A tiny little town called Hinton

Christmas has been so fun! Time with each family - Worthleys and Dauberts - has been great. We are currently sitting in our hotel room in Hinton, OK.  Nathan and Nikki just got married, we hung out with all our cousins and we are heading back to VA to then drive down to the beach. 

It was really really warm here, like 75 degrees, but then it dropped overnight with a huge thunderstorm to the 40s.  My family has some crazy, hysterical characters that provide much entertainment....including my Dad's older sisters and great aunts. 

Here are some pictures from today's sweet little wedding:

An early Christmas present

I finally had my last day at the preschool! I am so thankful that it came to a close. The little kids will be missed, they were not the bad part. And being a teacher totally has it's benefits, check out the Christmas time goodies:

     (The tall gold box is full of truffles and, yes, the pink and red box IS a Victoria's Secret gift card)

Before we left on Friday afternoon, I came home to quite a surprise! Michael had made me an early Christmas present! This gorgeous cubby shelf is modeled after one we saw at Pottery Barn a while back.  I loved the PB one but it was nearly $1000 and I totally believed Michael could build one for us whenever we got into a new house. I had no idea he would remember that I loved it and would make it for me now!?! Although we have no room for it yet, it is so, so cute and functional. You can't tell in the picture but Michael even picked out a decorative trim that is different from the PB shelf. I have so many plans to fill it with baskets and flowers and pictures and so on....

King Tut

Last night Michael hit a cat with our car. At 7:23pm we were headed to Outback Steakhouse which I had appropriately fasted for ALL day long. Literally, I was starving when not even .02 miles from our house, we struck a cat. I didn't notice at first because I was reading a Christmas card but Michael goes, "Oh No! What was that?!" and quickly slows down to a crawling speed.  My first couple thoughts and comments were 1)Michael what did you do?Tell me! Thinking he just ran over a person and now we will have arrestings and court dates and so on. 2) I am so stinking hungry don't you dare turn around to see what you hit. JUST DRIVE! 3) What happened to my car? 4) Stupid cat.

Michael and I battled like the little shoulder angel and devil about whether or not to turn back around. The angel, Michael, won and made a U-turn on Pen Park Rd. The first time we circled back to the crime scene, we could see that for sure the cat was dead. He was laying dead board straight with this tail, hind and front legs completely stretched out. "Don't stop. Don't stop. Don't stop. Ew. Now let's go eat," was my comment as we circled  back. So on we went. But come Pen Park Rd, the little angel convinced Michael to turn around to go investigate. At this point, all the circling made me dizzy. But to our joy/dismay/surprise the fat cat was sitting up in the spot we left him as if he was normal. Michael pulls over, gets out, and attempts to read the cat collar. "King Tut." King Tut the cat who bolted out in front of the Musta

ng appeared to have a broken leg. Michael tried calling the number on the tag but it wasn't operating. Two more cars pulled  over and got out. "Oh geez," I'm thinking,  "just our luck they are animal enthusiasts." They were. 

One guy is repeating, "Can someone please take him to the Vet???" - (I was like no way brother!) and the other woman was saying "oh I've seen him before." Then King Tut's neighbor drives by, gives us his owners correct number,  acts concerned, tells us there are 4 more cats where King Tut lives. Fantastic, the old lady with a bunch of cats. Then King Tut manages to stand up and successfully gallops away.  The man again impatiently urges for someone, probably us, to take him to the vet. I guess I could have been a little more compassionate, but I said, "That won't be happening. I am really allergic to cat fur. Michael, hun, we need to go!" Aussie cheese fries were calling me. 

After a few more minutes debating and searching for the cat with cell phone lighting (useless), the three drivers call it a night and we got on our way. Michael felt bad, but there was nothing he could have done. King Tut lived, maybe has a broken leg, but lived. Michael reached Tut's mom and let her know that everything was alright but she may want to check King Tut out when he returned home. She was alarmed but nice and Michael gave her his name, address and number - all the while I am whispering "Don't give your full name! Don't give her your address?! Don't give her your number?!?!?" 

So that was yesterday's drama. Hopefully King Tut is just fine. I am now convinced that cats have 9 lives.

