This Day in History

On this Day the following events occured...

Events:

1788: The first English convicts arrive in Australia - Today is also named Australia Day, you'd think they would find a better day to recongnize their country rather than the day all the convicts got there. Wouldn't the 27th work?

1905: The world's largest diamond is found near Pretoria, South Africa -Now that's what I'm talking about...Shouldn't I get a BIG diamond for being born on the same day? I think so!

1948: Executive Order 981, which puts an end to segregation in US Armed Forces, is signed -Honestly I didn't know they de-segregated the military this early... Guess they stopped the de-segregation for a few decades after that... Or am I way off???

1998: President Clinton goes on TV and says "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." -Enough said...LIAR!

Birthday's:

1925: Paul Newman, American Actor and Oscar winner, was born
-I share a birthday with one handsome man...At least he was in his prime, so I hear.



1985: Jessica Back, America citizen and perfect child, was born -I think this means I can finally buy my first drink legally, feels good to be 21...again! OK, may it was 1980 but it's about time I start knocking off a few years, right?

Last Blog of 25

This is my last blog that I will wrote while I am 25. I will soon be in my late 20's and start heading down the hill...haha just kidding. But seriously this is my last blog of 25 and tomorrow is my GOLDEN BIRTHDAY! I've waited 26 long years for this. I plan to celebrate it in style on saturday. I have absolutely no idea what I will do but all I know is I hope I don't remember the next day. I'll keep you posted.

On a happy note...I got my first birthday present today. My friend Paisley sent me a Sephora's gift card. She lives in St. Maarten and sent me a gift. How crazy is that???

Happy 26th Birthday Ladies

Today is two of my friends birthdays!!!

Happy Birthday to Latoya and Jessica. How does it feel to be older than me??? HEHE!

Girls Day Out

Yesterday I had a little "Girls Day Out" which was a nice change. I went with 10 other girls to go see a play called "Sex and the Second City." The play was downtown Dallas at the Majestic Theater which I had never been to so it was nice to go somewhere different. It was very entertaining and I would recommend the show to others...It would even be entertaining for men. We didn't really have an itinerary, just meet up, go to a play and then figure it out from there. After the play we decided to have dinner and drinks at Paris Vendome. However, when we pulled up we realized it is no longer Paris Vendome, it is now Mi Cocina's. So we ate at Mi Cocina's instead. We ate and drank and even made a few toasts. One of the girls had just enlisted in the Airforce and then of course after the drinks were flowing we toasted to some other things that I won't mention since my Grandmother reads my blog...;o) Lucy, one of the ladies with us, picked up the whole tab without telling anyone so when we asked for our bill we were pleasantly informed it had already been taken care of...Thanks Lucy, we'll have to repay the nice gesture next time. Needless to say, it was just a great combination all together. The group was very fun, the play was great, dinner was delicious and I can't wait to do it again.

Dallas Stars

Dylan's birthday week is coming to a close. THANK GOODNESS! I tried to do something for him everyday, and it was TIRING! Having to remember to set something out every morning...I have enough things to do and remember in the morning, like, "Where the hell did I put my keys", and things like that!

He got a card everyday and little gift.

Monday I gave him a shoe shiner and a gift card to Jos. A. Banks (suit store). He has to wear suits everyday to work.

Tuesday I left him a card and told him we had a movie date later that night. I took him to see Munich, which is what he has been wanting to see for a while. Pretty good movie.

Wednesday was his actual birthday and I took him to dinner at Daddy Jack's, which is a seafood restaurant. His mom usually makes a lobster dinner for his b-day so this was the second best to that.

Thursday I made him his favorite meal, that I make anyways, baked chicken with corn on the cob and new potatos. It was quite good if I don't say so myself.

Tonight we are going to the Dallas Stars game. I haven't been to a game in a couple years so it should be fun. The Maverick's were playing away so I figured Stars would be a consolation prize.

Either way I had a good time this week planning all the little stuff. Kind of fun but glad its over!

