Whew, so much to share!

Well, it's been a busy few days! First, and foremost, I must share the pictures from my Aunt Lois' bday party. As expected, we had a BLAST! Ugh... how lucky I am to have a fun, happy-go-lucky family (most of the time! LOL!). Favorite memories from the night... my sister's listening ear, my aunt's appreciation of the book of photos I gave her, Lisa's beautiful smile (braces are gone!), Little, Little Jess doing the "Booty, Booty, Booty, Booty" dance, Josh calling my Uncle Mike a "Big Puss", Trinity dancing on the bench most of the night (she had spectacular moves...all of which I captured on video to show her someday), Aunt Diane putting her cell phone in unmentionable places, playing tag with Trinity when she wasn't dancing or bowling, several pitchers of beer, trying to get Uncle Mike to sing one of his "marching songs" from when he was a drill sergeant way back when, the shot of tequila (I didn't participate in), and last but not least the pure joy of spending a simple night at dinner (Mexico Lindo) and the bowling alley having a great time with great people!

Next... CHRISTMAS IN JULY... I finally found it! My Christmas album... not that I lost one, but I want to put together a Christmas scrapbook and have been agonizing (totally ridiculous, I know) over which album to use. I FINALLY chose this one after much research and asking others' opinions. It's a festive red and the 3-ring binder type. I hope to pull all of my Christmas pictures together and finish it by this Christmas (non-scrapbookers... this may sound simple, but scrapbookers understand the tedious process! LOL!) Wish me luck!

Also, I have to share my two new favorite techie toys. They both "welcome" me to the 21st century in technology, I know. I'm a pretty tech savvy person, but am NOT quick to make decisions. I often agonize over the simplest decisions... what to order at dinner... which color shoes to buy (sure, it's usually black... it's the easy, mistake proof decision)... paint colors... you name it. So, choosing to go with these was a long, drawn out thing... the first picture is of my old phone (silver) and my new phone. My old phone was over 3 years old (I think it was time for a new one!). This new one is totally cool. It's a T-Mobile Dash with every bell and whistle I could ask for... calendar, Wi-Fi, address book, text messaging, instant message,multi-media texting, camera, voice recorder, video camera, and the list goes on. I just figured out how to record a message and send it via text message (I question it's purpose because wouldn't you just call and leave a voicemail, but it's still cool). I'm sure I'll continue to learn new things it can do. My next favorite (recent) purchase is my Sansa MP3 player and portable speakers. Why not an IPod, you ask? Well, again, I agonized over which to buy for a long time. I finally chose this because it works with Rhapsody (online music store). I LOVE Rhapsody! I can pull up ANY song and then load it to this little gadget to take with me. I have thousands of songs on this little guy and all of you IPodders know this would equal THOUSANDS of $$$ to Itunes. Well, my fee is less than $15.00 per month, so it will take me years and years to catch up to the cost of songs from Itunes. Rhapsody also has kick-ass playlists that other listeners have put together and shared that I can download. They are so cool because many have songs I would have never thought of or even known about. So far this little combo has gone out on the boat with us, kept me company in the shower, rocked out in my scraproom, and helped us chill on the back patio during dinner. I'm happy with my decision! :)

One last thing I want to share is this picture... get a load of the first green bean "pick" from our garden... Can you believe this? I wonder if we live on some toxic waste dump with how well our garden is doing with so LITTLE maintenance from us. Derek made the best dinner the other night that included these yummy green beans, beer can chicken, and roasted tomatoes with basil and mozzarella cheese on top. He spoils me with his cooking. It was delicious. Next time, I'll share pictures of our tomato plants that are taller THAN ME!

Tomorrow, I'm spending the day scrapbooking with my sister, Lori at Little Scrapbook out by Lakeside Mall. I'm going to see if Archiver's is open out there yet. If I make anything worth sharing, I'll post it later this week. Much love...