The Adventures of Heather Marie

WOW! I think I just won the worst blogger award!

2009-05-27T17:56:00.002-05:00

Life has been pretty busy. We finally got married... in the rain with a tornado not too far away... but we did it! It was a lot of work for a ten minute ceremony and a rainy day. However, I loved it! It had so many problems, but we managed to get it done. It was perfect for me and Tallon. The reception was great too. I loved the decorations that we picked out and the food was great too! (I will soon post pictures - I am not done editing them)

We went to Hot Springs for our "Honeymoon" (I would rather called a trip - some day I will go on a vacation and I will call that my honeymoon - when that happens I will let you know) So, Hot Springs was not all that great. We decided to arrive on a Monday and every thing was closed until Wednesday... the problem with that was that we left on Wednesday. We went into a place that we thought was a visitor center (because there was a sign out front that read "Visitor Center) but turned out to be a creepy old bath house museum that was beyond terrifying. I can't even begin to explain it. Everything was pretty runed down and out of order, but at least it was funny - to us. There were also a TON of hub-a-rounds (motorized wheel chairs) I was amazed with how many we saw. Our hotel was SUPER nice and had great food and drinks. I really enjoyed the rest of the week and weekend we had at home. We went shopping and ate at some places we haven't been to in while. It was a great week off work. However, I am glad everything is over and life is back to normal.

I love having a schedule and plan for everyday and now I am finally back to that. I wake up, get ready, go to work, come home, clean up, cook dinner and relax. It is WAY better than what I was doing to prepare for the wedding.

I will soon post some wedding pictures for everyone to see. I just to need to go through and edit everything to my standards.

I Don't Have Much To Say...

2009-03-22T21:14:00.003-05:00

So, it has been quite awhile since my last post. I recently got a new job and I have been rather busy.

Lets see...

For starters...A while back Tallon and I decided to turn off our cable and internet to save some money. Well, since I got a new job we decided to get it turned back on. We decided to go with AT&T instead of Cox. I have to say... it is the best thing ever!! I love it! I always felt like I was wasting so much money on cable. We never watched much and almost everything we did watch we could watch online with fewer commercials. However, the AT&T Overs package is AMAZING! It is pretty much the most exciting thing that has happened to us in a while.

I have also been planning the wedding. We are actually getting a lot done lately. I think we have everything ready except for the flowers (which I think we will do ourselves), we need to send out the invitations pretty soon and finish up the clothes... I have my dress, my maid of honor/bridesmaid dress, the little girls skirts and a pair of pants for Tallon. We need to return his pants because we were not able to get a matching vest. I guess we do have a lot to do with the clothes, but other than that we are almost done. It feels pretty good to get all that done.

As I said before I recently started a new job. I am the office manager for a pediatric therapy clinic. They work with children with autism/aspergers, ADHD, sensory integration, etc. It is very interesting. It is a small company right now, but they are constantly gaining new patients. In June they are moving to a bigger building and in July they are getting two new therapist. So, there is a lot more job security than I have before. Also, they work 4 long days and then they get 3 day weekends (which is AWESOME!) and I get to wear scrubs. It is like I get of my pajamas in the morning just to put on some new ones. I love it!

I can't really think of much more that has been going on. I really haven't done anything all that interesting lately. But... we only have a month and a few weeks utnil in the wedding... so I am sure I will be posting a lot on that.

Funny Pictures

2009-02-06T09:56:00.010-06:00

Tallon and I were trying to take a picture for our Save The Dates that we are sending out this weekend. I had a few that I liked, but I thought we needed some more. So, this morning before we left for I had him take some pictures.

Here is what happened...

We started out inside... My eyes were closed in EVERY picture!

And Tallon looked quite creepy in a lot of the pictures.

We tried different rooms in the house, but Tallon still looked creepy and I was still unable to keep my eyes opened when the flash went off.

We decided to leave for work, but before we pulled out of the driveway I decided to take a few more... I figured if we were outside we wouldn't need the flash and I would be able to keep my eyes opened. It worked for my eyes, but Tallon still looked weird.

We ended up taking several silly pictures and I was pretty much convinced we would have to use the one I originally put on the Save The Dates...

So... I know you are thinking "WHY? Why would she post this picture?" Here's the story:

Tallon ALWAYS makes fun of me for doing this thing when I take pictures. I call it the head tilt. I do it reduce the visibility of the double chin. He said it looks so weird and awkward when I do it... So in this picture he is doing the head tilt to show me what it looks like and I am just simply showing him what it looks like when I don't do it.

NO! Really we have another on-going joke about "The Fat Girl Laugh." I was doing the fat girl laugh in this picture and then I was going to tell him that if I didn't do the head tilt this is what I look like. But all this resulted in was the best fat girl laugh ever and Tallon being really scared of my huge second chin. We were laughing way too hard after that to take anymore pictures.

But before it was all said and done we took this picture. It turned out pretty cute and I think I will use this. I have to do some more editing, but I think it will work out nicely.

Wedding Plans

2009-02-03T08:52:00.002-06:00

I had no idea all the work that went into planning a wedding. I knew it was a lot, but I really never realized how much. I also didn't have clue how much money it would cost. Everything is just crazy expensive. I am a pretty frugal person... so much so I would even just say I am cheap... super duper cheap! Now, I am not necessarily good with money or saving money but I can make a dollar stretch. I just feel it is wasteful spending if I don't get a good deal or a lot for my money. This had resulted in some problems, but for the most part it works well for me.

We found a location for the ceremony. It is this great little chapel that is family owned. There is wonderful trees and flowers all around. It has this great little stream and small waterfall. It is just beautiful. I can't wait for the weather to get better and all the flowers to bloom. It wasn't too expensive and it is the perfect place to get married. Then we started looking for a reception area... They are all crazy expensive! And the price is just for the rental fee... it doesn't include tables, chairs, tents, food or music. It is just nuts! I think that we might just end up going to Tallon's brother's house. They have a beautiful home on some land. It will be dark by the time the reception starts and we can decorate it. Then we can spend more money on a dress for me :)

And the dress... I am a pretty simple person and I don't want anything fancy, poofy or just too elaborate. But it is my wedding dress... I found some that I like and they all or various prices. I found some I like for under 200 dollars and then some that are as expensive as 1,800 dollars. So, maybe I will eventually find something. I have to lose weight first. I have been dieting and exercising and I have dropped a few pounds, but I need to lose some more before I even start trying on. (I did try some on already... just to have the experience.)

We are sending out the save the dates soon... but we have to get them printed first. I designed a layout for them and everything, but we didn't want to print them ourselves. It is really hard to find someone to print on something smaller than a letter size page. But after much research we found out Office Depot does it for a pretty reasonable cost. I think I will also take my invitations there too.

We haven't even begun looking at flowers, decorations, the other dresses and outfits, music or wedding rings.

We have a lot to do... but I am an organized, list making person so hopefully I can get all planned and organized. I don't get stressed out too easily or at least I don't stay stressed out for long periods of time... so I really think I get every thing together and create a wonderful evening for not only me and Tallon, but for everyone.

I have never experienced an ice storm before...

2009-01-29T08:34:00.008-06:00

So, as most of you know we had an ice storm... it all started Monday. They were closing schools early and nothing too bad had happened yet. It started getting a little slick outside, but I was able to pick Tallon up from work and make it home. I didn't sleep well that night because I was worried about the electricity going out and all sorts of stuff... but nothing ever happened. We got up and got ready for work Tuesday morning and I dropped Tallon off at work and then I went to work myself. It just rained all morning... I went home around 12:30 and the roads were still not too bad, but I knew it was going to get worse. When I arrived home my garage door opener wasn't working so I knew we had lost power. Luckily we have a fire place...

