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?

Somewhere permanent, maybe?

One of my many jobs at the bank is to change addresses when people have requested them, (or we hunt them down when they move). Summer seems to be a major time that people move, because I'm averaging about 50+ a week--and we only have about 5,700 members all across the globe. So a lot of people are moving quite often.

Today, the thought struck me as I was making my 5th address change of the morning, "I really want a permanent address." I haven't had one in nearly three years, and I can't begin to describe to you how much I want one. I even dreamed the other night that we got a post office box in Collegedale. We were box #3, isn't that great? It's not just the address I want though--it's the security in belonging someplace at least semi-permanent. I know that life can suddenly change, and there is very little security to be had, but having an address would be a nice change for me, for once.

I used to be picky about addresses. I have seen some really scary ones since I've been doing this job in the past year. I used to not want to live on a street unless it sounded poetic or homey, or even quaint. Now I think I could even be quite happy living on something generic like Main St, USA :)

--Amanda of Loblolly Ln., for now.

We thought pink, and it worked!!

I would like to give congratulations on my blog to my cousin Jon & his wife Bekah who just found out that their second child is going to be a girl! You'd have to know my family to understand the true excitement of all this. We had so much fun with Bryden, their first child, that we eagerly look forward to him having a little sister. As I was leaving this morning, he was coming to the house and I told him congratulations that he's going to have a sister. He asked me if I was going to come and see her, and I said that I would, once she was born. Her expected arrival I hear is January 1, so it will be a happy New Year in the Spears clan. :)

Ahh....Sometimes I just need a mental break from work (i.e. before I have a mental breakdown) and so I look for funny sites. I found this one on Kristen's friend Valerie's blog: Cats that Look Like Hitler. It's a really funny site. And similar to that one, a friend showed me another funny cat site: Stuff on my cat. So there you go, something for the cat lovers (and even those who can't have them, like me!)

Charles Graduates--All Celebrate!

As promised, here are a few photos of Charles' Graduation last night--woohoo!!
This is him walking down the aisle...


And getting up to leave gym after grad... (note the happy expression on his face!)


Still leaving the gym..


Us with my grandparents after the ceremony. It was so nice outside (shock!)--probably because it was fixin' to rain, but the wind was blowing and everyone was happy to be outside (for once).

And finally...

The newly graduated, and newly married happy "us". hee hee

Summer fun

I'm really sad--I typed I blog I thought was neat, I think on Wednesday, in between different things going on, but the internet system crashed. What a bum deal.

Anyway, I just talked about how it is so swealtering hot here, and how on Sunday Bryden came over and swam around in his new splashing pool Mo bought him. I was wearing street clothes, but "somehow" ended up completely soaked. But really, I didn't mind it so much because it was so hot outside. We ate watermelon out by the pool, and felt like we were livin' the high life. haha.

Every day this week has been in the mid-upper 90s. There's a weather advisory outside, with something to do about the air quality. They said to not go outside if you could help it. Pretty sad, huh? So it dawned on me that you know it's really hot outside when you start fantasizing about your little cousins splashy pool in the middle of the afternoon. It's that hot now.

Stay tuned to pictures from Charles' graduation last night! I'm so proud of him!

Monsoon--Not Just a Store in the UK

So since I have last blogged, I have noticed that our area has been overtaken by what I call "Monsoon Season". I used to not think that we had that in our hemisphere, but the weather channel has recently proved me wrong. We have already received more rain this month than El Paso gets in a year (I'm probably not exaggerating that much). Nice. Well, Thursday night we had one particularly bad storm. You never know these are coming though, unless you're glued to the weather reports, and that's the sad part. We had to go to town to get groceries and pick up a few things at the mall. When we went to come out of the mall though, there was torrential rain, and a flock of people standing by the door in utter amazement. Most people waited it out, and we did for awhile, but the evening was getting on, so Charles decided to make a break for the car. Needless to say he got soaked. He drove around to pick me up, and even though he got as close as he could, I still had to run fifty feet in the rain. Fortunately, I was wearing the crocs that Jay gave me as a wedding present (isn't he great?), so my feet were well equipped. Unfortunately, I was wearing a white t-shirt. Sad.

Later, while shopping at Walmart, we were getting some bottled water (yes, I've started doing that, because I fear city water is poisoning us all slowly). I heard a noise, and looked up to actually see a STREAM of water coming down from the ceiling. I had visions of the roof collapsing in on us being seen by all on the nightly news. Fortunately that made us shop faster so that was a good thing.

Our watered out evening was nothing compared to my friends Irma & Alba (work ladies). They were walking on the Greenway when the storm began! They had to run to nearby apartments and wait out the storm. Just then, Irma realized she had dropped her keys when they had started to run! Fortunately, the rain started to let up, and she was able to find them when they were running back to their car! Wow.. she is so funny too--she was just laughing about it when she told me (Irma). She's pretty laid back like that, although she did admit to being frightened by the rain.

Since getting married we've been working on compromising with each other. I think we're getting good at it :) For example, he wants to buy a gun. I said, "If you're going to buy a gun, I will get an iPod after that." That works. The other night I wanted to watch a chick flick, he agreed, but I compromised and let him watch "Gunsmoke" first. It worked out well. :) That's what marriage is all about--compromise, oh, and love too, of course.