Happy Birthday DYLAN!!!

The BIG 26, huh? You are officially in your LATE 20's. Don't worry you don't look (or act) like your age so noone will know!!! Just kidding, honey ;o) Dylan woke up this morning at 5:30am and went on a walk with Carmen. He came back all in a good mood saying he just thought about how we aren't getting any younger and reflected on how he has grown as a person in his 26 years. Then he proceeded to get down on one knee and told me he has something to tell me. We both laughed, he got up, and we went about our morning. He does this about once a week and doesn't get why I just walk away laughing???

Anyways, Happy Birthday Dylan and I hope you have a GREAT day!

Game of Four

Jamie did this Game of Four thing and tagged me so, I guess that means its my turn.

4 jobs you've had in your life: Sonic Car Hop, Aerobics Instructor, Computer Helpdesk Person, and Logistics Buyer

4 movies you could watch over and over: The Notebook, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Kindergarten Cop, and Hitch

4 places you've lived: Marion, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; Grapevine, Texas; Lubbock, Texas

4 TV shows you love to watch: Lost, Desperate Housewives, The OC, ER

4 places you've been on vacation: South Beach, Dale Hollow Lake, New York, Cancun

4 websites you visit daily: CNN, People, Yahoo Fantasy Sports Home Page (during football only), and your blog

4 of your favorite foods: corn on the cob, Ben and Jerry's Half Baked Ice Cream, Grandma's noodles, and Grandma's sugar cookies

4 places you'd rather be: On the Beach, In a pool, In my bed, at the Spa

4 albums you can't live without: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Greatest Hits, Madonna's Greatest Hits, Number Ones (Michael Jackson), and maybe Dave Matthews Band. I'm not really a "can't live without this music" type person but I do like the albums I listed.

Getting Back to Normal

We got back from Florida yesterday afternoon. I had a really good time and knowing that I was off work for a few extra days just made everything so much better!

I left on Tuesday afternoon and flew to Orlando to see Dad. Before leaving I knew one of my bags was over the weight limit or at least really close to it, but I thought maybe they would let it slide. Boy was I wrong! I got there and checked in and my bag was 52.5 pounds. They told me I had to take out 2.5 pounds. Thankfully I had brought an extra bag just in case this did happen and it all worked out after I sat on the floor and tried to figure out what weighed the least and what would be easiest to pack in the other bag.

Once I got to Dad's we just hung out and talked Tuesday night since I didn't get there till later in the evening. On wednesday we had breakfast and then headed out for the day. Our first stop was to feed the buffalo, yes BUFFALO. And holy crap are these things HUGE! I'll be honest, I was scared. Barbara (Dad's girlfriend) was just feeding the buffalo like it was nothing at all. Well, I tried and got scared. I did feed the buffalo about 2 carrots out of maybe 20 but hey if you were eye to eye with a wild buffalo and the only thing that separated you was a tiny fence that they could push over just by sneezing, you'd be scared too. Can you see the tongue on that thing?!?! It was really gross, I'm sure I would have vomited had it touched me!


After that we went to one of the Town Centers in The Villages. It was really cute. It had a Key West/Cape Cod kind of theme going on. I didn't buy anything but they did have some nice little boutiques and nice furniture that I would have liked to have. I figured getting them home would be a problem.



