. I met up with four other women in Vermilion, Ohio which is about thirty minutes west of my house. We met at this small little tea shop called Decidedly Different. I tried a new flavor of tea again. This time it was a tea called Scottish Breakfast. If you are a black tea drinker who enjoys the Breakfast teas, then this is a must try! It is a bit strong and a bit bitter, but after putting two packets of sugar in my cup, I thought it tasted pretty good.

Another group that I found is a Movie & Book lover club. They are a group well that views movies together and then also reads a book together as well. Last month, I met up with this group to see the movie Inception. After the movie we then went over and had a bite to eat and discussed how we liked or disliked the movie. I was in hopes of going to the event tomorrow to see the new movie Eat, Pray, and Love, but due to the time the movie is, it is a conflict with something else that Rob and I had planned. The book part of this club is just the same as the movie part. The current book is To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I read this book back in middle school and so I was excited to hear this was the next book the club was going to read. I went out and bought the book at a half priced bookstore. I have started reading the book (ok, so I am just 3 pages in), so I need to get going on the book since the book discussion is in about a month. I have heard from other group members is that if you have read the book as a child, then when you are reading this book as an adult you tend to understand more of the adult roles in the book. I will let you know once I finish the book.

Rob has found a couple social groups on Meetup.com as well. He found a hiking group and a couple others. He has yet though to attend any of the events that have had. He is hoping to try and go to one of the hiking ones soon.

So I encourage you to go over to Meetup.com and check it out for yourself. It is completely free to sign up and you never know...you may find a great group just for you!!!

Cleveland Orchestra!

2010-08-12T00:37:00.000-04:00

String instruments, brass instruments, woodwinds, and percussion all make up an orchestra. I am sure I am missing something but it is late and so I am not thinking completely clear. I love the orchestra and have a passion for listening to good orchestras. I guess the passion started when I was in fifth grade and started to play the violin and it grew to what it is now. I was blessed in elementary and high school with some wonderful music teachers and I tend to silently thank them everyday.

Tonight, Rob and I went to a Cleveland Orchestra performance at Severance Hall. They were putting on a free performance and live recording of Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 in C minor. I figured since the tickets were free we would go. I am so glad that I did go!! I don't think I have ever heard any of Bruckner's music and I am now a fan!! This symphony is broken into four movements. Each one has their own personality and thoughts of Life and Death. I thought I would share them all with you since I found them over on YouTube. My favorite movement was the second movement and I felt like the third movement was never going to end. I did still enjoy all of it though.

So if you have a bit...click on each one and take a listen and experience Bruckner for yourself!!

Movement 1 -

Movement 2:

Movement 3

Movement 4

New Phone!!!

2010-07-22T22:02:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the day I had been waiting for in a long time. It felt like Christmas as I knew I was finally getting what I have wanted for four weeks. Rob and I finally got our new phones that we ordered about a month ago. Which ones did we get?? We got the new HTC Incredible by Verizon.

Rob and I started talking about getting new phones sometime last year. We heard that Google was trying to buy some cell towers to offer their own cell service. Well that came and it never went, and so we were still sitting with our old phones. Then the latest craze of the smart phones and the androids started to appear on the market. Quite a few of my friends started getting these type of phones and so it was cool see what all of these different phones would do.

Right around my birthday we decided that we would get the Incredible. When we tried to go get one we realized that everyone was sold out and that we had to order them. When Rob made his first trailer load of stuff out to Ohio he checked with one of the Verizon stores and found that we still had to order them, so he went and put in an order for two phones.

This phone is very cool. Rob said, "You are basically holding a mini computer in your hands that just has a phone option." I laughed, but yet that is exactly what it is. It is fast, the picture is great, and it can sync to just about any email account. I just love it. I am still trying to get use to it, and I will tell ya...it is very addicting!!! The one thing that I will have to get really use to is using the touch screen.

You know you are eating out too much when...

2010-07-19T23:30:00.001-04:00

You know you are eating out too much when you get annoyed at the server who is trying to do their job.
You know you are eating out too much when you feel like you are constantly being seated in the screaming child section of the dining room.
You know you are eating out too much when you have the local pizza place on speed dial of your cell phone.

I am sure I am not the only who has had these thoughts!! Anyone else brave enough to raise their hands?? Well since Rob and I have moved to Ohio, we have realized that we need to cut back on eating out. When we lived in Connecticut we would average eating out (fast food, take out, or sit down restaurant) about 5 times a week for either lunch or dinner. This didn't count my "breaks" that I had at work where I would spend money on my 30 minute break for a snack. So yes we did eat out A LOT. We will both admit that, too. So now that we are in a new place we are going to work on eating at home A LOT more. :)

So far we have done pretty good. This past weekend was a bit rough since he went to Connecticut with his dad to pack up the rest of the house where there is literally no food or cooking items left at the house. This last week though we did good. We had went to the store and purchased quite a bit of meat that could be frozen and then thawed out when needed. It has been nice cooking at home again. I may not be the greatest cook, but I am at least willing to try, though. Since his mom has been staying with me for the weekend, we did good about trying eat at home as well! Since Saturday, she and I have only ate out twice. Once for lunch on Saturday and then tonight for dinner. The other nights I have been creative on trying to fix meals here at the house for her and I. I was able to make a meal that she and I would enjoy that I would not normally be able to make when Rob is around since he does not like shrimp.

But Rob and I have decided that we can not just completely cut the whole eating out thing. I see it as kind of like going on a diet or budgeting. While on a diet or a strict budget you still have to leave some give room or some reward room so that you do not fail. If you are use to eating out all of the time then trying to quit cold turkey it will fail every time. We have decided that we will eat out twice a week. Once a week we will treat the dogs to a car ride and dinner at a fast food place like Sonic and then once a week he and I will go out and have a meal at a sit down place. This way it feel more special than, "well where do you want to go tonight?" I know it is easy right now, but the real test will be when both of us start working. I am hoping that we can have a routine down before then, but it will be a struggle for awhile, I am sure.

So for all of you lovely friends who cook...send me your favorite EASY meals that you like to cook. I am a picky eater, but I am trying to broaden my palate a bit. Rob and I tend to cook on a weekly basis: Chicken, Pork, and Beef. So feel free to send me anything with these meats in it. I would love to try some of your dishes!!

85% moved in...

2010-07-19T00:29:00.000-04:00

Since things are starting to kind of get back to normal, I feel that I can start blogging again. I have missed my daily blogging and I am going to do my best to start blogging more. We will see how this goes. I am out of sync of the daily blogging routine, so please give me a bit to get back into the groove of things.

Well I am about 85% moved into the new house in a western 'burb of Cleveland. It is a little bit smaller house than what we had in Connecticut, but we are going to make it work. :) The bedroom I wanted to use as a "master bedroom" had to be changed, as our queen size bed will not fit up the stairs in the house. *sigh* So the two bedrooms with queen beds are on the main level of this new house and then the twin bed that we have will be upstairs in one of the bedrooms. I will have my own hide away room as well where I can set up a place just for me. I already have my books upstairs as well. I may move them over to the other bedroom, I have not fully decided yet. Besides the house though, I love the area that we are at.

Why do I love the new area? Well I am about two miles from every shopping store you can think of that you would need on a daily basis and then if you want more of an upscale shopping experience drive about five minutes the other way and you will be there for those stores, too!! I have not walked through the upscale outdoor mall yet, but I will get to it! Maybe when the heat and humidity is lower I will go and have the energy to walk around outside.

Rob and his dad are currently at the Connecticut house. They are in the process of packing up the remaining things and loading them into the trailer. They are thinking that they will be coming back to Ohio on Wednesday but I have been told that they may come back on Monday. I don't know. Why didn't I go? Welllll....since Rob told me that I needed to find a job as soon as possible...I have a job interview this coming week. So there! I guess this is one of the consequences of looking for a job while still trying to get fully moved in from one state to another.

Here is a slide show of one of the moving trips and the first time I saw the new house in person. I hope that you all enjoy!! I am sure a lot of you have seen these pictures over on my FB page. If not...then please, enjoy!!

The packing has started...

2010-06-23T16:06:00.000-04:00

Yup...it has now really become a reality that I am moving. Rob left today with his parents with a full trailer to Ohio. So where we moving?? Well it will be the Cleveland area for sure, just not too sure which house yet. Rob is going this weekend to look at two houses and possibly a third. Yay!!

The house is looking more like a house full of boxes and less like the house that is lived in. I really hate packing. Like really hate packing. But I don't know what is worse...Packing or Unpacking. If I had the money I would pay for people to come in pack up my stuff, move it to the new house, and then unpack it for me. But I live in the real world, I guess. hahaha

I am going to enjoy these next four days though, since Rob is gone. While trying to pack, I am going to enjoy the quiet that comes with just being in the house alone. I do have Sparky and Casey as Cindy went to Ohio with Rob and his parents. Friday will be my last day at AMC. Last days are so bittersweet sometimes, and I know this one will be the same.

We will be in the Cleveland area for the next year, though. Rob will be a visiting professor at Cleveland State University. He is still on the job market and he is looking everyday at the job boards to see if the schools have started posting job ads for the Fall of 2011 yet. The big schools will probably start posting in August or September. Hopefully something will come out...and we will know something in the spring of next year where we are going rather than playing this super late waiting game. :)

This is where we are at right now. Once I have a new address I will let people know so that they can update their address labels.

Change of Blog topic from moving to Adoption

2010-06-17T11:20:00.001-04:00

I was going tell you all about how Rob accepted a visiting professor position at Cleveland State, but I ran across an article that is worth sharing. I can not remember where I found this article but it must have been from another blog that I was reading tonight. If I can remember which blog it was I will include it in with this blog to thank the blogger for bringing this article to my own attention.

Anyways, back in May of this year Newsweek featured an article called, "Why Birth Moms Deserve Respect". Click on the title to read the article. I am always ready to bite when I see titles like this. I didn't know where this article was going to go but hey...I didn't have much to do since I am sitting here listening to the hum from the computers in the sever room here at home. Ok...back to topic here. hahaha.

The article starts off saying how today's society really focus' on two parts of the Adoption Triad which being the adoptive parents and then the children, but tends to leave out the most important part of the triad, us birth mother's. When society thinks or even refers to us birth mothers they depict us as drug users, unfit mothers, or teens who don't have the maturity to care for the child on their own. But for those of us who are in the adoption world, we know that there are more of us every day people out there who thought that placing our child into another woman's arms was the best choice at the time for our child.

Society has recently brought the adoption themes into movies, books, and even television shows. The article as talks about this. In movies such as Juno or Knocked-Up it shows unmarried women as either some opinionated teenager or as cutesy blonde woman who is freaking out about being pregnant. Now don't get me wrong, I truly love both of these movies and Knocked-Up is not for the young eyes to see or really revolve around the adoption world...but it shows what we think when it comes to Birth moms. The article brings up the adoption plots in television shows as well. Glee, Brothers & Sisters, and even Friends have all had adoption themes, where only the child is the one involved.

By still making fun of the adoption world...people in real life still tend to look down at adoption. Even six years after placement, I get the odd looks and "oh's" when I tell people that I placed my daughter into an Open Adoption. I often wonder what they think about, but I know what they are thinking. "How could she just give up on her child?" But these people are the ones who are not willing to open their minds and see the whole picture.

I like a part of the article that says, “Our society has lifted much of the stigma of single motherhood, but still finds it difficult to support a woman who is, as they see it, abandoning her child. These women are told: ‘How can you possibly give up your child? What kind of person could do that?’ So while adoption is listed as viable option, it’s a choice that’s rarely made.” I believe this is a very true statement.

I would hope that Adoption thoughts would become more real and not so taboo in today's society. If we look back in ages...we see open adoption but just not in full form with the name adoption. When a mother was unable to care for her child her family would step in and take care of the child and gain custody if needed. How is that not adoption? It is in my eyes. Even now with the majority of families being now "blended" families how is that any more normal or ok than adoption?

So think about your thoughts and feelings about adoption verses some of the thoughts I have placed in here. I bet you have thought some of these yourself without even knowing it. You think adoption when Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie adopt a new baby, or when another celebrity adopts because it is the "cool thing to do" right now. You think of these movies and television shows that poke fun of pregnant woman who has to decide whether to parent her child or place it into a family. But what you really should think about if you were in the same situation or if you were an infertile married couple who would love to adopt a child and know how it feels to love a child. You should really think about the emotions that the Natural mother or Birth mother feels when every holiday, mother's day, or birthday comes around.

So like the article says...Birth mother's deserve some respect in today's society.

21 with 9 years of Experience

2010-06-15T14:37:00.000-04:00

Sunday was my birthday and I am finally finding some time to sit down and blog about it. I wanted to blog it yesterday but well life got in the way, and I had to upload the pictures from the camera to the computer. *I must say that I do love the digital era where you have pictures instantly!!*

Anyways...I turned the big dreaded 3-0 on Sunday. Happy Birthday to me, right?! So how does it feel to be this number?? Well it's just a number right? At least that is what us women say when it comes to a dress size. Buy what feels comfortable and if you don't like the number then rip it out. So that is what I am doing with my age. I don't like the number so I am just ripping it out until well next year. People have told me (who are well into their 30's) that my life is just beginning now that I am turning 30. What does that mean? Does it mean that I will become more wise and have the knowledge that people wished they could have?? Or is it just that I will stop caring about what people think and just be myself. I think it is the last one of all of those. Well it would be nice to be wiser and have the knowledge that most people will want, but I think that I will just be gaining the wisdom and knowledge of mindless stuff that people will say, "How do you know what?!"

My birthday was a lot of fun though. It started out a bit crappy to say the least since I came home from work after midnight to find a Cindy-dog poo surprise for Rob and I to clean up. *sigh when will she learn?!* We didn't get to bed until about 2:30am. The alarm clock on my phone rang about 5 hours later and I was wondering why I agreed to go an early breakfast. So I got up and pulled some clothes on to myself decent for the whole world could see. Andrew and Mike were going to be at the house around 9am so that we could head out to Chip's diner. Remember that old post about pancakes well that is where we were going again for breakfast. Rob was going to go but since it looked like Cindy was still not feeling well he stayed home so that we didn't come home again to a mess.

While waiting for the boys to arrive I opened my presents that were sent by my mom. Mom made the majority of the gifts which gave it the extra touch of home. Thanks mom for your thoughtfulness!! She made me some greeting cards while using some of my little brother's photography, a little note pad with the same picture on it as the cards, then she sent some fun and bright socks to wear, a fun solar powered key chain that blinks my name, one of those stainless steel canteens that people all have now with a hand cut out template of a flower and a message on it, then to top it off she sent me some new fun body wash by Philosophy.

Breakfast was fun and entertaining with Andrew and Mike. They told the server that it was my birthday and so that lead to the server bringing out my breakfast with a lit candle and a happy birthday song. It was fun as I have not had people sing happy birthday to me at an eating place for a long time.

After breakfast we went to the grocery store so that I could pick out my birthday cake (I was going to make my own but since I didn't get much sleep the night before I really didn't have the energy to bake one) and a few other things that were needed. I was just going to have the bakery put "Happy 30th, Amy" on the cake but the boys didn't think that was sufficient. So with that being said the final quote that was decided on was, "21 with 9 years experience". Hey why not?! :) While shopping for the other items, Andrew went off and bought me Happy Birthday Balloons and put them on my car before I got back out the car. I laughed at the whole ordeal. Hey at least the balloons didn't end up in my hair!

My mom called me later in the afternoon and I caught her up briefly on everything since I hadn't spoken to her in a week or so. I thanked her for the yummy smelling body wash and rest of the gifts that she sent. She asked what Rob had got me and I told her that he gave me some quirky items. One was a set of post-it notes that are in the shape of the 10 Commandments, then a cookbook that is titled 101 ideas to cook with canned biscuits, then a little book that is about everything that a woman should know about, a menu planner pad (which will come in handy!), and then a pick me up type of pad that says, "ways to make me happy" and you check off the little boxes for people to read.

Around 5pm the rest of my friends started showing up for dinner. We were going over to Kobis Japanese Steakhouse for some Hibachi! Rob and I went there once before on a date and I knew exactly from that moment that is where I wanted to celebrate my birthday at. My two other friends arrived and away we went for dinner. What a fun experience to have with some friends who are not afraid to have some fun and a little bit of crazy at dinner. I had steak and shrimp for my meats. Everything is good and so it was hard to choose what to do. I had a strawberry margarita with my dinner in celebration for this new maturity I was suppose to be gaining.

