Holy toledo! This weekend was like a blur it went by so fast. I guess when you try to pack a gajillion things into three days it will do that to you. I even have a few pictures to share with ya

Friday started out wide open. Steven and I ran errands for the business and I paid the bills to current since we are leaving for Baltimore on WEDNESDAY!  (so excited!) I wanted everything to be in good shape for my Dad who will be graciously running things while we are gone. (he is so awesome) Then Steven got a couple of calls and had to go to work.. so I got cracking on cleaning the house. The girls who were home from school did a great job getting things in great shape for our company on saturday. I also worked out the menu and when Steven got home we went and shopped for the items I’d need to make dinner for 20 or so.

When we got back it was time to rush over to my Aunt’s house where my “little” cousin Zach was getting ready to go to Prom with our friend Stacey. Its was so wierd to see kids whom I have watched grow up do something so… well Grown up! They both looked great and Steven got some really great shots.  I wish they’d have had a prettier day for a nice blue sky background.. but it was rainy and stormy all weekend. Either way they looked so nice.. and had a great time. I wish Zach would wear his hair a little different though.. he reminds me of a beetle.

I like the contrast of the flowers and her dress in this one. Isnt that just the most perfect color for her? I thought she looked beautiful.

This is my favorite shot though. I love Zach’s expression. The smirk he has there is so classic. You coulld tell he was feelin’ pretty special to have such a pretty girl on his arm They had a great time at the dance too.. It was fun to hear him tell his side and then to hear hers the next day. ahhhh. to be that young again. Remember your prom? I went with one of my best friends. We had a really good time. I wore a red dress and he brought me the craziest corsage..He’d told the florist to do something “different” and  it was all these purple orchids and lemongrass that went all up my arm. We laughed about it the whole night. It did go well with my dress though and I promise that NOBODY had one like it gooood times I will have to try and find a picture to post heh.

ANYWAY. After all the prom exitement Steven took off for PeeDee and the annual Boys Rondevous Campout. This is an event I think he looks forward to all year long. Especially since he swims in the estrogen ocean over here with all his women. (we even have a female dog) They took about 30 boys to the statewide event and in spite of the rain had a blast. They did everything from archery to tug of war and the Statewide Pinewood Derby races took place.  One of our boys took the grand champion trophy and will get to compete at the national Pinewood Derby at the campout in Alabama in August.. Ive already been informed that I should make plans for Steven to be gone that weekend   It was odd for me to have Steven gone.. We dont often sleep apart and it sure felt strange.

Saturday I was up early to get ready for a cookout with Steven’s family His cousins from Ohio are in town. (They visit Myrtle Beach almost every spring break) and we invited Steven’s brothers and parents as well as the visitors over for dinner. My menu was. Hambugers, hot dogs, BBQ chicken, fruit salad, pasta salad, baked beans, chips, and homemade chocolate chip cookies.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it and had a great time.. even if it did rain cats and dogs and even stormed some. The kids had a fun time playing Wii games (my brother in law brought thier remotes.. it was a HUGE mario Kart mele) and running around with thier cousins. The girls are all pretty close in age. Except for Thing One who had fun chasing the smallest, my niece Story around the place. 

You’ll notice that Thing Two is wearing some pink earrings… they are mine. My friend Shanny made them and I keep catching T2 wearing them. She LOVES them.  Everytime she has the scantest amound of pink on she begs to wear them.. they are pretty darn cute on her. I just have to make sure that I snag them back so they dont get lost!

We had a great time visiting and everyone stayed till well after 10. I was exhausted by the time I crashed after the cleanup was finished.. but I was glad we’d done it..

Sunday was just as busy.. even though I intended it to be lowkey and restful.. like the calm before the storm. We attended church in the morning and then went for lunch at our favorite mexican place. Del Sol here in dillon. They have a lunch fajitas special that cant be beaten! You get 2 orders and 2 drinks for $9. You cant feed a family of 4 anywhere else for less than $20. And it is YUMMY. Thing 2 is so funny. She orders hers with no veggies. And eats the meat right off the cast iron skillet they bring it to you on. no tortilla, nothing. thats my little carnivore!

After lunch we came home and Steven took a few shots of us dressed up in our pink with our cherry tree. It is in full blossom and sooo pretty. I cant imagine what Washington DC will look like with tons of those trees all in blooom. I imagine my allergies will take notice!

