My Shopping Trip

This morning I went shopping & found some cute stuff. I went to both Kirklands in town & found all of this stuff


Everything was 50% except for the little Christmas tree & sleigh but they were just a few dollars so I went ahead & got them. The candles were in the clearance section & only $1.50 each. I don't know why they were marked down. They're just cinnamon candles but I'm glad they were. I spent a grand total of $31 which I thought was a great deal!

Then I moved on to Shoe Station. I've been wanting a pair of cute rain boots for awhile but I'd never bought them. There was a 20% off coupon in the paper so I got these


Aren't they cute? I wish I would've had them Friday night. It would've made traipsing back & forth across the yard easier! I also bought a Pashmina. It's a really pretty camel color.

Then I hit the mall. Well, just Penneys. They were having a big sale & I had coupons. I got there at 12:45 & there were signs all over the store for additional savings that ended at 1:00. I don't know that I've ever shopped that quick! I didn't want to miss any savings!!! Although I did learn that the extra discounts stay in the computer for at least 30 mins. after the given time. I've never been a big dress person but I'd bought some for the summer & loved them. They're so comfortable. I thought these would both be really cute with tights & tall boots.





I got these 2 tops.



The color doesn't show up pretty in the picture. The top on the left is a maroon color. That's not a bow in the front either. The material is gathered & it's really cute. The one on the right is a sweater & it's a really pretty deep wine color.

I thought this cardigan was really cute & I'll be able to wear with all sorts of stuff.


I also bought 2 pair of pants, a brown & a black pair & a couple of turtlenecks to wear under some stuff I have.

Aside from the sales, I used $50 worth of coupons! How great is that?? By this point I was tired so I got myself a chocolate shake from Chick fil A. Sooooo good!!! If you've never had one you don't know what you're missing.

Last night we ordered pizza. Last time I ordered I discovered the greatness of ordering online. The website tells you when the pizza's in the oven & when it's out for delivery. It tracks everything. I'm not really sure about the quality control process though. It showed that Julio was checking our pizzas for their deliciousness. Does that mean Julio was eating our pizza? I can't figure out any other way to check for quality control. I just thought it was really weird.

Speaking of weird, 50 Cent was in town Friday. My friend Andrea was having lunch at Serrano's & she spotted him. I haven't figured out what's stranger, the millionaire gangsta rapper eating lunch at a Mexican restaurant or the fact that Andrea has this really weird ability to be involved in the most random things. Definitely something to ponder.

Toodles

Trick or Treat

I'm officially 36 & don't have a puppy. My "Representative" Amelia-Ann wasn't successful in convincing Dean to get me one. She's not happy. Wednesday night for day 2 of my birthday celebration we had dinner at Mike Andersons. All you can eat fried shrimp. They were sooooo good!

My actual birthday was Thursday, day 3 of my birthday celebration was a good day. The guys I work with took me to lunch at the Chimes. Another place I really love. Dean was surprising me with dinner. All he told me was that it was somewhere we'd never been before. It was Gino's! I was really excited because this is a restaurant I've always wanted to try & for whatever reason we never did. I had the lasagna & it's some of the best I've ever had. I know I talk alot about food & going out to eat but I love to eat & love to eat out!

Our neighborhood had Trick or Treating Friday night because of the LSU game tonight. Halloween is a really big deal here. All of our neighbors get together & cook & drink & just hang out while the kids trick or treat. Unfortunately, it rained this year. We still had a great time & the kids didn't let it ruin their fun. We had a full house. My parents were here, along with Dean's mom, Scott, Lydia, Logan, Dean's brother Ted & his wife Beth with their kids Drew & Camille & our friends Paul & Niki with their little girl Charli & of course there were neighbors in & out frequently throughout the night. Dean cooked some great food & I even participated & made cole slaw. This stuff is fabulous!! I had it at a party & everyone was going crazy over it so I got the recipe & tried it.

Scott & Lydia, my wonderful brother & sis-in-law brought me this


Here is Dean's mom, Mrs. Joyce with Logan


This is Charli. She was the cutest little kitten I've ever seen!


Our niece Camille was Indiana Jones. Don't ask.


This was the best costume I saw last night. Our neighbor Brian was a kangaroo & his baby Jamie was his Joey!!!


Charli was a little posing machine!