Fun weekend

This past weekend was really fun and relaxing. Michael had a wrestling tournament in Sterling, VA so we made it home for part of the weekend. Friday my mom came down to Charlottesville and we went out Christmas shopping. Barracks and Fashion Square Mall in all their glory. We were very successful with our shopping and followed it up with a pit stop at Dunkin Donuts with warm coffee for the ride home.

In Manassas, Preston turned 15 and we went to dinner at the restaurant of his choice, Red Lobster. Cheddar Bay Biscuits anyone? I finally got my haircut with the best stylist in the world. You can tell she's talented because no one has noticed my new layers - which means it still looks good. Saturday was spent hanging out with the siblings and parents. This weekend was MAG's Christmas concert complete with 100 person choir, ballet, drum line, full orchestra and children's choir. Brianna was in the kid's choir so she made her Christmas concert debut in full style. 

No Christmas should be spent without at least one attendance of a Christmas Concert - they are so good and put you right in the spirit of worshiping God. I finished up making my Christmas Hot Cocoa today. I was frustrated because I was unable to find all the right decorations for them, but I think they turned out alright. Some of you just might be receiving it if you live in the area. No surprises here.  Merry Christmas! 

We need a little Christmas

Two weeks to go and we have finally settled on our Christmas plans. Thanks to my wonderful father and his airline miles, Michael and I now get to travel to the great state of Oklahoma for my cousin's wedding! The following is our itinerary:

Dec 19 : Head home for the Manass-side

Dec 19-21: Celebrate Christmas with our Worthley family

Dec 22-25: Celebrate Christmas with our Daubert family

Dec 26: Fly to Oklahoma!

Dec 26-29: Spend time with our Oklahoma family and Nathaniel gets married

Dec 29: Fly home, get in the car, drive to Sunset Beach, NC

Dec 29-Jan 2: Celebrate the New Year with our Daubert Family at the beach

Jan 2: Finally back in C'ville

Wow. I'm a bit overwhelmed with that schedule. But it will be fun and I am thankful that the Lord provided! 

Here are some snapshots of last weekends cookie bake:

Celebrations begin

Last Friday was our first Christmas party of the year. We had fun but the car ride home was miserable. Jenny and Pat rode with us and got to experience the frigid conditions. Michael's Jeep has NO HEAT and when we got back in the car by the end of the night, the drivers side window had broken. We couldn't roll the one window up - so clearly Michael and Pat decide that all the windows need to be open. Jenny and I are in our little dresses and sandals, it's 25 degrees outside, no functioning heat and all four windows are down. We were cold. We stopped at TGI Fridays for a half-way-home warm up, ordered some appetizers, then headed back home in the ice box. Thankfully, no one got sick! 

(Mom, here's my new dress. Thank You!)

This is how Jenny and I felt the whole way home:

Deck the home

Christmas is so wonderful. I honored Michael by waiting until after Thanksgiving to decorate our home. We do not have enough decorations to make our humble abode a Winter Wonderland but we do have a tree.  A fake one from pre-1986. Here is what we have done:

I love babies

We are overjoyed with the arrival of our friend's, The Andrews, new baby Parks. He was born November 28th and is just too precious. (Bek, remember when you asked me that Friday if he was born yet and I said no, well, he was actually in the middle of birth but my phone was dysfunctional so I didn't get their texts on time.) 

Michael and I drove home and got to see Parks on Sunday when he was not even a full two days old! He was such a handsome newborn. I could just hold him forever. Here's a sweet pic of His Preciousness:

Quotes from tots

Today I babysat these sweet little boys who are 4 and 3 years old.  I drove them around to different places in town and they talked their little hearts out. It was so cute.  The babysitting agenda looked like this: 

Lunch at Chic-fil-a, followed by play time in the kids area

Barnes and Noble to look at books and buy "Dog Heaven" (compliments of Jenny)

Take the 4 year old to Kung-Fu

Play with the 3 year old until mommy came to pick him up

Sweet phrases from the wee ones:

-To himself, "You get what you get and you don't pitch a fit"

-"Um, I tee-teed in my pants" (which then led to 30 minutes of sitting at Kung-Fu with the tot in his underpants because we didn't have clean clothes)

-"Dogs go to Heaven you know? Our dog died. We didn't kill him.  His bones turned to dust."