After dinner we went back to my house and pretty much hung out. We had cake and played a board game called "Would you Rather...". We didn't really use the actual board game but more passed around the cards and read the questions to one another. I found that to be more fun than trying to play some game of it. :)

So overall I had a good birthday and birthday party. Thank you for all who came out for my party and I will remember this birthday for a long time!!

Cheers to the 3-0!

What a Wild Ride

2010-06-12T11:34:00.000-04:00

I am finding that this summer it is hard to sit down and type out blogs. I guess I have too much going on and so when I finally find some time to sit and type out something I would rather just go to bed.

Rob and I are back in Connecticut. We got back early this week (on Tuesday) from Ohio. Our trip home was delayed by five days due to well my car getting submerged into about two feet of water while driving back to my inlaw's house from a day of rental house hunting in Cleveland. A big thunderstorm came through and flooded parts of the highway that do not normally flood. This is something I kept hearing over and over from Rob and his parents. I was kind of tired of it after awhile because it didn't help the situation of my car. The thunderstorms kept coming for close three or four days in a row and just dumping more and more water. I have included a slideshow from my Picasa album of the aftermath on my car and what the area looked like after so many days of rain and a small tornado coming through.

We finally set home on Tuesday though since I had to be back in Connecticut for a Safety & Security Seminar at work. Yes I have sat through this same meeting three times but it is mandatory for everyone to go. And hey...it was a good excuse to get back to my own house.

I have enjoyed pretty much an easy laid back week for the most part. I am just trying to get caught up on sleep and start to feel normal. I uploaded all of my Florida road trip pictures as well. Slide shows will be included as well for you to see. I just love how this is an option now on Picasa! I hope that you enjoy!!

Florida Trip Part 1

Florida Trip Part 2

Ding dong! Look who is kind of back!

2010-05-29T23:04:00.000-04:00

Yes, I have been busy and going batty. Figure I should fill you in on where I have been lately and update you on how everything is going!! I have tried sitting down and typing this blog out several times...and I do not get very far.

First, lets talk about the camping trip over the week of my third wedding anniversary (May 19th). Camping is suppose to be fun, relaxing, and enjoyable?? Right? Well the first day and a half it rained and rained and rained. Oye!!! In addition to all the rain, our camp site was full of goose poop. Yuck! That stuff is just as bad as dog poo or worse. Before even setting up our tent and all we had to de-poop the site, in the rain. Finally by the afternoon of our anniversary, the rain stopped and the sun came out. My inlaws told Rob and I to leave camp and go enjoy the afternoon doing something fun. Since we were only 30 minutes from Berlin, OH we drove over there to a local cheese company and walked through some tourist type of shops. We found lunch at a place called Chalet in the Valley which is a Swiss/German place. It is known down in the area and Rob thought it would be nice to take me to a place that he liked when he was a kid. The food was ok...but I was really hoping for something else. Oh well. The rain did stop that afternoon and the sun came out to play for the rest of the day. We drove back to the camp-site and hung out with my inlaws until it was dinner time. For dinner we drove over to Pizza Hut and picked up a couple pizzas, stopped at a grocery store to pick up more bottled water and also picked up some lighter fluid in hopes that the lighter fluid would get the camp fire going since a lot of the wood we had was wet from the rain. The next day of camping it was warm, sunny and just awesome. I had to actually change into shorts because of how warm it was. I loved it! The next morning we woke up to twelve Canadian geese honking and fighting at 6am!! I was not pleased. I had one more hour to sleep before the alarm went off. Needless to say since we were all up we started to pack up camp and get back to Rob's parent's house. Over the weekend while still at his parent's house we met up with our dear friends who were also in Ohio visiting family. We had not seen them in about two summers and so it was great to catch up with them!

Now to the good stuff. Monday (May 24), Rob and I left our three dog-children in Ohio to start our travel to Florida. We stopped off in Nashville, TN for a couple of days. I was hoping that the water damage buildings would be open but we found out that still not the case. I chose a hotel outside of the city since the Opryland Hotel is still closed. For dinner...we went downtown though and ate at The Old Spaghetti Factory and then walked around downtown. I was hoping that the Wild Horse Saloon would be open, but nope...it was still closed do to water damage. The next day though we spent exploring the rest of TN and went to the Jack Daniels distillery. What a cool and free thing to do! If you ever get a chance...you all should visit the little town of Lynchburg, TN! After doing the tour we drove another thirty minutes to the TN/AL border, and ended up eating dinner at Sonic over in Alabama. I had never been to Alabama...and so now I only have a couple other states to color in.

Wednesday we got up super early and left the little town of Nashville to head down to St. Petersburg, FL. What a fun day, despite the twelve hour drive south. I finally got to see the city of Atlanta (before this...I had only been to the Atlanta International Airport)!!! Rob drove through Atlanta for me, so I didn't have to deal with the crazy drivers. You all think that Californians or New Englanders all drive fast...well you have not seen people drive in Atlanta!! All you can do is keep up with traffic and you will stay alive. If everyone around you is driving 85 mph...well you better do the same or you will run off the road. The highlight of that afternoon was driving through Macon, GA. If any of you are big country fans...then you will know about Macon, GA.

Thursday was Rob's interview down in St. Petersburg. We will see if he got the job very soon. I seriously could live in the St. Petersburg area. It is so pretty!!! I spent the afternoon exploring the bay front shopping area of the city which was near the hotel. I didn't want to take the car out of valet and then have to fight for parking around the city. I walked down to the famous Pier that was well recommended by many different travel sites. I saw pelicans up close, ate lunch, and enjoyed a trolley tour of the city! I then went back to the hotel where I first attempted to type out this blog. Later on once Rob got back to the hotel, we enjoyed an evening of baseball at Tropicana Field where the Tampa Bay Rays play. The Chicago White Sox were in town and the Rays ended up winning that night.

Yesterday we got up and drove down to Naples which was about two hours south. Such a beautiful city!! Rob didn't care for it as I think it was too upscale for him. I for one would go back there in an heart beat. The sand over at the beach feels as if you are walking in brown sugar!!! We didn't have a beach front hotel, but after dinner we drove over to yet another popular pier to watch the sunset. I played in the warm 85 degree F. Gulf of Mexico water for a bit. The sunset was pretty but not as pretty as some sunsets I have seen in Arizona. I have a feeling that if I came back in the winter time...the sunset would be better. The winter time is when you see the amazing sunsets in Arizona and so I am predicting that it would be the same there, too. I did enjoy it though.

Today we drove up to the east side of Orlando. My good friend, Liz, who I went to high school with lives up here and so I was able to spend the day with her. She and I went shopping and then picked Rob up for dinner. Shopping was a good to me today, though!!! I found three pairs of cropped denim pants, and three tops. Lane Bryant was having a deal where selected capris and pants were buy one get one FREE!!! For all of you big girls out there....this is the time to go shopping at LB!!! Dinner was amazing though...as it was at Sonny's BBQ. When my parents were in Florida a couple years ago they stopped at this place and now this is their favorite bbq place. When Rob and I were driving down to Naples yesterday we actually stopped at Sonny's for lunch. Yes...it is that good that we went to one up here in Orlando for dinner. If you like pulled pork...this is THE place to get it. Sooooo yummy!!!

So that is where I have been lately. Like I said, I have been busy. Tomorrow we will drive to Savannah, GA and stay the night there. Then Monday we will drive back to Ohio and head back to Connecticut on Friday. I am starting to miss my house, bed, and space!! I am loving this road trip and can not wait to share the pictures that we have taken over this two or three week period. The camera cord was left at home so that is why there are no pictures posted here!!! I promise I will get some posted as soon as I can when I get back to the Connecticut house.

Who is ready to be off the Power Grid?

2010-05-15T15:42:00.001-04:00

Tent: CHECK, Sleeping Bags: CHECK, Small Camping Grill: CHECK, Dog Bones: CHECK, Warm & Cool clothes: CHECK! This is just a small portion of what is crammed in the trunk of my car!! We still have a few little items to put in the car tomorrow before we go.

So where we going?? Well, tomorrow we are headed out to Ohio for a week or so. We are driving ten hours to Rob's parents house. The four of us and the five dogs are going camping this week starting on Tuesday. This should be fun, I hope. I have not been camping in a very long time and I have not yet had a major negative memory from camping. We will be camping at a camp-site (sorry, I am not one who camps out in the middle of the woods). The camp site is about an hour west from his parents house.

I say that I am going off the grid, since I will probably not have cell service while camping and I will not be online until we get back from camping. In today's society...if you don't have these two items that you are considered off the grid. Rob though is taking his laptop with us to the camp site since he is in the middle of a job search. I though will be good and not use the computer to check my mail or even facebook. I have told Rob that he is only allowed to check his email twice a day and he is not allowed to be on facebook.

Once we come back from camping which will be Friday...we will go back to my inlaw's house and get everything all washed up. A couple days later, Rob and I are taking a road trip down to Florida! I am excited about this as we are going down there so that Rob can have an on-campus job interview. Yay!!! **Everyone cross your fingers for this to go well!!!** Anyways...since this will be my first trip to Florida we are going to spend most of Memorial Day weekend down there. I booked hotel rooms today and everything is all set.

When Rob is done with his day of interview, then we will drive down to Naples, Florida and spend the night there. I have heard there is lots of shopping there and it is just very pretty. I am hoping to spend some time on different beaches while I am in Florida as well. Then the next day we will drive up to Orlando and hopefully spend the day with my high school friend, Liz. She lives just outside of Orlando and we have not seen each other for about three years. The last time I saw her was on my wedding day in Oregon. After sleeping in Orlando we will then leave Florida all together and drive the two hours up to Savannah, Georgia! Yay!!! We will spend the day and then sleep there, then drive back to Ohio on Memorial Day. Then depending on everything, we will drive back to Connecticut that week.

I am pretty excited though. So after tomorrow evening, you will not be able to reach me by cell phone. Where Rob's parents live there is no cell service. I will try and check my mail on Monday which will be the last day before heading out camping!!

Card Drive for Noah!!

2010-05-14T16:48:00.002-04:00

A dear birthmom friend, Coley...has a son who is autistic and has cerebral palsy. Late this month Noah will go in for surgery to help straighten his back. Coley has organized a Card Drive for Noah. The recovery is going to be long and so the cards will help Noah keep his spirits up.

I understand that a lot of you do not know who Noah is or even my friend Coley, but you don't have to. I have done card drives like this before and it is amazing how a simple card can lift a persons spirit. For awhile I was a member of Chemo Angels where I was assigned a chemo patient and I would send them cards and little gifts once a week. Now did I know this person? Nope...not at all. But I loved it. I loved knowing that I was making someone smile each day!!!

Below is the flyer for more information about Noah. Click on Coley's blog for more information.

Movie Theatre Pet Peeves

2010-05-13T17:12:00.001-04:00

Ok...so this will probably be a long list, but things have been bugging me lately. If I don't tell you then if you are doing them to me or other people then you people will never learn. Hahaha. This past weekend I just happened to pick up on quite a few of them and I just wanted to cringe each time something happened.

Handing me your crinkled up money when I tell you the total amount of the transaction, assuming that I will count it for you, and give you back what you need. I really just want to count the money and keep the extra as a tip if you are too incompetent to unravel your money and give me the correct amount.
Standing in a concession line for 5 minutes and still have no idea what you want when you get up to my register. I really just want to tell you to go back to the end of the line and then maybe by the second time you get up to my line you will know what you want to order.
Yelling at me that I told you that someone was in line before you, and telling me that you have stood in three different lines for ten minutes. What I want to tell you is that if you would be patient and stand in one line then you will eventually get served. But to continue to jump from line to line is not my problem.
Annoyed at me that you are running late for your movie because you tripped over your dog, forgot your wallet, or what ever excuse you have to give me. Next time...try leaving the house earlier and/or have a back up movie planned just in cause the movie you want to see is sold out!
If you are ordering tickets or concession items, get off the phone!!!!!! I find it very rude that you assume that you can not hang up your phone conversation or put the phone down for just a couple of minutes to get your items.
When you are handing your movie ticket to me at a ticket drop location...don't continue to walk and assume I will chase after you to give you back the other half of your ticket. Just be patient, stand and wait until I have torn your ticket and gave it back to you. Also, if you have a large party with you, please have one person have all the tickets. This will speed up the process as well!
Pick up your own trash as you exit the theatre. This will help the usher crew get a theatre cleaned a lot faster, especially if you are in a sold out show!!
If you are under the age of 25, don't be offended if I ask for your drivers license if you are buying a rated-R movie ticket. If you are under 17, don't try and have your parent buy your ticket for you! We know that you are going to try and sneak into the rated-R movie after your first failed attempt and then get a PG movie that is "near" the desired movie. Stay in the movie auditorium that you have a ticket for. This makes everyone's jobs a lot easier!

I kept the list short, I probably could have gone on for awhile...but these are the main ones that myself and other co-workers gripe about. I could probably make a list of what my co-workers and even myself need to stop doing...but that is for another post all together. ;)

Happy Birthmother's Day

2010-05-08T13:44:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthmother's day!! This post is for all of the birthmothers out there today in the world. Birthmother's Day is always celebrated the day before Mother's Day.

I am a member of Birthmom Buds which is an online organization that supports Birthmom's all over the country! I actually volunteer my time each month by writing different articles, collecting birthdays, and even prayer requests for the monthly newsletter.

This month's newsletter was centered around Birthmother's day. I wanted to share with you a poem that was written by another fellow birthmother. The poem was read at the annual birthmom day celebration. I will get to this celebration one year!! But I find this poem very fitting for a day like today. Once again Happy Birthmother's day, ladies!

These Women
by Leigh Harding
(read at Birthmother's Day 2010)

A sigh in the night
A tear down the cheek
The computer goes on
Because she can't sleep.

The words come out
As the tears flow
There is only one place
She knows she can go.

Where the words don't sound strange,
The language isn't foreign
And there is someone there
Who has been where she is going.

Because of their present
They may not know what to say
But the words that are written are
Honest and true.

These Women,
These Friends,
These Sisters.

No matter what we call ourselves
We are tied to the one word
that will always bind us together:
Birthmother.

Movies in May....What's coming??

2010-05-06T16:05:00.001-04:00

Well since tomorrow in the movie business will kick off the "summer movies" I thought I would give you all a little sneak peak on what is in store for the month of May. Some of you will probably know about a lot of them especially if there is a movie that you are excited about. I never really caught onto the whole movie maddness until I started working at the movie theatre. Now I may be excited for movies...but I dread the premier days of each big big movie!! The studios always start the summer off with a big anticipated movie on the first Friday of May. Last year the big movie was X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The year before that was the first Iron Man.

May 7th will be the kick off for the movies. Here is what is in store:
Iron Man 2 which is what most people will be milling into the box office for. Some of you may even be going to the midnight premier tonight with your friends. Some theatres are showing the first Iron Man earlier in the evening at a discounted rate and then see the new movie of Iron Man 2 at midnight. Check with your local theatre to see if you can get in on the great deal! In addition to Iron Man 2, a movies called Babies is coming out as well. This movie is a documentary about looking at four different babies from around the world for one year. Sounds interesting, especially if you are into admiring different cultures, life, and development of humans.

May 14th will bring the new Robin Hood movie. I have seen most of the Robin Hood type of movies and will probably go and see this one, too. By far though, my favorite RH movie is probably RH: Prince of Thieves. So next week I will have to see if this new RH movie is any good. Well maybe not next week...but you know what I mean!! Another movie that is coming out on the 14th is Letters to Juliet. A light hearted movie about an American girl who goes to Italy and finds an unanswered letter. Basically we all know how these movies go...but if you are like me...you will go see this just to get the warm fuzzy feeling. Great date movie...and hey...this comes out just 5 days before my anniversary. hmmmm!!?? Another date night type of movie that comes out on the 14th is Just Wright. Ok...stop for a moment...can anyone tell me who Common is?? I went and looked up what other shows he has played in and I am still stuck. This moving with Common and Queen Latifa does look kind of cute. I have not seen many commercials for this moving only because I tend to skip through commercials when I watch television shows if they have been taped on my dvr.