The afternoon was spent rehearsing Thing One for the Church Talent night she particiapted in. She did a drama to a song off of my sister’s CD. She did a great job. 

After evening services we stopped and picked up something to throw on the grill for dinner and took it to my parents house to eat. The kids always love going over there.

Soooo that takes me to today. PHEW! I am off today so my goal is to have all the laundry done as well as most of any errands than need running. We have to make bank deposits, get the oil changed in the van, and a few other stops…tonight Thing 2 has softball practice and Steven and I have a youth workers meeting.My plan is to have mostly everything finished so that after work tommorow I can pack and clean the house. (I HATE coming home from vacation to a dirty house.. makes the end of a trip so depressing!)

We leave wednesday right after I get finished with work to head to Baltimore. We should be at Lisa and Pete’s by supper time if we can keep Thing 2 out of every reststop along the way YAY! Im sure I will have a ton to share when we get back!!

Five years ago today I married my best friend

I post the vows we spoke to eachother almost every year.. sometimes twice. We wrote them together and I think that’s why I find them so special… they are exactly what we wanted to say to one another..

“I Michele, take you Steven as my cherished Husband. I promise to walk beside you in days of adversity as well as days of great happiness. To be your help in creating a home for our family, and to offer you a hand to hold, a shoulder to cry on, and a heart that understands. I pledge to you my undying love and constant faithfulness as your partner in all things. I promise to love you as an act of my will in the presence or absence of romantic feelings every single day. I commit to this wholly and without reservation.”

I will admit there have been times in the last five years where there was an absence of “romantic feelings”  But for every moment that I dont “feel” it, there are a million others that I do.

I was talking today with someone who has also been married 5 years. She was saying that she wished that she hadnt gotten married and that “forever” was taking to long. It made me so sad for her.. I still feel like forever wont be long enough. Maybe I feel this anniversary so deeply because My “forever” almost got cut short this year. I still get a scared feeling in the pit of my stomach whenever I let myself think about how close I came to losing Steven in January. I still wake up at night and reach for him, just to make sure he is there… because there were quite a few nights that he wasnt.. and almost never was again.

I dont know where I am going with this.. except to say that five years later I feel so privileged, so blessed and still so in love with my husband. I still get butterflies when I see him enter a room.. I still get tingles when he kisses me and five years later. I still get a thrill when he calls me “baby”.

I have a great affection for trying out new soaps and shampoos and all things smelly for the bath. I am really lucky not to have sensative skin. I can use just about anything. But I do have two sets of bath things.I love my Bath and Body works stuff.. but early in the mornings my nose is super sensative, and often those products are far to potent for me when I shower for work (usually around 5 am) SO I keep a more generic everyday bodywash that has a mild scent. Today I found a new one that I LOVE LOVE LOVE. I was actually looking for something that is neutral enough (IE not to girly for Steven or not to scented for Thing One’s sensative skin)  for all of us to use so I only had to pack one bottle of body wash for our trip this next week. (Just a few more days!!)

I found THIS on sale

 This stuff smells so so so so so so good. Its creamy and makes my skin so soft. love it.

I havent been a Law and Order fan..I never got into the characters of that show.. to many other things to watch.. BUT, Steven and I recently discovered L&O SVU.  It’s based on a the sex crimes units. I enjoy it very much.  I absolutely MUST get a DVR. There are simply to many shows for me to watch at night. Especially since softball season started this week.

Archer Farms (Target brand) Balsamic Vinaigrette.

I mentioned in a recent post about an evening we spent in nearby Florence.. and that I had picked up some Archer Farms stuff on sale.. and this dressing was among them.. It is WOW. Its very simple.. and I could likely make it myself (in fact Im very sure I could.)  Today I tried it drizzled over some mesculun greens and cherry tomatoes with Feta cheese crumbles for lunch. YUMMO! It is so simple and yummy. LOVE it. It is the perfect greek salad dressing. (even though I think greek salad usually uses red wine vinegar.) I plan to make one soon. with lots of kalamata olives, red onion and big chunks of feta.. I may grill some chicken and make it a meal… makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

Paul Newman’s Sockarooni Spaghetti sauce.