When I was driving up our street I noticed some limbs down and some of the neighbors were out trying to clean up the road so we could drive down it... I started to worry about our house because we have some really big trees in out front yard. I decided I was just going to take a nap since I didn't get much sleep the night before. I got all ready for my nap and got the dogs next to me so I could stay warm and then I heard this loud thump, scrape, boom sound. I jumped up and threw on some warmer clothes and ran outside to see the damage. That is when I noticed we have a HUGE tree on side of our house and it was falling to pieces on my roof, the neighbor's roof, my fence and the neighbor's fence... I don't think I ever quite realize there was a giant tree on the side of my house until right then. And from that point on it seemed every few seconds I would hear another limb falling... Have you ever heard what it sounds like when a giant limb falls from a giant trees?? It sounds like gun shots or something!! It was so scary to be home with no power and listening to that. I don't know how many times I ran outside to make sure my roof and fence weren't damaged.

Finally I decided to go inside and just lay by the fire and relax. I called Tallon to see if I could come get him or if he could get a ride home, but I wasn't able to do either. He ended up getting a ride from his brother to his brother's house... they had power at their house. So, I called my mom (she didn't have power either) and asked her how she was and what she was going to do for dinner and stuff. She was actually heading towards the store to get a few items and then I talked her into coming to my place since I had a nice fire going. She finally made and then we realized we forgot a few items so we decided to go to the gas station up the raid... it was out of power and closed... then we decided to go to Walgreen's... it was opened, but the power was out so there was a long line of people waiting for a Walgreen's associate to take them around the store with flash light and help them find what they needed... we decided to go to the Wal-Mart that was right next to the Walgreen's, but it was also out of power and closed... All we needed was some water bottles and some Coke or something with caffeine and we noticed that the liquored store was still opened... So, we went there to get the rest of our supplies and headed home.

We rearranged the furniture so the couch was in from of the fire and we put tables up so we had place for our drinks and food. It was rather cozy... We were able to keep the house really warm. At one point we were almost too hot. I had to take off my sweatshirt and socks. Then we took the mattress from the hid-a-bed couch from the TV room and put in on the floor in front of the fire so we could go to sleep. It was really nice!! I might just sleep by the fire on a normal night. We just woke up every few hours and put some more wood on the fire. When we got up the next morning we wanted to see if we could make coffee... I got a pan and filled it with water and sat on a log in the fire... IT WORKED! We boiled water! I only had whole been coffee so I filled a plastic bag with beans and then smashed with a meat cleaver until they were crunched up. Luckily when you grind coffee for a french press it needs to be a pretty coarse grind. It worked pretty well and we got to have hot cup of coffee.

Around noon we noticed the sun was out and decided to go to mom's house to make sure it was okay and to get some extra stuff for her. Then we went up to Tallon's work because they had hot showers and place to get ready. After we showered and got cleaned up we went to Wal-Mart, but it was closing because they had just lost power. The traffic was CRAZY! So we stopped to have some lunch and wait for the traffic to lighten up. Then we went to a different Wal-Mart. It was PACKED! Apparently it was the only Wal-Mart that had power. We went straight to the deli so we could get some prepared food... there was nothing left! They had some rotisserie chicken cooking and they said it would be an hour and twenty minutes before it was ready... they also said they could reserve some for us... so, we gave them our name and reserved some chicken. We went and did the rest of shopping. We needed food that didn't need to be cooked or cooled... We finally got all out supplies and some book lights so we all could read with out using up our batteries in our flashlights. We got in one of the ridiculously long lines and then mom went to check on the chicken. The chicken wasn't quite ready, but we thought that if we would just let a few people get in front of us it would be ready by the time we got to the register... we were wrong... mom had to wait in a long line at the deli because there was only one girl working there... after about 30 minutes I could see her running towards me with the chicken in hand! But at that point I had let everyone go ahead of me and I was at the end of the line (which wasn't very long) We made it out and then went to pick up Tallon. Now, this doesn't seem like we did all that much, but it took us 6 hours to get it all done! SIX!

Once we picked up Tallon and headed home it was getting dark... it was kind of scary driving through Springdale because all the power was out and it looked like a ghost town... but once we got close to our house we noticed that one side of the street had power, but the other side didn't. When we got home our lights were still out. We unloaded the car, started a fire and unpacked all of our groceries and blankets... and then all of a sudden... THE POWER CAME ON!!!! So, after all that work to prepare for yet another night without power we got power... but I am not complaining.

Then mom decided to get some of her stuff together and drive to her place to see if she had power and... sure enough she did. She got to stay home and sleep in her own bed.

Here are some pictures of out foot long icicles and fallen tree limbs.

Here are the icicles on some plants in the front yard

Here is our poor tree in the front yard

This is the huge tree on the side of our house that I was never really quite aware of until Tuesday... I was really worried about it breaking my fence and messing up my new roof. It might have done some damage, but we are not sure just yet.

Here is Tallon's car frozen solid with limbs that have fallen on it.

Nothing Exciting

2009-01-20T08:45:00.002-06:00

Nothing too exciting has happened in the past few weeks.

We haven't worked on our floors anymore... but I think this weekend we will finally tackle the hallway and get it painted. Mainly because I am tired of looking at the old carpet.

I have been working on the wedding plans... but I am not very good at it. I am a very organized person (I make a lot of lists) but for some reason I am not very good at organizing all of the wedding stuff. My mom keeps having to tell me what to do and when to do it. I have been dieting and working out so hopefully soon I will go dress shopping. I think it won't feel like a real wedding until I get the dress shopping done. And this weekend we are going to work on sending out the save the dates and printing the invitations. We have found a location for the ceremony, but not for the reception. Everywhere we have been looking is way more expensive than we planned... but I think we are getting closer to finding the place. So, hopefully it won't take too long to get everything together and we will be on our way.

Two weeks ago Lindsey (the Real Estate company I work for) sent out a memo saying that if an agent didn't make a certain amount of money last year they couldn't have an assistant anymore... well, I work for two agents and one made enough and the other didn't... so now I am only working part time and looking for another job. This has been rather hard since the job market is pretty much at a stand still right now. But I have sent out my resume to a TON of places and had a few interviews. I am hoping that I will hear back from someone this week. In the mean time I have been really cleaning the house a lot... I keep finding closets to organize, blankets to wash and carpets to clean.

Lets... what else... I got my hair cut. It seems kind of short, but I really like it. I am gradually fixing my car... it needed an oil change, a break light, a head light, new brakes, a new tire and as of a few days ago it needs a drivers side door handle... (the door handle broke and fell off... now to get out of the car I have to roll down the window, reach out and use the outside door handle to open the door and then roll the window back up...) I have gotten all of that done except for the door handle... I have been researching how to fix it and I think that Tallon and his dad will be able to do it and I won't have to pay much to get it done.

I thinks that is it. I hope everyone is having a great New President Day!

Scrapers, Dirt, Goggles and Floors

2009-01-05T08:51:00.027-06:00

I am pretty good at talking Tallon into doing just about anything... I am not sure where I got these powers of persuasion, but I have them. And most of the time I regret in the… umm... Well I regret it normally right away.

So, over the Christmas and New Year break I was trying to talk Tallon in to pulling up all of our carpet (because it is just so yucky) and staining the concrete floor. I really like the way it looks and I think it is much more durable when you have dogs. He really didn't want to do it, but he finally did a little research on it and he seemed pretty excited to get it done. We decided to try it on one room to see how it goes... The lucky room was our TV room. It is the smallest room we have and it is probably the room we use the most besides the kitchen.

Then finally Friday morning came and we went to Lowe's. We bought some stain, long roller paint brush things and a few other items. When we got home we removed everything we could out of the room and into our living room (what a mess) There was one chair that we were not able to get out and the couch had to be moved out the back door onto the patio because it wouldn't fit through the other door at the weird angle. So, yeah.... for the last 3 to 4 days our couch has been sitting on the back patio... classy... Once everything was moved out of the room we pulled up the carpet. That was the easiest thing we ever had to do. Carpet just comes right up and you can roll it up and put in the garage with hardly any struggle. We were pretty excited about that... we thought it was great start and that everything would be a little bit better from that point on... but we were wrong.