I am very thankful to have the opportunity to babysit since Ethan Allen closed.  I even gave my number out to three other moms while I was babysitting.  Am I too old to be doing this? I love children but I thought my babysitting days were long gone. 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day was a nice combo of fun, relaxation, and good food. Poor Michael got a cold the exact amount of days we were home, but he was a great sport! I put up a bunch of photos because we all know pictures say more than 1000 words... and I really don't have 1000 words to say about it.

Here's a pic of our short day trip to JMU to visit Heather
Mom's favorite H-burg joint
Family shot

Sister shot

Brother shot

Dessert time, I sampled it all

The Rents

Feast Day

When Michael and I arrived in Manassas on Tuesday night, the first thing Brianna asked me was, "Are you coming to my Thanksgiving Feast tomorrow???" I had no idea she was having a feast that day so I was delighted to visit her classroom.  It was fun for many reasons 1) I went to Baldwin Elementary 10 years ago 2) She's my sister and I love to be a part of her life 3) I really like her first grade teacher 4) I got to eat an additional thanksgiving meal.

Here are some photos of Mrs. Dufrene's Thanksgiving Day Feast:

Mom got to carve the turkey, most of the little latino boys called it "chicken"

Brianna being a little camera shy

Unas fotos

Special tour now that Travis works at Keswick Vineyards:

Michael was our special musical guest one day:

Thirty gallons of water in your AC ducts looks like this:

I got called Shrek today in the grocery store. A little red-headed kid sitting in his mom's cart stared me in the eye, pointed, and shouted "Shrek! Mommy! Shrek! Look!" I was embarrassed. But sure enough it wasn't me who resembled Shrek but rather a cardboard cutout directly behind me.  

That's enough randomness for the moment. It is time to hit the sack.

Follow Up

Apparently the "Salvia" I brought back from Italy just might be sage. Lame. BUT good because that way I am not a bad person any more. But I will never know for sure unless my Mom tests it out....

Busy week ahead:

Monday: work, dust house, and bake cake for hubby's birthday

Tuesday: First day of Ethan Allen Liquidation sale, Young Life banquet

Wednesday: Michael's Birthday! (We are pulling for Parks to pop out)

Thursday: Parent/Teacher conferences, Ladies night of wine and jewelry selling

Friday: not sure

Saturday: UVA football game - to the corner I go!

Sunday: Drive to Williamsburg to visit friend from Spain

Did I really buy this...

I was kind of watching Dr. Phil the yesterday while I was working out at Gold's.  He had an episode about risky teen behavior and the big deal was this drug called Salvia. Salvia is completely legal in most of the US but is as highly dangerous as heroin or LSD. And hundreds of thousands of people abuse this drug. All of a sudden this rang a little bell in my head...

This summer while Michael and I were in Cinque Terre, Italy, I was in a tiny shop on the coast picking out goodies to bring home. I found these precious little pieces of pottery that had herbs and spices painting on them and even contained some inside! I picked out two - a red one and a blue one - thinking I'd keep one and give one to Mom. The red was "Timo" or thyme and the

 blue was "Salvia" and I didn't know what that meant in english. I was delighted with my

 pleasant purchase and kept them wrapped up for safe keeping until we set foot again on American soil. 

We returned to the states and distributed gifts to all our loved ones. I let Mom pick between the blue and the red, knowing full well she'd pick the blue. She didn't know what "Salvia" was either.  Up until yesterday I hadn't thought much more of our little italian herbs. And the more I listened to Dr. Phil, the more I began to think, "Oh my word. I gave my mom heroin!" Now that I think about it, the "spices" are packaged in a peculiar fashion. 

Here is the product that captured my affection in the little italian village. See? So cute!:

And above is the oddly packaged spice.