May 21st will be a weekend for most families. Well that is if a family loves the Shrek movies. The fourth installment of the Shrek movies will be released. This time, the movie will be in 3D. This new Shrek movie is titled Shrek Forever After. This installment just does not look good to me. I think that DreamWorks is trying too hard with these movies and should have stopped after the second one. One of the reviews that I read said that this new Shrek movie was not at the same level as the first two movies, but better than the third one. So who knows. I will probably skip this one, myself. Another movie that will be released this same week is a movie called MacGruber. I have not seen or heard what this movie is really about. I guess I need to get caught up on my movie previews for this week in particular!

May 28th is the last Friday of May. The weekend of Memorial Day, so what will families have a choice to see if they have seen everything that is listed above? There are two movies for people to choose from. The first one is Disney's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. This movie looks good and I will go and see this one. I will let the hype die down with this and see what other people think about this movie. On the 27th of May, Sex in the City 2 will be released as well. For those of you who are avid fans of the first one are probably already counting down the days until this second movie is released. Yes I am a female...but no, I will not be seeing this movie. I never got into the television show and or even the first movie that was released a couple years ago. I guess I will probably never know or understand the hype with these movies, just like I don't understand the hype for the Twilight saga movies either.

So there you have it. You have now seen what is in store for the month of May. In a couple weeks, I hope to show you all what June and July all have in store as well. Hope you enjoy!! Please let me know what you all think about these movies!! I will be curious to hear!

It's official!!!

2010-05-05T13:30:00.001-04:00

Rob and I are going camping for our anniversary. Not what you all thought this message would be about, huh? Some of you thought, "Gasp! She's pregnant!" or "Gasp!! Rob got a job!" No on both of those! But camping it is!

We had loosely talked about going camping for our anniversary, but nothing had been set in stone. We could not decide on where to go until yesterday. We were driving back from Southbury and were talking. I asked the dogs if they would want to go next week to Ohio to see Grandpa and Grandma Schumaker since they got back from Arizona just a couple weeks ago. *My in-laws are "snow birds" and spend the winters out at our house in Tucson with my sister-in-law. They came home in late April this year.* After I said "Go to Ohio..." Rob asked me if I would want to go camping with his parents for next week and I said sure! So he called up his parents to see what their take was on it. His dad said that he would not mind, but Rob would have to convince his mom to go. Rob's mom gets on the line and Rob asked about camping and at first she didn't know, but a little bit of talking and she was on board. She asked about the dates and we said next week, but then the more I thought about it, the more I thought that a couple weeks away would be better. This would give Rob and I some time to pick up the little stuff that we are still looking for, like crank/battery powered LED lanterns, dog ropes and stuff like that.

By the time we got off the phone with his mom, the dates were decided to go camping over the week of our third wedding anniversary, which is in two weeks. Not what most people would probably do, but hey...who said anniversaries have to be about candle-lit dinners at some quiet little corner frilly restaurant? Ok...now that I just wrote....I may be eating my words for years to come...but every couple really has their own way in celebrating. So this year I will spend it with my inlaws out at some camp site in Ohio that is an hour from their house. We will be camping during the week so that it is not so busy. The guy said he was going to charge us the Spring rates!! Sweet!! Anything to save just a little bit of money. In addition to that...our camp sites are right next to each other and right along the river!! Pretty cool huh??

So with Camp Sites reserved, now I need to work on a menu. I figure since I am a picky eater...I would help my mother-in-law with the food for the couple of days that we will be camping. I know she will appreciate this. Then we can make a list of food that we will need. His mom told me that there are a couple little grocery stores near by and so we will drive to the camp sites, get set up and then she and I will go over and pick up the food for the couple of days.

I am very excited. I have not been camping in years and I am sure we will all walk away with stories to tell for years to come.

Christianity & Homosexuality...do they go together?

2010-05-02T14:56:00.001-04:00

I guess I have your attention now, as you know that most of the time I stay quiet about hard issues like this. Today I was catching up on some of my subscribed blogs, I came across Addison Road's Jenny's blog back from April 27th. She does something every Tuesday where she talks about tough topics. This past week or two she talked about this actual topic of Homosexuality with in Christianity.

**I understand by posting a blog like this...I am starting a fire among some of my friends...but I wanted to talk about this.**

Christian music artist, Jennifer Knapp, last month came out saying that she is a lesbian and has been with her partner for the past several years. She came out and spoke with several different news outlets, including Christianity Today. Here is the article that is posted from Christianity Today. Knapp states that she wanted to stop living a lie and finally just come out and tell people who she is as a person and an artist. So does this make her a bad person?? For some of you, the response will be "Yes! She is professing that she is a Christian but yet she is living in sin because she is a homosexual." Others will respond with, "No...she is not a bad person. I commend her for coming out and living the life of who she really is. She can teach the word while living with her true self." And others will sit and say, "Hmm....I don't know. I have to sit and think about this one!"

A pastor, Bob Botsford has posted his own blog about this. He met Jennifer several years ago with her manager when she was thinking about leaving the Christian Music Business because of the lifestyle that she is choosing to live. He kept quiet about what he thought about all of this until Jennifer came out to the public about her private life. You can read Bob's reaction here. I believe that everyone has their right to their own opinion as I have the right to my own.

With all of this coming about Larry King had both Bob and Jennifer on his show a couple weeks ago as well. I just finished watching all four parts of the show that I found over on YouTube. I found it very interesting as well. Since I have all four tabs open I will provide the links for you, so that you can just click and watch. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. I comment Larry for not taking sides (as he has in the past on certain issues) and letting each side take part on what they feel should be said. I think that Larry addresses some good points that makes both sides think.

So where do I stand on this?? Now...I will admit that I don't have all the scriptures memorized and that I have not been to church since last summer...but I do have my own thoughts on this. I believe that even gay and lesbians can have a relationship with Christ. For where is it my job to judge someone for their own sexual orientation?? Jesus says he doesn't need to be defended...that we need to love one another and not throw the stones. I agree with Jenny from Addison Road on all of this. Jenny states in her blog, '"When did Jesus ever stop and tell the disciples, "Look. There are a lot of sins out there. But homosexuality is at the top of that list. So attack it. Attack those people. Take up arms for me. Start the battle. Wage a war for my sake."' I believe that we need to accept everyone for who they are. I know of straight women who have heard the awful stories from other women in sexual abuse groups, and they can understand why some women would change their sexual orientation. Should we condemn them because of what a man did to them?? I think not!

For those of you who listen to Addison Road...are you going to stop listening to their music because Jenny took a stand on what she believes? How about you who listen to Jennifer Knapp?? And I am sure that I will get people who will stand up and tell me that I was wrong for posting this...but if we are suppose to love all...then lets do just that!

May Day & Happy Birthday Denise Johnson!

2010-05-01T20:50:00.001-04:00

As a young girl, I would always look forward to the first of May. Back then it was because I had just over a month until my birthday. I knew that Spring has pretty much really came and I could look forward to warm weather and the ending of school. I remember my mom telling us kids stories about what she and her friends would do on May Day. They would collect flowers, leave them on someone's door step, ring the bell and run away. I just recently went and looked this up and this was one of the old traditions that was done here in the states on the first of May. The tradition states though that if the person who received the flowers on the step could catch who left them, then the leaver would receive a kiss. Other countries have May Day traditions, too. England (and eventually the United States) prop up Maypoles and wrap the pole with long ribbons or flowers.

In modern days though, it seems that May Day is for protesting of all sorts. I do not really care for May Day now. I get tired of hearing about all the protests in each large city and or state. I mean, people protest all the time, but it seems like the only time all of these protests really count are on May 1st. I understand that other countries in the past...May 1st was used for this. But can't we go back to the flowers and Maypoles??

I will say that my dear friend, Denise Johnson, was born on today and is celebrating her 29 plus 4 years birthday, so I can't hate this day too much!! I hope to see her sometime next month and we can celebrate both of our birthdays the perfect way with lots of laughs, good food, and baskets from Longaberger!

(Denise & I back in August of 2008 at her Indiana house)

2 books I am reading...er...listening to..

2010-04-30T21:25:00.001-04:00

Yup...I am multi-tasking with my books now. No I am not reading one in addition to listening to a different one at the same time. A couple months ago I was introduced to the world of audio-books thanks to one of my professors at Iona who wanted us to listen to Tuesdays with Morrie. Since then I have kind of liked the idea of listening to a book while I drive while I am alone in the car headed to work. Why not be productive while driving right??

Currently, I am listening to Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella. Who is Sophie? She is the author behind the whimsical Shopaholic book series. My mom had an extra copy of the audio book and sent it home with me while I was in Oregon. When I got back to Connecticut, I popped the first cd into my car player and entered a new world. At first I didn't know if I would like the book as it just seemed odd listening to it rather than reading it. By the time the first cd was over, I was hooked with the story and I love it. I am almost done with the story, and I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who wants a light hearted story. I am not finished with it...but it is pretty good.

In addition to listening to a book, I am also reading one. I am reading the fourth installment of the Shopaholic series. The fourth installment is called, "Shopaholic & Sister". Now I will say that the first Shopaholic book was probably the best by far, but the ending of each books wants me to pick up the next book to start. I am almost done with this one and will soon start the last Shopaholic book that I have. The newest book in this series will be not be released until December according to the book boards on Sophie's page. By then, I am sure I will be one of the many who are waiting at Borders Books in line to purchase the newest copy. Ok...so maybe not fully waiting in line, but you get the picture.

Once I finish all of Sophie's books...I will get back into my Dee Henderson book which I thought I left on an airplane! Rob found my book though when the two of us were headed to North Dakota. I was very happy to see that I didn't leave the book in the seat back on the airplane and to know that it was just in a different pocket of his laptop bag. :)

I love reading and now listening to books!! I have another audio book to listen to, but I think I will save that for this summer when I am driving to our new house where ever that may be!!

Cabela's = A Man's Disney World

2010-04-29T23:37:00.000-04:00

A Cabela's store has been defined to me by a close friend as a "Man's Disney World". Now sit and ponder this...for those of you who have been to a Cabela's store...do you agree with this friend's description?? I mean Cabela's has anything and everything that a man would need for camping, hunting, fishing or any other outdoor activity. Cabela's even has clothing for both men and women as well.

I have now been to a Cabela's store four times. Yes it is a very large and cool store. If though you do not need anything then one would think that this is just a big store full of outdoor sporting good items in addition to clothing for the whole family. Today though, the trip to Cabela's was different. We went up to the store with a list and an agenda.

Rob and I have talked about going tent camping and starting making a list of supplies that we would need. A close friend told me about a huge camping sale that Cabela's was having which started today. I quickly went to the website to see if I could view the sale ad online and sure enough, I was able to look at everything and even print out the ad for even further detail looking. When Rob and I started making our supply list of what we would need for us to go camping we realized that we didn't own sleeping bags. At first we laughed at the thought and said, "Surely we have sleeping bags at the Connecticut house!" Rob went and looked and found that we did not have bags. I figured mine would have been left at my mom's house back in Oregon as the last time I went camping was close to five years ago with my old church group in Oregon. Sleeping bags were on sale at Cabela's in addition to lots of other items. We figured we should have some type of small burner or grill so that we could heat water in the morning for coffee or hot tea. So that went on the list as well.

After spending about an hour at the store, we walked away with two sleeping bags and a new little Coleman grill which has a one burner to heat a kettle in the morning or evening for coffee. I was very pleased with what we got. The one stove that we were actually looking for was actually sold out and so we had to upgrade. We had looked at another 2 burner stove but figured that we would get the one that had a small grill so that if we would go to a camp site that does not have a grill then we have a small one with us.

Now that we are home, and the tents set up in the backyard for airing out, I am ready to go camping. Yes I have not been camping in years...but I think it will be fun to just get away. Even though most camp sites these days offer free wireless, I will be leaving my computer at home. Camping is about getting away and going back to the simple life. I guess I will have to blog about camping in the future.

Future Food - on Planet Green

2010-04-28T15:16:00.001-04:00

I came across a very cool channel while I was at my mom's house last month. The channel is called Planet Green. Now I am one who has not fully embraced the whole "greeness" like some of you, but I like the thought of what people are trying to do. While I was at my mom's though...I found a couple shows on this channel that I wanted to watch. One was a show that I had already been familiar with which is called "30 Days" which is hosted by the same guy who did the documentary film, "Supersize Me", and the other show that I wanted to see was called "Future Food".

When I got home to Connecticut, I asked Rob if we had this channel. He had hidden this channel from the guide as he thought it was some nonsense channel. Which it might have been if I would not have found a couple shows! So he added it back to our Windows Media Center Guide, and I got busy adding the shows to record.

I have came to love this show called Future Food. It is by the two Chicago chefs who run the restaurant MOTO. Basically Moto creates dishes that are innovative using Molecular Gastronomy. Molecular Gastronomy is basically cooking with science. Like it says on wikipedia, molecular chefs investigate and explain the chemical reasons behind the transformation of ingredients, as well as the social, artistic and technical components of culinary and gastronomic phenomena in general. This show is very cool. I just watched one today (it was an old one) where the chefs made food for kids. The kids were asked what their favorite foods were and then asked to use their imagination on what they would like to see their favorite food made into. What a great way to get kids to eat food, by changing it into something fun. Some of the food that they made was turned into bars of soap, a decapitated deer with brains, some kids wanted eye balls, dirty socks. Now some of the dishes did turn sour and not do too well with the kids, but it was still fun to watch. The episode that I am talking about is Kids Gone Wild.

If you have some time to kill...sit down and watch this show...I think you will find it just as interesting as me!

Been a few days..

2010-04-27T16:11:00.000-04:00

I know...I have fallen out of my habit of posting every day. But it is ok...at least I am telling myself that. I figured I would update you all on how things are going. Work was pretty slow this weekend, which was ok for me. Friday I worked the ticket drop and was sent home an hour early due to it being so slow. I was not going to protest as it was a Friday, I had no plans, and it was nice outside. Of course I was going to just go home, but the thought of being sent home an hour early is always a nice thought!! I am rarely sent home early since most of the time I am the closer in box office or in a different spot where I am the only one for the job at the time. Friday evening we went out to see if I could find some long sleeved gray tshirts. One of the two that I have ripped on the bathroom stall at work. I was not happy as it was a very comfy shirt!! Let me just say that I came home empty handed as most of the shops and stores have switched to the spring and summer clothing which normally does not include light wieght long sleeved shirts. If I did find some...they were shirts that I was not really looking for.

Saturday was spent getting ready for the Open House on Sunday. Rob steamed cleaned the carpets in a couple of the bedrooms while I worked on the kitchen, dusting, and dishes. I had to work Saturday evening and Rob ended up going to work with me to watch some movies. I was in box office which was not very busy again. Just a couple more weeks and I will be wishing it was slow like it is now. I don't mind the slowness as I tend to take a book with me to read on the downtimes.

Sunday morning we woke up and made the finishing touches to the house. We mopped the kitchen, washed up the extra dishes that had not been washed the day before, and made sure that all of our jarred candles that we have around the house were all lit. We tend to have four different candles through out the house that normally light on a daily basis. We will normally let them burn all day and then put them out just before we head to bed. It keeps the house smelling good, even with three dogs! When our agent came by, we left for a couple hours and ate lunch at On The Border. When we got back, our agent said that in the two hours he had three different interests come by the house. One of them was just someone being nosy, another one was a couple with their own agent, and then one was a couple who was renting and looking into buying. So we can only wait and see. We will probably do another open house in a couple of weeks. I need to put another ad on craigslist.org to let people know of our house. Sunday evening I had a little 3.5 hour shift in box office. It was kind of pointless to go in, but I was the closing box office person and so I had to go in. I like box office and so I didn't mind the short little shift.

Yesterday, Rob and I didn't do much. Sparky had a vet appointment as it is the season where he tends to develop hot spots. Sure enough he had a new spot in a new area and he was given a cortisone shot in addition to pills that he has to take twice a day for the next week. Poor dog! Rob and I also drove up to Cabela's to look at sleeping bags. We have thought about going tent camping and realized that we do not have sleeping bags! We don't need to spent too much on sleeping bags, and so we didn't find any at Cabela's. Figure it was good to at least look to see what they had. We stopped a mall on our way home and found the Harry & David store. I picked up some chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate mints, and a Parmesan flatbread. Then we stopped at Yankee Candle and picked up a couple new large candles since we had a coupon.