(Here are some pictures of the mess in the living room - Yes.. those are pillows and blankets covering the mess... for some reason Tallon thinks that is better)

We went back into the room to check everything out and realized that the concrete floor was covered in paint, carpet glue and dirt. Also, in the back right hand corner of the room there was a whole in the concrete that went under the wall... NICE.

(These are pictures of the floors once we pulled up the carpet)

At this point we were a little freaked out. We had just tore up the carpet and there was no going back. We tried pulling up the little boards with scary nails in them and we tried scraping the paint off the floor... but nothing we had was working. So, we made another trip up to Lowe's to ask some questions. Everything they showed us required 2 men, floor buffers, a heavy duty rinse and not to mention masks to prevent us from breathing in the fumes. We had no idea what to do.

Luckily the day before when we were at Lowe's looking for supplies we ran into the family I used to nanny for. The dad of that family is in construction and has done a lot of work on his own house... So, I gave him a call to ask what we should do. He gave us a name of some stuff to use and offered us some tools. We went to their house and picked them up. He let us borrow some hand sanders and very durable scraper/putty knife thing. Then we went back to the house and worked on it some more. By the time we got home it was like 6pm and we were worn out and frustrated.

We were able to get all the boards and nails up and we started scraping up the paint and stuff but nothing seemed to be working... not the sanders or the scrapers. I finally decided to call the guy who worked on our roof to see if I could pay some one to prepare our concrete for staining. He said that he would come by the next and take a look at it. So, Saturday we pretty much spent the day waiting around... he never called and by 3:45 I was tired of wasting my day... So, I called him. He came right over and looked at our mess. He showed us how to scrape it (it wasn't much different than what we were doing the day before, but for some reason it worked for him) He also told us to use some water and that we didn't want to pay him to do it (sounds more like he didn't want to do it) Once he left we got to work.

(This is me working and the dogs taking my seat because they don't like the cold floor... they really didn't help out all that much)

The water made a huge difference and it cleaned up a lot of stuff we thought was stuck to the floor. Tallon called his brother, Dillon, and asked him to come help. This was nice because I got to just watch his kids while Tallon and him did all the work. Dillon brought over some razor blades and that made a huge difference. Then they boiled water and put it on the floors... they also added some detergent to the mix and used sand paper... Dillon was there a couple hours and they cleaned up a lot! We just had the edges to worry about at that point. But the adhesive was on the edges so it was still a lot of work.

I went in there and started scraping up the adhesive after Dillon and the kids left. Tallon decided he was done for the night and went to bed. I stayed up until almost midnight scraping and scrubbing. And to my very tired and frustrated eyes the floors looked pretty good. So, I decided to sweep and mop so the floors were clean and ready to be stained in the morning. I took a nice long shower and had a nice long sleep. Then next morning Tallon and I go look at the floors... well, they were not quite as I remembered them... also, we still had not taken everything out of the closet or pulled that carpet up... So, we still had a lot of work to do. I sent Tallon to the store for more razor blades and razor blade holder things... because Tallon and Dillon were just using the blades and they were not in any type of holder until I found one around the house. I continued to scrape up all the adhesive. While I was working on the adhesive Tallon worked on the closet (which was COVERED in paint)... By this point my hand feels as if is going to fall off because it doesn't want to work any more. I am not even kidding... my hand was shaking and I could barely hold on to the razor.

It was still morning, but we were so frustrated and angry at this point that we decided to go to Barnes and Noble to look at some books and use the internet to do some more research on cleaning concrete. We decided we would research acid washing and see how dangerous it actually was... it's pretty dangerous for two people who have no experience with or knowledge of acid washing. We nixed that plan pretty quickly. The next plan was price flooring. We decided to go to Home Depot and get some pricing. And at a very weak moment we decided to apply for a Home Depot credit card... during this major credit crisis... not a good plan. Anyway, we decided not to go that route either. We went looking for some sort of solution... maybe a paint thinner or less dangerous acid wash type thing. We found this stuff ( I don't even know what it is called) but it said it would get up dirt, paint, grease, oil and more off several different types of surfaces including concrete. So we bought it... along with some rubber clothes and goggles (because it said we needed them.) We got home and suited up for some more cleaning.

(Me in my goggles and a lovely picture of me "suited up" - this was taken by Tallon and I thought it was quite funny)

The stuff we bought was already mixed so we didn't have to dilute it... you just poor it on, let it soak in a little and scrub/scrape. Tallon used it in the closet and I used it around the edges... it worked great! We were feeling much better at this point. We got up everything we could. We cleaned the floors a few times and then let it dry for an hour or so... Once it was dry we decided to go ahead and get to stainin'. We put on one coat and let it dry... which only took like 30 minutes. Then I went in with a paint brush and put two coats of stain around the trim... then Tallon put a second coat on the floors and while that dried we cleaned up the house (as much as we could.) We went to see if it was drying nicely and Tallon decided to put once more coat on it because it was really dark in some places and not so dark in others...

So, after a several very weak moments and quite a few I-am-so-angry-I-will-never-speak-to-you-again moments we completed our project. And we are very happy with out come. We are even going to start on the hallway tonight.

Here is our finished product!

Merry Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T08:11:00.003-06:00

It is Christmas Eve and I am so excited. We always have a nice Christmas Eve dinner with my parents and we hang out and watch movies or play games. This I think we might play Boggle... I bought that for the gift exchange we had and everyone played it.... Even Dad and Tallon. Those two hate playing games... I try to get Tallon to play Monopoly and Clue all the time and he never really wants to. He does sometimes if his brother goes along with it, but other than that he doesn't really like to play. I am in charge of the dessert and I am going to bread pudding. I am not really sure if I will like it (soggy bread just never sounds very good) but everyone else LOVES it... so that is what we are having for dessert.

On Christmas morning Tallon and I are having mom and dad over for breakfast. This is kind of a tradition in my family. Every year I would wake my parents up SUPER early (except for year when they had to wake us up) but they would make us wait to open presents... just to get us even more excited about the gifts. So, dad would make a wonderful breakfast, then he would make coffee, then he HAS to start a fire.... normally by the time he is making the coffee we were already getting into our stockings. Once is was FINALLY time to open the presents we had to take turns opening one present at a time. I think I would normally go first, then Tony, then mom and then dad... who would take a ridiculously long time open his gift... he takes the ribbon off and peels each piece of tape, but before he actually takes the paper off he shakes the gift and guesses what it is... then eventually he takes the paper off and gets all excited... the worst part about all of this was I was next and had to wait SOOOO long for it to be my turn again. Once dad gets the present opened he takes the paper and folds it until is extremely tiny and then ties the ribbon on it. He always says he does this because it takes up less space in the trash. Once year we were so impressed by his paper folding skills that we kept it... and then the next year when we were decorating the tree we found it!!

When I was little it was probably my least favorite thing dad did at Christmas, but now it is one of my most favorite. He makes Christmas last so long and we enjoy it so much. So, this year I am having mom and dad over for breakfast and we are going to do Christmas the way we have always done it. I am pretty excited. The only thing that will be different is it is going to be at my place.

I hope everyone has a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Christmas Shopping....

2008-12-16T08:49:00.003-06:00

Yesterday morning I was kind of freaking out because I had not bought single Christmas present. I normally wait to do my Christmas shopping, but this year it seems I just keep putting it off.

I have a TON of kid/baby gifts to buy and for some reason I have a hard time trying to figure out something to buy. I always try to find something that is useful for them. I know they get a lot of toys from Santa and I want to get them books or toothbrushes... I know! I am crazy! Or I like to buy them are supplies or something that is creative... mainly because I love kid art... I think it so cute... even just a page out of a coloring book... I just love it.