Dad and I just drove around The Villages in his golf cart for the remainder of the day. We were just trying to kill time before we could head to Happy Hour with all the old folks. Once Happy Hour began the old people were filing in like you wouldn't believe. They were coming in golf carts and cars, some brought their own chairs and others sat around in the chairs that were already there in the Town Square. The music started and the woman got up and line danced. It was EXTREMELY entertaining! I guess once you hit 50 all you do is line dance, even when we went to lunch there was a dance floor and a band that was playing music, all these woman would just get on the dance floor and line dance. It does seem really hard. All the line dances simulate the electric slide, you just have to do different things with your feet and arms to change it up and each song had a different style. You could tap your foot or hop and that was a different dance. I swear! Old people are so entertaining. Oh, the picture of the old man standing is a guy who is 80+ and has on Shaqueal O'Neal shoes. The best part was that Happy Hour is half price drinks or buy one get one free. So I got a double margarita and Dad got 2 Coors lights in a can and it was only 5.50 for everything. Can you believe that!!! After Happy Hour we headed back to the house since I was heading to the airport to rent a car and drive to Fort Lauderdale. On the way home there are real streets and then golf cart paths that you are supposed to drive on...Well, I guess I had a little too much fire water cause I was driving the golf cart in on the main road. OOPS! I had to jump the curb to get back on the right path. And I was kidding about having drank too much, but it sure does make the story sound more fun rather than me telling everyone I didn't know where I was going.

I left for Fort Lauderdale around 11pm and got there around 2am. I didn't care what time I got there because I knew I could sleep in and Dylan would be gone all day in meetings. One wednesday I got up around 10 and headed to the pool. I layed out there for a bit and then wondered why the heck I was laying at the pool when the beach was 5 feet away from me. I'm usually not a big fan of sand, but I figured I could handle it. I grabbed a bite to eat at the Tiki Bar by the beach at the hotel and then headed for the sand. I rented a lounge chair on the beach and just laid there for 6 hours. I listened to my iPod, read my book, worked on some Soduko puzzles and just relaxed. Dylan and a few of his coworkers came out around 3 and ruined my relaxing afternoon but oh well. They were throwing the frisbee and playing in the ocean. The water sure was pretty but it was still way too cold for me. The weather was great! In the low 80's, light breeze, and not a cloud in the sky.



We ended up going to dinner in Fort Lauderdale at this place called, The Boulevarde. A friend of

ours owns it so we thought we would try it out. They had great food and a couple friends from Miami met up with us so it was a good time. Of course, the night couldn't be complete unless someone did something stupid so Chris (Dylan's roommate) took one for the team and spilled his glass of wine all over himself!

Friday we just went to the beach all day and hung out. The picture of the guy with sun block on his back is one of Dylan's friends/co-workers. Dylan put RBG on his back, it stands for Retirement Benefits Group which is the department they work for and the conference they went to. Boys will be boys! It didn't really turn out since Dylan didn't do it evenly. You could see it but I would have done a better job ;o). If you haven't noticed by now, Dylan managed to ruin every picture by making some ridiculous face.

We headed to Miami around 6 to hang out with more friends and go out in South Beach. Clearly we didn't rent a big enough car. I only rented it to drive from Fort Lauderdale and then decided to keep it since it would make the drive from Fort Lauderdale to Miami and then back to Fort Lauderdale to catch our flight much easier. Needless to say we could barely fit all of our luggage in the car. We didn't have the top down by choice either. I had a huge duffel bag on my lap that you really can't see and Dylan's knees were crammed against the dash board. We just couldn't stop laughing at how incredibly ridiculous we looked and EVERYONE on 95 looked and laughed as we drove to South Beach.

We went out friday night to a few clubs. We started at Sky Bar, then to Sobe Live, which is P.Diddy's club, then headed the The Mansion which is huge and pretty cool. By that time I was tired of babysitting all the drunk little boys I had to deal with and it was time to head home around 5am. Two of the guys stayed out till 7am but the other 4 of us caught a cab home. From the picture I'm sure you can tell that it was definitely time to go!

We were going to head to the beach on saturday but when we got up it was cold and the wind was blowing about 40 mph gusts so we just walked around. Dylan and I ended up going our own way and did some major shopping on Lincoln Road. Once we spent all our money and realized we were broke, we headed back to the apartment and watched the rest of the football games. We didn't even discuss going out on saturday night since we all clearly had had enough the night before. We had to get up at 5am to get ready and head to Fort Lauderdale to catch out 8:30am flight. I was hurtin in the morning but so glad to get home early so we had the day to get organized and rest. They weren't kidding when they said you need a vacation from your vacation!