So as you can see...I have not had much to really report on. Today we are taking it easy here at home. I had a pretty good migrane last night and still don't feel fully back to myself, but better than yesterday indeed! Rob received notice yesterday that Minot State had chosen someone else for the professor position that he interviewed for. He is waiting on one more school to see what the have to say. We are hoping to hear back from them this week. At least that is what they told him last week, so we will see what happens.

Television to the Movies?

2010-04-22T14:22:00.001-04:00

While I was taking a shower this morning I started to think about the movies that are coming out this summer. One that I am looking forward to the A-Team movie. When I got to thinking about that, I wondered what other old television shows would be even comical if they made into a movie.

The Jeffersons or Mama's Family? Ok...how about Punky Brewster? All in the Family? The Waltons? Silver Spoons? Oooh...better yet...how about Sanford & Son?! You all now know that I have probably lost my rocker for just posting all of these shows. But really...how do you think these shows do as a movie that was placed into the theatres? Think anyone would go to them? I guess it would just be who was the actor or actress in the movie and who was directing it. I loved watching Mama's Family as a teen (it was in reruns by then). I love Carol Burnett...and I am sure she would come back to play Eunice!

As for modern day television shows being put to movie, I am sure there will eventually be an ER movie or even a Grey's Anatomy movie since Sex & The City is now onto the second movie installment which comes out this summer.

Back to the A-Team, I just went over and watched one of the trailers. Yes I know, I work at a movie theatre but have not seen a trailer for this movie until now?! Sorry!!! I do get to stare at a huge A-Team movie banner when I work in the box office. So I guess I have that going for me. For those of you who are like me and have not seen one of the many trailers, here is one for you to enjoy!! Click HERE to view trailer as when I tried embedding it, the picture was too big for my template. *sigh*

Well ok, maybe I didn't have much to post on for this...but it just proves to you how random my thoughts are while taking a shower.

Cleaning!

2010-04-21T18:40:00.000-04:00

Today is cleaning day at my house. Wanna come over and help?? I guess I should have asked for help earlier today since we are almost done now.

Oh how cleaning is such a bittersweet task! I know...if I would just keep up on it like on FlyLady.net then I would not be "Flying" through the house trying to get everything done. Rob and I had planned today to clean at least half the house, as we have an Open House showing on Sunday. Our real-estate agent called early this afternoon and asked me if we could have a house showing tomorrow. I said, "Sure! What time were you thinking?" Cliff replied with, "Great! The appointment will be at 9:30am. Will that be ok?" I said, "Yup, we will make that work!" (now in my head I am freaking out as I just accepted now a challenge!! Oh crap! Rob is going to kill me!) But we can't turn down the house showings since we have not had too many. So we will work with it! Cliff replied with, "I wish all my clients were as accommodating as you guys!" I kind of laughed and told him that I would see him Sunday for the Open House. I hung up the phone and ran downstairs to tell Rob who was on the phone. When I told Rob that we have a house showing tomorrow at 930am, I could see the stress level in his head rise from like a 5 to a 7 or 8. Rob responded with, "Ok...well I guess we are going to be cleaning the whole house today rather than just the top level!" I said, "yup!"

We are almost done, though. *phew!* One would think that since we have not been here much...that our house would be in a clean condition for the most part. Well one would not realize how much dog hair is dropped from three border collies, either! Also, we needed to vacuum the upstairs with the pet oder powder stuff to help the house smell better. I love having carpet, but I hate it at the same time due to having so many dogs. Rob ran steam cleaner on two of the rooms as well. Just the high traffic areas.

All we have left to do is the basement. The basement should not be that bad. We just need to dust and declutter, oh ya...and vacuum. Tomorrow morning we will get up and Fabreez all of the furniture as well, light all the Yankee Jarred Candles that we have around house, and I think we will be good!

I will have to let you know how it all goes!

Mexican Food, anyone?

2010-04-20T11:30:00.000-04:00

Salsa, fresh home made chips, Fajitas, Tacos, Mexican Rice, Burritos, Nachos, and Sopapillas....these are the things I love when it comes to mexican food! Ok...so I am obsessed with food, I will admit it. I love food...and I love Mexican food! In my house...this is one of the staples for meals.

Last night was no exception! I had a huge craving for Mexican food, so Rob, Andrew, and I all went out to On The Border. Now I know what you are thinking..."Amy...this is a chain restaurant!" Let me remind you all that I live in New England where you can not find proper good Mexican food unless you go to the chain places! Now if I was still living in Tucson, then please feel free to kick me in the butt, because the chain stuff is not as good as the hole in the wall places! Up in New England though...stay away from the hole in the wall places and stick with some of the chain places!

I didn't know what to have last night for dinner, but settled with ground beef tacos with extra rice as I am not a fan for beans. (It is a texture thing...and I have had it for ever since I was little.) Of course we were getting our fill on the chips and salsa. I kind of wished that On the Border had more than one level of spiciness in the salsa...but that is ok. Dinner was amazing and I happen to have a coupon for either a free appetizer or a free dessert. Since the chips and salsa pretty much serve as the appetizer we used the coupon on dessert. The free dessert that we were able to get with the coupon were the Sopapillas.

What are Sopapillas, you ask? Well think of 3 inch squares of fried dough and then rolled in cinnamon and sugar! Then they are served with honey for a dipping sauce and also some chocolate syrup for dipping as well. I am glad that there was three of us at dinner, because if it was just me, I would have ate all 5 with in just a couple of minutes! hahaha! They were just to die for. The next time I go to the store I will have to pick up some premade dough so that I can make them on my own at home!

Last year, On the Border had something called "Build your own Burrito". Rob and I loved that!! You picked everything for your burrito! We normally would have the piece of paper filled out before our server came to the table to ask us what we wanted to drink. But On the Border has changed their menu and discontinued this item! We were upset, but I have not now really look at the menu to see what I want. It was too easy with this old item. *sigh*

Anyways...what is your favorite thing to order when you go for Mexican food? Also where do you like to go when you get that huge craving for mexican food?

Pictures from North Dakota

2010-04-19T11:37:00.000-04:00

Ok...I am finally getting around to posting pictures from the North Dakota trip. Since most of you probably have seen my pictures from my Facebook page, I will only post a few here, so it is not so much of a repeat. I hope you all enjoy!

This is a picture of the new Grand Stands at the North Dakota State Fair. The white wall is where the dirt track is for the sprint car racing.

Rob at the hotel working on some stuff for the following the next day.

Me relaxing on the bed. My wrist was killing me and so that is why I had to wear the brace. Sucks getting old. ;)

Headed west! On the last full day that we were in North Dakota we drove over to the eastern state line of Montana. Rob had never been to Montana and so why not drive the 3 hours. :)

One of many oil drilling sites in North Dakota. The oil is really booming right now and oil companies are buying up hotels just to be able to house all of their workers!

Bainville, Montana: population under 200 people. We had stopped at a park and walked around. We came around a corner, looked to our left...and the above picture is what we saw. How pretty, I tell ya. Most people would ask why we took a picture of this or how I can say "How pretty"? I guess I recognize the hard work that communities go through if they are in a farming community.

Most of the town in Bainville had dirt roads.

Back in Minot, ND. This is the view of the city from our hotel.

Where I have been...

2010-04-18T11:08:00.002-04:00

Since I like to travel, I like to keep a map of the states and countries that I have visited. Since I had not been to North Dakota, I had to update my map. I just have a couple more states in the USA to visit!! Road Trip anyone?

Back from North Dakota!

2010-04-17T15:53:00.000-04:00

Rob and I had a nice 4 days up in Minot, North Dakota. Where is Minot? When looking at a map of North Dakota...look way up north about 40-60 miles south of Canada and you will find a dot labeled Minot (My-Not). It is a town of about 36,000 people and is the fourth largest city in the state.

Rob and I flew in on Tuesday afternoon and found that their international airport to be only two gates, but only one is used. Good times! We both laughed at each other and said, "Well we wanted an adventure!" I got the rental car while Rob went over to the only baggage claim and picked up our checked luggage. Yes we pay for checked luggage because I hate having to scramble for the correct ounces of liquids to get through security. Just easier for me to check the bag and see it at the final destination. Anyways...we went out and tried to find some lunch. Drove around for a bit and ended up at the mall hoping that they had some type of food court. They did and we had a few choices. I should have went with the Chinese place rather than the Japanese place that I went to. Oh well...I didn't matter. I knew we were having dinner later on with the hiring committee. We drove around for a little bit more and then headed over to the hotel.

The hotel room was nice and we both ended up taking an hour nap, as the day was really catching up to us since the alarm went off at 3:30am. An hour after sleeping and getting ready for dinner we were downstairs waiting for the hiring committee. We met the three gals who were there for dinner and were seated at our table. Now I am always a bit leary eating at a hotel restaurant, unless I at at a Hilton or some place like that. We were told though that everything on the menu is good. I went with a dish that was kind of like a Chicken Parm. Rob chose a salad where some of the other ladies went with a Chicken Stir-fry or Shrimp pasta. We were first given bread with some garlic infused olive oil for dipping the bread in. Let me just say that I am craving this again!! So yummy! Dinner went well and when we walked back to the hotel room I told Rob that I am feeling real good about this interview process for this school. He agreed!

Wednesday morning came around and the department head picked Rob up at the hotel so that I would have the rental car to explore and get to know more of Minot. Well I kind of just hung out at the hotel to relax and just be me for a while. I had lunch down at the hotel restaurant just because I didn't feel like driving out to find something. Around 245pm or so, I met Rob down on campus and we had a campus tour of Minot State. Such a lovely campus. I was able to meet up with one of the Social Work professors and get some general information about their program. I will talk more with whatever school we end up at as the time gets closer. After the campus tour, the department head took us over to a real-estate agent. the real-estate agent showed us around town and the different houses that may be up for rent or even for sale. She told us more about the city and made us just feel like we could really live there. :) We then had another dinner with the department head at a place that did Italian and American food. Good food, but just kind of odd that they market the place for more Italian food, but yet you could order steak and ribs if wanted. After dinner, Rob and I drove over past the state fairground and saw the dirt track where they race sprint cars on. One of the drivers that my dad tends follow on the World of Outlaws circuit was born in Minot and made his start there. The family still lives there where the driver resides in Fargo.

Thursday, Rob had only a couple hours at the school and was back at the hotel by 11am. We went and found some lunch (at Hardee's) and after a couple more trips back to the hotel we were on the road for the rest of the day. We drove over to Bainville, MT which is one of the closest eastern towns in Montana that is near the Western North Dakota state line. Rob had never been to Montana before and so we thought a 3 hour drive one way would be fun. It allowed us to see what else was on the northern western part of North Dakota. Not much except for tons and tons of Oil digging machines! North Dakota right now is on a boom for work! If you are looking for work, North Dakota is the place to be!! Oil companies are buying up hotels just to house their workers! I kid you not! Also you better be good about peeing on the side of the road if needed because there are not any rest areas available and only a handful of gas stations. One with a weak bladder, I had contemplated a couple of times on that three hour trip one way. You all laugh now...but you would do the same if you were in my situation. We ended the day with dinner at a no so bad Mexican restaurant back in Minot. The service was poor, but the food was pretty good for being that far north!

Friday morning we woke up early and packed everything up. Our flight didn't leave until 115pm, but we wanted to get breakfast, drive up passes the Air Force base and see some of the other areas of Minot before leaving. Breakfast was at Perkin's. Oh how I have missed Perkin's! If we move to Cleveland or Minot I would have Perkin's around. Perkins is kind of like a Denny's or an Ihop, but I think it is better than any of those! Well not as good as Chip's here in Connecticut, but no one could compete with them! After exploring a little bit more and wasting off some more gas in the rental car we headed back to the airport. Rob and I were both sad that we were leaving and said, "I would come back here, even though there is hardly anything around!" So call me crazy...but it is true! Next time we come back we will bring the passports so that we can go up into Canada. :)

Our flights were less than desirable...but hey who said that flying would be the best thing in the world back in economy! When we got to Minneapolis we did try to pay for a first class upgrade but since there were already so many Delta Elites waiting for an upgrade we were turned down. We were back in economy both squeezing in middle seats. Bleck! Why make a middle seat?! I mean really! And if you are going to have a middle seat...can you make it just as big as the window and aisle seat with the arm rests down?! I always realize how "big" I am when I fly and have to sit in the middle seat. *sigh* I know...it is a sign...I should get back down to a weight that is more desirable to the US standard. That will be for another blog posting! We arrived back at JFK International airport and pulled up to the driveway of our Connecticut house pretty late. The dogs were excited to see us but so tired as they had been sound asleep with Andrew. The two girls ended up staying downstairs with Andrew where the "old man" Sparky went upstairs to his own bed with us.

Today, Rob and I are taking it easy. I will get some pictures posted in a day or so. I have pictures posted over on my facebook page that some of you have seen already. Anyways...it is good to be home to sleep in my own bed, wear my comfy sweats and not have to worry about impressing anyone. ;)

Salt Water Taffy

2010-04-12T18:08:00.000-04:00

Growing up in Oregon, I had the privilege of going to the beach a couple times a year. At best my family would go about once a year. I knew though that a trip to the beach would consist at stopping for some salt water taffy in Lincoln City, Oregon.

What is salt water taffy? Does it really contain salt water? Well I had to go look it up on wikipedia because I didn't know myself. haha. I just knew that it tasted good and that was good enough for me. According to Wiki...salt water taffy first originated in Atlantic City, NJ. A taffy store was flooded with salt water after a big storm in the late 1880s. A customer came in and asked if they had any taffy, and the store owner said, "no...but I have some salt water taffy." the customer bought some and the name has stuck ever since.

In Lincoln City, Oregon there is a candy shop on HWY 101 that has the best salt water taffy. It is on the right hand side if you are headed south on 101 and you can not miss this place. It is a white building with red stripes. This is the place that my family has stopped for years to pick up a bag of taffy for our ride home. The place is called Read's Homemade Candies. They make the candy right there on location, but are known for their taffy. I have been in there at times to watch the taffy machine working with pulling the taffy back and forth and wrapping the mixture over and over each other.

So what are my favorite flavors?? This place has lots of different flavors ranging from vanilla to root beer to watermelon. I grew up liking BUTTER CREAM, VANILLA, CHOCOLATE, MINT CHOCOLATE, and PEPPERMINT. When I was in Oregon last month, I stopped at this taffy shop and picked up a bag of taffy. It was just as good as what I had remembered it!

Pictures from my trip to NYC

2010-04-11T15:04:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures from Rob and my trip to NYC early this past week. We had such a fun trip even though it was a rough start to the day.

Hope you enjoy the pictures that were taken!

Rob walking past the Trump Building.

Riftstone Arch in Central Park.

It was such a nice day! Pretty warm, but there were still lots of people out enjoying the afternoon in Central Park.

Looking at the pond towards the west side of NYC.

Bow Bridge with some row boats

The building behind me is the famous Loeb Boathouse. This is where you can rent the row boats and enjoy some time rowing in the pond.

Bethesda Terrace

Rob trying to find a restroom. We think we saw something on the map about a restroom on the otherside of the Bethesda Terrace.

Ceiling Tiles in the Bethesda Arcade, so pretty!

This has to be one of my favorite places in Central Park so far! I feel as if I am in ancient Rome or something...

We took a stroll through the Metropolitan Museum of Art since we were near by. Rob had never been there before, and so it was fun to walk through with him. I though could go another ten years before walking through the ancient Egyptian stuff!

We walked through the Modern Art Exhibit, as well.

Last but not least, you can't be in the Times Square area with out walking over a couple of streets to the fashion district. I can not sew to save my life, but I love the people on Project Runway!!

Photos from Oregon

2010-04-10T14:08:00.000-04:00

Here are some photos from my recent trips to Oregon.

I hope that you enjoy!!

Renee and I after a day of eating, shopping, and coffee!

Christy and I...don't we just look Hot?! Ok...so this was taken after only getting about 4 hours of sleep. Oh how I missed our conversations!!! Went to sleep around 4am and woke up around 8am to head back to my mom's house to get ready for the rest of a busy day!

Kaylee and I. When I go to Oregon, I always make it a priority to go visit my lil miss Kaylee. Hard to believe that she is 6 years old!! We had a great visit! Thank you again, Naedean and Kaylee for having my mom and I down for a couple hours!!

