I'm going on vacation!

And, I am so excited.  I am traveling on Sunday, which happens to be my birthday,
with some of my oldest and dearest friends in the world.  We are headed to sunny Florida 

and on Monday we'll hop aboard a cruise ship headed for Key West & the Bahamas.

To get into the spirit of the trip, we have all re-named ourselves with Spanish names....don't really know

why we picked Spanish?  I think Maria started that, yes it was Maria.  Any how, Maria, Consuela, Lupita

& myself, Sarita are so very excited.  I have only cruised once, back in November with 44 of my church pals, and the other senoritas haven't ever cruised before.  So, it is definitely the blind leading the blind.

We really don't have much on our agenda, we want to visit Hemingway's house in Key West, 

do some people watching, read a book, giggle & laugh and act like we did in Jr. High.
Oh, it's going to be great!

Bon Voyage!

Sarita

A whole lotta nuttin'

I know, I know....... I need to post something, but I just ain't feelin' it. I have begun 4 or 5 posts but haven't finished any of them. At least two of them involve photos which have been removed from my camera by one of my children and loaded onto a computer which I do not have the password to retrieve. Hmmm, whose bright idea was that?

We have been busy putting in a garden, planning and attending my 30th high school reunion and work, work, work. It was great to see old friends and I do mean old! Here is a pic of some of my oldest & dearest... then & now... life just wouldn't be the same without them.

Then... 1980

Now.... 2010

We are looking forward to a wonderful Summer, even if we haven't a clue what we shall do yet. We thought we were going to a family event, but they have pretty much 'priced' us out of it. Asking a family with 3 full time college students to take a 4 day trip to Colorado costing 5K is just too steep for us. Jeff and I were planning on taking a trip abroad for our anniversary, but we have decided to wait until 2011 since we will be welcoming a new grandbaby into the world before the end of the year. We will however be taking a few trips along the way.

We recently traveled to Kansas City for Baseball & BBQ. KC has a gorgeous downtown area and we enjoyed our trip immensely. Let me just say that Arthur Bryant's has the absolute best bbq. Here is my sandwich, there is not way I could eat all of it. Fries are their specialty, yum!

We have begun to make plans for a trip to Arkansas in July & Las Vegas in September with Tara and Darrell. We had such a great time on our last adventure we can't wait to do it again.

So, here's wishing you a wonderful Summer filled with great friends, old & new. Simple times like building a garden and exciting trips near & far.

We'll talk again soon, this time I promise it won't be so long.

1226 miles and 3 days later!

Ok, once again we have survived a road trip.  I think I am really getting to old for this.  We

filled our cupboards and frig with food, told our children to not leave the house and then .... headed out on our road trip in the snow!

We spent the night in Bossier City.  Already totally wiped out after what should have been a 3 hour drive but turned into a 5 hour drive because of the weather.  Here we are the next morning getting ready to drive another 6.5 hours.

We ran into trouble in this snow because the freeways & overpasses were closed and we had to drive around Bossier City and make a big loop to get back on 49.  We saw a lot of crazy drivers and quite a few wrecks along the way. We had planned to be in New Orleans by lunch, but after way too many hours on the road we made a pit stop at Race Trac for hot dogs and finally made it to the New Orleans Hard Rock at about 3pm.  Here we are with the staff of HRC New Orleans.

Then we made our way on to Biloxi. Where we checked in to another hotel, changed our clothes and headed over to Hard Rock Hotel/Casino/Cafe' Biloxi for the concert.

Heart put on an awesome show and we were about 15 feet from Nancy & Ann!  Here is Nancy belting out Barracuda!

Then we headed over to the cafe' and had a later dinner.  We had a great time and I think Darrell has turned Jeff into a HR groupie like himself!  Here we are with the staff at HRC Biloxi.

 

When we got up Saturday morning in Biloxi, we were exhausted.  We couldn't believe we had to do that drive all over again.  I mean... seriously, what were we thinking?   We are definitely too old for this.  We drove back through New Orleans as Saturday was the first day of the Mardi Gras parades.  The town was a mad house.  We stopped and ate lunch at one of Jeff's favorite places, Frank's and had muffelatta sandwiches.  The walked around the square for a little bit.  We walked down Bourbon Street for about two blocks and decided we were just not part of that crowd, if you know what I mean.  We quickly detoured and headed toward Cafe du Monde for biegnets.