Oh, I have a MySpace account now too. Haven't put much of anything on it since I'm not sure how it all works but I will add as I go. ;o) http://www.myspace.com/bubbaback

Carmen's 1st set of Pearls

Carmen got her first set of pearls today. OK not really. She got her first set for Christmas but lost them when she was in Oklahoma. Anywho, Mom went out and boughtsome more. Isn't she just precious!

We left Carmen at Mom's today so she can get used to the place before we just leave her here. She did really well. However, I came home from work and she was out roaming around the house. She didn't do any of her busy which was really good especially since it had been a few hours. The only thing is that the gates were completely untouched, so I guess she can jump over them. Not sure what Mom will do about that while I'm gone but its her problem now ;o) Oh, I did find a pair of my gold heels completely torn up. She got in my closet and just chewed the shoes to death then left one in the living room so I could see it. I planned to wear them when I got to Miami but now I guess I'll have to go shopping when I get there. Gee, thats too bad!!!

*I added more pics to my "Lots to catch up on" blog

So much for a Good Start

Well, this year is starting to irritate me already! My car wouldn't start today so I had to get a jump and was of course late for work. And to top it all off, my Dad calls me yesterday after work and tells me that I have a jury trial on January 11th for a moving violation, (improper turn), which I didn't even get a ticket for. Some dumb @$$ used my name 3 years ago when they got pulled over for this stupid ticket and now I have to deal with this stuff. I'm supposed to be in Florida on January 11th! UUGGHHH!!! Not only that but who in the hell would waste the city's money on a jury trial for a ticket the I have already proven wasn't me in the first place. And by the way, the ticket is only $80, they are going to have a jury trial for an $80 ticket. Seriously, this prosecutor needs to find better things to do with her time!

Just so you don't feel sorry for me, which I'm sure you all do ;o), today I called the attorney that has been working on this issue for me (for the last 2 and a half years) and the city canceled my trial because they have a new computer system and didn't have everything they needed on their end, so now the trial will be anywhere from 9 months to 3 years from now. I bet the COP will really remember who he pulled over 6 years later! And if their new computer systems are so messed up, why don't they stop spending money on having ridiculous trials and spend that money on fixing their new system!

Lots to catch up on!!!

Its been a while since I've updated my blog. I've been so busy with people in town and parties to go to so I'll start from the beginning...

December 26th - We had christmas with my Dad. I woke up early. Vicki was to be at Dylan's by 1pm so that gave me planty of time to stage our little Christmas celebration. I went to Target, all their Christmas stuff was 50% off. I hate going there because I LOVE it so much, I get out of control with loading up the cart. Anyways, I picked up a tree, some ornaments, and lights. Oh, and I got Dad some beer. Whats Christmas without that, right? The Miller lite in the fridge just didn't work for him. After that Dad, Tyler and I went home and put it all together. I moved the kitchen table out of my way and put up the tree. I didn't realize I bought white string lights so as we put on the lights, I proclaimed the tree as, "The White Trach Tree of the Year." I'm sre we could have found worse but it looked pretty bad.

I gave a homeless man $5 today on my way home from tanning. I figured it was the least I could do. I didn't find anywhere to volunteer on Christmas Day so I figured this would suffice. It was enough to get him a 40 make him happy for an hour or so, so I did my good deed for the holiday season. Just kidding, kind of.

Vicki and Vitross showed up around 2. We opened gifts and were merry... After that we walked downtown, Vicki threw a fit that we were walking, and had lunch at Billy Miner's. Its a GREAT burger joint. We went back to the house and the boys just played games as Vicki slept on the couch. Once Vicki woke up it was pretty late, about 9 or 10, so she decided to head home and the boys askd if the could stay. Since Dad was in town I figured why not. Boy was that a mistake. I forgot that Grandpa's allow their Grandkids to do anything they wanted to. IT all came back to bite him in the middle of the night though...This is what I woke up to...HAHA!