My small portion of Clam Chowder at Mo's in Taft, Oregon. My family loves this stuff...but I could go either way. I am glad that I tried it again...but I think I will stick to my grilled cheese!

Even though it was cold and a bit misty rain...I had to get out and get my picture taken at the beach. The waves were huge the day we were there. Didn't go down onto the beach because of the weather. We did see some people in the freezing cold pacific ocean though.

My dad and I.

And last but not least, the family cat - Freddy. He is close to 17 years old. He is getting pretty cranky and really only likes being around my brother.

New Movies for week of April 9, 2010

2010-04-09T19:01:00.000-04:00

This was another slow week for new movies opening. My theatre only got two new movies where some other theatres may have recieved three or four depending on the market they are in.

The two new movies this week that my theatre got were: Date Night and Letters to God.

Date Night - Stars: Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg - The Plot: In New York City, a case of mistaken identity turns a bored married couple's attempt at a glamorous and romantic evening into something more thrilling and dangerous. **This movie was the popular one today at box office while I was working. I do like Steve Carell and Tina Fey and so I would go see this movie for a good laugh.**

Letters to God - Stars: Tanner Maguire, Jeffrey Johnson, Robyn Lively The Plot: A young boy writes letters to God as he fights cancer, inspiring, among many other people, a postal worker tasked with "delivering" the boy's mail. **From what I have read, this movie is from the same guys who brought us Fireproof last year. In the eight hours that I worked today, only two people asked for tickets to this movie. I have not heard anything about it or have seen any trailers for this movie. If you liked Fireproof and Facing the Giants then you would probably like this movie as well.**

So that is it for this week's movies. The rest of the month will be some what medium for movies as everyone is waiting for May which will kick off the start of the summer blockbusters.

Busy day in the City...

2010-04-08T21:54:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, Rob and I took an adventure down to the City (aka NYC). I was able to check off a couple things from my New England Bucket List, which I thought was pretty cool. Yesterday it was such awesome weather, so why not spend it outside?!

The morning started out pretty rough, though. I am not going to lie. I took too long getting ready, and so we left the house a little bit later than I had planned. I had thought about catching the 850am train, but since we left the house late, I figured we could catch the 930am train. We hit massive traffic trying to get into New Haven for some reason. So by the time we got over to the train station and attempted three times to find parking we both were just stressed. Rob was to the point that he just didn't want to go...but it was what I had planned and I was not going to let the morning get the best of me. We hiked up to the train station (had to park about 10 blocks from the station), purchased our tickets and Rob thought we would still be able to catch the 930am train. Just as we neared the steps to the 930am train platform, we heard the train pull away, so we caught the next one which left at 1010am. No worries...we just had to wait.

Just before noon the train arrived at Grand Central Terminal. Rob asked if we could go find some lunch at like a McDonald's. So we purchased our subway tickets and caught the shuttle train to Times Square. I knew of two McDonald's there in Times Square and so I went to the one that was the closest. After lunch we went back to Grand Central and took a different train down to Wall Street. Now for my fellow friends who know the subway, you are thinking, "well why didn't you take this # train down to Wall Street from Times Square?" Well we would have but I forgot my handy-dandy laminated subway map at home (it is packed and I need to really find it!) and so I was going off the hand written directions I had from the night before provided from Google Maps. We made it down to Wall Street and we were able to see the outside of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). I am pretty sure there was formal enterance, but we didn't bother looking for it. Just seeing the building was enough for Rob and we also saw Trump Tower.

After walking down Wall Street we took another subway up to Central Park. I wanted to see a few things there as I had never been to Central Park. Items I wanted to see yesterday were, Bow Bridge, Bethesda Terrace, and the Boathouse. We got into the park and I was trying to follow yet again the hand written directions that I wrote down from the night before. Well...once you are in the park though...there are no street signs! Oh ya...and no maps available to pick up and know where you are. After wandering around we did find a map on a pole and found which we needed to go. It was pretty hot...and wanted to find something cold to drink, as well. We first saw Bow Bridge. Bow Bridge is one of the famous bridges that you seen in a lot of the movies that are filmed in Central Park. It is near the Boathouse and so you tend to see people in row boats rowing under the bridge. After that we walked over to the Bethesda Terrace. Yet another famous area that you tend to see in movies as well. Remember the scene in the movie 27 Dresses where Tess tells Jane that she wants to get married at the Boat house? Well that is Bethesda Terrace!! The fountain was not turned on yet, but the whole area was just so pretty. We did see a bum sleeping in the underpass of Bethesda Terrace...but the tile work on the ceiling is just gorgeous!!! After that we went and sat on a park bench for awhile. We actually found a slightly shaded bench! We sat and talked about what we should do next and decided to walk over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Rob had never been there and so it was perfect to go, too. I just loved Central Park! There were quite a few people there since it was such a nice day. I would love to see more of the park!!

The MET was, well the MET. They did have a new Modern Art exhibit, which was cool to look at. Some of the stuff I could go with out seeing again if I went back to the MET (like the Egyptian stuff). After strolling through the MET we decided to go find some dinner. Since Rob chose where we ate for lunch, he let me choose where to eat for dinner. I chose to eat at ESPN Zone down in Times Square. I kind of thought about eating at the Boat house, but 1) we were not dressed for a place like that and 2) I didn't want to spend tons and tons of money for dinner! ESPN Zone had awful service and I will probably never eat at one again. We waited close to 10 minutes after being seated at our table before our server came over to ask us for our drink order. Now yes they were a little busy, but not slammed! It just seemed one thing after another with dinner. I am glad we ate there...but after dinner I kept thinking of other places that we could have ate at. *sigh* I guess I need to ask some friends where to eat next time. hahaha.

After dinner we walked through Times Square, saw where the New Years Ball drops from, and walked through part of the Fashion District. I was able to see where Parson's was since I am a fan of Project Runway. I can not sew to save my life...but I love that show. By the time we were done with that we walked up to Grand Central. We walked past Bryant Park (which was cool too!) on our way up to Grand Central. Bryant Park is smaller than what I had imagined it...but can see why it is used for Fashion week.

Once we got to Grand Central, we bought our tickets and caught the 804pm train back home. It was a pretty full train as it was the first non-peak train from the City. All in all it was a good day. I am glad that we went and I hope to get down there one more time or so before I leave!

Headed out again!

2010-04-05T21:51:00.000-04:00

One would think that all I have been doing is living on an airplane or anywhere but my own house lately. Well one would be correct. Rob and I just bought tickets for Northern North Dakota today. Rob has a job interview up there and I had really thought about staying home for this one, because I have been gone so much. Then when Rob told me that the school is wanting to do a two day interview in addition to meeting with a real estate agent to show us some rental properties and the area, I changed my mind. Plus...I have never been to North Dakota! One more state to color in on my map!!

So we are headed out next Tuesday (4/13) from JFK Airport. We could have flown from Hartford, but we would have been routed from Hartford, Atlanta, San Antonio, Minneapolis, and then Minot! As much as I have been flying lately...I am still not a fan of it! So we opted out of that flight! Flying up to Minot, we will just have to change planes one time in Minneapolis. Coming home on the 16th is a different story! We could not find any fun and easy flights. Good thing I now have Xanax for my flying anxiety!! I will need it for coming home for sure!! We will leave Minot and fly to Minneapolis, then change planes and fly to Atlanta, and then back up to JFK. Oh joy! Oh did I mention that the only seats available from Minneapolis to Atlanta are middle seats?! yup...I am not kidding. Maybe we will be able to change seats when we get checked in, but I am not holding my breath. I am not too fond of sitting in the middle...but I am use to it. I will just make sure I take some good books to keep me occupied! :)

Relaxed and Refreshed...

2010-04-04T16:30:00.000-04:00

So it has been a couple days since I have been home from Oregon. Figure I should fill you all in on how the rest of my trip went. Normally when I am in Oregon I am running from one place to another then stop at my mom's to sleep for a few hours and then back up and run again. This trip was very different. I am sure I upset people because I was not calling everyone to set up meetings and get together's with them. I figured...people knew I was in the state since I had posted it on facebook and they all had my number. So if they wanted to see me...then they knew how to get a hold of me.

So Wednesday like I had said, I had one of the most amazing hour full body massages with a focus on my upper back. I really did need that. I didn't realize how much tension I had built up in my muscles. I think I will be scheduling another one out here. I have just a little bit of money left on a gift card that I was given a couple years ago. :)

Thursday was spent with one of my best friends, Renee. She and I went to lunch, did some shopping, and then spent a couple hours sitting at Starbucks. I always know when I am around a true best friend. How?? Well, two friends or even a group of close friends...they can be separated for a year or even more, but then once they are back together in person things pick up as if no one was apart. That is how Renee and my other best friends are with me. I miss that...and I love it! Thursday evening I went to dinner with my parents and brother.

Friday was spent with my Grandma Schneider. We ate lunch at Old Spaghetti Factory, and yes I had meat sauce with Mizithra cheese over spaghetti. Grandma even tried it and thought it was good. Rob is a bit upset that he can not find this type of cheese at Whole Foods. I just laugh at him. Friday evening was spent over at my other best friend's house. Christy and I ordered a pizza and watched a couple movies. Before that Friday, she had never seen the movie "The Hangover". *GASP, I know!* She laughed through it just like I thought she would. We then watched "Zombie Land". What a dumb movie!! I don't get it...how was this movie suppose to be drop dead funny? (No pun intended?) After that we just at and talked and talked...I kept looking at the clock and finally at 3:45am I asked Christy if I could just sleep at her house. I know the back roads to Canby, but it was late and I was tired. So I slept a couple hours at her house before I headed back to my mom's house. I hated to leave so quick from Christy's in the morning...but I had to run home and get ready to see Kaylee!

Saturday afternoon was spent down in Albany having a visit with NaeDean, Kaylee, and my mom. Kaylee is getting so big, and she is very creative. She had made me a poster that said, "I love Amy" and it had two hearts on it because she loves me a lot she said. We had a good visit. She is still very much into Barbi, princess stuff, but she enjoys playing soccer as well. Saturday evening, I went to church with my parents. It had been awhile since I have been to church. I can not wait to get into a new area and get connected with a church that I actually like or feel connected, too.

Sunday was spent at the beach!!! Yes it was cool, a bit rainy and windy...but that is the Oregon Coast. We had lunch at Mo's, went shopping at the outlet mall, and then get some taffy at the taffy shop that my family always stopped growing up. I went in and grabbed a couple handfuls of each flavor. Well not every flavor, just the flavors that I grew up enjoying. We took the long way home from the beach as traffic was pretty hectic going the way that we would normally would drive. So we drove down through Corvallis and then up I-5.

Monday I spent several hours up at the mall with my friend Sarah who just got back in the states. She spent the past five months in Vietnam. She looks great, and we had some awesome conversation over lunch and then coffee. It was a perfect setting since it was a typical Oregon spring rainy day. I was thinking that I was going to hang out with another friend for dinner, but she never called and so I drove back to my parent's house.

Tuesday was spent doing absolutely nothing. What an odd feeling it was, but yet something that was needed. I caught up on some of my shows that had been posted online and just sat at home doing nothing. When my mom got home, she asked if I wanted to run with her over to Grandma's house and then go pick up my dad from the bus stop. So I got my shoes on and we were off. After we picked up dad we decided to go get some dinner and ended up at The Ram. The Ram is a brewery that is in Portland as well as just a couple other locations through out Washington and a few out east. Well Indiana is the most east they get, so far. They have good beers and very yummy ribs!

Wednesday I spent sleeping in late and then having lunch with my mom. For dinner we went downtown to my dad's office. We went to dinner at this place that was a block over from his office. He thought it was just some bar and grill...well it was more of a uppity bar and grill. You know one of those places that has one sheet for the menu and you just really want a burger but there is no burger on the menu. Ya it was one of those places. It was good to try something new, but would probably not go back to that place. We then walked down to Voodoo Donuts, but they were too busy. I really just wanted to get a tshirt...but realized I could get a donut and a tshirt on my next trip to Portland. :)

Thursday, I had to fly back to Connecticut. I finished my Confessions of a Shopaholic book and wished that I would had another book to start, but it was ok to just sit and do nothing. If I would have had Rob's Sony Reader, then I could have had several books to read, but that is ok. I am one who likes to hold the actual book rather than a device and "turn the page" on the screen.

So now I am home and back to the same old busyness. Work is not as busy as what I thought it would be with it being Easter weekend...but maybe that is because it is almost eighty degrees outside and sunny. I am not complaining!!

So there ya have it. Once I get the pictures off loaded from the camera I will share them with you!!

New Movies for FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 2010

2010-04-02T21:35:00.000-04:00

Wow...so I have been out of the loop since I have been in Oregon!! I figured it was Friday, that I would start back up with announcing what the new movies are for the week. I will blog later more on how my trip to Oregon was. :)

Clash of the Titans - Rated: PG-13 - Stars: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes - The Plot: In a loose adaptation from Greek mythology, Perseus (Worthington) who was born a god but raised as a man, sets off on an epic mission to combat Hades (Fiennes) before he can seize power from Zeus (Neeson) and unleash hell on earth.**I could go either way on this movie. Rob saw this movie today and didn't really care for it.**

The Last Song - Rated: PG - Stars: Miley Cyrus, Liam Hemsworth - The Plot: A drama centered on a rebellious young woman (Cyrus) who is sent to spend the summer with her estranged father, who abandoned his family in the past. **My mom and a few other friends read this Nicholas Sparks book and said it was awesome. I had a male co-worker watch this yesterday and he said it was ok...but definitely better than Dear, John. So I don't know...I just put the audio book for this on my iTunes and it will be on my iPod soon!! I can not wait to listen to the story!**

Why Did I Get Married, Too? - Rated: PG-13 - Stars: Janet Jackson, Tyler Perry, Jill Scott - The Plot: Four couples reunite for their annual vacation in order to socialize and to spend time analyzing their marriages. Their intimate week in the Bahamas is disrupted by the arrival of an ex-husband determined to win back his recently remarried wife. **My sister loved the first one...and I know she is looking forward to this new one. If you like the other Tyler Perry movies, then you will probably like this one as well.**

Late postings...This is for Thursday

2010-03-26T03:20:00.000-04:00

So my postings will be probably late compared to normal...only because my Blogger is set up as east coast time setting. Where I am on the west coast right now...I am three hours behind. I was going to post something earlier today, but I just got busy.

My trip here in Oregon has been just perfect. I can not believe that on a normal trip, I would be pretty much flying in on a day like today and then flying home on either Sunday or early Monday morning. eeek!!! I am learning that I need to take more time for myself and not try and do these super short trips. Yesterday was spent alone for the most part. I just sat at my mom's and watched tv and got caught up on what I needed. Then I went over and got an hour massage, which was just amazing!!! I carry my stress in my upper back...and all on my left side of the most part. it was amazing...and totally what I needed!!

Today was spent with my best friend, Renee. We went to lunch at Olive Garden and then walked through the mall...then ended our afternoon at Starbucks back in town. Time like these are when I miss being so far away from my close friends and family. Dinner was spent with my parents and brother at Red Lobster. Yummy...oh yes indeed!!

Friday will be spent with my grandma and hopefully my best friend, Christy. So that is what I have been up to so far. :)

I have made it!!

2010-03-24T17:30:00.000-04:00

Yup...even with my fear of flying...I have made it to Oregon. But with the help of some xanax I was able to fly with out any anxiety or feeling that the plane was going to crash and kill us all. *I am just real pleasent to fly with, really. hahaha*

When I checked in at the airport, I was given a seat assignment for Hartford to Minneapolis, but then a "Seat Request" for Minneapolis to Portland. (Yay!! I was put on stand-by!! Just what I wanted to deal with!) My flight from Hartford to Minneapolis was pretty smooth. There was a few bumps but nothing drastic...and why is it that it gets bumpy just when the flight attendants decide to come through and pass out some drinks? Never fails! Anyways...the flight was not extremely full, which was nice for a change! I had a window seat right on the wing (my favorite spot to sit in a plane because it is the most stable place inside the plane), and then there was a guy in my row on the aisle. it was nice to not have someone sitting in the middle seat!!

