Saddle up for St Jude
This weekend I rode in a 10 mile trail ride to raise money for St Jude Childrens Hospital. This is the 3rd year in a row Blue Stem Ranch has hosted this ride and the 2nd year I've participated. We had a total of 44 riders and raised $1700 (so far)!! It was wonderful weather, hot but we had a really good wind. And above is one of my favorite pictures from the whole thing. We start the ride on this hill so these riders were up there waiting. Just had to share!
Mama, Don't Go
guess Ty wants to go with me. THe packing and re-packing regimen has begun. Its something I always do, but it also helps acclimate the cats to the suitcase/leaving aspect of travelling.
long time friends
i first started at DPSU as a temp in October of 2001 and Reagan was one of my first friends. We shared a giant cubicle together and were both temps. It didn't take long to find out we were close in age, had similar religious beliefs, etc and an easy friendship began. I had no idea at the beginning where my friendship with Reagan would take me but its been a blast along the way! Above is a picture of me, Reagan, and Corrie - friends since the DPSU days. Because of Reagan I got to go to Greece, complete with a fun tour guide (reagan herself!) In this picture (to the left) we are laughing because Corrie's favorite phrase was "peace in the middle east" and she said this instead of the traditional "cheese". Our days together at DPSU were short (she left us for Greece, what was she thinking!) but the friendship continued. When she started her blog on this site, I checked it every single day for new posts because reading her blog was nearly as good as talking to her in person. she writes like she talks and she can put you where she is. It didn't take long for me to want my OWN blog, although my writing is not nearly as exciting as hers most of the time! Since our first meeting, Reagan has lived in Greece, Italy, Arkansas, and Nashville and her stories and friendship never ends. For the next 12 weeks I get the privilege of being in the same metropolitan area as Reagan and I am looking forward to the chance to participate in some of her memory making. When hanging out with Reagan, one can never know when something hilarious just might happen. But I plan to be there when I can, camera ready, if such a moment occurs! Tonight, I was priveleged enough to accompany her to her first meal at Cathy's Wok since the last time she was in Dallas. I took this beautiful shot of us together (loving my tan!) to start off the potential adventure for this summer! Reagan, thanks for being my friend!
Vacation Countdown - 27 Days!
Okay forgive me if this is bragging but I'm so dang excited I can hardly stand it! I totally have vacation fever and have been scouring the internet at night for reviews, advice, information, etc. I am going to the Dominican Republic and so there are TONS of things to know about it. The only problem I'm having is that I'm practicing my spanish in my head and it keeps coming out french because I'm actually better with french. I live in Texas, yet I took french in college. What was I thinking? Well okay I know what I was thinking - I wanted to be a world traveller and french was much more romantic than spanish. Just not quite as practical. So I have a few friends who speak spanish that I'm going to ask for help so maybe i can get out of this french thing. I did read several reviews by Canadians that said they didn't have a problem speaking french and being understood, so I guess thats a good thing. Also, it would appear that 70-80% of the clientele is European/Latino. Americans are far in the minority! Some American travellers are probably upset with this and several reviews I read from american's said so. But for me, that makes it even better! I'm going on vacation for something different - not the same thing I live with every day! I love Europe and the European way of living! And I can't wait to meet people from all over the world!
I've also had to buy a new camera. Yes you heard me. I HAD to. It was a necessity. I'm going to one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean - the new hot spot. I got this last camera as a birthday present in 2001. Right before my trip to Greece actually! Well in camera years, that sucker is OLD. Looking for a new one I noticed that ALL of them come with only one year warranty's. Here I was thinking my camera was crummy and I didn't want another Kodak until I saw those one year warranty's. Then I laughed at myself because my camera really did me good for the first few years. but this last year its just ready for retirement! So I decided to go with another Kodak since I already have some accessories that I can re-use. It should come in 7-10 business days. Woo hoo!
The tanning is also going well. Granted, I will never be a bronze goddess. I won't tan deep and dark. But I am significantly darker than I was when I started, thats for sure. I had to buy a new lotion last night and since I didn't like the one I had been using, I got a different brand and this one is a 5 bronzer (apparently thats good) with anti-aging (definitely good) and a very nice smell. Bonus. The thing is, these dang lotions that they say are "necessary" cost more than double the price of the membership to tan!! I mean, what a market right? Its one thing to charge people to subject themselves to a chlosterphobic tomb of UV lights in an attempt to get tan while risking burn and skin cancer. People pay money for this (me included)! But then you have to use this special lotion that costs more than a monthly tanning membership! I need to get into that business LOL! Anyway, so I got the new lotion and I used the stand-up bed last night because I was sick of the white stripe down my sides from the face bed. I gotta say I prefer the stand-up bed. At least I can wriggle a little bit and move my feet and my skin isn't all stuck to the plastic.
And this is the month. 27 days to get tan, 27 days to get bikini body (although according to previous comments I already have "nice boobage" lol), 27 days to pack and unpack and repack!
(side note, to anyone thinking about the financial aspects of this trip and thinking, aren't you broke? No I'm not actually. I saved quite a bit of money for this trip from my tax refunds and bonus from work. and I am sacrificing getting my nails and toes done for the tan. so there, thats my disclaimer lol)