This was the only time all night that Logan was aggravated. I don't think the pine straw was very comfortable!


It's really hard to get everyone to look at the camera! Logan has a thing for hair. I think he must be jealous because he doesn't have any!!


Logan & his Nonk ready for nite nite


After everyone left we moved next door to hang out for awhile. We laughed & really enjoyed ourselves as usual.

Happy Halloween!

Extremely Frustrated

No Thugs lost. We were winning until this happened

Chris Cooley Breaks Tibia

He's doubtful for the rest of the season. Although we were winning, it's possible we would've lost anyway. We each had one guy playing last night against each other. Unfortunately for us Washington's QB is absolutely HORRIBLE. Cooley was wide open at least twice in the first 5 minutes & the QB made lousy throws. This isn't our first loss. We're actually 4-3 but this has by far been the most frustrating. We were so close. Hopefully, things will go better next week.

My birthday is Thursday. We will start celebrating tonight. It's not a memorable birthday. It's a shame I can't go back to 30 but I guess I should be happy it's not 40 yet. I know age is just a number & you're only as old as you feel but you know what? I feel about 65!! Anyway, we usually go out to eat for my birthday & I've been trying to decide where I want to go. This is always a tough decision for me. I love to eat out but I always have a really hard time deciding where. We normally always go out on Friday nights but since our subd. is having Trick or Treating Friday night (because of our close proximity to LSU & there being a game Sat. night), we're having our families over & Dean is cooking. So that means going out for my birthday wouldn't be a big deal because we wouldn't go out Friday. That combined with the fact that there are a couple of places I want to go I decided that we could go out every night this week. It didn't happen last night because although Dean lived alone for approx. 10 years & for the last 6 he's lived with me, he finds it virtually impossible to cook for less than 25. Don't get me wrong, he's a fabulous cook & we all know I'm not so I'm thrilled to death that he wants to cook but really I don't want to eat the same thing 3 days in a row. So, there's still a lot of food left from when he grilled the other night. I talked to him on the phone earlier today & when I mentioned again about going out tonight his response was "Your birthday isn't until Thursday". Does he listen to me at all??? So when I explained that I explained this last night he said he thought I was kidding. Then he told me that he thought of a surprise place to take me Thursday night. Yay, I like surprises! Tonight for dinner we had Izzo's, home of the illegal burrito. Now I know this doesn't sound like a big hoorah & it's not, but it's somewhere I hadn't ever been & according to my neighbor friend I needed to try it. I had nachos with all kinds of good stuff on them. They were delicious! Tomorrow I'm thinking about Mike Anderson's. It's my favorite.

Speaking of Izzo's, I love guacamole & if I go eat Mexican I want guacamole on whatever I get. What I don't understand is that there is always an additional charge for guacamole. I think this is a rip off. I'll pay it because I want it but it's a Mexican Restaurant & isn't guacamole like a staple for Mexicans??? I'm just saying.

Toodles!!

The other morning when I left for work my truck wouldn't start. It actually wouldn't do anything. My inside lights wouldn't come on, nothing. Luckily Dean had taken off. I was just going to take his truck to work but he said that it's some little thingy on my battery that gets loose. I vaguely remember having this problem a few months ago. So he wiggles it & it starts. He shows me how to open the hood & what to wiggle in case it were to happen again. Well, when it was time for me to leave work it was storming. I get in my truck & guess what? Yep, truck wouldn't start. Do you have any idea how hard it is to hold an umbrella & get the hood up & wiggle a thingy? It's not easy. Especially when you have to do it twice. Yep, the first wiggle didn't work. Needless to say I was not happy. When I got home Dean got tools out & fixed it. I say it's time for a new car. Unfortunately, my financial advisor (Dean) doesn't agree. When stuff like that starts happening it makes me nervous. Besides, I'll be needing new tires shortly. Why spend $1000 on tires when I can just get a new car??

Thursday night I went to a Scentsy party. A friend of mine is selling it. It's really cool candle warmer things. We spent the evening chatting, drinking wine & smelling scents. Check out her website www.scentsy.com/lisamallory. There were lots of great scents & a few really not so great ones!

This is who I spent my afternoon with Friday.


We played




And we had lunch. Logan isn't really a fan of peaches.


