Ahh, the beach!

Casey and I have made is safely to the beach. Why then, you are probably wondering, am I on the Internet? Haha. I just wanted to let everyone know that I talked to the Sergeant at the Police Department and I have been offerred the position- at the high end of the pay grade! So, woo hoo for me! :) I'll get my official offer letter when I get back and then I need to do a physical, but that should be no problem. Now I just need to hand in my resignation letter... ewww.

Here are a few pics from our trip so far:

Casey likes the sunroof. :)

Our room:

The tallest sand castle/pyramid in the world!

Peaches Corner, where we ate some yummy hamburgers and onion rings for dinner:

And I'm glad to see Grama on the blog! This is really turning into a great thing! :) And in response to Mom's post about my dress- I've found it, even made my heart pitter patter a little! I just need to try it on, so let's hope that someone has it in stock somewhere.

I'll post more about our trip later next week... or after we get back! Love and miss you all!

CT is verryyyy VERRYY HOT !!!!!!

Scott and i got here about 4:30 and about died when we got out the air-conditioned truck!! 87 degrees and HUMID!! YUCK!!

This for NATE:

Happy, Happy Birthday, NAY NAY!
Love, Grama

P.S. I LOVE the Alien picture!!

i guess I need to come back to Real. I was SOOOO loking forward to these few days as it is my
only vacation with Scotto this year.... and I have found that Linda has a list of things she wants us to help her make over the weekend for her Christmas Bazaar at church.... I know i am whining. i will enjoy! iwill enjoy! I will enjoy!

KAREN Honey:
RELAX and enjoy yourself. You will NEVER be this age again nor will you ever be in this life place again. Be you and revel in your youness!! We are all here supporting you and loving you FOREVER.

WOW!! IS this color thing FUN!! I love playing with this stuff. I am so happy to be on at last.

Mom, how did you hurl onto the sidewalk taking a vitamin? HAHA

My Two Cents!

Hey everybody! Greetings from beautiful Tunbridge, Vermont! I've been trying to organize my life since returning from Virginia but I spend too much time watching bad TV. Please pray for me that I take the time I need to get my house in order. I have tons to do in the "creative" department including writing an "Empty Nest" essay that I have put off since MARCH!

Virginia was good. It was crazy. And I can't wait for Beth to post her photo. She knows the one I mean. Some funny things happened over the weekend. For you readers out there, ask Beth how she HURLED on the sidewalk one morning trying to take her vitamin. Not pretty but hilarious! She actually apologized to a guy who witnessed the event. No harm done except for howls of embarrassed laughter. Beth, you always do the funniest things!

The Mother of the Bride can report that Christie is actively looking for the most important outfit she will ever wear. More searching to do but she is on the trail of something pretty special. I hope she enjoys her week in Myrtle Beach. I know how she feels about vacation. The trips back and forth to Virginia are anything but relaxing but we have a good time!

Mom leaves for Rhode Island today for a long weekend at Linda and Don's with Scott. I hope they have a great time. I'll be cleaning house and tending my garden. Hope it's a good weekend for the rest of you.

Hey Poopsie! An e-mail is on it's way soon to Ruth E. I haven't forgotten her!

Fishy kitties...

So, because we are going away for a week, Casey needed to make sure the turtles had plenty to eat. It makes too much of a mess to put their regular food in the tank, so when we go away for longer periods of time, Casey gets feeder fish to put in the tank- this not only gives the turtles food that lasts longer, it also gives them a chance to use their natural instincts. Regular nature channel here at our apartment, lol. Anyways, seeing as he isn't going to put them in the tank until tomorrow, he put them in a bucket for the night- much to the enjoyment of Grace and Lucy. These are some pics of them checking out the little swimmers.

And don't worry about what Grace and Lucy will eat for the week- they are going to stay at Auntie Karen's apartment, so they will be perfectly taken care of. :)

Breaking news from Virginia...