I have meant to mention this stuff several times. I used to make my own spaghetti sauce.. its really easy and you can sneak all kinds of veggies into it without much chance of detection.. I also find it quite cathartic. All that chopping and mincing and simmering. ( I have a magic bullet chopper. works like a charm for marinara sauce)  Plus is makes the house smell amazing. I make a pretty good sauce.  But all that work is put to shame by this yummy stuff. Mr Paul wasnt italian I didnt think… but man oh man did he kick out a winner in this sauce. For a super easy dinner I take a bag of frozen meatballs, and two jars of this sauce. Dump them all into my corck pot and add just enough water to rinse the jars. Set it all on medium and walk away. At dinner time I spoon them either over angel hair pasta (we prefer it to the thick spaghetti noodles) or into split rolls for subs. SUPER good.

American Idol’s Adam Lambert.

I like this kid.. he is different and not quite what I usually listen too. But hmmm he has some pretty good ideas. I especially liked his weirdo version of  Johnny Cash’s  ” I walk the line” last week. hmmmmm At first I HATED it. it was soooo out there and off in space. But then I listened to it again.. and one more time. He is growing on me more and more.Which is impressive since I was all the way for  Danny Gokey from the start. Hmmm who to choose? Especially since MY vote is so pivitol for either of them to win hehe.

This past weekend we accompanied Thing Two and her kid’s choir/drama team to the South Carolina Church of God Jr State Talent Competition in Mauldin SC. This is an event that happens every other year, well it alternates with the Teen Talent competition, which means for us for at least the next 4 years it happens every spring since T1 will compete as a teen and t2 will compete as a Jr until she’s 12.  Its a pretty fun trip though. So I dont complain. The kids get really into the competition and really look forward to representing our church.

Friday morning I got up kind of late and got a later start than I planned. I usually like to be really organized and packed in advance of a trip… but for some reason this trip snuck up on me.. maybe because my mind is on our bigger trip to MD/DC next week.  But anyway I got T1 ready to go to her Mom’s and then got T2 ready to go to Mauldin. And then finally got us all packed to go and ready to leave by 2. Steven was busy with business calls all morning.

This is the first year of several that we were not accompanying the children as chaperones. We decided this year to get a hotel room and be there as cheering section only. It was delightful. My mother graciously picked the Things up and deposited them in the correct places for us so we could get on the road.  We left about 230 after making a quick stop for a drink at BK and at The Redbox movie stop for me. (I had Thing 2’s portable dvd player)

 I rented the movie The Women with Meg Ryan. It was ok.. a chick flick for SURE.. but not spectacular. Although I loved Meg Ryan and Bette Middler in it. Fun for a road trip for sure.

We made GREAT time and after only missing it by one exit found our hotel that I had found at www.hotels.com. I was very indecicive about where to stay. Traditionaly parents from our church stay at the Holiday Inn express one exit to the south of the competition site.. but I felt like I could do better.. and WOW did I! We stayed at the brand new Drury Inn … and it was amazing. Honestly the best hotel we have stayed at in a long time. SO SO nice.  This is the only picture of the hotel room we took. Lame huh? Ugh. Anyway. They had these amazing pillow top beds.. and I have mentioned that we are needing a matress. I did NOT want to leave that matress there.. it was so great. We gotta get on that whenever we get back from our vacation. After we checked out the hotel room and took advantage of the Managers welcoming recepton we decided to enjoy the hot tubs and pool. I tell ya.. between the free drinks, the hot tub and the amazing matress? I didnt want to go home!

When Steven was able to pry my pruney butt out of the hot tub we did get dressed and head accross the street to the little mall area to walk around some and find some dinner.

I was thrilled to find a Red Robin! YUMMY. I had my favorite Teryaki Chicken burger and tried a blueberry pomegranate limeade. (it was just “eh”. I could have just ordered a sprite and a lime. ) There were these really wierd college aged kids seated next to us.. and it made me feel SO SO SO OLD! They were chattering and throwing fries and it occured to me that my friends and I looked much like that 10 years (TEN!) ago.

After dinner we rode over to the campground where the kids were staying to make sure everything was covered and to say goodnight to Thing 2. She was mortified and rushed us out the door. Well how do you like that? huh. It was like one big sleepover so we didnt stay long.

When we returned to the hotel I was out like a light in just a few seconds. That bed was like heaven.

Next morning we enjoyed the hotel’s complimentary breakfast and then headed over to the church where the competition was set to take place to register Thing One’s photography entry

 She took this picture and we had it framed and matted… it didnt win. But its so pretty. She was super proud of it. I of course found a prominent place to display it in my house when we came home

The kids performed on and off all day in different categories.

 Between kids, parents, granparents and the like we had over 100 people there.