Decemeber 27th - Dylan came back from Oklahoma to a messy little house. I tried to clean it up a bit but oh well. Its a bachelor's apartment so I know he has seen it in worse conditions. He scrubbed and cleaned before he left and I'm sure was hoping to enjoy that when he got back but he was wrong wrong wrong. It wasn't too bad though. Once Dylan settled in we had our little Christmas. Dylan got me a bike. Its really nice. We try to ride bikes as much as possible but with me not having one it is a bit difficult. We usually just borrow one of his friends but I feel bad because I'm sure his friend would like to use his own bike now and then. He also got me some earphones that I picked out for my iPod. I hate the little earbuds that come with it. They hurt my ears. And he got me a Coach iPod cover We had dinner at Esparza's which is a really good Mexican restaurant in Downtown Grapevine. Dad used to go there a lot with Barbara so I guess he just wanted to reminise (sp?). After that we went to Main Event, which is a place with bowling and all kinds of games. We were going to bowl but decided to just play games since anyone under 18 had to leave at 10pm, even if their parents are there. We played for about an hour and a half, then left. Which was fine with me. Those places can get expensive. We sent the kids home with Vicki!!!

Decemeber 28th - I had some returns to do and errands to run so Dad went to lunch with a friend. I started my errands and was on a role, making returns and using up my gift cards. Then Dylan calls, a friend from school was in town and we were to go to lunch with him before he headed out back to LA. I definetly could have chosen not to go, which was my first instinct, but I didn't want to be rude. I told him, to limit this little reunion to 2 hours TOPS!!! So 4 hours later, as we were heading back to Dylan's apartment, I got almost nothing done and was exhausted! We had dinner reservations at Medieval Times so I knew I didn't have time for a nap. Now, Medieval Times was fun. It was a little irritating that we had to wait outside for about 30 minutes because Vicki had the tickets to get in. But I got over it. Once inside we got to eat with our hands and drink while watching a knight fight, I forgot the name for it. They jousted and did all kinds of different battles before the actual fighting. It was about 2 hours long. They just kept bringing out more and more food. They would call it gross things like we were in the Medieval Times (No pun intended). The soup was the first course and they said it was horse sweat. It was actually vegetable soup or something close to that but Dad said it tasted like Horse Sweat, so he didn't eat that part. The best part of the night, you ask??? Well, Vicki and I must be some hot little ladies because when your night wins a battle, he gets 2 roses to throw at his fans. There are about 400 people total, maybe more, and about 75-100 for each knight. Vicki and I both got the roses. What can I say, they loved us! After it was over Vitross and Dylan decided to have a sword fight and the kids got to take pics with the knights. We didn't get out of there till about 9:30 so it was time to go home. I had to be at work around 12:30 the next day and Dad was heading out so we decdied to just go home. Dad said his Good Bye's to Vicki and the boys and we left.

December 29th - I had been dreading this day since December 23rd at noon. I had to go back to work. YUCK! It was only a half day that I had to be back but still I didn't want to go. I really enjoyed my time off. The weather was just gorgeous. We hit a few records. I got in the 80's a few days. I dropped Dad at the airport on my way in to work and he was off, back to Florida.

Decemeber 30th - Mom got back from Ohio. Picked her up around 11pm. I was tired from working my one and a half days this week so Dylan and I just went to dinner at Carrabba's. Its definetly our favorite Italian restaurant. Oh my Gosh, how could I forget...I also got the score for my TeXeS test today. I PASSED!!! Yeah! This is the test you have to take to be able to teach in Texas. Its one of those tests like the SAT's, kind of, 3 of the 4 answers could be correct but you have to choose the best one. Whatever, its over and I passed but it wasn't easy. I didn't get a whole lot of studying in before the test so I was a bit nervous. Now comes the hard part though, deciding if I want to quit Verizon and be a teacher or stay with Verizon and not be a teacher. I don't plan to start teaching till the fall either way but I need to start applying.

