LET'S GO -----HOKIES!

As many of you know, Dan and I are VA TECH HOKIE FANS! This weekend, we watched our new starting quarter back, Tyrod Taylor, get us a nice "W". Here are some pictures of our antics, well really, my antics. Oh yeah, and our new jersies (sp??)! Aren't we just precious.












I love football season. In a couple weeks we will head to Nebraska for the Hokie game, followed by another trip to Tallahassee to watch FSU and VT play! Oh yeah, also pictured, Frank Beamer, the fearless leader of our Fighting Gobblers.

Kisses for the Coach.

Memory Lane

It's September and Dan and I's 2nd ....holy crap...2nd Anniversary is right around the corner (September 29). I was looking through old pictures, you know, from the wedding, and realized I seriously did not try very hard to look good for that special day. You'll notice, if you've seen me recently, or never knew me before this year, that I was about oh 30+ pounds heavier at the wedding!!!

For those of you have not seen me lately, my VA friends....I look much better!

I've also included a couple pictures of my brother and I, who I don't get to see very often but miss and love very much! The pictures speaks volumes about our relationship!

I can't wait for Jessie's wedding. She's engaged now, and hopefully will get married while I can enjoy it (before babies). If so, you are sure to see the third rendition of this dance (it began at his wedding). Oh, and incase there were ANY question of what song we could possibly dance like that to......"Baby Got Back!".

For the rest of you, I'll post a pic of me now if I can find a decent one so you can see the difference a couple years makes.

No One Reads This Anyway

I've decided that no one reads this stupid thing anyway. I've been trying to think of something clever to theme it on but what do you know, I'm not that clever. Lately this blog reflects exactly how my life is. I don't have time for weeks at a time to sit down and just write something. I've yet to post pictures that I have taken, although the majority of the time, I never take pictures, because I just don't have time. I do not have time. I have been reading a book called the "Power of Full Engagement." It's all about balancing your energy instead of your time. I get that we need to harness our energies: spiritual, physical, emotional etc... but at the end of the day, there are only 24 hours in the day and I've run out. I have really been spreading myself very thin lately. Dan doesn't appreciate it because I don't spend as much time with him. I play tennis every chance I get, which aren't many, and then I work both jobs still. I put in at least a minimum of 60 hours per week. Don't think I'm complaining though! I'd have it no other way. Ok, maybe I'd give myself like 26 hours in the day...but that's about it. I've discovered that if I'm not busy, I'm not happy. I prefer to lead an extremely productive life. So, I cram and I cram as many things into my days as I can and continue on with my life. I figure this will be good practice for becoming a mommy in about a year. I can't wait to be a mom. These are my thoughts, that no one reads, and I'm fine with that. I'll be looking for a few extra minutes to post more often, but until then....

CATTY

If this Cat were holding a tennis raquet, the picture couldn't be more perfect. This is what tennis seems to be like in Huntsville, Alabama. I'm actually pretty sick of it. It's unbeleivable to me, that women, who were never good enough to go anywhere with tennis, take the game so seriously. Then they actually try to pretend they like you or someone you know, while constantly talking crap about them in front of you. If I didn't love the game and the girls on my team, this would probably do it for me. But there's just something so wonderful about making contact with the ball, aiming towards that cat, and nailing it. Just thought I'd share that with everyone out there. Most people don't play tennis, or at least, I don't think they do...but for those of us that do, this is what it's like. A bunch of wealthy, older women (hats off to the men, I love playing with them), who have nothing better to do with their lives than have them revolve around the game of tennis. More to come I'm sure.....

Work, Work, Oh...Did I mention Work?

Work has me quite busy these days. In fact, I'm pretty sure between tennis and work that I'm home no more than 8 out of the 24 hours a day (that includes my sleep time). Most people would hate this, but I love it! I have finally found a job that I love to do. It keeps me very busy and takes a lot of time and effort, but for now, it really seems worth it. The rewards definitely outweigh the time I'm spending. I do miss seeing Dan as much, and I am still playing tennis and working my second job, so he's been very patient with me. I think this Sunday I will cook some meals ahead of time and freeze them so he doesn't starve. I haven't been making dinner this week, although we have been living off of leftovers from our cookout. I'm not sure I can eat potato salad again. I do have pictures of this weekend or at least my new flowers and some of the food but I haven't had time to post them because I have been so busy. I've also become addicted to the Olympics, which are on about the time I get home these days. Tonight I have another match at 7:30. I hope I play well. I'm playing with Stacy again, which is cool. She's very good and fun and we seem to play well together so far. I am going to meet Dan at the mall before that to hang out for a little while. Other than that, it's more work for the rest of the week. I actually have to work this Saturday also, but am hoping to maybe go out Saturday night and relieve some of this stress! That's all for now, incase anyone actually ever reads this blog of mine, you know where I've been and what I've been doing. More to come later.