Anyway, I told Tallon that I was going to get as much of it done as I could. We withdrew some money and I took an extra long lunch break - this was smart idea because yesterday the roads were a little icy and school was called off... which means a lot of people we stuck at home with their kids and couldn't go out shopping... So, I pretty much at Target all to myself and it was wonderful.

I had about 2 and half hours to get as much of it done as possible. I really thought that I would have to go to several other stores, but I didn't. I got almost EVERYTHING at Target and didn't go over my budget! All I have left is my mom and dad and one of Tallon's nephews ( Tallon wants to get him a Beta fish... so I making him pick it out) I will probably go Friday and finish my shopping. Hopefully it won't be too busy.

Then after work Tallon and I went to eat and I decided I needed to buy some wrapping paper... We didn't want to have to go to Wal-Mart or Target, but we just happened to be right next to Toys-R-Us and they had a TON of wrapping paper... we bought some and went home and I starting wrapping up all the gifts and I got everything wrapped up... even Honesty birthday presents! WOO HOO!

I was really stressing out that morning, but I have never felt more relieved than last night. I was happy with all my purchases and with the fact that I got it all wrapped up. I am so ready for Christmas now! And on Thursday mom and I are getting together to bake up some wonderful Christmas treats... yum!

And To Top it Off...

2008-12-02T09:42:00.001-06:00

Tallon finally asked me to marry him!!!

What A Weekend!

2008-12-02T08:54:00.010-06:00

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I know I did.

It was so nice seeing my brother and his family and the new little baby! Tony made a great Thanksgiving dinner and then we all played the wii and Rock Band.

The next day my mom, grandma, Hannah, Honesty, Beau and me all piled up in the car and went to IKEA. I have shopped online at the IKEA website, but I have never gone to the store... it was amazing. Mom and I had to go back the next day to finish up :)

Then on Saturday I got to go to my friends wedding... I have seen her in years and it was nice to be able to go see that.

The kids had a lot of fun too... They all went to the Texas Motor Speedway, the Stockyards and the Dallas Cowboys Stadium... I used to live there... so I have seen it all... that is when mom and I went back to IKEA and the to the wedding.

We came home Sunday and I just worked on getting my laundry done and cleaning the house.

Here are a few pictures of Hannah and Honesty. They made a video too, but it is not loading... I am not sure why...I showed them how to use the voice changer and they had a blast. They had me do there hair and make up all funny and made these really funny videos.

Here is Hannah first discovering the webcam....

Then Honesty...

Then they got all dressed up in their crazy outfits and started acting all crazy....

So Much To Do So Little Time

2008-11-25T08:03:00.003-06:00

Thanksgiving is just a few days away and I am traveling to Texas with my mom, 2 cousins, grandma and uncle... They are going to be coming here (to Arkansas) tomorrow night and staying the night with us and then we will be leaving very early Thursday morning to make our journey to Texas. We just found out yesterday that my uncle and his son are coming with us... this will now make us have to take two cars. I guess that is no big deal... just a little crazy.

Once we get there we will probably start preparing our Thanksgiving feast and then we will just rest and hang out all day. I am pretty excited because I will get to see my new niece Bella. I have not seen her in person yet and she is already getting so big. I can't wait to officially meet her. Also, I haven't seen my other niece Honesty in a while and I love visiting with her. She is funny and girly... I love it! There is going to be so many of us there, but I am pretty excited about visiting.

And the best part is... I emailed my most favorite friend ever (Ashley) to tell her that I was coming to town and that we should get together and she replied with a rather excited email telling me that she was getting married that weekend!! I will be able to see her get married! We haven't seen each other in like 5 or 6 years so I am so excited.

My only problem with that is I needed to find something to wear. I needed a dress for Tallon's Christmas party so I thought that I could just buy that dress and wear it to the wedding. Well, it is like 70 degrees in Texas and 40 degrees here... so I had to get something I could wear either place... after two days and a lunch break of shopping I went back to the very first dress I tried on... it is a weee bit tight... so I bought some of those "make you skinny" tights and tank tops... and... IT FITS!!! Luckily I have been working out and hopefully by the Christmas party it won't be so tight... but at the wedding... it will be tight. Oh well...

Anyway... I have to get my house ready and find blankets to let the kids stay the night... and I need to back. I also still need to find shoes to wear with my dress. I bought these cute shoes yesterday to wear with it, but they are a little to high for me and I think I could get something better for my money. I also need some tights or just regular panty hose... and I just this very second realized I left the shoes at home and won't be able to return them until later tonight or tomorrow... bummer. Oh well.. I will make it work.

I am just excited to see my family and my favorite friend... Happy Thanksgiving!

Hannah Came To Visit!

2008-11-17T08:25:00.003-06:00

So, last week I was talking to my cousin Hannah and told her that she should come stay with me for the weekend. I talked to he mom and her mom agreed. I met them in Joplin on Friday afternoon and we had a pretty fun filled weekend.

Hannah is 13 and in the 7th grade... she also has a new boyfriend... which is pretty cute! When I picked her up she had this present for me (she made it in he shop class)... it was a black piece of wood with a picture of a pug carved into it and it read "The Pug Is In The House" I know it sounds kind of cheesy, but it actually looks really cute. I am going to hang it up once I find something to hang it with.

When we got back to my place we hooked up Rock Band (we just got Rock Band 2 so it was a lot of fun playing the new songs and challenges) Then my mom cam over with food and we started to play Rock Band... but we couldn't find the plug in thingy for the multiple player jack... so we could only play two at a time... Tallon went store to store looking for something cheap to fix the problem but... he only found an expensive fix... so he didn't buy it... but the next day... my mom did :) Hannah stayed at my house that night.

We got up around 8:30 on Saturday and got ready... we played a little Rock Band so we could get our characters looking pretty good and then we headed to the library. Hannah was real excited about going to the library, but we had to return some books... but once we got there she was pretty impressed... she even found a book to check out (she never really had time to read it but I was happy she found something) Then we say and had some coffee and tea at the the library coffee shop and talked with this really cute little kid. By then it was lunch time and we all met my mom and dad at US Pizza... YUM! After that Tallon headed home and we all went to see my dad's new place (it is really nice.) Then we went to Toy-R-Us to get this toy for Hannah, Best Buy to get the multiple player adapter and the dollar store to get the rest of the ingredients for the cupcakes we were going to make.

Finally, we made it back to my place and began making the most wonderful cupcakes ever! That took quite a while, but once we were finally done decorating them it was time for dinner. We had decided earlier that we would have Krystal Burger so we wouldn't have to cook. Hannah has never had Krystal Burger before, but she really liked it (who wouldn't?) Then we began out long evening of playing Rock Band. During all this time Tallon was visiting his sister and her family so he didn't have to be bothered by all the girlyness :) Mom and Hannah left around 10:30 and I cleaned up the messes we made and didn't make it to bed until about 12:30... but I still had a lot of fun!

Then on Sunday Tallon and I met up with my dad to get the furniture that he didn't want for his new place... So, we finally have a couch (with a bed in it) in our TV room! We got a few other things too. Once we were done with that we met my mom and Hannah at Wilma's. We have never been to Wilma's and were pretty excited about some "home cookin" They made fresh, pan fried chicken... it was SOOO wonderful and it wasn't even that expensive. I think Tallon and I will be going there more often.

After that mom had to take Hannah back home and Tallon and I went to his brothers. Once we got home we finished rearranging all the new furniture and then just relaxed.

It was a pretty fun filled weekend, but now I am exhausted...

No Pictures Please...