We were like one big horde moving from event to event. It was crowded, but we had a good time. 

Steven snapped this picture of some of us parents watching intently. The competition was TOUGH.  I had a hard time not wanting to a little harsh on the other competitors… like my new glasses? They are meant to look “funky” to me they come accross more “granny” in this picture. LOL

After thier last event we let the kids unwind in the indoor play area at the church

That place was HUGE and the kids were relieved to be done and were ready to let off some steam. They had a big time running and making SO SO much noise with kids from all over the state. Ours of course were pretty easy to pick out since they were all wearing army pants and olive green tshirts. They looked so so cute as a group.

But I think the color was a little wrong for Thing 2 and her friend here… they look pretty washed out… hmmm it could be that it was ME taking the picture… I am not so good with Steven’s new camera.

Finally after a LONG wait we headed over to the huge campmeeting tabernacle for the awards presentations. The air was so thick with anticipation you could cut it with a knife. We were really hoping that our kids would come away with at least one state championship award. They had all worked so hard….

We were not disapointed!!!

South Carolina Church of God, State Champions.

Large Choir Division!

The kids were so excited. ( I think the parents were too.. we made so much noise youd have thought they won the superbowl!) After the awards presentations we loaded the whole entire hoarde onto the vans and headed over to the local Ryans…  the kids ate up the attention from the packed out restraunt as they walked through the restraunt in one long line wearing thier medals with the HUGE trophy at the head of the line. It was so cute.

It wasnt long though and we were on the road. .. but not before we stopped very quickly to pick up a copy of Twilight on DVD… I wanted to watch it on the way home. I enjoyed it a lot and it wasnt long before we were pulling off the interstate… much to our surprise to a lights and sirens police esscort! One of the kids, whose father is a policeman had arranged it when his son called with the news that we were State champs… he said that since the two football teams in our towns who brought home State championships got the escorts why shouldnt we? The kids were all screaming and yelling out the windows when we arrived. SO much fun and recognition for a job well done!

   Lately I have been writing just one wrap up of our whole week. I wish I was faithful to do a daily post. There are a few blogs that I read that for the most part have a daily post. I love reading them too.  I read every single day. Dont you hate it when there is a certain blogger that you really enjoy that suddenly slacks on thier blog? I get all indignant. You Perfect Stranger!! How dare you cut me off from your personal thoughts on the daily goings on in your life! How terribly rude you are to leav me out of the loop! heh. I need an intervention.

Writing this way does give me a chance to reflect more indepth though. Kinda like taking a deep breath before begining a new week. Bored? Yeah. Im blathering today.

Monday- My schedule at work has really changed lately.. I used to work m-f like clockwork.. and now I am t-w-tr-. At first it was an adjustment (in the pocketbook) but now that I am used to it there? I rather like being home in the mornings. I get to see my girls a little and Steven is getting SPOILED by sleeping in together and having breakfast together. ( I cant wait until better weather so we can do it on the front porch!)  He had a job early today, so I slept in a little and did a little housework. I was still kinda recovering from my terrible headache, so I did very little all day. I did cook a surprise fried chicken dinner for Thing One.. its her favorite.

Tuesday- Work early in the morning and then we ran a couple errands for the business and I did a little bill paying. Recently my parents turned the financial end of everything over to us and that has been pretty exciting. We are still in partnership, but Steven is in ultimate control of things. SO exciting to have the business doing well. Man.. it wasnt that interesting of a week was it?

Wednesday- I had a VERY hectic morning at work on wednesday. It was one crazy thing after another.It seemed like every single piece of office equipent I touched fell to pieces.. including our register system! UGH. not to mention we were exceptionally busy, AND I was trying to check in our supply truck in the midst of it. ARGH! It was nuts.  I was really glad to see the clock roll around to time for me to go. Wednesday afternoon Steven and the girls took a walk and spent some time fishing before time to get ready for church. Steven caught a decent sized fish and took his camera with to show off the photo he had taken.. and ugh.. during service he laid it on the pew between us and the strap got wrappen around my purse… after service when I picked up my purse? Yup. CRASH. to the carpet covered cement floor. Totally broke the zoom.. grrrrrrrrrrrrr ( we are taking a vacation that is pretty photographically intense.. Washington DC in just a couple weeks.) Sooooo the rest of the week was pretty much us looking into a new camera (the camera he has is past the warrenty RATS!)