God Bless the Olympics

I have been getting little to no sleep thanks to people like the young man to the left of this, Jonathan Horton. Last night I watched the young, impressionable, yet amazing men's gymnastics team take home the Bronze at the Olympics. How awesome is that?!?! As you can also imagine, I have been a fan of Michael Felps and the rest of the American Swimming Teams. All I have to say is I love competition and I love the USA.

So Busy

I haven't been able to post at all because I have been so incredibly busy. Last week at work was insane, and this week is liable to be worse. I still love it, and the days go by fast, so that's good. I am also still working my other job, so that keeps me busy at night. Our Combo tennis teams start this week. We have practice today and then a match tomorrow. I have meetings the other days after work and then another match Thursday. Maybe I'll drop some of these pounds I gained eating this weekend! We went to Dolce in Bridgestreet last night. The food was incredible and the price....well EVEN BETTER! Sunday nights are 50% off the food, which is awesome. Four of us ate for what two of use would have eaten for....it really wasn't any more than going to a normal restaurant. Lucky for us, Ashley's boyfriend was kind and paid for dinner. It was nice to meet him and to see that she is dating a nice guy. He's Greek, which is funny because he has a lot of good stories. If she ever gets married, it really will be like My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I also took advantage of the tax free holiday and bought a pair of dress pants and some blouses. I always shop at TJ Maxx for good deals! Less than $100 for 7 blouses! Can't beat that. Well, I'm working from home this morning, at least for awhile. Then headed to the office to make some more recruitment flyers and make some calls. Hope everyone has a great week.

Another Weekend Come and Gone

This weekend there is really not much at all to report. It started with Friday night. We were invited to go to Movies in the Park with Ashley and Lucas. Dan wasn't enthused about the idea, and I probably could have made him go but we had to take care of Spanky (my parents dog). I took her to the vet on Friday morning. She has a couple allergy issue that have to get resolved. They sent her blood away, so hopefully soon we will know what it is exactly that she is allergic to. She's been doped up all weekend and it has beem my duty to watch her. Poor thing. So, Saturday also came and went. We were invited over to Ashley and Lucas to hang out with Aida and Chris but couldn't go because we had to watch the dog. Dan says we will never be invited anywhere again because we keep having to say no. Our schedules have just been so busy lately. It'll be nice when tennis starts up again so that I at least get to see my friends! Next weekend Dan's sister, Ashley, is coming to visit. So that weekend will buzz on by me as well. Last night Dan and I went to Fresh Market. It is super expensive but so nice. It's the kind of store I'm glad we don't live near because I would gain back any weight I have lost in the last year. I could just walk around that store for hours. Because we didn't get to go do anything fun, we treated ourselves to a nice meal. We cooked baked potato, asparagus, and NY Strip. We had way too much meat, so we are having that again tonight. Spanky has been with me everywhere I have gone this weekend. Today I took her to my house in Athens (we've been staying at my parents in Madison) and then to Isom's Orchard to get fresh veggies and fruit for my parents. They are out of town at a wedding. Now I'm getting ready to go play tennis. I need to hit, it makes me feel better! Then it's back home to start my work week. It's going to be a busy one. I have late meetings Monday and Tuesday. Hopefully tennis or Happy Hour Wednesday...by then I have one day left in my work week!

This Weekend in Rewind

So, we went to see the Dark Knight last night. What a loooong movie! It didn't feel long while we were in there, but we didn't get outta the movie until after 1:30 in the morning! Well worth it though. Poor Heath Ledgers last film was a good one. I'm still not sure I get what really happened to him, but either way, he was a good actor. In other news, I tried Sushi for the very first time last night! I didn't branch out too far, but tried one of Dan's Spicy Tuna Rolls. Much to my surpirse, I like it. Dan is very excited about this news, since he loves Sushi and maybe now I will go out to eat it with him! We didn't get to go out with Ashley and Lucas this weekend, which was a bummer. They are lots of fun. I'm hoping for at least a good Patio Party on Wednesday with her! Everyone is so busy these days. I played a couple tennis matches this weekend and won both. I won my singles match on Saturday morning and then played mixed doubles this afternoon with Andy, and we won. I think he and I make a pretty good doubles team. I was going to play in a tournament with him coming up in August, but with the new job, I have a meeting on a SATURDAY and won't be able to play. Boo...anyways, pretty good weekend.