I just wanted to give another update about my potential new job. The Lieutenant called this afternoon and said that the Sgt. had talked to my supervisor and they would be writing up everything to give to the Chief either this afternoon or tomorrow to approve... and that once that occurs that they will be in contact regarding a conditional job offer. So, looks like I am probably getting a new job! It is very exciting, but also very scary! Let's just hope the excitement overcomes the nerves and I can be as successful at this job as I have the potential to be.

So much going on!!!

So there has been lots going on lately!! yeah, Aunt Flow is STILL here!!! She's one who I only like for a week...not three months!! UGH!! but I stopped taking my birth control because the on call doctor said that was probably a good idea. Mike didn't think it was though. He didn't know if it was dangerous to just stop. But thats the only way to do it that I can think of. So yeah....enough on that.
Well yesterday I went to my high school to see my guidance teacher Mr. Barrett. We switched my schedule so that I go to hair school in the morning and then I come back and I take my english. I get out of school every day at 12:35 which is so super to me. I'd rather excel in the areas I need to than be there longer to fail in ones I hate. He encouraged me to take a math or law class but I decided on no. I told him I didn't know what I wanted to do once I left high school. (criminal physcology is in mind). My transcript for the past three years hasn't been anything impressive for a good college I can tell you that. he goes "wow, each year your grade point average went up" I said "Yeah, thats because I stopped doing drugs" He was so proud. Hes like "SEE YOUR LIVING PROOF OF WHAT PEOPLE CAN DO IF THEY STOP GETTING HIGH!" I said, yes I know I am. So because I'm only getting four credits this year ( three for cosmo, one for english) that means I am a part-time" student. Which really doesn't mean anything except that I can't be on any sports teams or apply for Social Security Income (oh darn on those two!) I think that also means if I want to go to prom or anything like that, I have to be invited. But thats ok with me.
So last night at my meeting I got into a big yelling fight with this guy Scott, who helped me get clean when I was 15. I was very angry at him because he's been telling everyone I don't have two years clean because I was prescribed Lorazapam for anxiety ( Lorazapam is in the same family as valuim, "habit- forming"--I did my research and disagreed with the doctor) and he has been saying mean things about me and mike. So I was upset. OH and I was really P.O'd because he tried to sleep with my friend amanda, who just came back from a two month binge relapse. I wouldn't of been that upset, except he has tried to sleep with many new, good looking girls that come into the rooms. So I had had enough of him!!!!
So, I confronted him. We were away from the group of kids that go to the meetings, and I said to him "Scott, stop running your mouth about me relapsing, and me and michael" and he came right out and said that he was talking about me, which was a good thing. Honesty. But he just got so angry when I said something about sleeping with the new commers. So one thing leads to another, mean vulgar things were pasted between the two of us, and it became a yelling match. RB, the director of the group had to come over and talk to us. He said "You both have things you need to work on as indiviuals, so I want you to do that, and in a month the three of us will sit down and talk, it got out of hand tonight, so let's just leave it at that" I agreed. But the fight lasted like another ten minutes because then scott threw a big fit to RB, he was like "I DONT NEED SOMEONE HERE TELLING ME THAT I F*CK THE NEW COMMERS, IF I WANT TO F*CK SOMEONE, I'M GUNNA!" I said "yeah scott, unless they say no, like I did when I was 15 and amanda did just two weeks ago! and if you still push it, that's rape!" then he went off on how I was the one who yelled the whole time, and he never raised his voice once, and I'm the one who needs to stop yelling. and went on a big guilt trip that didn't work for me or RB. SO it was quite the event.
I know that I should have tried to keep my temper under control, but he said some things to me that I couldn't hold back on. But the important thing is that I confronted him, whether the right way or not, and hopefully he'll listen and stop doing what he's doing. I also said to him "you come in here acting like your some God from heaven and act like your number one because you have three and a half years clean, but your just as sick as the rest of us, the only difference is we talk about it, you don't because you think it will ruin your image" It was pretty rude of me to say, but it was a true statement. I should have said some things differently but it happened. I made amanda cry, because she doesn't like confrontation, so because i'm her "sponser-type" I'm going to have to sit down and have a good talk with her because she needs to learn to confront. She said taht she gets hit on all the time like the way scott did a few weeks ago and it didnt' really affect her, but it should so I yelled at her after. Then I realized I was yelling at her and maiking her cry more, so I stopped yelling and said sorry and talked to her normally. Sometimes, Mike can agree to this, in the middle of a fight, I either catch myself saying something wrong or raising my voice and stop, and others I just keep going with the anger. Those were two examples! lol. So yeah...I'm good now. I thought I'd share the drama with the Fam because I was pretty upset last night.
That's all for now folks. Much Love <3

Oh, the anxiety...