2008-11-10T08:17:00.002-06:00

I wasn't able to get any pictures of our costumes this weekend. We don't have a camera that works properly and no one at the party was taking pictures. But our costumes turned out great. I bought this fake hair for Tallon so he could make a beard... but on the back of the box it said not to glue it on your face if you have facial hair... and unfortunately Tallon has decided to grow a "real" beard and didn't want to shave it off. So instead we had this foam bored that we were using to make is clock and he cut out a beard from that. It was so funny... we put a elastic band on it so he could put it around his head and it would stay up. I really wish we had a picture of it.

My costume turned out pretty good too. I planned on making a dress, but that is a lot of work... so I made a skirt instead. I bought some elastic and then pinned thick strips of fabric to it and then sewed on fake leaves and flowers. I took a white shirt I had and sewed on some of the same flowers and leaves. I wore my hair really curly and kind of messy and clipped in some more of the flowers... It actually really cute and not too hand made. I was pretty proud of myself for completing it. And now I think I might buy a sewing machine and learn how to sew. I think I could make a lot of cute things. Oh, I also were my makeup kind a cool and used a lot of glitter :)

Too bad we didn't have a camera... maybe I will make Tallon dress up again and we can get a picture of it.

Late Halloween Party

2008-11-06T08:04:00.002-06:00

Tallon's older brother Macky is having a late Halloween party this Saturday. He really wants people to dress up and has themed the party parenthood... which I think is funny, but also very hard to find a costume. Tallon and I could agree on what parents we would be.... But I really liked themed parties and I love dressing up... but this was a hard one. I went through so many celebrity parents (my personal favorite was Britney and K-Fed, but Tallon didn't want to dress up as K-Fed) but Tallon just didn't like any of them. He then decided that we shouldn't dress up and told me he didn't really want to dress as a celebrity or someone who is on the cover of the tabloids. I agreed but was bummed that he didn't want to dress up and determined to find something that we could do. I finally suggested Father Time and Mother Earth. He liked it!

I think he just really liked the idea of having a beard... So, I am going to go the Halloween shops that are still opened and see if I can find some fake hair so he can have a gray head of hair and a long gray beard. Then I will have to find him a clock....

I am trying to think of something for my costume... I think I will just need to buy some fabric and make a really flowy earth tone dress... I am not sure if I will be able to pull that off, but I am going to try. I am going to wear my hair curly and a little messy with flowers in it. And I will put on some greenish eyeshadow and glitter... I think it will work out if I am able to make the dress.

I am pretty excited about it, but I am trying not to get too excited because I may not be able to pull off the making of the dress.... but I have a pretty good plan... I will post pictures after the party.

Halloween Weekend

2008-11-03T08:14:00.003-06:00

My Halloween was pretty uneventful... but I still had fun.

On Friday we had a TON of food at work. It was crazy the amount of snacks that were there. Luckily I left at noon so I didn't eat too much.

I went to help Anh (the lady I work for) with her son's Halloween party. Her son is in the second grade. It was s funny to see all the kids in their Halloween costumes... so were not so great and others were super elaborate... it was really funny. We had them decorate these orange paper plate to make them look like a jack-o-lantern and then they decorated these pumpkin scented candles (it was cute because all of the kids said "I will give this to my mom"). Once they were done with the crafts we played games. There was one relay type game were they had to scoop popcorn out of one bowl and carry it to another (that got a little messy) and the other game was a big bowl full of spaghetti noodles with these gummy eye balls in it and they had to find the eyes. What I thought was funny about that game was the girls were better at it than the boys. I would have thought the boys would just dig in there and get it all out, but they seemed to think it was gross. It was really funny.

Then after work I went and helped my mom get ready for her Halloween party. She was dressed as a gypsy lady. We did her makeup all bright and colorful and she wore this black curly wig and all these scarves and jewelry. It was great!

Then I went and met up with Tallon so we could go see his nephews in their costumes. We were going to go with them to go trick-or-treating, but by the time we met up with them Ian (the oldest of the 2 nephews but still only five years old) was tired and ready to call it a night. They said that he was scared of the "reals." We asked them what are "reals"... I guess they are anything with a mask or scary face. Ian wouldn't go up to any of the houses that had "reals." We thought that was funny. The other nephew Luke is only a year and 2 months so he didn't go trick-or-treating, but he had a cute pirate costume on.

Then Ashley (Tallon's sister-in-law) and I went and got pumpkin shaped pizzas from Papa Murphy's... they have them for like 6 bucks and it is the huge pizza.

Saturday I worked from 12 to 5 for a lady here at the office and then after that Tallon and I just went home and enjoyed our pumpkin shaped pizza. And Sunday we went back over to Dillon and Ashley's so Tallon could help with this garden and Ashley and I just hung out with the baby.

Not a very exciting Halloween, but it was nice to have a pretty relaxing weekend.

What Are You Going To Be For Halloween??

2008-10-31T08:01:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to say....

It's Pay Day!

2008-10-23T08:08:00.003-05:00

It only happens twice a month (sometimes three times, but normally just twice.)

It has been nice lately because Tallon and I are getting paid on opposite weeks... therefore we get a paycheck every week... it is WAY easier to budget that way. I think that once it goes back to getting both checks in the same week I will just wait to cash mine... we tend to have more "extra" money than when we get it all at the same time. It is so nice. I wish we were better at budgeting so that no matter how we received our money we would still have extra money.

I love pay day! It really has to be the best day ever. I always get to go out to lunch on pay day and always make a trip to Target... I probably shouldn't, but I just can't help it. I love Target! They have everything I need except fresh produce :) I don't normally do my grocery shopping at Target... it gets a little expensive... I like to go to the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market. They have the same prices as the regular Wal-Mart, but it is NEVER very crowded. They have everything we need to fill our pantry... I will go there tomorrow after work. I would go tonight (because we really need some groceries) but it is Chili Night at mom's...

Well, I always go over there for dinner on Mondays and Thursdays... but tonight she is making chili. She asked me what I wanted and told her that chili sounded really good. And I am SOOOO glad i said that.... because... it is the perfect weather for chili. Lately the mornings and evenings have been really cool, but the middle of the day has been in the 70's... but it rained yesterday and it is sooo cold out... it is perfect for a chili dinner. I have to come up with a dessert to bring. I guess I will pick something up at Target.

I am also excited because The Office comes on tonight. I love that show and I have such a hard time waiting a WHOLE week just to see the next episode.

Lets see... what else can I tell you...

OH! I watched The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy last night... it was SO funny. When I told Tallon how much I enjoyed it he left the room and came back with this GIANT book... I asked him what it was and he told me that it was The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy book... I didn't even know we had that! It is a series of four books... be he gave me one giant book... all four books are in this one. I am so excited... I can't wait to read it. It is so funny... and reminds of the silly stuff I think up. I will let you know who it goes...

I guess that's it... It seems that today is going to be a good day... I just need to find a coat when I go to Target and then it will be a GREAT day!

PS) I also started using the Paint program on my computer... I totally forgot about it and then Tallon sent me a picture he drew using Paint and I decided I needed to give it a try... I just wanted to explain that wonderful picture at the top of this post... HA!

AAAAA CHEW!

2008-10-20T08:38:00.002-05:00

The sneeze... why does it happen and where does it come from??

Saturday night I started sneezing after I washed my face... the only connection I can think of is I soap in my nose.. not sure though... I am not even sure if that would make someone sneeze. Anyway, I just started sneezing over and over and over... it was horrible. It finally slowed down and I took some allergy medicine. That seemed to help a little and I was able to get to sleep. Then next morning I seemed fine. I cleaned the house and I did laundry. My nose was a little runny and I just kept having to blow it. Then Tallon and I went out to Barnes and Noble and I just couldn't stop sneezing again... I ordered some peppermint tea to help clear my sinuses, but it didn't help much... it was tasty though. I had to work at 1:00 so when I got there I took some sinus medicine. It didn't seem to help at all. I went through two boxes of tissue and my nose hurt so so bad! I finally took some Benadryl and that seem to help with the sneezing... but my nose was still runny and my throat was getting a little sore. I had some cough drops to help my throat and by the time it was time to go home I wasn't sneezing very much at all... however, I was completely worn out and the Benadryl made me rather sleepy.... but at least I was sneezing all over the place.

