The Beauty of Nature

I couldn't resist stopping and taking a picture of this bloom. It is a litlle something Mildred Pinkston, a former resident of Preston Place planted outside her apartment and it comes back every spring/summer even more beautiful than the year before. Each time I see it I think of her.

New Furniture

My bedroom walls have been freshly painted and the new furniture delivered. I haven't got around to hanging anything on the walls yet, but I've been busy. I am very proud of myself for making my bed each morning and keeping my room picked up, that is not something I am very good at, I rather spend my time with my family and doing fun things that all that cleaning stuff. What they say is right though, if you do a little everyday it is much easier to keep things up. Since I am going on three weeks with keeping things clean it has now become a habit. By the way if anyone is thinking of buying black furniture, think again...you have to dust it all the time. I'm not saying I made a mistake because I love it, it's just more work.

Finally!

After almost 8 years in our house we finally painted over the horrible 70's paneling. Much thought was put into whether or not to just rip it out, but after much deliberation we decided to paint it and if we didn't like it, then we would rip it out. Well, I think it turned out pretty good, so here is a look. Friday the painters are coming back to paint our bedroom before our new furniture is delivered Saturday. Once it's finished, I'll post pictures of that too. Even though we have done most of the painting ourselves or with the help of my mother, our time is just so limited now that we have contracted it out - mainly because I have Vendors through work that will do it dirt cheap and are able to do it much faster and better than I.

Happy Birthday Blake!

This was our 3rd annual trip to Six Flags for Blake's 7th Birthday. We took his 2 cousins, Ethan & Hunter. This was the 1st year for Hunter to go now that he is old enough and tall enough to ride most of the rides. The picture of Ethan and Blake is on the Judge Roy Scream. You will also notice a picture of all the boys soaked after riding one of the log rides.

Last Night in New Zealand

Our last night was spent having a large family dinner that Lizzy cooked for everyone and then the cousins all went for one last walk on the beach as seen in this picture. I wish I was still there with them all, I had such a wonderful time. Thanks to everyone for making it the most memorable trip ever.

Sunsets

A Beautiful View

Scenes from the Ferry

Coming into Picton on the South Island

Driftwood

A Nice Weekend Drive

This is where I learned to drive on the left hand side of the road. (Note the little road on the left side of this picture) Can you say No Gaurd Rails? Well, there weren't any. These mountains are a lot bigger than they look and when driving on them you really can see the end in your future. However I can tell you this, no matter how many people you have in the car leaning to one side, it won't tip over. The best part of this outing was "The Painter". I won't go into any detail here, just trust me - he was well worth the drive over this mountain, just ask my mom, sister or aunt.

Yum, Breakfast!

My favorite part of each day was going to Chocolate Days Cafe in Days Bay. This is where my cousin Brandon and his wife Lizzy both work. They have the most amazing food. I thought before going on this trip I might have trouble finding food I liked. But as you can see, that was not the case. I did gain some weight while there, but I am telling myself it is from all the walking I did that turned any fat I had into muscle, I tell it the way I want it heard :)

This last one was my absolute favorite, I had it a few times and wish I could duplicate it here in the states...I must find out the spread they put on the bagel 1st.

Blake....The Model

Preston Place Retirement

Blake was a model in a photo shoot we did at work, he will be in one of our ads and possible a marketing mailer. Here is a link to the photos taken that day.

Spring is Here!

I took Blake to the Nursery to pick out a plant for him to take care of this spring, and this is the one he picked. It's a Kalanchoe, I was surprised he picked out something yellow, but it is quite nice.

Go Stars!

Mason was nice enough to invite us to his B-day celebration to watch the Stars play, his uncle has a box in the AA Center which he is able to use quite a bit. I must say, I have never seen the Stars live, but Hockey is so fun to watch. Seeing all those guys beating up each other and slamming into the walls is pretty exciting. I'm not a violent person and don't like to see people get hurt, however I was secretly wishing for more blood battles, am I sick? We did see a guy spit out his teeth, that was cool! Just so ya'll know I was not looking my best that day, I had been in bed all day with a migraine and didn't do anything to myself, something I would regret later when one of the girls there asked if I was younger or older than Dijea. OK- NOT LIKING THAT COMMENT AT ALL, I chose not to jump over the seat and beat her, you know the first impression thing, I did say I'm not a violent person right? Anyway, I decided just to let Dijea have this one. I'm still not over it though :)

San Antonio

These two pictures are from when I took Blake to SA to drop him off for Spring Break. Kathy, my mother in law joined me for the adventure. We headed down to the riverwalk to ride the boats and came across all the St. Patricks festivities. The river had been dyed green for the occation. We were able to catch the a group performing with their bagpipes, which was amazing. Later that night Kathy, mom and I went to go have a margarita on the patio of a resturant and guess what, it was beautiful weather, the place inside was packed, but we were the only ones on the patio, what is wrong with these people I thought. You wouldn't find an empty patio on a night like that in Dallas. But hey, I wasn't complaining, we had the whole thing to ourselves and it was so nice.

