I can't believe it has been over six months since my last post. OK...well, I guess I can believe it. However, I sent out our annual Christmas letter yesterday and noted that this is in fact my blog. I have no idea how many people actually read this but if you are one of the few, you should probably just subscribe or set up a blog reader. Google Reader is great for this. That way, all the blogs you read can be in one place so you don't have to surf around to find them

If you didn't receive a letter from me, let me know and I'll send one.

We're still around...

I realize that I haven't blogged since I mentioned we were going to Cancun despite swine flu. Well, we went and no swine flu to report. It actually worked out quite well for us as everyone else seemed to be too scared to come so the place was only about half full. We had a blast with the Waldens, Nelsons, Longs and Fatty and Suzanne! We stayed four nights/five days at one of those all inclusive type places (Grand Oasis Cancun). I would give it a B+. It was perfect for our group since there wasn't a lot of people there but there were a few downfalls. Overall, it was wonderful because of the group we went with. We are trying to have a Memorial Day trip every year with these great folks (not always in other countries). Here are some pics:

View from our room


Dinner the first night at the only "Mexican Restaurant"


My toes lounging beachfront


Wes lounging beachfront


For more pics, go to my Facebook page

Mexico

Map of swine flu outbreaks

Some of you may remember that Wes and I have booked a trip to Cancun May 22-26. We are going with four other couples and are really excited. Then this stupid flu started and I got phone calls and emails about how we should cancel. Well, we haven't cancelled yet. Although the cases in New York started from a group in Cancun, this map shows that there are no confirmed cases in Cancun as of today. So our plan is to wait a little while longer before making a decision. My initial feelings are that by May 22, this will go away and not be a big deal or will be so out of control that nobody is allowed to travel and we won't have a choice of whether we go or not. I really hope that we can go! I am keeping my fingers crossed and praying that this whole thing goes away.

The Dishwasher

This past weekend our dishwasher stopped working. We figure it was the original one in the house that was built in 1982 because it's REALLY loud and had a copper hose connecting to the hot water and apparently, that's really out of style. Anyway, Wes took the whole thing apart as you can see here to see if he could fix the old one.

After completely discecting that one, we realized that it definitely was done for and we'd have to get a new one. So, I went to my handy dandy favorite website, Craigslist and started bargain shopping. We ended up finding one up in Cumming (another suburb of Atlanta but further north than us). We drove up there borrowing the Andrews' van and came away with a Super nice Adora GE quiet dishwasher. We were able to get it for $150 instead of at least twice that for a new one that would be somewhat good. Yay for saving money buy purchasing used. It's about 2 years old. It took a couple of days and a few trips to Home Depot, but Wes and our neighbor got it in and working. It's so quiet!

No, it's not sitting on the floor here as we use it :). But I can't upload anymore pics right now for some reason...

The Birthday Weekend Part 2

Saturday we went to Lowe's to stock up on some veggies and herbs to plant. We started them in these pots because everyone around here says to wait to plant in the ground. It worked best for us in Wilmington to plant in pots, so hopefully they'll do well in these for a little while.  Also, Wes surprised me with a Topsy Turvy! So, we had to get a bunch of tomatoes to fill that thing up. I really hope they work. They are kind of tacky, but we're moving them to the back yard because it's fenced in and we have some serious deer that like to eat any and all plants.

The Birthday Weekend Part 1

This weekend Wes and I celebrated my 28th birthday by going down to Midtown for a show that we were supposed to (and did) go to in October but Ryan Adams and the Cardinals walked off the stage after 37 minutes of playing. We got make-up tickets at the Fox, which was awesome because we'd never been there. We decided to make a day/night out of it by me leaving work early, heading on Marta to Midtown Station and taking in a little city life. We stopped in a couple of places to hang out and as you can see, the weather was georgeous! These two pics show us at Joe's on Juniper and here we got a couple of ideas for our deck that we will be building soon with a little help from out friends.

Next, we walked a couple of blocks to this gem: The Steamhouse. We saw this a long time ago when we were down that way and I wanted to go to it so bad but we'd already eaten. I've been planning this for weeks now and it was totally worth it! I love steamed seafood but there's not a whole lot of places that do it up right around us so I was so excited to go here. We sat outside again and loved it!

When finised at the restaurant, we walked a few more blocks to the Fabulous Fox Theatre.  I was amazed by this venue. It's so cool because they make the ceiling look like you are outside and the stage is like a castle or something. Here's a picture of that

The show was really great but almost halfway through I got a migraine and had no medication, so needless to say, it was a long Marta ride home. 