It was great. This baby has my heart & I wish I could see him everyday. I hope he loves me half as much as I love him!


Friday night the worst book club ever got together at my house. We had such a good time. We ate, drank & actually talked a little about books. Of course we talked a lot more about stuff having nothing to do with books. It was good to see everyone. I realized after everyone left that this was the only picture I took & everyone's not in it.


Yesterday was a pretty low key day. I had a wake to go to in the morning & then I ran some errands. The last couple of nights I haven't gotten nearly enough sleep so I took a 2 hour nap. We're watching the game now & I'm not sure what's gotten into the Tigers but they're actually playing like someone lit a fire under them. It's good to see.

This morning I got up early & Dean & I went to 7:00 Mass. My head was hurting again so I took some medicine & a nap when we got home. Today was my turn to teach Sunday School at 11:00 Mass. My next door neighbor, Amelia-Ann helped me. We had fun with the kids. They're all soooo cute. They're not shy either which makes it a lot of fun. This afternoon me & Amelia-Ann went & had ice cream at Cold Stone. It was really really good as usual. Amelia-Ann informed me that I'd missed my "Golden Birthday". I'd never heard of such a thing. She told me mine was 29 but since I didn't know about it I need to celebrate it this year. She said you always get a big gift for your "Golden Birthday". Hers was when she was 3 but since she was too young to know what it was she's celebrating it on her 13th b-day which is in 2 years & she wants a golf cart. When we got home she explained all of this to Dean & told him he needed to get me a puppy. Boy, I wish I had that childlike innocence. She actually believes he'll get me a puppy but of course I know otherwise! Maybe one day.

Fall

I follow Kelly's Korner Blog & on Fridays she hosts "Show Us Your Life". This week is fall decorations. I don't do a lot of decorating for fall, Christmas is my thing but I'm slowly addding stuff to my collection.

This is my porch. I love the mums & I'm hoping to keep them alive awhile.


This is in the foyer. The little bat says "Trick or Treat". I got it at Kirkland's this year. They had some really cute stuff & it was on sale!



This is the centerpiece on my dining room table. The iron pumpkin came from Hobby Lobby this year. The other stuff is also from Hobby Lobby that I bought a few years ago. On sale of course! I love that Hobby Lobby puts their holiday stuff on sale before the actual holiday!!



This is the server in my kitchen. I bought all of this at Kirklands this year on sale. I'm hosting our book club get together tonight & I thought these serving pieces would be cute. I'll also use them on Halloween when we have people over. I love how each little bowl has a spreader that attaches to it.



I move these little ghosts around but currently they have their own chair. My mom gave me these several years ago. I think they're adorable & the neighborhood kids love them.



This is also in the kitchen. I couldn't get a really good picture but the pumpkin says "Eat, Drink & Be Scary" & wine glass says "Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun". Another Kirklands purchase that was too cute to pass up!



I made this centerpiece for my island. I bought the cornucopia & everything at Hobby Lobby & put it all together.



Thanks for stopping by!

I Heart Hobby Lobby

At lunch today I went to Sam's to pick up some wine. Friday night I'm hosting the get together for the worst book club ever. The man in front of me was holding up the line because he wanted a bag. UM HELLO Sam's doesn't have bags. When she tells him they don't have them he looked at her like she was crazy & she looked at me & rolled her eyes. He was a little Nese man so I'm not sure he even understood what she was telling him. I've yet to figure out why he even wanted a bag. He had one item! Who can't carry one item?? These are always the kinds of things that happen to me when I'm in a hurry. Oh & you know the bane of my existence, the motorized scooter? I had one of those trying to get in front of me in line. NO DUDE, you had on shorts, I don't think you had to be back at work, get behind me. All of this could've been avoided if the EBR Metro Council didn't have the ridiculous law that you can't buy alcohol before 11:30 on Sundays. We were at Sam's Sunday morning but it was only 10:30 so no alcohol for me! I can't figure out what the purpose of this law is. Is the Metro Council trying to sober people up? I really don't think the average drunk cares what the Metro Council thinks. All they're doing is inconveniencing people like me that do their grocery shopping early on Sundays.

So I really heart Hobby Lobby. Maybe moreso than Lowe's. Monday after work I went & bought this.