Hey all! Just wanted to update everyone that I heard from the Fairfax City Police Department yesterday and things are moving forward with my application. My references were returned more quickly than they are used to and they are going to be calling my office today or tomorrow to get a reference from my supervisor. Hence my anxiety attack- I had to go tell her that I applied somewhere else and that they would be calling. She didn't look impressed, but I don't really care... I mean, I care, because that is how I am, but this other job is SO much better for me! (Please just pray for me that the vacation time is good, or I'll be wicked stressed next year when I need to take two weeks off for the wedding and honeymoon! That's the one downfall for the new job compared to the old one.)

In wedding news, I am getting a lot decided and I've collected a bunch of great ideas, but I'm taking a vacation from it all this next week when Casey and I go to Myrtle Beach. Oh how I need a vacation! A real one that is- the short trips to Vermont are lovely, but often exhausting, so a week long stay at the beach should do me much good! I'll post pictures when I return.

I am glad Karen has finally made it to our wonderful blog and I look forward to hearing about her exciting life- although she may not find it exciting, it is very different from mine, and therefore I find it exciting and fun and interesting to hear about-- which I guess holds true for the rest of your lives too! It can get lonely being far away from everyone and I think this has been a great way to move past that and be in touch with each other. So, love to all! :)

I'm here!

So, I FINALLY can log on to this thing and am very excited about starting to post stuff. :) I have started school and already I'm pretty stressed out but hopefully I will get my life together and feel a little more organized in the near future. I am living off campus this year and it is awesome. The house is not in the greatest shape but it's way better than a dorm room and the people I live with are amazing. I just got cast in this thing we are doing next week which is 7 plays in 7 days, part of the 365 plays in 365 days written by Suzan Lori Parks. I'm not that thrilled about it because it's a lot more commitment than I thought when I auditioned, but it will be over in two weeks so that's not too bad. I am working in the scene shop in the theatre again this year, building sets and all that and I even got a raise (along with the whole country) so now I get a whole $5.85 and hour! It's the little things, ya know. So, I have a lot going on, but I will make sure to keep up with my blogging and I'm really glad I can get on here now and see what everyone else is up to! When I am using my own computer I will post pictures from the circus and give a summary of my summer. Until then, I love you all! Over and out.

Oh the time... the time!

I hate when I have a project due, and the brain fails to function.

Mom will say, "Let me guess, it's Tuesday."

YUP!! :)

So, I am ruminating, and well, procrastinating. :)

But the time has flown, and who can believe that Ruth has reached the age of REAL jewelry !?!

Yuppers! Last year, Ruth wanted to get earrings, pierced ear kind, and her mother, that is me, said "No, you're too young." But, in my mind, I was thinking, "You can't because that means you will be growing up, You'll no longer be my baby, and, oh my gosh, I will need to set new rules!". Yada yada.
But, when she did so well last year in achieving high marks consistently, I gave in and said, "Okay, girlfriend, you earned them."

So, here she is, Miss Ruth and her pierced ears:

The down side, she wanted September's el fake-o sapphire studs, which was okay by me , and they were all out! (I had saved up my pretty pennies.) How sad. :( But, she settled for March, which is a light blue, I don't know what stone is called, and they glisten and shine, and she was happy. :) Of course, today the lesson learned is what a "permanent choice" is. She realized maybe she didn't want to keep them in, but recalled the lady saying "Don't take them out until Halloween." (She can't wait for black kitty earrings!)