When we landed in Minneapolis I checked the screens to see where my next gate was. I was in terminal G and I had to go to terminal F. No worries...I had an hour and a half, so I went to find my gate then went and found some dinner. I was not super hungry but thought I should eat something so that I am not starving on the airplane!! When I got back to the gate, I was hoping that there would be a gate agent at the counter so that I could get a seat assignment. Well a gate agent didn't arrive to the gate until probably 15 minutes before the plane was suppose to board!!! Talk about annoying!! But I was given a seat and I was happy. OOh....Row 5A. Sweet...I will be nice and close...and oh is this first class? Well no...it was not first class but it was the row right behind first class. So I was given lots of leg room! Yay! I felt like the flight was not ever going to end. I was getting restless and just wanted to be out of the plane. I could feel the meds wearing off...but didn't want to take another pill as I knew I only had an hour or so left. So I just put my nose back into my "Confessions of a Shopaholic" book. btw...if you are looking for a fun fast paced book...you need to read that book!! Such a funny story!!

I arrived in Portland a little bit early, but had to wait awhile for my bag. This is the disadvantage of being able to get off the plane so quickly. I even took my time getting down to the baggage claim. *sigh* anyways...I found my bag and went back upstairs for my parents to pick me up at the curb.

So now I am here in Canby. I slept amazing!! I tell you there is nothing like sleeping in your childhood house. Maybe it is just me. I was wide awake around 630am...but then I ended up falling back asleep. Guess my body is still kind of on the east coast time.

Hope you all are having a fabulous Wednesday!

Going home to the City I love!

2010-03-23T12:00:00.000-04:00

In about 5 hours I will be boarding a plane that will be part one of two for my trip to Oregon. I am so excited and this trip is long over due. Ok...so it has not been a full year...but that is a very long time for me to be away from my beloved state. :) I will be home with my parents for about nine days. Well less than that since it takes pretty much a whole day to fly and all. I guess that is better than driving or taking the train which would consist of a week or so. Oye!!

I am looking forward to this trip. Like I said in an earlier post about my trip...this will not be a trip to be driving all over the state or city and back to see as many people as I can. It is a time to just sit and breath. I can not wait to see some of my closest friends and family, as well as the beloved pacific coast. My mouth is watering now about the thought of having a grilled cheese sandwich at Mo's over in Lincoln City and some fresh salt water taffy. yummy...yummy!!

I hope to blog everyday and keep up on my blogging while I am away. :)

Need a great Photographer in the Portland Area??

2010-03-22T23:09:00.000-04:00

So I thought today I would help out a good friend of mine who just came back from Asia. She is one of my favorite photographers...and I thought I would give a shout out to Sarah Marie Photography in Portland, Oregon. If you all enjoyed my wedding pictures like this one...then you will love the rest of her work.

She is on Facebook and is hoping to build her clientele with more than just wedding stuff. Please look her up.

Ramona Quimby on the Big Screen!!!!

2010-03-21T11:40:00.000-04:00

Last night while was watching the trailers for the movies that are coming out this summer one movie made me very excited. I grew up reading all of the Ramona Quimby books by Beverly Cleary.

Well this summer, they will be releasing RAMONA & BEEZUS (which is the first book in the Ramona series) as a movie in all theatres!!! Oh I am so excited!! I saw the trailer last night and I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning!! Rob probably thinks I am a freak...but he didn't grow up reading these books. I feel as if a Harry Potter has just seen the trailer for their favorite book of the series. Ok, long stretch...but I think it works.

Beverly Cleary is from the Portland, Oregon area...and so Ramona and her family are from Portland in the books. When I was first reading these books when I was in grade school I didn't realize that. When I got older though, I found this out and loved the books even more. I am tempted to go and buy the whole Ramona series so that I can add her back into my book library. I know...I am such a dork...but I can't help it!

Anyways....here is the trailer for the movie which comes to theatres in July. Oh I can't wait!!

Taking a Break...

2010-03-20T23:32:00.000-04:00

Yes, you read that correctly...I am taking a break. I need a break from a lot of stuff and I am going to take care of myself. I had a break down a couple weeks ago on the phone with my mom. Her response was, "It sounds like you need to start working on you rather than trying to be superwoman!" I guess I needed that "ok" from my mom to really sit and look at everything. So with that being said, I have done a few things already!

I have put my schooling on hold until Rob and I get to the new school. I just hated going down to Iona fully knowing that it was my last semester. I felt overwhelmed, over worked, and getting nothing out of what I was doing. "But Amy, you dropped our classes in only the second week of classes!" Yes...I know I did! I just couldn't do it anymore. My classmates were driving me nuts and when I was in class I was counting down the minutes until I was able to leave. "But Amy, what about your internship?!! You can not just up and leave something like that!" I feel awful that I left my internship. It was good for me to just cut ties from everything that was part of Iona. I am hoping that the hours that I put in will count when I transfer into the new Social Work program at the new school. "But Amy, by doing this you are going to be behind when you go to your next school." Yes I may be a little behind, but I will go in with a good GPA from the Social Work Program from Iona. I didn't want to continue the classes, do poorly and ruin my GPA. I am hoping to get down to school on Monday afternoon to officially drop my classes. I would have done it all when I was down on campus this past week, but due to a large rain & wind storm that came through the NY/CONN area over the last weekend, the Arts & Sciences building was closed due to having no power. If I do not get down to campus on Monday then it will have to wait until I get back from Oregon.

Yes, that is the second thing I have done. The same night after I got off the phone with my mom, I booked a flight to Oregon. I leave on Tuesday (March 23rd) for nine days!!!! Yes, I am very excited to see my family, a few best friends, and of course Kaylee. It will be a week of relaxation, rejuvenation, and evaluation. This trip will not be me driving all over the place every day to try and fit everyone in before I leave. I have kept my trip on the "DL" as I didn't want to fill up the week and running myself ragged when that is not what the trip was intended for.

Another thing that I did is started searching for a counselor that I can talk to on a weekly basis. I am hoping to find one that is covered my insurance so that I am not paying out of pocket. I was hoping to call a few people this past week, but time got a head of me, I guess.

So this is me. I am here to take care of me...and if you don't like it...well tough. My social work professors have all said, "You have to take care of you, before you can help someone else." I have heard that from other people as well, and so now I am getting off the train and doing what I need to do.

New Movies for weekend of MARCH 19, 2010

2010-03-19T23:29:00.000-04:00

I realized that I forgot to do this posting last week. Oops!! I guess it was because I was not at work last weekend. So here...I will be getting back into the swing of things. Below are the new movies for this week. 

The Bounty Hunter - Rated: PG-13 - Stars: Jennifer Aniston, Gerard Butler - The Plot: A bounty hunter (Butler) learns that his next target is his ex-wife (Aniston), a reporter working on a murder cover-up. Soon after their reunion, the always-at-odds duo find themselves on a run-for-their-lives adventure with a bunch of New Jersey heavies in pursuit. **This looks cute...it was popular for today when I was working the box office.**

Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Rated PG - Stars: Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron, Rachael Harris - The Plot: Greg Heffley (Gordon) uses the journal his mother forces him to keep to plot his middle-school survival. **This movie is based on the children novel of the same title. I have seen the books in Target and they look really cute.**

The Runaways - Rated R - Stars: Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Michael Shannon - The Plot: A chronicle of the groundbreaking Los Angeles band The Runaways, who formed in 1975 and were led by teenagers Joan Jett (Stewart) and Cherie Currie (Fanning). **I don't know much about this movie to say yes or no on it.**

Getting a cold...

2010-03-18T23:42:00.000-04:00

yup...that's right...I think Rob and I are coming down with colds. Oh I love how the weather is changing...but I hate how my body reacts.

So this posting will be short as I have a headache and probably should go to bed. I hope that my readers are feeling ok!!!

Baseball Hall of Fame

2010-03-17T23:55:00.000-04:00

I can now say that I have been to Cooperstown, NY. What is in Cooperstown?? If you are asking this question then you must not be a baseball fan or a very serious one at that. Cooperstown is the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. This is where I spent the majority of my day.

Last night, Rob was asking me what I wanted to do on a Tuesday where the weather was suppose to be so nice. I told him that I didn't really know. He asked if I would like to take a four hour drive north (one way) to see the Baseball Hall of Fame. I didn't see why this would be a problem...so I agreed. I figured since it was going to be a nice day, it would be fun to just be out and about rather than sitting at home all day.

Cooperstown, NY is out in the middle of no where. I kept thinking, "Are we there yet?? How much longer? I really have to pee!" Finally we see a sign that says we have three and a half miles to go. Yay!!! We find parking up in this itty bitty town and try to find some lunch. Easy right?? Wrong! Not a whole lot was open at 11am, and we wanted to eat before going into the Hall of Fame. We found this little bar & grill that was serving lunch. Next stop, Baseball Hall of Fame (BHoF)!

Note, if you are planning a trip up to the BHoF, I would suggest going during the week and not during the summer, especially BHoF week when all the inductees are in town for the special ceremonies. Also, please allow at least three to four hours to see everything!!! I could not believe how much stuff they had in there. The museum encourages you to take flash photography and even video!! Now how cool is that?! It was pretty quiet today, and I was not going to complain. I think in three hours, I saw only about ten different people. I loved it!! Rob and I were able to go at our own pace with out people waiting behind us or trying to shove us through or shove in front of us.

I think my favorite part of the hall of fame was the area where they showed which movies have been around a baseball theme. Wow...there was a lot!! They showed some artifacts from those movies, and stuff like that. One of my favorite baseball movies is "A League of their Own". It is based on a true story, which makes the story even better. After walking through that section, makes me want to sit down and watch some of the baseball movies we have here at the house.

All in all, it was a good trip. I am glad that I went...but don't know if I would go back only because it is really in the middle of no where and there is really no good way or easy way to get there. If you are a baseball fan, I encourage you to go.

The Old Spaghetti Factory

2010-03-16T21:40:00.000-04:00

I grew up eating at this place and I miss it dearly! (The picture above is the Minneapolis, MN location) One may look at the menu at this place and say, "Well it is just another Italian place...what's the big deal?" Well the big deal is that this place first opened in Portland, Oregon in 1969 within an old warehouse. The decor was old antique mixed matched items. It had just a certain look for it. The owners wife helped set up the decor by picking up stuff from garage sales to give the restaurant a unique look. I was never able to go to the original location as it closed down before my family went to it. I grew up going to the one that was in Portland and the building had a purplely-blue roof. It was always a big deal to go as it was just fun to sit in these different types of tables where the seat backs are old headboards, and footboards, old high back chairs.

Old Spaghetti Factory has low and reasonable prices for a meal that comes with bread, salad, a main course, beverage, and a scoop of icecream!! I grew up having spaghetti with meat sauce. Now that I am older I have been a little bit more adventurous. Since we were in Minneapolis this weekend, I was able to eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory location there. I was extremely excited, as I have not ate at an Old Spaghetti Factor since I lived in Oregon. I got to looking at the table mat while waiting for dinner, and realized I have ate at many of the locations listed o the table mat. I even worked at one of the locations in Oregon when I was twenty-one years old.

Some people would think it is strange...but I think I want to try and visit each location. There are a ton in California...but I still think it would be fun. My sister does this with Hard Rock Cafe's and so I am going to do this for Old Spaghetti Factory.

To see if there is a location near you, or near a place that you are visiting please click on locations.

What a weekend...

2010-03-15T19:35:00.000-04:00

What a weekend!! I had fun, but I am glad to be home for a little bit. Figured I should update my readers on what I did on the trip. As I mentioned...Friday I spent the day walking around the city on my own. Where I left off was for what happened Saturday.

Saturday was spent at the Mall of America (MOA). Rob and I got up early to get ready for the day. I wanted to get over there early to try and beat the crowds. We walked over to the light rail and unfortunately missed the first train. We caught the next train though and was down to MOA thirty minutes later. I was starving by this point and so we ate at Cinnabon. Ok...so shoot me...not healthy for breakfast..but I was on a mini-vacation. So leave me alone...ok?! Anyways...after eating a delicious Cinnabon, Rob and I decided we needed to get a game plan together on how we were going to do the MOA. We decided we would take one level at a time. We walked clockwise around the mall as it was easier that way. I didn't have any major stops that I wanted to make except for Lane Bryant and then a tourist type of shop to pick up a few things. Once I stopped at both of those which didn't take long, we just walked the mall. By lunch time the mall was picking up quite a bit and we tried to avoid the food court. It was extremely hard to even walk through the food court and decided to just eat at one of the many sit down food places that would be away from the food court. So no Chipotle this trip! yes...I was bummed too. The place we ate at though was pretty good. Yes spendy for what we would normally spend on lunch...but worth it to be away from so many people. After lunch we walked the top level of MOA and then decided to head back to the hotel. So what did I think about MOA?? I am glad that I went, but I don't know if I would go back. It had the same stores that you would see in any major mall through out the country. Yes, there were some specialty stores that are for only Minnesota people...but I don't understand how you could spend a week there.

Once we got back from the mall we ended up just relaxing. Walking so much tired me out, and it was nice to just sit and do nothing. For dinner we walked over to The Old Spaghetti Factory. We had ate there on Thursday evening with some of the interview committee, but I wanted to eat there again before we left. Plus the area that we were in, we didn't have many choices for food that was reasonably priced. Thinking it was 8pm and a Saturday night, I thought we would have a long wait for a place like this. I was surprised when the hostess told me that it would only a twenty-minute wait!! Really?! On a Saturday evening?! Where does everyone go on a Saturday evening for dinner in Minneapolis?? Just nuts, if you ask me! After dinner we didn't take a direct path home. We ended up walking over by the Mill City Museum again. There was a special event going on, so even if it was open, we would not have been able to go through it. That's ok, though.The rest of the night at the hotel we sat and watched LA Ink on TLC.

Sunday morning was spent packing everything up and getting out to the airport. Our flight was on time, and overbooked. We though were not on stand-by and was thankful as the next flight to Connecticut was not for another eight hours. eeek!!

I slept pretty good last night. I always sleeping in my own bed! There is the sense of security. I have not uploaded my pictures yet to Facebook or Picasa. I am hoping to get that completed tonight.

Just a tease...

2010-03-14T23:42:00.000-04:00

Here is a tease of what my photos from my trip look like.

I will post one picture....will blog about everything later.

I am too tired. :)

Looking down from the Flour Tower at the Mill City Museum.

Best place to eat?

2010-03-14T00:20:00.000-05:00

Oh how I have missed this place!!! I will miss it tomorrow when I leave Minneapolis.

What did I do?

2010-03-12T23:44:00.000-05:00

Since I had the day to myself today, I took it easy. I woke up around 9am...pulled up the blinds to be greeted with rain. I asked myself if I was in Seattle or Portland due to the fog, rain, and grayness of the city today. I took a shower and got ready for the day. After some email checking, catching up on last night's episode of Survivor, and a few other things, I decided I should get outside for awhile.

I walked down to the Mill City Museum. It is the old Gold Medal Flour mill. Such a cool place to walk through. I will post pictures when I get home. After spending some time learning about the old mill, I strolled down along the river front. Minneapolis is turning a lot of the old mills into urban apartment living. After the riverwalk stroll i went over to the Metrodome. By this time I was getting hungry and thought I could find something to eat. The only downfall to the area we are in does not have much grab and go type of food. I didn't want sit and eat some big expensive meal for lunch. I ended up going back to the hotel and grabbing a snack.

Rob got back from his interview and we headed downtown. While I was over at the Metrodome...I found that there is a light rail system that runs from the far end of downtown to Mall of America. So we rode the light rail downtown and saw Target Field which is the Twin's new field starting this season. After that we walked around down in the area, found a crappy mall with a little food court. I didn't want to spend too much since we are going to Mall of America tomorrow. I can't wait!!!

Made it safely...

2010-03-11T23:40:00.000-05:00

Some of you know that I have a slight fear of flying. When I started flying to different places alone and I reached my destination...I would call my mom and tell her that I didn't die. Yes I get odd looks when I say that while walking through the airport...but it is has become a joke between my family and I.

So I didn't die today since I am here typing this while sitting in the hotel room in Minneapolis, MN. It was over-cast today, but I didn't mind. Rob and I spent the afternoon in the hotel room. It was good to just sit and not do much.

Tonight for dinner we ate at Old Spaghetti Factory. Oh my...how I have missed this place!!! So yummy!! I think this place is better than Olive Garden. I know...that is hard to say...but oh wow.