Its home is going to be on the gate that goes across my driveway. I'll add a bow & some lights & shape it a little better but I think it's going to look great. I've been wanting a big wreath for a couple of years but I always wait to long & the stores are sold out. Dean knew I was buying it but when he came to get it out of the truck he was shocked. He didn't realize how big it was going to be. After I saw the look on his face I got worried that it was too big. He held it up on the gate & it's fine. Big, but fine.

Who Knew Tortillas Go Bad?!

The weekend's over. Whoever decided that we should work 5 days & only be off 2 should be shot. Seriously. It just goes by too fast. I love doing things on the weekend but that makes them go by even faster. We started off the weekend with our typical Friday night activity, dinner out. We went to TJ Ribs. It's been awhile since we'd been there & it was really good.

Saturday, I was supposed to have lunch with my friend Donna & her little boy Sean but plans were changed & that was moved to Sunday. Dean & I ran errands all morning Saturday. We got the new battery for the security system & went to Lowe's. I heart Lowe's! Supposedly, they're building one just miles from my house. That's probably not a good thing but I just can't wait!! After we ran around town spending money we went home to work. We had stuff to do in the yard. I had Mums to put in pots & some weeding to do. It was a little too windy for me considering I've been sick for 2 wks. so I went in & took a nap. The nap was followed by Mass & then back home to watch football & eat the delicious deer meat chili that Dean cooked.

Sunday it was back to Lowe's because we didn't buy enough dirt Saturday. We also made a Sam's run. I swear I spent $100 just on various cheese products. Whoever invented cheese should be named a Saint. Back home to work in the yard. Our neighbor had brought us some Gardenia's to plant. They're just pieces but she's planted some & they've done great so hopefully we'll have good luck with them. I finished pulling weeds & we moved a couple of plants around. Everything looks really good. Dean cut the grass while I cleaned house.

Here are the Gardenias.





I have them planted on either side of the gate that's on the opposite side of the house from the driveway. I hope they start to grow quickly. Otherwise, it's going to look stupid.

Lunch plans with Donna & Sean changed again. Donna couldn't get away for lunch so they came over last night for a short visit. It was great seeing them. Sean is such a little sweetheart! They'll be back in town in a couple of weeks & we hope to get together again.

This is Donna & Sean. Aren't they cute?



We all know that I am not a cook. Suffice it to say that I'm not very good at anything that goes on in the kitchen except for my ability to stack dishes in the drain ridiculously high so that I don't have to stop & dry them. Me & my mom have differing opinions on why this is. I personally believe it's her fault for shooing me out of the kitchen when she was trying to teach me but I was too slow for her. (Dean wonders where I get my lack of patience!) She thinks it's my fault for never showing any interest. The debate continues. Imagine my surprise today at lunch when I discovered that the tortillas I brought weren't any good! I had no idea these things went bad. I had this big thing of them & because I didn't want to go to Walmart yesterday to buy bread (being that Walmart & those motorized scooters are the bane of my existence) I decided that I'd just make a wrap for lunch instead of a sandwich. I thought it felt funny but then I took a bite. UGH! It was like it was dry rotted or rubber or something equally disgusting. I had them in the refrigerator but apparently they need to be frozen for future use. Don't say I never taught you anything cooking related!

Later!

More Evidence That I'm An Idiot

I need help. Everyday when I wake up I have dark circles under my eyes. It can't possibly be from not getting enough sleep because everyone knows I love my sleep & it's a priority in my life. I'm also aging. sigh. I have little tiny wrinkles under my eyes (along with crows feet & my crease but that's another story) & I've found concealer seems to magnify those. Does anyone else have this problem? What do you use? While I'm on the subject of makeup let me ask, what's the deal with Sephora? I've never been there but I hear about it constantly & when we were in Vegas I saw like 3 different ones just on The Strip. Along with 3 Tiffany's which I still can't understand. I know there's money in Vegas but seriously 3 Tiffany's?? Back to Sephora, tell me what's so great about it or if it's truly great at all. I just don't know.

