I think I'm going bald 

Trying to take a picture of myself after my Nieman Mark Ups make over 

Our hotel at night...the Bellagio 

Last of the big time gamblers...losing it all at the penny slots 

Viva Las Vegas

Today Ray and I got back from five days in Las Vegas compliments of his company. This was my first trip to Las Vegas and I don't think I want to go back unless his company foots the bill...WOW was that place expensive! There were only two meals that the company didn't cover. One was breakfast this morning and we each had a diet coke from a fountain and a brioche (egg and bacon popover) for a total of $20.50! Of course I think we probably stayed in one of the most expensive hotels on the strip! The first day we arrived and by the time we got our luggage it was time for dinner....cocktails (open bar) and horse do overs (grin) this was on an outside patio followed next to those amazing pools I posted a picture of before. Then we went to bed cause we had to be up early for meetings in the morning. In the morning we had a huge buffet breakfast and then went to meetings until noon. Heard a great speaker named Dr. Mike Mescon, professor somewhere in Atlanta I think, had his Ph.D. by the time he was 24 and teaches Management. He made some VERY interesting comments that I will post later. Then the guests were taken to a cooking show with two of the Bellagio chefs. The chefs made; a two colored cold tomatoe soup with crab and black beans (two beans in mine, I would call them more garnish than an actual part of the recipe), handmade fresh cheese ravioli with garlic butter sauce, french bread and then the dessert was berries and custard. I must say that the wine was flowing and the walk back to my room afterwards was a little difficult. Unbelieveably they filmed the class and gave us the DVD when we left, in addition to a cookbook by the Bellagio chefs. Then that night we had a cocktail reception and awards dinner. The next day I didn't have anything to really do until noon, but Ray and his team had weird team building indoor games. At noon I went to a private fashion show at Nieman Mark Ups and had lunch followed by a make over by Yves Saint Laurent (sp?). Then we went back to the hotel and got ready to go to a fancy dinner and then to a Cirque de Soil show called "O". The next day Ray had to demo some web stuff to some agents and then we had the afternoon off...we shopped the strip, mostly at Ceasars casino where we went into a 3 story FAO Schwarz toy store we had another buffet dinner that night with a comedian/magician. They next day was time to leave and we had to leave the hotel by 7:30am. Viva Las Vegas...Pictures to follow

Living Area of New House (there is only one) 

Kitchen View Two 

Kitchen View 1 

This is the back yard of the new house we just bought in Aledo, Texas! 

This is one of the pools at the Bellagio...not that I'll be caught dead in bathing suit but I could hang out and soak up the atmosphere with a good book...Did I mention while Ray is at his conference I get cooking classes with Bellagio chefs? I think I might have died and gone to heaven...Oh no the fact that I have to go with his bosses to a dinner and wear a cocktail dress will nullify that!...Oh for my highschool body and hair! 

Happy Happy Joy Joy Ray and I get to go to the Bellagio in Las Vegas for 5 days by ourselves, expenses paid by his work! This is the lobby ceiling! 2000+ handblown glass flowers. 

Breath a sigh

Today I gave my two months notice at my work. I've never found it easy to resign (or break up for that matter) and this felt like a bad break up! Its hard enough to tell one boss you need to leave a great job but it is even harder to tell 25 board members when you are the only employee. I know they all felt like I just broke up with them and I'm having flash backs of horrible stomach aches from high school when I'd break up with a boy that liked me...(okay there weren't really that many highschool flameouts, just one that really stands out)! I need to slow the pace down around here and this is my attempt. We'll see how long it lasts, hopefully long enough for me to get back on the treadmill. I've had enough of running around all the time I need to do some running around and going nowhere. Julia, Gabe and Emma need me at home and happy about it, not home and grouchy cause I can't get my work done because they interrupt me....So today I'll a little sad. I really did have the best 25 bosses in existance and a nice job...it just didn't fit with my life at the moment. Blessings on you AFP Fort Worth Metro Chapter...I'll miss you.

Gabe and his buddy dreamin of owning a FAST car! :) Boy do they grow up fast! 

Just in case you ever wondered

I'm on a blog posting marathon and I received this information today from Mental Floss http://www.mentalfloss.com . Here in drought ridden Texas this really is useless information!

Who says size doesn't matter? It does to rain.
When precipitation takes the form of water droplets measuring half a millimeter (about 1/50ths of an inch) or less, it's called drizzle. Rain, on the other hand, is made up of drops of larger sizes. Furthermore, rain can be classified as slight (accumulations of 0.1 inches per hour or less), moderate (0.1 to 0.3 inches per hour), or heavy (0.3 inches per hour and more).

I think I have just been suckered! A friend of mine and I have been talking about who has the bigger pile of dirty laundry. This is my approximatly 6x9 closet and I swear this pile is a good foot deep. I'm afraid their might be a body underneath so I'm a little hesitant to do it all! Actually the reason I'm feeling suckered is that I noticed that all though my "friend" has blogged about her immense pile of laundry she has never actually posted a picture (guess she's not ready to come out of the closet :) ) Anyway this compition isn't quite fair my pile is bigger at least I'm assuming it is bigger because I've never actually seen her pile just read about it because I've just finished redoing the floors on 1000+ square feet of my downstairs that required first my washer and dryer to sit in my garage for a week and then over this past weekend I was just too busy painting and laying laminate. Anyway enough excuse making...this is a freakin mountain! I think I'm going to make and extra strong cup of La Vida Dulce Coffee, put on some Julie Andrews from The Sound of Music (okay not really) and start folding!
 

