Mount Vernon colors

This morning I found this on a blog I follow. Right up my alley since I love history & houses. Paint colors found at Mount Vernon, President George Washington's home. Check it out here.

A Question of Character

Yesterday I received a package in the mail. Which is always exciting. It's a book written by a father-son team in Jonesboro. The son is an acquaintance of mine - John Abernathy. He lives out west now.

Here's a link to the book. I'll let you know how it goes. It's a political thriller, which is right up my alley. I like to read books by David Baldacci, so I'm hoping this will be a good one.

My Aunt Jackie's

On Monday night this week I went with my parents to visit my Aunt Jackie and Uncle Tommy. Tommy had worked on an antique ice chest my mom bought in

Nashville a few weeks ago. Mom and Dad went for their anniversary. As long as I can remember, my mom

has wanted one of these ice boxes -- just like her grandmother had. And she finally got it!

I got to visit with Jackie & Tommy out on their deck for a while before my mom and dad showed up. It was a gorgeous day. We've been fortunate to have some unseasonably pleasant weather this August. Then we walked down to Tommy's shop to see the ice box. He's got a really nice set-up.

I took this picture of my mom and (obviously her sister) Jackie. They sound almost just alike now that they're older. My grandmother, their mother died in May this year.

This is just a flower I thought was pretty. :-)

My Weekend

The weather was beautiful this weekend! I slept in Saturday and caught up on things around the house. Then I went to my grandmother's house. My little cousins Chance & Cody were there with their little friend Zach. They were into everything and my dad was hanging out with them.

This is a trellis with grapevines in my grandmother's back yard. We set here for a while.

My grandmother's house is about 100 years old. My dad's parents bought it in the 60's and did some modernization. It's where he grew up. This is the living room. Not to be confused with the "den". This is where we all gather on Christmas Eve to open presents & sing. I took a picture because she had someone come out and do some decorating. It looked really nice.

This is a VERY funny, but cute picture I found in one of her albums. She's trying to get organized so they were laying out on the sofa. This is at Christmas when I was probably in the 2nd grade. My mom made us matching Christmas sweat shirts. You can't really tell, but those are holly leaves & packages painted on there with fabric paint. OH yeah! I thought it was sooooo cool. Jen, you know you probably helped make this.

And speaking of family, I was looking through some of those albums and found one called Cole Family History. Cole is my great-great grandmother's maiden name. I never knew her. There's still a plot of land in our family called Cole Hill. Anywho, I was looking through it and it's really cool because it traced the name/family back to the 1400s in England. There was even a family crest. I'll have to look through it better some other time.

After grandma's I went to Andy's house. His dad made ribs. This is for Richard & Laura.

Saturday Morning

Saturday Morning

I made homemade blueberry pancakes Saturday morning. Delicious! Recipe here.

Hot Tamales!!!

The Hispanic Community Center in Jonesboro had a fund raiser recently and sold homemade tamales. 9$ for a dozen in chicken or pork. Wrapped in corn husks and everything.

So, I had the Hurdles over and Hannah and her boyfriend ate too. It was yummy! Amanda helped us clean up. Awesome!

We will definitely be ordering more in the future.

Take me out to the Baaaaallll Game! Take me out to the Crowd!

So, I don't know if I mentioned this in the previous few posts, but the main event while visiting Molli & Marty was to attend a Texas Rangers v. Boston Red Sox baseball game. This is a picture of Molli, Amanda and me Saturday before leaving the house.

It was so nice having their nice new house to spread out and enjoy. Here are "the kids" watching TV and playing games.

We went shopping in Arlington before the game. It was incredibly crowded.

And here we are at the stadium. It was a good time. Our seats included an all you can eat buffet. Hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, nachos, peanuts, hot dogs, soda. None of it was all that great, but it didn't cost anything. That was nice.

Me & my good friend Shaun - the ultimate Red Sox fan.

Visiting the Bishops

Well, I made it to Texas! All by my little self. :) I drove from Jonesboro to OkCity to Aubrey, TX without getting lost really. Thanks to my sis's trusty GPS. I met up with my friend Molli and got a tour of her new house in Aubrey, TX. I love it! Here is a picture of her and her husband Marty. She cooked brownies and served it with ice cream. Yummy!

We had dinner at Mr. Chopsticks. It's a delicious hole in the wall place near the the University of North Texas campus in Denton where Marty is in the the PhD program. I love that place. I had a Philadelphia Roll & some fried rice.

About to hit the sack and wait for the rest of the crew to arrive. They'll be in late tonight. So glad I was able to drive down from OKcity today.