The first night we were in Vegas we got a call at midnight from our security co. Our security system was giving them some sort of signal that we had a low battery. I'm still not really sure why they called us at midnight which was actually 2:00 a.m. in B.R. but they did. Dean told them we were out of town. They said that was fine, they'd make a note & for us to call when we got back to see about getting a new battery. I didn't really understand that either. Can't I just go to CVS & buy a battery? Wednesday after work I'm in the kitchen & this beeping starts. I have no idea where it's coming from. It's the security system. Dean said it was doing it when he got home. I suggest taking the battery out but instead he called the security co. To make a long story short, the lady tells him they can come out with a battery for $60 or we can go Sat. & pick one up for $35. We're picking it up. She also says it will only go off once every 24 hrs. so he doesn't take the battery out. My comment was that it had gone off twice in 3 hrs. & that I wouldn't be real happy if it woke me up in the middle of the night. Fast forward to 1:30 am. Yep, you guessed it, beeping. I didn't say anything because apparently Dean was in a much deeper sleep than I was & the beeping scared him half to death the way he jumped out of the bed. I figure that was punishment enough. This is the battery.



I couldn't figure out how in the world this thing came out of the keypad. When I mentioned this to Dean he took a few deep breaths & explained to me that it came out of the box in our closet. Box? What box? Oh yeh, the grey metal, fuse box looking thing. That makes much more sense! Idiot, seriously.

Ribs & Stuff

I can't stop thinking about something that happened yesterday. I was on my way home from work & I was doing my usual 35-40 mph down Brightside & it was raining. There was a girl in a small truck, like a little Mazda or Chevy or something on Alvin Dark at the stop sign. She pulled out in front of me. When I say pulled out in front of me I mean I was like 20 feet from her. She just looked at me. I immediately slammed on the brakes knowing I was going to probably slide all over the place since it was wet. From the sound of the squeal I'm guessing there was smoke coming from my tires. I was very lucky that there was nobody walking or riding their bike because I swerved onto the shoulder/bike path & by the grace of God missed hitting this girl by what couldn't be more than a few inches. I couldn't stop shaking. Here I am in this big Expedition & I was about to broadside this girl. She would've been hurt badly if not killed. Freaked me out.

More serious stuff. I have a friend that is pregnant with twins. I met Tonya through my sis-in-law. We love her & her great little family. Tonya will be 24 weeks on Friday & she was put on bed rest yesterday because of pre-term labor. Her first baby was born early 6 wks. early so they've been watching her closely. The goal is for her to make it to 28 wks. Say some prayers that not only will she make it that far but beat the odds & go longer!

When I woke up this morning I felt better. However, in the Robitussin induced coma like state I was in, I took my steroids wrong this morning. Taking medicine really shouldn't be this difficult. My ribs on my left side are really sore. Dean assures me that it's not possible to break ribs from blowing my nose but I don't know. They hurt.

Speaking of bones, I just finished reading The Lovely Bones. I really enjoyed it. This is one of those books that everyone's been talking about & I thought I'd feel smarter if I read it. Well, I don't feel any smarter but at least if someone asks I can say that I've read it. If you haven't read it I recommend it.

For those of you that watch Gossip Girl I need help. For some reason the DVR malfunctioned 3 wks. ago & didn't tape it. I have a sneaky suspicion that this has something to do with Dean recording shows about Vegas & there were too many things set for the same time. Anyway, as much as I hate to watch/read things out of order I was dying for my GG fix so I watched the last 2 wks. episodes. I need my peeps to fill me in on what I missed. PLEASE!!!

I also have to send a shout out to my friend Wendy - she's turned me onto ANOTHER blog! Like I needed that. It's called Veronika's Blushing. If you like girlie stuff like makeup & hair like I do, you'll love it!

Later!!

Woo Hoo Steroids!!

The garage sale is not happening this weekend. Thank you God! I'm still sick & not in the mood to have to clean out closets. I finally sucked it up & called the Doctor today. He called me in a dose pack. After finally figuring out how to take the stupid thing hopefully I'm on the road to recovery. The dose pack has all of these instructions. 2 pills after breakfast, 1 after lunch, 1 after dinner, 2 before bed. So what to do when you sit in line in the CVS drive thru for 15 minutes & don't get your medicine until 5:00?? I couldn't figure out if I should pretend dinner was breakfast or start with dinner. Then I looked at the pills again & saw some other writing which said that if you got your medicine late in the day it's perfectly fine to take all 6 pills at once. So this raises the question - If you can take them all at once WHY all the difficult instructions about taking them separately throughout the day????? I think I'm going to start taking vitamin C. I can't coninue to function in this medicated state. This morning on my way to work I looked in the mirror to put on my lipstick & saw that I only had one earring in. I feel like a zombie. 6 pills down 15 to go.