Bedroom pic 3 

Bedroom Pic 2 

The new bedroom look 

Looking to the kitchen from the living room 

from another angle 

This is our old dining room now the "conservatory" HA 

The girl cousins (at least on one side of the family) :) What a lovey group! 

Gabe and cousin Elizabeth 

Julia in her Easter dress 

Emma in her Easter dress 

I've probably left these kind of prints more than I want to admit!

Prints in the Sand

One night I had a wonderous dream,
One set of footprints there were seen,
The footprints of my precious Lord,
But mine were not along the shore.

But then some stranger prints appeared.
And I asked the Lord, "What have we here?"
Those prints are large and round and neat,
"But Lord, they are too big for feet."

"My Child," He said in somber tones,
"For miles I carried you alone.
I challenged you to walk in faith,
but you refused and made me wait."

You disobeyed, you would not grow,
The walk of faith, you would not know,
So I got tired, I got fed up,
And there I dropped you on your butt."

"Because in life, there comes a time,
When one must fight, and one must climb,
When one must rise and take a stand,
Or leave their butt prints in the sand.

--Author Unknown :)

Distance

I just thought I'd post how depressingly far apart Fort Worth, Texas; SomewhereLand, Michigan; and Durham, North Carolina are: FAR FAR APART!(I'm hearing this in my head in a Shrek voice)

AAAAAAAHHHHH it almost been a month!

Okay I really haven't anything to say but I had to post something so I would be a month since I posted last! Spring break is over THANK GOD! I'm afraid if it was any longer we'd have been in the poor house from Gabe's random acts of impulsivity! We are also getting ready to tile 1,000 square feet of our downstairs and then put down 250 square feet of laminate so if I don't post in the next couple of weeks its probably because I accidently left my computer in the corner where the tile is still drying or I tiled myself into a corner and can't get out...I guess I better say if I'm not blogging and simultaneously not answering my cell phone send help!

Okay now that we've had our laugh you have to see her real cuteness!

Pic 1. Flowers from Uncle Keith, Watch out Lisa! Keith gave Gabe a Winnie the Pooh and the next thing I have a picture of Keith giving Gabe was cigerettes! Today it's roses tomorrow its snuff in a little silver case! :)

Pic 2. Aren't those the biggest brown eyes you've ever seen?

Pic 3. And the sweetest lips?

Gonna EAT YOU UP!

Elizabeth Lane Does the Electric Slide

This is my precious niece Elizabeth Lane, yes her mother IS a hair dresser! NO she did not purposely make her hair look like this---ALL NATURE NO NURTURE! PRICELESS!

Don't worry David, We'll catch the baton

Sunday David Phillips Pastor at Christ Chapel Bible Church died on a slick and icy Texas road. Today I went to his memorial service. It is amazing how you can know something about someone but not KNOW it. I had a couple personal experiences with David's intense love for Jesus Christ. After the service I realize I was one in a thousand...the thousands that David touched with his greatest passion...his love for God. There will be a void for a time in this world because those who have been touched by David will need sometime to stop and realize that we need to continue the race where David left off. We have rested too long on David's excellent service to Christ and his "Well Done Good and Faithful Servant" is the gun shot for the leg of our race to take off. Living this side of heaven is a continual relay of being touched by God, often through others, and then passing that life altering touch on to those around us so they can run their own race. David was a master at touching off races. I've heard my gun shot, I've picked up my baton. David, I'll see you at the finish line.

China's Secret Weapon

I'm sure that we need to have a carefully planned foreign policy to deal with China. My conviction doesn't come from their immense population, their voracious consumption of oil or their non pro USA political stance. I'm convinced that China has a large secretly trained society ready for war. My proof? Have you ever tried to open a Barbie or Barbie product? If we could just train our border security people with the people who train the workers to secure a Barbie doll in its package we'd never have a unknown terrorist cross our borders again! I just tried to open a Barbie guitar. Not only was the box taped so well that I had to literally tear the box to pieces to get it out, but once I got the box open the guitar was so tied to the piece of cardboard with twisty ties I ruined my new manicure just trying to get it undone. I must admit having a 6 year old daughter I was prepared for this, but to my surprise there was an added hurdle to cross....the twisty ties were HOTGLUED! I guess my only consolation concerning China's perceived security superiority is that their intelligence seems to be as abysmally bad as ours because they have somehow come to the conclusion that the population segment most to be feared are the 5-8 yearold Barbie loving girl population.

ISSUES

Sometimes I feel worn out from caring about the "issues" in my friends lives. I wish I could have just one friend who had no "issues", who had a perfect life, perfect children, perfect health, perfect husband and perfect money. But then of course I would hate her! So maybe I do have such a friend I just don't know it because I hate her so much for having no "issues".

Seriously though can you imagine having a friend who didn't have some sort of hardship in their life? Would that mean God wasn't working on them? Wasn't refining or purifying them? How awful to have a friend that God didn't want to make more like Himself. A friend that God wasn't using difficult situations in her life to make her more compassionate, more forgiving, more thoughtful, more just or more loving. A friend left to follow every sinful inclination of her natural born heart.

So in a away I'm glad to be tired. It means my friends around me are fighting the good fight! And being exhausted must mean I am battling shoulder to shoulder with them! Thank God we can't battle beyond that which we are able and the shoulder next to mine and my friends can't fail.

Amen Sister!

"I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookcases." - Ann Quindlen, "Enough Bookshelves," in The New York Times (Aug. 7, 1991)