Decemeber 31st - Happy New Year's Eve!!! We had a big party to go to tonight so I was pretty pumped. I don't get out much these days, with Carmen, Dylan can't get away from the house for more that an hour with out worrying about her. We got out maybe once a week or every two weeks. I have been having out with the nephews lately on the weekends so its not like I just sit at home, but it sure is nice to get out and let loose. We started the day with some shopping!!! And we ALL know how much I love this. AND Dylan came with, can you believe it??? He had a gift card for Old Navy and wanted to return a CD I gave him since his roomate had the same one and he really wanted Tom Petty's Greatest Hits. So we hit up Old Navy, we got a few things and I got a down winter coat with Flannel lining. Its exactly what I wanted. I haven't had a winter coat in probably 5 years but with the weather here its not all that necessary. But it never fails, there is always that one week that I freeze or when I go to Ohio its nice to have one. Anyways, it was $17!!! Yes, I can't believe I found something I like on sale! It was like 50% off then 75% off that. Some crazy discounted price but hey I got what I wanted and it was cheap!!! Its baby blue too. I would have chosen a different color but who am I to complain??? It was $17!!!

We got ready for the party and were to meet some friends at their house for appetizers and drinks before hand. Well, I was running late, not really late, just didn't feel like rushing, so I decided to just leave the appetizer I made at home since by the time we got there we would be leaving for the party.

We went to the party, had lots of fun, then decided it was time to leave. We had to drive 30-45 minutes home, the Cops would be out bad and neither of us wanted to visit the jail so we decided it was time to go. We had a great time though!




January 1st - A bad start to a New Year. I wans't feeling so hot today. I'm not sure what I did last night but it must not have been something smart. I laid in bed for quite a while. Once I got up I had some Black Eyed Pea soup. Had to do something right.

I wanted to start out the New Year right for my cousin Jamie! She had People's Photos of the Year (or something like that) up on her blog and she just didn't understand why all the pictures had to be about some tragic story. Where were the pictures of the good things and miracles??? Well, I saved this for her. Meant to put it up on the 1st, but got a little behind. So, Jamie here's to you and the New Year... HAPPYNEWS. Its a website that was started because of the way you felt..."There has to be something good going on out there." Well, here is it a website that only talks about good news stories. Hope you enjoy!

January 2nd - Today I went on my first offical bike ride on my new bike. It was 83 degrees today so I had absolutely no excuses. I still felt a little woozy but I toughed it out. Oh before that I went to Marshall's to use a gift card I had there. Dylan just doesn't get it, He always asks if I spent more that what the gift card was for. And of course I did. He says that defeats the whole purpose. I totally disagree. If I can get $100 worth of stuff for only $75, then I'm a winner, right? Clearly we will never see eye to eye on this. I had lots of gift cards for Christmas this year, Forever 21 (2 of them), Marshall's, Best Buy, Dillards...anyways, I've used them all but Dillards. I think he gets the point. Ok, back to the bike ride. My seat is supposed to be some special seat that doesn't make your butt hurt as bad. Well, I hope Dylan didn't pay extra for that because they lied!!! My butt hurt so bad when we got home. We rode for about 5 miles, maybe more. I don't have a bike computer (which I asked Dylan for for my b-day) but once I get one, I can tell you how fast I went, how many mile and for how long I rode... We rode for about an hour to an hour and a half and we took a little break half way through just to sit in the park and relax. It was such a nice day outside. The record temp was 79 so we set another record. I just can't believe it's January and the weather is 83 degrees. I love it but I can't stop thinking that we will be hit hard the end of January and February. I was just snowing about a month ago and now its 83. That's Texas for you!

January 3rd - I was off yesterday and today was my first day back since the New Year. I haven't had a full week of work since the week of December 12and won't have a full week till January 16th. Its so nice knowing I have time off scheduled. Gives you something to look forward to.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday Season and a Happy New Year! Best of luck to everyone in 2006. I just have a feeling its gonna be a great year!

**Have more pics that I will add tomorrow.