This is my latest project.



This is the room in my house I refer to as the sitting room. I should call it the laying room because the majority of the time I spend in here is laying on the sofa napping or watching TV. I bought the mirror at Hobby Lobby awhile back when they were 50% off & then I found the hummingbird pictures on a website. They were on sale so they only cost $10/ea. I bought the mats at Hobby Lobby & the frames at Michaels when they were on sale. I really like the way it turned out.

I still need to put up my fall decorations but I don't see that happening anytime soon. If I don't get to it over the weekend I'm skipping fall & just waiting for Christmas. I also plan on painting my bathroom. I'm hoping to get that done in the coming weeks.

I talked to my friend Donna earlier & she'll be in town this weekend. She's lived in Dallas for the last few years & just recently moved to Alabama. I'm going to have lunch with her & her little boy Saturday. She's pregnant with another little boy. I didn't get to see her when she was pregnant with Sean so aside from looking forward to visiting with her, I'm anxious to see her pregnant!

Wrapup

I don't think it's possible to be any lazier than I was this weekend. I didn't feel good so that had a lot to do with it. There's something to be said for a little humidity. Vegas has like none & apparently it was a shock to my sinuses. I slept A LOT!! I enjoyed every minute of it. We also enjoyed a short visit with Katie & Sean. It took them 2 hours to get to our house Sat. night after the game. 2 hours to go a mile. Ridiculous!

The game was not good. It was close & LSU definitely had their opportunities. People can say what they want about Florida's center moving his head & causing the offside penalties BUT there's really no excuse for lining up in the neutral zone. I see why my daddy talks to his TV. It was FRUSTRATING!

This is going to be a busy week. I'm helping my friend with her garage sale Sat. Momentary lapse in judgement on my part. I'm not the least bit interested in participating in this thing but I will. I've got some stuff gathered up but I still have lots to do. I'm going to sell our desk so that means I have to take everything out of it. I also have closets to go through. Oh boy!!! It's making me tired just thinking about it. I hope I make some money!

Also on the agenda for this week is planting. Something else I'm not thrilled about doing but only because I still feel like crap. My friend that lives across the street brought me some Gardenias last night. I know where I want to put them but I have to dig up the iris' that are there now. They grew well there & multiplied but never bloomed. I think there was too much sun.

I'm hoping to feel better by Thursday. Well, it would be nice to feel better before then but we have flu shots at work Thurs. & I must must must get one. The only year I didn't I got the flu & it was awful. As sick as I've been this year I don't want to chance it.

I read The Shack over the weekend. I wasn't crazy about it. I don't know if it's the thought that God is a large black woman or what but I just couldn't wrap my brain around it. Now I'm reading The Lovely Bones. I'm really enjoying it.

Sadly, No Thugs lost this weekend. We were in the lead until last night when Joseph Addai had the game of his life. Oh well, hopefully we'll do better next week.

Vegas Baby!!!

We left for Vegas Sunday. It was our 6th Anniversary. Our flight left B.R. at 8:30. We went to my parents & my dad brought us to the airport. We were on one of those little American Eagle planes. 2 seats on one side & 1 on the other. I was a little concerned that the flight was going to be delayed because bad weather was supposed to be coming through. We left on time but this was not the nice, smooth flight I was hoping for. At one point I was scared. We were bouncing around a lot. I thought of BFF Vicki a lot & how she would've been on the verge of a heart attack. It was not fun. Luckily, it didn't last the whole flight. We had a 55 min. layover in Dallas which was just about perfect. Much bigger plane this time but still a little bumpy. I managed to take a nap. Imagine that.

When we got to Vegas & stepped off the plane the first thing we saw were slot machines! I was amazed by the weather. It was BEAUTIFUL!!! We found our little shuttle bus & headed to the Venetian. Apparently, we were very lucky that we didn't fly through Atlanta. There were some guys on the bus that said they were scared to death. There was a time when the plane literally did a free fall & the nose was pointed down. I wouldn't have handled that well.

