Happy Memorial Day!

Check out the link below. I couldn't get the video posted since I'm stealing it from someone else on facebook, so just click on the link and enjoy. Very sweet video. A big thank you to all our soldiers!!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=1325361170496&ref=mf

30th Birthday Celebration....Take 3

So my 30th birthday celebration has officially come to a close. We finally had the party that was originally suppose to be a surprise celebration, but was postponed due to the flood. Even though we did get some rain, we were under a pavilion and it didn't last too long. I think everyone had a good time (at least I know I did) and it was really great getting to see some friends and family that we don't get to see very often. Tyler did a wonderful job on getting everything together. I also have to say it was his idea to have the princess theme plates, napkins, party hats and poppers and last but not least, my Care Bears/My Little Pony homemade birthday cake courtesy of Sam. Tyler's thoughts were he wanted to take me back to my childhood and reminisce over some of my favorite things of the 80's. He even made me wear a birthday crown. I felt like a kid again. And also a special thanks to Linda (my mother-in-law) who also helped with the planning and food prep. She and Ty make a great team. I hope everyone had a great time and thanks so much to all of you that were able to come out. You definitely made turning 30 so much sweeter!

I have to say, I've been dreading turning 30 for the past 10years now, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. It's been a smooth transition and I feel no different than when I was 29, other than Tyler always reminding me I'm older than him now. Looking back it has been a great 30 years and I'm looking forward to the next 30+. All I have to say is, Tyler.......you're next!!

Everyone with party hats on and ready

My awesome birthday cake! And it tasted awesome too!

The guys decided to play a nice game of softball

Me and mom and my princess crown

Sam and Kelsen watching the guys play ball

Ayden had a great time too

Happy 30th! One birthday I will never forget!

No Place Like Home

I just returned from my new hire training in Green Cove Springs, FL. This was the first time since Tyler and I have been married for me to travel by myself. When we go on vacations, I let him handle all the travel details such as the flight, rental car, hotel, etc. I'm usually just along for the ride, trying to keep up while pulling my heavy suitcase behind me. Well, this time I was on my own. First off, I'm not a huge fan of flying. Granted I did fly to Europe when I was 15 with a school trip, but back then for some reason, I didn't think twice about getting on the plane for 8hrs crossing the ocean. When I was 25 I flew to New York by myself and caught a taxi into Manhattan to visit a friend, but that was fine, I didn't have to drive. That brings us to the rental car anxiety. I had to get a car and drive about an hour from Jacksonville, FL to Green Cove Springs. I don't like driving in downtown Nashville, much less a different state where I have never driven. And lastly, the dreaded carry on. I didn't want to have to check a bag, so I decided to cram everything in my carry on including my laptop (which I swear made the suitcase magically weigh 20 pounds heavier). So now with my clear 1 qt bag with all my liquids, being careful not to break the 3-1-1 rule, I was off to the airport.

I set different goals to accomplish during my journey. First up security. I kept replaying in my head the best and fastest way to do the airport security strip. Get my laptop out, liquids out, shoes off, jewelry off, don't lose my boarding pass, etc. Finally got through security, redressed and headed toward my gate. Next on my to accomplish list was getting my carry on into the overhead compartment. I'm telling you, I kept thinking of all the things you take for granted when you are traveling with someone. All I kept thinking in my head was how in the world am I going to lift this what feels like a 50 pound suitcase over my head?? Fortunately, there was a young guy that boarded behind me, so I used the southern charm and asked him to help me. Whew, accomplished security and the carry on....next up the dreaded rental car.

I don't think I took a breath until the plane hit the ground in Jacksonville. I was already exhausted and I wasn't even close to being there yet. So, after almost (key word almost) knocking a guy in the head with my suitcase when getting it out of the overhead compartment, I was off to find my rental car. Okay, so that wasn't so bad, once I actually found the rental car desk. And now I'm finally off in my blue Nissan Versa headed out for my hour drive. Rental car accomplished...check. The drive ended up not being too bad since I had really good directions. So about an hour later I ended up at The Oaks, which ironically used to be a nursing home that they have renovated into office space and bedrooms. If you know my former job, you know why this is ironic.

I knew going in I would be sharing a room with someone I didn't know and that there would not be any tvs in the rooms.....excuse me what....no tvs?? My thought exactly, hence why the laptop came with me regardless of how much I thought it made my suitcase weigh. So overall, the next few days went pretty good. We had meetings in the day and on our own for the night. I met two great ladies that I went shopping and had dinner with. They were from Georgia with the southern charm accent to prove it. So how did the sharing a room with no tv work out you ask?My roommate was very nice, but snored every night (insert bless her heart). I ended up sleeping on the couch in the community tv room one night, but other than that, the sharing a room thing wasn't bad.

After all the meetings I was off to retrace my steps of driving back to the airport, returning the car, security strip, and getting my carry on stored. I'll spare you all the details, just reread the second paragraph because all the same anxieties were there. However, the most important thing to point out here is that I did it, and I did it all by myself while arriving home in one piece. My favorite moment though was when I was walking out of the terminal area and saw Tyler standing there waiting on me. I was finally home! Would I do it again? Only if I have to, but I'd much rather have Tyler there by my side. Especially because it would probably mean we were going on a vacation and not a work trip. One thing I learned about the past few days was that there is definitely no place like home!

