Lost and Found

Last night before we went for a walk, I got something out of Tony's truck and put the keys on the hood of my car. Yes, I should've known better, but I didn't it anyways and yes, I forgot they were there. After we got back from our walk, I left to go tan and was oblivious to the fate of my keys.

This morning, I walked out in the garage and immediately remembered setting them there. I looked at Tony with sweet, innocent eyes and said, "Did you get the keys off my car last night?" But he hadn't, so the search for the truck key began.

It wasn't in the garage, it wasn't in our driveway and it wasn't in the road. I honestly thought they were a total loss.

But as I pulled up to the intersection of 19th Street and Santa Fe, I found them...they were in the right hand turn lane. So, I whipped my car into the CVS parking lot and ran out into the road to get my key!!! I was ecstatic. It doesn't look like it was ran over, but it is pretty banged up! I am so glad I found it. I just hope the key faub still works????

There's No Place Like Here

When I read books, I am NEVER one to read the last chapter or the last few pages to know how it ends...I have NEVER even been tempted to do this...until now. I fought the urge to know the ending of this story every time I picked up the book to read it. This is truly a wonderfully spun story about a Missing Persons investigator who goes missing herself. I truly enjoyed reading this story and I know it will stick with me for a long time as I truly felt Sandy's sense of yearning, loss and hope.


Since Sandy Shortt’s childhood classmate disappeared twenty years ago, Sandy has been obsessed with missing things. Finding becomes her goal- whether it’s the sock that vanished in the washing machine, the car keys she misplaced or the graver issue of finding the people who vanish from their lives. Sandy dedicates her life to finding these missing people, offering devastated families a flicker of hope.

Jack Ruttle is one of those desperate people. It’s been a year since his brother Donal vanished into thin air. Thinking Sandy Shortt could well be the answer to his prayers, he embarks on a quest to find her.

But when Sandy goes missing too, she stumbles upon the place – and people – she’s been looking for all her life. A world away from her loved ones and the home she ran from for so long, Sandy soon resorts to her old habit again, searching. Though this time, she is desperately trying to find her way home…

2 Nights of Movies

Thursday night, Tony and I enjoyed a date at the Warren Balcony....I am such a "Warren Snob"...I really prefer not to go anywhere else to see a movie! Anyways, we saw the new Tom Cruise flick, Knight and Day. First of all, I am not a huge Tom Cruise fan anymore...he went too crazy after he and Nicole split and it has really tainted my feelings for his movies. But since Cameron Diaz was in this movie with him...and I heart me some Cameron Diaz, I decided to give it a shot.

The movie is about a normal girl who keeps getting "connected" with a spy...and of course becuase of this, her life is repeatedly threatened and he must continue to come to her rescue.

It was fun to watch and I thought Cameron and Tom did a good job together. The computer graphics on the effects were horrible, but luckily there weren't enough of them to ruin the movie. Although we spent a little extra cash seeing this in the balcony, I was glad it was at the matinee price and not full price. This is fun to see on the big screen, but it would be okay to wait for it to come to DVD too.



On Friday night, the kids and I went to see Toy Story 3. The kids had already seen it on Father's Day with Tony and my family...(remember, I was in bed sick on Father's Day)...but I love Disney movies and I had to see this one in 3D at the Warren...again, I'm a "Warren Snob".

The toys are all back, except Andy is grown up and leaving for college. The story is the toys trying to find their place now that Andy doesn't "need" them anymore.

If you know me at all, you know that I am one that cries in movies...and yes, this movie made me tear up. The first Toy Story came out the year Tony and I got married. So, there is a lot for emotion tied into these movies for me. I kinda relate Quinn's growing up to these movies....so when Andy left for college, my heart was sure tugged at.

I recommend you go see this one in 3D and not wait for it to come out on DVD. It is worth the money and time to see it in the theatres.

Talent and Resilience

Season 7 of So You Think You Can Dance started a few weeks ago. Well, this last week, they had a special guest that was truly amazing. Actually, Brian has auditioned for SYTYCD since season 3. Brian suffers from scoliosis, but he hasn't let that interfere with his love of dance. He does a crazy, sick robot. And although he may not be the show is looking for, the judges and America love his talent and his optimism. During the season 7 auditions the judges found out that Brian has a "crew", so they offered a guest spot to them during the live shows. I am attaching both his audition and his guest performance. I hope you are just as amazed as I am.

I heart the House of Night

I have finished the first 7 books in the House of Night series (you can click the pictures above to go the HON website)...book 8 is scheduled to come out in January and I am already having withdrawals!

This series is so fun and different...yes, it is about vampires, but it is so different from the Twilight series. I promise you, if you'll give it a chance, you will love these books. They are very entertaining...I had so much fun reading them. I have to admit though, it took me about 2/3 of the first book to really get hooked...but from that point on, I couldn't stop reading them.

Below is a synopsis of the storyline...that is based in Tulsa and the authors are from Tulsa too. I hope you'll read them and enjoy them as much I did. So, for now, I impatiently wait for January to get here...

HOUSE OF NIGHT is a thrilling, New York Times bestselling book series that follows 16-year-old Zoey Redbird as she is “Marked” by a vampyre tracker and begins to undergo the “Change” into an actual vampyre. She has to leave her family in Broken Arrow, OK, and move into the House of Night, a boarding school for other fledgling vampyres like her.

It’s tough to begin a new life, away from her parents and friends, and on top of that, Zoey finds she is no average fledgling. She has been Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess, Nyx. Although Zoey has awesome new powers, it’s hard to fit in when everyone knows you’re “special.” As Zoey tries to make new friends and maybe find a hot boyfriend (or two), she comes up against all kinds of evil, from the perfect-looking, super-popular girl with not-so-faultless plans, to the mysterious deaths happening at the House of Night and all over Tulsa. Things at the House of Night are not always what they seem. Can Zoey find the courage deep within herself to find the truth and embrace her destiny?