Thursday.. quickly to work and then out again.. it went really fast. nothing like Wednesday. Thank GOODNESS. We ran a few errands and then had lunch at our favorite cafe. The Whistle Stop Cafe, where we met some interesting folks (you know you live in a really small town when people from someplace else come in and its painfully obvious just by thier clothes) Seems CNN was doing some MORE interviews at JV Martin Jr high. Our little town has been getting a little publicity lately since President Obama made mention of the terrible conditions of our local Jr High school. (where Thing One attends) and brought a student who mailed a class assigned letter to him to DC to attend his first address. T1 gets all indignant when you bring her up though…seems that she has gotten a LOT of attention and crazy crazy special treatment. It makes T1 insane that a student with low to average grades and an even worse discipline record gets rewarded for completing a class assignment.

 ” I do my work all day long every single day. do I get a trip? Do I get a scholarship? Do I get to go to academics camp? NOOOOOOO. let some girl from the  C level classes  tell the President she isnt a quitter? She gets the moon..”  (I like to bring it up just to get a rise out of her..its highly amusing,  yeah Im the devil)

Thusday night we spent time looking at random camera websites and going over kodak’s site.. and on EBAY..I hate shopping for electronics. I dont know how they work, I dont know what any of the terms mean and I dont have the patience to learn about them. Just buy something that will work like I need it to.. install it for me while you are at it! I put my foot down on a firm budget for the purchase though and stuck to it. Unfortunatly that counted out Stevens plans to buy a DSLR. I have no idea what that means.. I know that my girlfriends have them, and love them, and rave about the picture quality, but unfortunatly. They are out of our price range at this time.

Friday- Steven had discovered that the local auction house had a DSLR camera in thier blowout electronics sale..(some cannon fancy pants thing)  so we went and placed several online bids.. and then were outbid by about $100 in the actual auction. I cant imagine paying that much for a reconditioned item. We did grab a new DVD player for the bedroom for $15! That was quite exciting. Steven was pretty dissapointed though.

Saturday- Thing Two had a last saturday rehersal for her talent competition this coming weekend. And Steven went to help get lunch ready for the group. SO, Thing One and I spent the morning cleaning the house. It was in poor shape and I just had to bite the bullet and get to it. I did try to make it fun though.. and we both agreed that having Thing Two and Daddy out of our hair while we got it done was better. I put all the chores each on a little paper and into a bowl. We each chose a chore and got cracking. When one finished thier chore they helped the other to complete thiers before chosing a new one. It certainly made the chores go faster. We blasted the music and had a pretty good time… if you can have fun cleaning that is.

Saturday afternoon I created a YUMMY recipe. I had only a little chicken and some flour tortillas that needed using up, so I made this green chile enchilada bake thingee. It was GOOOOOOOD.

Green Chile Enchilada Bake

3 BS chicken breasts cooked and diced (I threw them in the oven)

2 cups cooked rice

1 cup salsa

1 can seasoned recipe black beans drained

4 cups shredded cheddar cheese

2 cans green chile enchilada sauce

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 8 oz package cream cheese

6 burrito size flour tortillas

In a large bowl combine the rice, the chicken, the salsa and the black beans. In another bowl mix together the cream of mushroom soup and the enchilada sauce. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray and preheat oven to 375. Fill each burrito with some of the chicken and rice mixture, a little of the shredded cheddar and about 3 tsp cream cheese. Roll tightly and lay in the baking dish. Repeat until all 6 burritos are rolled. Pour the chile sauce over the top and sprinkle with the reserved cheese. Bake for 1 hour until bubbly and melty. I served it with sour cream and a fruit salad. Even Thing Two liked it pretty well.

After dinner we took a quick trip to Florence to pick up the final two books in the Twilight saga. We went to Barnes and Noble and spent quite a while there looking around, enjoying a coffee and reading DC travel books ( Our library doesnt have any. UGH!) then were just about to check out when someone mentioned that Target had them on sale!. Sooooo we stashed our two hardbacks and ran over to Target! They indeed had them for about $10 less than B&N did… not to mention all of thier Archer Farms products were 15% off! I scored a few fun treats that cannot be found here in Dillon… peanut sauce, balsamic salad dressing, specialty pastas, as well as a couple bottles of my favorite blood orange italian soda! YUMMMY for a really great price. Nothing like a deal! SCORE at Target!