I'm Still Alive

If any of you have been looking at my blog and wondered where I've been, well let's just say I've been busy. I am so far behind on putting anything up that I wonder if it is even worth it now. So instead your getting a quick note to know I'm still around just extremly busy. Blake went and spent a week in San Antonio with my mom and dad for his spring break last week and I still felt like I couldn't keep up with things. But oh well, such is life....some times are just busier than others. I'll be leaving for New Zealand in 3 weeks, maybe then I can get a little relaxation. I am really looking forward to some time away and can't wait to see all the rest of my family over there. That's it for now.

Accessorizing!

Look Dad- I hung your painting right outside the bathroom of my bedroom , and the red and cream tiles are a little something I found for my bath while Dori and I were shopping.

And below is the cutest little shelf I got with the old fashioned doorknob to hang my robe on.

This is my favorite thing, I bought, it looks great in the entryway.

So Long Thomas

Blake hasn't played with these in over a year, so we agreed it was time to pack them up and put them in the attic. Mom, you'll be proud that I didn't just give it all away, but I spent a small fortune and know these will be great to pass on to grandkids one day!

So I've decided to learn how to crochet, this is the first little practice piece that I've done and surprisingly, I've done pretty good. This is just a single stich, but I hope to learn others as my learning progresses.

No Front Tooth

This is not the best angle to be taking a picture, but here is Blake after loosing his 1st top tooth, he has already lost 3 on the bottom.

Downtown Dallas

I had a meeting at our corporate office on Friday. This picture was taken from the 9th floor terrace looking down on the street. It was a cold and drizzly day and most of the tall buildings were hidden by the fog.

Science Fair

Thursday was the Science Fair at Blake's School. This picture is with two of his friends, Mitchel and Gabriella. They are standing in front of Blakes Science project. Blake and Ramsey did this project in Discover class and it was displayed in the Library with all the others.

I wanted to share this picture I took today, I loved the dimentions of it with the long hallway. It was from an outing I went on with the residents to Layla's Cheese Factory.

Deer Camp

Robbie & Blake spent all weekend at the Deer Lease and this is the only picture that was taken. Blake in the bed of a pickup truck, Ooooo, Aaahhh, Oh, I could hardly contain myself. I guess when they say no girls aloud, they don't even want us to see what goes on there.

Sophie Soooo

Is she just not the cutest thing you've ever seen.

School is out for 2 weeks!

This is a picture of Blake leaving for school on Friday before his winter break. And yes, he wore the hat to school. Well, I can officially say I am done with Christmas shopping. I am so glad. However, I still have to venture to the mall today for my hair appointment. It's at noon so it should be real easy to find a parking space don't ya think! I almost cancelled this appointment, not wanting to spend the money at Christmas and it only being 4 weeks since the last time I had it done. But I wanted to get some more blond put in my hair for Xmas.

Another Saturday Night of Wii

When Blake heard Dori was coming over to play Wii with us, he pulled a chair up to the window and watched for her to pull up, he was ready, however, Dori definately brought her game with her. We are all going to practice a little more if we want to beat her. Not all was lost, Blake finally made Pro stautus on the bowling.

Preston Place X-Mas Party

OK girls, I think this was like our 30th attempt to get a shot of the three of us since everyone else skated out early and we had to use the timer on the camera. That's ok, we know who the real partiers are. Those others don't know what they missed. If anyone wants to challenge the 3 Amigos to a game of Gestures, your on, we had lots of practice. Debbie let us read the cards though, your eyesight isn't too good!

Company X-Mas Party

As usual, if there's a DJ, I'm on the dance floor and this year was no different. Robbie actually pulled out the camera and got a shot. Is he converting to my ways...hmmm. I may be rubbing off on him. Anyway, that is Erika to the right our new marketing gal at Preston Place. It was a fun night and I even won a $100 gift card to Best Buy!

Senior Adult Services Basket Presentation

This is one of my favorite projects to do each year. At Thanksgiving we provide a dinner for our residents and in turn they provide a small donation so that we can go purchase items to fill these baskets that are given to needy seniors in Collin County. This was my ninth year to participate.