By the way, she had them both done at the same time, so she's not lopsided like some people we know. :) Christie, thanks for being the first and so your mom could give me a bit of advice on how horrible it is to hold a child down. Ruth was given the choice, and thankfully said she'd like them done at the same time. :) So, one on each side, and a little jump from Ruth, and Voila' !

Okay, okay, my brain is working now. I guess I can go and write about utilitarian conservationism, biocentric preservation, and modern evironmentalism. Who remembers that I was afraid of Algebra? Nope, it's Science that Iam feeling dumb in. But, the plus side, the teacher said he thought I got the concept of the criteria for reconstruction of ecosystems....

UGH, big words! But, back to them I go!

Only 4 hours left and counting....

Jamestown R.I.

well we went to Jamestown on Friday. tons of fun. these are some of the pics that i took. hope you enjoy!!

More from New York!!!!

coming into New London on the ferry

sunset on the sound


early sunset on the sound

Kismet

kismet

flwoers in the town



these are some more pictures. these were taken by me. and no jenn we did not participate in the nude beach activities. hope you anjoy these too

Electrifying!

So, Karen and I went to the Kenny Chesney concert this past Saturday. We got soaked- twice- but it was still a great show! In addition to the show Kenny (and Sugarland and Pat Green) put on, God put on a little show of his own with some amazing lightning... and before the show, some pretty loud thunder! Sure, call us crazy for standing out in the middle of a wide open space during a thunderstorm, but hey, if it was dangerous, they would have made us go home. Anyways, after the first rain had stopped, we walked up to where we were going to stand/sit during the show and we had a rather interesting- and electric- experience. Karen looked at me as we were walking and broke out laughing because strands of my hair were sticking straight out from my head! There was so much electricity in the air from the storm that peoples' hair was sticking straight on end! We were a little freaked out by this, but all in all it was just very entertaining. In addition to the funny hair, we also enjoyed one of the most vibrant and beautiful rainbows I've ever seen... also, the first full double rainbows I've seen- as in, two full arches. So, even though it kinda stunk to be rained on, the overall experience was pretty great!

P.S. Sorry these pictures aren't the greatest quality, I took them with my phone.

Uh oh, the big 21!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATE!

All that stuff Aunt Cindy said was beautiful, but the truth of the matter is you are a big bully. Just look at this picture of you throwing a HUGE snowball down the hill at Karen.

Ah well, looks like everyone loves you anyways. :)

Hope you have a great birthday... although, you've probably already celebrated it seeing as your life right now is a day ahead of ours! We miss you and love you and all that good stuff! Be safe and enjoy whatever birthday celebrations you have planned... drinking beers, shooting big guns... hopefully not at the same time! Haha. :)

P.S. Um, I had your birthday on my calendar on the 28th... oopsie. Whichever day it is (today I guess, seeing as that's when your Mom posted and she should know), I hope it is great!

Happy 21st Birthday!!

Ah, Nathan....

Wasn't he so sweet, and cute, and huggable, and lovable?

Those were the days when he was "Baby Nathan", well that lasted until he was about 5, and Brian was born. :)

Today, he has reached adulthood, in full force.

But, who couldn't resist a peek at Nate before he became so entranced in Science fiction?

Always known as the "ET" photo,

could this be why he had a fascination with ET, Star Wars, Star Trek, Alien...

Need I go on??

Yes, I do...

Nate, I am so happy that I chose the path I did. You are the one of my best accomplishments, even though you are your own accomplishment. I am proud of you, and the man you have become. You have always seemed to have an idea of what you wanted from life, and have reached to find it. I can't express nearly well enough the light you brought to my life, and I know I am fully embarrassing you, and myself!

Happy Birthday, Nate!

I love you!

speaking of my bodily functions...haha Christie

Yeah....so I woke up this morning not feelings so great. I was dizzy and light headed and my back was killing me. I thought I had TSS so I called my mom in a frantic frenzy and told her about it. She suggested I called the doctor on call at the office, so I did. She said that because I didn't run a high fever and have a rash (eew) of any sort...she didn't think it was toxic shock syndrome. What she did say though that I was ademic...which is a low red blood cell count from losing so much blood the past three months. So now I'm just trying to eat well because my under weight issue didn't seem to help she said. So that, and I'm taking Iron daily now to help with my whatever...I don't remember. So I called into work...to spend the day relaxes with Mike and making dinner for him and dad...ok i lied he's making dinner. But whatever. My boss was quite upset with me because he didn't know who to call to have someone work for me. That's why we all tell John (who does hiring) to HIRE SOMEONE ELSE!! God if he would just listen.

