North Shore

We took a trip along the coast up to the North Shore. It was crazy, with all the people. We went up there last year whenever Michael was here and it wasn't near as crazy. The waves were huge, the surfers were out, and so were all the surf sponsors. The waves were so bad that there was no getting in the water.

We did take Schuylia out of the car at one point and put her feet in the water. We found a beach with rocks right off the shore to break up the waves. Skye loved the water and the waves. She kept staring into the distance watching very intently. We had lunch in Haleiwa at a cute little place called Breakers. In honor of Michael we then walked over to this really good coffee shop and I had a mocha freeze, it is ice cream, mocha, and two shots of espresso. Yum Yum! After lunch, we took Skye for a walk along Haleiwa Beach Park and saw a sea turtle. It was huge. I was lucky and caught it on my camera.

Love walking on the beach.

Yay for Rocks

The water was a little cool

So windy

Checking out the Waves

Sea Turtles

Hawaii

Two weeks in Hawaii. Love it. Well I have arrived and I have been getting up super early this week, so that I could do some work, but that is all over with and done. Now it is time to start my vacation with my best friend Veronica and Schuylia (Schuylia is Veronica's daughter and my new best friend). I arrived on Monday afternoon, and boy that is a long long flight. I wish there was a faster way to get here. From Dallas it takes almost 8 hours flying time. Doing an 8 hour flight alone is rough, especially when no one is sitting next to you. Lots of movies later I made it to Honolulu.

Veronica and Schuylia picked me up at the airport, Skye cried. Apparently her Aunt Jennifer is really scary, but now we are best buds. It took about a day and a half before Skye stopped crying every time she looked my direction. Her whole world has changed, her daddy is deployed and it has just been her and mommy and now this new person, who she has only seen in person one other time in her short life, has arrived. Life is good again. I get lots of smiles and kisses.

Hawaii has been beautiful. It has rained everyday since I have been here, but in Hawaii that's not saying a lot, because it has been sunny lots too.

This is the face I got when I first arrived.

Happy Girl

Seattle

I need to update the blog. Been to many fun places, but last week I was in Seattle, the Emerald City. Beautiful city. If it ever got really hot in Seattle, say during the summer, I might actually want to live there. The weather while I was there was amazing, I don't think it rained even 5 minutes. I was there for work, so I didn't get to do all the things I would have wanted to do had I been there for vacation.

I did go to the Space Needle, the view is amazing. The price to go to the top is a little pricey for what it is, but it is part of Seattle that I am glad I did it. I did see the first Starbucks, I did not try to purchase a coffee because everyone had that idea. I did eat LOTS and LOTS of fresh fish. Best restaurant, Blueacre, best meal Moonfish. The Hawaiian Moonfish was melt in your mouth fresh! I love good fish. I did go to Pike Place Market and while there saw amazing flowers, fresh fruits and vegetables, and fresh fish. I did take several pounds of fresh fish home to my wonderful husband.

The verdict for Seattle, I will go back and I will take Michael. Downtown is the best to be and stay. I would recommend to anyone who lives in the US, to go to Seattle in your lifetime, it is a place with heart and soul and $5 flower arrangements.

I am truly in LOVE with these, if I lived in Seattle these would be in my house all the time.

Fresh, Fresh, Fresh!

Top of the Space Needle

Traveling

I got to be home for basically one day. There is not a lot I could do in one day, but do laundry, watch Arkansas beat Georgia, and pack my suitcase again. I guess I should be glad I am in a place this week I have never been before.

