Las Vegas Part 1: The Surprise

Let me introduce you to Debbie and Gregg Jones:

You see, when my mom and Debbie were younger (around middle-school to high-school age), they were inseperable.

I'm told they went everywhere together, did everything together, and in all reality, you could never find one without the other.

Truely best friends.

The unfortunate thing is that Debbie and Gregg do not live close. They are actually even almost all the way across the country, in Indianapolis Indiana. Because of this, my mom and Debbie had not seen each other for a couple of years . . .

. . . until last weekend that is.

You see, when I received an email from Debbie (sometimes facebook can be a convience) quite a few months ago, about how she was hoping to get together with my mom soon, I knew this Vegas trip would be the perfect opportunity.

Both friends were turning 50 in the same year, and afterall, you only turn 50 once, right?

So together, Debbie and I had been workin hard to put together the largest surprise I've worked on to date.

Have I mentioned, I absolutely love surprising people?

And let me tell you what a huge success it was!

First, the group of us met up with my mom and friends at a bar: minus Debbie and Gregg. After saying hello for a minute or two, the guests of honor made their appearance.

At first, my mom had no idea who had come up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder . . .

But once she realized who this 'mysterious' person was, the tears started flowing . . . She was absolutely shocked.



The rest of the weekend was filled with catching up, good laughs, and just spending time together.

I'm glad I was able to surprise my mom so much, and I'm glad she enjoyed it!

A Picture A Day . . . Fourteen

A Picture A Day . . . Thirteen

I've recently been thinking I'm missing my longer hair. What do YOU think?

P.S. There are Vegas posts in the near future, I promise . . .

Time for a Vacation!

In just a few short hours, we will be headed here:


I am very much looking forward to this little getaway. It's time for a small break from the fast paced life of reality to just sit and enjoy some time together.

You see, as most of you know, I work night shift. This means going to work at 6pm and coming home anywhere between 6:30 and 7:30 in the morning. Don't get me wrong, I really do love working at night, it definately has its benefits. But, there is one main downfall: when working multiple days in a row, I am pretty much secluded from the world. My room-darkening shades make our bedroom a dark cave (although I absolutely love them), and during daylight hours, you will find me snuggled in the darkness getting some sleep.

Because of this, Joel and I will literally go days without seeing eachother. Aside from me coming home in the morning and getting a quick, sleepy 'hello' on his way to the shower, and maybe even a quick phone-call from me on my drive back to the hospital, we don't see eachother.

So for the weekend, we will be spending some quality time together. We will be meeting my parents and some friends in Las Vegas, and I am really looking forward to it. A few days to kick back and relax. There may even be a suprise in store . . . Stay tuned.

It's Here . . . Almost?

The good news is that fall has definately hit our house hardcore:





The bad news is that the weather doesn't seem to agree. It's been in the 80's up until a few days ago, and even now, it's still sunny and 70 degrees.

For someone who absolutely loves cooler weather, this waiting game is driving me crazy.

Come on cool weather . . . it's October for goodness sake!

Happy Birthday Derek!

Saturday night we celebrated Joel's brother Derek's birthday. Although his actual birthday was a week or so ago, we were able to celebrate it over the weekend because he and his girlfriend were home from Pullman. We had a great time, and it was good to see them!

Happy Birthday Derek!

Kelsey and the Statues

Remember back to A Picture A Day Two, with Kelsey and the Indian? (I have yet to figure out how to be able to link it to here to just click on.)

Well, you see, one of the many things I love about my sister is how goofy she is. She can pose for a picture and always make it five times funnier than it would have been to begin with.

This goofy trait really tends to show itself when it comes to "statues." What do you mean by "statues," you may ask? Well, let me just say, there are a lot of them around Seattle:

There is never a dull moment . . .