Oh, and for all those who were concerned (me)---MOM MADE IT OVER THE BIG SCARY BRIDGE!!!! ALL BY HERSELF!!!

Pink is my favorite color...

Well, not really, but I'll be singing those lyrics at the top of my lungs on September 16th when I go see AEROSMITH!!!!! Wooo, finally! Yep, bought the tickets today and I'm very excited!

Oh snot...

man, i'm sitting here reading everyones blogs, when a HUGE drizzle of snot went down my face. I didn't even feel it comming. Gross. I know you all wanted to hear that lol. I'm just waiting for mom to come home...we're going to lunch it shall be fun. Hopefully my windsheild gets fixed...that baby isn't doing so hot. Dad took it with him to work today. He did the other day too and couldn't get if fixed because the guy called in sick. But he did wash my jeep, change the oil, and top the gas tank off (not purposly, he thought it was on E because the gas light was on, but I told him I put 26 bucks in the night before, he goes "OH! No wonder it only took twenty!!") I love him... =) I have really bad cramps =( It really does suck. My birth control makes it so I have my period the three weeks I'm not supposed to have it, and the week I am, oh yeah your right, I DONT HAVE IT!!!! Its crap. (sorry for all the male readers, I know that was to much, but its a girl thing and I had to share) Aunt Cindy, I'm terribly sorry you had a bad day. I hope things get better for you with the school thing. 12 MORE DAYS OF SUMMER FOR ME!! I'm not excited to go back to school. I'm still debating on whether or not I should go back to hair school. It's a toughy and I've been struggling with it ALL summer long. I don't know yet....

Good food... Makes things better??

Actually, I made this last night, and it was awesome! I ate my piece while sitting in Algebra, which was not a "fun" class. The professor cut all communication off, except to him. So, I couldn't make any new friends. :( In my Science class, though, I made a couple, and the teacher was pretty nice. So, see I can see the bright side of things. :)

Check out the cute photo of Ruth and Grandpa Bud. He let her put a ponytail in his beard, and then she forced a smile from him. :) Well, really, he was already laughing. :)


Oh, and Ruth likes to use the self timer on the camera. She perched it on my shoulder, and took this photo. Like her new "do"? We trimmed off the excess to hopefully soften the appearance of her spot a bit more. It's not so floppy, in any case. :)








Lots of love to all!

Day in the doldrums

I figured I will be the one to be the "party pooper"-- hey it's my name you know. :)

I am having a blah couple of days. School started again for me, and the work load is way difficult. Amazingly, I am more willing to look at the Algebra than the science. Heavy load with passive aggressive nature will not work though. Must get work done! Instead, I am poking around here, avoiding what must be completed. You don't have to make me feel guilty, though, I have my other window opened to go to school. :) Jeez.. lay off will you. :)

In the other blahness, is the rebellion of not wanting to return to work. I know I have no choice, but still, it stinks! I have to get past this, too, but just wanted to reach out and say "YUCK". There, now I feel better. :( No, not really.... But I will. :)

My Own Little Wedding Helper

Apparently Lucy would like to help me pick out a wedding dress! Here she is looking at a wedding magazine- she pointed at the one by her paws, but I'm not sure about that particular choice- I'll keep her ideas in mind though. Haha. ;)

Going to work...