The resorts in Vegas are unbelievable! They're huge! Everyone kept telling us that but it's just something you have to see for yourself. Apparently, everyone was checking in at the same time because the line was ridiculously long. I mean like 100 people in line. We must have had that deer in the headlights look on our face because someone that worked there took pity on us & brought us to the desk that said "Invited Guest Check In". Thank you God, it took 10 mins. The resort was soooo pretty & fancy. Our suite was on the 30th floor. It was a great. We had a huge bathroom & it had a high def TV in it which was really cool. I got used to watching Sportscenter every morning while I got ready. There was also a high def TV at the foot of the bed & in the living room area. These TV's were approx. 15 feet apart!

We had such a great trip. We took a gondola ride at the Venetian, rode the roller coaster at New York New York, saw the Bellagio fountain show, the volcano at the Mirage & the pirate show at Treasure Island. We went to Fremont St. which is old Vegas & to the wax museum. We ate a lot of good food too! We saw V which is a variety show. It was fun! Since Wayne Brady cancelled we bought tickets to Peepshow with Holly Madison & Aubrey O'Day. I've always watched The Girls Next Door & was excited about seeing Holly. The show was at the theater on the 2nd floor at Planet Hollywood. We got to there early & were just looking out over the casino watching people when all of a sudden a little white Maltese with a pink tail & pink paws goes running by. It caught me by surprise because seriously we saw some sites in Vegas but a pink dog inside the casino?? Trotting right behind her was Aubrey O'Day telling "Ginger" to stop. WOW! She's really pretty (Aubrey not Ginger, although she was pretty cute too).

Our seats were GREAT! We were in the VIP section at a table right by the stage. At one point I was seriously scared that I was about to get kicked in the head with a stiletto! Imagine my surprise while we were sitting there drinking our Crown (Can you say bottle service??), when the dancers laid down on the stage right in front of us & asked what we were drinking!! After the show I was coming out of the restroom & there goes Ginger again closely followed by Aubrey. I'm thinking the poor dog is trying to get away from the crazy woman that dyed her pink!

There were so many sites to see it was unreal. There were people everywhere wearing stuff they had no business wearing. I saw more tattoos than I've ever seen in my life. I swear more people had them than those that didn't. Craziness. Oh & the card flickers! Seriously - a bunch of Mexicans wearing shirts that said "Women - Direct to you in 20 mins." It didn't matter if you were a man, woman, woman with a man, young, old they flicked you. I just wanted to ask "Dude is your mom proud?".

We ended up having our Anniversary dinner at Delmonico's at the Venetian. It's one of Emeril's restaurants. It was easily the best steak I've ever had. Most expensive too!

Now we have the cruise to look forward to! I can't wait!!!

Game Day

LSU vs. Florida, #1 vs. #4 in Tiger Stadium. Both undefeated (I'm still suprised by that). Tonight. Hopefully, it lives up to the hype. Things are crazy in town. Will Tebow play? Who knows. ESPN Gameday is here. Drew Brees was the guest picker. All kinds of stuff is going on. We were planning to tailgate today but I'm sick AGAIN. This is really beginning to annoy me. I'm better today but I'm not in any shape to tailgate. Not to mention that it rained all morning. There was a time in my life where that wouldn't have meant a thing, you just don't miss an opportunity to tailgate. Yeh, well, I'm over that. I've barely left the sofa today. I've watched football, read & napped. I just hope Herbstreit is wrong & Florida doesn't win big. It would be nice to have a good game to watch. After the game Katie & Sean are coming to spend the night. We always love to visit with them. They may actually be here to watch the game. They don't have tickets but Katie said something about getting snuck in. Not sure how that's going to work but if it doesn't they'll be joining us.

I went to my mom's yesterday. It's her week to keep Logan so I spent the day with them. He is so cute & was in a really good mood! He smiled & cackled all day. It's sooo funny! He's getting such a little personality. Yes, I was sick, but it's sinus stuff so I'm not contagious.



We were supposed to go to dinner with friends & I was really looking forward to it but I just felt too bad so we stayed home.

I'm working on my Vegas post. We did a lot so I'll break it up into a couple of post.

What Is That????

When I left work today I saw something I've never seen before.....



