Reading Rut

Does this happen to you? In the past two months, I have reread the entire Harry Potter Series and am almost finished (again) with the Twilight Saga.

Mark and I leave for the beach in 8 days. I want to take something NEW! Can you please, please make some suggestions? I have a library card!

Open to suggestions....

estrogen levels plummeting

By birthright, women generally seek out time with one another. Some call it girl time, some call it ladies night. However you say them, these terms really only mean one thing. You need estrogen. You need to spend time with someone of the same sex and talk about things that only we, as women, can understand. Some of us need it more than others, and others need it very little. I fall into the second category.

I have never really been a "girlie girl." Pink isn't my favorite color, I am not fond of shopping and I have never ordered a Cosmo while wearing Louis Vuitton. That just isn't me. I am your average jeans and henley kind of girl. I like a good beer and bowling on a Saturday night. Sadly, being this kind of girl doesn't excuse me from a good dose estrogen every now and then. The problem is, I don't really have that many girlfriends. I'm not really complaining, but when you need a little girl time, you can't sub in with a dude. It JUST DOESN'T WORK.

I have tried countless times with the girlfriends I have that are close, but several of them have kids and a lot of them "aren't in a place right now where they can give up one afternoon a month to just hang." WTF? Sorry ladies, if that's rude, but really? You should be flippin' ashamed! Not because I will be left out alone on ladies night. Oh, no. Because you should do it for yourself. It's important! (OK, and for me too. Picture my sad face, if that helps. )

Anyway, here is my ad for lady friends. Oh the shame!....

Married Chick, seeking 3 or 4 other chicks (of any variety) to have intelligent conversation, dinner and the occasional chick flick or chick lit discussion. I am looking for smart ladies who can be grown-ups and who have an open mind about the world. Must like bad 80's music, and dance terribly. Tomboys are encouraged to apply. Is this you? Please respond Here.

10-7=3, but still 10.

Confused, yet? Don't be! It's easy to explain. 10 years together total, minus 7 years together prior to marriage equals 3 wonderful years married for us, as of August 19th! Here's a rewind of our day, since I somehow managed to upload these pictures backwards:


We ended the night with a bonfire and some beers. Here I am looking a little worse for wear.


And Mark is getting very sleepy....

Here is our Delicious Sushi dinner at Sakura...

Here we are getting ready to indoor skydive. *You simply must TRY it!

Here we are after our Skydiving class...

Our Third anniversary was fantastic. I can't remember when I had a better time. The traditional gift for year 3 is leather, so Mark got new shoes. It's kind of lame, but better than a wallet, and less kinky than ass-less chaps and a whip. : )

Happy Anniversary, honey.

things I currently LOVE

Magic Hat #9 Beer. It has an "Essence of Apricot" and is totally yummy. Three beers will totally give you the perfect buzz.

Who wouldn't want to sleep in a love nest? I love this bed! Found it Here. It's only 15,500.00. Maybe I will check the cracks in the couch to pay for it, no?












our New iHome from Walmart. Cost was $20 and it has pulled its weight on the back porch. LOVE LOVE LOVE.






From their album 'Room on Fire'- What Ever Happened? by the Strokes.









Hadn't made one of these posts in a while. Thought I would share. : )

hard to breathe

I share a birthday with one of the most important men in my life, my grandfather- or Gia to me. I started calling him that as a little girl, and it never really stopped. So he's my Gia. Last week he was put in the hospital with fluid on his heart and lungs. I totally freaked out. I called Mark at work on the emergency line and pretty much scared the crap out of him I was crying so hard. He and I both left work early to run up to the hospital and check the situation out for ourselves.

Gia was already in a room when we got to the hospital and seeing him lying there, wheezing, I can't tell you what that did to me. It shook me. So the first thing I did was to find out what was going on with his body. He was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure several years ago so, (but has managed it well with diet and exercise) that on top of this fluid on his heart and lungs was pretty scary for me. They ruled out pneumonia pretty quickly. The following day they ruled out a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lungs) -which was a relief, because that scared the crap out of me. They ultimately decided he has some form of cardiac asthma, brought on my the heart failure. After several breathing treatments, steroids and inflammatory drugs, he was feeling much better, but at some point in his stay at the hospital he had developed pneumonia. GREAT! They were able to catch and treat it quickly though and he was able to come home on Sunday.

We are so glad to have him back at home now. We love you Gia.

the 60 year split

July is a busy moth for birthdays in both mine and Mark's family.




Thursday the 23rd was my Grandmother's birthday. She celebrated with lunch at the China Buffet. (Her favorite!)
Happy Birthday Grandmother! We love you so much!






On Saturday the 25th, was Mark's Grannie Ellis' birthday. She turned 87 with grace and in good spirits.









Last Wednesday, the 29th, was Holly's birthday. We haven't been out yet to celebrate because my grandad was hospitalized that day.(he came home yesterday.) I won't forget little sis! 26 is going to be fun! I love you! Happy (belated) Birthday!



A very Happy Birthday to all of our loved ones. Many happy returns to you all.

Marching to the beat of better drums

Ooooohhh.. Drum Corps International. Oooohhh... : )

On July 24, Mark and I took Jackson to his very first DCI show at MTSU. We hadn't been in years, and because we are GEEKS, we decided to take Jackson and educate him. Well, it's not like we drugged and dragged him to the music games, but we did gently nudge him to come with us, and so he did.

We had a great time seeing some of our old favorites playing again. We missed a few important Corps, but overall, the show was pretty great. In case you don't know what DCI is, it stands for Drum Corps International. These "kids" ages 18-28, (I believe) spend their summers perfecting a Marching Band Show and performing all over the country and Canada. The only instruments on the field are brass and percussion. The color guard uses not only flags, but rifles and sabres. It's LOUD! Believe me when I say, you never seen anything like this. Imagine all the kids from your Alma Mater's band. Got it? OK, now make them really good. And tan. And buff. And loud. These Corps are the best of the best.

They sleep in high school gyms and use the schools' fields to practice when they travel. This level of music takes dedication and serious commitment! They wake early, and do calisthenics and run their shows. Over and over again.

This year, I really happened to like Phantom Regiment, (who impressed me in the past when they were a much smaller corps) and their show was from the Red Violin. Beautiful, moving and classic. Just the way I like it.

*As a side note, I tried to publish footage, but no dice. You'll just have to settle for pictures.

: )

Faster than the speed of light!

Damn, we're cute! Oh, wait.. where was I?

The speed of light...That's how quickly July passed for me this year. There have been highs and lows, fun and scary times, but now we have reached August and I hate to admit it, but it's going to fly by the same way. Mark and I have our high school reunion coming up, our beach trip, two weekends where we are committed to being at parties and last, but not least, our anniversary. It's been nearly three years! So, here's to August!

....catch up blogs to follow.

: )