More News

So, I couldn't post this until now, but Dan will also be changing jobs. It looks like this summer has brought with it tons of change for us and we are super excited about it. New jobs, new friends, new adventures! Dan is leaving BFA's contract world behind to work for Adtran. If you haven't seen the huge Adtran complex in Research Park, it's something else! Dan will be doing a lot more real engineering work at Adtran and is very excited about that! He starts August 4th!

So, I no longer work for TLS! I can't tell you how excited I am. I thought the day would never come. I interviewed with the Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama about two months ago and never heard anything from them. It was a tough interview, but I thought I would really do well at the job. Well, as you can imagine, from the picture to the right, I was offered the job on Monday. I didn't want to post incase anyone was "watching". Yesterday I handed in my resignation. It was a great feeling to finally have that cloud lifted from over my head. I've heard all sorts of things are being said about me, but I don't care. They were already being said before. I'm so much better than that place was letting me be. Today I am going shopping for clothes for my new job. I'm the Community Development Manager for the City of Madison, Decatur, Cullman and Hartselle. I get to work from my office in Huntsville or from home. Have great hours and benefits. It's wonderful!

Seester Came to Visit

So, Jess has come and gone. But here is a picture of the two of us! I miss her already! Tomorrow is her 21st birthday. It's hard to believe the youngest of all of us is 21! We're turning in to old farts! We had a great visit and have made wonderful headway in getting her and Andrew to move to the Huntsville area! Now we just have to wait two years for her to graduate and get married. Time will fly.

The Fourth

The 4th of July has come and gone, which unfortunately means work is creeping closer every minute. How I dread to go back! Last night was fun. The fam and Ash and Lucas got together and played some beer pong. Mom was pretty good. Dad, not so much, but very entertaining. Andrew, Jess's fiance got a little "tipsy" as he was calling it and we ended the night with my mother force feeding Dan and Andrew shots of Strohl. Needless to say, the two of them are definitely feeling the effects today. We had our own private fireworks show too. The next door neighbor, Ed, was shooting of some crazy expensive fireworks. Had to have cost him about a $1000.00 easily. Also seemed pretty dangerous, but better him than me. Other than my dad's habit of not cooking burgers all the way through, I think the Linares had an okay time. I'm glad they came over so my parents could meet them. Ashley brought some great pasta salad, a kind I've never had before and these cake balls that will be the blame for my 10 lb increase in the next day. I still have no idea how she made them. I made guacamole and spinach artichoke dip because they are Jess's fav's. Today Jess and Andrew are coming over to go eat lunch and we are celebrating her 21st (with cake not beer) tonight. That's the recap, I will get pictures from Jessie and Ashley to post soon.

YAY!

Seester and her fiance, Andrew have arrived safely! Ashley and I had some great Long Islands last night...and my last day of work for the week has arrived. Tomorrow is the Fourth of July and it will be great. Cookout over and Mom and Dad's. Jess, Andrew, Dan, Ashley and Lucas are going to be there. I'm very excited! That's all for now!

And We've Made to Wednesday

Well, we've made it to Wednesday, lovingly referred to as "Hump Day". The great thing about this Wednesday is we only have tomorrow left in the work week--Friday is the Fourth of July! My little seester is headed down this way, she should be arriving tomorrow morning. I'm really excited to see her. She just got engaged and it turning 21 next week! We will celebrate while she is here. Dan has been out of town in Detroit for the last two days, but I've been really busy. Work has been the usual crap, I've been working on overdrive for my second job because they have a ton of stuff coming up, been trying to keep up with tennis and enjoy life a little on the side. My multi-tasking abilities are being pushed to the limits these days, but I guess that's okay. Dan gets back today and I think I am going to Happy Hour at Humphrey's with the girls. That will be nice, I owe them a drink or two!

That's all for now, still waiting to hear back on some stuff so hopefully eventually I'll have really GREAT news.

