Oh the insanity...

I'm researching luxury transportation for a work-related project. Evidentially Chattanooga isn't upscale enough to have a dealer that rents anything other than Durango's, but still, that didn't keep me from having to call each one. How do you like this too: There was a listing under "car rentals" in the yellow-pages for Prebul Infiniti. I got excited because I envisioned renting a new QX, which definitely looks like luxury to me. Apparently though, they don't rent these at the dealer. I told them that they are listed under "car rentals" in the yellowpages. They had no idea that they were listed here. After I hung up, I wondered what advertising genius came up with that. Someone wants to rent a standard vehicle for about $300 a week, and stumbles across the Infiniti ad. They must think, A-ha! I'll rent an Infiniti! only to learn that they don't rent them here. Sadly disappointed, they decide to just go ahead and purchase one outright for $49,800.00. Marketing sheer-genius.

On a lighter note, last night I went to Cafe Mi Aroma for a girls night out. It was much fun. So much fun that I wasn't able to go to sleep until after midnight because of the chai latte I had there. It was ok though, because Charles and I just laughed and talked until we both drifted off to sleep. It was a pretty good evening, overall.

PS--thank you to Deborah, again, for the great icon pictures. :) She's a creative genius, she is.

Yet another fun-filled website...

I ran across this site, thanks to Kristen. It's called Let's Say Thanks, and it's a site dedicated to sending uplifting mail to our service people. Kids submit their artwork, and that is what you can choose as the back of your postcard to send to the troops. Once you submit your postcard the peple at Xerox, I believe, print it out for you and mail it to the service people. It's cool because they get a piece of actual mail, and you don't have to pay for postage. :) Another neat thing--they have a set selection of messages you can send that are surprisingly not cheesy, or you can write your own. This is good for people who don't like to sit there wondering what the heck to write, but want something that is actually laden with heart-felt thought. It's a neat site. Go check it out. Go on now.

Weekend events

This weekend was much needed, as this past week was very stressful and emotionally draining. Fortunately, it was a great weekend, full with lots of rest and fun, as all weekends should be. I was a little nervous on Sabbath morning, because I was to do the children’s story at church. I don’t know why I always get so nervous about being up front. Once I’m up there, I do ok, and don’t appear nervous (I am told). Fortunately, this week was not an exception. There were lots of kids, and my harrowing story about the Dare to Care Camporee back in ‘94 made them smile.

After church we went up with some of the fam and friends to Tellico Plains. This joy of this experience was increased because my seat buddy for the nearly 2 hour drive was Bryden, my crazy 1st cousin, once removed. (He even admits that he is crazy). He is such a hilarious little 3-year-old. He likes to make people laugh, but hasn’t quite grasped that you can “do a joke in” by telling it over and over. He kept turning around and asking Charles, “Everything alright back there, Charles?” Too cute...

We had a nice time up by the river. There weren’t too many bugs, and it wasn’t hot at all. It was so peaceful and beautiful. The food was great too. It was a lot of fun wading in the water, even though some in our group saw a water snake. (I didn’t see this, all I saw from the picnic area was Ben throwing a rock the size of Bryden into the water, apparently at the snake). Later, as we were coming home we had the air conditioner on pretty much full-throttle. Finally, Bryden must’ve been near freezing for he said, “Jay, the air conditioner is making my eyes dry.” How’s that for logic? There is a place on the way home that has miniature ponies and donkeys for sale. We HAD to stop to see the little cuties. That was a lot of fun too.

Later that evening Bryden stayed overnight at our house. We had fun, despite the challenge of having a messed-up DVD player, and a computer that wouldn’t play DVDs properly (so, no Clifford movies). As he was drifting off to sleep he said, “Manda, going on the picnic was fun.” Ahh... I agree. It’s fun giving my maternal instincts a work-out every now and then, since we aren’t planning on having kids for a long time. I either need to babysit more, or get a dog. I don’t see any of the above happening, so I’ll just have to move on...

Smell the Snobbish-aire

Well, after much contemplation, we at last have an address to call our own. This may not seem like a big deal, but if you read my recent
feelings on this matter, you would know that it is a big deal to me. :) If you are a friend, I will be emailing you our new post office box number soon. It was really fortunate, too, that I rented the box when I did, for this week and last, thousands of Southern students have descended on the town like a flock of locusts, and they may have rented every available box at the post office.

This past weekend was nice, although it was so busy, it feels like I need another break! Does anyone else ever feel like that? Charles & I drove down to Adairsville, GA for the annual Herod Family Reunion. It was a lot of fun, even though I don't know 80% of the people who go, because they are my grandfather's cousin's family. It's still fun to get together with our side, since we don't see eachother that much. It's fun to see my grandpa and three brothers get together. Cute old me. ha.

After that we drove out to Barnsley Resort, which was formerly known to me as Barnsley Gardens. I'm sure that Godfrey Barnsley would be pleased to know that his estate is now a golf resort for the new Southern gentry. We could almost feel the snobbish air(e) as we drove through. Oh well.

Wow, I got kind of hyperlink-happy in this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I did. I wish you all a great week. --AHM

It's always getting better

I haven't made a post in so long, I feel bad. I do have a good excuse though. Let's see.. well, first my laptop has been crashed out for a month, and probably indefinitely, since it needs a XP disk with a serial number which no one, including myself, seems to have (it came installed on my computer--anyone have a dissimilar experience, I'd love to hear.) So then my grandparents computer upstairs has been crashed out too, so that's pretty much why I haven't been "around" lately. I even had to start keeping a regular check-book again, which is akin to torture, but may in fact have a positive impact on my fiscal health. When I stop and think about a purchase, because I'll have to physically write it in my checkbook, it makes me think twice about buying something. Nice.

Since I've had more free time at home, I have been doing things I don't normally do, like read, and watch too much TV. The first new passtime is good, I will admit, since I haven't read much in forever. It's nice to actually have freetime for once, now that the wedding is behind us. I read a really great book that everyone should look into: The Travelers Gift. It's an inspirational story that chronicles seven decisions for a successful life, as given to the hero of the book by 7 famous people. It's all a hypothetical-dream-type book, but the information it contains is life-altering. So if you need something that will pick you up and get you out of a rut, I highly recommend it.

I guess that's about it for now--hope you're having a nice week. Gotta run--2 hours of old Friends re-runs begins now. :) BTW--I wanted to say Yay! Because yesterday we went down to Atlanta to visit Deborah before she went back to school in Florida. We took a nice trip to a really great store , and after that ate at one of my favorite restaraunts which needs to open francise in Chatt-town. Good friend, good shopping, good food--can it get any better than this?