After our shopping we ran over to the Shoney’s there to pick up a box of granulated peanuts that belonged to our store but was accidentally delivered there in Florence… and then, since Thing Two had been so patient (she is not a fan of bookstores.. I dont know why. I LOVE them and could stay in there all night.. and likely would have if she wasnt so obviously bored) we treated them to icecream at Cold Stone Creamery. They love that place. I tried thier new Watermelon Sorbet and it is YUMMMMY. I mixed in some pineapple and it tasted like summer in a little paper bowl. YAY. I wish Id have picked up a quart to bring home!

When we got home I finally talked Steven into making a camera decision and we decided on a refurbed Kodak z1021 that is like the Daddy of the camera he has had (and loved) I felt like a mean Mommy not letting him get his DSLR.. but Ya gotta live within your means. We COULD have bit the bullet and bought the fancy camera.. but decided to put it off and work on other projects until later. I think we made a right choice. But I still wish I could have managed it for him. He is pretty excited about his new camera on the way though.  It will be fun to watch him play with it.

Sunday- Today has been pretty quiet. We attended church and then grabbed subway on the way home. I took a nap while Steven looked into the reviews and whatever of his new camera and played video games with the girls.

They are gone now to evening service and I am revelling in the quiet. I love this time of the week. I recently made the decision to take Sunday evenings for myself and I LOVE it. I dont allow myself to feel guilty for taking some time for me either,  and its making a difference in how I feel going into the week. Its really the only time that I am ever alone and have a concentrated time that I dont do anything but exactly what I want to do. No housework. no bills, no kids, nothing but something I want to do. YES! Its amazing. Every single mom should do it.

Busy week ahead. We will head to Greenville to Jr Talent on friday for competition starting early Saturday, so I will be getting us ready for that. In addition to work and whatever else.  Thing One is supposed to go with her Mom next weekend, but we wont know if that is happening until later this week. I have a king room reserved (love a king sized bed) and a romantic dinner planned for friday night,  but will have to change plans if she ends up going with us. No biggie if she does though. I think she’d like to see her sister perform.

Phew. tired yet? heh.

I forgot one thing in my “things I love this week” post. My boss picked up a bottle of this Mr Clean with Febreze the other day.. and I LOVE IT! Ohhhhh my gosh does it ever smell good.  I love the way Mr clean gets things clean, but I have always hated that fakey lemon smell.. SO you can imagine my joy when I discovered THIS. My whole house smells febreez-ey fresh.

I am so easily delighted.

   I had the day off from Shoney’s.. so I took the opportunity to grocery shop without the kiddos. It seems like I puchase more healthy food when I shop without them. I guess I am more apt to buy fruit gummies and peanutbutter captain crunch when I am looking at thier little faces than if I am by myself.. although Steven is just as bad.. we still ended up buying Peanutbutter Capn Crunch

Since Ive already done the shopping for next week I thought Id go ahead and post next weeks menu plan while I am thinking about it.

Friday- Tonight Steven and I plan to go to an electronics auction uptown. So I grabbed  a movie, some raviolis, and some lunchables for the girls. They love them.. and its something they can do themselves. Steven and I will just grab something uptown.

Saturday- Chicken green Chili Enchiladas, Ina Garten’s guacamole salad, Paula Deen’s frozen lime pie

Sunday- Olive Garden’s Zupa Tuscana, garlic bread

Monday- Cheeseburger Mac Hamburger Helper, Corn,  Nana’s Beet Salad,

Tuesday- Roasted Chicken, Fingerling Potatoes, Ceasar Salad

Wednesday- Salmon Croquettes, Tomatoes and Rice, Lima Beans

Thursday- Cheeseburgers, Hand cut French Fries

sooo. that takes us to next week when we leave to go to GreenVille SC for a Statewide Junior Talent competition. 

I love this blog post idea. Its easy to come up with new things to tell you about too. A lot easier that I thought it would be.

on with the show n tell   Just three this time.

Maybelline Lash Stiletto.

I love this stuff. It is litterally the BEST mascara that I have ever come accross. It actually gives me lashes! I have these stubbly little lame eyelashes. They are blonde-ish and stick straight. But this miracle worker is AMAZING. love love love it. Its like $9 a tube though.. which is a lot for me for makeup since I have been wearing Great Lash since I was 12. I  Love to bat these long lashes

This is a shot of my eyes sans mascara. pretty sad huh?

