Before and After

This post was originally going to be a picture of my flowers and my latest updates however my project wasn't quite complete today. I was able to spread down 4 bags of mulch today and get all the weeds pulled and flowers trimmed. I bought some new edging that I was excited to put out but as soon as I got the mulch out it started to thunder and rain. So what do I do instead? Grab the dog and go for a run in the rain. It had been so hot it felt great to cool off. It started off as a simple run in the rain and ended up being a race to get home from the thunderstorm. Still felt great to me, Jazzie looked pretty ticked. She does not like thunder and was a sad, wet dog after getting home. I will complete my flowers in the next day or two and post pics.

I recently took a few older pictures in to show friends at work here in Columbia. They didn't believe me when I told them I used to weigh a lot more. It's strange to me now to get the pics out and look at the comparison. I guess I do kind of look like a different person. I feel like a different person.
2006

This was in Jamaica in 2006. I even wore a 2 piece. What on earth made me think THAT was a good idea?

Disney in 2005.

And my personal least favorite...I can't believe how large I look.

5 years later...

I just went to Kohl's this morning and bought a few new clothes. It is SO much more fun to go shopping now. Although it's trickier when I like almost everything I put on, it's harder not to spend too much money!

This girl turns 13 on July 9th. 13 years old. I'm letting her have 4 friends sleepover on Friday. Wish me luck!

So in honor of this milestone birthday, a teenager now, I thought I'd dig out some old pics to continue the before and after theme.

Looking way too grown up

Disney in 2005. So little!

Her 8th birthday at the Peoria Chiefs game, getting her name on the scoreboard.

And the priceless reaction to seeing her name on the scoreboard.

The 8 year old. Still celebrating with her parents and all her parents friends.

The following year, her 9th birthday. Again at a Peoria Cheif's game. A pattern here.

And the priceless reaction shot for the 9th birthday...her face when she opened her Nintendo DS.

Of course Hannah Montana was the thing that year too. Notice the shirt.

So long are the days of Hannah Montana and the Nintendo DS. Now it's Miley Cyrus and text messaging. It's not about hanging out with the parents friends, it's the sleepover that started out with a list of 22 people that had to get narrowed down to 4. Is it really only 3 years away from 16? That makes me cringe just thinking about it.

I'm heading out to the field the week of July 5th for inspections, going to Springfield, MO. I'm really looking forward to getting out of the office. Then back for a few days and heading back out to the field the following week, July 18th to Fort Smith, Arkansas for a week and 1/2. During the weekend I'm in Arkansas I'm going to drive to Tulsa and see family I haven't seen in 20 years. That will be exciting. I hope to have a lot of exciting posts in July. Including the Bon Jovi concert with Missy!

An exciting purchase and back to blonde

I made a purchase I've been debating on for a long time now...and I'm so glad I did. After a lot of research I thnk I made a good choice. So, ok, I'd be omitting a key detail if I didn't include the fact that I did somehow manage to get a new pair of shoes in my cart along with my big purchase. They were only $19.99 and I loved em. Gosh I love shoes. Shoes make me happy.
"Oh mom, really?" was the response I got from Caylea tonight because I kept talking about how I loved my new toy and how the vacuum was the bomb. Ah yes, this is probably going to be the most exciting part of my week.

Oh yes, worth every penny, which in the world of vacuums wasn't too many. My Hoover Wind Tunnel Pet Rewind. First off, the cord, stinkin awesome. You push a button and the cord auto rewinds! How did that little invention not hit the market years ago? Not having to wind that cord around and around and around, awesome. Second, the thing picks up pet hair like magic. and the canister was super easy to empty and the whole thing was easy to assemble. I had a Bissell that just stopped sucking anything up. I read reviews on lots of different vacuums. This one was on special at Target this week, get a $20 gift card with purchase. Since the reviews were all so good I decided it was time to splurge. I couldn't take it anymore, it had been too long since I vacuumed. And the $20 gift card made it more appealing.

Went to my co-worker, Jill's, wedding this weekend. It was a lot of fun! The transportation to the reception.