More to report tomorrow. I may try and go to a museum in the afternoon if the weather stays kind of ok.

All packed...

2010-03-10T21:56:00.000-05:00

Yes, you read that correctly! I am all packed and ready to go. Rob and I are heading out in the morning for Minneapolis, MN. I am excited to get away for the weekend. Rob has an interview on Friday and so I will spend the day just relaxing and literally taking a personal day. I know that I sure need one!!

Tomorrow evening though will consist of having dinner with some of the people from the college. I am excited because dinner will be at The Old Spaghetti Factory, but yet nervous because even though it is just dinner it is a low key part of the interview process.

Saturday will be spent at Mall of America! Shopping here I come! I need another pair of jeans...so this is just perfect. :)

Sunday we will be flying back home. So yes it is a quick trip...but one that is well needed in a way for both of us.

Home movies

2010-03-09T16:32:00.000-05:00

Last night, Rob and I spent quite a bit of time going through our video clips that were recorded from our digital camera. I am bad about transferring the clips over to the correct folder when I off load the pictures and videos from the camera after getting home from a trip or anything else. So last night was a time that we sat and renamed all the files for the videos.

I got to thinking that when I was a kid when we would want to watch something that we had recorded we had to dig out the video cassette tape that was labeled with what we wanted. Then I thought how kids today will just go to the family computer or television media center to find the videos they wanted to watch.

Rob and I got to laughing at some of the clips that we watched last night. Some were, "Why did you video that?!" or "I am so glad that I got that on video!" I thought I would share you a few. Enjoy!

City Slickers - no...not the movie

2010-03-08T23:31:00.000-05:00

Ok...I have to get something off my chest. I really hate "city slickers", but I love the movie (if you really want to know). I am not speaking of the movie though. I am talking about the term that country folk use on people who are trying to "act" country.

City Slickers are the people who show up at country music concerts, rodeos, and county fairs wearing their country attire that they just bought at the store the week before for the special event. I can not stand these people...honestly. I know these people think they are just trying to fit in...but they really just stick out like a sore thumb if you ask me. I know people like this actually. These people are the ones who never grew up doing 4H, FFA, never sat in the pig barns on a hot summer day during the fair, and don't know what part of the pig is used for bacon, ham, or sausage. I was not in 4H or FFA, but I have sat in the pig barns on hot summer days during the fair and at one time I did know what part of the pig was used for what kind of meat.

I grew up in a small country type of town...but I lived in town. So I do consider myself a country girl...but I do not go around dressing like one since I lived in town. I had many friends who lived outside of the town limits...and so they wore the boots, felt and straw hats. I loved every minute of it. I miss the country way of living actually. I miss the slowness of it but yet at arms reach of the big city amenities.

I will get back to the country way of life one of these days somehow. But for now I will just be irritated at the City Slickers all dressed up at the fairs, rodeos, and country music indoor and outdoor concerts.

So I watched it...

2010-03-07T13:24:00.000-05:00

Last night at work was busy...but a controlled busy. It was pretty much only busy for one movie...yes you can guess what it was. Alice In Wonderland of course! Guests coming in kept asking me if I had seen it or heard anything about it, and I had to keep telling them no. When the busyness really died down I looked to see if there was a 3D showing around the time I was getting off from work With my luck there was! I called Rob on my break to let him know that I would not be home till real late since the showing I was going to watch was the midnight showing. I then texted my friend to see if they were busy or even wanted to see a movie. I figured they would be busy, but they said they would meet there for the movie.

12am rolls around and the previews start. EEEE!!! I am so excited!! First time watching a 3D movie in the theatre that I work in. Yes, my theatre has had 3D capabilities since late last year, but I waited until now to experience the beauty of this type of technology. The previews for the upcoming attractions looked somewhat interesting. They are sadly remaking the original Karate Kid movie. I am already shaking my head with the movie as they are really changing up the story. I don't know...will just have to see when it comes out. The new TRON Legacy movie looks interesting. I remember seeing parts of the old one and so I would probably see the new one that will make an appearance later this year. Then of course Toy Story 3. I am a sucker for this movie series and will have to watch this movie as well. There were a few other previews as well.

Then the movie started!!! I was so excited. I felt like a child on Christmas morning to open the presents that has been looking at for three or four months. About thirty minutes into the movie I started thinking, "This is going to pick up once Alice falls back down the rabbit hole and enters Wonderland, right?" Well that happened...and I said, "ok...well it will pick up when Johnny Depp comes into the picture right?" Ok...so it did...but ehhh...I was let down. Almost like the same child who had been looking at the presents for three or four months to just keep opening up presents that were socks or other unwanted clothing with maybe one little cool thing that they kind of wanted which was ranked pretty low on the wish list. I walked away feeling let down.

I think that if the movie could have been PG-13 and been able to develop something more...then it may have been ok. Or had even a bigger twist and did a movie only on the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp's role). Anne Hathaway was annoying as the White Queen. She just bugged me on how she talked and did everything in the movie. Helena Bonham Carter who played the Red Queen was pretty good. Tim definitely had fun with this character's role in the film. Johnny Depp was good for what was given to him. He just was not given a major role in the film. If I had to choose between Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter or Willy Wonka...I would choose him as Willy Wonka. At the end of the movie there is a scene where you see Alice on a boat headed off for a new journey. As cheesy as the movie was getting I was almost expecting Johnny Depp to appear as Captain Jack Sparrow. It may have worked in some odd way.

Tim Burton...I think you failed on this one. Good try...but stay away from Disney next time you want to make a movie.

Cheap Movies!!

2010-03-06T15:06:00.000-05:00

I am always looking for a deal, especially when it comes to movies. A couple weeks ago, Rob noticed that the Hollywood Video over by the grocery store had a "going out of business sale" going on. He went in and saw that the older movies (probably 6 months or older) were all on sale for a discounted price. The next day I went in with Rob and probably picked up nine or ten movies. A lot of them were 3 for $20. Well today when Rob went to the grocery store he noticed that there were new signs up at HV. This time everything was on sale, including all new releases. He called me up to see what he wanted me to pick up. Well it is hard to say what I want when I don't know what is there. So I told him to pick up a few and then I would go down when he got home.

I went down alone (probably a bad mistake!) to see what I could find. Well I came home with 24 movies. Yes...I did say 24 movies. So what all did I get? A little bit of everything. Some movies that I have not seen, some that I have seen, and some that I have not seen in a long time.

Here is a list of what was purchased today:
MILK
THE SOLOIST
17 AGAIN
DUPLICITY
GAMER (which I purchased for a friend)
A NATIVITY STORY
W.
RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
FAME (2009)
CHRISTMAS VACATION
ENCHANTED
LOVE'S ABIDING LOVE
LOVE'S ENDURING PROMISE
LOVE'S LONG JOURNEY
CITY SLICKERS
3:10 TO YUMA
NICK & NORA'S INFINITE PLAY LIST
POST GRAD
THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3 (2009)
STATE OF PLAY
BREACH
HOTEL RWANDA
JULIE & JULIA
CHARLIE & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (2005)
and a few more.

Rob told me today that is a sign. A sign that we will end up someplace cold where we can not go out of the house all winter and we will be able to sit and watch all of the movies that I just bought. I laughed and said, "No...this is the best time to pick up movies because it is cheaper than buying them online and paying for shipping and handling. :) Yay for an awesome deal today!

You're Late! Your Late, for a very special date!

2010-03-05T22:09:00.000-05:00

This week there were only two new movies opening nationwide, but you would not know that since Tim Burton's "Alice In Wonderland" opened this weekend. The other movie this week was called Brooklyn's Finest. Below is the synopsis for both of these movies....

Alice In Wonderland - Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp - The Plot: 19-year-old Alice (Wasikowska) returns to the magical world from her childhood adventure, where she reunites with her old friends and learns of her true destiny: to end the Red Queen's reign of terror. **Now you all know that I love Johnny Depp. I will be seeing this movie as I have been totally waiting for this movie. I am a fan of most Tim Burton movies as well. There are a few Tim Burton movies that I have not seen due to I was just not interested in then. But when it comes to Tim and Johnny working together I do like what I end up watching. I have not seen this new movie yet, but I will soon. Hopefully this weekend...but I may wait for the big hype die down a little bit. I don't know. I am not listening to what people are saying about the movie.**

Brooklyn's Finest - Stars: Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke - The Plot: In Brooklyn, New York, three veteran cops (Gere, Hawke, and Cheadle) struggling with their own personal and professional dilemmas dispatched to a notorious housing project, where they will each collide with destiny.**This movie looks interesting. I am curious about this one. Maybe because I like the actors in this movie, I don't know.**

Well that is what is out this week. Still popular at the box office is Avatar, Shutter Island, The Crazies, Crazy Heart, and The Blindside.

Cheating, I think not!!

2010-03-04T21:17:00.000-05:00

Last night was the first night of my Social Welfare Policy class. Before class started, a classmate from my Human Behavior class from last trimester stopped by to hand me back an item that she had borrowed. I thanked her and I went back to my desk.

STOP THE TAPE....time out...let's refresh from a couple weeks ago...

Remember how last trimester my professor informed us that she was strongly encouraged by a full-time professor that the class should read Tuesdays with Morrie?? *shaking your head...right? lol* Now, remember how my own professor had told us to go out and get the book on cd/tape and listen to it so that we could discuss it on the last day of class. The full-time professor had expressed that some type of paper should included with the book. Well my professor decided since it was so late in the semester and a different paper was already assigned to not worry about a paper. 

ROLL TAPE...back to my original story...
When I got back to my desk I opened the cd case to ensure myself that all the cds were in there. I knew where my classmate was going to be just in case one of the cds was missing. The guy sitting next to me who is taking the Human Behavior class this trimester looked to see what I had. When he noticed that I had the "Tuesdays with Morrie" on cd he looked at me and called me a CHEATER!! I was mad that he would call me that with out knowing why I had that!! My response was, "How am I a cheater?" He responded with, "You have the book on cd!" and I told him, "This is what my professor asked for me! So how is that cheating?!" Oh I was upset!!! I was thinking in my head...this is not cheating even if I had to read the actual book to write a paper. It is not like I am reading the Cliffnotes of this book. The audiobook was the entire book and not an abridged version. I drive a ton so why not listen to the book, buy the book as well so that I have page numbers to refer to in the paper that is probably required?? If this guy was smart, he would go out to the Borders store this weekend, get the cds, listen to them and be done with the book!!

I was thinking that I was going to have to take an English Lit. class last term. When I told my advisor that I am a bit leery about taking the class as I am a slow reader. She said, "well maybe you could find the books on tape and listen to them while you are driving to and from work or to and from school." So obviously listening to books on tape is not a form of cheating if my own advisor is suggesting such a thing to help me in a class!!

I am ready to be done with this group of students. I wish I was in with the Seniors. Not because I want to be done with school, but more because I like the group of seniors for the social work department. *sigh*

Just eleven more weeks left of classes at Iona. I can do this. I will ignore what people may tell me to throw me off course...I will stride through and get what I came here to do.

New Carpet

2010-03-03T15:40:00.000-05:00

Late last month, we had new carpet installed to our master bedroom. One would probably not consider our bedroom to be the master only because it is not the largest bedroom in the house. When we moved into this house I wanted to have the guest bedroom on the main floor near the main bathroom, and so that opted for Rob and I to have the second largest bedroom which is located upstairs.

A person would say, "Amy if you are selling your house, why did you have new carpet installed?" Well to answer that question we must step back in time to last year about this time. Rob and I decided to have a neighborhood party at our house to celebrate the opening day of the 2009 baseball season. We placed each of our dogs in a separate bedroom thinking that this would help eliminate so much barking during the party. Well come to find out after the party was over, Casey has separation anxiety issues!! She had tried to dig her way out of the bedroom by the door, and destroyed probably a 2 square foot area of the carpet. We pretty much just cut the ruined part of the carpet out which now showed the old hardwood floors which looked pretty beat up. Jumping back into this year...when we decided to put the house on the market we figured we would get new carpet for that bedroom, as a selling feature of the house. I am glad we did because I had forgotten how stained that carpet was before we moved in. Nothing like moving into an old teenager's room. Need I say more, I don't think so.

The new carpet looks nice and I wish we would have done this sooner, so that we could enjoy the carpet a little bit longer. We only did the room itself rather than the small closet and the walk-in closet as we wanted to keep it as cheap as possible. By looking at the carpet you would not know that it is a cheaper priced carpet. Gotta love how I pick something that is cheap but still looks good. ;)

Here are a few pictures of what we have now.

Picture of room looking from small closet

Picture looking from Walk-in Closet

Johnny Depp = Strange?

2010-03-02T18:36:00.000-05:00

Since March's blogging theme is "STRANGE" I thought that blogging about Johnny Depp. When one thinks about Johnny Depp one would probably say that he was a pretty strange person. He chooses off the wall roles in movies but yet suceeds in all the roles he plays. I have personally loved Johnny Depp ever since I was an adolescent. I think my first exposure to Johnny Depp was the movie Edward Scissorhands. Now that movie could be a whole blog "strange" topic of its own. As dark and kind of creepy as that movie is...I do still like it.

So why is he in so many Tim Burton films?? Well, they are best friends! Two Hollywood outcasts that felt like they knew each other. And yes...any movie that Tim and Johnny create together are very odd...but I think that is why I like them. Johnny Depp is one of those actors who will not let Hollywood type cast himself. He said that he will pick which roles he plays and that is why we have seen him play many different roles. Take Edward Scissorhands and the role that he had in that...then look at him in the role in movies such as Don Juan DeMarco, Chocolat, or From Hell. All three of these roles are very different, but were pulled off very well because he makes the character more than what it was ever written to be.

I find it funny when people tell me that the Pirates of the Caribbean were Johhny's first movies. I tell them, "Nope sorry you will loose this argument. Johnny has been around a lot longer than these movies! Try looking back before you were born! I would classify myself as possibly a Johnny fanatic like some people may classify themselves as a Twilight fanatic. I can not believe I just gave that analogy. Wow...but yes...I do love Johnny Depp. I have watched his biography on the A&E channel a couple of times. When I watch that I realize that I have seen just about all of his movies. Yes I will admit that I have not seen some either because they were too scarey for me or I just didn't know about them.

One of my favorite Johnny Depp movies of all time is "Benny & June". I just love him...as the character and how if this was played by someone else...the movie would have failed. I also like the movie "Blow" which is based on the big cocaine drug lord back in the 70s. I think he makes this movie only because he was kind of going through his own druggy, scummy period of his own life at the time of this movie was film. I do love him in the Pirate of Caribbean movies as I can not think of anyone else who could play Captain Jack Sparrow! Well and who else could play John Dillinger?? What a fine looking man Johnny is in every movie he is in.

And yes, I will be watching his new movie, "Alice in Wonderland". shhhhhh...don't tell me that it looks bad or wierd, or anything you have read about it. I want to go and see it with out hearing what people think or have heard. It is best for me to form my own opinion. Of course though...this movie will be weird and strange because it is Tim Burton AND Johnny Depp together again.

CBS: Undercover Boss

2010-03-01T22:06:00.000-05:00

Anyone else watching this show: CBS Undercover Boss??? Each week this show goes to a big business and the CEO goes undercover in their own company to see how the front lines are now currently running. I didn't tape the first episode of this show, but I was told by a couple of people that I should check out the show.

The following week, Rob had taped the second show with out me knowing. What an interesting show!!! I think that each and every CEO should step down and remember how they worked in the entry level positions of the company that they may have forgotten how it feels to be in that position. If every CEO of every large company did this...then I think there would be a lot more happy employees working their every day job! I also think that if a company is purchased by a new CEO, that the new CEO should seriously work the front line to really see how the company that they were handed over really works. AMC Theatres had a change in the CEO just this past year (2009). I remember sitting in the conference call listening to all of this and hearing the new guy say how much he loves going t the movies and how honored he is to work for a great company for AMC. I remember him saying, "...and I will be personally coming by to visit every theatre that I can." I also remember thinking, "ya right...like you are going to come to the AMC up here in Danbury Connecticut!" As far as I know he has not came to visit our theatre.

I do like how the CEOs on this show look for how they can improve their companies by either improving the quality of life of the employees or even the efficiency of the company. One show I thought that a manger of a store would be fired due to how he was treating his female employees!!