Now, I know this is a picture of my thyme but that is because the Heroin is sitting on top of my mother's kitchen sink!?!? There has been a terrible drug just sitting in her house for months and we didn't even know it. I shall leave no temptation sitting in my family's house - especially with a teenage brother!  Can I get in trouble for this? Did I break the law? I smuggled in drugs to the Americas and I wasn't even aware of it. I gave it to my sweet mom as a gift!  We can't burn it cause then someone may get high. We can't just throw it away for fear of others finding it. We can't bury it in our yard because then an entire Salvia tree will bust out of the ground! Dear me. What have I gotten us into?

No ordinary Monday

This morning a giant hot air balloon almost ran into our next door neighbors house. Michael got home from the gym and said "hey, did you see the hot air balloon?" I said "No? Where is it?" Then I heard the scary sound of the fire blowing, which I think resembles a transformer, and I looked up in the sky lights in our bed room and saw big orange and blue stripes. The air balloon was actually landing in the parking lot of our townhomes! Had our neighbors been home, their cars would have been crushed. 

I thought it was so neat to see the huge thing land right next to us. Seeing a perfect blog image, I ran to get my camera - but the battery died immediately. I ran to get Michael's camera - but his wouldn't even turn on. So then I got the video camera. That worked just fine, but I still don't know how to share the footage with you all.  The balloon men then began to deflate the huge sphere. It was so crazy looking because the balloon was sweeping up against our house and all you could see through the windows were the blues and oranges stripes! I felt like I was a child in a tumbling class playing inside a parachute. I ended up being late for work, but I felt great because I saw a hot air balloon up close! 

Why is gasoline in Charlottesville so expensive? In comparison to every other city in the US, we have such high gas prices. $2.03 is the cheapest price I have seen here. We were in Harrisonburg on Saturday and their prices were $1.95. I ain't tryin' to be greedy, but I do like to see gas be $1.something. 

Michael and I split a Peppermint Chocolate Chip Chic-fil-a Milkshake tonight. It was so good. I felt like Christmas. What's so wrong with wanting to decorate for Christmas already? I can't wait to put lights up, and wreathes, candles, trees, holly, snowmen, etc. But Michael adamently insists that we cannot decorate until after Thanksgiving. So I shall withhold my eagerness. Michael's Crafts Store just ushers in the season so well....

Update

A few months ago I wrote about needing to find a job. Well, I'm back in the arena again. Ethan Alllen of Charlottesville announced to us on Friday that they were closing our store. We didn't know that was coming. They are consolidating to just the Richmond/Short Pump store and closing ours within the next month.

Not only do I loose my job at the Allen, but I'm afraid that I will have to give up preschool because who else will hire me for the same hours? Unfortunately, I will have to find another job to make up for loss. I have no thoughts so far as to where to even begin looking. 

But I do know that this is all for a reason and the outcome is in Christ's hands. I have peace about it, I'm just a little sad.  So thank you for your prayers and keep your ears open for something!

Claustrophobia

We've been a little busy this past month. I haven't had much time for blogging and internet use. So I apologize for the "boring" site. I hope that you have not been classically conditioned to not check Los Dos Daubertos blog. 

Many things have gone to the wayside....I hate to admit it. House work is one of the hardest things for me to keep up. I'm pretty much gone from 8am till 5:45pm each day which doesn't leave much energy to prep food, cook, wash dishes, throw in a few loads of laundry, vacuum the floors, clean the baths, change the sheets, and on and on and on. 

Changing my sheets can be difficult to do. We have a duvet cover on our bed, which means we also have the down comforter insert. I like to wash the duvet every so often (A fabulous wedding gift from the bedding line of Tommy Bahama) to keep it looking great. However, can anyone offer a better way to stuff a king size down comforter back into a king size duvet??? If you've ever done it, you can imagine the drama that it entails.  I spread the duvet out as good as I can on top of our bed, crawl under the opening at the foot of the bed and drag the huge insert in  behind me.  I struggle inside the duvet cover fighting against static electricity, an uncooperative down comforter, and unmarked trails of where the corner of the duvet actually is located from the inside out. Even if I manage to get the whole down insert in the duvet, I now have a mangled duvet cover to spread out.  

This time I am completely inside the duvet cover in the midst of a struggle to pull the down insert up while I hop in the air on all fours. I hear Michael walk in the room talking to himself then realize, no, he's video taping me. I must look ridiculous when I do this, like a child playing inside her sleeping bag. As far as I know, though, it's the only way to put our comforter together. Maybe next time, I will opt for a normal, non-duvet comforter.