Embarrassed Much?

I think I might just quit tennis. After tonights match I think it would be best to go back to not playing. We lost tonight, which isn't the bad part, it's how I played. First of all, I'm an idiot for playing with a broken racquet. Second, I've definitely done something to my shoulder again. I knew sooner than later my old injury would be rearing its ugly head, but I'm not a fan. It's clicking non stop and aches to my fingers like it is pinching a nerve, in fact....it is. I'm hoping a hot shower will bring some relief but I'm really bummed. Tennis has been the ONLY way I've met normal people and now I just want to quit. I'm going to bed, in a terrible mood.

We're Safe

So, we made it through the camping/canoeing trip in one piece. That's the good news. The trip was actually really great. We got an excellent camping site right next to the river. I helped Dan pitch his first tent ever. Our tent and Aida & Chris' tent were the same size. Ashley and Lucas showed up with Hotel Linares as their tent! Dan and I brought a blow up matress, so we caught hell for that. The others had to sleep on rocks in their sleeping bags. Either way, after we set up camp we headed down to the river. I think it's safe to say everyone had begun the hydrating process. So, coolers in hand, we headed out. It was a ton of fun. We stopped at a waterfall not ten minutes into our 8 mile trip. It was beautiful, so of course, we had to get out and take pictures (after the climb). For awhile it was just the usual, floating, swimming, jumping off dangerous rocks and ropes, stopping to shotgun some drinks...then we got out and Ashley's shoe got sucked right off of her foot into the river--not even the river, the mud! We dug for about 20 minutes, which just shows how much we love her (and by we, I mean Aida and I...the boys were not helpful). Following that, Ashley continued to canoe with one shoe. We got about 3/4 of the way done and stopped to climb another rock wall to make a jump. Ashley tried, I tried. We failed. SO Ash was standing barefoot on a rock when suddenly she went crashing down. It looked like she had cracked her head open, but no worries, just her chin! She chipped a tooth too. It was bleeding but wasn't too bad, but we hurried the rest of our float along to get back to camp. After we got back, we realized we didn't have anything left to drink, so Ashley and I took a drive "to town". Half an hour later we arrived to find it was a DRY county. Two very helpful bag boys sent us on our way across the county line. An hour and a half later we returned to camp. Dan was sleeping. Lucas and Chris were already hungover and Ashley and I were grouchy from lack of food. We ate. We slept. No games, no smores. The moral of the story: Don't drink all your drinks before you get back to camp!



So, two days have passed and now I am finding the results of drinking and canoeing. I hurt places I didn't know could hurt and I have bruises and cuts in even more! It was well worth it though, and we are already planning another trip. I think we will camp first though, and then maybe plan a canoeing trip. We have to ease ourselves into these weekends!



On another note, played a mixed doubles match tonight with my crapped out racquet. Won in a third set tie breaker! Woot woot.



I'm up working and it's late. I need to put down the coffee cup. That's all for now.

Camping Trip Essentials

So last night, I got an email from Ashley (you will all be hearing a lot about her since she's one of the only normal people I have met), explaining the essential items we needed to bring on our camping/canoeing trip tomorrow. The list goes something like this (ranked by importance):

1. Drinks (Beer or girly drinks, you might want to throw a couple bottles of water in there)

2. Snacks

3. Tent/Blankets

4. Did we mention bring drinks???

So, tonight after dinner with my parents (more on that later), we headed to get the essentials. I made the first stop, after calling Ashley and Lucas to discuss just how much we would need. Of course, that's still TBD. I had to stop at Publix in Madison because at the Wal-Mart in Athens where we live they don't sell alcohol! Then off to Wally World with Dan where we got a tent, bug spray, and of course....a cooler for those ever so important drinks. Oh, and we got food. Very healthy assortment of cookies, chips and hot dogs. Yum!

So now, here I am up late, when I have to be in Ardmore (Tennessee for my Virginia folks) to meet Aida, Chris and the Linares. Then off to BFE we go. Should be fun! If you don't see a post for awhile, send out the search dogs. That's all for now.

Our First Post

About a year ago, Daniel and I (Amy) fell off the face of the internet......until now! I was on a recent tennis excursion with Ashley, when she showed me her blog, and now here we are. Hopefully between work, tennis, gardening and Dan, I'll be able to update you on how our lives are going here in good ol' Alabama. Keep watching, I'll post soon.