This has never happened to me before, but it seems like my mom and dad are suffering from it too. There must be something in the air... YUCK!

Saturday

2008-10-18T08:29:00.005-05:00

I work for Lindsey and Associates... I am an assistant for two Realtors. It is pretty much the easiest job ever. I worked for LIndsey off and on since I was 16 years old. When I first working here I answered the phones every other weekend... it was an easy job and I got time to read, do homework or just play on the interent. I did that for about 4 or 5 years then I worked for a different Real Estate company and had to quit Lindsey. Well, I am back and I have been back for over a year now. I love it here... I like the work and I know all the people.

Anyway... recently my mom has been answering phones every other weekend... well neither her or the other girl could do it this weekend so here I am.. back answering the weekend phones... Maybe I didn't mention it before... it is REALLY boring. The phone hardly ever rings and now that the real estate market had gotten really bad no one calls in. So, here I am... sitting and doing nothing on my Saturday.

Normally on Saturday Tallon and I get up and go to the Farmer's Market and then get some lunch... then sometimes we go hang out with his brother's family and sometimes we go to a movie and sometimes we go shopping. Well, this Saturday I don't get to do any of my normal fun stuff. BUMMER! However, I am getting paid about 100 bucks for just sitting... I guess I can't complain.

I brought my laptop with me so I could watch some movies online and listen to music, but I couldn't it to connect to the internet. I have a computer to use, but it is kind of slow... so BUMMER again.

Oh, well... I am saving money by not going out and doing anything and I am making money by sitting here... so I guess I can't complain. It is just going to be a very long boring day....

Selling My House

2008-10-14T09:02:00.003-05:00

Tallon and I are selling our house. Who knew it was going to be this hard... oh wait... I did know. I work in real estate... It has been listed for about 2 months and we have not had 1 showing.

I am a pretty tiddy person but I have been keeping the house extra clean, vacuuming more than necessary, wiping down the coutertops in the kitchen and bathroom every morning, opening windows and keeping lamps on to makes sure the house well lit... but... NO SHOWINGS! I got the carpets professionally cleaned, we painted one of the rooms that was not a pretty color, we rearranged furniture so it was aesthetically pleasing instead of comfortable for us, we got a bed so we didn't just have a mattress on the floor (I am really happy about that change), my mom and dad gave us their nice refrigerator for the kitchen, we organized and reorganized every closet, drawer, shelf and so on... and still... NO SHOWINGS!!

OH YEAH! We also got a NEW ROOF!!! A whole NEW ROOF!! - No Showings!

Our flyers have been going pretty quickly though... so that is good... well, at least I thought that was good... Until our neighbor came by with a hand all or our flyers saying he found them in the back of his truck. What punk took all the flyers and put them in someone else's truck?!?! That is SO rude!

This weekend we are going to work on some landscaping. When we were getting our roof replace the roofers smashed a lot of the plants... not that any of them looked very good, but now they look worse. My mom is going to come over and help me. I am pretty excited about because I have no idea how to do yard work... and I don't really think I want to know much about it. I don't really like yard work. But maybe I will like it if if looks nice to begin with. So, hopefully mom can help make it look nice and then I can keep it up. We are just working on the front yard this weekend...but maybe soon we can do something to the back yard.

Well, if anyone reading knows anyone who wants a really cute, but kind of small, house in Springdale let me know!

HONK! HONK!

2008-10-09T08:19:00.006-05:00

I have decided that Arkansas should be called "The Home of The Worst Drivers...EVER!!!" instead of "The Natural State"

This morning I was driving to work after I dropped Tallon off... this is a normal every day thing for me... There is normally a lot of traffic, but it moves quickly (especially if we leave early enough.) Which I thought we did leave at a good time, but I guess Thursday mornings are a though one. There is not much traffic on the way to Tallon's work, but once I left Airways it was NUTS!!! The drivers here in Arkansas are very aggressive. I have always said that Arkansas drivers are bad... but after this morning I am convinced that they are the WORST!

Now, the highway system here was never very well thought out, but still... people should be able to enter and exit the highway without making traffic come to a complete stand still. No one has ever really quite figured it out here. When you need to exit you simply get in the lane nearest the exit (normally the right lane) and you don't start slowing down until you are on the off ramp.... that is NOT how people do it here.... They slow down like a mile before they exit. They get down to like 40 mph and then slowly get off the highway. It is so ridiculous. Also, they do this when entering the highway. The on ramp is for gaining a little speed... one should get up to about 50 or 60 then get on the highway... then the other cars already on the highway won't have to slow down or speed up. Not that the other cars on the highway really do this... they tend to just keep going the same speed and not let the oncoming car in (here in Arkansas.)

Then on the other roads... it doesn't matter if I have my blinker o n that person does NOT want me to come over... Driving isn't some kind of race or competition! Why would it matter if I need to get over or not. There are always people running red lights, in the middle of the road because they keep moving forward a little at a time until their light is green, cutting you off, honking and so on.

When I started driving we still lived in Texas where Drivers Ed is required... I took it through my high school and got an extra credit or two because of it. We had to take a class after school for a certain amount of time and then we had to have like 30 hours of driving time and 30 hours of observing time. Then we had to pass a test... Here, in this lovely land of Arkansas, Drivers Ed is not required and very few parents make their children take it. Not that it would really matter because the person teaching is from Arkansas and CAN'T DRIVE!!!

I am not saying I am a good driver... actually I would say I am a BAD driver... but I am also a considerate driver and I know how to drive on a highway appropriately.

I guess all I want is a simple "thank you" wave when I let someone over...

Zooey Dsechanel - She & Him - Singing Dream A Little Dream

2008-10-08T11:22:00.002-05:00

I love this!

Oh Yeah!

2008-10-06T09:18:00.004-05:00

I HAVE MY LAPTOP BACK!!!!

El Camino....

2008-10-06T08:31:00.013-05:00

Tallon got in Friday evening at 8:30... it was so nice to have him back home. We stayed up and watched a movie (Ghost World) together and then we planned the rest of or weekend.

Saturday we got up and wanted to go get some breakfast. Mom called and said that she wanted to go to breakfast too... so we decided on this little place call El Camino Real it is a Mexican restaurant that serves breakfast! It was this little hole-in-the-wall place that was EXCELLENT! We all had coffee and they brought REAL cream to go with it... then we all ordered a dish that had chorizo in it... it was so good! Mom had to leave pretty quickly because she had a hair appointment, but Tallon and I stayed and talked for a little while.

Then Tallon and I went up to the Farmer's Market because we wanted these candles we saw a few weeks back when we were working for the animal shelter... at the time we didn't have any cash on us so we had to wait. We couldn't find the lady at first (she was in a different location) but as we were leaving we saw her. The candles are only a dollar a piece and if your buy three you get one free... so we picked out our four candles and she told us that since we were her first customer of the day we get another free one (which was funny because the market was about to close down.) And right next to the candle lady was hand made soap man... Tallon has been saying that he wanted to get some hand made soap to use and to just put on the bathroom... So we got some!

On our way to the Farmer's Market we pasted a thrift store called The Attic. I have seen it a few times, but never been in. We had about an hour before they closed so we went shopping. It was a little scary and catered mostly to older folks, but after some searching and laughing we found some great items. Tallon got this awesome tweed blazer for 5 bucks and I got some really cute purple high heels for 2 bucks! I think I will do more thrift store shopping in the future. This one had some really funny stuff though.

And then we went to the movies and played Clue with my mom.

That was my Saturday and I had a great time! I guess I just really wanted to tell you about the Mexican breakfast and the thrift store shopping. I like to go to new places and see what they have to offer... and that is what we did this weekend. It was nice.