I have officially dubbed today "Round-to-it" day. Our room has been so messy and disorganized since we got back from our honeymoon (actually, back when it was still "my" room it was a mess, it just got worse after the wedding). I've been cleaning our under the bed, dusting, throwing out trash and organizing stuff. It's looking mucho-better so far. And it's just 1pm! I decided to take a blog break... but now I must go back. Wish me well. :)

Healthy stuff

I feel like being healthy. I have gone back and forth over the years whether or not to be vegan. I just like cheese and ice cream too much. Probably the ice cream even way more than the cheese. Does anyone else agree? They have excellent milk-substitutes that I can easily live with. Even the cheese substitutes are quite good these days. But the ice cream? I just can't be fooled. I know it's soy or rice or whatever non-dairy substitute they can concoct. Oh well. I guess all in moderation, right? If you're interested in a neat blog that features a healthy lifestyle, check out: The Vegan Lunchbox. They have good recipies and other inspirations. I think I'm off to lunch now.. gonna get a healthy VM salad. :)

I Want to be a Farm-girl too!

I found this neat-o site when I was on blogger one day. I haven't explored it fully, but wanted to draw attention to it incase I forget about it later. It's about a girl on a farm in Missouri. That's pretty much all I know, but it looked to be something you should check out for fun. Farmgirl Fare

Standing on the edge of possible change is never something I have fully enjoyed or embraced. I don't think I sat down and really thought about how my life would change after I got married, and thus my wedding was not as overly emotional as it could have been. I have since processed a lot of those emotions and the changes, and I am feeling better about them. We are enjoying life, as every day together is truly a gift.

I would like to request prayers as we continue to seek out where the Lord has in store for us to be next year. Immigration status changing is the thorn in our sides at the moment, but through all of this we know that we have not been abandoned, and that there is still a plan...I'll let you know when we figure out what that is.

I wanted to post a few pictures on here from our trip to Nebraska at the end of May. We went there for Charles' nieces wedding. First picture is of Naomi & Talitha before the wedding (sisters, Charles' nieces):

The next picture is of Charles' nephew Ben & fiance Martha at the reception. We're hoping to go to their wedding sometime around New Year's way up in Alberta.. I hope we can:

What happens when Charles' crazy nephew Daniel gets ahold of my camera:

Charles & Naomi at the reception:

Finally, and I always love these pictures, is Naomi and Robert leaving the wedding. I think I like these photos because they always seem to really capture the blissful moment.

Near indignation.. thus, this is the expression on my face. Does anyone read my blog? Is it boring and not noteworthy? Sometimes it's like talking to a brick wall, you people. I appreciate that Kristen adds comments, but she's the only one.

:( Just because I save the juicy stuff for my personal hidden blog is no reason to not read this one. This one is good too. Right? Actually, the reason for my rant is that I really wanted to use this icon. It's such a great expression. Thank you Deborah (www.livejournal.com/users/maplest) for letting me steal icons. Love ya.

Thankfully, it's the weekend, and fun will be had by all.

Speaking of something that feels like home, I ran across this blog today, and though I only read a few posts, it was nice to "hear" from someone posting in England. Check it out: Unique British Gifts

I'm up to photo collaging again.. Here are some of the flowers I shot on our honeymoon in Williamsburg, and at Monticello, Virginia.
  

So I know this is just a random thing to write a blog about, but I couldn't resist. Sometimes humorous things happen from day to day, and if you don't write about them, you'll forget.

Wednesday I went to go into the restroom at work (or washroom, for you Canadians) and there was a huge cockroach on the floor (are they ever little??). I yelped and went to get a faithful co-worker, Donna, who rescued me from the terror of the roach. I thought little of it until the next day when I see two guys from Cooks Pest Control standing in the lobby. One of the tellers, Princess, who has humor akin to my own, turns to me and says with a slight smile, "Amanda, could you please describe the purportrator for us?" Of course I laugh out loud, because I know she's talking about the cockroach incident from the day previous. The Cooks man evidentially did not find this exchange amusing, for he said (and I am not making this up), "Ma'am, this is a serious matter. It may seem humorous, but it really is a serious situation." How in the world he could say that with a straight face, I don't know. I went into graphic detail, as prompted, of all the roaches characteristics I had committed to memory from that horrid incident, with all the skill of someone describing a burglar or robber. I squelched the urge to say, "Well, last I saw him he kind of looked like this: [mime of squashed roach]". It was probably a good thing I didn't.

But on a serious note, if you want serious extermination of any sort of pest (of the bug and vermin variety, of course), these are definitely the guys to call.

Benevolent Director

I found a really awesome personality test online. You should check it out. Here are my results:
My Personal Dna Report. Let's take a poll, who thinks this is a good summary of me? Thanks for your input.

This is a picture of Betty & I. Betty is my buddy from Newbold, a short-term roommate actually, who is over here from England taking classes at Wildwood. We randomly connected this weekend, after not seeing eachother in over 5 years now (has it been that long?!?!). We went downtown for a bit and walked around. It was great to see her, and I hope to see her again before she takes off across the big pond. :)