Jill was rockin the dress and the guitar

Jill, Erin, me and Julie

Me and Erin.

Not sure if you can really tell in the photos very well but I'm back to blonde and loving it! I feel like me again. The dark was fun for awhile but I missed the blonde. It just feels natural. I feel like the dark made me look older. So back to blonde, yay! :)

Hello, Fro Yo

What to do after spending 2 hours in the hot sun at the pool? Visit the new frozen yogurt bar downtown. Fat free and fabulous.

Caylea had raspberry with cookie dough

I had raspberry with strawberries and blueberries. So. Darn. Good.

I've been on the look out for a new bed set for awhile and finally found one today at Target. Ended up with this set. I was excited it came with decorative pillows too.

Close up of the design on the comforter

I normally have a down comforter/duvet deal and am so tired of fighting to put the duvet on after washing the cover. It was always lumpy and never looked as good after I tried to smooth it back out. I had a plain dark brown cover with red sheets for the past 2 years. So I'm excited to have a more relaxing brown/blue. I've been looking for something I liked enough to justify spending the money. And this set wasn't all that pricey. And the underside of the comforter is silky. I may have a hard time getting up tomorrow!

Does anyone know what the heck a European sham is? The set came with two of these. And I put them on two of my pillows for some of the pics because it just looks nice. But the things are huge and square. I haven't seen European pillows for sale but maybe I just haven't been looking. On another note I passed my last AIM test on Monday, woohoo! I'm signed up for CPCU next. Not sure yet if that was a smart move or not. I'm sure I'll be kicking myself for that one soon enough. Have a hair appointment on Wednesday and if all goes well I'm going back to my roots so to speak. ;)

Memorial Day weekend recap

Been studying for my last AIM test lately. Blah. Tomorrow I am going to take my studies to the pool however to make it a little more fun. My test is Monday, a little nervous about it but hopefully I'll pass my last test.

So I was excited to go buy a new pair of running shoes since my old ones have pretty much no more support. So what do I end up with? The EXACT same pair I bought last year. I guess if it's not broke, don't fix it. They work for me. I was just hoping they had my size in the new purple color but no luck. At least they were $10 cheaper than last year. Buying the same pair of shoes twice feels weird.

And here we have my new pretties. Found these babies in Tennessee at a great shoe store. Good thing I only had a carry on or I may have walked out with quite a few more pairs! These match a shirt I have perfectly and are a great new addition to my collection! :)

While I was away my mom went on a frenzy. I came home to find she had gone through a lot of stuff in the garage and stacked boxes to make more room. And the best part....

She spent hours in Caylea's room organizing. It looks amazing.

I had forgotten there was actually a floor in this closet because it had been a long time since I have seen it. Now it's uber organized. My mom spent 9pm to 4am doing her room. I don't know what got into her but I'm grateful for it!!

My trip to TN was a lot of fun! Ate a lot of good food, learned a lot about UFC fighting, had a killer 2 hour workout at the gym, and got to catch up with Dre, Stacy, and Azlyn of course. Oh and Baxter too. You can see Baxter had to sneak in the pics.

Azlyn took a few of the pictures.

She has gotten really big and talks up a storm! And boy does she look like daddy.

Ice cream stop

My flowers are doing decent!

I picked out some random red ones. I didn't really mean to because the other ones are all pink, yellow, or white.

I love my hosta. It is huge.

The daylillies have really gone crazy the past few days and have a dozen or more flowers on them now. They're really pretty. I love it when my flowers grow.

So I come home to find that my mom bought me a birthday cake. It went a little something like this:

Caylea- "Nana bought you a cake"

Me- "Awesome, that was sweet of her"

Caylea-"I told her you liked the whipped icing"

Me-"Really because it says buttercream on the label?"

Caylea-"That's because Nana wanted to get what she likes because she figured her and I would be eating the majority of it."

Good logic mom. :) That plan backfired on her a bit though because this was one of the best cakes I've had that was store bought. I managed to eat quite a few pieces before leaving for TN.

I guess that's all for now...back to studying!