WOOO HOOOO!!!

2008-10-03T08:17:00.006-05:00

TALLON IS COMING HOME TODAY!!!

I am so glad he is coming back. I hate being home by myself... it is so boring. I like to have some one to talk to other than the dogs.

Anyway... I am just happy.

Have a good day today!

We Could Talk Or Not Talk For Hours"

2008-10-01T08:12:00.007-05:00

I know that when I tell you this you are going to think that I have been living under a rock my whole life.... but.... I watched Best In Show for the first time last night. I have seen a lot of clips from it and heard a lot of references to it... but I have never watched it all the way through.

Well, as you know Tallon is out of town (in Vegas... probably having a wonderful time) and I am stuck here in good ol' Arkansas with nothing to do. I decided that last night I would cook dinner and watch funny movies. I went to the grocery store over my lunch break so all I had to do was go home after work.

I started the evening with the always funny Super Troopers. Even though I went to the store and bought stuff top make dinner and had my mom's left over half-homemade soup I decided to cook up a nice frozen pizza. I made cherry turnovers for dessert. By the time Super Troopers was over it was about 8:00... I did a little bit of laundry and went looking for another funny movie. That is when I came across Best In Show...

Maybe I didn't have the right since of humor for it before, but when I watched it last night I was laughing so hard. (maybe it was the cough syrup kicking in) It was so funny... the characters were hilarious. There were some really funny moments when the dog owners were getting interviewed... I don't even know how to describe it... so here are some clips.

Anyway... I think this is going on my favorite movies list...

I will probably get my Netflix movie tonight... I wonder what I will make for dinner....

Tallon - Vegas

2008-09-30T09:06:00.011-05:00

Tallon is in Vegas for the week. He left early yesterday morning and won't be back until Friday night.

His work sent him there with a friend for a trade show. He has gone to a few other places through work... but not Vegas! I am glad he is getting to travel... that is a good experience for him.

However, I hate to be home alone. I also hate to be that needy girl who can stay home by herself, but I still hate it!

Last night I went over to my mom's to eat dinner and watch Heroes... I took one of the dogs with me so she would be calm by bedtime. That worked out well, but the other dog who nothing but lethargic decided to be a pain last night. He can't jump up on or down from the bed... if he wants either he barks.

So, I put him up on the bed and he barked to get down... I let him down... then he barked at the toilet (yes the toilet) because he was thirsty... I went and filled up his water bowl and let him get a good drink... then I out him back up on the bed... a little while later he is barking to get down again... so I let him down... and instead of going to the newly filled up water bowl he barks at the toilet... Since the toilet is much closer the the water bowl I decided to lift the lid and let him drink... then I put him back on the bed... he barked to get down... I put him down... he got more water from the stupid toilet and I did NOT put him back on the bed, but I put a pillow on the floor for him to sleep on... then around 1:30 he was barking to get on the bed... I put him on the bed and slept until the alarm went off.

It was the strangest thing though... he never does anything like that. He normally just sleeps, stretches, eats and goes outside... it was so weird!

Hopefully tonight will go better... because I am SO sleepy today.

This isn't an actual picture of my Dog Wednesday, but it looks a lot like her... she was the good one last night... which is not very common.

Again... not an actual picture, but looks very similar to KC... He normally just lays around and doesn't do much... but not last night.

Nightbird Books

2008-09-29T09:24:00.012-05:00

The great bookstore we went was Nightbird Books! I have driven past several times but was never able to go inside... I pointed it out to Tallon just to say "I want to go there" and he turned in the parking lot and we went in. The first thing we saw was the coffee (we seem to always notice coffee) and then we noticed a giant bird cage! It was a very nice purple painted birdcage. It had bird nests in it and was very clean. They don't have a HUGE selection, but everything we saw was something we were interested in. Then we started talking to to the owner and she showed us that there was a second floor... the fiction section... and the children's section. It was decorated with modern furniture and colorful walls.

We talked to the owner some more to find out more information about the place and the books. The store has been opened for two years and all the books are hand picked. That is why the selection is great even though there are not a TON to pick from. Don't get me wrong there are plenty of books to look at and you can order any book you want... if only takes two days to get it.

Since Tallon and I are on a budget we each only got to get once book. He got a book called "Fargo Rock City" and I got a book called "Death Do Us Part." Mt book is nineteen short stories all about tragic love... I guess... so far it is pretty good. I just started reading it last night because I was wanted to finish my library book first.

Anyway, Nightbird Book has to be the best book store I have ever been to. They had a great selection and an awesome building.

You should go!

Here is there website: http://www.nightbirdbooks.com/

Here is the birdcage

This is an above shot of the first floor

And.. here is the second floor...

The Little Bread Company

2008-09-29T09:03:00.004-05:00

Saturday morning Tallon and I wanted to get something to eat. It wasn't quite time for the lunch places to be open so we were really having a hard time deciding on what to eat. AS many of you may know Bikes, Blues and BBQ was going on this weekend and we wanted to try and avoid as much of that as possible. (we failed at that but we still had a good time)

We decided to go to this place called The Little Bread Company. I have never eaten at the one in Fayetteville... I knew of the one in Eureka Springs only because I used to work at a coffee shop, Bo's Muddy Water, that served their pastries. So, we decided to try it out. When we walked up to it we thought it was a rather small building, but then once we entered it was MUCH bigger than what the outside let on. Also, it had a great outdoor eating area. We both ordered Quiche... Tallon got the one with artichoke in and I got the one with bacon(YUM)... We sat outside and ate... after we ate and sat there a while we decided we want something sweet to enjoy with out coffee. While Tallon was inside ordering something this cute hippie family came and sat down beside me. They had a little boy with long, curly, blond hair... I asked him if he could give me five and he did and then he shook my hand! It was so cute. He sat with me for a while until his food arrived.

When Tallon came back the little boy (I think his name was Oliver) was busy eating his quiche. Tallon brought back a Lemon Barry Tart... it was WONDERFUL!

We always try to go to places that we have never been or have heard people talk about. We like to find new places for us to go when we are not sure where we want to go. It is a lot of fun.

The Little Bread Company was a great find. I have always known it was there, but I never went. I glad we went there I am sure we will return often.

After we ate we went to the library... which is always a nice place to go. I was in the middle of a book at the time so I only got one book to check out, but Tallon got several. He is going to Vegas and needed some reading material for the plane.

Then we were forced to drive in the direction we didn't want to go because of all the motorcycles... but ended up a great bookstore.

THE OFFICE!!!

2008-09-25T08:05:00.004-05:00

I am so excited!!! The Office premieres tonight!!! I have been waiting and waiting and now it is finally here. This is my all time favorite show. This is the show that needs an hour long countdown and then a two hour premiere... I can't wait to see what happens...

Jan is pregnant - Micheal is going to take care of it even though it isn't his baby - there is a new HR person - Pam got accepted to design school and will be gone for three months - Jim was going to ask Pam to marry him but Andy stole is thunder by proposing to Angela - then at the end Dwight and Angela were caught by Phylis "doing it" in the office!

I am so excited!

Tallon and I are going to go over to my mom's and order pizza and watch the comedic acts unfold. Mom doesn't normally watch The Office but I think she will really enjoy it... especially now that she works in an even more office-like environment.

I am sure you are excited too...

Florence And The Machine

2008-09-24T13:32:00.002-05:00

I really like this band!

Check it out!

Why Do People Go Out Of Their Way To Be Mean?

2008-09-23T16:29:00.006-05:00

I have recently come to realize that I associate will way too many rude people.

I feel I am a nice giving person. I listen to people and give people advice... Actually, I like to do these things. I like to be helpful... but I am only human and sometimes it is nice to be helped in return. I guess I really don't need much help, but it would be nice if someone could be nice in return. This is a problem I am used to having... I tend to attract needy people and I have the need to help.