Traveling alone is really no fun. When Michael and I go places together we have a blast. From the airport to the flight to the vacation itself. Yesterday was my travel day and boy was it ever boring. It was 8 hours of slow traveling. Living in Arkansas almost always required connecting to travel anywhere in the US, which honestly doesn't bother me, I always sit next to interesting people. I am just a very impatient traveler. I get annoyed by the person in line at security who tries to bring through their entire bathroom without realizing the 3oz rule or the business traveler, who travels every week yet can't seem to remember to take his belt off before going through the metal detector. That's why I love airports that have an expert line and then the everyone else line. I really love the airports with the expert lines where they yell at the slow people who don't know to take out their laptops or take off their shoes. Trust me when I say this, I don't get this annoyed at people when Michael is traveling with me.

Hoping I get to see the city of Seattle today. Never been here before, first impressions are positive. Weather is awesome, lots of lush green and beautiful view of the water from my hotel.

Another week in Chicago

I feel like I have been in Chicago so much lately. I actually had someone ask me if I was living here again. Seriously that is a bad sign I have been in the Corporate Office too much. I really like coming to the city. The weather this week has been awesome. Tomorrow I am actually going to wear a sweater and need it. There are lots of positives to being in the office. I do like seeing people who work in my office. It is always entertaining and fun to hang out with my sales team. The sales team went to dinner last night and there was no shortage of laughs.

Last weekend was awesome! Razorbacks game and fun times with friends. I got to see my good friend Rob and his new house. It was nice to just sit around and talk. He started his residency in July so, that basically means I won't have a friend for another four years. We had a good time, laughed about some ridiculous stories they had. They being my friend and his girlfriend. It was the first time I got to meet her and I like her, not that it would matter what I thought, but I did like her. Michael actually knew her from college, which was funny and ironic since my friend has been with her awhile and we had not gotten to meet until this weekend. I think when you get older and find your best friend, aka husband, you want all your friends to be as happy.

Sunday, Michael and I went to the LPGA tournament at Pinnacle. We got to see Michelle Wie, the best female player, and I am still not a huge fan of golf. We got tons of free stuff while at the tournament so it was very worth going.

Weekend ahead!

So, as of yesterday Michael and I will be going to Little Rock this weekend. There are multiple reasons to go to the Rock; the main and most important reason is my friend Peggy is coming into town from NYC and the other reason is Arkansas is playing LA Monroe this weekend. It has been a long time since we have gone to a Little Rock game, so it should be FUN FUN FUN!!

We are going to be very busy this weekend. Not only are we going to Little Rock on Saturday, we are going out to Pinnacle on Sunday to watch the LPGA tournament. I am very excited about this, because as much as I don't really care about golf I do think it would be fun and really cool to watch the ladies play in person. Maybe it is like baseball...as much as I LOVE baseball, I cannot stand to watch baseball on TV. 9 innings are just so long when it is on TV. Hopefully I will gain a new respect for golf after Sunday.

On another note, tonight starts Gabby's first day of obedience training. I am looking forward to having a well behaved dog. I will say Gabby can already do lot of good tricks and listens to us for the most part (unless she is excited). I am hoping she will learn to walk with us and not walk us, and I am hoping she will become really good at NOT jumping on people. My poor baby thinks she weighs 15lbs and really she weighs 50lbs. I will blame this on the fact that her bestie is a 15lbs miniature schnauzer named Callie. Gabby tries to do everything Callie does, but as I mentioned prior the only difference is Gabby weighs 50lbs. Example below, Callie loves to lay on the back of the couch, when Gabby lays on the couch she hangs off or else she slides down the front.

Summer is ending...

It is obvious that summer is slowly coming to an end. I am very grateful for the rain we have been having lately. My poor trees really have needed the water. We had been watering our trees every single day and they were still loosing their leaves. Very sad. I am worried fall just won't be near as pretty as it has years past. Now that we live in Arkansas again I was really looking forward to fall.

The rain is wonderful, but my allergies or something are going crazy. I hate being sick, I am probably the worst person sick. I am just not nice. My throat has been killing me. Yesterday was so bad that I was having trouble drinking and breathing. I have had my throat swell up due to an allergic reaction, but this is just no fun. I am hoping if it is allergies that the rain will make it all go away.