I would put the video clip on here if I knew how, just to show you how frustrating it is. So it's house work like this that keeps me away from the blogosphere. But at least we have a clean bed.

Joke

My favorite blonde joke of all time:

A blonde girl opened a box of Cheerios and yelled, "Look Daddy! Donut seeds!"

I'm laughing right now it's so cute, and I get blonde highlights.

Park Here

Over the past four years UVA home games have been quite the "to-do" with my family. The parents have 4 season tickets, in a fantastic section of the stadium I might add, and with a sports fanatic Father, Brother and Husband every game is a big deal. But the best part about home football games is the money making opportunity. In the back of my parents UVA house, "The Chateau," is a huge gravel lot. Why is that important? Because you can craftily fit 35 cars in the space and at the rate of $25 a car - that is a beautiful sight. Yes folks, football fans will indeed pay twenty-five dollars to park. 

We have quite a system worked out and I will venture to say we have the hottest venue on Price Avenue. My dad is the parking facilitator, money collector, friend maker, tailgate overseer. Preston and Michael stand at the bottom of the driveway sporting the hot pink sign I made that reads "PARK HERE." Competition with the neighbors has increased this year so their role is vital these days. And I, well, I work the corner. 

Four years and counting I have stood on the corner of Maury Ave and Price Ave holding my neon orange poster that says "PARK" with an arrow pointing towards our house.  I might be a bit prideful in saying this but I do believe that I am famous among the football regulars. No no it's not all glamour and sunburn, I deal with my fair share

 of drunk rednecks. The following are a brief sampling of comments hurled my way - every UVA home game:

-"Hey there! Can I park next to you?"

-"How much hunny?"

-"Park? Where's the park?"

-"I bet if you hike up them shorts you might get more people."

-"I like your boots." 

-" So that's how y'all do it! Send a pretty girl to hold the sign." 

-"Why don't you put a bikini on?"

-"Wanna come drink some moonshine?"

-"Hey hunny! Haven't seen you in forever" (Mind you I am there every week.)

-"Woo Woo Hey girl!"

Here's a pic of some of the Hoo Crew in 2005:

#1 Fan

Sunday has been a beautiful day here in Charlottesville although unusually hot for October. Michael plays on a local adult soccer league and had a game this afternoon. He's been out of sports for a few months because of knee issues and was therefore really excited to play today. I, being the supportive wife, went to watch. I took pictures and video footage of the boys playing because I thought it'd be nice to document their youth and agility. Here are some fun shots from the day, he's in the green:

Michael the goalie
  

Brad's Booty

Take THIS Media!

Warning: What you are about to read is not "politically correct."
Read it and weap. But do take the time to read it, be informed. I love the truth, don't you?


