lovely memories

Tonight a friend of ours is coming over to get some travel information from us. Now, we are not professionals, but when we take a trip we simply like to know all our options. So we gather brochures, scour the web, and read up on the place we're going to visit. Over a span of time you can guess the amount of resources we've accumulated. Anyways, this friend J has recently decided he would like to do some travelling. Almost a month ago he took his first trip. He borrowed some of our luggage and went to San Francisco, by himself, just for the weekend. (There is more to that story but I don't feel I should divulge the rest) Okay, so now he has plans to take his wife and their son to Chicago for a few days and then another trip for just himself to St. Louis. Hmmm...makes me wonder. The best part about all of this is that I get to relive those getaways and it makes me think about all of our trips.

As a child, my family didn't take vacations. At the time, it never really bothered me. Some of the first actual vacations that I took were to Florida for spring break with my friends. I always had a great time and often dreamed about far away places, wondering what it would be like to go there. I never actually thought I might go to some of these places one day. Until I met Russell. We used to work together and then began dating after a while. About two months into our relationship, he made a suggestion that we go somewhere for my college spring break. I was thinking that Las Vegas had always sounded cool and would be a "big trip out west". He said to pick anywhere in the world. WOW! At first I thought he was joking, then upon realising he wasn't, I was at a loss for words. Once we talked about it and tossed around some ideas, we settled on Rome. And so it began. From that point on, I was obsessed with reading everything I could get my hands on about Italy. Needless to say the trip was intoxicating, in more ways than one. Not only had I fallen in love with Italy but also with travelling. Lucky for me I've been able to continue my travels with Russell. Those stories will have to come later.

For now I'm anxious about tonight. Here's a picture from our trip to Chicago:

heros

I can’t sleep tonight probably because I have so many things going on in my head. So I just thought I would put this quiet time to some good use. Since it is Memorial Day I would like to say thank you to all the troops for everything you are doing. I have never been a very political person so I don’t have any points or arguments to make. To put it simply, I don’t like wars. Of course it is scary but also so sad when you think of all the people who will lose their lives: soldiers, men, women, and children. I don’t care if you are anti-war or not. There are thousands of people putting their lives at stake every day so we may go about living the lives we are accustomed to. It takes a great deal of courage and strength to leave family and friends behind so you can fight for something that you believe in. I, for one, believe in you. Thank you for defending our country, you all are true hero’s. God bless!

a lazy evening

Tonight is a really good night to sit and relax on the back porch. Well, what little porch we have being in an apartment. It's enclosed just enough for privacy without feeling cramped. We live towards the back of the complex which is away from the road, the parking lot and most foot traffic. It is perfect for Ally (Russell's black lab), who is laying in the flower bed as I write, chewing on a stick. Oh, a dog's life! Ally loves to be outdoors, just not by herself. So there's really no worry of her running away which is a comforting thought. There are three giant trees that shade the apartment for most of the day until late afternoon. The sun begins to shine through the leaves and creates an assortment of greens and yellows that is very relaxing. The more the sun goes down, the cooler and more pleasant it gets. Especially since there aren't many bugs around right now. Aside from the constant humm of the air conditioning units and the backside of the neighboring complex, it's really not a bad place to unwind!

2 year olds and Spam

Okay, so the title is a little weird but it sums up the majority of my weekend. Which by the way was pretty good. I had received a message earlier in the week from Amy on myspace about having drinks Saturday night. Margaritas! Anyways, she made mention of needing some drinks after spending the day with a bunch of 2 year olds. Fast forward to Saturday evening around 7 pm. I figured by this point any activities pertaining to children were probably winding down. I sent her a text asking if she was still game. After a while with no reply I decided to call her house and this is how I'm greeted, "where the f*ck are you b*tch?!" I'm glad she has caller id! The rest of the conversation continues like this:

me: home?

Amy: why didn't you come over for Cheyenne's birthday party?

me: I didn't know it was today

Amy: I sent you an invitation...I think.....maybe I didn't. I could have sworn I did. So, umm, you want to come over for Chey's birthday party?

me: sure, I'm on my way

So....by the time I got her gift wrapped and drove over there it was close to 9 pm. There were no other kids there except Cheyenne. She opened her present and loved the bubbles (which was a last minute addition in case we needed a distraction from the pool I got her) The swimming pool kind of went unnoticed, I assume because it wasn't inflated and full of water, but the bubbles were a hit. She is so cute and has such a personality already. One of the guys that was there handed her a ten dollar bill and she began singing "happy birthday to me". It was so funny. Not long after that Cheyenne was put to bed and Amy, her husband Wes and I proceeded with the margaritas. Aahhh!

Sunday was a wonderful day outside, the weather was so nice. However, most of my day was spent snuggling with Russell since it felt like I hadn't seen him in days. It was all rather lazy. So what about the Spam? I haven't forgotten about that part and it's probably not what you're thinking. A friend of my mom's gave her two tickets to see Spamalot for Sunday night. Mom was trying to get Russell and I to go but he had stuff to do for work. I had heard that it was hilarious and now after seeing it I have to say it's true. If you get the chance to go, please do, I highly recommend it. Unfortunately, I'll have to figure out another way to get Russell to see it since yesterday was the last performance in Louisville. Hmm...road trip?

welcome!

After browsing through various blogs, I started thinking that I might really enjoy having one myself. There are no guarantees that this will be great but if I can have fun and meet some new folks then it's worth it to me. Besides, how much fun can you have if you never try anything new? Take some risks and live life to the fullest because you only get one chance. That being said, I'll begin with a little "about me" as a start to putting myself out there.

25 Things

1. I'm 28 years old
2. I've lived in Louisville, Kentucky all my life. (Unless you count three semesters in a dorm about 1.5 hours away)
3. Within the last couple of years I've begun to travel and now I'm completely addicted. I have a hard time choosing where I
want to go because there are so many places I want to see!
4. Those travels include Italy (my fav- and you'll hear more about this in later posts), France, England, and most recently
Greece
5. I love photography
6. My mom is my best friend. A very close second is Russell
7. Russell is also my boyfriend. He has a black lab named Ally who is spoiled rotten and it's partly my fault. He would tell
you it's all my fault but this is my blog, not his.
8. I love my family, they're great. Over the years as we've grown we've gotten even closer
9. I only have one sibling, a brother who is 3 years younger than me but several inches taller
10. We play on a coed softball team together. It's the first time I've played since high school
11. Which reminds me, I have a ten year reunion coming up
12. I prefer music over TV any day and I love to dance
13. I have always been very shy unless of course I've had a few drinks and I'm dancing
14. My dream is to one day live in Italy
15. I have some Cd's in my car to help me learn Italian although it's hard to discipline myself sometimes
16. Summer is my fav season
17. On summer nights when the air is still warm, I like to drive around with all the windows down listening to my fav songs
18. I'm a very organized person and clutter bothers me
19. I also feel that if you're going to do something, do it right. Otherwise you're just wasting time
20. My apartment is nice but I feel closed in and I hate all the white walls!
21. I want a small house with a big yard to have flower and vegetable gardens
22. And I want to paint the walls any color I want
23. I'm a recovering shop-a-holic. I guess you could say I have grown up some in the past couple of years :)
24. I do still enjoy window shopping and trying to replicate what I like for much cheaper
25. I would much rather get hand picked wildflowers than something from a florist