Blue Skies

Here we are cooking fish for the Oklahoma Sheriffs at a park. Chris, Chad (my boss), Dean, Todd {a.k.a. Ladies Man and the guy that heroically removed the snake skin from the bathroom} and me.

Cookin'!!! I helped cut up the raw catfish. Yuck! I don't really even like catfish, but I pretend I do for these events. Just stay busy cooking and cleaning so I don't really have time to eat.

Buffet! Also pictured here in the background is a poster I made. It is a county map of OK with our client counties hi-lited in yellow. I missed several counties because I got some incorrect information. We bought come Crayola markers and fixed it.

On Thursday I went down to our booth, but it

was slow because the sheriffs were in class.

Here is a picture of our booth.

One of the nicest there.

Since it was slow I decided to go with the sheriffs' wives on a short field trip to The Oklahoma History Center. What a wonderful tribute to the history and people of Oklahoma! Here is a picture in the foyer. A view of the state capitol.

This was one of, if not the, most valuable exhibits in the museum. And my favorite. What can I say? I am my father's daughter. It is a decree/certificate of sorts from President Thomas Jefferson to some Indian tribe. {and yes, they call them Indians in Oklahoma, not Native Americans} The two silk ribbon & wax seals at the bottom are the seals of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. This document was signed by all three infamous men. Jefferson, Lewis & Clark. Very cool. Can't wait to show my dad.

Ok, this exhibit made me feel old. Displayed in a glass case along with all of the artifacts was this Nokia Phone and Doc Marten boots. I hope all of you Gen Y-ers out there can appreciate this. I thought I was sooooo cool with my new Docs and my cell phone that was just like everyone else's.

And this was my view at approximately 7pm last night. Hanging at the hotel pool with a book.

Terrifying bathroom break

Ok, so Day two of my Oklahoma business trip: I get all dressed up Wednesday morning and go to the booth at the exhibit hall. Then, my boss calls and says we've gotta go cook. My company hosted/sponsored a fish fry at a park. In other words... outdoors. No kitchen. No sink.

There was however indoor bathrooms. I was thrilled because I had to pee as soon as we arrived. So, I slowly creeped into the bathroom of this pavilion. It smelled ok and the actual toilets were clean. But, I've watched enough Discovery channel to raise the seat with my foot and make sure there are no spiders under the rim. Whew. I'm good. So, I commence to take care of business and sit to pee.

I didn't close the stall door because it was already fairly dark in the bathroom and no other girls were within about a mile radius. As I'm sitting I look over to the sink and low and behold I see something that appears to be a thick hose of sorts. As my eyes adjust to the dark room and focus in and realize it is not a hose. At all. But rather a 4 foot long snake skin. SNAKE SKIN!!! It was sticking out of the wall where the sink plumbing went into the wall. {My skin is ccrrraaaawwllllinggg as I type}

So, I am Freaked OUT beyond any regular heart rate. But, what do I do? I can't jump up and run out. I'm peeing. I can't just stop right? So, I finish my business all the while feeling hallucinating creepy crawlies all over me and breathing lightly. I hurry and run out without washing my hands. Which I felt guilty about since I was going to be cooking, but the sink had two spiders in it. *shrug* The least of my worries at this point. When I walked out I told my boss and new co-worker I'd just met and they didn't Even CARE! ugh! men.

Clearly, this snake used the tight space where the plumbing and wall didn't quite meet to help slither out of it's skin. Clever, yes. But why oh why me???? The skin was fresh too. Which means the snake was out there somewhere!!

A while later I got a flirtatious vendor, whom I call "Lady's Man", to go in and get the skin out. He was pretty afraid too. So, I was glad I wasn't freaking out for no reason. This is just a small segment of the snake. I reeeeeally wanted to take a picture of the skin while in it's original place, but I literally could not bring myself to go back in there the rest of the night. So, I got there about 3pm and left and 9pm. That's a long time without a potty break. I was absolutely shaken. Still pretty shook up just writing this. Eek!!!

But, I survived.

Ooooooooklahoma

Well, I made it to Oklahoma City last night. All by myself. :-) This is a picture of the Welcome to Oklahoma sign. It was a nice drive. From Jonesboro I went south through Conway, then back up through the Ozarks. Very pretty state I live in.

I got to my hotel and checked in and it was terrible. I tried to "rough it", but I thought it was ridiculous to have to suffer the way I did in Hot Springs. And let me tell you this one was much worse. It was a non-smoking room, but still smelled like smoke. And quite frankly I didn't feel safe. There was an exterior door and an interior corridor door. I could literally see daylight through the exterior door. So, I went driving around looking for a new hotel and found a Hampton Inn for us. Much better. I felt bad to leave because the young man at the front desk had been very polite and kind. Oh well!

