Birthday Girls

Maggie and Jordan's Birthday from Amanda on Vimeo.

Maggie and Jordan turn seven today! Here they are eating their birthday cupcakes last night.. and showing off their excellent "stay" skills!

Upgrading

In with the new, out with the old!

Listy

What I'm doing:

- Baking cupcakes for Maggie and Jordan's birthday.  They are Mark's two labs and they are turning seven.  Last year I made them sugar cookies shaped like dog bones.  This year, they get carrot cake cupcakes - totally safe for doggies to eat.

- Watching the Olympics.  I love the Olympics!  I'm watching swimming and hoping to stay awake for all of the girls gymnastics finals.  The time difference makes for some late start times!

- Laundry.  woo hoo.

What I've been doing:

- I cleaned out my closet this weekend and took some stuff to Plato's Closet, a resale shop that buys your old clothes and resells it.  I was hoping to make a bit of cash and then go shopping, as I want to get some new work clothes before school starts.  They gave me a whopping $7 for a mere 3 things that I brought in.  Well.  That bought me lunch at the mall food court.  Awesome.

- I hit up the Outlet Mall anyway and came away with some good buys.  I did best at Gap and Banana Republic (although I wish I had a discount and tax free like Sadie!)

- Being swanky celebrating birthdays at Sambuca

- Spending some quality time at the car dealership while Mark traded in his old Accord for the 2008 model.  It's nice. 

What I will be doing:

- Working on Friday, for the first time since May. Oh Boo.  But, they are feeding us breakfast and lunch that day, so I guess I'll survive.

- Babysitting this Saturday, to earn a little more cash, since Plato's Closet was such a disappointment.  

- Hitting up the first DG Dallas Alumni happy hour of they year.  Now that I'm not an officer in the group and forced to attend every event, I'm actually looking forward to it much more than last year.

Northwest

The fam took a trip to Oregon last week, to visit my brother up in Portland.  We made it all the way to the Pacific Ocean and took this windblown pic, which is a Christmas Card 2008 Hopeful.

We saw a lot of really pretty sites, like this beautiful waterfall up on the Oregon/Washington border.  My sister and I wandered away from the group to take in the scenery.  Her she is, drinking from the falls.

I decided to give it a try too...

Kelly decided to take a moment to wash her hair in the falls.

In Astoria, home of the Goonies, we realized she could also hold up boats as if they were sub sandwiches.  

It was a nice trip.  And it was a good 50 degrees cooler there than it is in Dallas.  Hello high of 106.

Grumpy Old Men

Today as I was leaving the gym, I needed to stock up on allergy medicine and opted to swing by Walgreens, rather than fight the traffic at Wal-Mart.  I zipped into the small parking lot and saw that almost all the spots were filled, except for one right in front.  However, an ugly maroon pick-up truck had parked way over the line, leaving a very slim space in which to park.  Normally, I would have circled around the back and skipped this space, but I was in a hurry today and decided to squeeze my way in.  I used to live at The Villas at Katy Trail, which has the world's smallest spaces, so I was a pro at parking in small spots.

I get my car parked, open my door a fraction and let is lightly tap the pick-up truck.  Then I do the crazy dance of trying to sideways squeeze my way out of my car, sucking my tummy in, while I curse the driver of the maroon pick-up under my breath.  Just as I am finagling my way out, I hear a raspy voice shout, "thanks for hitting my car!"  I look up and there is the Grumpy Old Man glaring at me as he walks across the parking lot.  I resist the urge to roll my eyes and say curtly, "Sorry.  You parked kind of close."  Grumpy Old Man then starts rambling off about his new paint job.  I look at his truck that must be at least ten years old and isn't shiny or gleaming and looks nothing like it was recently painted and opt to completely ignore him as he continues on with his rant.  I walk right into the store, avoiding eye contact and get into the Walgreens.  It then occurs to me that GOM is probably keying my car right now, but oh well.

Some people.  Humph.  

Sigh

Here I am. Back at work. Missing this suite that I spent some quality time in this weekend.

Only add the entire snack asile at Sam's mixed in with those white vases and a fully stocked bar in that nook behing the table.

Who else is feeling my pain?

Wedding Weekend

Stephanie and Mark tied the knot this weekend!