Mel, Shopping and more Shopping.

Ok. The week has passed and Melissa's visit has ended. It started a week ago when Melissa came to visit her Uncle Christopher for some clothes shoping and a whole lot more. I picked her up at the airport last Monday night and of course, I was running late. Thank goodness there wasn't a line at the ticket counter to get my security pass and no line at the security check point. I had to run and got to the gate about 5 minutes before her plane arrived. Everett had to wait outside of security since they only allow 1 person on a security pass. Anyway, she arrived safely and got her luggage and headed to eat. We ate a Switch which is a restaurant that advertises mostly by gays/lesbians. I think Mel was picking up on the waitress (kidding). We ate dinner and went to my house and went to bed. The next day Mel and I went to work. She was quiet all day and met my co-workers and Ron (the owner). After work Mel and I went to Tempe Marketplace to hit some stores for back to school shopping. Everett met up with us later at the BBQ restaurant we ate at. We went to 2 different clothes stores and ended up with 4 FULL bags of clothes and at the shoe store she scored 5 pairs of shoes in total. After eating, we walked around and decided to go to Dave & Busters a bar/arcade. We had a great time playing games and Mel won a bunch of tickets which she got a lot of cool stuff with. The next day, Wednesday, Everett, Mel and I went to Scottsdale Fashion Square for more clothes shopping. We hit Hollister, American Eagle and I think Wet Seal. She loaded up on everything she wanted and I was thinking about how many jobs I would have to get to pay off my credit cards (kidding). She wanted to do Build a Bear but we were hungry and we went to Olive & Ivy. Dinner was good but Melissa was a little homesick but after talking with Nikki, she was doing fine. After dinner, we went and had gelatto at one of Everett's favorite places and then home and went to bed after Mel tried on a few outfits for us. Earlier in the day, Everett took Mel to the Salon and got her hair done. She had a good day. The next day, Thursday, I let Mel sleep in and then in the evening, we went indoor cart racing after I cooked dinner. We were able to only get 1 race in as we got there a little bit before they closed. It was fun none-the-less. The next day Mel went to work with me again and then we went back to the mall for more clothes shopping and she got new perfume and I chased a boy down for her but she shied away. We also did Build a Bear, well, she got a turtle and clothed it all pretty like. The next day, we went swimming, got her nails done and back to Dave and Busters for dinner and more games. It was a lot busier than the first time there so we didn't get to play as often but we had a great time and won a lot of tickets which Mel got a lot more stuff in the store. We also got our picture take a few times. It was late and we went home. The next day, I woke up late, got her to the airport and I left a few minutes before she boarded. It was a full week and now I can rest. WHEW

Reno-The Ghetto Vegas.

Ok, this past weekend, Everett and I decided to make an unexpected trip to Reno/Fallon for Melissa's 12th Birthday Party. We got to Reno ok but soon notice that we were out of place. We were too cute for Reno. EVERYONE STARED! We shortly called it the Ghetto Vegas! We stayed at the Grand Sierra Hotel in the Summit rooms (same as before) and of course they were great! We relaxed a little and then headed for the drive to Fallon after constant pressure from Nikki to hurry up! We had rented a convertable and drove with the top down even though it was 95 that day. It was a little warm but the worse part of the drive was that is wasn't very sceneric (is that a word?). I kept watching the gps system and it counted down so slowly. We stopped close to Fallon to get a bag and a card for the bday gift for Melissa. We saw a cute card of a chimp dressed like a princess and the inside card read, "Happy Birthday from the birthday Fariy (we added an "'s'" to accommodate Everett). It's not very pretty getting older". We thought it was cute and the play on words was funny until we learned that Melissa was required to read the entire card outloud! Both Everett and I were embarrassed. It was already weird walking into the room of the inlaws that I didn't know with my bf when we thought that it was going to be a bunch of 12 y/o girls. Ok, we visited for a couple hours and headed back to Reno for dinner and a show. EV drove and that made things nice for me. We got back to hotel, rested and then got ready for dinner and the show. We stayed at the casino for dinner and ate at Dolce. EV had seafood pasta and I had steak (of course) I loved the food. We decided not to do the show and stayed and gambled. We had a great time and actually ended up with more money than we started with. EV did most of the winning and I was a great supporter. After collecting out winnings we went back to the room, watched part of Titanic and went to sleep. The next morning, we ate breakfast, and took an earlier plane home. Our spa treatments were cxld so no use staying in town. End of trip!

Got pounded in the rear!

Get your minds out of the gutter. I got hit from behind in my Jeep. It wasn't my fault. I was stopped at a light and the lady behind me couldn't stop and hit me from behind and pushed me into the lady ahead of me. Everyone was ok. Here are some photos of the Jeep.

Birthday Thanks.

Much love and thanks to Mom and Grandma for the great birthday cards and wishes. THANK YOU.

Good to be home!

I can't believe that the time went by so quickly. I am back to work now and ready for a vacation. I thought vacations were supposed to be relaxing! I am more exhausted now than I was before I even left! Although the trip was nice and was great to see so many amazing places, there is no place like home. I haven't got back on my normal schedule yet with sleep and eating, etc. It's 3pm now and I am tired. I just want to go home and go to bed! The last couple days, all I have done is lay in bed/on the couch and watch movies/tv. Someone told me I need 1 day for every hour of time change to recover. Guess I have 6 more days of feeling this way until I am back to normal.
Work welcomed me back with smiles AND a bunch of piles of work. Most of it is caught up now and makes me believe that I really don't do much even when I am at work. I wish I had a dollar for every time someone asked how the trip was. It's nice to know people care.
So, you may be wondering why I haven't written about the trip yet. Well, I am too tired. PERIOD! I haven't even looked at the photos nor the videos we took. Ok, end of the post.
Bye bye

Travels Travels Travels

Berlin







Poznan
Poznan--where my sister Michelle is volunteering...she is available and really smart and successful.







Auschwitz

NO, I AM NOT DEAD!

I know it has been A LOOOOOOOOONG time since updating this damn thing but I have tried 3 other times and have written about 1 to 2 hours worth of stuff and uploaded picture after picture and then when I go to publish the post, I LOSE EVERYTHING! So frustrating. I will give you a brief overview of what is to come.

1) Update on the progress of my house!

2) New Love is in the air.

3) Some losses I have dealt with.

4) Old friends, New friends.

5) TRAVELS, TRAVELS, TRAVELS!