The Rest of the Meltdown Story
by Neal Boortz

What in the world is going on here?
You’ve seen the headlines, and you heard of the failures and buyouts. Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, AIG; all big names and all in big trouble. Then those mysterious quasi-government agencies with names like Freddie and Fannie become wards of the state and you learn that you and your fellow taxpayers are potentially on the hook for tens of billions of dollars. At the end of the week Washington Mutual is looking for a buyer, and you start to wonder about the security of your own bank and your own savings account. Let’s change that ad copy to WaMu -- boo hoo.
Somewhere in the back of your mind you understand that this is all tied somehow to bad mortgages. If you start reading a bit further to enhance your understanding you run into terms like Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) and credit-default swaps, whatever in the world those are. Read further and you find out that a combination of falling home prices and mortgage defaults have put many investment banks and other financial institutions in deep puddin’. All this reading, all this watching the talking heads on TV, and you still don’t really know what in the world is going on here.
Fear not. I’m here to help. I know … I’m just another talk show host; but the fact is that when the stage was being set for the problems we’re seeing today I was making most of my money as a real estate lawyer .. closing loans for some of the very institutions that are the tank today. This rather unique combination – closing lawyer and radio talk show host – gave me a front row seat to the politicization of mortgage loans that led us to today’s headlines.
OK .. so we all know that a lot of really bad real estate loans were made. The political class would sure love for us to believe that the blame here rests squarely on “greedy” (try to define that word) mortgage brokers and lenders. The truth is that most of the blame rests on political meddling in the credit decisions of these mortgage lenders.
Twenty years ago the buzz-word in the media was “redlining.” Newspapers across the country were filled with hard-hitting investigative reports about evil and racist mortgage lenders refusing to make real estate loans to various minorities and to applicants who lived in lower-income neighborhoods. There I was closing these loans in the afternoons, and in the mornings offering a counter-argument on the radio to these absurd “redlining” claims. Frankly, the claims that evil mortgage lenders were systematically denying loans to blacks and other minorities were a lot sexier on the radio than my claims that when credit histories, job stability, loan-to-value ratios and income levels were considered there was no evident racial discrimination.
Political correctness won the day. Washington made it clear to banks and other lending institutions that if they did not do something .. and fast .. to bring more minorities and low-income Americans into the world of home ownership there would be a heavy price to pay. Congress set up processes (Research the Community Redevelopment Act) whereby community activist groups and organizers could effectively stop a bank’s efforts to grow if that bank didn’t make loans to unqualified borrowers. Enter, stage left, the “subprime” mortgage. These lenders knew that a very high percentage of these loans would turn to garbage – but it was a price that had to be paid if the bank was to expand and grow. We should note that among the community groups browbeating banks into making these bad loans was an outfit called ACORN. There is one certain presidential candidate that did a lot of community organizing for ACORN. I won’t mention his name so as to avoid politicizing this column.
These garbage loans to unqualified borrowers were then bundled up and sold. The expectation was that the loans would be eventually paid off when rising home values led some borrowers to access their equity through re-financing and others to sell and move on up the ladder. Oops.
Right now this crisis is being sold to the American public by the left as evidence the failure of the free market and capitalism. Not so. What we’re seeing is the inevitable result of political interference in free market economics. Acme bank didn’t want to loan money to Joe Homebuyer because Joe had a spotty job history, owed too much money on his credit cards, and wasn’t all that good at making payments on time. The politicians told Acme Bank to figure out a way to make that loan, because, after all, Joe is a bona-fide minority-American, or forget about opening that new branch office on the Southside. The loan was made under politicial pressure; the loan, with millions like it, failed – and now we are left to enjoy today’s headlines.
So … why aren’t you reading the whole story in the mainstream media? Come on, are you kidding me? Do you really expect the media to blame this mess on deadbeat borrowers and political interference in the free market when it is so easy to put the blame on greedy lenders and evil capitalists? Remember … there’s an election going on. One candidate is decidedly anti-capitalist. Do the math.

Bocalicious

Michael and I have a secret splurge. We order our coffee online from Boca Java. It's this gourmet coffee that my aunt sent to me one time as gift. The reason we love it is because it can come in so many delectable flavors that have an incredible, irresistible smell. For example, "Tropical Two-Step" is vanilla and cinnamon coffee, "Courtside Chocolate" is the flavor of German chocolate cake, and my personal favorite "Chocolate Hazelnut Heaven" - basically the smell nutella in coffee form. They offer the normal coffee for the old folk, fruity flavors for the adventurous and a whole lot of chocolatey caramely goodness for people like us. 

I kid you not the smell of those coffee beans is life changing. You can only order online, they roast your beans only after you order them, and some of the proceeds go to fighting leukemia. I feel good ordering from Boca Java. If you want a sample of this coffee, come on over and I'll brew you a cup. Cheers.

Oh, and no one is paying me to say this.

Gems

Take a look at my bomb shell best friends. I came across these pictures today and I thought that they deserved more recognition. Through the past eight years, these four girls - now women- have meant the world to me. I know that God has blessed us with a unique closeness that not everyone gets to experience in a friendship. We have hopes and dreams of living and growing up together in the same cul-de-sac with many little children who all inter-marry so that we can all be related. Although, we do want to avoid cult-like criticism. I trust the Lord that some day we will all be together again in this side of Heaven...cause we sure do have an amazing time when we are with one another! I hope that everyone has at least one friendship, one relationship in their life that brings them as much joy as these sisters bring me.