 As we began to head home from New Orleans at 4pm on Saturday we quickly realized that we did not want to make the long trek of 8 hours home that day.  We finally found a hotel in Alexandria and spent the night.  We we began making plans for this trip we had no idea that we would be hitting New Orleans during Mardi Gras and thus making every hotel from Biloxi to Baton Rouge booked up and even Shreveport/Bossier was full for Saturday night because of Valentine's Day.  We finally arrive home about 4pm on Sunday, exhausted but content.... and ready to plan our next adventure!  But next time.... if it's more than about 3 hours, we're flying!

Hello from New Orleans

Hard Rock Cafe Staff & us, New Orleans LA

The Road Trips are coming, the road trips are coming...........

Jeff and I have big plans for the next two weekends.  I am so excited.  Our friends, Terrell & Derrell* & Jeff & I are going to Biloxi to see Heart in concert at the Hard Rock.  And on way we are going to stop in and see New Orleans by way of Bossier City.  Sound like fun?  When we planned this trip we had no idea we would be in New Orleans the weekend before Mardi Gras and of course now that NO is the home of the Super Bowl 43 Champions I am sure it will be 'partay town'.  We are going to hit two Hard Rock Cafes in the process.  T & D have a love affair with HRs.  They travel round the globe visiting HR.  It's going to be fun!

Here we are at the Hard Rock, Dallas.

Next weekend, we are heading to our favorite Texas city, Austin!  My beloved, Kenny Wayne is going to be there.  I just can't believe it!  I was on the fan site a few weeks ago just checking to see how far we were going to have to drive this year to see him and there it was listed, KWS at Antone's in Austin.  Austin, just down the road a piece.  So, Jeff I will head to Austin next Saturday.  It's going to be great!

Pics coming soon... hopefully one with me, Kenny & Noah!
PS - Happy Birthday Jussy! ~xoxox Mom




* Terrell & Derrell, aka Tara & Darrell or is it Tara & Dara?

They made it!

 

The Haitian Sensations have arrived! 

These two little Haitians are now Peytons and learning to ride bikes, eat s'mores, and not be surprised to find food in the cupboard! I met the boy, J on Sunday, and he is precious.
To read more about these 5 little ones, visit Peyton's Pandemonium.

My friends, the Missionaries

I am very proud to say that I have some friends that are missionaries.  It's not anything that I did, it's what they did.  And since they are nice Christian folks, they let me be their friend.

One family, the Holmans, have 11 children and are now living in Bolivia. They are an incredible family.  They are serving the Lord with great joy and excitement. They are so adorable, and they make living in a 3rd world country look like Disney World.You can read more about the Holmans in Bolivia on Denise's blog.

And then there are a couple of other families one in Switzerland and another in an unknown country.  Unknown because it is not safe for them.  I have known both of these girls most of their lives.  Jeff and I taught their Sunday School class when they were in high school.  Now they are all grown up and serving as Missionaries in far away places. 

What prompted me to write this post?  The sweet family that is serving in a foreign land that I do not even know the name of and I cannot even list their names here because it is unsafe, well, they are missing home and Mexican food.  Yep, fajita seasoning, goldfish crackers, and hot cocoa.  I am packing and sending a care package. 

And as I get this little box of goodies together to send to a 3rd party who will send it on it's way.  I am so incredibly touched by my friends sacrifices.  How they have given up their homes, their friends and families, and their country to serve our God.  Words cannot express my gratitude and heartfelt admiration for them.  I am also thinking about Haiti and her people and the missionaries serving there. 

I pray that my dear friends will be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that his/her labor is not in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:58     (emphasis & personalization, mine)

Blogging... cheaper than therapy?

This is a copy of the email that I sent to my friend Shan yesterday.

Dear Shan:
Ok, I have been keeping a secret. I have a blog. A stupid blog. JL begged me to do it and so now I have one. I have no clue what I should write about, as I myself am boring. But, here it is... my blog. I am certain that I will live to regret it. :) I feel like an idiot, but I have a blog. Like anyone cares to read about me or what I think. I have a dumb blog.
XOXO
J

As you can see, I signed it with hugs and kisses as I was subconsciously trying to convince her not to ridicule me. And being the good friend that she is, she didn't. Thanks Shan. If you write a dumb blog I will encourage you too. That is what friends are for, besides misery loves company. I think I need some company in the dumb blog department. So come on over. I am certain this blog thing is going to be cheaper than therapy, so I am giving it a try.

ps - I also think blogs are a lot like chia pets, everybody secretly has one.