Well, I'M DONE! I am putting my foot down! I will not longer let people be rude to me... I am the person that has listened to them and given them advice and tried to make them laugh... why should I let them treat me poorly? Just because I prefer to be nice to people doesn't mean I don't care if people are nice to me. Actually, it means quite the opposite... It isn't even that I care if they are as giving as I am but it would be nice if they could respect the fact that I have been trying to make them happy.

There have been so many people that I have reached out to and tried to help that have treated me so badly. Why do the nice people get taken advantage of? I am not a door mat... I don't let people walk all over me... but I do pick and choose my battles. It isn't worth it me to make an already unhappy person upset with me by calling them out on their rudeness. I still don't think it is worth it... So I think all I am going to do is distance myself from the needy people and start figuring out what I need (which isn't much)

I am pretty content with my life... I have had ups and downs, but nothing major. I just need to start meeting more people and try to find people that have the same interests as me.

My newest goal is to start interacting with friendly, happy people. I am done with the rude ones!

Mybe I will join a club and meet new people... maybe a cooking class would be good - I am not a very good cook.

Heroes

2008-09-23T09:42:00.006-05:00

So, last night was the season premiere of Heroes. I never watch the show before a few weeks ago. Tallon and I ordered Netflix and we could watch a lot of stuff online. Well, I watched the first two season of Heroes and loved it. So, I was pretty excited about the premiere last night.

Tallon and I decided to cancel out cable not too long (just to save money) so I went over to my mom's to watch it... I knew she would like the show... but little did I know that it was a three hour premiere. From 7-8 was a pre-show count down and then the show lasted two hours! So, from 7-10 I watch TV... which is a little much for me. I normally read at night.

Even though it was three hours it was still really good... and I got to hang out with mom-which included dinner (we had tacos-yum yum.) Well, mom has never seen the show before so during the pre-show countdown they went over some of the characters... but I still had to explain quite a bit to her. She eventually figured out all the characters and their powers except one. His name is Peter and he has ALL the powers... so future Peter teleported to the present... then present Peter chased down future Peter and Future Peter made him basically disappear. She was so confused about who he was and what he could do and where present Peter went. She just emailed me this morning and said she thinks she finally figured out. It was so funny watching her trying to figure it. (Love ya mom)

So, last night lasted a little longer than I expected but I had a good time with mom, TV and dinner.

Now, I can't wait for Thursday... The Office premieres :)

Poor Computer

2008-09-22T16:43:00.009-05:00

So, my computer has recently gotten sick. I had to take it back to Best Buy to have them fix it. Luckily I paid for the protection plan and it is free (well, sort of free.) Not having a computer makes work VERY boring. There are company computers that I have been using, but I can't sit on them for a very long time. I have just been using them to check my email and to post a few things. During the time that I am computer-less I normally read... I couldn't really get into the book I brought today so I decided to write silly little poems and haiku. I do this from time to time, but never really as much as I did today... so I decided to post one of poems. It is about my poor, sick computer.

Poor Computer.

I know you are ill,

Although I wish I could have you still.

Oh, I miss you so...

My spirits have gotten so low.

It will be days... maybe weeks before I will get you back,

Maybe I should have named you Jack.

The dude at Best Buy said it wouldn't take long.

I should turn this poem into a song

Do Ra Me Fa So La Te

Oh, computer... please come back to me.

So, that is one of the poems I wrote today... I am sure I will post more.

Have a great evening and make good choices.

Volunteering at the Animal Shelter

2008-09-22T11:02:00.002-05:00

About a month ago I accidentally hit a cat while driving home one night. I felt so bad about it and I thought that if I do something good for other animals it might make me feel a little better.

So, Tallon and I decided to volunteer at the animal shelter. We got in touch with a few people who knew what we could do for them. One of the things we could help with is walking dogs around the Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings... We thought that sounded fun. We like to go to the Farmer's Market and we like animals... it was a win win.

We arrived at the animal shelter at about 8:15... we were the first ones there. This man gave us a list of dogs to pick from. We went into the smelly room where all the cages are located. (It was smelly because it was so early and no had a chance to clean up the over night mess... but still very smelly.) I wanted to get a small puppy-like dog, but Tallon wanted a bigger dog. There were not many little dogs to pick from and they were all going crazy. We just kept on walking around and looking for a dog. Then, finally, we found her. She was the only dog that wasn't barking and the only dog who had a nice, clean cage. Her name was Cynthia.

Tallon took her out to run around a little and go to the bathroom while I got all the instruction. Eventually we were all loaded up in our cars and we were off to the Farmer's Market. Once we got there they set up there booth while we all put on "volunteer" aprons and the dogs for "adopt me" vest. We started to walk Cynthia around and she was loved by everyone. The best part was she was sponsored which mean her adoption fees were already paid.

Lost of people showed interest in her and I was so excited. I didn't think we would actually get a dog adopted... so once I realized that lots of people loved her getting her adopted was my task. Even though I didn't have to do much to get her adopted... she really knew how to work it. There was one lady who was really interested in her... her only concern was that she has cats and she didn't know how well they would respond to a dog. She kept on coming back to our booth and she eventually filled out the papers to foster her. Then not too long after that another women really wanted her and she filled out adoption papers... So, either way... foster care or adoption... I completed my task. I think that someone else was interested her too. I was so happy that I was able to find a home for Cynthia. I hope she was happy too.

I don't think that I have ever volunteered with out being obligated to or in a group... it was very nice to do it just because I wanted to. I will most definitely do it again. We took about 8 or 9 dogs out for the walk and we got about half of them adopted... it turned out really well.

For more info about the Fayetteville Animal shelter click on this link http://www.uark.edu/ALADDIN/fayanim/

The Wine Cellar

2008-09-22T10:02:00.002-05:00

Friday I had a wonderful time with family and friends at The Wine Cellar. It is a new wine bar that opened about two weeks ago in Fayetteville.

I took a half day on Friday so I could spend some extra time with Tallon. We went to the library and then decided to go to Wilson Park to read. My dad lives over there so we parked the car at his place. We then decided that his front porch was a much nicer and more private place to read our books. We sat there for about 30 minutes and then my dad got home from work. We all chatted for a while and had a glass of wine. Then our friend Karl showed up and we all decided to go to The Wine Cellar.

When we arrived we sat on the patio, but then we soon realized that we would not have enough room. Luckily for us the Champagne Room was still available. We took our seats and ordered some appetisers. My dad loaded a gift card-type-thing with money... which was kind of strange but still interesting. Then he took me up this "Wall-O-Wine" thing. We grabbed a glass, he inserted his card, placed his glass under a spout, pushed an button and the wine started to pour out. IT WAS A WINE VENDING MACHINE!! I have never seen that before. It held about 15 to 20 wines ranging from $5.00 a glass to $30.00 a glass.

Now, in any ordinary place a wine vending machine sounds kind of cheap and bizarre. But this place was very nice... it had a great atmosphere and wasn't a very large. The Champagne Room had these cute little chandlers above the table and candles.

Once everyone was settled in and had their appetisers someone ordered a bottle of champagne for the table. The waiter came out and poor everyone a glass and left bottle for us to enjoy.

I had a great time and so did everyone else. We stayed for quite a while and then we walked up to another restaurant for dinner. I believe I will be returning to The Wine Cellar very soon. It was wonderful!

Hello

2008-09-22T09:00:00.004-05:00

Hi there! I'm Heather and I guess I have a lot to say... at least I normally do. So, I decided to start writing it down. I figured I would write it down on this blog and then whoever wants to read it can.

I really enjoy meeting new people and doing new things... So, I thought I could tell everyone about that here. I think it will be fun and give me more to write about and less to talk about.

I tried to get my friends to do this with me, but no one seemed interested... so here I am... by myself... writing to whoever feels the need to read.

I hope you enjoy it and have a good time.