Father's Day Faux Pas

So, I have to confess that I am less than perfect...I know it is hard for you guys to believe...but you will just have to accept it. I am not perfect...no matter how stronly you feel otherwise. So, why the confession?? Why tell you now? Well.....I totally forgot about Father's Day until Tony "not-so-nicely" reminded me that it was Father's Day and we had totally made him feel unappreciated.

***Ok, before you all beat me up for this one...in my defense, I had a VERY HORRIBLE urinary tract infection come up on Saturday...long story short...I first noticed the UTI on Thursday, but was able to drink it away for a couple of days (and no, I don't mean alcohol..I mean water). We went to my family reunion at Lake Eufaula on Saturday and it was horribly hot. Take the heat, a borderline UTI and lack of water and you get a fierce pain that causes us to leave after only one hour of being there.***

Since I was still out of sorts on Sunday and didn't remember that it was Father's Day, the kids didn't get their reminder and so Tony didn't get wished a Happy Father's Day.

So....TONY...I am so sorry that I forgot. You are a great father and we appreciate everything you do for us! Please forgive us!

Shabby Souls June Get Together

Last Friday night, the Shabby Soul girls met for our June get together. This month we met down at the Bricktown Candy Co. I could so live in this store....the gelato was delish and the candy was so fun. The guys that work there are super friendly too and they totally made us feel at home.

6 of us were able to make it this time and we shared a lot books with each other. I came home with another big bag of books to read. I'm hoping to knock out about a book per week.

Meeting with my girlfriends each month is such a delight for me. This is definitely something I look forward to each and every month.

Jeana, Kelly and Catherine (Kelly's s-i-l...we are all hoping she'll become a semi-permanant member)


Natalie, Me and Keslie


(***btw...I am about a week behind in my blog posts, so bear with me as I try to catch everything up over the next few days.)

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner is the riveting story of Bree Tanner, a newborn vampire first introduced in Eclipse, and the darker side of the world she inhabits. The novella chronicles the newborn vampire army’s journey as they prepare to close in on Bella Swan and the Cullens,
following their encounter to its unforgettable conclusion.

You can click here to read the reason behind Stephanie writing this Novella.

This was a very good addition to the Eclipse storyline. It gave me lots of perspective around the newborns and what their life was like as their "army" was being created.

If you are a fan of Twilight, I recommend you read this one. It will be enlightening.

Emotionally Exhausting Weekend

Saturday night, Ashton and her friend were outside playing with water balloons. The ziplock bag that the balloons were in flew into the dog pen and our dog, Shadow, immediately grabbed it. Afraid that Shadow would swallow the bag and hurt himself, Ashton went into the pen to get it from him. Tony was at the kitchen window and saw her go in the pen...he immediately thought that she needed to stop what she was doing so that Shadow didn't feel threatened...he walked out to tell her to stop and she was screaming before he even got out the door.

As Ashton grabbed for the bag from Shadow, he bit her left hand. I agree that this bite could've been A LOT worse, however, it is still pretty bad. Ashton's left hand is badly bruised, swollen and the largest majority of the bite is on the palm of her hand with other small punctures on the top of it.

My parents just happened to be at the house when it happened and my dad sprung into action by running to Walgreens and getting bandaids and peroxide. Tony cleaned up the bite and determined that it didn't need stitches.

After we got Ashton calmed down and resting, Tony decided he needed to handle the situation of Shadow. We both agreed that we couldn't keep a dog that bites. Tony took Shadow to the OKC Animal Shelter that night and hopes the he is found a home. We are sad that Shadow is no longer a part of our family, but we know that we have made the right decision for our family.

2010 Spring Recital

Ashton had her dance recital a couple of weeks ago. The theme for this year's recital was Rhythm is a Dancer. Ashton has been in tap and jazz for the last two years. About a month before recital she had decided that she wanted to not take dance next year. But as we got closer to recital, she got more and more excited and has now decided she will do Tapp/Jazz and Ballet next year. She's even making plans for the year after that too. I told her we need to take it once year at a time.

She really does enjoy performing in front of crowds. I am a little biased, but I think she did great. You could really tell she was having a great time. These are the pics I took of her in her costume. I'm glad we are off for the summer, but look forward to the new year starting in September.

Time

Why does it seem so hard to make time for exercise? When you put it into a perspective like this, it doesn't seem so horrible to give 30 minutes a day anymore.

24 hours a day
7 days a week
60 minutes per hour
1,440 minutes per day
10,080 minutes per week

5 days of exercising at 30 minutes each = 150 minutes

or only 1.5% of the total time in my week

No more excuses!

I Feel Old

At work this week, our external auditor's are here doing our semi-annual SOX Audit. Typically, I enjoy visiting with the auditors, but this time there is no fun involved in the conversation. "Why?" you might ask. Because they are babies...and I am not kidding. They are all 3 fresh out of college...they can't be much older than 22. When I met with them (twice today, I might add) I felt like I was talking to my son.

I don't usually feel like I am old, but this group of baby face auditors is really cramping my style. Gees...I hate feeling old.

I think I've been marked!

I began reading the 7 book House of Night series one week ago. Since then I have consumed books 1 and 2 and am half way through book 3. I can't put them down. I just want to read, read, read.

OMG! I can't wait to read all 7 and tell you how much you MUST read them too.

Happiness is....

H - Holding hands with my kids
A - Amazing love of God
P - Peacefully soaking in the tub
P - Prozac...hehehe
I - Inside relaxing on a wet and rainy day
N - New Movies
E - Enjoying a good book
S - Snuggling with Tony on the couch
S - Singing in worship