WTH??? What IS THIS?? If it had a hole in the roof it would look like Fred Flinstones car. Seriously, who drives this??? It would fit in the back of my Expedition & I don't think I would even have to fold down the second row of seats! I'm sure it gets something like 75 mpg but I still can't figure out why anyone would pay good money for this thing, much less be seen in it. Apparently, Nissan makes it & they call it a Cube. Interesting.

I've just finished reading 3 of Jen Lancaster's books. I LOVE THESE BOOKS!!! Maybe because while reading them I laughed out loud a lot & I kept thinking that I am a lot like her. I even told Dean that he should read them. I thought he'd like them since they remind me of me & he likes me. His response? "I don't think I need to read about you, I live with you". I'm not sure but that doesn't really sound like a compliment. All of her books are memoirs. She is HYSTERICAL!! If you're looking for something to read you MUST MUST MUST read these. I would suggest reading them in order - Bitter is the New Black, Bright Lights Big Ass & Such a Pretty Fat. Technically, they don't have to be read in order but I'm a crazy person like that & must read stuff in order. I'm thinking of stopping at Barnes & Noble tomorrow & buying her 4th book for my trip. I don't plan to lay around the hotel reading a lot but maybe she would sidetrack me for the 50 mins. (so I've been told) that I'll be on the itty bitty plane. Thanks Wendy for telling me about these books!

Speaking of Vegas, I think we're going to get tickets for Penn & Teller. People keep telling us how funny they are. I still haven't decided on dinner Sunday night. I told Dean last night to pick a place. All of this is much too overwhelming for me & I just want to be told where to go. I don't want to think on this trip.

Annoyed

Lots of things annoy me. I'm pretty much annoyed by traffic everyday but I'm trying to learn to live with it because there isn't anything I can do about it. The source of a lot of my traffic annoyance is Brightside. Luckily, the city has figured out that a center turn lane would be a fabulous thing to have. On Sept 10th there was an article in the paper about the project & it claimed work had been started. If they call putting out orange cones beginning work, then I guess they have. HOWEVER, I call beginning work to actually see people doing some work. I haven't seen that yet & it's 3 wks. later.

I'm also annoyed that the birds have discovered the ceiling fans on my patio. Isn't it bad enough that they build nests on top of the columns in the front of the house? I HATE it. There's always bird poop on the columns. They could make all the nest they want if they'd just be more careful where they poop. Anyway, now they've taken up residence on the tops of the ceiling fans on the patio. It's weird that this has just become a problem because the ceiling fans have been there 3 years. At first all we had to do was turn the fans on & the birds would fly away. Apparently, they've decided the fans are their own private Disney World because now the only time they leave is if we walk outside. The problem with that is as soon as we walked back in the house they go back to perch on the fans. I need to come up with a way to keep those stupid things away. I don't like birds except Hummingbirds & I don't think they're real birds anyway. Because of all this I've decide to get a bird bath. I thought maybe the thought of a refreshing bath would lure them from the fans. Besides, I have the perfect place for one & I think it would be pretty in the yard. I googled bird bath & imagine my surprise when a whole bunch of listings came up for HEATED BIRD BATHS! WTH??? We're talking about annoying little creatures that live outside year round. I thought that was one of the stupidest things I've ever seen.

This brings me to why I'm so annoyed TODAY. I checked our home email a little while ago & Wayne Brady's October shows have been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. Allison, I know you're bummed that there won't be any audience participation. That's the only part of this that doesn't annoy me. So now I have to figure out what show I want to see. I would really like to see Barry Manilow, go ahead & laugh, but he doesn't have a show while we're there. How did that happen? I thought he was there like every night. I've been reading about a bunch of the shows. It wouldn't be so hard to decide on one if the tickets weren't so expensive. I want to make sure I'm going to like whatever we see. I don't want to waste $250 on 2 tickets to something that's not good. Dean also told me to figure out where I want to eat Sunday night for our anniversary. I guess being together for almost 12 years hasn't taught him that I'm a terrible decision maker when given a lot of choices. He narrowed it down for me to 3 casino's to make it easier for me but there are like 15 restaurants in those 3 casino's. Craziness.

I'm also a little annoyed that I have to fly on one of those little American Eagle planes from B.R. to Dallas. I'm normally not afraid of flying but that's when I'm on a nice big jet, not a crop duster. I'm guessing they don't serve drinks on those little planes so I'm thinking about taking a Benadryl.