Humph.

I had a blog post.
A good one indeed.
It was a story
About a boy who peed.
I spent minutes upon minutes
Writing up the details.
I was using my Dell
Which is as slow as snails. (Mac please)
I wanted to share with you my day
Of preschool and my potty training way.
But my laptop does not like me
and errased all my hard work.
So now I am boycotting my laptop
Because it was a jerk.

Technical note

Ok, there is some malfunction going on with my computer/blog where it is only showing a portion of the post. If you come on to my site, hit your refresh button so that the entire post shows up. Not that I think I am so interesting that y'all just can't miss out, but it is frustrating when a website doesn't work. That's all!

Too much latte love?

So I was eating some mixed nuts today and I came across a hazelnut. I cleared my mouth of other nut tastes so that I could really focus on the flavor of it. As I chewed on the little guy, I said to Michael, "wow, this really tastes like a hazelnut latte!"

Shameful isn't it? Taste assimilation is suppose to be the other way around - the pink starburst emulates the flavor of a natural, farm grown strawberry, the gummi coke bottles are meant to taste like real coke-a-cola, jelly bellys are created simply to give us the kick of tasting other foods in them. Do I revolve that much around my starbucks lattes that I feel the world around me is trying to be like the coffee drinks? What came first - the hazelnut latte or the hazelnut itself.

What is the world coming to these days? John McCain, please bring America back to our old farm country roots.

Remedy Needed

I realized that there are three errands that I really do not like to go on:
1) Going to the bank
2) Going to the post office
3) Going to the grocery store
I also realize that those are serious life tasks. Why do I have to dread them????? The bank and p.o. I can understand....but there is something about the g-store that is unappealing to me. It's clearly not the food because I love food. Would going with someone make it any easier? But how lame is that, "hey! Do you want to go grocery shopping with me? It could be so fun! We could each have our own cart." Maybe its the time of day that I tend to go. Mid-day to early evening is when there are many people, long lines and lots of traffic. I need to pray for delight in running these types of errands because as far as I know, they happen all the time.

More life

So thanks for the great advice on how to remove a wasps nest. I was thrilled to have two Martha Stewart responses on how to effectively remove the beasts! During the moments I was reading your responses thinking "why yes, high voltage electric shock spray, full coverage body garments, 24 hours later..." I hear the porch door slam and Michael yells "Honey! I got it!" Uh oh....Michael barefoot in shorts and a spray bottle of ant RAID. Why was my first thought white trash? But he is my hero, I love him.

Among other delightful events this week my hair was turned orange....again. After a day of living with it, I ended up calling the salon back and politely complaining. My hair is now back to blonde. I have learned my lesson - stick with Tranquility.

And below is a mullet for your viewing pleasure. It's pretty bad. We were out to dinner with this man, I couldn't believe the servers took him seriously. Enjoy!

Bring 'em on

Woohoo! I have another wedding to do! This one is in April of '09 so we've got some time to plan. I just love it. I love being a part of weddings and getting to help people. Everyone has needs right? This is so fun.
On a different note, how do I safely get rid of a wasps nest? There is a big one outside our back porch and it is threatening my enjoyment of having the door wide open.

Grape Juice

The past few Saturdays have been beautiful here in Virginia. We just had to be outdoors! Here is a peek at what we did this past weekend:

Part of the Kluge Estate - another local Virginia vineyard.

Pat and Jenny. They are to be wed May 23rd of next year. Pat likes to eat the grapes right off the vine.

Roaming through the grape vines. I am holding the complimentary wine glass that you get when you go for a tasting.

After going through the first line to taste a certain red wine, Jenny and I noticed that the sweet wines were all the way at the end. Clearly we skipped the next 15 wines and went straight to the end. The tasting lines were a bit crowded so we decided to just buy a bottle of wine and head out doors with it. Barboursville Cabernet Blanc - really good - it was a dessert wine.

Michael antagonizing a snake....a rattle snake or garden snake, they all scare me. (I also like this picture because you can see Pat's face in the mirror.)

Pat, Jenny and Emily came over and cooked a delicious dinner of Lemon Chicken