Well, I'm getting ready for work and decided that I would just post and say hello to everyone and let you guys know I love you!! Dear god...I hear rattling in the kitchen...I THINK SOMEONE IS BREAKING IN!! No seriously, it did scare me, but I'm alright, I have the scary dog Britney to jump all over them while I hit them in the head with a pan. I'm probably being silly, this is an old house. OH MAN LATE FOR WORK!! bye

A fun time in new York

This is part of our New York Adventure. we did not end up going to the city, there was't enough time. but we went to the beach where there were ten foot waves.the beach we went to was called feild five. but this beach had much smaller waves and was crowded. so we walked a mile down the beach to Kismet where while it was still crowded, it was not as bad and the waves were bigger. on the way to Kismet, we all learned to enojy clothing a little more because we had to walk through two nude beaches... not all that fun. we stayed the night at Lexi's cousin joey's house and that night we hung out with some of his friends then went to the movies. this was fun.

I will get some more pictures up soon. hope you enjoy!

Not the formal thank you!

Just wanted to say publicly what a wonderful party you threw for Mike and me. We really do still like each other after 25 years, although I'm pretty sure the party was for me and he was just invited! I'll be in touch with each of you personally but thank you. We may be a nutty family but we love each other. That was obvious this last weekend.

Salt Hill Pub photos

The weekend began.....

With Grama's Birthday! Happy Birthday Sundance!

We went to Salt Hill Pub. The slow waiter made for a long evening but a good visit! Sam, Beth, Cindy, and Kyle helped celebrate. And what good french fries!

I tried to send this one other time and it got lost somehow.......I will send another post with more photos!

hello family

its DJ!! i hear it was quite a party last weekend. new york was great too. i'll post up some pics soon and all that fun shtoof to let you see what i saw. well i gotta go be back soon

Why is it aunt cindy always makes silly faces? I just noticed the picture of her aunt kathy mom and mammie that she was making a silly face then too....MAN I love her!!....and her silly faces!

GREAT WEEKEND!

WOW! What a weekend! First of all, thank you to everyone who helped with the party. It was a lot to bring together and I think we did a wonderful job! It was a really great celebration!

Second, I am so stinkin' excited about being engaged! Thank you to everyone for your congratulations and for supporting me up to this point in my life. Casey has pretty much been a member of our family for a several years, but now we get to make it official! I would say he's in more trouble than he realizes, but I think he knows how we are by now! I look forward to planning the big day... of course, because I'm a plan freak, just like my mother. :) I love you all and thank you again for such an awesome weekend!

25TH WAS A BLAST!!!

This is me and Michael on my two years, sorry its sideways, I dont know how to flip it lol. Anyways, I love this picture. I couldn't ask for a better lookin man ;-)

The wedding anniversary party was awesome! I had a blast! These are just two of the millions of pictures I took, but I love these two the most. Kyle and Ruthie both look awesome in that picture, I'm going to print it out and give it to kyle in a frame, I think he'll like that. The other pictures of the sisters I love (even though it took me an hour to get the four of you girls together!!) It just shows how crazy our family can be, and how much I love all you guys (Pardon me, LADIES) Congratulations Aunt Kathy, and Uncle Mike, 25 years is a LONG time but you two have made it through, and many more years to come! Can't wait for the 50th!!!

ITS MY TWO YEARS!!!

Well.....thankfully I am not seen lying on my face most of the time anymore. It's been two years today since I have last used and I just wanted to say that I love you guys and that I'm so grateful to have a family that has cared so much and helped me when I was struggling and given me the support I needed when I made one of the toughest decisions in my life. I cant thank you enough mom, and dad, for everything you've done. You have picked me up when I've fallen and given me the strength to do what I want to do. Sam, you have helped me with direct and indirect ways that have made me stronger as a person. You're the one that was there when I wanted to use and you were the one that talked me out of it each time. Michael, you have saved me so many times in the past 16 months and made me a much stronger person. Thank you for helping me realize who I am as a person and that I don't have to use drugs to push my feelings away. To the rest of you--- you have all talked to me and given me unbelievable support and advice to help me get to where I am now. I love my family more than anyone could ever know and more than I can possibly say. Grandpa joe- its good to go to meetings and see you there. Thanks for the recovery walks.

This is who I am know and who I want to be the rest of my life. I have finally found who I am and don't need to hide from how I feel now. I LOVE YOU ALL!!! thanks again.