This show is great though! If you have not seen this show yet, please do me a favor. Just tape one episode of it or find it online to watch one episode. You will not be sorry!

Tomorrow is March

2010-02-28T14:42:00.000-05:00

Well tomorrow will mark the first day of March. I thought I would spend today with saying what the theme for the NaBloPoMo for March. I got an email yesterday announcing what the theme is and how one may look at it.

The theme for next month's 31-day blogging challenge is STRANGE(R). All kinds of oddities are up for your blogular examination. (Have you seen this octopus video, for example?) If strange doesn't strike your fancy, remember the old saying, "Strangers are just friends we haven't met yet"--there are billions of them on the other side of your door, maybe one (or thirty-one) of them is worth a look?

So I will try and write on this one. I didn't write on this past months. I kind of forgot about it.

Happy Saturday...

2010-02-27T22:07:00.000-05:00

hello to all of you. hopefully you are having or have had a good saturday. I had to work which is nothing special. It was pretty slow for the morning and did pick up slightly...but it just seemed to drag on for quite awhile. I had the oppertunity to watch the movie Precious, but I didn't take up on it as Rob went to work with me today and so I would have had to arrange for someone to let our dogs out to pee because we would have been away from the house way too long. I heard though Precious is coming to dvd on March 9th. So I will wait then and rent it. I have heard mixed reviews on it and how it has a sad ending, but I still want to see it.

Hard to believe that tomorrow will be the last day of this month!! Where did the time go?? I am looking forward to March though. I am thinking March will be a good month. Monday, Sparky-dog turns 9 years old. What an old dog. He will be pampered with a trip to McDonald's or some place for lunch, then a trip to the park (weather permitting), then a trip to PetsMart, and then dinner out somewhere as well. Yes we treat our dogs as if they were children. We will have to find a small cake for him as well. haha In addition to Monday being Sparky's birthday, Monday is "HAPPY AMY DAY!" What is this day?? Well it marks the monthly anniversary since Rob and I were matched on Eharmony. This was all Rob's idea. So I will be taken out with Sparky to do all things Sparky does, too. No....ok...maybe not exactly all of that...but I get to pick the places that we go and where we eat. :) Rob has a phone interview on Tuesday (March 2nd) with Minot State University which is located way way up in Minot, North Dakota. Yes people do live way up there. haha. Tuesday also marks the first day of Spring Trimester for Iona. It will be my last term at Iona. We also have a campus interview in the middle of March up in Minneapolis, MN and by the sounds of it, Rob may have a campus interview at Cleveland State as well if the cards keep playing like they are.

So that is me...hope you are well, too. :)

New Movies for weekend of FEBRUARY 26, 2010 & AMC Best Picture Showcase Event

2010-02-26T13:42:00.000-05:00

Once again, this week is pretty slow for new movies being released nationwide. Looks like quite a few people went and saw Shutter Island last week.

If you have quite a bit of time on your hands for the next two Saturdays, AMC Theatres is hosting their annual Oscar Nomination Showcase. It normally is only one weekend, but since there are ten nominees this year, it is broken into two Saturdays. The events consists of being able to view all ten movies in their entirety, so that one will be able to make up their own mind which movie should win. For more information on this event please click on the link here. This is a great deal though. 2 full Saturdays, 10 movies, for only $50, or a one-day pass for $30! You will receive a free refillable popcorn bag for the entire day on each day, in addition to a special event lanyard (at least that is what has been given out in the past.) Last year I had seen almost all five nominations, but this year I have only seen a few. There are a few on the nomination list that I am curious about, but in order for myself to watch these...I would have to buy one of the tickets to see that movie. Unfortunately you either buy for the entire day. One can not pick and choose which movies they want to see and only purchase tickets for that those showings. I have heard of people in the past buying for the whole day, figuring out what time each movie is playing, then come and go as they please for the entire day.

New movies for this are the following:

The Crazies - Rated R - Stars: Radha Mitchell, Timothy Olyphant, Danielle Panabaker - The Plot: As a toxin begins to turn the residents of Ogden Marsh, Iowa into violent psychopaths, sheriff David Dutton (Olyphant) tries to make sense of the situation while he, his wife (Mitchell), and two other unaffected townspeople band together in a fight for survival.**Once again this is a horror flick. I do not do horror flicks and I will not be seeing this film.**

Cop Out - Rated R - Stars: Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan - The Plot: A comedy about a veteran NYPD cop (Willis) whose rare baseball card is stolen. Since it's his only hope to pay for his daughter's upcoming wedding, he recruits his partner (Morgan) to track down the thief, a memorabilia-obsessed gangster. **This movie looks pretty funny. If I had two hours to spare...I would sit and watch this one.**

Internship update & progression

2010-02-25T18:02:00.000-05:00

I have been working with my Internship at ARI for almost two months now. Hard to believe that it has already been that long. Today I had my first counseling type of session with a girl that we will J. She is 21 and I was just getting to know her a little bit today to make her feel comfortable with her being around me. I took a pad and paper with me to help record how the conversation went so that if I had to do a process recording, I would have at least something to go off of. :) The session last for about 20 minutes. I thought it had only been 10 minutes and then realized that it was already 20 minutes. I will start out at 20 minutes, but will eventually have a full 30 minutes to an hour with J. My supervisor wants me to work with J to explore what she thinks a relationship is and what a friendship is. It was a good short session...we didn't break any ground quite yet. Give it a couple sessions...and then maybe I will get somewhere.

In my group work...I am observing or using behavior analysis with the special needs adults that I work with. Today the job was to help place price tags onto some shawls that will be soon sold at a store like Burlington Coat Factory. Anyways...I was sitting down next to one L who tends to have jealousy issues when other people talk to me. She will tell them to shut up or be quiet. I worked with her today though and told her that was mean of her to say to her friends and she needed to pretend other people were not making noises or talking to me. She gets distracted real easily and so I modified her job. Her job was to take the shawls out of the package, place them into a pile so that I could put the price tag on them. What did I do?? I made the job a game. I asked her to just concentrate on five bags at a time rather than the whole stack. She would then count out her five, open them, place them on the pile. I would reward her by saying, "good job! Now do another five!" She was getting antsy with about twenty minutes before lunch. I told her, "ok...lets see if you can finish that whole stack before you leave for lunch, ok?" She agreed and wanted me to time her. With this she completed the stack that she had with in 15 minutes. I was proud of her and told her she did a great job! When I left for the day (at lunch time for her), I told her, "Now when you come back from lunch, I am not going to be here. So just pretend I am sitting right here and asking you to do five at a time." She liked that idea and I told her that I would check back in with her on Monday when I am in next.

When my group goes to lunch, I head upstairs to talk to my field supervisor and give him the run down on what has happened. He was impressed that I worked with L and made some type of progress. He said, "see! you are using the behavior analysis that I have been teaching you for the past two months!" I felt that finally all of this is clicking. I am just hoping that I will get my full 100 hours in by May. At this point...it will be awhile as I only work 2.5-3.25 hours each time I go in. I know that the readings that I am doing is counting towards my hours as well. I would have more hours in if this snow would not have came so often.

Country music...

2010-02-24T15:08:00.000-05:00

No this post is not going to be a list of the songs that I have randomly selected off my iPod that I tend to only listen to when I am sitting on an airplane. *gasp* I know...you are now in shock that I do listen to my iPod as much as you or anyone else that you know.

Anyways...some people are under the impression that I am just getting into the whole country music scene. Guess you all don't know that I grew up listening to country. My childhood to early adolescence I listened to the Christian music with artists of AMY GRANT, SANDI PATTIE, and MICHAEL W. SMITH. Now don't look away...this is my roots...and I still like listening to these artists to this day. Amy Grant was the first person who I saw in concert when I was 10 years old. She has always been my favorite. Listened to her really old albums until the tapes would become extremely warped. I am excited to hear that she will be releasing a new cd with new songs later this year. Good for her! I have seen Michael W. Smith in concert many many times.

In my teenage years to my young adulthood (which I am still in for another five years) I have listened to a variety of music. Christian, country, classical, rock, show tunes, alternative. I just go through my phases. I listen to one genre for awhile until I get tired of it, then I move over to one of the other genres that I like, and so on. Lately it has been country. I like the country from the 90s and some of the current stuff. So one would say that a friend converted me to enjoying Jason Aldean...but what this person would not know is that I liked Jason Aldean back in 2005 when he debuted with the songs Amarillo Sky and Big Green Tractor.

So who are the artists that I have liked and currently like?? When I was in high school I listened to John Michael Montgomery (saw him in concert a couple times with a friend), Clay Walker, Lori Morgan, Martina McBride, Dixie Chicks (this was before they spouted off, and ruined their career), Tracy Bird (saw in concert in the pouring rain), Mark Chestnut (have seen several times, once in the pouring rain at the same concert with Tracy Bird), Kenny Chesney, Faith Hill, and Tim McGraw. After high school the country music was really booming. This was when Shania Twain had came into the light and changed what country music was. I loved her music and will probably always love it. She made country music fun to listen to but still had the passion and roots that country music is all about. After high school I enjoyed listening to Shania Twain (who was amazing in concert), Trick Pony, Martina McBride, Clint Black (boring in concert). Currently I like all the artists that I have mentioned before in addition to Zach Brown Band, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, and Lady Antebellum to name a few.

If you have not heard of any of these newer artists...I encourage you to check them out.

short posting

2010-02-23T23:10:00.000-05:00

Tonight will be a short posting. I don't have much to say...but wanted to get a daily blog in since I have been blogging everyday since the first of January. Good for me, as I would say. It is sometimes difficult to sit down after a busy day or during a busy day to post a blog. Sometimes like tonight I just feel like i don't have much to say.

So how was my day? It started out a bit slow as I didn't sleep well last night. We had to move out all the bed and furniture stuff in our bedroom last night since the carpet guys were coming today to put in the new carpet. "But you are selling the house, amy...why put new carpet in?" Well we had to put new carpet in just that room because it was pretty stained (from the previous home owner) and casey (our youngest dog) dug probably a square foot of carpet up last year during a party that we held at our house. we had locked the dogs all in different bedrooms, and found out that casey has some anxiety issues. So we had to take care of that. :)

I went to the dentist office today as well. It was my last appointment for fillings!!! as of now, I have no new cavities!! yay!! So as much as I hate going to the dentist...this appointment was a good one. It only took me three years to fill or pull all of my troubled teeth. I do need to get my wisdom teeth taken care of...but they are not causing me pain...so they will be left alone for the time being.

I was suppose to go down to class tonight...but because of the crappy weather, I opted to stay home. since i was home, rob and i did a date night. We went to dinner, the a different place for dessert and then over to the theatre to watch the new Jeff Bridges movie, "Crazy Heart." I liked it!! It is slow...but I still liked it. I will say that it is not a movie for everyone. Kind of like the movie last year called Gran Torino.

So now we are home and I am typing out this blog before it hits midnight at my house. I hope that you had a good day, too.

You have to listen to this!!!

2010-02-22T22:39:00.000-05:00

Ok...so late last night or maybe it was this morning, I was scanning a friend's facebook page to see what he had been up to. Yes I will admit, I tend to be a facebook stalker when it is late and when I get bored. Anyways...he is a huge fan of the new country artist Jason Aldean. Anyone else heard this guy?? Well he is amazing! His big hit that is out right now is called The Truth. Youtube the song after you read this...cause this blog is not about that song in particular.

Anyways...CMT does a special every so often called CMT CROSSROADS. This is when they pair a country artist with a pop or rock artist. The two groups or artists will sit down and sing with each other on the songs that made them "popular". Well Jason did a CMT Crossroad with one of my favorite artists, Bryan Adams. In middle school and high school I loved listening to Bryan Adams. Jason and Bryan do a rendition of Bryan's song called "Heaven". I clicked on my friend's link to watch the video to see how the song would be. Wow oh wow!! If this rendition was out when I was getting married, this song would have been played in my wedding. I almost like it better than the original. Yes I did say that even though I love Bryan's original version. Anyways...since I speak so highly of this song I will post the video below in this blog so that you do not have to google this song on your own. When you are done and are interested in more of Jason Aldean's episode on CMT Crossroads go to this link here. You will be able to sit and watch all six videos which is basically the whole episode...but you will not be disappointed!! With out further ado....here is the video, please enjoy!

House and Job Update!

2010-02-21T21:39:00.000-05:00

Happy Sunday evening to you!!! I hope that your weekend was productive and you are looking forward to crawling out of your warm bed tomorrow to go to work. Ok, who am I kidding?! I do not think many people look forward to going to work on Monday evening. haha.

Anyways...Rob and my real estate agent did an open house today for our house between 1pm and 3pm. I was at work and so Rob took the three dogs out for a burger and then over to the dog park for awhile. They have not been to the dog park in awhile since it has been so blasted cold up here. When Rob returned, Cliff said that the open house was pretty good. We had three people stop by with in the two hours. Cliff always comes prepared with a paper because sometimes the open houses will turn into two hours of reading the paper. Well Cliff didn't have time to even open the paper!!! Two of the stoppers were ones that could be potential interested parties and the other was a nosy neighbor from the opposite end of our street who knew the previous homeowners and wanted to see what Rob and I had done to the house. Guess there will be one of those with every open house, I am sure. Cliff mentioned to Rob that if we do not get any bites out of this...then he would like to do another Open House next month since we had pretty good traffic this week. It may have helped that I posted the Open House ad on Craigslist in the Real Estate For Sale by Broker area. Oh how I do love the internet!!!

Next up...Rob's job search update. He had a phone interview this past week or maybe it was last week with Black Hills State University (Spearfish, SD). The interview went well he said...so we will see. One of the questions that he personally asks in every phone interview is, "If you had to do it all over again, would you still chose (enter name of College or University)?" Rob said that people will sit and not respond right away sometimes. It is a good question to ask for any type of future employer!! He then received a surprise phone interview from Cleveland State University (Cleveland, OH). He said that the interview went very well, also. Minot State University emailed Rob to see if March 1st would be ok for a phone interview. THEN...March 12th, Rob and I will be flying to Minneapolis, MN for a campus interview at Augsburg College. We will spend one day at the Mall of America, so that is cool.

So this is where we stand as of right now. I am hoping that we will have a few more campus interview invites lined up before we fly up to Minneapolis.

Survivor - week 2

2010-02-20T23:21:00.000-05:00

Anyone watch Survivor on Thursday?? Or are were we watching the men's long program over on the NBC with the winter olympics?? I was one who taped all of my regular Thursday shows so that I could watch the figure skating. Yes I rooted for Evan to win gold and I was updating my facebook status as the night went on.

Last night's olympic events were not very exciting. Not a big fan of ice dancing or any of the other stuff that was being shown.

Last night I was able to get caught up on the taped shows from Thursday evening, and Survivor was one of them.

**Stop reading this blog now if you have not watched

Thursday's evening episode of Survivor.**

I thought Boston Rob was going to be out early in the show as he had collapsed due to not having enough to drink. I am getting annoyed with Rupert's attitude like the other team members on the Hero's team. and I was sad to see that they didn't win immunity challenge either. Like James was saying, they must have only one voice rather than all individual voices when it comes to competitions. I am glad that I chose James as one of my pony's. My sister on the other hand...well her pony for the Hero's side was Stephanie who was sent home. James had a good point though for his team to think about. When Stephanie was on her season, she was the last one to survive on her loosing team, so maybe the probablem was actually Stephanie! The preview for next week looks good. Kind of looks like James has a breakdown and takes his agression out in one of the challenges. Guess we will have to wait and see what happens!

New Movies for weekend of FEBRUARY 19, 2010

2010-02-19T22:05:00.000-05:00

This week's posting will be pretty short for new movies that were released to theatres nationwide. The only movie that was released at least to my theatre this week was Shutter Island. It was one of the popular movies today though during the day. Other popular movies that I ripped tickets for were Valentine's Day, Wolfman, Blind Side, and Avatar.

Shutter Island - Rated R - Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Mortimer, Mark Ruffalo - The Plot: When a psychotic killer (Mortimer) disappears from a mental institution on Shutter Island, a pair of U.S. Marshals (Ruffalo and DiCaprio) race against the clock in order to track her down.

**I did hear people commenting as they walked out of this movie that they liked it. I will not be seeing this movie as it looks too creepy for me. If you see this movie...please let me know if you like it or not.**