This is a shot with ONE coat of the mascara on them. ONE. This is also sans any kind of eyeliner or eyeshadow. This stuff makes my eyes POP. and I like that. AHHHHMAZING!

Cadbury Mini Eggs.

ahhh the egg. I post these every easter.. but they are far and away my most favorite holiday treat.. (even over the Starbucks Eggnog Latte.. and THAT my dears is saying something.) If you have yet to indulge this year? chop chop, post haste! They disappear all to soon.

The Twilight Saga by Stephanie Myers.

I admit it. I was pulled in. I didnt mean to be.. its tween lit and well.. for teenagers. But I have to admit. I like this story. Thing One had mentioned the CRAZE that is going on at her school (she is in 8th grade) over this series of vampire novels.. Thing One is NOT into scary stuff. She wont watch scary movies and hates to be alone at night. We have been trying to get her to babysit some (she’s 14 almost 15) and its amusing to us to come home to our front yard lit up like a runway and every single light in the house on. So she hadnt read them.. I on the otherhand was curious. So the other day when I saw the paperback of Twilight at the checkout (Wal-Mart gets me everytime with books at the checkout the bastards) I snagged it. Since then? I gotta get through them.. I have to see if she ever gets her man… I gotta see if she passes calculus… I gotta get a life lol If you are wanting a fun read.. go ahead.. indulge.

    I always do this. Everytime we go on a trip that is. My mind starts working about a month out and I detail myself to death Isnt there some saying that goes with that? “The devil is in the details”? I hope I wont bore you with my rantings. I know my family gets sick to DEATH of hearing me plan my trips outloud.

    The trip I am speaking of is our fast approaching trip to Baltimore/DC! I have wanted to take this trip for some time now. The DC part of it was all planned one year.. and then I cant remember for the LIFE of me what changed our minds… we ended up back at Disney that year..likely something to do with Thing Two finally reaching that magical 42′ range where she could ride the big rides.. must have been.  ANYWAY. The Things have been quietly nudging me about going to Washington for a year or better, and the nudging has become full on poking since Steven and I went on a cruise last fall without them. Then when my good friend Lisa invited us to invade come stay with them in Baltimore? It seemed like things fell into place for us to finally take the trip. I dont know what part of the trip we are more tickled about. Seeing our friends or seeing DC?

I am  so excited.

This is the plan. (tentative anyway.. things always change)

wed april 1- I have to work that morning and then as soon as we check the kiddo’s out of school (T2 gets full attendance credit if she is in class til 10am and T1 gets credit for the classes she attends)  we plan to hit the road.  Mapquest says 7 hours from door to door..but you have to account for DC traffic and Thing Two’s bladder. I hope to arrive in Baltimore sometime after super…if it gets late though we plan to just grab a motel room. (might try to find one with an indoor pool so the girls can swim.. and so we wont keep Lisa and Pete up waiting for us if we get late)

Thursday- Friday.I have done a lot of research on touring DC. I have read several books and been on a TON of websites. forums and all. From all this info I have decided that we will purchase tickets on the tourmobile buses. They allow both full length touring and hop on and off priveliges. You get two days for one price so that will allow us two days of flexible touring amoung the sites. We have tickets to tour the Washington Monument friday but thats the only thing we have set in stone. So far it looks like we will be riding the train into DC  from Baltimore these two days. I am a little nervous about the trains.. being country folk like we are. The idea is a little overwhelming and seems so confusing to me. But it seems less confusing that parking in the city! I have ridden the subways in Rome and Milan and did just fine getting around.. but Its been a long time and I wasnt responsible for anyone but myself. Having kids changes everything.

Saturday- the plan is to drive in to Union Station and park there and then take the metro to the Mall to tour a couple of the Smithsonian Museums today. Id also like to fit in a quick trip to see the Pandas at the National Zoo if we have time. But I wont rush time in the museum to see them. We can go to a zoo anytime and in talking with customers who come from there at Shoney’s it wont be some big sacrifice.

Sunday- Today is Thing Two’s 9th birthday! She is so excited to be on vacation on her special day. Steven and the girls plan to tour Baltimore Aquarium today. (Im not big into the aquariums.. Steven likes to study and photograph every fin and gill.. it bores me to death) while I hopefully get to spend some time with my friend.

Monday- We plan to leave Lisa and Pete’s early in order to see Mt Vernon on our way home. We may or may not do this depending on how tired out everyone is..If I know Steve-o he’ll get in the van that morning and point it toward Dillon