Arrington Vineyards

Even though my birthday is actually over, I've decided I'm going to finish out the month celebrating. I mean, I want to break 30 in right you know. I was off work today so Tyler decided to take the day off too and we planned a day full of things we wanted to do. First on the list was Arrington Vineyards. If you live in the Middle TN area it's a must see. Today was perfect since it was in the middle of the week and we were pretty much the only people there today. I've heard the weekends can get crowded so it was nice to go and relax without a lot of folks around. Next on our day of fun list was shopping. Okay, so that was really just for me, but I had a lot of fun. Next we hit up Gigi's cupcakes. I'd never been there and Wendi had given me a gift card so we were introduced to the cupcake world. Oh my goodness, it was absolutely wonderful. Of course Tyler didn't get one since he's on his diet, but I thoroughly enjoyed my wedding cake cupcake. And last but not least we went to see Iron Man 2. Very good movie and make sure you stay through the credits. Okay, so now here are some pictures from the vineyard. Very pretty place.




They also offer free wine tastings. So that was fun getting to go through and pick out several different ones to try. Tyler was apparently quite excited about his wine tasting.

Yeah, I'll just take that entire wall. I'm sure we'll find somewhere to put it in the house.

I think I found my favorite

Headed out to find a spot to have lunch. Yes those are several empty picnic tables, but we brought out own blanket to spread on the ground to have the real picnic experience.

The view from our spot

They also had a swing under a big tree so that was nice and relaxing too.

The view from our swing. It was a perfect way to end our nice picnic outing. Hopefully next time we'll have some friends come along with us.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms reading this. I have to say I believe I have one of the best moms anyone could ask for. She has always set a wonderful example for me and I can only hope to be half the mom one day as she has been to me all these years.

30th Celebration Take Two

30?? Wow can it really be? I just don't feel like I should be 30. It seems like yesterday I was just having my 13th. Time flies that's for sure. So we went to Lexington this weekend to spend some time with my family and do a little birthday celebration. I have to thank my mom for getting everything together and once again making my birthday so special.

Bath & Body works, always a nice gift

My Finnegan jersey I now have to wear to the Titans games. That is hoping we actually get to go to a game this year.

The family

My wonderful mother that would do anything for me and so thankful to have her as my mom

Me and the hubby

I love getting to go home to Lexington when I get a chance. It was a gorgeous weekend so I decided to take some pics around outside. This is Katie my brother's lab, isn't she precious

Tyler taking a walk around the pond

The view from the front porch. It is so relaxing and peaceful out there and love being able to go back especially in the summer.

Target Practice

For months now I have been wanting a handgun. Well for my 30th birthday I finally got one from my hubby. And yes, if you look close, it has a pink handle....although we do have a black handle to put over it for Tyler to feel more manly when he decides to use it. Okay, so my ultimate goal is to eventually get my carry permit, but I've definitely got to get more target practice in before I go that route. Anyway, since we went to Lexington this weekend and my mom lives out the country, we took advantage of the open land to get some practice in.

Tyler trying to make the pink handle look more manly

So we decided to start shooting at a coke bottle, that way we could tell for sure where we were hitting it. This was my first try and I shot it right through the O in Coke, yeah I'm that awesome...or just that lucky

That's right, that's the face of someone you don't want to mess with

30th Birthday Celebration #1

Well most of you know that Tyler had been planning a surprise 30th birthday party for the last month or so, but due to the massive flooding most people couldn't make it so we are having to postpone. Since all of our out of town people couldn't make it, we decided to still have a get together with our local friends.

Grace concentrating on getting the cards back in the box while Kelsen looks on in amazement.

Linda, Christina and Greg playing a mean hand of shanghai rummy

Kelsen still working on getting the walking thing down

So stay tuned for birthday party #2 coming up this weekend when we head to Lexington for Mother's Day. I might as well get in all the celebrating I can....I mean you only turn 30 once, right??

Welcome to May.....aka Tornado Season...

So, as most of you know we have had some serious flooding here in the volunteer state. It all started yesterday morning when I got up, checked facebook (of course) and saw these pictures from my hometown Lexington, TN. Never in my life do I remember water like this growing up. I couldn't believe my eyes. If you're familiar with Lexington then you should be able to recognize these pics and where they're taken in town.

As the day went on and the rain got a lot stronger, Tyler and I sat in disbelief watching the news about I-24 and I-40 being shut down. Everything just seemed so surreal. I felt awful for those people floating in their cars, crawling out the windows and trying to jump to the concrete barrier in the middle of the interstate....good grief I couldn't imagine! I've seen flood waters on tv in other states, but never thought I would see water like this in Tennessee. As we sat watching the live TDOT camera on I-24....what is this we see....a mobile home floating down, passing cars and then watched before our eyes as it breaks apart. Wow!! Did that really just happen??? We find out later is was a portable classroom from a local school.

This has been one crazy and very unusual weekend to say the least. Last night Tyler and I also went out to dinner to celebrate by birthday coming up. Well, all night I could tell something was wrong. He wasn't being his usual upbeat self, staying quite and not talking a lot....very unusual. Finally I got it out of him. He had been planning, for the past month, a surprise 30th birthday party for me on Sunday. It was going to include my family from West TN, my best friend that lives in MS and several others that live in Nashville. Well obviously it now has to be cancelled since I-40 and I-24 are shut down and people can't get here. I feel more disappointed for him after all his hard work and planning and keeping me completely clueless! We've decided to still have a small get together with our local Murfreesboro friends (excluding Wendi & Alan since they're stuck in Lexington) today and then reschedule the big party for later this month hopefully. Total bummer, but very thankful we are safe and dry without any flood damage unlike so many others.