Here's Wes enjoying the show:

A difference between Wilmington and Atlanta

The first weekend of great weather

Wilmington: Everyone comes into work sunburned/tan with bathing suit strap lines and flip flop tan lines.

Atlanta: Everyone comes into work sunburned/tan with golf shirt tan lines, hiking boot lines or Teva tan lines...or if you're Wes and me, life vest lines from kayaking all day.

A similarity: A lot of people call in sick the following Monday. Spring fever has arrived!!!

I don't have pictures of us actually kayaking, only sitting in the kayaks. It was an adventure to say the least. From now on, we will check the wind forecast before going on the river.

The Wii

We finally got one! Wes' parents brought us one this weekend for our Birthdays/Valentine's combined presents. YAY! We have Wii Sports and Guitar Hero right now. My favorite is Wii boxing or Guitar Hero. My shoulder blades have been sore for the past few days from boxing! Here are some pics from the weekend:

Honeywell in the News

Honeywell has made the news a couple of times in the past few weeks:

Tech Industry CEOs Back Obama's Rescue Package
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123318835721826641.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Dave Cote is CEO of Honeywell International. I am 6 degrees of separation away from him. I feel like that's pretty close but considering that I am that far away from everyone in the world, I guess I'm not that close to the top. But still, he got to meet Barack.

Honeywell device may have aided US Airways flight in Hudson River landing
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2009/01/19/daily73.html
I'm pretty happy about this part of the company.

A big year for Travel

Over the past few days, we have planned some really exciting travel times for 2009:

Either the first or last weekend of March: Wilmington to see the fams

March 13-15: Wes has some CBF Georgia thing in Columbus, GA that he's not really looking forward to and it probably won't be that great but the ACC Tournament is here so when he gets back we'll go try and get the tickets from the losing teams' fans. (OK, so that's not travel, but you know)

April 24-26: Rehoboth, Deleware for Wes' aunt's birthday celebration at her beach house

May 22-26: Cancun, Mexico with Wes' best friends to celebrate their 30th birthdays

June 7-10: I will be at a trade show in Houston (not all that exciting but a trip nontheless...plus frequent flyer miles) and Wes will be in Asheville or Knoxville for the Phish shows

June 12-13: Bannaroo (with a free hook-up from a coworker if everything works out...that's right, FREE BANNAROO) and I won't have to take off because I'll have comp time from working the trade show golf tournament the Sunday before :)

July 3-4: Wes has to go to Houston (to the same conference center I am going to ironically enough) for the CBF General Assembly but I'm not going with him

July 16-19: Wilmington for Jamie and Patrick's wedding

September 4-7: Wilmington for family/Labor Day

So all these trips and I only have to take off 6 days! I still have 7 to play with. Well, not 7 because at least 3 of those will go toward Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's always good to save one up for that day in the summer that I will take off to go Kayaking or to a Braves game or in the Spring for camping. All in all, I think 2009 will be a great year!

I've restored my faith in Dentistry

If you read my blog a few weeks ago, then you know I had an awful experience at the dentist. Well, just to let you know, I had a great experience today. I went to Kimball Bridge Dentist and they were wonderful. No, I do not have periodontal disease and the Dentist there thought the Dentist at Coast was crazy. I also found out that Hygenists work off commission at Coast and other corporate places...so watch out!

They can't be serious...

Today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution had an article that was a little weird. Read this.

I can't imagine that they think the government is actually taking them seriously. I mean, give me a break. First, the quotes from this article are as if big guys in the the industry actually think that Americans can't be sexual without pornography. That's just insulting. Secondly, a porn star actually commented that she thought it was crazy that these gentlemen are asking for a bailout. She seems to be doing fine since she makes $1,200-$2,000 for one scene in an "adult film". I can't imagine what senators and representatives will think or do when they actually ask for this. Or maybe they already have at this point. Still, I'd like to see their faces during the request. CNN's Campbell Brown even reports, "They concede the $13 billion industry is in no fear of collapse, but say in this environment, why take chances?" People are losing their houses to foreclosures, being laid off after 30 years of service and losing their retirement savings because of the economy and this is where American tax payers money should go?

Thoughts?

p.s. I apologize if any of those Google ads are advertising any adult or inappropriate websites through my blog. I don't choose which ads pop up!