So, I've just eaten the continental breakfast here at the Hampton and I'm ready for the day.

This Land is Your Land

So, this weekend I went to Tunica, MS for a Counting Crows concert. I'm a big fan, so I jumped at the opportunity to see them live. It was a wonderful show. I don't have any pics of the show because I've been having some technological hi-cups, but I'm all better now. Long December was my class song in high school so it was cool to hear them sing it in person. My favorite part of the evening was the very end. It was as if Adam Duritz knew I was going to be there because he closed with a big push to get people to register to vote and encouraged them to get to the polls. Most everyone at the concert was my age-ish. So then the finale was This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land. I am one of the most patriotic people you'll ever meet and this was sooooo cool! He sang all the verses and chorus. Most people, myself included, had never heard the verses. We all sang the chorus together. Ahhh I am proud to be an American.

Now, the Tunica part. I'd never been to Tunica before and for those of you that don't know, Tunica, MS is a casino or rather a cluster of casinos a few miles south of Memphis. You have to drive through a southern ghetto of sorts to get there from Memphis. I was raised in a very conservative Southern Baptist home and church. Tunica is like a dirty word. Now, I have a masters degree in business. I know my chances at gambling. They aren't good. So, I didn't gamble. I watched a couple of my girl friends play the slot machines and they lost. Quickly. Did not interest me in the least.

I wished I'd enjoyed the tourist spot more, but it was a disappointment. Our hotel was pretty nice and new. Two things that really stuck out to me from my experience were smoke and gluttony. Smoking was allowed indoors there. I do not have a problem with people smoking. Not at all. But being around smoke is not enjoyable for me because I do not smoke. It smells and makes it difficult to breathe. But like I told my friend Amanda, if you're a smoker this is the place to be.

I think almost every place to eat there is a buffet. Lots of waste. I got like 7 desserts and just "tried" each one. I felt guilty for wasting food. :(

Don't think I'll go back to Tunica, but I did enjoy the concert. Here are some pictures of my breakfast this morning at Paul Deen's breakfast... you guessed it... buffet.

New Office at Tiger

So, I changed jobs at the beginning of June and I've finally gotten my new office fixed the way it should be. It is a very nice office. The company I work for is located on the outskirts of town in two plain jane -on the outside- warehouses, but the building I am in is a new addition for the company and the front part of the building

was remodeled for offices just before I came there. The girl that had the office before me picked out the paint color.

I don't know that you can tell in these pictures, but it's a dark blue/gray. Very cool. I never would have picked it myself, but I love it.

The first picture here is my favorite part of the room. My mom came and helped me put it all together, so she gets full credit for this credenza area. I had the starburst

mirror in my office at the clinic. I knew wher

e I wanted everything in this office, but I always need my mother's help with these things. The vase there looks like a tiger and the name of the co

mpany I work for is Tiger Correctional Services. A mere coincidence? --I think not. It too was left in my offi

ce and it's solid glass so I didn't do anything with it because I was afraid it would break, but my mom is not afraid. She fixed it right up!

This cool shelf pictured on the right is awesome. It's from IKEA and it's perfect for this office. i can put stuff on the shelves and see it all. At my old job I was really bad about putting things away to work on later and then completely forgetting about them because well, "outta sight, outta mind". The two red vases on top were left as well.

Here's the story behind my office fu

rniture. The girl that worked

there before me ordered all new office furniture from IKEA. Which so

unds like a splendid idea. However, IKEA furniture is not durable enough for everyday office use and the desk she chose was much too small, short and had no drawers. It just wouldn't do. So, after getting my feel for the place I ordered my desk from Office Max.

I think it looks great!

The last corner of the office is by the huge window. :) This is a work table and where my assistant, a.k.a. a college student that works a few hours a week and helps me out if needed

or anyone else that needs help, sits. The stuffed tiger on the table is one of our give-a-ways. Cute.

And finally the inside of my very organized drawer. It's so nice to be organized. Starting a job has been a very good experience so far. I'm glad I did it. It's been stressful for sure, but I'm really enjoying it. Starting fresh is a good thing.

The Johnson's new Casa

My friends Brittney & Michael Johnson got married in March and just bought their first home in July. They had us over for homemade ice cream Saturday night. Here is a pic of her cute! kitchen. Also, she had the ever-so-clever idea to use a shoe storage door hanger for all of her kitchen utensils that wouldn't fit other places. I'm so happy for them!