Okay, this is a couple weeks overdue, but I just realized yesterday when I was posting picture of my Christmas-y apartment, that these were still on my camera! Brandon had a birthday party the weekend before I went on my Arkansas trip, and it was so fun! There were a ton of people there and I got pictures of most of them!
Brandon, Corey, Mike, Jason, Becca, Emily(hiding behind...) David, and Keith. I think that's possibly George Liner's booty - and he's probably getting Kate from Susan. :) (Yeah, that has to be it - look at Daddy Keith looking longingly at his sweet baby girl - you know that's what's going on!)
Our WONDERFUL cooks! Sue and Jennifer put together a HUGE spread of seafood and all the fixins'!
Look at that table!! And there's "Goose", Reilly, AT, and Susan.
There's the birthday boy himself - with a very full mouth.
Yay for Food and Friends!!!! :)
I've already decorated for Christmas!!!!
Yes, I realize the date. It's only Nov. 18th (well, it was the 16th when I did it...) but it just felt SO RIGHT to decorate early!!! Jason and I went decoration shopping Sunday after church and I got a little tree, icicle lights for the sunroom, a gawdy star for the top (which I later decided was a bit much.. will be returning that..), cute ornaments (that are too big for the tree so I'm going to string them up and hang them in the living room), and stuff to decorate a wreath! I also got my Willow Tree Nativity out for the first time!! I got the first part of the set last year for Christmas, so of course, it was a little late to put out for decoration, but now that I have my own place, I can do whatever I want! Like putting out Christmas decorations several weeks early. And hey - it's never too early to start celebrating the birth of Christ!!!
I will take a picture of the living room this afternoon and try to get my internet at home to work long enough to post it. :)
MERRY (early) CHRISTMAS!!!!
HELLLLOOOOOOO!!! Long time no see. I have had a busy busy life lately -- no excuse, I know -- but fairly uneventful. The big thing that happened this week is...
I FLEW ON A PLANE!!! (and I didn't have to "use [the] cushion as [a] flotation device"!!!) YAY!! :) For my second trip on a plane ever, I made my way to Bentonville, AR, the home of good 'ol Walmart. I flew from Chattanooga to Atlanta, then from Atlanta to Fayetteville. Now, granted, I have never been in an airport. Not once. Not ever. So having my boss, Jason, my dad, and many others explain the intricacies and interworkings of the airport system didn't make much sense to me at the time. Take your SHOES off? Are you kidding me? And they'll throw something of mine AWAY if it's over 3oz? You've got to be kidding.
So I packed accordingly - one carry-on plus my purse ("never check a bag") - and made my way to the airport! Luckily anytime I asked someone for help, they were willing and able to answer my questions. I ended up sitting in the wrong seat on the first flight... whoops. I sat in seat D instead of seat A on row 10, because I thought... well, I thought... okay, I don't have to explain myself to you. I just messed up. :) But no one else was sitting there, so instead of sitting next to the chatty guy I was supposed to sit next to, I was able to truly enjoy my book with no distractions next to Mr. I'm trying to truly enjoy my book with no distractions too. It was great.
When I got off the plane in Atlanta I thought - wow - this place is a little bigger than Chattanooga... and it was off to find my concourse (another key phrase I hadn't really understood until then). Luckily I was in D and needed to be in C, so it wasn't that bad.
--Okay I just realized that I've only taken you through like 2 hours of the first day, so I'm going to speed it up with some bullet points now.
*Lunch at Atlanta Bread Company. Ehh... basically Panera.
*Reading while I wait
*Boarded to Arkansas
*Reading on the plane
*Got to Bentonville, picked up by my AR boss, Curt
*Checked into the GORGEOUS Embassy Suites hotel
*Reading while I wait for dinner
*Store check at Walmart Store #1 - sooo cool! Okay, so I'm a little bit biased, and a nerd, but it was great!
*Dinner at Copeland's steakhouse. Yum!
*Back to the hotel to ____ you guessed it - READ!!
*Tuesday class to learn more about Walmarts system, which was also quite interesting!
*Lunch at Baker Brothers with a new friend from class
*Finished the class then Curt picked me back up to take me to the airport
*Reading on the plane back to Atlanta
*Finished the book and had to find a bookstore in the airport so that I would have reading material for the flight back!
*Arrived in Chatt to drive home exhausted and wanting to see a familiar face
*SUPRISED by my sweet boyfriend who just had to see me as soon as I got back!! YAY!!!
*Bed.
Okay, so I'm not that speedy. But this was a big trip for me. Lots of good stuff like getting over the fear of flying by myself! And I was pretty sick the whole time - coughing, stuffy nose, sneezing, no fever thank goodness. And unfortunately all these symptoms seem to enjoy me. They're sticking around for the long haul.
THANKS FOR BEING PATIENT ENOUGH TO READ ALL THAT CRAZINESS!! :)
